No options on Thabeet, Williams or Flynn

[texasholdem]

Compare Garnett and Jamison's stats this year. Kevin is and will always be the better player than Tawn. Jamison is shooting only 40%.

Plus Jamison only makes $15m while Garnett makes $21m and Scola+Martin make about $21m together so we'd have to take back another contract from CLE to get Jamison.

[Mr. E]

No extensions for Hill or Courtney Lee.

Lee becomes a RFA, so will most likely be back.

Morey's moves were subtle; but it looks as tho he's given the team max salary room without sacrificing depth.

[x-]

If we don't extend Hill & Bud then that is an additional $3.7M off of the books.

Picking up Bud's option is a no brainer. He's still only marginally more expensive than most teams 15th man.

I thought they may pick up T-Will's option, but I'm certainly not shocked that they didn't.

I believe Dragic will get MLE type money next year from some team, which is why I think it's pretty likely that he will get dealt at the trade deadline.

Finding a decent backup PG in free agency shouldn't be too hard, though.
Remember, we still can bring over Sergio Llull.
Also, Bo McCalleb, who is one of, if not the best Euroleague player, is going to be a free agent.
Then there's the draft (how about Aaron Craft) and of course you can always trade.

[MaxRider]

No extensions for Hill or Courtney Lee.

Lee becomes a RFA, so will most likely be back.

Morey's moves were subtle; but it looks as tho he's given the team max salary room without sacrificing depth.

it's been Morey's standard not to give any extension
we just pay the market price
remember Scola and Lowry?
since they all suck i doubt Morey will re-sign them

[x-]

If we don't extend Hill & Bud then that is an additional $3.7M off of the books.

Picking up Bud's option is a no-brainer. He's still only marginally more expensive than most teams 12th man.

I thought they may pick up T-Will's option, but I'm certainly not shocked that they didn't.

I believe Dragic will get MLE type money next year from some team, which is why I think it's pretty likely that he will get dealt at the trade deadline.

Finding a decent backup PG in free agency shouldn't be too hard, though.
Remember, we still can bring over Sergio Llull.
Also, Bo McCalleb, who is one of, if not the best Euroleague player, is going to be a free agent.
Then of course there's the draft (how about Aaron Craft?) and you can always trade for one if need be.

[Mr. E]

No extensions for Hill or Courtney Lee.

Lee becomes a RFA, so will most likely be back.

Morey's moves were subtle; but it looks as tho he's given the team max salary room without sacrificing depth.

it's been Morey's standard not to give any extension
we just pay the market price
remember Scola and Lowry?
since they all suck i doubt Morey will re-sign them

I think that there is a very good chance that we'll match an offer on Lee as long as no one overpays by too much.

Feignen is reporting that with these moves the Rockets will have cap space for two max contracts. To me that says not to move Martin & Scola right now. Unlike other teams who gutted themselves to get salary room we would have a very solid supporting cast & bench to try to entice some free agents.

[Mr. E]

If we don't extend Hill & Bud then that is an additional $3.7M off of the books.

Picking up Bud's option is a no-brainer. He's still only marginally more expensive than most teams 12th man.

I thought they may pick up T-Will's option, but I'm certainly not shocked that they didn't.

I believe Dragic will get MLE type money next year from some team, which is why I think it's pretty likely that he will get dealt at the trade deadline.

Finding a decent backup PG in free agency shouldn't be too hard, though.
Remember, we still can bring over Sergio Llull.
Also, Bo McCalleb, who is one of, if not the best Euroleague player, is going to be a free agent.
Then of course there's the draft (how about Aaron Craft?) and you can always trade for one if need be.

Bud's option is only around $1M, isn't it? For depths sake that would make sense.

Or they can split those minutes between Parsons & Morris.

I did not think of Llull. If we deal Dragic then it would be a great time for him to come over.

[x-]

Bud's option is only around $1M, isn't it? For depths sake that would make sense.

Yes. It's 855k. Bud may not crack the rotation, but at 855k he's still an asset.

For that matter, I wouldn't be surprised if Bud, too, were to get traded at or before the trade deadline.

NEW TRADE POWERRANKINGS (based on nothing but speculation):
1.T-Will 2.Bud 3.Hill 4.Dragic 5.Flynn 6.Thabeet 7.Scola 8.Martin 9.Morris 10.Dalembert 11.Lee 12.Adrien 13.Patterson 14.Lowry 15.Parsons)

[tekkon]

No option on Hill either accoring to WT

[zapatasblood]

No extensions for Hill or Courtney Lee.

Lee becomes a RFA, so will most likely be back.

Morey's moves were subtle; but it looks as tho he's given the team max salary room without sacrificing depth.

it's been Morey's standard not to give any extension
we just pay the market price
remember Scola and Lowry?
since they all suck i doubt Morey will re-sign them

I think that there is a very good chance that we'll match an offer on Lee as long as no one overpays by too much.

Feignen is reporting that with these moves the Rockets will have cap space for two max contracts. To me that says not to move Martin & Scola right now. Unlike other teams who gutted themselves to get salary room we would have a very solid supporting cast & bench to try to entice some free agents.

I do not think the Rocket will get even one of the two Howard/Williams. I wish but it seems unlikely. But if we did you could and should say good buy Lowry.

Compare Garnett and Jamison's stats this year. Kevin is and will always be the better player than Tawn. Jamison is shooting only 40%.

Plus Jamison only makes $15m while Garnett makes $21m and Scola+Martin make about $21m together so we'd have to take back another contract from CLE to get Jamison.

Maybe it is the simple fact that I hate everything about KG. Us to be able to respect his game but can't do that now. Also he is also injured a lot

[MaxRider]

I do not think the Rocket will get even one of the two Howard/Williams. I wish but it seems unlikely. But if we did you could and should say good buy Lowry.

never say never
there's a chance and it's worth trying
i know Lowry is balling
hate to see him go
you need to sell when stock is high
reason why Rockets don't tank is because they want these stars to see us as a good team
plus him it will take us to the next step

best case scenario
Orlando do sign-and-trade
they get NY and our pick plus TE
New Jersey losing Dwight and Deron wants out
do sign-and-trade with them for Scola+Lowry
that leave us with enough cap space to re-sign Lee and Dragic
C - Dwight
PF - Patterson, Morris
SF - Parsons, Budinger
SG - Martin, Lee
PG - Deron, Dragic
not enough player?
you can count on Morey to work his magic to buy 2nd round picks and get us decent players

[zapatasblood]

well I want to be proven wrong

[texasholdem]

Maybe it is the simple fact that I hate everything about KG. Us to be able to respect his game but can't do that now. Also he is also injured a lot

In the last 3 seasons Jamison has missed 43 games due to injury. Garnett has missed 49 games due to injury. Not a big difference. This season neither one has missed a game so far.

If we trade for either veteran we probably should be starting Patrick Patterson anyway or Marcus Morris.

[x-]

Feigen is reporting that with these moves the Rockets will have cap space for two max contracts. To me that says not to move Martin & Scola right now. Unlike other teams who gutted themselves to get salary room we would have a very solid supporting cast & bench to try to entice some free agents.

I just looked at the numbers and this isn't true.

As of right now, the Rockets, at least, would have $38.9M in salaries commited, which is about one max contract.
That number factors in Dalembert getting waived (doubtful), Adrien getting waived and the Rockets renouncing their bird rights to Lee and Dragic (unlikely). Furthermore it doesn't include the cap holds for any of the Rockets draft picks (that's about another $3M+ or so)...

... which is why I think there's still a good chance Scola (big salary number - Patterson ready to step in), Dragic (cap hold, about to get paid) and perhaps Martin (big salary number - Lee being a starter quality SG) get traded.
I also think it's save to say that all of the 09 draft bust will be on the trade block. To stay flexible I don't see us taking back any long term salaries, unless it's a clear upgrade though.

Next year's free agency is pretty loaded:

Cream of the crop:
Dwight Howard
Deron Williams

Near max guys:
Eric Gordon (R)

$10M+ players:
Gerald Wallace

For the right price, in the right situation:
Marcus Camby
Chauncey Billups
Kevin Garnett
Ray Allen
Andre Miller
Jason Kidd
Jason Terry
Kirk Hinrich

Could see Morey go after them:
Omer Asik (R)
Ian Mahinmi
Bo McCalebb ( )
Ryan Anderson (R)
Nicolas Batum (R)
George Hill (R)
Landry Fields (R)
Jodie Meeks (R)
Darrell Arthur (R)
Ramon Sessions
Anthony Randolph

Enticing, but probably too expensive:
Roy Hibbert (R)
Brook Lopez (R)
JaVale McGee (R)

[texasholdem]

Eric Gordon is a near Max player? His first two seaons were OK. His third season was pretty good, about the same as Kevin Martin. This season, his 4th he's only played in 2 games due to injury. He hasn't played in the playoffs yet or been an AllStar yet.

[texasholdem]

New Orleans trying to trade Chris Kaman. Eric Gordon will be out 6 weeks.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachi ... Id=7cxhzwm

Kaman to Houston for Thabeet, Flynn and Williams.

[Mr. E]

Thanks for the info, x! Those initial reports did sound a bit pie-in-the-sky, but I wanted to believe them!

[x-]

Eric Gordon is a near Max player? His first two seaons were OK. His third season was pretty good, about the same as Kevin Martin. This season, his 4th he's only played in 2 games due to injury. He hasn't played in the playoffs yet or been an AllStar yet.

Well, lots of teams will have cap space next summer and Gordon's 'max' isn't a whole lot of money, at least in relative terms to what you might think of when you hear max player/money.
The most Gordon can get is $16M/year over 5 years I believe. Even less if he signs with another team.

Is he worth that? Probably not.
Will somebody offer him the max or close to it? I believe so.

The difference between Gordon and Martin is age/upside, defense and the ablility to create for yourself and others.

[zapatasblood]

New Orleans trying to trade Chris Kaman. Eric Gordon will be out 6 weeks.

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachi ... Id=7cxhzwm

Kaman to Houston for Thabeet, Flynn and Williams.

See no problem