OT: Hou signs Ariza using the Disabled Player Exception

[campybatman]

I never heard of this type of an exception. I wonder if Powe was under contract, could Boston have had applied for this as well.

The Houston Rockets used the NBA Disabled Player Exception to sign free agent forward Trevor Ariza, according to general manager Daryl Morey.

The NBA granted the Disabled Player Exception based on the fact that Yao Ming is not expected to play next season because of his broken left foot.

"As a course of business to give us maximum flexibility, we applied for an injury exception for Yao and it was granted by the league," Morey said in an interview with FOX 26 Sports on Wednesday. "That will allow us to use the Mid-Level Exception to improve the Rockets roster going forward."

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/sports/ ... _ariza_yao

[BillessuR6]

I am surprised they got it since it isn`t 100% that Yao won`t play this season. The league is usually very strict in granting disabled player exceptions...

[ParticleMan]

does this mean Yao is not allowed to come back this season?

[greenbeans]

so they still have the mle?

[Joekickass2008]

The Disabled Player Exception that was granted was 5.7 mil. I am sure with out looking it up that Yao is on more than that a season....perhaps they are saying he will be missing for part of the season? ? Can you do that?

[campybatman]

It seems unfair... If Yao is able to return before the regular season is over, then he shouldn't be permitted to play at all until the following season. Because Houston wouldn't be able to forfeit or give back the salary from the Disabled Player Exception for that season.

Yao can opt out after next season.

[Andrew McCeltic]

Shrewd move, but who's going to be left on the market in MLE range for them to get?

[campybatman]

If I'm Cleveland, I'm perturbed by this even more. You seriously wanted him, you don't get him, you couldn't convince him to change his mind and now you discover that Houston was able to sign him and still have their MLE to boot.

The Rocket could target Odom, Millsap, Marvin Williams, Moon, Varejao or Okur for all or partial of the MLE.

[MaxwellSmart]

But when Reggie Lewis DIED....we got NOTHING---and his salary counted towards the cap...NICE--!!

[sully00]

I am sure if CLE lost LeBron for the season they would find and extra MLE slot less than consoling.

I mentioned this in the thread about HOU blowing it up. The exception is for half of the players salary up to the MLE.

This would have been more valuable if they hadn't let Artest walk. Maybe a S&T with Artest for Odom. Varejao would make some sense.

[Dave_From_NB]

Pretty hard to see the NBA permitting Yao to come back again this season. Although I suppose with the way it goes in Houston, they'll have lost McGrady 30 minutes into the season anyways, so maybe they should be given some extra dispensation.

With how frustrating it was having KG go down, I can't imagine what it must be like to be a Rockets fan and having one or both franchise players going down to injury every year.

[chakdaddy]

A disabled player exception for Powe wouldn't even cover a minimum salary...

I remember when someone got an exemption for Alonzo Mourning, and he wound up coming back anyway - didn't that loophole or something get closed?

Haha, here's what should happen...what if Ray were out for next season? We could free up 10 mil or so, and bring him back one year later.

Or better yet, we should have gotten an exception for KG last year - the problem is, no one worth that kind of money is ever available halfway through a season. It's kind of a unique situation that Houston gets one in the offseason when it can be put to good use.

[greenbeans]

A Stern-spiracy to appease the Chinese fans.

[wigglestrue]

Houston is lucky Yao didn't overdose from cocaine, I guess.

[TheOGJabroni]

As unfair as this may seem. The Rockets deserve this. This has been an offseason of hell for them. No McGrady or Yao going into or for most of the year. Ariza almost backed out of their deal.

[BRUNiNHO91]

When will Tracy be back? Jesus..seems like the guy has been injured for the past 3 years..

[campybatman]

As unfair as this may seem. The Rockets deserve this. This has been an offseason of hell for them. No McGrady or Yao going into or for most of the year. Ariza almost backed out of their deal.

And Boston didn't lose both Garnett and Powe before or during the playoffs? Were their championship title defense not derailed (or compromised) as of a result? What does Boston deserve?

A lot of teams could justify that they deserve "something," but not everyone is compensated by the league.

Didn't the Celtics go through their own hell three seasons ago. I recall there was that eighteen game losing streak (the longest in franchise history). Oh, and not winning the lottery or runner up. Ainge turn it around but that was his doing not from any help from the league.

What about the Celtics being denied salary cap relief for the death of Reggie Lewis? Did Boston at that time not deserve assistance?

I guess this was a case of too little, too late. The damage was done...

Dave Gavitt, who will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame this year for his role as founder and first commissioner of the Big East Conference, saw the impact of Bias' death when he joined the Celtics front office in 1990. It came into focus after Lewis died.

"With the salary cap in place, it was very hard to replace that kind of a void, and the league had no arrangements to give any kind of relief in that way," Gavitt said. "The same thing occurred when I was there with Reggie Lewis, equally tragic.

"It had the same kind of ramifications to the team, and we appealed to the league for an exception, to replace a player who had died. They came out and [Phoenix Suns owner] Jerry Colangelo said, 'Don't take this personally; this is not about green, it's about Red.' ... Within a year after the Reggie Lewis tragedy, they did change the rule."

Initially, the Celtics were not allowed to sign another player to replace Lewis and remain under the league's salary cap. But the NBA eventually acquiesced.

http://www.dailypress.com/sports/motorr ... ory?page=2

[Dave_From_NB]

What about the Celtics being denied salary cap relief for the death of Reggie Lewis? Did Boston at that time not deserve it?

I guess this was a case of too little, too late. The damage was done...

Not sure why this continues to be brought up. Any league will take steps over time to correct loopholes in their rules, and they can't just randomly make stuff up on the fly. Yes it sucked that the Celtics lost out because there wasn't a provision, but surely you don't want the same precident to be applied forever and ever just so everyone is as slighted as the Celtics were 15 years ago and counting.

[floyd]

The injury has to occur before Dec 1 for the exception be available for that season so KG wouldn't have qualified regardless of the severity of his injury.

[TheOGJabroni]

As unfair as this may seem. The Rockets deserve this. This has been an offseason of hell for them. No McGrady or Yao going into or for most of the year. Ariza almost backed out of their deal.

And Boston didn't lose both Garnett and Powe before or during the playoffs? Were their championship title defense not derailed (or compromised) as of a result? What does Boston deserve?

I'm not saying we didn't deserve it because I think we did, but I can see where the league is coming from here too. I just wish there was more consistency, like most do I'm sure.