Should Les exceed the luxury tax cap this year? This year, insurance will be paying most of Yao's $16MM salary and all of Tracy McGrady's salary ($20+MM) for games he doesn't play. In a normal year, it seems like it's fair to only expect Les to spend up to the luxury salary cap threshold. This year, it seems somewhat silly to stick to a CAP number which is largely subsidized by insurance. It seems like Morey may already be spending this insurance money in the form of $6MM of 2nd round picks and $2.5MM for David Anderson. Two questions: 1) Should Les exceed the luxury tax cap this year? 2) Have you been happy with how Morey has spent $8.5MM dollars so far (3 2nd round picks + David Anderson)
Of course he should exceed it. He should exceed it every year. Its not my money! Morey has done a solid job of attaining assets. They all have question marks however.
salary cap? yes luxury tax? no (so that he's willing to further exceed it when rockets have a better shot at winning)
I don't think he should. I think they should just tank the season and make the rebuilding process a little faster by getting a high pick.
I think it's almost unavoidable at this point, unless he can somehow shed contacts like Cook. We're collecting a lot of insurance though, so I don't think it'll be a huge hit on his pocketbook overall. Only $2.5m million of that is against the salary cap. Oh wait, no it isn't, it's a medical exception. Don't forget the $5.7 million spent on Ariza, also not against the salary cap since it's the MLE. Really, the only thing that'll be adding to our cap situation is the rookies. That's not bad at all, considering all the assets we've acquired. However, the picture changes next season (Andersen and Ariza will be added onto the cap at that point).
As stated by Bimathug Les has an out with Brian cook that should be enough to keep him under they cap. I suspect he won't take on more contracts unless it is a great deal. I am also on board with Morey and les's strategy of why go over the cap for a temporary role player. So no do not exceed the cap. As for did the spend the money wisely. Well if you ask me before the Ariza aquisition I would have said yes but after that I am not so sure. I like our picks and I would say we got 3 of the best picks in the second round until I saw Portland's rookies. Pendagraph will contribute on that team this year. he is a junkyard dawg with a decent midrange shot. And Dante is an athletic 3 that can score. And to think we could have had him but we chose taylor. Taylor may prove to be a solid player but that Cunningham kid has some useful skills at this level. The Blazers had the 1st and 3rd picks in the second round and we had the 2 and 4th picks. I thought they did better with their picks. But of course time will tell and Taylor looks like he hasn't got it yet but eventually will.
While insurance may pay part (or all) of TMAC's and Yao's salaries, their salaries still count against the cap. http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q56 The salary cap is at $57.7 million and we have a payroll of at least $71 million (not including the rookies and Andersen). I'd say it's pretty much unavoidable that we're going to exceed the salary cap (along with about 2/3 of the league). The question (and maybe what you meant to ask) is if we should exceed the luxury tax which is going to be at $69.92 million. We'd need to shed some contracts to get under that.
Maybe I'm wrong, but we're already above the lux tax before the Andersen and Rookies' deals are even added. Our payroll is currently $71M, and the lux tax was lowered to $69M for 09/10.
It's all about trading McGrady. Trade McGrady to the Knicks. Rockets can potentially shed over $6M there. That would allow the Rockets to add salary in a following trade. Perhaps for Sessions? Trade McGrady to the T-Wolves for Flynn. Minnesota are stacked with deadweight contracts they might be trying to package away. They might have agreed to trade Flynn for Rubio to have changed his mind about going there. Rockets also shed salary in this scenario.
People need to be more careful with their vocabulary. We started out way over the cap, so it isn't even a question. The question is the luxury tax threshold. And no, I don't see any point in that. We won't be competitive, so why lose money on it? Wait till next year. Besides, spending more now means less free agent money later. I also don't really agree with the $6 million for 2nd rounders. It's not my money, so I don't care that much. But, it sounds like we'll keep one, at best, of Taylor and Bud. And, the third guy will probably never be a Rocket. I don't think the optionality is worth $1 million. I'm glad Les is rich enough and the Rockets profitable enough, that he can grease the wheels this way; but I don't want the money to run out when we really need it to close a deal. Spending it on Andersen made sense, since we actually want him on the roster.
The Rockets are going to be over the cap. The only way to avoid it is pretty much by trading with teams under the cap to get trade exceptions, or to trade for players with buyout/non-guaranteed contracts. The Rockets will be lucky to avoid the luxury tax.
