I know what you mean, I only have a rudimentary knowledge of the CBA myself that I learned while reading some of the great cap discussions in past years. That's why I always keep a link to Coon's FAQ on hand. http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm Was just checking it....qualifying offer must be tendered by June 30, IIRC we can not start talking to FAs till July 1st. I still feel something isnt clear, so I hope aelliot or NIKE could chime in on this to clarify things a bit.
As of now, it still sounds to me like there exists the possibility that we could be faced with a situation where we would have to make a decision on matching an offer(s) for Lowry and/or Scola before the top-tier FAs that we are interested in make up their minds. It's probably likely that the top-tier FAs will make their decisions before we have to make final decisions on Lowry and Scola but that certainly doesn't sound like a guarantee and that's the point I'm trying to get at. We can't go into this free agency knowing 100% that we can hold on to Lowry and Scola while all the top FAs make their decisions. There seems to be a real possibility that we'll have to make decisions to match offers for one or both of Lowry/Scola before let's say, Chris Bosh, makes his final decision. On top of that, if we have to dish out qualifying offers before we can even go after outside FAs, there is at least some possibility that Scola and/or Lowry accept those offers. Unlikely, but possible, right? If they do, we immediately end up without room for a top FA.
corby, no offense, but you are way off on this. You are confusing guys like Brooksball and Rockets2k with your misinformation. (1) First of all, I don't think you understand the difference between qualifying offers and cap holds. The qualifying offer MUST be offered to Scola and Lowry in order to keep them restricted. Their cap holds, however, are the amounts that Scola and Lowry will count against the cap until they re-sign, sign an offer sheet, or accept the qualifying offer. (2) If the Rockets decide to use even $1 of cap room, they will not also be able to use the MLE, LLE or any other salary cap exceptions. (3) The Rockets cannot renounce their rights to Lowry and then later extend a qualifying offer to him. It doesn't work that way. You can't have it both ways. Brooksball, to answer your question, the Rockets COULD extend qualifying offers to Scola and Lowry, and then explore deals for outside free agents. If a Lebron or a Wade is ready to sign for whatever cap room is available, then the Rockets can renounce their rights to Scola and Lowry. The only way for those guys to screw it up for the Rockets is if either (a) they sign an offer sheet that will expire (i.e., the 7-day match period runs) before a deal with the Lebron or Wade can be worked out, forcing a decision from the Rockets; or (b) they simply accept the qualifying offer, in which case their cap hold is reduced to the qualifying offer amount but the Rockets' total available cap room would be adversely affected. It is Landry and Hayes on which the Rockets MUST make a decision PRIOR to the start of free agency. Landry's now a no-brainer. Also, it's looking more and more like Hayes is a yes, as well. Hope this helps clear up any confusion, guys.
Salary Cap Question I keep reading that everyone is saying that we wont be able to make any big moves this upcoming off-season, can someone put me up on game and tell me in detail the reason why when we have 26 mill coming off the books? Who else' contract is up after this season?
The current team salary is $72.3 and salary cap is $57.7 mil. The rockets are already $15 mil over the salary cap. When McGrady, Cook and Harris expire, our team salary will be $43 million, not counting the cap hold for Scola and Kyle Lowry. The projected salary is $54 million, which leaves $11 million in cap space. You can only go over the cap for your own free agents and not another team's free agents. Since the Rockets are $15 million over the cap, that's automatically $15 million from T-Mac's salary that can't be used to sign another free agent.
Code: [b]Houston Rockets Player 2010/2011 [/b] Yao Ming [B][COLOR=purple]$17,686,100[/COLOR][/B] Shane Battier $7,429,500 Trevor Ariza $6,322,320 Luis Scola [B][COLOR=Red]$4,105,834[/COLOR][/B] Carl Landry [B][COLOR=Navy]$3,000,000[/COLOR][/B] David Andersen $2,500,000 Chuck Hayes [B][COLOR=Navy]$2,334,125[/COLOR][/B] Kyle Lowry [B][COLOR=Red]$2,975,165[/COLOR][/B] Aaron Brooks $2,016,692 Joey Dorsey [B][COLOR=SlateGray]$947,140[/COLOR][/B] Chase Budinger $780,871 Jermaine Taylor $780,871 [b]Total salaries: $50,878,618 w/o qualifying offers: $43,797,619 Total w/o options: $20,777,394 Next years salary cap will be somewhere between 52 and 54 million per team. [B][COLOR=Navy]Blue - Team option[/COLOR][/B] [B][COLOR=Red]Red - Qualifying offer [/COLOR][/B] [B][COLOR=SlateGray]Grey - Unguaranteed[/COLOR] [/B] [B][COLOR=Purple]Mauve - Early termination[/COLOR][/B][/b] - As you can if the Rockets signed Scola and Lowry to the qualifying offers the Rockets pay-roll is almost 51 million, which is between 1 and 3 million under the salary cap. This actually gives the Rockets less money for free agents because they would not qualify for the MLE. - If the Rockets renounce Scola and Lowry then their cap is at 43 million and they have between 8 and 10 million in cap space. I don't think they are just going to renounce those two as they are easily worth 8 million between them. - If they don't pick up the option on Landry, cut Dorsey, renounce both Scola and Lowry, and Yao choses to terminate his contract early then the Rockets will only be at 21 million of cap space and they can sign anyone willing to play here. Of course the team would be gutted of tons of talent. There are other options such as trading Battier which would likely be easy IMO for cap relief but in the end of the day the Rockets have options but just how desirable those options are would be debatable. There are other factors that effect the cap as well such as the draft pick, cap hit for players not yet on the roster (each team much carry at least 12) etc...
Teams with cap space less than the MLE have a choice between their cap space and MLE. The Rockets will also have the LLE next year.
Great post, well put together.....but it does have a lot of flexibility there. They could leave Hayes, Scola and Lowry out in the cold and no way they pick up Dorsey's option. Lots of options.... DD
Losing Hayes, Scola and Lowry would be a HUGE loss, esp. if we don't end up out-competing several other teams for a top FA, which would be a very likely scenario. There are options but not a lot of them and not a lot of good ones.
Doesn't that depend? Like they could say to Bosh, if we do all this will you sign here for XXXX amount and if he says yes....then you go for it. And you try to sign them or a replacement for them. DD
I think thats the way DM wants it. Options. If there is a stud free agent available then DM has options if he wants to exercise them. Renouncing exceptions, renouncing free agents, cutting Dorsey, not picking up options and even trades.
If we were to make a deal with Philly for Iggy and Dalembert, I would prefer to include Ariza in the deal. This, I believe, would allow us to re-sign Lowry and Scola and still stay under the LT. Then, when it comes time to re-sign Brooks, Landry and possibly Yao, Dalembert and Battier would be coming off the books as well.
Scola and lowry cap hold is 6m which would further reduce the number you're playing with. I've said the point about trading battier enough because 7.4m is alot for a guy with his production.
It sounds like if the Rockets wanted to keep everyone and add a star player, they would have to: -trade McGrady for a star player and expiring contract(s) (Kevin Martin and Kenny Thomas, for example) -re-sign restricted free agents Scola and Lowry and do it while staying under the luxury tax line. If they let McGrady's contract expire, then they can only add a MLE player at best while keeping Scola and Lowry. Is that correct?
Well, if I understand correctly, the deadline for offering RFAs qualifying offers comes before the date where teams can speak to outside FAs. Therefore, if we offer Lowry and Scola qualifying offers and either, or both, of them accept for any reason, our cap will immediately take a hit - enough of a hit to prevent us from signing a max FA. I expect both of them to test the market but you never know. Even if they put themselves out there, then it becomes a timing game. Maybe the Rockets find out if an outside FA will commit to them before Lowry or Scola get offer sheets from other teams. On the other hand, maybe they don't and have to decide quickly whether to match those offers or roll the dice and go all in for a targeted outside FA, taking the risk of coming away with nothing. The only way to avoid these risks completely would be to not offer Lowry and Scola qualifying offers and allow them to become UFAs. I doubt Morey would do that just for a slim chance at one of the few true stud FAs. The 2010 free agency has been largely overhyped anyway. After the top prizes (LeBron, Wade, Bosh), there are a bunch of sexy names but most of them are getting old - some of them are getting really old. I expect Joe Johnson to remain a Hawk so I didn't include him as a top prize. I'm not sure what to think of Amare. There is also the possibility that one or more of the big names have their contract situations resolved before free agency even rolls around. Their own teams can also offer them more money. Then, you have to consider that there will be more teams competing for the services of those few elite FAs than there will be elite FAs. Demand will outweigh supply. Some teams will be left picking up scraps or even walking away empty-handed.
