Not here, but the I remember Feigen and some of the other media guys kept saying that trading McGrady was looking less and less likely and the capspace would be the way to go, even hearing crap like McGrady getting bought out. Once Feb arrived, it became obvious Morey was right and the offers picked up. Credit where credit is due, you nailed it with your prediction and I can see something like that happening again.
It's pretty close to where I had it in my last CF article. With the addition of T-Will, if the Rockets wanted to keep Brooks and could time the free agent market so that they could just hold onto Brooks at his cap hold figure ($6.05M) until AFTER signing outside free agents, then the Rockets would be looking at having about $8 million or so in cap room IF NOTHING ELSE CHANGES. This does not take into account if the Rockets make a move to open up more cap room, like trading Brad Miller's quasi-expiring contract to an under-the-cap team or for a trade exception. That figure could also be bigger if the Rockets somehow manage to re-sign Brooks to a starting salary of less than $6.05M (who knows what his value will be if he comes off the bench for the rest of the year?). That figure could be significantly lower if the team wants to re-sign Shane Battier and/or Chuck Hayes to new deals. Again, it also doesn't account for any increase or decrease from the current salary cap figure, which is likely to decrease. Using the current cap figure and assuming that no other moves are made is fun for illustration purposes, but there's really no accurate way to figure cap room for next offseason until the new CBA is finalized.
So, if we start hearing from the media that the Rockets are happy to just let Yao's contract expire and enjoy the cap room, it's most likely just them blowing smoke like they did last season. Also, they probably have some willingness to take on non-expiring contracts, for the right price of course. In any case, obviously it takes two to tango, but I can't see the Rockets not at least extracting some value from the $ savings Yao's contract represents.
Nah, I think there is far more merit to the "let's just take the cap room" argument this summer than there was last summer. Last year, the Rockets had Scola and Lowry--two of the Rockets' top players, both age 30 or younger, and two of Les's favorites--coming up on restricted free agency. The odds that the Rockets would allow them to leave were fairly miniscule. And given their youth/productivity, they were going to get paid enough to substantially wipe out whatever amount of cap room would have otherwise been available. Here, on the other hand, if the Rockets trade away Yao (and, thus, lose his Bird rights), the guys they'd have to decide on this summer are Brooks (whose cap hold is "only" $6.05M), Battier and Hayes. I think the Rockets would at least consider letting Battier and Hayes walk if the resulting cap room could net them a really good player. And considering that they could conceivably maneuver to have near-max cap room (especially if they let Brooks walk), the "cap room" avenue looks much more enticing than it did a year ago. I have no idea what route the Rockets will take here, but if they trade Yao, there's definitely room for argument that maximizing cap room is at least a somewhat realistic possibility.
I think we use yao ming to get star either directly with a team or indirectly as a 3 team deal. We dont care about saving money obviously...I really think we get melo. I think favors and 4 draft picks are good but will melo really want to play there? Will nets do the deal without extension? maybe... If you had to choose between say troy murphy favors and 4 draft picks ...not really saving the team that much money maybe a couple million. Or Yao ming hill, 2 or 3 draft picsk, budinger, patterson for melo str8 up and saving a ton of money then a serpate deal where we absorb harringtons contract as well. I honestly...ship him out for the second... I think the proven talent with easy contracts of the players mentioned and draft picks is a better deal. Neither trade do you guarantee yourself a star...look a minnesota...What did they have 5 first round picks and 2 in the top 6 and they have nothing to show for it really. Plus hill looks better than favors right now and they have about the same total pro minutes.
Well, besides Melo, if not extended, what "really good player" is out there as a FA? My guess is with the cap/CBA uncertainty, it's still not that likely that they refrain from a deal due to concerns over cap room.
woh!... Marc Gasol is an unrestricted free agent next year. Free up cap space and sign him...if we have 8 million we can free up another 2 or 3 to offer a deal that memphis cant match. Does another team have that kind of money to throw around? Gasol and Scola front court??? Nice... Thats kinda a back up plan we have in our pocket.
getting anyone other than a center would be foolish. we are 2 deep at every position other than center
Agreed! if we can't get a center now I think this plan is the perfect route. Our core is young and adding gasol would keep us competitive for a long time
Remember, the Rockets can use that cap room to give them far greater flexibility in trades (i.e., they can take back far more salary than they give up).
Ya because memphis is such a money maker...that they can overpay another player. No...Gasol at 10 million a year does not get matched... that team is handicapped enough. Specially since they already have thabeet at 5 million a year.
Check these things: 1.) What generates restricted status from the CBA 2.) How many years Gasol has been with the Grizzlies.
