After making a series of transactions to get below the tax threshold this season, the Rockets are willing to accept the tax next year to upgrade their roster, according to Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle.
GM Daryl Morey has already received permission from ownership to make moves that will push the team into tax territory, a source tells Feigen. Morey will try to tweak the roster to better compete with the Warriors, who have eliminated the Rockets from the playoffs in four of the past five seasons.
Houston has all five of its starters under contract for next year at a total cost of about $114MM, which is already over the salary cap. Morey will have to rebuild a reserve unit that features unrestricted free agents Austin Rivers, Kenneth Faried and Iman Shumpert and restricted free agent Danuel House.
Barring a bold trade to shake up the roster, Morey’s main weapon will be a mid-level exception that could be worth $9MM but is more likely to be limited to $5.7MM. That money might be needed to re-sign one or more of the team’s free agents, or Morey could also try to find a bargain on the free agent market.
No matter how he proceeds, Morey has a huge challenge ahead of him. The Rockets need to find a dependable small forward to allow Eric Gordon to spend more time in the backcourt, Feigen notes. They also need one more reliable shooter and a power forward who can hit 3-pointers and rebound so they don’t get beaten on the boards so badly when using small lineups.
What floppers are available to sign?
Dreymond Green is still under contract next year. sorry
Thumb down.
Draymond Green is not a Flopper.
yes he is. he’s one of the biggest floppers
More of a dirty player than a flopper in my opinion. He did do a brief flop fest for sometime but he altered that some when he had to stop kicking his feet forward to kick people in the man zone. And I am a Warrior fan, go figure. I admit D Green is a dirty player and it would not bother me to see him get traded.
Get Capela out of Houston anyway possible
He’s a rizing star in this league, and perfect for this team. GSW were a terrible matchup because they didn’t use a true center. Had Cousins played you would have seen him play better.
True. Capela is a great player and Houston needs him.
Oh good, nice to know now. Why not three months ago??
They need to get AD somehow
Why, so he and Chris Paul can be on the injured list together tying up 80 million dollars?
That’s too many needs for an MLE. Gordon, Capella or Paul have to be traded. I would like to see Paul be a true PG again but that contract. Faried could be the new Capella but cheaper. Rockets used to be so proud of Capella.
Not a Rockets fan at all so watching them constantly lose to anyone brings me much joy. But, if they want to fix their team they need to do it on the defense of side of the court. Giving up 115-125 points every game against Golden State is not going to get it done.
Cp3 use to be my favorite player until he turned into captain complainer. I didn’t think they were going to make it as far as they did. That last contract he signed cemented his place in history as someone who will never win a ring. No way they can get better than this…. Hope he’s happy with money over rings.
cp3’s cap killing contract has always been about himself – nothings changed from his rookie year pels or clips
6 months too late. Morey needed that permission before making close to 7-8 trades mostly or solely to get under the tax line. The 2019 1st (with maybe another 1st) and Knight’s contract (expiring after next season) could have been used this summer to add that starter, which is really their only premium need. They can find guys to add to 7-on with the assets they have, but it’s hard to see how they get a starting caliber player with them.
Exactly right. Too late. This season was their chance. They cheaped out on Ariza last summer and look how well Ennis played for Philly (I mean, not incredibly well, but as playable as Shumpert). Trading Knight only helps them reduce costs and doesn’t actually help them add players because it doesn’t create any space; it merely opened 2 trade exceptions for Chriss and Knight, around $3 million each.
Hamstrung.
Ill believe it when I see it…
There was not even a repeater tax problem. Fertita was interested in Butler but not in building a roster.
He gave up… maybe he did not believe GSW could be beat, but his own shorthanded team last year suggested that was false.
He delayed the repeater tax being enacted
three years out but by that time Harden will be reduced and Paul is already leaning that way. Harden had to carry the team.
He doesn’t have enough bird-rights players.
To me I wonder. If we could not get by GSW with this starting 5 why keep them intact. I know in many games we got beat in the paint or rebounding. Clint was great during season but playoffs.I really did not see a lot of fire during playoffs. We do need a bench that can compete and someone that can shoot 3s and rebound as Clint cannot handle it or the ball at times either. I am tired of we will get em next year as we have tried and lost 4 out of 5 years. Coaching staff will not change But am sure Fertitta will not hesitate if we find issues next season