VDT wrote:dhsilv2 wrote:VDT wrote:
I dont care whether Russell will get a max contract, after all Wiggins has one also. I wouldnt want my team to be the one that gives him a max contract though.
In the end depends on the goals of each team and GM. Only one team wins every year and only a few have any chance at all to win. So in these 50-60 guys that are due for a max contracts there will be guys that outperform their contracts, there are guys that perform on par with their contracts and there are guys like Russell that underperform. Why would i want such a player if my goal is to win a title? In fact why would i want a player that performs on par? If i am going to be a contender, that is by definition well above average, i need my players to outperform their contracts (generally speaking because not all teams have the same payroll).
Of course this is difficult but winning a title is also difficult but that should imo be the goal. As such i wouldn't want Russell long term on my team on a max contract because he doesn't deserve that money based on his performance and i dont see a significant upside to justify it. If the Nets think they can trade him to open space in the future it might make sense but even that is debetable.
You have a cap. You have to fill it in. It doesn't matter WHERE you get added value. Russell is easily worth 25% as he is now. That's before we project forward. Clearly you'd like him to end up being worth 30-35%, but you can't always get that.
Regardless due to his age at WORST you have a contract that you can move. It isn't like a team is suck with a guy for 5 years, unless there's an injury.
If you go around waiting to find effectively under paid employees, you're going to forever fail to build a team.
Well it is not easy to find such a players but you need to if you want to field a team with title aspirations otherwise you end up with Wiggins, Wall, Blake etc and your team is going nowhere. Now i don't discredit this strategy because it has its merits particularly for risk averse GMs that want to keep the jobs as long as possible or owners that are happy to just make the playoffs. But if you want something more you need players that outperform their contracts and historically this is most effectively done by getting real stars who cant be paid according to their value.
By the way you haven't mentioned why an offense only player with four years in a row of below average efficiency with no significant physical tools and with injury concerns deserves a max contract.
Apart from that, if the Nets get a top free agent or more which i think should be their plan i don't see how Russell will fit in a more off ball role since he is not an elite shooter and he is not a defender. Again i am not a Nets fan so i may be completely off but to me Russell looks to be in the dreaded archetype of a player who needs the ball in his hands to provide his impact (not a defender, not an elite shooter) but he is not good enough to lead you anywhere if you give him the ball (below average efficiency, lack of athleticism/physical tools, low free throw rate). If i were the Nets GMs and didn't have any other alternative i would offer him enough money that his contract can still be moved without giving up value. If he doesn't accept that i would just let him go.
Russell had a RPM WINS of about 7 (41st in the league) and VORP 3.3 (27th). At the end of the day I need a guy who contributes to wins over replacement at a level that justifies the pay. Russell is doing that at 22.
Sure I'd rather he be good at more things, but I can hide a bad defensive point guard to an extent. He's absolutely a piece I can build around, just understanding that I can't go after another high usage guard. But more importantly, unless he gets hurt, I can always trade him for a different piece. I think you're ignoring that very important aspect.
Also he's by no means Wiggins. Wiggins by these same metrics was complete trash and still is. Russell unlike Wiggins is actually putting up top 50 player impact stats. Russell unlike Wiggins is doing it on a team that's making the playoffs with him as the best player.
