RealGM

Do you all think the Pacers will attempt to re-sign Jeff Foster, or will they let him walk?

It always depends on the price, but I'm inclined to re-sign him for the vet's minimum.

Miller4ever wrote:It always depends on the price, but I'm inclined to re-sign him for the vet's minimum.

This, and only this.

To be honest, I'd like to see him sign in San Antonio - he's from there, they always will need backup big men, and it would be a chance (albeit slight) to win a ring in the twilight of his career.

It would be nice to have him back on the vet min, since that's all we can really reasonably offer him, as a backup C and sort of "older veteran presence/defensive coach-type" guy. But let's be honest - we're better off getting some potential long-term youth playing time in the backup big man role, and Jeff is better off being the 4th big on a championship level team.

^^ditto.

I'd go higher than the minimum to keep him from going elsewhere. I suspect we'll have to go near or slightly above the MLE (if there still is one) to keep him and I'm okay with that.

I don't think there's a chance in hell Jeff decides to resign for anything under the MLE amount. He can get that little money elsewhere, and he's done enough for the franchise that he doesn't owe the Pacers anything. If all they're going to offer him is the minimum or bi-annual exception type money, he's obviously going to choose somewhere like Miami, New York, or San Antonio (or Boston for that matter). These teams NEED his services and are probably willing to pony up more than the minimum for him.

All kind of speculation at this point as we don't know what the MLE is going to be or even if it exists (or even if there is an NBA season before Jeff retires for that matter). The one team you mentioned that I can't see signing him, though, is Miami. As injury prone as he has been, I can't see them offering the vet minimum even, which I'm assuming is all they'll be allowed to offer if they can even offer that. No doubt he could help them when he's able to be on the court, but he's just taking up a roster spot that a lot of vets would be more than happy to take if he's injured.

I'd really love to see Foster sign in San Antonio and have a real shot at the championship, well before he retires. The guy deserves it. It kinda hurts me as a fan but i'd be happy if he lands on a contender.

I think Jeff will be back, not only the Pacers need a veteran back-up center, but also, which is more important, that he wants to stay.

Foster has been a Pacer since his rookie season in 1999. There are only three players who stay at the first team since they been drafted longer than Jeff Foster: Kobe, Ducan and Dirk.

I could see that teams such as Miami, Boston, Orlando, LA Lakers, San Antoni will go after Foster. But I also believe Foster will stay as a Pacer, because it means something a lot for both Foster and the Pacers team.

The ideal contract I think will be around 4M-5M/2yrs.