The negativity is why Lowry and Martin will be gone within the next two weeks. I firmly believe if we pull off the Asik deal. It would trigger the Gordon deal as Morey would see the light at the end of the tunnel. He would do anything it took to make it happen. And with these deals concurrently happening. I would presume we could target not only the re-signing of Dragic/Camby. But we could pursue another top F/A. Mid-Level or such at the very least.
Because the amnesty is only useful for getting out of expensive contracts that have a few years left on them. I understand the premise of wanting to amnesty Martin because the amount he makes isn't worth the production he put up last year. However, even if you consider Martin overpaid, his expiring contract will have value to teams looking to clear cap space, especially at the trade deadline next year. Now, I believe Martin is traded before the season even starts, but you see my point. Expiring contracts are valuable trade chips. Scola on the other hand, has three years left on his contract and by the time his final year hits, he will be making almost 12 million. Considering that if his production continues to plummet, trading him could become more difficult. Instead of staying in this bad contract, the Rockets could choose to amnesty him. Looking at the contracts, he is really the only Rocket that is a candidate for amnesty. However, I believe Scola is traded before the season starts also. The Rockets will probably never use the amnesty option on a contract. To sum it up quick, expiring contracts no matter how expensive are valuable and are not in need of amnesty. Lengthy, expensive contracts are the contracts you amnesty, because teams may not be willing to take them on in a trade, or you simply may not like the trade offers you get for the player. Hope this helps.
K-Mart had one bad year, but he can still be the third best player on a championship team. He's value will begin to uptick once free agency madness is behind us, especially towards the deadline.
