RealGM

There are a number of articles suggesting GM Daryl Morey of the Rockets may try to sign Jimmy Butler. But they'd have dump several salaries to do it. One being Eric Gordon at 14M.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/texas-sports-nation/brian-t-smith/article/Brian-Smith-Third-star-fix-Rockets-drama-problems-14003393.php

Eric Gordon seems like an ideal player for the Pacers.

I'd be fine with helping the Rockets get Butler. Maybe we could get Gordon for free too?

8305 wrote:I'd be fine with helping the Rockets get Butler. Maybe we could get Gordon for free too?

They’d be wanting us to send the value in terms of picks to Philly since they don’t have young value.


If free agency comes and goes, I’d be fine with absorbing Eric. I’m not paying for the right. He’s be a huge help until Vic comes back, but at that point, he’s an 18 minute a night backup. And an expensive one that keeps us from working on the PG spot.

Scoot McGroot wrote:They’d be wanting us to send the value in terms of picks to Philly since they don’t have young value.

If free agency comes and goes, I’d be fine with absorbing Eric. I’m not paying for the right. He’s be a huge help until Vic comes back, but at that point, he’s an 18 minute a night backup. And an expensive one that keeps us from working on the PG spot.

Philly is not trading Jimmy Butler to the Rockets. It would be Houston clearing salaries with no money salary coming back to sign Butler to maximum possible. So give them one of those Second Round picks we just got. Plus you'd get Gordon's "bird rights" as he is on an expiring deal.

Very likely just wishful thinking but that Sun's deal makes you realize that teams do really dumb stuff this time of year.

Lazlo4D wrote:

Scoot McGroot wrote:They’d be wanting us to send the value in terms of picks to Philly since they don’t have young value.

If free agency comes and goes, I’d be fine with absorbing Eric. I’m not paying for the right. He’s be a huge help until Vic comes back, but at that point, he’s an 18 minute a night backup. And an expensive one that keeps us from working on the PG spot.

Philly is not trading Jimmy Butler to the Rockets. It would be Houston clearing salaries with no money salary coming back to sign Butler to maximum possible. So give them one of those Second Round picks we just got. Plus you'd get Gordon's "bird rights" as he is on an expiring deal.

Very likely just wishful thinking but that Sun's deal makes you realize that teams do really dumb stuff this time of year.

Are you signing Eric Gordon to be a $15m per year backup to Vic?

Otherwise, Houston is in a spot where they can dump all the salary they want, but if they have just Harden and Paul on the books, they cannot offer Jimmy Butler but around $19m. They HAVE to get him via trade.

Scoot McGroot wrote:Are you signing Eric Gordon to be a $15m per year backup to Vic?

Otherwise, Houston is in a spot where they can dump all the salary they want, but if they have just Harden and Paul on the books, they cannot offer Jimmy Butler but around $19m. They HAVE to get him via trade.

If the Rockets cleared Gordon, Capella, & PJ Tucker they'd have over $ 30M to sign Butler. Unless I'm reading the charts wrong. ($ 109M Cap - ( $ 38M Harden + $ 38M Paul )

No Eric Gordon would be a starter and I like to resign Bojan too with his bird rights. But if Bojan leaves then it will be hard to find someone better than Gordon on the FA market.

Again this is all highly unlikely but who knows...

Lazlo4D wrote:

Scoot McGroot wrote:Are you signing Eric Gordon to be a $15m per year backup to Vic?

Otherwise, Houston is in a spot where they can dump all the salary they want, but if they have just Harden and Paul on the books, they cannot offer Jimmy Butler but around $19m. They HAVE to get him via trade.

If the Rockets cleared Gordon, Capella, & PJ Tucker they'd have over $ 30M to sign Butler. Unless I'm reading the charts wrong. ($ 109M Cap - ( $ 38M Harden + $ 38M Paul )

There's a little known thing called "minimum roster charges". Since a team must have no less than 13 players under contract (14 for most of the season), for every roster spot under 13, there's a charge at the vet minimum salary. So, with just Harden and Paul on the books, that leaves 10 minimum roster charges of a tad under $900k, this year. Add in that $9m, and you're at just under $24m (my rough math skills suck, man!). That's the max they could sign him for if he was a free agent without a S&T. Looks like $23.6m, since they have some dead money on the books from stretch waiving Troy Williams last year.

Lazlo4D wrote:No Eric Gordon would be a starter and I like to resign Bojan too with his bird rights. But if Bojan leaves then it will be hard to find someone better than Gordon on the FA market.

Again this is all highly unlikely but who knows...

Yeah, if Bojan leaves, it's hard to say. But, the tough thing is, you can't really play Eric Gordon in the Bojan spot, nor Vic Oladipo. Both are really true absolute 2 guards. You can play one out of position at PG, but I just don't love not having a PG, when it's such an important position.

Now, Pritchard did mention that he was looking at hopefully signing a starting quality 2 guard in free agency since Vic Oladipo is out so long, so Eric Gordon would be that. Pritchard keeps saying "3 or 4 holes to fill in free agency", so, even if one is filled with the room exception after cap space is used, it sure sounds like we're going to be splitting any cap space amongst two or three guys.

Scoot McGroot wrote:Now, Pritchard did mention that he was looking at hopefully signing a starting quality 2 guard in free agency since Vic Oladipo is out so long, so Eric Gordon would be that. Pritchard keeps saying "3 or 4 holes to fill in free agency", so, even if one is filled with the room exception after cap space is used, it sure sounds like we're going to be splitting any cap space amongst two or three guys.

I'm thinking the emergency 2 guard could be Wes Matthews signed with the room exception. If he doesn't get better offers, it could be a possibility. If not, well there's always Lance, LOL.

Eric Gordon would be great, but expensive enough that it might keep us from filling other holes. As you say, that sort of money wouldn't make sense unless it's for someone who can shift to SF or PG later when Dipo returns.

EDIT: just saw your post in the other thread. We agree on Wes then

I have a feeling Cory Joseph will be back on a smaller contract say $4-5 million 2 years, he can play both guard slots and is a fine defender.

Gordon would be ok for free if we have the cap room to take him. That only happens if Houston is looking to clear space to sign Butler. I think they really need to move CP that contract is terrible. But who would take him and how much would the Rocks have to pay to move him?

Another way of looking at this is, would I sign Eric Gordon outright for $15m

Nah, I think I'd rather go for Terrence Ross or JJ Reddick; Reddick is a highly effective specialist, while Ross is younger, has more size, and is more clutch

So no, I won't trade cap space for Eric Gordon, unless Rockets incentivize us to do it

If we can fit Gordon into our cap space and don’t have to give up too much to get him, that would be great. We just picked up about a million 2nd round picks on draft night, send them to Houston. Maybe that plus the incentive to free up cap space will do it.

Gordon only has 1 year left on his contract, since Vic will miss the first 20-40 games of the season, having Gordon start would not be a bad move. We then can move him to the bench the second half of the season where he will provide scoring off the bench.

There are other moves I would be wanting to make first but if things worked out, I’d take Gordon.