Also I'm interested to see if Bosh actually insists on the max deal. Leak that Houston is willing to give him one so he can leverage that against Miami, but actually accept less. He's not leaving unless LeBron does anyways so a small pay cut with Houston is still more than Miami is going to pay.

Agreed Ryan

Sheridan (who seems to have the most inside sources on LeBron) says LeBron will announce on Saturday on lebronjames.com before he leaves for the World Cup Final.

He Bron really waits that long, that is bad for Houston, assuming that Bosh doesn't already know and doesn't just go ahead and sign elsewhere.

Sheridan is a clown. He could be right about this but the dude is no expert and his sources are laughable.

If Bosh hasn't talked to Lebron then surely he gets the hint. If Lebron really cared about continuing to play with him he would have reached out to Bosh by now. If Bosh is just waiting around with no contact from Lebron he's just not getting the hint. He should just sign elsewhere if that's the case.

Bosh/Wade/LeBron had a sit down a week or two ago.

quote:

---

If Bosh hasn't talked to Lebron then surely he gets the hint. If Lebron really cared about continuing to play with him he would have reached out to Bosh by now. If Bosh is just waiting around with no contact from Lebron he's just not getting the hint. He should just sign elsewhere if that's the case.

---

I don't see that being the case though. These dudes are friends and I'm sure they have talked and set up a timetable for eachother. I doubt they do anything without consulting with the other first.

I read what Sheridan said as meaning LeBron would announce before Saturday, when he leaves for the World Cup, not on Saturday. Thursday afternoon is a good day for big announcements...

If they've talked to each other, the NSA should be able to tell us. After all, what the heck are we pumping Billions into the NSA for??

I missed a lot overnight. So I guess it's Bosh or bust for the Rockets. I really don't like the idea of signing Parsons to a max without Bosh.

Hindsight is always 20/20 but the gamble Morey took on Parsons was an epic failure

Was it an epic failure? Sounds a little dramatic. Did it not work out? Sure, but not an epic failure

Utah giving Hayward the max certainly didn't help things for Houston.

quote:

---

Was it an epic failure? Sounds a little dramatic. Did it not work out? Sure, but not an epic failure

---

Paying a player 15x more than what you could have had him for is a failure

If they don't get Bosh, then yes it's an epic failure. They underestimated how much Parsons would get.

Although I think with the 3 year option, it will be a 2 year deal. Parsons is just about 26. If he spends the whole 3 years, he'll be 29 when signing the next deal that figures to be 4-5 years. That puts him at 33-34, which hurts the deal he can get then. Opting out at 28 and 32 might give him the most money overall. But, hard to turn down that kind of money.

For one year, then he walks next year and the team has absolutely no chance of keeping him for a long term deal. I guess we just have a different opinion on what an epic failure is.

Yea, I never understood Morey's logic. You could still have Bosh with Parson under his rookie contract for a year and then see where things are next year. You are in the same boat next year, as far as competing with others to sign him, so what is the incentive for making him a RFA a year early?

I guess the hope was that him being an RFA would lower his overall value and the number of bidders allowing the Rockets to sign a big free agent and then get Parsons with Bird rights for a discount. So instead of folks offering him $15 million a year as a UFA perhaps a team would offer say $10-12 million per year. Even then the money you lose by paying the tax a year early doesn't make it worth it in my mind. There is just too much that has to come together for a situation like this to work out. This isn't a video game and I think morey is seeing that now.

Morey out thought himself on this one. Even if the Rockets sign Bosh and re-sign parsons for $15 million per year to build their dream team it was still the wrong call as they overpaid for the same product.

The only scenario I can think of that makes any sense at all is if Morey knew Parsons was going to leave Houston and wouldn't resign as a free agent next year for even a matching offer. By making him a RFA you make him come back to Houston and keep him from going elsewhere. If that was the case, then you just overpaid for a disgruntled player that doesn't want to be there. Any scenario you draw up in hindsight looks terrible for Morey.

Making Parsons a free agent means they may have to move TJones and DMo to have enough room to offer Bosh close to the max.

Plus getting Bosh and matching Parsons puts the Rockets ~5mm in the luxury tax.

So instead of paying 900k for Parsons, they are paying $22.5mm for him because the first five million in tax is taxed at $1.50 per dollar. So 15mm+7.5mm in tax.

$22.5mm is a LOT to pay Parsons. That's about the same as the Spurs are paying Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard.

It's starting to look like the Rockets have botched this offseason. Options:
1) Harden Bosh Howard and nothing else. Not much tax. Not getting out of the west with three players.
2) Harden Bosh Howard Parsons and nothing else. Still lots of tax. Might still be good, but they are going to wear Howard and Bosh down fast.
3) Harden Bosh Howard Parsons and a whole team. The Rockets might pay more tax than the Nets did last year, but they would be near the top of the league for sure.
4) Bring back last year's team. They'll be over the cap spending an extra 14mm on Parsons and they got bounced in the first round last year, but they might be able to avoid the tax and improve with more time together.

Are any S&Ts being discussed in Rockets world? Do they have a way to dump all of their mid-roster players? Who are they looking at to fill in 4-10?

This is why the Spurs are having Leonard playout his last rookie scale contract year for cheap even after a Finals MVP year.

In my oponion this will be Houston's achilles heel as long as Morey is here. He is aggresive and smart enough to put a solid team together, but he doesn't have the organization or patience to let things play out and build from within. Plus when you are buying players via free agency, you are always at risk of losing players to free agency the next time around. How is Harden going to feel and what is his motivation going to be if he is suddenly the fourth highest paid player on the team?

Does Bosh, who was a shell of his former self in the NBA finals and basically just a spot up shooter, really make the rockets a championship team, with or without parsons?

quote:

---

Yea, I never understood Morey's logic. You could still have Bosh with Parson under his rookie contract for a year and then see where things are next year. You are in the same boat next year, as far as competing with others to sign him, so what is the incentive for making him a RFA a year early?

I guess the hope was that him being an RFA would lower his overall value and the number of bidders allowing the Rockets to sign a big free agent and then get Parsons with Bird rights for a discount. So instead of folks offering him $15 million a year as a UFA perhaps a team would offer say $10-12 million per year. Even then the money you lose by paying the tax a year early doesn't make it worth it in my mind. There is just too much that has to come together for a situation like this to work out. This isn't a video game and I think morey is seeing that now.

---

I think likely Parsons made it known that he was unhappy with his current deal (understandable considering his production) and that if the Rox exercised their option that he would not be back after this year. By making him an RFA, the Rox were hoping to set the timing up to get their Big Fa, give Parsons his money and hope everyone is happy.

The kink may have been the definition of fair compensation. I imagine Morey thought that Parsons would be in the $10-12M per year range. When Hayward (a very similar player) signed a max deal, and Cuban tossed out a Max offer, it through a wrench into things from a Rockets perspective.

Can't fault Parsons for getting the biggest offer he could.

Can't fault Cuban for trying to sign a guy they would expect to be one of the faces of the franchise.

Can't really fault Morey for the attempt to get the stars to align except for the lack of foresight into the RFA market. If he thought he was going to be forced to pay $15M per or lose Parsons right away, he might have chosen a different path. Now, that path would have all-but guaranteed Parsons leaving in 2015, but would have bought him 1 more year with this group.

Either way, the Parsons dealings are a perfect example of Morey's style. Swing for the fences and hope things work out. The last two offseasons have been homeruns (Harden Trade; Howard signing). This offseason won't be a homerun, but could still be a solid double if he can pull off a Bosh deal and Parsons match. If he misses on both, then we can say it was a complete whiff on the attempt...

[This message has been edited by SuperAg05 (edited 7/10/2014 9:53a).]

If Parsons is so upset with Houston for honoring his contract, that he is willing to walk on a matching offer as a UFA, then locking him in at a below value contract as an RFA isn't likely going to win you any favor with a player. Let Parsons be the bad guy that left the city of Houston for even money (less after leaving a no income tax state) even after Morey saved the day bringing in the dream team. Plus you have a full year to work on an extension.

Not to mention Parson's offensive numbers will likely go down a bit if he is sharing the ball with Howard, Bosh and Harden. So his value actually could be quite a bit lower next year. Morey gets paid big money to forecast this kind of stuff and did a pretty bad job.

I am sure Leonard isn't pleased to have just won Finals MVP but is being paid a marginal salary, but that doesn't mean the Spurs are going to do something stupid on the chance that he has hurt feelings next year. Plus leonard knows the Spurs will take care of him when his time comes next year. Championship windows are small and getting players for a value for a year or two is huge. Even one year of the big 4 with Parsons would have been worth the risk of upsetting him.

Kawhi is restricted next year so it's not really comparable.

Kawhi was just an example of an undervalued player. I would say most prodcutive players playing under a rookie contract aren't really pleased.

There is a reason that everyone was surprised Morey would allow Parsons to be an RFA and this is exactly why. I actually think the Spurs, Mavs and Rockets are three of the best run organizations in the NBA, but Morey outsmarted himself on this one and thought he was smarter than everyone else.

I think I'll wait until this plays out before I form my opinion of good/bad/smart/dumb.

Morey thought this was his best option to keep Parsons. He didn't expect him to get such a high salary.

I'm not sure a "solid double" is in play anymore, or at least it's not one of the options the Rockets keep talking about. They've set themselves up to swing for the fences and spend a ton of money doing it. If they can still move Asik and Lin, keep most of the role players, poach McRoberts from the (disintegrating?) Heat or grab Gasol, and maybe bring in a cheaper SF to replace Parsons, then they can claim a solid double. Unless they back off the big dreams, it's hard to see them getting out of this offseason clearly better than they were last year without spending 80 million in taxes.

Also I'm not sure why people think making Parsons restricted this year is the riskier, more aggressive option. Morey would have had more cap room to get free agents if he hadn't done that, and no guaranteed right to match Parsons contract next year.To me, that's more conservative because now he is guaranteed to at least have the option of keeping Parsons if none of the other options work out. Leaving Parsons on his rookie deal so he could have more cap space is more aggressive because then he risks not getting Bosh/etc and not keeping Parsons.

There is always the possibility that Parsons is upset at his BFF being traded away and he wants to leave no matter what.

Maybe after a year, Dallas will be "encouraged" by Parsons to sign Lin and the bromance can continue....

Here is a terrible video of Parsons signing the offer sheet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzqWW71EmBU

quote:

---

Dwain Price @DwainPrice

The 72 hour clock on Parsons hasn't started yet. Donnie Nelson said the offer sheet won't be submitted until tonight.
11:35 AM - 10 Jul 2014

---

So, a little extra breathing room/time for Morey...

quote:

---

Here is a terrible video of Parsons signing the offer sheet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzqWW71EmBU

---

Where was Parsons agent during all of this? Something about this whole situation (signing a $45M contract in a club while drinking and bouncing back between the contract and a hot blonde) seems....seedy.