Depending on their plans, the Rockets have a lot to do in the next three days. If they are to complete their dream off-season, they have to trade Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin, waive a boatload of players, sign Chris Bosh, and then match the offer on Chandler Parsons. According to Jonathan Feigen, that's exactly what they hope to pull off.
Here's what he had to say:
If Rockets get Bosh and can do both in time, they'd match Parsons' offer sheet, per source. If don't get Bosh, tough, close call on Parsons.
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) July 10, 2014
Let's hope that LeBron gets his act together tonight or tomorrow, because each of those steps is not instantaneous. The Asik deal requires the Pelicans to do a little bit of cap maneuvering before it can be completed, the Lin deal may be agreed to but still must be completed, and there is a lot of paperwork that goes into signing a contract.
Neither one of these revelations is particularly surprising, especially the first part that the Rockets plan on matching the Parsons deal if they can sign Bosh. If they agree to a deal with Bosh, they will essentially be capping themselves out for the foreseeable future, meaning that they would have no mechanism to replace Parsons. By retaining him, they will give themselves a deadly starting lineup and another piece to use in future trades.
If they aren't able to get Bosh to sign up in time, I would forego matching the deal. After trading Asik, they will have significant cap room to chase other free agents, and there are definite options out there. Yes, there would be a gaping hole at small forward, but I would have a hard time justifying paying Parsons $15 million for his role on this team unless Bosh was also there. Biding your time and maintaining flexibility seems like the best option. We'll see if Morey feels the same way.