Houston Rockets
Hey, Remember when Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik were on the Rockets?
The Chandler Parsons news is yet another sign that the Rockets are very confident in their ability to trade Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin.
No doubt by now you’ve heard the Yahoo! Sports report that the Rockets plan to decline the option on Chandler Parsons‘ contract by the end of this month, which would make Houston’s starting small forward a restricted free agent this summer.
David Weiner has been breaking down the details of this fascinating contract over the past year. In a nutshell, by the Rockets declining their team option, Parsons will be able to sign with any team — but the Rockets will have the ability to match the offer sheet he signs. If the Rockets pick up the option, then they get Chandler at a bargain rate (less than a million dollars) for one more year before he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2015.
While I don’t think it’s 100% that the Rockets will do this (too much can happen between now and June 30), there are plenty of positives to taking this route: The Rockets have more control. They play the restricted free agency game very well. It forces the player to prove their market value. It’s possible to get Chandler at a better salary. It gets Parsons the big bucks one year sooner. It opens the possibility of sign-and-trades involving Parsons.
Sports Radio 610 guest appearance with Sean Pendergast, Rich Lord and Ted Johnson to discuss Parsons’ contract.
But for me, the big takeaway from this is not that the Rockets will decline Parsons’ option but rather how absolutely brazen the Rockets have been about their ability to trade Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin.
It’s almost as if they’re already gone.
It started shortly after the Rockets’ exit from the playoffs when team owner Les Alexander said about this summer, “We’re going to have cap room to bring in a terrific free agent.”
Only one problem: The Rockets don’t have cap room. They need to trade Asik and Lin to create it.
Next, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey was asked on Twitter what kind of free agent the team could acquire this summer, and Morey responded that the Rockets “can create max [cap] room.”
We can create max room & have mid-level, bi-annual exception RT @Houstonhogan7 what kind of free agent can you get this year?
— Daryl Morey (@dmorey) May 8, 2014
Unless he’s talking about trading away James Harden or Dwight Howard, Morey isn’t even hiding it. He’s saying: ‘We can unload Lin and Asik.’
And now this report surfaces about how they will handle Parsons. This too is another indication that Lin and Asik are toast.
The Rockets do not want to sign anyone long-term before acquiring their third-best player, expected to be a significant contract. If the Rockets were to sign Parsons for say $10 million a season, their cap room possibilities would be stung and their fallback plan (2015 cap room) would be wiped out. So if the Rockets really are going to make Chandler a restricted free agent with the intent to match any offer, then the clock is clearly ticking on Lin and Asik trades. The Rockets would get no real benefit by allowing those two to come “off the books” in 2015, if Parsons already has his new deal.
Another thing to consider with this news is that the Rockets might not clear cap room at all. To pursue a major free agent like Carmelo Anthony, the Rockets would need to pinch every penny, but by making this move, Chandler’s cap hit would increase by $2 million before he is signed. This would seem to make trade, not free agency, the more likely avenue to improve.
I would not be surprised if the Rockets are looking to make a complicated three- or four-team deal that sends out Lin and Asik, along with a treasure trove, that nets them their player. By doing it in one fell swoop, the Rockets would remain above the cap and keep their mid-level exception ($5.3 million) to sign a better free agent or try to bring over a player like guard Sergio Llull or forward Kostas Papanikolaou.
But the bottom line with this news is that the Rockets are either extremely confident in their ability to dump off Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin — or, by putting this info out there, they want the NBA to think they are.
In a self-funded project (reportedly at an investment of over $10 million), the Houston Rockets are replacing the 17,000 bowl seats inside their home arena of Toyota Center. The new seats feature a black sports-weave material, which will represent a noticeable change relative to the venue’s current color scheme of red.
In advance of Wednesday’s game versus the Washington Wizards, which kicks off a three-game homestand over the next five days, the Rockets completed the renovation on three upper-level sections. Others throughout the building will change as the 2025-26 NBA season progresses.
All of the new seats, which are shown below, include attached cup holders.
Because the initial completed sections are in the upper level, the backdrop is unlikely to look different for fans watching on television. However, that could change as the season progresses and the work eventually migrates to the lower level.
No scheduling shutdowns are anticipated due to the project, and the change will not cause the venue to lose any seating capacity. The current bowl seats, other than the suite level, are “original to the building,” which first opened in 2003.
The seating and platform upgrades are among many recommendations from a facility condition assessment by Venue Solutions Group, which advised that Toyota Center needs a total of $635.8 million in maintenance work over the next 20 years.
In 2025, Toyota Center is now in its third operational decade. With many architectural, mechanical, and technological features original to the building, replacements are becoming necessary after 20-plus years of use, according to the assessment (via the Houston Business Journal). But while the arena requires modernization, the assessment found that the facilitity generally remains in good condition and has been well-maintained throughout.
Under the leadership of team owner Tilman Fertitta, the Rockets have made a series of renovations to Toyota Center in recent years. That process remains ongoing, with seating upgrades representing the latest and most visible phase.
