1. Los Angeles Lakers $91,377,313 3. Boston Celtics $85,214,270 5. Orlando Magic $80,532,126 6. Cleveland Cavaliers $80,277,945 7. San Antonio Spurs $80,205,721 If you're going to compete for a championship, you have to spend money. The league is in a state where you need 2-3 star players in order to truly contend. The Lakers have five (!). The Celtics have four. The Magic have three. The Cavs are looking for the "third", claiming Shaq to be the second. The Spurs have four. If this trade made us a championship contender in Les' eyes, he would have no problem spending near the likes of $90M for it. At some point, you have to just put the numbers down and look at it from a basketball perspective. Jamison is clearly better than Scola and probably will be for the next few years - Jamison would better help us become a championship contender. Les has not been hurting financially, and actually has been spending freely for draft picks. I have no question in my mind that he would increase team payroll to around those numbers if he believed it would make us a championship contender. The real debate should be whether: Brooks/Lowry Caron/Budinger Ariza/Shane Jamison/Landry/Dorsey Yao/Hayes/Andersen is good enough to win a championship. If that answer is yes, then you sign off on the team payroll. At some point, you have to push your chips in the middle and go for it.
Look at those teams you posted and look at who they have on their team. Lebrons, Kobes, Duncans, KGs. Antawn Jamison ain't going to help the Rockets to a championship
Considering Scola + Jamison put up similar stats, give or take in a few spots. Butler would be good with Yao and Co, but Haywood is just a rental and it's no guarantee he resigns or we want him back. And even then, Butler would be on his last year, so it's not worth it to 'push all our chips in the middle' for basically a one shot window at a title
Then it's a good thing we have Yao and Caron Butler on the team as well. I'm not saying Jamison is a #1 piece -- but a package of Jamison/Butler could potentially put us over the top. The Magic were a decent team with Dwight Howard, but after they overpaid for Rashard they became a championship contender. Sometimes you just need those extra pieces, even if you pay more than you should, to put you over the top.
No doubt it helps to spend, but you gotta spend wisely. Again, Scola puts up similar numbers to Jamison. So we'd be getting Butler, who'd be on the last leg of his deal with Yao next year. It'd be boom or bust for a title next season. And yes the Magic overpaid for Rashard, but, let's not forget how Hedo came into form, and Jameer Nelson panned out among other things. There's a lot of factors to consider outside of just spending
Like drafting well.. which the Rockets have done. If it doesn't work next year, Butler/Yao expires and we have Jamison left. I think Jamison would be pretty easy to deal in this scenario. The Wizards could deal him for Z right now, but they're holding out for Hickson. Worst case scenario, we can swap Jamison for another expiring. You guys are acting like he has a Brand-like radioactive contract. We can restart just the same, we would just trade Jamison for expirings instead of letting his contract expire.
I agree. But that's easier said than done. Please, give me a realistic "Shane for expirings + pick" trade that the Rockets could make. People throw this option around like it's a foregone conclusion that it could happen. But it's not really such an easy move to make. It's funny that you mention the Spurs. Through all of their championships, the Spurs had never paid more than $0.9M in luxury tax. This is the first season in which San Antonio has "paid up" and agreed to swallow a substantial luxury tax bill. And tell me. How is that Richard Jefferson acquisition working out for them now? He's going to end up costing that team about $26M this year alone. And they're actually WORSE than they've ever been, with Jefferson giving them very little. Morey and Les want to replicate what the Spurs were able to do during their championship years: Win titles without breaking the bank.
What makes you think that any team is going to want to take on the contract of a 35-year-old player making $15.1M, especially if there is a hard cap instituted before the 2011-12 season?
Hey, how do you think the Rockets got Ralph Sampson and "Akeem" Olajuwon??? Hell, the Houston Rockets are THE reason there even is an NBA Lottery!!!
You're right, the Spurs can't get rid of Jefferson and it's not because there is no desire to pull the trigger.
Then they better start doing what you hate - tanking. That's the only reason the Spurs are in this position. The Spurs are one of the few teams who have been able to acquire their stars through the draft, so it's helped keep their payroll down. However, they realized they were no longer good enough to contend - hence the Richard Jefferson trade. Because I don't think there will be a hard cap. This was the first proposal from the owners, of course it's going to be extreme. The players would never accept that, but it's a good negotiating tool for the owners to mark down the maximum salary and maximum number of years. Because I think Jamison will still be a good player. I don't think he's on his last legs, he's still got some years left in him. If a team decides they want to contend and it comes to a deadline, I can absolutely see a Jamison for expiring swap. Not to mention .. this move is for the Rockets to go all in for the 2010/2011 season. Yao Ming and Caron Butler expire in 2011. Jamison? Oh yeah, he expires in 2012. So yes, I think if the Rockets decide to restart in 2012, they won't have trouble moving Jamison's expiring contract, if they don't just let it expire themselves.
I don't necessarily think that's true. Through intelligent drafting, cap-conscious trades and wise free agent acquisitions, I think Morey can build a legit championship contender. Will it have as much talent as the Lakers? Probably not. But I think that Adelman has the ability to beat the Lakers in a seven-game series, especially if the Rockets had more talent and as Kobe gets older. Do you think Les is willing to bet $15.1M (plus whatever increased penalties are implemented under the new CBA) to find out? Personally, I'd choose "Scola/Lowry/MLE acquisition" over "just Jamison", because that'll likely be the actual choice, all else equal. And don't forget that, by 2012, the Rockets will have re-signed Brooks and Landry to big money contracts, they'll still have Ariza, they'll be paying their 2010 and 2011 first rounder, and you seem to be assuming that Scola and Lowry are re-signed, so they'll be eating up salary space. Tell me, how to you rebuild when Jamison's salary will do little in the way of actual salary cap room creation. Especially with a lower salary cap, which, regardless of what you think about a hard cap, is VERY likely to be the case.
For what it's worth, ESPN radio here in Dallas is reporting that the Mavericks are in talks with the Wizards for Caron Butler and Hayward. They'd send Josh Howard & a small expiring contract to the Wizards. If this is true, then it looks like the 3-way trade may be dead.
http://sports.espn.go.com...ba/news/story?id=4909238 Sources: Haywood enters fray of talksBy Marc Stein DALLAS -- Long-running trade talks between the Dallas Mavericks and Washington Wizards have taken a fresh twist now that the teams have discussed the prospect of packaging center Brendan Haywood to Dallas in the same deal with Wizards forward Caron Butler, according to sources close to the discussions.Talks between the teams had stalled in the past week, partly because of Washington's insistence that the Mavericks take guard DeShawn Stevenson in any Butler deal, but the potential for acquiring two front-line players -- since Butler and Haywood would immediately become key rotation players for the Mavs -- has renewed Dallas' interest. Sources said that such a deal, which is still in the discussion phase, would send Josh Howard and a handful of cap-friendly contracts to the Wizards and holds appeal both for both sides. It would enable Washington to truly launch its rebuilding efforts, realize significant financial relief in the midst of a disastrous season and achieve those aims without giving up forward Antawn Jamison, which is the Wizards' preference. The possible acquisitions of Butler and Haywood, meanwhile, would be a welcome spark for the sputtering Mavericks, with Butler moving into the spot vacated by the out-of-favor Howard and Haywood arriving as another rim-protecting defensive anchor in the wake of a knee injury that has compromised the effectiveness of Mavs center Erick Dampier. Acquiring Haywood and having the chance to re-sign him this summer would likely fill the void Dallas thought it filled last summer, when the Mavs signed Orlando center Marcin Gortat to a lucrative offer sheet, only for the Magic to unexpectedly match the offer to the restricted free agent. Yet there are undeniable impediments to a Washington-Dallas deal. The Wizards, according to sources, would still rather make the smaller deal with Dallas reported by ESPN.com on Feb. 5: Butler and Stevenson for Howard and a small expiring contract such as James Singleton or Quinton Ross. One source said that the Wizards, who continue to talk trades with the Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers and other teams, are reluctant to part with Haywood as the deal is currently structured. In the latest proposals exchanged by the teams, Dallas would send Howard (whose $11.8 million salary next season is a team option) to Washington and also surrender backup center Drew Gooden, along with multiple low-salaried players such as Tim Thomas, Singleton and Ross. Washington would inevitably want prized Mavericks rookie Rodrigue Beaubois added to the deal, but Mavs owner Mark Cuban said earlier this week that his young point guard is "pretty much untouchable" as Thursday's trade deadline approaches. It is not known whether Washington would accept Mavericks guard J.J. Barea instead. Speaking to a group of reporters Thursday, Cuban said: "We kind of know the parameters [under] which we would make a deal. If somebody meets our parameters, we'll pull the trigger. But if not, we're not going to do it. I don't see us doing something just to do something because that'll kill our flexibility this summer. But in the event that there's somebody that really upgrades our talent and really makes our team better, then maybe we'll do it." The Rockets have also been discussing deals for the Wizards for some time and have maintained an interest in Butler and Haywood in a deal featuring Tracy McGrady's $22.5 million expiring contract. As with the Dallas talks, though, Washington has continued to seek more than mere payroll relief from Houston. The Rockets have balked at including any of the players in their long-term plans -- such as Shane Battier, Carl Landry, Luis Scola or Kyle Lowry -- just as the Mavericks say they won't surrender Beaubois. The Wizards have likewise repeatedly insisted that Cleveland include young power forward J.J. Hickson in a trade for Jamison, which has dissuaded the Cavs from following through on their longstanding Jamison interest. Yahoo! Sports reported Friday that the Wizards and Boston Celtics are discussing a trade that would send Butler and Jamison to the Celtics for a package headlined by Ray Allen's $19.7 million expiring contract. Celtics general manager Danny Ainge has subsequently denied such talks, telling The Boston Globe "there is no truth" to the notion of swapping Allen for two players who could dramatically reshape the look of the Celtics. Although one source warned Friday that it would be a mistake "to sleep on that one," another source close to the situation insisted to ESPN.com that a Boston-Washington swap looks "very doubtful" because of the considerable long-term expense Boston would be taking on -- for players who play the same positions as Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett -- and because of Washington's reluctance to part with Jamison. "I have no control over trade rumors," Allen said via his Twitter feed. "Let's just focus on being positive. I am a Celtic. Green all day." Marc Stein is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com.
Rockets may have to look elsewhere. http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nb...ss&source=twitter&ex_cid=Twitter_espn_4909238
