Welcome back, Luis.
The Houston Rockets honored former Rocket Luis Scola on Wednesday with a tribute video that played after the first quarter of the Rockets game against the Phoenix Suns. This was Scola’s first return to Houston as a player since being amnestied by the Rockets this summer and picked up by Phoenix.
Here’s my recording of the video:
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Good news: Aaron Brooks is back. Better news: Trevor Ariza is not
Two years ago, the Houston Rockets traded Aaron Brooks to the Phoenix Suns for Goran Dragic.
Today, both players are right back where they started.
The Rockets have come to an agreement with Brooks and will officially sign him on Tuesday, as first reported by Yahoo! Sports Adrian Wojnarowski. The deal will reportedly include a team option for next season. The former Rocket point guard had become a free agent after completing a buyout with the Sacramento Kings on Friday.
I tweeted about this shortly after Brooks was let go by the Kings, but this move made too much sense to not happen. The Rockets are under the cap. They had interest in bringing Brooks back before the season. They need a backup point guard. They play a speed game and like to run in transition. They absolutely love to shoot the three.
Aaron Brooks fits all of that.
After his “Most Improved Player” season of 2009-10 in which he averaged 19.6 points and 5.3 assists, hitting nearly 40% from beyond the arc, Brooks’ career seemed to be in a downward spiral. The following season, a contract year for Brooks, he suffered this injury and lost his starting job to Kyle Lowry. His attitude went south (just ask Kevin Love) and he was traded to Phoenix. During the lockout he signed to play in China and couldn’t get out of his contract to return for any of the 2011-12 season.
But Brooks can still play — he’s only 28 years old and is shooting 45.9% from the field and 37.8% from distance this year. Though he saw a reduction in minutes the past 10 games or so, he has produced. As recently as December 19th against the Warriors, he scored 23 points on 9-12 shooting and was a perfect 3-3 from deep.
Few Thoughts
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The trade deadline has come and gone, and the Houston Rockets once again did not let it go by without making moves. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the team’s current salary cap situation.
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The NBA Trade Deadline does not just come and go without activity from Daryl Morey.
The Houston Rockets made a pair of trades this week, sending Patrick Patterson, Cole Aldrich and Toney Douglas to the Kings for Thomas Robinson, Francisco Garcia and Tyler Honeycutt, as well as sending Marcus Morris to the Phoenix Suns for a second round pick.
David Weiner (aka BimaThug) joins Dave Hardisty on the podcast to look at all facets of the trades — what they mean for the future and present of the Houston Rockets — as well as the pursuit of Dwight Howard and free agents this summer.
(Direct Download – MP3, 21.0M)
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Former Rockets exec Dennis Lindsey, now Utah's GM, could be dealing Paul Millsap at the trade deadline
For three years, the plight of the Houston Rockets was that they always came up short on reeling in the big fish.
The James Harden acquisition changed all that.
The Rockets now have a young superstar and an exciting style of play, and suddenly Houston is a much more attractive NBA location. So where before there may have been some desperation, Daryl Morey and company can now afford to be patient as the primary goal in 2013 is to land, or improve their position to land, a top flight superstar to put alongside Harden.
The Rockets continue to say publicly that they’re not likely to make a major move by tomorrow’s NBA Trade Deadline. That usually means the opposite, but I’m told this time you can pretty much believe it.
Unless a major player becomes available, cap room is king in Houston right now.
The term “cap room” is used loosely to describe two different things with the Rockets, though both can be linked together. The team has just under $7 million in available cap room right now. They are also positioned to have somewhere between $12-$18 million in cap room this summer. The Rockets would like to use their current cap room without damaging their future cap room, so that’s the reason that it is likely that the Rockets make some kind of trade by tomorrow, yet it is unlikely to be a big one.
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Royce White has twice refused an assignment to the D-League, citing a lack of support by the Rockets
Dear Royce,
In your very brief time with the Rockets, you’ve become quite a polarizing figure. You’ve managed to incite a lot of anger, expose a good deal of bias and ignorance both in the media and the working profession and alienate nearly an entire fan base.
Let me preface this by saying I am 28 years old. I have a wife and children. I have also suffered from anxiety and depression for the past 10 years. I’ve been told there are medical reasons for this, and I understand the general American public’s perceptions about medical conditions being used as a “crutch.”
I like your cause, and I support it fully. You don’t know how many times I’ve heard, “Well just let *insert deity* take care of it” or “Everybody has problems, you just have to learn to cope with them and deal with them like the rest of us do.” Mental Illness does not have a simple fix nor is it easy to cope with. It is a battle every day for the rest of your life.
This is clearly your mission, your passion and your obsession, a fact you have made readily apparent to your 140,000 followers on Twitter. Your tweets shift from honesty and claims of needing understanding to re-tweets from well-wishers and those who blast you. To those people, you simply tell them to “#BeWell”.
Royce, there is no one out there who doesn’t want you to be well, especially the fans.
We saw glimpses of your basketball potential during the Summer League games and in the preseason. Some of us are still convinced that you could be a revolutionary player that could change the game, but few of us are still convinced you actually want to play basketball anymore.
In the grand scheme of things, your “mission” is more important than a game we play, but what fuels the backlash against you is more than your dreamy-headed tweets or anxiety. You have a built-in support system, something many others do not have access to, but you haven’t taken advantage of it. You’ve stuck to your guns and refused to concede any points. You’ve made it all about the crusade so much so that you mentioned the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy in your recent press release, which has been seen by many as an insensitive attempt to draw attention to yourself.
Your attempts at transparency are causing you to be eaten alive in the court of public opinion. It is getting harder for your supporters to stay on your bandwagon. If you want us to see your transparency on Twitter as a way to understand your point of view, then you must also be willing to reciprocate by seeing our point of view as well.
When the average fan places his set of values onto your situation, he sees himself bending over backwards to do what it takes to play basketball in the NBA. It’s fine to be a guy who speaks his mind, as long as you do all the things required of any other professional. Look no further than Arian Foster as an example of a talented football player who still manages to keep it real on his Twitter account and his life. His pursuit of intellectual and creative endeavors enriches his personality and makes us like him more despite his idiosyncrasies.
The harsh truth is that we don’t always get exactly what we want out of life. Sometimes compromises have to be made. Sometimes you have to concede a point or two. Sometimes, you have to stop playing the victim and understand the other side as badly as you want your side to be understood.
You demand progress for yourself and others, and we applaud that. But you also demand to be put above the team, above the profession, above the needs of any others, and then it appears that you are the one that is lost above the clouds. You have a lot of people depending on you and there is a lot at stake. You playing basketball is not just about basketball as a game. It is about showing that a man can create a fairer set of rules for himself. In order to do that, you must first prove you will work just as hard as everyone else.
Your move, Royce.
This could be something beautiful for the game and for humanity.
You could be the catalyst.
Sincerely,
- A Rockets Fan
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Chandler Parsons quickly became a quality starter, making his contract one of the NBA's best bargains
When Chandler Parsons suits up for the Houston Rockets against the New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans on January 2, he’ll be doing so as a richer man than he was the game before.
Why, you ask? Well, it’s one of several aspects of Parsons’s contract that are either misunderstood or simply unknown by most Rockets fans.
Hence, the following is an analysis of one of the more interesting player contracts in the NBA today.
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Now that we’re nearly a quarter of the way through the 2012-13 NBA season, let’s take a look at the team’s current salary cap situation.
The Rockets’ Latest Moves
Since my last update, the Rockets have made the following roster moves:
The Harden Contract
Harden's contract includes incentives that could impact the team's salary cap situation
While most reports of Harden’s extension pegged it at $80 million (actually, $78.6 million), the figure is merely an estimate based on the salary cap for the 2012-13 season. However, since the starting salary of the extension is based on salary cap figures for the 2013-14 season, the actual amount of Harden’s salary will not be known until around July 10, 2013, when such figures will be determined. The starting salary of Harden’s extension will be approximately 25% of the 2013-14 maximum team salary cap (although that figure could increase to 30% in the unlikely event that Harden wins the NBA MVP award this season).
The fifth year of Harden’s extension is actually only 50% guaranteed, but it becomes fully guaranteed if Harden meets any one of several incentives that should be fairly easily attainable for him. Such incentives include making at least one All-Star team starting next season (so this season doesn’t count), playing a key role in the Rockets advancing to the second round of the playoffs, or meeting certain statistical marks (which are geared to avoid a ball-hogging situation in order to meet them).
By being signed to a five-year extension (as opposed to only four years), Harden has become the Rockets’ “Designated Player,” meaning that the Rockets may not sign any other player to a five-year contract extension for the length of Harden’s extension (through 2018). The Rockets may, however, acquire another team’s Designated Player via trade during that time. For instance, if the Rockets somehow traded for someone like DeMarcus Cousins in the next few months, they would be unable to offer Cousins the same type of extension they gave Harden; however, if Cousin were made Sacramento’s Designated Player and then traded to Houston later down the road (say, 2-3 seasons later), it would be permitted for the Rockets to have both Harden’s and Cousins’s contracts on the books at the same time.
Salary Commitments and Available Cap Room
(All salaries courtesy of ShamSports.com)
Barring any further roster moves, the Houston Rockets now have approximately $50.2 million in team salary for the 2012-13 season: Jeremy Lin ($8.37 million), Omer Asik ($8.37 million), Harden ($5.82 million), Cook ($3.09 million), Carlos Delfino ($3 million), Aldrich ($2.45 million), Patterson ($2.10 million), Toney Douglas ($2.07 million), Morris ($1.91 million), Royce White ($1.65 million), Forbes* ($1.5 million), Terrence Jones ($1.49 million), Donatas Motiejunas ($1.36 million), Hayward* ($1.17 million), Johnson* ($1.09 million), Livingston* ($1 million), Brockman* ($1 million), Chandler Parsons ($888,250), Greg Smith ($762,195, of which 50% is guaranteed), Machado ($473,604, of which 50% is guaranteed), and the cap hit from the Derek Fisher* buyout ($644,005; more on that here).
[* - indicates players no longer on Rockets' roster. Also, ShamSports.com shows that the Rockets also owe E'Twaun Moore $381,098 (50% of his 2012-13 salary), supposedly the product of a renegotiation of his contract with Boston prior to the Courtney Lee sign-and-trade deal in which the Rockets acquired him. However, according to a source familiar with the Rockets' salary cap situation, the Rockets have not paid Moore; hence, I am disregarding this salary for purposes of my own cap calculations. However, even if ShamSports.com is correct about Moore, the acquisition of the Charlotte Bobcats' 2013 second round pick from Boston was well worth the small incremental loss of cap space, as it contributed to the acquisition of Harden.]
Based on this season’s maximum salary cap of $58.044 million, the Rockets have approximately $7.84 million in salary cap room entering the season (or about $7.46 million if they do, in fact, take a cap hit on Moore). For the record, the Harden trade actually increased the Rockets’ available cap room this season.
It will be very interesting to see what GM Daryl Morey does with that cap room, which allows him to take on that much more incoming salary in trades without regard for salary-matching rules. With only Cleveland, Houston and Phoenix possessing cap room of any significance, the Rockets may be a popular team this coming trade deadline as a landing spot for other teams’ bloated (but likely expiring) contracts, with Houston receiving some form of compensation (draft picks, cash, etc.) for its troubles. That will probably be only a backup plan for Morey, who more likely will attempt to use that cap room to acquire a star-level player via trade. With the Rockets slated to have even more significant cap room next summer (see below), don’t expect the Rockets to take on salary beyond this season unless it involves the Rockets acquiring a star-level talent in the process.
Interesting (Well, Not That Interesting) Fact
With the contracts of Lin and Asik structured so that they are only actually paid $5 million each this season despite their cap figures, the Rockets’ highest-salaried player this season is Harden at a relatively paltry $5.82 million. That appears to be the league’s lowest “team-high salary.”
The player being paid the second most money this season by the Rockets?
That’s Luis Scola, who currently plays for the Phoenix Suns but is still being paid approximately $5.26 million this season by the Rockets.
Summer of 2013
Based on the salary cap remaining at $58.044 million, barring any trades happening this season (yeah, fat chance) and assuming that Harden does not win the league MVP this season, the Houston Rockets will have approximately $45.8 million in team salary for the 2013-14 season: Harden ($13.67 million), Lin ($8.37 million), Asik ($8.37 million), Delfino ($3 million, non-guaranteed if waived by June 30, 2013), Patterson ($3.11 million), Morris ($1.99 million), White ($1.72 million), Jones ($1.55 million), Motiejunas ($1.42 million), Parsons ($926,500), Smith ($884,293, non-guaranteed) and Machado ($788,872, non-guaranteed). That amount could increase if the Rockets miss the playoffs and, thus, retain their first round pick.
If the Rockets make the playoffs this season, and if they simply waive Delfino, Smith and Machado, they could open up as much as $15.44 million in cap room without having to make any trades (although the team could still have as much as $14.75 million in cap room and still keep Smith and Machado). That would be nearly enough to offer most players a maximum salary contract. While not quite enough to offer the “super-max” to guys like Dwight Howard (eligible for a starting salary of $20.51 million) or Chris Paul (eligible for a starting salary of $18.69 million), other moves could be made to create the additional cap room if absolutely necessary.
Conclusion
The Houston Rockets finally have themselves a franchise player in Harden around whom to rebuild, but most true title contenders have more than one star player so there is still much work to be done by Morey and the Rockets’ front office. That said, with a roster filled with young talent (the youngest in the league) and plenty of cap flexibility, the Rockets are still well-positioned to make a move if/when another star becomes available, either prior to this February’s trade deadline, next summer or beyond.
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