You keep pointing to sign and trade scenarios but the new CBA closed a lot of loopholes with that. That's big in terms of contending teams close to the cap. It makes it near impossible for a team to sign and trade for a great player.
"Above apron" means likely ~78 mil next year, by the way. So basically, Miami, Nets and probably the Lakers (if they re-sign Dwight and keep Pau). Maybe the Knicks will get there, or maybe not. The apron stuff isn't very important because most teams will avoid the apron anyway due to higher tax. The thing is that the CBA reduces the incentive for the player to sign and trade but if Al Jefferson prefers lets say the Celtics (no cap space) over the Bucks (who have cap space), sign and trade is very much an option.
It does matter because there are teams hovering below the Salary Cap. Remember the Apron is after the trade so unless Jefferson decides to sign for less than $10 million a year most good teams under cap will pass that threshold.
i'm good with getting al jefferson next to harden and rolling from there. i'm aldridge first, jefferson second. no knuckle heads like josh smith (not really knuckle head just no fire) or cousins (real live knuckle head)
Yeah but that makes Utah look like idiots for not trading them before the deadline. Teams that wanted Sap or Al would now have leverage and could just send trash contracts to help match salary. If the team had cap space they could sign those players outright.
Utah is 3-10 in their last 13 games. If they had been just 7-6, barely above .500, HOU would be in 9th place now.
It only makes them look like idiots if you know what kind of offers were available to them at the deadline, which we don't. Al and Millsap are good, valuable players. If they didn't get decent offers - like, at least a decent 1st rounder - it's fair enough to take a gamble and look at options in the summer.
You do know that there are NO NBA players averaging 20/10 this season right? Not Lebron, Not Durant, Not Howard, Not Cp3. There are only 10 players in the league right now who average 20+ppg and among them the closest to 10 in another stat is Aldridge with 8.8 RPG. Don't take 20 and 10 for granted like every team has to have one player who does it.
But they aren't 7-6 so I'm not sure why this matters? Everyone saw this collapse coming from them when you looked at the schedule. Because they have a tendency to drop and fail at road games...and the schedule for them had plenty of games on the road and against tough teams.
They have some good big men but they have a terrible back court. Maybe the worst in the league. There's nobody to run the team and feed the bigs and they lack ball handlers/play makers.
Your missing my point...its not the 20 10 that is as important, but the overall impact of the player. Does the player you acquire put u as a top 5 team in the league or not...Right now if the Rockets are truly just one player away from a title, does Milsap or Jefferson fit the bill...The answer should be a resounding NO!
if the focus was on making the playoffs this year..i'm not sure why they made the marvin williams trade. devin harris is not all that, but put him on this team instead of marvin williams and they may have had a better shot.
agreed. add either player to our current roster...and it does not put us over the top. we need someone on or near the james harden level, a sure fire allstar..then we can be true contenders.
I think everyone agrees that Milsap and Jefferson aren't the high impact players that can take teams over the hump hence they weren't traded at the deadline as no substantial player was available. The point of the thread is that it's a big mistake for them to even still be playing in Utah as they aren't making the playoffs anyway. You can't deny that Kanter/Favors/Hayward/(Burks maybe?) isn't a good future core oozing with potential. Imagine if they let both these guys walk and tank all next season while letting their young guns develop and at the same time get a top pick in the 2014 draft, which is looking to be a pretty good one. I hate the Jazz as much as anyone but to say that that core doesn't have potential to make an impact just doesn't make sense.
They can't just bench those guys. I get that they should def play their young guys and will not really gain much out of playing jefferson/millsap. but they are still trying to make the playoffs. i give them credit, thats a grade A org, they don't want to tank.
Lol at people wanting Al Jefferson. He's one of the worst defenders in the league. Everybody just runs right by him.
