re: Batum and . . . draft pick

Since Crabbe is a restrict FA, any reasonable contract will probably be matched by Portland. If you believe in a guys like Crabbe, you're gonna have to overpay to pry him away from Portland.

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Batum is getting a max deal

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Batum should not sniff a max deal.
Guys named Lebron, Durant, Paul George, and Kawhi should be the only SF's with max contracts.

SG/SF that have been in the league for 8 years and have never averaged better than 15 ppg, are not max deal guys.

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Batum should not sniff a max deal.
Guys named Lebron, Durant, Paul George, and Kawhi should be the only SF's with max contracts.

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That is one of the consequences of the Max Salary slot. Guys like LeBron are getting paid under their market value because the owners figured it'd be better to over pay a Batum than to give the LeBrons (actually KGs) more money and power. The salary cap is set to increase about 85% from the era where your mentality on contract values is stuck, nearly twice what it used to be. Who should get that money? Teams aren't allowed to give it to the true Max Players. The next tier of guys getting max or near max money makes sense.

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The next tier of guys getting max or near max money makes sense.

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There shouldn't be two tiers of guys getting max money.
You're either a max guy or you're not and Batum is no where near a max guy.

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Who should get that money?

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Just b/c you have more money doesn't mean you put players in categories they don't belong in.
If you're a second fiddle guy that can't lead a team, then you're not a max guy. If the max is say $24, then you should be in the $12-$20 range, depending on how much you actually can provide.

As i said before, when you're a SG/SF and you've never averaged more than 15ppg, you sure as hell aren't a max player.

If Batum is going to get $20 million, then i don't want anythign to do with him.
I'd rather Crabbe for $10-12 million. Hell I'd rather Rudy Gay, who actually scores more and shoots better than Batum.

Batum is not a superstar, nor can he or will ever be. Don't spend money on him like he is. He's not going to make us that much better than a guy making $10-12 million at that position will.


I'd rather spend $25 million on Bazemore and Crabbe than $20 on Batum.

If we can land 2 good wing players in FA, and draft Hield, i'd be extremely happy. I really would like to get Rudy Gay in some kind of trade as well. He would fit nicely in Ryno's role playing the 4 down the stretch of games when true centers sit their worthless arse's on the bench.

Pipe dream:
Jrue
Bazemore/Hield
Crabbe/QPon
Gay
AD
then just go find some bruisers for backup PF and C and whatever other minimum guys for backup roles.

Chandler Parsons is opting out of his deal so that's another wing on the market. If we get our guy on a short deal so what if we over pay a couple million. Get someone to help carry the team the next year or two back into the playoffs while we let our most recent draft pick develop his game. The best way to keep AD here is with a superstar, and this is the highest we should be in the draft for a while and the best chance we have had to get strong talent.

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There shouldn't be two tiers of guys getting max money.

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Why not? There are already 3 tiers within the max structure, 25% for young guys like Barnes, 30% for vets like Batum, and 35% for old men that care more about money than winning like Kobe.

If KD does a 1 + 1 so he can sign a new deal next year, he'll be eligible for the Kobe Money 35% max in addition to the cap jumping another $20 million. That's about $10 million per year more if he wants it. So a max for KD next year and max for Batum this year are really not the same deals at all. They'll both labeled Max but they won't be getting paid the same.

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I'd rather spend $25 million on Bazemore and Crabbe than $20 on Batum.

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And you're free to do that if you were running a team. But enough teams will have enough money and want Batum enough that someone will offer him a max.

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I really would like to get Rudy Gay

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Mike Malone squeezed a lot out of Gay/Cousins, more than anyone else has ever gotten. I just don't see Uncle Al being able to do the same thing with Gay.

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Batum is not a superstar, nor can he or will ever be.

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His assist % this year in Charlotte was 26.9%, the previous 3 years in Portland it was a shade under 21% each year. Those are huge numbers for a SF that the offense isn't built around. Grant Hill during the Gentry years was averaging in the low to mid 30%. Batum fits what Gentry claimed he wants better than any non superstar FA on the market.

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when you're a SG/SF and you've never averaged more than 15ppg, you sure as hell aren't a max player.

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And in 2017 when the cap raises to $108 million he won't be. The same tier of max deal will make about $5 million more than what Batum would sign for this year. It'd kind of like how Middleton/Monroe/Harris weren't really worth the max, but with the escalating cap they all got near max money because in just a few years those "max" deals might end up being less than someone like Bazemore gets on the open market.

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Because there's nothing else to talk about, we won't even know if they're going to fire the GM or not for another week or so.

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I mean I entertained it and gave some scenarios I view as realistic that could help us.

I meant that it's one thing to target Valentine, but to specifically target 2 players and have everything fall perfectly was the unrealistic part.

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Why not? There are already 3 tiers within the max structure, 25% for young guys like Barnes, 30% for vets like Batum, and 35% for old men that care more about money than winning like Kobe.

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What you're describing is max money based on age. That's fine. Point still is, if you'r a max player, production wise, you make whatever you're max money is. If you're not a max player, you don't. Batum is not a max player.

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It'd kind of like how Middleton/Monroe/Harris weren't really worth the max, but with the escalating cap they all got near max money because in just a few years those "max" deals might end up being less than someone like Bazemore gets on the open market.

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I understand that, but even the next year, if the max is $32 million for him, he's still not worth $26, or anything near that. and Middleton is a much better player than Batum, making $15 million for the next 4 years.

Batum is $20 million at best, and to me, he's not that big of a game changer to spend that much on him.

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Batum is $20 million at best, and to me, he's not that big of a game changer to spend that much on him.

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Even if you agreed that he was worth the Max it's still not a slam dunk move. Giving Batum max money means you're back to no depth like we were to start Monty's last season. You just gave up Gordon/Ryno/Ajinca to get him and if Batum is going to be a point forward of sorts you might trade Tyreke too.

That being said Batum fits Gentry's official wish list better than anyone else on the market, and if Demps is the GM we know he's not afraid to sacrifice depth and roster balance to acquire talent.