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It looks like Iguodala is going to be overpaid. Maybe he will blossom into a star to justify his salary, and maybe he won't. That is not the question here (it has been discussed elsewhere.)

But when a player is overpaid I say criticize management and not the player.

Players deserve criticism if they don't work on their games. if they talk and don't back it up. If they become distractions off the court of in the locker room.

Management deserve criticism if they overpay. Don't hate WG for getting a 5 year contract- hate him for being a chucker. Don't hate Sam for being paid 10M+, criticize him for making boneheaded mistakes on the court.

If a player holds out at campaigns "woe is me way" to the media he is a distraction and a whiner and deserves criticism- especially if the hold out hurts the team. In contrast, Iguodala could not reach an agreement last year, and did not allow it to be a distraction (as compared to how the Bulls imploded partially because they had their mind on the Money and the money on their mind...)

It looks like Iguodala is about to be overpaid- but I will judge Ed by this and not Pelinka or Iguodala. In fact I would love to have Pelinka negotiate my next contract.

Let's wait and see for what the terms are before making any definitive conclusion. As for judging management and not the player - the right thing doesn't mean that's how things are done. Yes, the blame should go to the management and eventually, it does. However, fans take their anger out on underperforming, overpaid players during games or when the team loses - they have no outlet to boo Ed Stefanski. They can boo Andre Iguodala and if he gets overpaid AND plays poorly, he'll get singled out more by the fans for criticism. That's just the fact of professional sports.

I have no problem criticizing a guy who plays poorly. I critcized WG for being a lousy starting SG, even though he was one of the lowest paid SG's in the league. I also have no problem complaining a player is overpaid- I just rarely think it is on the payer- unless they had some lengthy holdout.

But when a player is overpaid I say criticize management and not the player.

It's impossible to not hold the player to a different standard. When he's taking up such a large percentage of his cap, you need production from that percentage of your cap as you lose flexibility. It's not his fault he's overpaid, but his value to the team will be at least partly determined by his salary and how much flexibility your lose with his salary.

I mean, if I get paid $1 per day, my boss isn't going to worry if my productivity is low. He's using a very low amount of resources on me, so anything he gets is gravy. If I get paid $400k per year, then my expectations raise as the company is investing a significant portion of its disposable resources on me and is expecting a high amount of productivity.

Iguodala just went from making about 5% of the cap to about 20% of the cap. The expectations naturally change, because his contract is now a much more limiting factor in our available resources than it was before.

tk76 wrote:I have no problem criticizing a guy who plays poorly. I critcized WG for being a lousy starting SG, even though he was one of the lowest paid SG's in the league. I also have no problem complaining a player is overpaid- I just rarely think it is on the payer- unless they had some lengthy holdout.

If the 76ers win a title in the near future, you will not hear a whisper. If the 76ers do not win a title in the next five years their will be fingers pointed at both manangement and players because they go hand and hand. If a fan is booing Green or Iggy, they are not just booing the player. Fans know who the culprits are.

If Iggy got overpaid, i won't blame Ed.

Ed knows, as well as other knowledgeable people around the league, that Iggy is asking too much money. And it's evident by his relunctancy to give Iggy a contract even when he's been ranked as one of the top FAs in the offseason.

I blame Iggy. He has held this team hostage. Iggy knows that the Sixers needs him because of their "win now" status. He's being unfair to the team that has given him lots of opportunity to prove that he deserves a 12-14m/year contract.

IMO, a player of Iggy's caliber (20ppg as franchise player/no.1 option on offense) deserves a salary around 7-9.5m/year. I can give him up to 10.5-11m/year (a little philly love). But asking 12.5 - 14m/year is flat out outrageous and can be considered as "taking advantage" of the team.

I like what Dabods said..

I mean, if I get paid $1 per day, my boss isn't going to worry if my productivity is low. He's using a very low amount of resources on me, so anything he gets is gravy. If I get paid $400k per year, then my expectations raise as the company is investing a significant portion of its disposable resources on me and is expecting a high amount of productivity.

Iguodala just went from making about 5% of the cap to about 20% of the cap. The expectations naturally change, because his contract is now a much more limiting factor in our available resources than it was before.

Has iggy proved to us that he deserves a 400% raise?