re: NBA Free Agency Thread - Russell Westbrook traded to the Rockets for Chris Paul & picks

That would be a million times smarter than going after Horford imo

Sounds like the Horford stuff was pure speculation on a few peoples parts and not reality.

The Harris stuff sounds solid, but the Pels are included with like 10 other teams that want him. Doubt he chooses us.

It would be a fun as hell team though.

Are there any stat indicators to predict players that are about to level off or severely drop in production? So odd older guys getting big contracts just to handcuff a team. Is that purely to appease fans / season ticket holders?

Many players 32-34 years of age land massive contract deals and their huge drop off is typically inevitable in the very near future far before the contract expires. They also are likely to get injured and cannot log the minutes. The value is greatly diminished when you strap your cap for 1 player who either gets hurts or just loses a step altogether during the tenure of your contract. It seems like NBA players get long term contracts too late in their careers versus what's good for the team in the long haul.

I'd have to go find examples obvi but it appears to be the case.

He’s a good player but I’m also curious about the fit. Something that’s been argued for the past few days on PT

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Many players 32-34 years of age land massive contract

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I would say this typically only happens with superstars. And part of it is due to the way the CBA/Salary Cap is structured, it is hard to replace a large salary with another salary if you are already a team working close to the cap. For example, if KD leaves the Warriors, they have no cap space to replace him with. But, they could re-sign him due to having his Bird Rights. Another part of the equation is that teams don’t want to let a player (asset) walk away for nothing, when they may have used assets to acquire that player. An example of this is the Rockets/Chris Paul. They were in a situation last season where they had to re-sign him, even though most knew it would be a bad idea.

SI came out with an article saying the Lakers efforts to clear cap space so far have gone nowhere.

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SI came out with an article saying the Lakers efforts to clear cap space so far have gone nowhere.

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Mannix is a Boston shill, this is fake news.

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Many players 32-34 years of age land massive contract deals and their huge drop off is typically inevitable in the very near future far before the contract expires. They also are likely to get injured and cannot log the minutes. The value is greatly diminished when you strap your cap for 1 player who either gets hurts or just loses a step altogether during the tenure of your contract. It seems like NBA players get long term contracts too late in their careers versus what's good for the team in the long haul.

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When 32-34 year old dudes are signed to massive contracts one of two things are happening.

1. The team feels that signing the player gives them a legitimate 2-3 year window of winning a championship. If they win 1 then the player digressing or being shite in that 4th year is worth the cost.

2. It's a poorly run franchise who never can get free agents to sign and they sign a guy based on name alone so the GM can say he did something. I'm honestly really surprised it didn't happen with Melo. Maybe teams are learning or maybe there was just enough evidence against it.