RealGM

There are some people (mostly non-Rockets fans understandably) who are still unsure of the Rockets cap situation and how Dwight's max ($20.5 million) can be afforded. By declining Delfino, Brooks, Anderson, Ohlbrecht, and Garcia, Houston have $16,181,453 in cap space. From there, by trading Thomas Robinson (without taking any salary in return) the cap space moves to $19,217,713 which is close enough considering how much Dwight saves from the fact Texas is an income tax-free state ($4,786,713.82 over 4 years, or $1,094, 342.38 compared to what he would make with the Lakers over 4 years). However, if Dwight wants more the Rockets can also use the Stretch Provision on Royce White which opens up an additional $656,320 in cap room. Here are the calculations:

NOTE: All cap space amounts are calculated to an estimated salary cap of $58.5 million.

James Harden: $13,668,750
Omer Asik: $8,374,646
Jeremy Lin: $8,374,646
Thomas Robinson: $3,526,440
Royce White: $1,719,480
Terrence Jones: $1,551,840
Donatas Motiejunas: $1,422,720
Chandler Parsons: $926,500
Greg Smith: $884,293
Patrick Beverley: $788,872
Tyler Honeycutt: $100,000 (waived)
Roster charge: $490,180
Roster charge: $490,180

Total = $42,318,547 = $16,181,453 in cap room
+ Thomas Robinson ($3,526,440) - cap hold (490,180) = $19,217,713 in cap room
+ Savings from waiving and stretching Royce White ($656,320 which accounts for the cap hold) = $19,874,033

And if we want a little more, we can waive Greg Smith too which saves us an additional $394,113 (which accounts for the cap hold).

For those who are wondering why Asik and Lin's contracts aren't around the $5 million mark, the poison pill contract structure of 5/5/15 only applies to the team that matches (New York, Chicago) otherwise it's averaged out roughly 8.4/8.4/8.4.

I hope this helps.

Sources:
http://www.cbafaq.com
http://www.hoopsworld.com
http://www.shamsports.com/2013/06/the-a ... -will.html

Very good info! I have a feeling that I'll be linking to this thread quite a bit over the next few weeks.

since you guys post on this a lot more then i do.

What percentage would we most likely get Dwight Howard?

Will he play a long side Asik and have the best defensive back court in decades

Or will he play the 5 and who will be our stretch 4 respectively?

-Sizzle

Good stuff!

hungsizzle wrote:since you guys post on this a lot more then i do.

What percentage would we most likely get Dwight Howard?

Will he play a long side Asik and have the best defensive back court in decades

Or will he play the 5 and who will be our stretch 4 respectively?

-Sizzle

My guess:

Even Dwight doesn't know what he will do, his decision will largely depend on his meetings with the teams he's considering, but the Rockets do look like the best choice so far basketball wise if he is to leave the Lakers and he knows that. However, I have a feeling Phil Jackson will make a surprise appearance during Dwight's meeting with the Lakers, and Dwight is notoriously fickle so I'm trying not to get my hopes up.

Although there might be some experimenting where we see Asik and Dwight on the floor at the same time, this is not something that will be done often. I'm sure Asik's long term future with Houston will be imminently over with the arrival of Dwight, and Daryl Morey will be patiently fielding offers with the intention of getting a HUGE return for such a valuable asset in Asik--until that day comes most of Asik's minutes will come off the bench while Dwight sits. Chances are we will see Asik moved at the 2014 deadline, and Furkan Aldemir (also from Turkey, is a smaller version of Asik) will replace his spot at the back-up 5 spot, but don't rule out the possibility that Asik will be moved even sooner than that if the right deal comes along.

It seems like it would be unwise to cut Greg Smith to save ~$400k.

srs les should just dig in his billion dollar budget and send him a check for w/e his salary is

moofs wrote:It seems like it would be unwise to cut Greg Smith to save ~$400k.

I think we will keep him, but I'm not sure. If we are bringing Furkan Aldemir over from Turkey, and I'm guessing we are, then we don't really have a need for Greg Smith.