Eric Bledsoe

[DRK]

If he keeps up this play, he's on track for the max, and with these Westbrook-type numbers, it would be stupid not to match any offer that comes in, even if it's the max.

If there is one knock I have on Bledsoe, is he's too slow. Yes. Too slow. Too slow in bringing the ball up the court. He takes away around 8 seconds off the shot clock just walking the ball up, and trying to initiate the half court set, and it really hurts our flow. That was part of the reason for our 3rd quarter meltdown against Denver, because we couldnt get any easy shots at all. Notice when Ish Smith came in, and brought the ball up with some urgency, we stopped the bleeding?

Bledsoe needs to push the ball up the court as fast as he can, and by doing so, he can use his athletic abilities to get to the rim and find more easy baskets for himself (and others) before the defence can set up. No more of this walking up the court crap Bledsoe!

Who do you think you are? Kendall Marshall?

[Revived]

If he keeps up this play, he's on track for the max, and with these Westbrook-type numbers, it would be stupid not to match any offer that comes in, even if it's the max.

If there is one knock I have on Bledsoe, is he's too slow. Yes. Too slow. Too slow in bringing the ball up the court. He takes away around 8 seconds off the shot clock just walking the ball up, and trying to initiate the half court set, and it really hurts our flow. That was part of the reason for our 3rd quarter meltdown against Denver, because we couldnt get any easy shots at all. Notice when Ish Smith came in, and brought the ball up with some urgency, we stopped the bleeding?

Bledsoe needs to push the ball up the court as fast as he can, and by doing so, he can use his athletic abilities to get to the rim and find more easy baskets for himself (and others) before the defence can set up. No more of this walking up the court crap Bledsoe!

Who do you think you are? Kendall Marshall?

Its because he gets fatigued. He's the only one that's capable of bringing the ball up from our starting lineup so it puts a lot of pressure on him. He gets tired from it.

Ish Smith came in fresh and pushed the ball up. BIG difference.

Bledsoe misses Dragic more than he nor anyone else will admit.

[carey]

If we give Bledsoe the 5 year max, then we can only offer the 4 year max after that to any other player for the duration of Bledsoe's contract right?

Yes, for players coming off their rookie deals this is correct.

[DirtyDez]

If we give Bledsoe the 5 year max, then we can only offer the 4 year max after that to any other player for the duration of Bledsoe's contract right?

Yes, for players coming off their rookie deals this is correct.

Can we can give him 5 years since his offer sheet from another team will be 4 years?

[Revived]

If we give Bledsoe the 5 year max, then we can only offer the 4 year max after that to any other player for the duration of Bledsoe's contract right?

Yes, for players coming off their rookie deals this is correct.

Ok, thank you!

[Revived]

"We need Goran," Bledsoe said. "Both of us can make plays."

[gaspar]

Great analysis of Bledsoe's game this year: Eric Bledsoe: Rising Sun | HardwoodParoxysm.com - must read.

[nevetsov]

So out of curiosity, what would Bledsoe's approx max contract be? I imagine closer to Eric Gordon's max of $13-14m per, as opposed to a 16-17m per?


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[GrantHill]

EDIT: carey answered your question beautifully.

[carey]

Can we can give him 5 years since his offer sheet from another team will be 4 years?

We can give him 5 years, but only if he extends with us. If he signs an offer sheet with another team first and we match it, it will only be for 4 years.

So out of curiosity, what would Bledsoe's approx max contract be? I imagine closer to Eric Gordon's max of $13-14m per, as opposed to a 16-17m per?

Well first thing to know is that the maximum salary of a player with 6 or fewer years of experience is either $9,000,000 or 25% of the total salary cap (2010–11: $14,511,000), whichever is greater.

Secondly, and this relates to the above question, a 4 year max offer from another team is different than a 4 year max offer from the Suns. If you take away one thing from my post this is what I want you and all other RealGM posters to understand. A team offering Bledsoe a contract can offer him the max (shown above to start at $14.5M) but his raises would only be 4.5% every year. The Suns, however, can offer him the same contract with raises of 7.5% every year AND if they so choose, an extra 5th year. The raises are not compounded and are based on the first year of the deal.

So, some quick math on my part: Lets say the Lakers wanted to throw a max deal at Bledsoe this Summer. It would look like this, 4 years with salaries of $14.5M, $15.15, $15.80, $16.45 for a rough total of $62M. The Suns could offer him a maximum 5 year deal with salaries of $14.5M, $15.59, $16.67M, $17.76M, $18.85 for a total of $83.4M. The 4 year deal would be minus that $18.85M last year for a total of $64.5M. All in all, we could offer him $21M more than the Lakers (or any other team).

Also this is what SF88 was talking about earlier, "Each team in the NBA can nominate a rookie player to receive a "Designated Player" contract extension. A Designated Player is eligible for a 5 year contract extension, instead of being held to the standard 4 year restriction." So the Suns will have to decide wether to give him the 5 year, a 4 year, or let him sign a 4 year offer sheet with another team. They may want to save it for Len or Goodwin or whoever they draft this year. At this point, it's impossible to say.

Last thing of note: If you're worried about the cheapest option for keeping Bledsoe it will definitely be for him to sign an offer sheet with another team and then match it.

I hope this helps and answers all your questions. If you have more questions feel free to leave them here, one of my unofficial hobbies has been following Larry Coon and his CBA discussions on twitter and his website.

[nevetsov]

Great post Carey, I'd and1 you if there was a way of doing it through the app.

So forgive me asking the obvious here... But if we can match what any team offers, why would any team voluntarily want to offer higher raises and more years? Wouldn't it be prudent to encourage the guy to go out and find the best offer (knowing that a max would still be cheaper than your highest offer)?

The only thing I can see is if the guy is a 100% proven max guy and you want to show him he's completely valued as the unequivocal face of the franchise. We're talking a marketing machine that will undoubtedly recoup that money in added revenue.




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[carey]

Great post Carey, I'd and1 you if there was a way of doing it through the app.

So forgive me asking the obvious here... But if we can match what any team offers, why would any team voluntarily want to offer higher raises and more years? Wouldn't it be prudent to encourage the guy to go out and find the best offer (knowing that a max would still be cheaper than your highest offer)?

The only thing I can see is if the guy is a 100% proven max guy and you want to show him he's completely valued as the unequivocal face of the franchise. We're talking a marketing machine that will undoubtedly recoup that money in added revenue.

I'm not really sure what your question is. Only the Suns can offer higher raises and more years than Bledsoe can get from another team. It's all about what value the Suns place on Bledsoe. Do they want to hitch their horse to him for 5 years? He'd be making $18Mil in his final year. That isn't chump change by any means. Do they want to squeeze as much cap space out of the signing as they can? In that case, yes, encourage him to sign a deal with someone else then match it.

As far as your last point, that is my stance too. The only way you give him a 5 year max is if you are absolutely 100% certain this is your PG of the future. He's the leader in every way and you want him to be the face of the franchise going forward.

I didn't mention S&Ts earlier, but he would be limited to the %4.5 raise in that scenario as well.

[nevetsov]

Sorry I phrased that one poorly - what I meant was, why would we offer 7.5% straight up when the absolute most we would pay in an offer match is 4.5%? Why voluntarily pay more than we need to? That's on the assumption that another team would even offer the max too, which may not be guaranteed.

We can still offer the 5th year, but if we're smart we'd use that security to reduce the per year cost, not increase it.


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[lilfishi22]

Last thing of note: If you're worried about the cheapest option for keeping Bledsoe it will definitely be for him to sign an offer sheet with another team and then match it.

I hope this helps and answers all your questions. If you have more questions feel free to leave them here, one of my unofficial hobbies has been following Larry Coon and his CBA discussions on twitter and his website.

Great post.

So essentially, the only way we could lose out is if EB doesn't play to his potential and someone else offers him a max offer sheet which is more than what he's worth. But if he matches our expectations (ie max player) then we just wait and match the lower max offer out on the market?

Where then would our max deal come in to play if the highest the market can offer is a 4 year deal with lower annual raises?

[carey]

The max deal comes into play if you want him for 5 years. The whole extra year and 7.5% raise thing is in there so you don't lose your star in Unrestricted Free Agency. It's basically more of an issue for 7 year players who worked an ETO into their second contract and opted out after the 3rd year of that contract like James did. Like Wade did.

In short, there really is no reason to give him the five year max right now. We have no idea who the Suns might acquire over the next season or two. You might want to keep that one in the bank for someone else. For example, lets say we trade for Klay Thompson. He's a member of the 2011 draft class and in his 3rd year this year. Sometime before next Halloween he's going to sign his extension. Do you want to have blown the one "5-year designated player contract" we are allotted on Bledsoe? You'd only have Klay for 4 years. Again it all depends on what value you place on Bledsoe.

Now the Warriors did something smart and locked Curry in early with a 4 year / $44Mil deal. There's very little chance they ever trade Klay. So with Curry locked in they can sign Klay to the 5/25% extension. It's interesting that a move many considered very risky at the time because of health concerns looks absolutely brilliant one year later.

[lilfishi22]

That's what I thought. Thanks for confirming carey.

[Revived]

In short, there really is no reason to give him the five year max right now. We have no idea who the Suns might acquire over the next season or two. You might want to keep that one in the bank for someone else. For example, lets say we trade for Klay Thompson. He's a member of the 2011 draft class and in his 3rd year this year. Sometime before next Halloween he's going to sign his extension. Do you want to have blown the one "5-year designated player contract" we are allotted on Bledsoe? You'd only have Klay for 4 years. Again it all depends on what value you place on Bledsoe.

Yup, this is why I'm against the idea of giving him the 5 year max too. Thanks for clarifying!

[jcsunsfan]

Couldn't he sign a 1 year deal with another team , let the Suns match
and then become an ufa in 2015?

[Revived]

Couldn't he sign a 1 year deal with another team , let the Suns match
and then become an ufa in 2015?

He wouldn't sign a 1 year deal with another team, he could just sign a 1 year restricted FA tender offer from us and then become a UFA the year after.

But that's a lot of risk.

[carey]

Couldn't he sign a 1 year deal with another team , let the Suns match
and then become an ufa in 2015?

SF88 is right. The act of signing the QO itself is what makes him a Restricted Free Agent. All he would have to do is NOT sign an extension or FA offer from another team and he would be an Unrestricted Free Agent next season. But as SF88 said, it is a lot of risk and is almost never done.

We all know the risk of him getting hurt and then not having a contract, but think about this.. the teams that are going to have money to sign him outright are likely going to be the same teams that have the money to offer him a RFA contract. Would you risk not having a contract for the chance to pick from the same handful of teams again? He would really really have to hate playing for the Suns to go through that.