Peja Stojakovic: King For Life?

Purple Reign · Jun 17, 2005

King for life?
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]by Nebojsa Petrovacki / June 16, 2005[/font]

The road between dissatisfaction and complete loyalty to the club seems to be a short one for professional athletes.
Remember Predrag Stojakovic and his unusually blunt request for a trade from the Sacramento Kings last summer? Well, from all we heard regarding his situation on the team from the capital of California, Stojakovic and his agent David Bauman would like us to forget about that demand altogether.

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Even though the Kings were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Seattle SuperSonics, Stojakovic is showing some very clear signs that after his contract is up, his future NBA team might be the same as the current one.[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Whether it was motivated because of the Chris Webber trade or because privately he feels just cozy in Sacramento, where he lives a comfortable family life with his beautiful wife and his baby, and where he bought the house for his parents this winter, we would probably never know.[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]But this is what Bauman had to say when asked Stojakovic’s assertions regarding his future NBA destination:[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"I really hope that we would be able to agree with the Kings on a new contract very soon, perhaps even after the end of next season, when Peja has an option to opt out of his current contract," said Bauman. "He feels very comfortable about the direction of the team, he considers Sacramento his home and he thinks that, with appropriate acquisitions through the draft and free agency or trades, the Kings can be a power in the West with Peja and Mike Bibby as leaders of this new team."[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Joe Maloof, co-owner of the team, also seems to think Stojakovic is in Sacramento for the long run.[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Yeah, absolutely!" Maloof said when asked if he thinks Stojakovic deserves a maximum contract. "I mean, he went through so much with us and without his presence this team would lose its recognition and its unique offensive abilities. I know that I would probably have to break the bank to offer him a max, but Peja deserves it. Hey, I would offer him a max, and then he can be a King for the rest of his playing career. He is one guy who I wouldn’t have second thoughts about."[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Stojakovic, in his usual polite and very cautious way of dealing with the media, didn’t particularly comment on this assurance from his boss. However, he was much more vocal and firm regarding his impending obligations with the national team of Serbia-Montenegro in the European Championship that will be held in his next September. [/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Yes, I am absolutely playing for the national team this summer," Stojakovic said. "We are the hosts, so it is time for all of us from the NBA and Europe to come together and bring back the gold where it belongs."[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Nebojsa Petrovacki is the editor of Sportska Centrala, a sports news agency from Serbia-Montenegro[/font]

[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Tell us what you think about this article. E-mail us at HoopsHype@HoopsHype.com[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]_____________________
2002-2005 HOOPSHYPE[/font][font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/font][/font]

Bricklayer · Jun 17, 2005

Purple Reign said:

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Joe Maloof, co-owner of the team, also seems to think Stojakovic is in Sacramento for the long run.[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Yeah, absolutely!" Maloof said when asked if he thinks Stojakovic deserves a maximum contract. "I mean, he went through so much with us and without his presence this team would lose its recognition and its unique offensive abilities. I know that I would probably have to break the bank to offer him a max, but Peja deserves it. Hey, I would offer him a max, and then he can be a King for the rest of his playing career. He is one guy who I wouldn’t have second thoughts about."[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/font][/font]

If that's a real quote, all I have to say is good ****ing lord.

piksi · Jun 17, 2005

the source is usually credible

Ryle · Jun 17, 2005

Bricklayer said:

Double good ****ing lord............Peja is not a max player and if the Maloof's pay him that then they have completely lost it.

bigbadred00 · Jun 17, 2005

Ryle whats Peja's Market Value then? Personally I was always a bigger fan of Chris than Pejas, what's he worth to the team? What is a 22/5/2 guy who plays pretty good D worth in the league? If Peja works hard, I say max, if he doesn't then he doesn't deserve it, but he's a player, now, that we cannot afford to lose if we get nothing in return for.

Bricklayer · Jun 17, 2005

piksi said:

And so the evidence continues to mount that we don't have nearly the basketball people we thought we did running this franchise.

Ryle · Jun 17, 2005

bigbadred00 said:

Kobe got a max contract.....do you really think Peja is worth 130 million $$'s???

Bricklayer · Jun 17, 2005

bigbadred00 said:

Jose was kind enough to do the math last time this topic came up -- max contract for Peja:

Year / Salary
--------------
1 / 13,152,000
2 / 14,796,000
3 / 16,645,000
4 / 18,726,188
5 / 21,066,961
6 / 23,700,331
7 / 26,662,872

For a grand total of: 134,748,852 over 7 years.

That is just totally and completely insane for a man who just gave us 20pts and 4rebs. And people were complaining about the Webber contract? Wait till they get a load of a 35yr Peja earning $23 million a year.

Maybe its time for me to dust off that old 76er sweatshirt an ex gave me while I was in Philly.

4cwebb · Jun 17, 2005

Ryle said:

I certainly don't, at least not in the manner in which Peja gets his points. It's not as if he can create for himself the majority of the time; instead, he relies entirely on the offensive structure to get his points. Add to that the fact that while he plays above average man-to-man defense, he is not a great help defender, and is a poor rebounder for a player of his size and athleticism on a team that is so notoriously weak at rebounding, and I don't see a guy that is a max player. Kings would end up regretting that contract in the same manner they ended up regretting CWebb's max contract after a few years and a few injuries.

piksi · Jun 17, 2005

Bricklayer said:

Hard to tell. I would like to see the original transcripts before making conclusions unless Maloofs learned Serbian over night.
Generally, it is the most credible Serbian sports site but that does not mean that their knowledge of English is good enough too.
They also mentioned that Pedja is a sure lock for the national team which is unfortunately not exactly true.
I don't think that Kings should make a same mistake with Pedja that they did with Webber. I say let him play (in case they avoid lock out) the season and earn his pay (like Ray Allen did). He should be paid as much as Bibby does and Bibby should send a third of his pay to Philly.

bigbadred00 · Jun 17, 2005

Hopefully the CBA will change. Your right, it is too much, but what do you think his value is? Should he be getting more money than Brad, probally, so ~11million a year after a while.

Honestly, I wish we could get all of our players cheap, but the market is ugly. Joe Johnson, Larry Hughes, and Ray who are comparably good players, JJ is younger, Larry is a better defender and Ray is a better player than Peja, but they will all command big money. You can get a All-Star level player on the cheap anymore. Honestly I'd love to have Ron Artest's contract in comparison to Pejas, he's on the super cheap, but I don't think Peja will take a contract similar to the one he already has.

piksi · Jun 17, 2005

Bricklayer said:

Jose was kind enough to do the math last time this topic came up -- max contract for Peja:

Year / Salary
--------------
1 / 13,152,000
2 / 14,796,000
3 / 16,645,000
4 / 18,726,188
5 / 21,066,961
6 / 23,700,331
7 / 26,662,872

For a grand total of: 134,748,852 over 7 years.

That is just totally and completely insane for a man who just gave us 20pts and 4rebs. And people were complaining about the Webber contract? Wait till they get a load of a 35yr Peja earning $23 million a year.

Maybe its time for me to dust off that old 76er sweatshirt an ex gave me while I was in Philly.

He is not going to get that much money

Ryle · Jun 17, 2005

I think a contract like what Richard Hamilton signed. About 7 years and 60 million would be appropriate.

I'm not a huge fan of Peja so I don't want to contradict myself and say we should even pay him that but I think that is fair considering his skill set.

Bricklayer · Jun 17, 2005

piksi said:

So says you. And I hope YOU are right. Unfortunately according to this article you are being directly contradicted by our dip**** owner who suddenly doesn't appear to be able to find his *** with both hands.

bigbadred00 · Jun 17, 2005

For a comparable age player, what contract do you think would fit Pejas? Obviously you haven't seen many of the inflated contracts in the NBA. I hope the new CBA brings shorter contracts, but that's only a "new hope." If Troy Murphy and Jason Richardson both make around 11 million dollars (questionable contracts), I can't see Peja making much less albeit they are younger players. Contracts for years have been rediculous. I know what you guys are saying though, we don't want to get stuck with a Webber like contract, I whole heartedly agree, but can we afford to lose him?

bigbadred00 · Jun 17, 2005

Ryle, I think that contract is not very realistic, Peja already makes around 7 million this year, I think he's hoping for a pay raise. Yes the contract may be fair and maybe the right one, but will he get that, I bet he'll get more.

Ryle · Jun 17, 2005

bigbadred00 said:

The "bad" contracts are pretty much going by the wayside(except if you are the Warriors). I look at Ginobili and Hamilton's contract(both about 50-60 million) and think that is probably fair. I would rather have either of those 2 instead of Peja so I could make the argument that he should be paid less than them.

bigbadred00 · Jun 17, 2005

Fair and realistic are a whole other issue in the NBA. A fair contract for Allan Houston would be zilch, but he's getting the same money as Webber, who doesn't deserve max either.

starks · Jun 17, 2005

peja was underpaid in last few seasons comparing with some other players......but not 135 mil, that's too much.....lamar odom's money would be more realistic or finley's at best

Bricklayer · Jun 17, 2005

But Webber at least once DID. It is utter insanity to give it to somebody who never has. And I have used the Allan Houston example as EXACTLY where the Kings are headed if they are really this stupid. The Knicks were never going anywhere even when they were healthy because they panicked and dumped a max deal on Allan Houston (amongst other things), he destroyed their salary structure, became totally untrradeable, and they were just stuck with him as he aged, got injured and helped pull the franchise right down into the muck.

4cwebb · Jun 17, 2005

Let's not forget that Finley has a "max" contract at the moment.

But, if Peja wants to be a King for life, he'll realize that if he locks up as much money as a max contract would require, then he'll just be hoping to win 50 games each year for quite some time alongside Bibby and Miller (since the Maloofs have shown they will tighten those purse strings when it comes to the complimentary players).

SactoGreg · Jun 17, 2005

Peja?

Max contract?

Laughable!

4cwebb · Jun 17, 2005

Bricklayer said:

Just for added support, the year CWebb earned his max contract, he averaged 27.1 ppg, 11.1 rpg and 4.2 apg. Those are max contract numbers. Easily.

bigbadred00 · Jun 17, 2005

Oh I'm not going to argue at the time I definitely think Webber deserved a max contract. He was a top 5 player in the league (arguable of course) and was awesome. We knew about his injury history but we were forced to give him max to keep him (I assume). It's tough to give long term, big contracts to players who are around 28. Honestly I think he deserves a Sheed like contract. Sheed still gets paid a ton:

2004-9.1
2005-10.2
2006-11.4
2007-12.5
2008-13.6

Around 55 Million for 5 years. Not bad, not great, but would hopefully be enough.

bigbadred00 · Jun 17, 2005

Then again they'll be paying Sheed 13 million a year when he's 35.

sloter · Jun 17, 2005

Well, if the Kings don't give him the max contract, it is almost certain that someone else will. There are teams who need shooting a lot more than the Kings do...

bigbadred00 · Jun 17, 2005

Honestly the only guys I can see paying max in the league are the following players considering age and health:

Kobe
KG
TD
Amare
Jermaine
T-Mac
VC (if he plays like he did in NJ for the last 2/3rds of the season)
Lebron
Wade
Dirk
AI

quick dog · Jun 17, 2005

Lately, the Maloofs seem to be making statements and undertaking actions that defy logic and common sense. How many good bench guys will the Kings have to jetison to pay for a maximum contract for Peja? I think that the Maloof brothers ought to do what wise parents advise their mouthy kids to do.

After you think of something wonderful to say, wait 20 seconds and reconsider the statement before opening your mouth!

Bricklayer · Jun 17, 2005

I try not to pester them too much, but I just had to fire off an email to the Kings over this one:

Dear Kings owners,
Every once in a while something comes down the Kings pipeline that I find truly alarming. Its been happening a lot more recently. But this excerpt from a Serbian article has to take the cake:

Joe Maloof, co-owner of the team, also seems to think Stojakovic is in Sacramento for the long run.

"Yeah, absolutely!" Maloof said when asked if he thinks Stojakovic deserves a maximum contract. "I mean, he went through so much with us and without his presence this team would lose its recognition and its unique offensive abilities. I know that I would probably have to break the bank to offer him a max, but Peja deserves it. Hey, I would offer him a max, and then he can be a King for the rest of his playing career. He is one guy who I wouldn’t have second thoughts about."

To which all I have to ask is: are you guys insane??? A max contract? For Peja?? A guy who just averaged 20pts and 4rebs? That's $130 million dollars!!! In his final season he would be earning roughly $25 million dollars! As a 35 yr old shooter.

That's just ridiculous. I pay a lot of money for my season tickets. Have yet to see Peja hit the floor, grab a tough board, beat the best defenders, or rise to the occasion in the playoffs. If you are really foolish enough to throw a ridiculous max contract at that sort of player, am I really going to want to pay thousands of dollars to watch Peja Stojakovic lead a group of scrubs (because we can't afford anybody else) into season after season of softness and failure? I pray I don't have to ever make that decision -- the Kings front office just HAS to have better basketball acumen than that. Don't they??

Sincerely,
A Very Concerned Season Ticket Holder

bigbadred00 · Jun 17, 2005

Thing is Brick, if we let him go, were still over the cap with nowhere to go. It's the only thing I'm truly worried about. If we lose Peja, YES he's replacable with probally a better player with a similar max deal, thing is without Bird rights and not having that great of trading components, what direction would we have?

Peja Stojakovic: King For Life?

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