2011 NBA Draft and Offseason Blog

Written by Paul Banks of the Washington Times, and David Kay of the The Sports Bank.
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2011 NBA Free Agency: Allan Houston Rule – Southwest Division

One of the topics expected to be discussed during the pending NBA lockout is the possible revival of The Allan Houston Rule. When a new CBA was agreed upon in 2005, it allowed NBA teams a one-time opportunity to waive a player and not have his contract count against the luxury tax. The released player becomes a free agent but his salary still gets paid and counts against his former team’s salary cap. Ironically enough, Allan Houston was not a victim of The Allan Houston Rule. The Knicks instead decided to waive Jerome Williams.

If the new CBA once again invokes this clause, most teams will probably take advantage since it would save them possibly tens of millions of dollars. To keep up with the times, we will change the name of this from “The Allan Houston Rule” to the “Rashard Arenas Rule” since Rashard Lewis and Gilbert Arenas easily have the two worst contracts in the league. Allow me to break down each team and who would end up being the casualties of this rule. I’ll start with the Southeast Division.

Dallas Mavericks:
Brandan Haywood is due almost $35 million over the next four seasons. With that being said, Tyson Chandler is a free agent so cutting Haywood would only make sense if Chandler re-signed with Dallas. Plus let’s be honest, when has money ever been an issue for Mark Cuban? The Mavs did use the Allan Houston Rule in 2005 to cut Michael Finley so maybe Cuban will take advantage of this option.

Houston Rockets:
I know they just acquired him at the trade deadline and he is only entering his third year in the league, but Hasheem Thabeet would be the only player worth cutting for the Rockets. He will make $5.1 million next season with a team option worth almost $6.5 million in 2012-13. The 7-2 center hasn’t shown any indications that he will become a serviceable big man and general manager Daryl Morey might be best off cutting his losses while he still can. Houston is not in any real jeopardy of reaching the luxury tax though so they probably give Thabeet another year to show something and then just turn down his option next summer if he looks to be a bust.

Memphis Grizzlies:
The Grizzlies are really one of the underrated teams in terms of building a team with young players and let them develop together. They do not have any terrible contracts on the books, and even though they figure to hit the luxury tax level after re-signing Marc Gasol, Memphis probably passes on this one-time exception.

New Orleans Hornets:
With only six players under contract for next season, I don’t think the Hornets can afford to release anybody even if it may help their reported struggling financial situation. Of those six players, Emeka Okafor is due $40.5 million over the next three seasons. Although releasing Okafor would literally leave New Orleans with zero post players under contract and would pretty much guarantee that Chris Paul would not re-sign with the Hornets.

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