Then you're either naive or playing at it. How did the perception of Joe Johnson around the league change after he signed a 123 million dollar deal? Kobe Bryant went from walking on water to the anchor around the franchise among Lakers fans once he signed his 3 year 85 million dollar deal and then got injured and didn't play. Trust me on this, I work around Laker fans every day. They all resented him and have been counting the days till he's gone. If you get paid like a franchise player but aren't getting results like one you become the scapegoat for everything that's wrong with your team. Your own fans turn against you as your contract is supposedly preventing the team from getting better. Some comedian at ESPN is going to call you out every year for being overpaid and unreliable. It gets ugly. Remember how Webber was treated at the end of his tenure here? You think the DeMarcus backlash in Sacramento is bad now? Imagine how much worse it will be once he signs a max deal under the new salary cap.
And Al Horford didn't "lead" a team to 60 wins any more than DeMarcus is responsible for our inability to win 30. That's sportswriter pap not reality. He was part of a winning team. A team that had 4 All-Stars and the coach of the year. Kyle Korver shot 50% from three. Paul Millsap lead the team in scoring, rebounding, and defense rating. Horford was an important piece but you can't hang 60 wins around his neck and say he's a #1 option. That same team this year is hovering just over .500.
But it's not a Joe Johnson or Kobe Bryant size deal in todays market, that's the whole point, it's a regular max contract it's just everyone's salary is bigger now- can you imagine the reaction if some of the deals signed this summer was signed in the past?
It's 30% of the cap, do you think that's crazy for Al Horford? I disagree with that, it's not ideal but also not crazy.
The argument about his part in last year's team is kind of pointless, I think he is the most valuable player on that team, and you may disagree, but I think what we can both agree on is that he is a 2 way player that can play PF and Center effectively and stretch the floor while still having a post game and being a good passer- and that's extremely valuable and rare in todays game.
They didn't trade him but they sure did shop him around so they're considering the possibility that he won't be there next season. It's kindof hard to pull the trigger on a deal which blows up your team mid-season when you're sitting in a playoff spot. Nobody wants that. But consider this -- both Atlanta as an organization and Al Horford individually are looking back at 9 years of playoff futility. Even as the #1 seed last year they got swept by Cleveland in the Conference Finals. They didn't get better this year, they got worse. It's quite likely Horford opts for familiarity and returns to Atlanta but both sides have a reason to consider alternatives. Atlanta may not want to commit max money to Horford after seeing how re-signing Joe Johnson crippled them for years. Horford may not want to lock up what's left of his prime struggling to make it out of the first round every year when there are 29 other opportunities out there to explore. Well, more like 15-20 possibilities at his price point.
I'm skipping the bits about defense because it's mostly subjective. The few stats out there which measure it do more harm than good because nobody even agrees on the best way to use them. We've discussed this enough already to know that we're not going to find common ground there.
He is on an ending contract and I guess that the major reason they considered it, but according to all reports after the deadline they asked a really high price for him and wouldn't settle- that's very far from "letting him go".
I agree that Atlanta is far from having a title shot, but I just don't get how you can look down on that from where we're standing.
What good is that talent? You tell me. Let's trade DeMarcus Cousins for Damian Lillard. He's leading a team of unheralded young players and journeymen into the playoffs while 2x All Star DeMarcus can't lead his star teammates to a .500 record. If talent doesn't matter and winning does that's a good trade for us right?
It's funny how you presented it, because Damian Lillard is also a 2x All Star.
And considering that Damian is locked up for far longer I actually think it is a pretty decent trade for us...
Thing is, to go back to the original point it's about how you determine talent, talent does matter, but "talented" guys that are odd pieces you can't put together are usually the most overrated players out there.
And that's where DMC differs from Rudy and Rondo, because for all his faults, he is still effective on both ends of the floor and has no glaring flaws in his game.
What you said was we're a team that hasn't made the playoffs in 10 years and hasn't even cracked 30 wins in 8 years -- both true. Why would anyone come here thinking they can compete for something? That's what people said last year about Rondo but he came didn't he? Oh that's right -- nobody wanted him, he needed a one year deal to recover value, blah, blah , blah. BS.
Only that's it's not BS, do you really think Rondo got a ton of FA interest? cause there is zero evidence of that, of course you can right off facts as BS if it suits you, but frankly- I read a lot of your posts and I think you are smarter than that.
You can act like record is the only thing that matters if you want to. But players know and respect talent. Al Horford was in the same high school recruiting class as Rondo and Gay so they've probably known each other since they were 14. Lebron didn't leave a 61 win team in 2010 to go to a 47 win team coming off two straight first round playoff losses, he left to play with Wade and Bosh.
Again record isn't everything but there is a huge difference between an ok playoff team and a team not cracking 30 wins... you can blame whoever you want but that's the truth.
LeBron went to a 47 win team that already had Wade (the main guy in a championship team) and Pat freaking Riley in the FO, and didn't have Bosh yet (so that's not even a remotely similar situation), if you are really comparing that with what we have with DMC and Rudy now it's just beyond ridiculous.
Everybody (except disgruntled Kings fans apparently) knows that DeMarcus is one of the elite players in the league.
When did I say he wasn't one? I just think that saying that he is recognized around the league as a top 5 player is a stretch...
Blowing it all up puts us back at nobody status -- a joke of a team in a small market that gets very little national media coverage.
Like now our media coverage is so great, we get a ton of media coverage- as a joke franchise.
We have a seat at the table right now -- I wouldn't give that up until I absolutely had no other choice.
And which table is that exactly?
You are talking about it like we are let's say... Atlanta, and I just said we should break up a playoff team becuase we are not contending (although for some reason you get that logic when it comes to Atlanta), this team as accomplished NOTHING.
And the window to do something is closing since the guy who's the promise behind all of this is one year away from becoming an expiring contract, so unless you think that you are going to become an overnight contender you should atleast consider blowing it up on your terms and get tools to rebuild before you end up losing him for nothing and hurting your future even more.
