Morey is "folding" on Rob over Mot and Jones because there has been a change in the landscape and he is reacting to his opportunities. Rob is selected to go because of his salary, and the opportunity to land Dwight Howard. We're on the brink of shifting from 'building a core' to 'building around a core'.
Trob still a pup that can be train, even though he went to two different homes he still a top breed aka draft pick full of potential! Picking him up for pennies on the dollar and it frees you up to make better moves in the draft so you don't reach for need. Called curving your risk.
Ugh. Good GM. Bad GM. Good GM takes the 27th pick and turns it into the 33rd and the 35 pick another year out. Bad GM only sees the current situation and takes the 33rd pick.
If Hinkie decides not to bring back Bynum then I could definitely see the 76ers as a possible destination for TRob. However, we saw the Rockets stick with Yao till the bitter end because Morey knew how difficult it is to get an all-star, perhaps Hinkie has the same theory with Bynum. If Bynum comes back healthy next season he would be a monster under the basket in the East. Hinkie may not want to give up on that so fast.
If Hinkie is a true disciple of Morey, he won't sign Bynum long-term for big money. He may give him a 2-yr $15 million deal with the second year only partially guaranteed or not guaranteed at all. I would be very surprised if he gives Bynum more years or more money than that. That is...if Hinkie is a disciple of Morey.
I wish we didn't have to give him up. The 4.5 and 4.1 stat line in 13 minutes ain't exactly horrible. He just needs more court time and he'll be a good player.
He needs minutes and routine. Don't know if that will ever happen here. I think if he got 30 a night next season somewhere where there is no pressure to win, I think his game would improve greatly. And I think he can eventually shoot the 3 ball which will make him very valuable with his defensive hustle and springs.
So if TRob looked like he was going to become AStod if given more time would he still trade him because of his 3.5 salary? i know its to get dwight but unloading other pieces to get that same money would be smarter even if it meant dumping future picks, cash etc to unload salary. He is not going that route for a reason.
I think he wants more assets to execute a S&T, which is the only possible way for the Rockets to get a 2nd major signing, 2nd signing if they land Howard.
Should the Rockets sign Howard, they'll be in a win-right-now mode immediately. That'd mean getting whoever can contribute now. Similar situation when they had to trade Rudy Gay for Battier. TRob is the only larger contract that cannot contribute now.
There has never been a "change in landscape" with respect to Robinson. The Rockets' plan has been to go after Howard since long before the trade. It's not like that the team made the Robinson trade and then found out that they had interest in Dwight and that Robinson's salary would stand in the way. This is big part of what makes the trade a silly one: People keep on telling me that getting Robinson was for the future and not the present because has a good chance of developing into an elite player if we given him a couple years. The fact, however, is that the Rockets were never in a position to give Robinson "a couple years" to "develop." Robinson had two months to dramatically improve over his Sacramento level of play and show some potential or else he's out to make room for Dwight Howard. Heck, he might have been out to make room for Dwight even if he had impressed-- the difference would be that the Rockets would get something decent in return had he dramatically improved over the last 20 games of the season (a highly unlikely proposition). If the Rockets were a 15-30 win team with little hope of attracting a top free agent, the Robinson trade would have made a lot of sense. Teams in that kind of situation are in a position to bet on guys like Robinson and be patient with them, maybe even giving substantial him minutes that he does not deserve. Hell, even if the Rockets were where they were a few years ago, a .500 team with good role players but no star, it would make sense to take a bet on a high upside guy. In fact, I think the TWill trade was a good bet, even though the Rockets eventually lost it. The fact is that the Rockets are not a tanking team and they are not the 2009-2012 Rockets. They are a team with an elite player, some good young role players, and a good chance of landing a second star and become a contender in 2013-14. Such a team is not in a position to give chances to guys like Robinson or Terrence Williams. We all know this going into the trade deadline.
The landscape changed with the odds of Dwight coming to Houston going up. Around the all star break the odds were still very small for Howard to leave LA and the TRob trade made sense. Morey was never going to chase anyone but Paul and Howard this year. With the odds going up and him getting positive indications of Howard signing here he now needs to free up the cap space as it is a legit option. Around the all star break the odds were still probably around 5 to 10% of Howard leaving.
NEWS FLASH Trading T-Rob is not enough to offer Dwight the max with no cap increase I crunched the numbers again in the scenario of no cap increase. That is the worst case scenario of the cap remaining at $58,044,000. Cap Room after waiving Cisco, Delfino, Brooks, Anderson, G.Smith, Ohlbrect 1) Harden 13,663,558 2) Asik 8,374,646 3) Lin 8,374,646 4) Parsons 926,500 5) Robinson 3,526,440 6) White 1,719,480 7) Jones 1,551,840 8) Montiejunas 1,422,720 9) Beverley 788,872 10) 2nd Rounder Cap Hold 490,180 11) Cap Hold 490,180 12) Cap Hold 490,180 Total Cap Hit = 41,919,242 Howard max = 20,513,178 Extra cap needed for Howard max = 4,388,420 We will be short about $4.4 million. Sending out Robinson's $3.5 million contract for a future first round will make us short about $1.4m after we replace his spot with a cap hold. So the Rockets need to send out T-Rob + PF to offer Dwight the max. Or alternatively, using the stretch provision on White's contract would get us close (idea from BimaThug). Cap Hit after sending out T-Rob and stretching White 1) Harden 13,663,558 2) Asik 8,374,646 3) Lin 8,374,646 4) Parsons 926,500 5) Cap Hold 490,180 6) White 573,160 (stretched) 7) Jones 1,551,840 8) Montiejunas 1,422,720 9) Beverley 788,872 10) 2nd Rounder Cap Hold 490,180 11) Cap Hold 490,180 12) Cap Hold 490,180 Total Cap Hit = 37,736,662 Howard max = 20,513,178 Extra cap needed for Howard max = 205,840 We would be short by $205,840 if we executed this scenario. However, if we could use the balance of our cash allowance $2.1 m to pay a team to take White off our books, this would be preferred. In summary, in the worst case scenario that the salary cap remains unchanged at $58,044,000, Houston will still be short about $1.4m after sending out T-Rob for a future first round draft pick. Look for Houston to try and send out another PF to free up the required cap room to offer Dwight a max deal. As a last resort, Houston can stretch White's contract which would put it around $200,000 short of offering Dwight the max.
It wouldn't matter here because an empty roster slot does have the same cap hold. However, the salary cap is projected to go up slightly. However slightly, that increase will be enough. But it won't rise up to near TRob salary.
Yes, but we must have sufficient room under the cap to sign Dwight outright to a max contract. You are not allowed to sign a free agent if you dont have enough cap room.
