Rockets general manager continues to be very aggressive, trying to break out of the mediocre rut Houston has been stuck in.
In a league where quality big men are at a premium, the Rockets are going to use their amnesty clause to cut loose Luis Scola and his three-years, $31 million remaining, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports and the NBC Sports Network.
Scola is probably the best player to be amnestied so far, averaging 15.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game last season, 18.3 and 8 the season before. He is an above average NBA big man who may not be an All-Star but would fit on most teams.
Scola, once amnestied, will spend 48 hours on the waiver wire, where teams under the salary cap can bid on him (teams offer to take on a portion of his salary to get his services, the Rockets still pay the rest of his salary it just doesn’t count on their official books). Already the Mavericks have said they would make a big bid, Wojnarowski reported, and other teams have to be thinking the same thing.
Why did the Rockets do it? To clear out more cap space in their efforts to at least rent Dwight Howard (no deal is close). With this not only can not only take on his contract next year but also take back the bad deal of Jason Richardson or Hedo Turkoglu. The Rockets also have been stockpiling picks to make a deal for Howard, and with the Nets out they may now be the frontrunner to land him.
Howard has said he would not re-sign with the Rockets, they would just be renting him. But either way, this is a good move for the Rockets because they have been stuck in the NBA’s doldrums. It’s no man’s land middle ground. They get Howard and they become good, keep him and they have a franchise anchor to put pieces around and win (plus now they would have the cap space to add a max player next summer, like Chris Paul). Lose Howard and they will be bad for a couple years and get high lottery picks. Either way, they break out of the middle ground.