Bill Simmons: “In the whisper circles, everybody seems to think he’s going back to Houston.”

Teams can transition from under the cap to over the cap and use the full MLE so long as they do not surpass the apron. It has nothing to do with cap space during the FA period.

As for Draymond, he may be a poor fit, I was more or less throwing the numbers out there to show what could occur.

 

Top two free agents to to pair with Harden would be

Harrison Barnes
Kris Middleton

then you spend the MLE and whatever on additional bench reinforcements like shooters .

 

That is not the case. A team loses the NT-MLE, BAE, trade exceptions, and potential disabled player exceptions if they have more cap space than those exceptions combined at the beginning of the league year. That’s pretty much what “operating as a cap space team” means.

You’re getting this confused with the distinction between the NT-MLE vs T-MLE. That distinction doesn’t matter to us, we can’t use either.

See #26 here. http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q26

Why else would the room exception exist?

 

I'm not convinced Harden won't mail it in if he gets a fat contract in Houston.

Not to mention, I don't like having the bulk of the offensive responsibility handed to a 33 year old and not one of our youngsters. Say for example, we draft Scoot, Harden handling the ball most of the game is going to hinder his, Sengun and Green's development.

 

If Harden was interested in going to LA I believe we would have heard some rumbling of it. As far as I can tell there hasn't been a single recent rumor pointing that direction. Where there's smoke there's fire, stars rarely sign somewhere without them at least being in the conversation on the rumor mill.

Also, I think it's worth pointing out that his motivations don't have to be either "win a championship" or "screw around and do nothing". That's needlessly reductive. He may want to come back to Houston for personal/business reasons that don't have to do with winning a title, but it doesn't mean he plans to slack off as a basketball player. If for no other reason than becoming known as a lazy, crappy player who mails it in would be bad for his brand.

He's always been into partying and having a good time, but it hasn't stopped him from being an elite player for the last 10 years.

 

Have a feeling Rockets are more likely to overpay some mid player instead. Get ready for FVV or DLo (if Kyrie decides to bolt for LA).

 

If the bulk of offensive responsibility is on our youngsters next year, we will have a bottom 5 offense. Same is true on defense. I'm not down on our young guys, that's just the level our guys are at compared to the league. We're 29th in both this season.

I get that there's an argument for continuing to just let all our young guys get the maximum number of reps.

But realistically, Stone (and Tilman) have committed to changing direction and being significantly better on the court next year. We have the room and don't have our pick for three years. If the Rockets don't show real competitive improvement next year (like, win 30+ games), Stone will likely lose his job IMO, and he knows it.

So this team is going to use the resources available to them do the opposite of what you're saying and escape having a bottom 5 offense and defense -- take the bulk of offensive and defensive responsibility and give it to players who are presently good at it at the NBA level.

That means a primary initiator / playmaker (like Harden, maybe FVV?) and a big who can be a defensive anchor (Draymond? Grant Williams? trade for Capela?). The remaining young guys will develop around that baseline level of competence.

 

I think it’s either here or he will stay in Philadelphia . The only other team he might bolt to is Miami given Butler is one of his tightest friends but they have No capspace

 

The only realistic options that have the necessary cap space and the needs next year are the Rockets, Philadelphia and possibly the Lakers

 

Why would Sengun be gone?

Sengun center, Wemby PF Jatari is the sf.

 

Does Harden being in Philly hinder Maxey?

Old Harden is different from MVP Harden. MVP Harden was stats hungry and would shoo away Cp3 so he can collect all the pts and asts. Old Harden is more content to be a facilitator and playmaker.

If Harden comes back then Rox just ripped off Nets and played them for a fool, basically gave up rights to their pick for the next decade for 2 seasons of Harden and and the right to pay Ben Simmons his max salary.

 

Wow. Harden coming back to Houston is getting real!

 

I feel a new swag championship coming to Houston in 2024!!!!

 

I feel a new swag championship coming to Houston in 2024!!!!

 

The more I think about it the more I believe that Wemby complements Sengun really well because he covers the few flaws that Sengun currently has. Wemby is a good switch defender so no more drop coverage and he spaces the floor on offense.

 

I stopped reading at ‘whisper circles’

 

A lot of things indicate at the very least the Rockets are at worst 50-50

 

No way.

The rockets traded a still near his absolute prime MVP calibre player in Harden. He was still dominant for the Nets in his first season there, and really the Nets had two really good chances to win a championship that were derailed due to injuries and then later Kyrie.

Just because those picks are starting to look better now, shouldn't detract from how risky that trade package was. The rockets didn't get any young prospects back - no SGA, no Mikal, no Ingram etc.