Why Not the Rockets for Lebron?

by ihavethemelody on Nov 12, 2009 2:44 PM CST Comment 20 comments

I keep hearing about places lebron will go. Clippers (with that owner?), Miami (D-Wade), Knicks (with that supporting cast?). So why am I not hearing Houston on that list?

We'll have cap space (Bye Tracy!), an all star center (Hello Yao), a great supporting cast (Battier, Lowry, Landry, Scola, Brooks, Hayes, etc), a top GM (Morey) and a city of 4 million people. Plus all the chinese endorsements he would get. And no state income tax.

So why SHOULDN"T he come play for the Rockets?

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hellva a point especially on the no tax. but i think it has more to do with advertising i mean new york everybody knows about it. Houston has been hated on for so many years no matter what sport but it would work out good for us but we all know he is going to go to a plcae where they give better endorsments and all.

by southpaw70 on Nov 12, 2009 3:25 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Uh no...

it has to do with the salary cap. We don’t have the money for him. Will would have to gut the team to bring him here.

Utah sucks....

by EAZY... on Nov 12, 2009 4:10 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Can you find the numbers on us not having money?

Because I have heard we will if we let T-Mac go, and that makes sense. T-Mac has a huge contract and nobody else, besides Yao, has a large contract. We wont have Knicks or Nets type money, but we have different incentives than them like a good supporting cast, no income tax, and Yao.

While New York and LA are much bigger markets, I dont buy the endorsements argument. We have Yao, the biggest face in the biggest NBA country, China. LeBron is the biggest face everywhere else, there is your endorsement incentive, the two biggest worldwide faces playing together on a good team.

Also, LeBron has already said its not about the money, he has enough and will continue to make dough through his endorsements. LeBron said he wants to win, and we give him a legitimate chance.

by TexasHoosier on Nov 12, 2009 5:28 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

the cap is decreasing

unless the Rockets renounce their rights to Landry/Lowry and don’t negotiate a deal with Scola, they won’t have enough cap space to offer a max deal.

by Only_A_Lad on Nov 12, 2009 5:51 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Here are some exact numbers:

If the Rockets renounce their right to Kyle Lowry, don’t pick up the team options on Hayes or Dorsey, and give up their Mid-Level and Biannual exceptions, the total salary against the cap will be 39.6 million next season. (This is assuming Yao picks up his player option for 17 million). Early estimates on the salary cap for next year are 51-54 million. For LeBron, a max contract will be 30% of the salary cap, or around 16 million.
That means that unless the salary cap is significantly higher than expected or the Rockets make trades to dump salaries for expiring contracts, the Rockets won’t be able to offer a max contract. Even if we could manage to sign LeBron, we probably wouldn’t be able to resign Lowry (and possibly Hayes), so we’d be stuck with only 1 point guard.

by jack_ on Nov 12, 2009 7:07 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

oops

The $39.6 million isn’t including Budinger’s salary (for which I can’t find exact numbers, but it’s around 700k per year). Hence we should have about $40.3 million against the cap.

by jack_ on Nov 12, 2009 7:37 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Les does have the knack for getting big names in a Rockets uniform. It would be HUGE to have King James sporting the Rocket Red jersey, but I think it’s just a bit too much to ask for.

And by the way….This whole tax thing that you’re talking about, only applies to games played in Houston. Players have to pay applicable taxes for cities played in that have mandated state tax.

…Just in case you weren’t aware. :)

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by DR34M on Nov 12, 2009 6:35 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

didnt know that about the income tax

but thats still 41 home games + 2 at Dallas and + 2 at SA for a total of 45 un-taxed games compared to 3-6 if he was playing somewhere else and only visited Texas.

by TexasHoosier on Nov 12, 2009 11:05 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Money is not an issue

All we would have to do to get James is deal away Battier or Ariza for cap space (which wouldn’t be that hard to do) and deal with the fact that we wouldn’t be able to re-sign Scola. That would leave us with this lineup

PG: Brooks
SG: Battier or Ariza
SF: James
PF: Landry or Hayes
C: Ming

I would love to see this team play

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by n1ck34 on Nov 12, 2009 9:29 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

we wouldn't be able to resign Lowry either

by jack_ on Nov 12, 2009 11:52 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Unless LeBron isn’t just blowing smoke when he says…

… he wants to win more than he cares about getting a max deal, then I don’t see it happening.

I keep hearing talk about him going to the Lakers and joining Kobe.

I’d HATE for that to happen… they’d be the clear favorites to win the title for the next 5 to 10 years if it did…

I had to stop arguing with drunks, Steeler fans, and all other fools.
It was making my brick wall jealous...

by steeler-hater on Nov 13, 2009 10:24 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

for some reason I believe him when he says he cares more about winning

mostly because he knows that he has to win to make his claim as the best ever. Even without a max deal he will still get tons of money from endorsements and whatever contract he signs, but max deal or not it doesnt guarantee winning a Chip. I feel like he would be okay with taking less money to play with a better team so he can win multiple championships.

The lakers would have to be gutted for them to sign Bron and be under the cap. So while they would be great with Kobe and Bron, they most likely wouldnt have atleast two of their other current big 4 b/t Odom, Artest. Gasol, and Bynum. I doubt Ron Ron would be okay with coming off the bench behind LeBron and Kobe because he wouldnt get any time so that could be an issue if he isnt gone.

by TexasHoosier on Nov 13, 2009 8:47 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

There’s gonna be a lot of speculation about this guy and where he will wind up.

Bottom line is it looks to me like the Rockets are going to be basically have the same players they have this year on next year’s squad but with Yao back and T-Mac and Cook gone.

Maybe they draft a rookie but since Houston looks to be like a 40 win team and not a 25 to 30 win team, chances are the draft choice they get won’t be high in the lottery. So that means any rook coming in probably won’t be that game changing superstar/sidekick this team needs to partner up with Yao. More than likely, we will end up getting another role player in that next draft.

The only way I see Houston getting a big name is to trade for one before the deadline. And to get that player may take more than those expiring contracts (T-Mac & Cook’s) and some throw-in players. I think to get a player like, say Chris Bosh will take trading some quality guys like Scola or Battier or Landry or Brooks or even Lowry… one or more of them.

As much as I would like a guy like Bosh on the team, I don’t like the idea of losing any of those guys. That said, I don’t see any of that happening. I think Houston may have a better chance of trading for one of the Grizzlies young guys instead… most likely, Rudy Gay…

I had to stop arguing with drunks, Steeler fans, and all other fools.
It was making my brick wall jealous...

by steeler-hater on Nov 14, 2009 11:01 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I mostly agree

I would be extremely surprised to see T-Mac in a Rockets uniform next season. If he plays well this season he will be expensive and i think we will spend our money other places based on his injury history. If he plays poorly, he wont be expensive, but he will have just had a bad season coming back from microfracture surgery and wont be worth anything to us.

I think we will resign Yao, although I dont think that is good for the team we have, and probably go after a mid-level SG/SF free agent. If we dont re-sign Yao, which I would be completely happy with, I think we sign Bosh or Amar’e in free agency and officially become a running team. With Yao we can not run the offense we currently run. We will turn into the team we were last year which, while very good, does not fit the team we have now.

I dont think we trade for a Rudy Gay or another young player like him because we just signed Ariza to a long-term contract, and also have young players in Budinger, Brooks, Lowry, and Landry.

by TexasHoosier on Nov 14, 2009 4:25 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

BYe Bye T-Mac

he just hogs the plate and hes only a side dish!

Dump him in the disposal now for anyone on Knicks, Nets!

by MarkBrod on Nov 16, 2009 8:10 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

eww

who could we possibly want off the knicks.. or the nets??
theres no one one either of those teams thats even remotely tmac worthy

by AlDe2356 on Nov 17, 2009 2:57 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

this is slightly realistic only because

we have morey, especially adelman, and the fact that lebron stated that he would rather be on a team that has a chance for the title than get a jumbo contract, so NYK aren’t the #1 anymore. this would be a miracle that would never happen. but idk we’ll see.

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by Rockets 4 Life on Nov 18, 2009 12:00 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Lebron costs too much

Lebron will cost too much. Forget it. Let NY have him. Forget the BS by Lebron about how he wants to be on a winner more than he wants the money. He wants the money. Watch him. If it wasnt the money, he could just take a pay cut at Cleveland and get some help there.

by Gulder_Roy on Nov 18, 2009 11:47 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Pay Cut

Even if LeBron agreed to cut his salary to the league minimum, the Cavs would still be over the cap this year. Thus Cleveland would still would have been limited to using its MLE to sign help. The way the NBA’s salary cap works is complicated that way.

by jack_ on Nov 18, 2009 3:07 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs