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Let me cut right to the chase. We just saw Vuc and Ross have career seasons in contract years. They have now both been paid handsomely. If we want this team to continue to show improvement, then both of these guys need to play like its another contract year this coming season. NBA history tells me this wont be the case, and they will both drop off somewhat this season, which is very worrying for me as a fan. I also ask why it wasnt until this season that they performed the way they did. Just perhaps the lure of a big offseason deal was the added incentive required for them to dig that little bit deeper than usual?

Needless i remind you all that not so long ago we were all begging for Vuc to be dumped from the team at the soonest opportunity. I was very much part of this group. Im happy to accept i was wrong IF he can show that he is willing to put in the same amount of work he did last season. Whether or not he does is yet to be seen. Im very worried that what we have seen is a product of these guys playing for the contract they have both now earnt.

Just some food for thought...

It's entirely plausible that Ross and Vucevic's performance this past season was the result of contract-year motivation on their parts.

Although, the conclusion of their previous contracts wasn't the only thing that changed for them or the team last year: Clifford was hired as head coach, our main players remained healthy, they notched another year of experience together, et cetera, et cetera. Any factor or combination of factors could've been contributing to their improved play. It remains to be seen whether it is sustainable or replicable performance, but since we just inked them to long-term deals (which I think overall were pretty fair), I'm going to hope they can turn in some more successful seasons.

With Vuc's annual salary now being more than double what it was on his previous contract, I'm going to be holding him to a higher standard than before. Any individual or team related short comings that happen this year, the blame should be placed squarely on Vuc. If he doesn't make the All-Star team, has his stats across the board falter, or doesn't lead us to the playoffs, Vuc's 2019-2020 season should be deemed a failure.

Contract years in red...

https://i.imgur.com/tfOyoAW.png

Vuc will "regress" if we reduce his role and re-hire Vogel to play him to his weaknesses. Fortunately, that's not going to happen. We will still have the best coach he's ever had who actually believes in him as a focal point, plays him to his strengths on both ends of the floor, and tries not to expose him to his weaknesses. Our starting lineup is still the same. Our bench is better than the one we started with last season. This is the smartest, grittiest, most balanced team he's ever been on. We should expect him to continue producing for us.

shadrock wrote:Contract years in red...

https://i.imgur.com/tfOyoAW.png

Incorrect. Vuc signed his last contract October 2014... then he immediately balled out for 19 ppg that season. He continued the production the following year, too, and our team was trending up until hennigan sabotaged it in the summer of 2016. He is now a 21 ppg scorer because he added decent 3pt shooting. Contract year is kind of a myth... where were Oladipo and EP's contract years? Did Tobias have a contract year or did we just reduce his role before shipping him out? Fournier?

If Fultz pans out, we should see reduction in Vučević's raw numbers, namely PTS, FGA and AST - but that would actually be a good thing meaning he's 1st option no longer and team should hopefully be even better. I just want his defense to remain as strong as this past season.

See Tobias Harris in 2014-15.
See Evan Fournier in 2015-16.
See Aaron Gordon in 2017-18.
See Nik Vucevic & Terrence Ross in 2018-19.

See a trend? Fournier's turn is up again. Brace yourselves.

Every player stat pads.

Ag even said so himself that they have to win and get people’s numbers up. I wonder why.

Its not a secret, but whats good about our players so far is there is no significant dropoff after a big deal. Unlike dampier or jerome james.

In fact, OrlandO was right, Vuc signed a contract extension, before he entered his 4th year in the league.

So Shad’s is at a fault by a pointing out the 14-15 season.

Skin wrote:See Tobias Harris in 2014-15.
See Evan Fournier in 2015-16.
See Aaron Gordon in 2017-18.
See Nik Vucevic & Terrence Ross in 2018-19.

See a trend? Fournier's turn is up again. Brace yourselves.

Fournier looked like his vision went bad last year.

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Looking at "contract year" players this year, we have Mozgov, Carter-Williams, and Iwundu. Team options are to be considered for Isaac, Bamba, Frazier and Fultz. Not much to consider.