Valanciunas' team believes that Rockets would select him if he can't reach a buyout

Is he as good as Malick Badiane?

 

I'd be excited if we traded pick 14 and 23 to move up to 10 and take this guy, even if we knew we could not get him over here for 2 years. People are seriously overestimating the value of our picks in this draft.

 

His ceiling is Pau Gasol. No one in the draft outside of Irving and Williams has the potential to be better (yes not even Kanter). You take him even if you don't get him for another two years.

 

Yes, teams can pay up to $500k to a foreign team for any player without it counting against the cap. That was included in both scenarios that I described.

The Rookie Exception is what allows teams over the cap to sign their first round picks.

ROOKIE EXCEPTION -- Teams may sign their first round draft picks to rookie "scale" contracts even if they will be over the cap as a result (see question number 42).

http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q19

You are correct that you can use the Minimum Player Salary Exception on any player. I didn't think it applied to draft picks but they are included.

Looks to me like there's not much chance that Valanciunas' falls to us. There were reports that Valanciunas' buyout would be at least $3M but there have also been subsequent reports that the actual amount is still being negotiated.

Supposedly both Clevland and Toronto are very interested in him at #4 or #5. I'd have to think one of the lottery teams above us would simply use their cap space to pay a bigger chunk of his buyout and ensure that he comes over to the NBA immediately. I can't see him getting past Cleveland, Toronto, Utah, Detroit and Sacramento and still being there when we pick. Without the buyout issue he's a potential top 5 pick so once you start getting to #7 or so it's a great value even if you have to use up some additional cap space.

If he were to fall to the Rockets then I think that you take him regardless of the buyout situation. Even if you had to wait for him that would still be a huge value at #14.

 

Man I don't know about this stashing a player for 2 yrs thing. I need something to be excited about next season.

 

I'll be excited if there IS a next season.

You're spoiled.

 

Where have all the big men gone? Is it really a product of the illegal defense changes?

 

Yeah, or at least I agree with you. I think today he would be a mid-late 1st round pick. And I'd say early-mid pick if he had played as PG these last 2 years and had been coached differently. Curiously, both Ricky and Llull probably would be now better -and more prepared NBA- players if they had interchanged teams. It's the bad part of drafting a player and let him go. Their respective teams (especially coaches) won't care about his NBA development, they are only concerned about winning games and save their jobs.

 

Doubt that teams would actually pay on top of the cap for a rookie. Rubio and Splitter comes to mind.

 

Why are we getting excited over a guy who will help us after two years, but we will be mediocre until then.

 

Excellent pick up!!

 

The dream team in your sig considers Tracy McGrady to be the best SG of all time. So, you wouldn't understand why.

 

OK, your favorite player at that position. Whatever, still insane.

 

It's just saying that he's a lottery pick. We ARE the floor of the lottery.

 

Nobody ever thought Battier was a better player than Gay, not even Morey.

 

I'm not following your logic. Minnesota would have gladly helped pay Rubio's buyout, but the buyout itself wasn't really the issue. Rubio didn't want to join the T-Wolves until now. Minnesota used the #5 overall pick on Rubio, you don't think that they would have used some of their available cap space to ensure Rubio joined them immediately?

As far as Splitter, when he was drafted he didn't have a buyout option so teams knew that he wouldn't be available for a couple of years no matter what.

Neither of those two situations are similare to Valanciunas'. His current team is in financial trouble so everyone knows that he's available for the right price.

 

As far as him possibly being drafted by the Rockets and staying overseas, wouldn't it be better for him to come over right away seeing as we have a big man coach as our head coach. We have a new coaching staff as well. Or is this because of the possible lockout?

 

This shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Regardless of the buyout situation, the Rockets were expected to be one of the teams that would take Valanciunas without even blinking. As a Rocket fan, I am really hoping that the contract negotiations continue to go south because that is honestly the only way we are going to land him without giving up significant pieces to move up. There are still a lot of teams that would still take Valanciunas though, if he slips then it might be best to package our picks to move up a few spots so we could secure him before another team does.

 

Not to derail this thread, but I thought it was pretty cut and paste Battier has been the better player for the first 4-5 years of Gay's career. Now that Gay has leveled up he's the better player, however if you take the value (talent per dollar) of their contracts Battier's still the better choice for any contending team. Any team that pays Gay 20M is destined for failure, especially since all their other rookies are up for big money over the next 2-3 years.

 

You slept with Malick Badiane???

The thadeus strikes again!!