Trailblazers offer Roy Hibbert a max contract. Might not be able to keep Batum...
- Thread starter Block Party
- Start date
This isn't about whether the Kings are capable of doing what you lay out within the framework of the new CBA. Its about being logical and not having kneejerk reactions. Yes, you can throw a ton of money at Batum. But is he really worth that money? Do we want to get ourselves into the same situation the Hawks are in. Always good enough to make the playoffs, but out in the first round, with no capspace to add what you need to go to the next level. You referred to the Lakers. You know what the Lakers are right now, unless someone bails them out? A franchise thats in decline, and a franchise that can't do anything about it. Unless, as I said, another team does something stupid.
The new CBA is very restrictive on teams that are over the cap, and especially teams that are near or over the luxury tax threshold. You pay Batum 12.5 mil, and three years from now, if we resign both Tyreke and Cuz, we'll have three players taking up close to 40 mil of our entire salaries. If thats the case, all three players better be stars in the league. And guess what, if Robinson turns out to be as good as everyone thinks he is, you'll have him coming for an extension a year later.
Your estimate on the salaries is off by the way. A max for Cuz today would be 12.5 mil. But remember, the max is based on a percentage of the total income of the NBA, which will have, in all likelyhood gone up by the time Cuz comes up for an extension. So he could easlily get around 13.5 mil. I don't see Jimmers salary included either.
The new CBA is very restrictive on teams that are over the cap, and especially teams that are near or over the luxury tax threshold. You pay Batum 12.5 mil, and three years from now, if we resign both Tyreke and Cuz, we'll have three players taking up close to 40 mil of our entire salaries. If thats the case, all three players better be stars in the league. And guess what, if Robinson turns out to be as good as everyone thinks he is, you'll have him coming for an extension a year later.
Your estimate on the salaries is off by the way. A max for Cuz today would be 12.5 mil. But remember, the max is based on a percentage of the total income of the NBA, which will have, in all likelyhood gone up by the time Cuz comes up for an extension. So he could easlily get around 13.5 mil. I don't see Jimmers salary included either.
Yes! There were times when he played Point forward, for lack of a better term. I'm not thrilled with Williams as our starting SF, but he does play good defense, and brings more athleticism to the position along with high BBIQ. To my mind, he's my final fall back position if all else fails. But he's not a bad fall back.
This is the reason why random mediocre signings like Chuck Hayes and MT screw you. Marcus for 8, or Batum for 12? Batum is definitely worth 4 more mil than MT, especially given our team makeup. Lack of foresight, penny pinching at the worst times and not paying for VALUE means as long as our front office stays the same, we will never even be average in terms of cap planning.
I know Batum appears to have hatched a plot straight out of Batman and dropped hallucinogenic drugs into the water supply of his supporters, but let me try to reset this a little. Batum's yr by yr numbers:
08-09 18.4min 5.4pts (.446 .369 .808) 2.8reb 0.9ast 0.6stl 0.5blk 0.6TO
09-10 24.8min 10.1pts (.519 .409 .843) 3.8reb 1.2ast 0.6stl 0.7blk 0.7TO
10-11 31.5min 12.4pts (.455 .345 .841) 4.5reb 1.5ast 0.8stl 0.6blk 1.0TO
11-12 30.4min 13.9pts (.451 .391 .836) 4.6reb 1.4ast 1.0stl 1.0blk 1.5TO
And now $12mil per, and peoile are talking about it like its an obvious amount and clearly he's worth it. I mean, I like Batum, would like to have him. BUT... Basically this whole Batum nuttiness got started 3 years ago when he had one outlier season where he was very efficient. And in the modern age of basketball dummies staring at "advanced stat" spreadsheets iunstead of the basketball floor, efficiency gets everybody all giddy. But he fell back, and the last couple of years he appears to be settling in to basically Tayshaun Prince like production. And now we're talking about $12mil per for that.
08-09 18.4min 5.4pts (.446 .369 .808) 2.8reb 0.9ast 0.6stl 0.5blk 0.6TO
09-10 24.8min 10.1pts (.519 .409 .843) 3.8reb 1.2ast 0.6stl 0.7blk 0.7TO
10-11 31.5min 12.4pts (.455 .345 .841) 4.5reb 1.5ast 0.8stl 0.6blk 1.0TO
11-12 30.4min 13.9pts (.451 .391 .836) 4.6reb 1.4ast 1.0stl 1.0blk 1.5TO
And now $12mil per, and peoile are talking about it like its an obvious amount and clearly he's worth it. I mean, I like Batum, would like to have him. BUT... Basically this whole Batum nuttiness got started 3 years ago when he had one outlier season where he was very efficient. And in the modern age of basketball dummies staring at "advanced stat" spreadsheets iunstead of the basketball floor, efficiency gets everybody all giddy. But he fell back, and the last couple of years he appears to be settling in to basically Tayshaun Prince like production. And now we're talking about $12mil per for that.
The thing about signing FA is we have to actually convince players to sign. That likely means outbidding by a significant amount, especially with the team's current situation. A guy like JT, all you need to do is match, so unless one team goes crazy for him, you should be able to keep him.
Unless a players is already here and extending, or is from the area, I don't see any player jumping over here, at least until they start winning.
That's why I'm not even looking at FA and hoping for some sort of balancing trade.
Unless a players is already here and extending, or is from the area, I don't see any player jumping over here, at least until they start winning.
That's why I'm not even looking at FA and hoping for some sort of balancing trade.
He's 23. For those that use Tyreke statistics, that means he's barely out of college. He's long, perfect length, perfect compliment to Cousins and Tyreke. He can play defense, and he's only getting better. He's got a great attitude and he isn't looking to be the man.
In a myopic state, is Batum worth 12? Probably not. But if the market dictates that he's worth 10-12, then you have to pay him 12 to come here. If he spreads the floor, allows reke the space to operate, allows Cousins the easy pass out of the double team to knock down the 3, you're not just paying him for his own production, but TEAM production. I don't see why people don't get that.
You can't look at one single player and say, you're worth this or that. Within a team, the value changes. Thornton is a good scorer, but for our team to succeed, he was always destined to be a 6th man. Everyone could foresee that. He played out of his mind when Tyreke wasn't around. But for the MaScrooges, how are you going to justify 8 mil for a 6th man scorer? You're going to sacrifice the perfect compliment to your kids because you overpaid for an undersized score in bunches 20 minutes a game guy? Those are a dime a dozen and you can grab those at any time. If Tyreke could shoot or if we had a better PG going forward, we could make do with a mediocre 3pt sf. As is, the SF needs to compensate for Tyreke. So while you scoff at the 12M for Batum, a million may be Reke's doing, a mil may be to get double teams off DMCs back, 2 mil because of the Kings' reputation for ineptness, etc. Suddenly, Batum doesn't sound so overpriced.
In a myopic state, is Batum worth 12? Probably not. But if the market dictates that he's worth 10-12, then you have to pay him 12 to come here. If he spreads the floor, allows reke the space to operate, allows Cousins the easy pass out of the double team to knock down the 3, you're not just paying him for his own production, but TEAM production. I don't see why people don't get that.
You can't look at one single player and say, you're worth this or that. Within a team, the value changes. Thornton is a good scorer, but for our team to succeed, he was always destined to be a 6th man. Everyone could foresee that. He played out of his mind when Tyreke wasn't around. But for the MaScrooges, how are you going to justify 8 mil for a 6th man scorer? You're going to sacrifice the perfect compliment to your kids because you overpaid for an undersized score in bunches 20 minutes a game guy? Those are a dime a dozen and you can grab those at any time. If Tyreke could shoot or if we had a better PG going forward, we could make do with a mediocre 3pt sf. As is, the SF needs to compensate for Tyreke. So while you scoff at the 12M for Batum, a million may be Reke's doing, a mil may be to get double teams off DMCs back, 2 mil because of the Kings' reputation for ineptness, etc. Suddenly, Batum doesn't sound so overpriced.
So it looks like Portland is going to sign Hibbert, and Minn is going to get Batum. Don't agree with the contract they're getting, but this is how you leapfrog other teams in talent. You spend some money instead of hanging at the minimal salary cap. Are there any other team owners as broke or financially constrained as the Maloofs? You can say the Clippers for many years, but they have been spending money on their team recently too. I would try for AK47 again.
