I've wanted him to come over here for years and he's disappointed me every time it seemed this might finally be the off-season that he makes the move. I'm not getting worked up about the dude again. If Llull does come over, great. I'll get excited then. Nice post by Dobro earlier, though, about how next season might enable us to throw more money at him to give the Rocks a better chance at making it happen. The problem we have is that he likes being a "superstar" hero to his people. Who can blame him?
would be hard to turn that down. Houston has really hurt themselves with this years train wreck. Any good player will think twice about coming here and living through hell for a season like Ty has (in his view at least)
I hate to acknowledge that the Association is not the end all for all, apparently not Lull. If he comes over I see him working a trade to join a Gasol.
Also true. Even if you have the requisite physical skills, if you have no desire to play in the NBA, a la Larry Sanders, your ability to become a great or even good or even passable NBA player is necessarily impacted. Looks like Llull has chosen that route.
When his team played the Celtics I believe in the preseason, he looked severely outmatched against Jae Crowder and Avery Bradley.
There is power in the dollar we need to recognize will be viewed differently this year. I get that he loves playing for Real Madrid and the perks of being close to home & being a star over there. However we need to focus on the finances first to understand what is likely really going on here beyond the rhetoric you'd hear coming from Sergio and his agent (since its better PR to say he's staying because of loyalty, fans, winning, or whatever). last year the Rockets were reportedly offering him the full MLE which I believe would be around 5 million dollars a year. Probably without a 3rd year guarantee as well. He had a 5 million Euro buyout as well. So you take the first two years, subtract the 5 million Euro's and he's likely to have very similar earnings total in the first two seasons, and his buyout would come on the front end (which could be harder for some players without a large amount of cash available to essentially loan themselves). Sergio's true earning increase wasn't likely to happen until year 3. This was the primary factor IMO, but everything else (guaranteed role, fit next to Harden, moving to the US, influence of other Spanish stars on his team that struggled, etc.) swayed his decision because financially the Rockets couldn't make the investment outweigh the negatives. I totally understand his decision last Summer. THIS YEAR however its a completely different ball game. The financial implications make it a no-brainer to come to the NBA IF the Rockets are willing to significantly increase his offer from where it was last Summer which they surely will IF they are willing to eat a portion of their cap space to get him. Last year its important to note that the most important factor was Sergio in the first two years wouldn't be making really anything significantly more. This year, we will see how much he's willing to walk away from if the Rockets think he's worth a "Corey Brewer Type" of contract IN THE NEW SALARY CAP ERA.
But how do you know that? "Well, Sergio, we only have the mid-level exception. We need some of that money to sign Montrezl Harrell. So....how about three years, $10,000,000?" Of which....how much goes to his buyout? Didn't cyberx or BimaThug or somebody post that Llull's buyout would be less this upcoming offseason than before? Wouldn't Llull have more incentive to hold off until the money is available so that he won't be playing here practically for free?* (Well, "free" as it applies to professional basketball players.) Or maybe Prigioni last offseason told Llull unflattering things about the team (Harden = ballhog, Howard = goofball spectator, McHale = stuffed suit) and Llull was like, Pass. Isn't everything conjecture at this point? Hell, you can't even trust a player's quotes in the media because he has to couch everything in certain terms, which can be half-truths: "Well, you know, I just thought it over and I love my current team and so on and so forth and blah blah blah...." * And no, I won't hold my breath that Llull will come over this offseason.
Also Sergio Llull didn't just magically come to a decision to stay at the last minute based on his love of Spain & his loyalty to his team. He stayed because he was waiting/hoping for the Rockets to increase his offer at the start of free agency which they obviously did not because they were star chasing LaMarcus Aldridge and whoever else. There is a reason for the timing of Sergio Llull's rejection of Houston's offer. The timing of the rejection pretty much lays it out flat. Sergio wants more $ primarily to make the jump. If you want him... I'm telling you guys now that he's available to come over if Morey is willing to give him a solid deal he can't pass up. Morey would be taking a bet that Sergio will be a solid NBA player. If he's anything like a solid rotation player, I personally think he's worth the contract offer.
We desperately need shooting so I don't see why any one would be against this move. It's obvious though, Llull does not like Houston.
Took Chicago 3 years 15 million to get Mirotic over. Not sure how they compare in caliber of player, but not sure Mirotic is even worth that much.
Let's be honest. Nobody wants to join this Rockets team. I have been a diehard Rockets fan for the entirety of my life and if they called me to play on the team I'd be like, "Yeah. I don't know about that. Wait, what's the league minimum? Okay. Sure."
Dboro with solid takes on Llull. I think it is a stretch to say Llull doesn't want to come over. We don't know if he doesn't want to come over OR if the Rockets just haven't met his price (PLUS buyout, which is less this year). Is Llull Vspan 2.0? Who knows. But I like what I see from Llull's game. He plays fast and is attacking. Considering the malaise that hangs around the Rockets that kind of fire would be a welcome addition. I like that Llull is a combo-guard and he play off the ball alongside Harden. And at the same time be the PG when Harden is on the bench. As a 3rd guard in a Harden/Bev/Lull rotation, he could be nice. If the Rockets strike out on KD, plan B might be to take a hard look at Llull and Gentile, among some other NBA role players. P.S. Llull's game winning shot opened SportsCenter last night.
