Denver wants to cut about $5 million in salary so they can get under the luxury tax. Well John Lucas III and Bob Sura would only count $1.5 million against the cap if traded for then released. John Lucas III's salary of $770,610 ($500,000 guaranteed) plus Bob Sura's real salary of $4,160,000 ($1,000,000 guaranteed) plus Luther Head's salary of $1,122,000 for Marcus Camby's salary of $8 million, works under the CBA because Bob Sura's real salary is $4,160,000, it is not $3,840,000, that is his salary for last year, it's just a typo. I say that again, John Lucas III, Bob Sura, and Luther Head works under the CBA for Marcus Camby. Denver gives out $8,000,000 in salary, then they waive John Lucas III and Bob Sura for a total of $1,500,000 and add Luther Head for $1,122,000. This means they cut $5,378,000 in salary from their cap. Houston can throw in a future first round draft pick. So it is essentially Luther Head, salary dump, getting out of the luxury tax, and a future first round draft pick for Denver, in exchange for Marcus Camby. Houston gets their power forward in exchange for players that they really do not need. Denver can then play Luther Head in place of JR Smith, whom they can now package in another trade. It is no secret that George Karl wants JR Smith gone. Luther Head would fill his role as 3 point shooter off the bench at the shooting guard spot. He could also play in the back court alongside Allen Iverson, something that would make him actually much more valuable to Denver than he is to Houston. This also clears and balances the Houston roster. PG James/Alston/Brooks SG McGrady/Wells/Snyder SF Battier/Novak/Reed PF Camby/Hayes/Landry C Yao/Mutombo The Rockets would have this in salary: James $6.083 million (salary after the trade kicker) Alston $4.55 million McGrady $19.014 million Wells $2.284 million Snyder $2.358 million Battier $5.884 million Novak $.687 million Reed $1.438 million Camby $8.0 million Landry $.427 million (rookie deal) Brooks $.811 million (rookie deal) Mutombo $1.22 million (vet's minimum) Yao $13.763 million (his real salary, he got a raise under the new CBA) That equals $66,519,000 in salary. The luxury tax should be around $68,000,000. So that leaves about $1,481,000 for Chuck Hayes to be re-signed. I actually believe Morey said something about having offered Hayes about $1.5 million to start during one of his interviews on Fox. There may be more to the Camby sightings than meets the eye.
How about we use the expiring contracts of Sura, VSpan, Lucas to let Denver shave 5 mill from their luxury tax and pick up Eduardo Najera. I have always loved Najera's bruising style. I still remember him playing the the NCAA with a broken nose for the Sooners. Here is an article about him picking up his option for 07-08' Najera Najera/Battier would be a hustling front court.
Overall best fit: Udonis Haslem Best free agent: PJ Brown best player through trade: Mcdyess Kurt Thomas Ryan Gomes Gooden Diaw Turiaf *Rocket also need to somehow get the draft rights to Joel Freeland.
Thats a good proposal, but I just don't see Denver handing a Championship to a team in the west like the rockets for JL3, Sura's contract, Head and a 1st round draft pick. Adding the defensive player of the year in Camby to a team with Yao, T-Mac, Battier, Wells and James would make this team the front runners for the championship. Although I would jump off a cliff with a huge smile on my face if a trade like that went down.
I like your analysis. Haslem would be great. But you got to take McDyess, Gooden, and Turiaf off the best through trade list and replace with Wilcox.
Hooroo, can't say I am a fan of your list. I'd say best via trade would be Camby and Lee (granted very long shots), then say Ike D or Sheldon Williams or Balkman (should be attainable for a lot less). Well I would include Gooden and Haslem in this 2nd group here--but I don't think they are available and I wouldn't include Battier for sure to attain them. Turiaf isn't that available, and he is more of a center anyway. We could get Brian Cook, but I'd put him 3rd tier. I have no interest in Diaw, a soft terrible rebounding power forward (even compared to Cook) at a big contract. Of vet free agents Joe Smith, Webber and PJ would be my order--none too exciting. Of younger ones with major upside Darko, Blatche, or Johnson is who we could look at. Lawrence Roberts with a modest ceiling might be worth taking a look for with an LLE or vet min.
Feigen says it's 3.8 and he gets his numbers from "a source". Also 4.16M exceeds the 8% max yearly raises.
lol, 33% of our budget is given to a player with a bad back who plays like he's 33/34.....this team is going to suck until we get rid of that problem...but it's not going to happen. Sad how some of us are talking about Darco not being good enough, but most of us don't get it, we won't be able to get anyone better than him given the cap situation. I was hoping that this new GM would be able to make my dream a reality - NO T-BACK - but I think this guy's content with status quo.
Not a fan of Wilcox simply because of the ex-clips q-rich, mo t, pike, anymore? i feel pj is hard done by. hornets making the playoffs a few years ago was credited to paul and west but i felt brown played a good hand in that as well.
Well, like I posted earlier in this thread this morning: Gooden could very well be available. i was never real high on him but, the more I think about it, he certainly intrigues me. Guy has real height, can shoot the mid-range shot, has a decent post game and is mobile for his size. Not to mention he is a good rebounder. I think he would fit well with Yao and be a nice guy to have in there when Yao sits. If Cleveland is looking to avoid the luxury tax or wants to spend that money at a different position, I think the Rockets, and more specifically Sura's and VSpan's contracts, could be enticing. What about a three-way deal centered around something like: Rockets trade VSpan, Sura, Snyder or Head to get Gooden They get their starting 4 Cleveland trades Gooden and gets Turkoglu Can spend to retain Varejo and gets a MUCH needed shooter to play off of Lebron Orlando trades Turkoglu and gets VSpan, Sura and Snyder Frees cap room to retain Darko. Now things would have to be tweaked to even salaries and maybe a pick or two has to be thrown in, especially from the Rockets' end, but I think something could be worked out.
Remind me, what happened last time Gooden was on a team with McGrady? And besides: http://www.82games.com/0607/06CLE11D.HTM http://www.82games.com/0506/05CLE12D.HTM
if cavs moved gooden and took back turkeyglu their salary situation doesn't really change as both have salaries in the 6 million range. they don't really need turkeyglu with lebron playing the same position. cavs are now reportedly trying to shift hughes or marshall. ideally they'd like to keep both gooden and varejao.
And, remind me who is attainable that is significantly better? I'm not saying he is a great player who will automatically push the Rockets past the Suns and Spurs in the West, but he is probably the best they can get and is nice player. Plus, you can't discount the playoff experience he just gained this season.
if the rockets enter the new season with chuck hayes as their starting pf. he's going to be this season's rafer alston.
I'm not sure how I feel about adding Drew Gooden. On paper he seems to fit the bill: nice size/athleticism, still pretty young, excellent rebounder and pretty effective offensively. I don't know though. He seems to not display the best basketball IQ in the world, is pretty bad defensively and he's sooooo inconsistent. Seriously, pull up his game logs if you want to see the epitome of a hit-or-miss kind of player. He's all over the board there. His Per-48-Minutes are excellent, though. Might be worth a shot.
one of the pros of gooden is his short contract, only two years left. if he doesn't fit he becomes an expiring contract with bird rights. at his age and numbers he'll be very tradeable.
Drew Gooden is the second highest scorer on thet Cleveland Caveliers. They are not going to let the dude go. Trust me.
Yeah, I'm not sure how I feel about Gooden either. But he's clearly better than anyone else we have a shot at getting. Just for fun, I ran this trade through a trade checker: Cleveland trades: Gooden, Snow Houston trades: Alston, Snyder, Sura, Spanoulis (maybe Landry/future pick) Cleveland dumps salary (saves $6 mil from Sura's, Spanoulis' contracts) Houston gets a PF who can start.
