Trade Concept for Rockets (Dependent on Luxury Tax)

you should post this in the random rocket trade thread.

 

ha, the rookie told you, lol

 

if the knicks willing to pay a $34 million luxury tax this year, I don't think they care too much about being over.

 

I would think moves like that are the kind of thing Morey does look at once the roster is set. He's looking to improve our assets in affordable ways. Acquiring a decent sized contract to trade in a year or two when it's expiring and a first round pick would be a sensible thing to do if it's possible. We'll see.

I'm not entirely sure he's done working on the roster. We certainly have too many players now.

 

I think we are going to have to cut Sura to keep us from going over the LT - and I don't think we will be able to sign Deke to even the Vet min without going over the LT after signing Scola and Hayes.

I think there will be some minor tweaks to the roster, but I feel this is pretty much it. We have a good team we just needed to address some issues which I think we have. We don't have ideal situations in all positions and I'm sure if something does come along we will upgrade. But I see maybe a trade of our 14th and 15th player for someone else's 13th player or just cut some players.

 

1. Luxury Tax threshold is at $67.8 million this season. The Rockets are currently very close to it.

2. However, the luxury tax is calculated based on a team's salary at the END of the season, not the beginning... so if the Rockets are a million or two over the limit, they still have pretty much all season to get under it.

3. Les has said over and over again he's pay the tax only for the "right player." I wonder what that "right player" might look like. Perhaps Steve Francis for his obvious marketing appeal... maybe the extra ticket sales/highlight material/potential playoff revenue would justify the spending in Les' mind?

4. The first thing faced by this team is not the tax (again, have all season to dump salary to get under the limit), but roster spots crunch. As things stand now, it looks like they will have about 8-9 guys competing for the last 3-4 spots on the roster.

Since roster does not have to be finalized until beginning of season, I think Morey might wait til training camp/preseason to start finalizing the roster in order to give the coachign staff a chance to evaluate how the pieces actually fit.

 

random trades go in random trade thread?

 

i don't think this is random...i learned some stuff from this thread..

so thanks

 

Artest was the right player before he got traded to the Kings. Les like big names.

 

BimaThug, I was under the impression that a waived player's salary would still count against the salary cap/luxury tax. The amnesty provision from two years back was one-time use only. I may need some verification from our capologist triumvirate (aelliot, GATER, NIKEstrad).

If that's the case, a team over the luxury tax threshold would save very little by trading with us. The only way to ensure tax relief would be to trade with a team under the cap (which of course we're not).

 

1. Sura's $3.8 million contract is only guaranteed at $1 million. A team can save some cash by, for example, trading a player with a fully guaranteed $4 million contract to the Rockets for Sura. They will save $3 million dollars in this scenario and will help to reduce or eliminate luxury tax burden.

2. Besides Sura's contract, there are a few things Rockets can do for a tax-paying team, including:

A. Using the 25% allowed difference in trades in order to take on somewhat more $ than they give out.

B. Get a minimum salary player for nominal consideration (like $1.00) You can always add a minimun salary guy, I believe and give no salary out.

C. If a team's concern is with luxury tax next season and beyond, the Rockets can trade shorter contracts for longer ones.

3. This doesn't apply to the Rockets, but a tax paying team can also get help from teams with trade exceptions (SEA and GSW both have large ones).

 

I think its a pretty solid strategy. Remember for a team like the Knicks, eliminating a $4 million contract for the price of $1 mil takes $7 million off. The extra they would have to pay for being over the limit. Removing Malik Allens $8 million contract is like taking $16 million off usinig the same reasoning.

While I don't really want a $8 million Malik Allen contract, it seems like a sound idea. I'm sure some team would gladly give some extra picks (or other valuable assets) away for that kind of savings. Just ask the Spurs...