SA37 wrote:Contract wrote:No they are not. There are exactly three NBA players 36 years of age or older averaging even 12 points per game.
Durant 25.8 ppg
Lebron 23.0 ppg
Curry 22.8 ppg
That's it. That's the entire list of guys playing productively into their late 30s. If you're wondering who #4 on the list of 36+ year olds is ...
Westbrook 11.3 ppg
https://www.nba.com/stats/players/traditional?CF=AGE*GE*36:PTS*GE*10
That's the drop off. And the three guys that are doing it are freaks and all time greats.
I am going to assume you selected 36 instead of 35 so as not to have to include DeMar DeRozan and James Harden to that list. I personally would have included Chris Paul, especially when you see his production at 36/37. And Westbrook's numbers would be much better if given a starter's role (he's averaging 16-9-6 per 36, which is slightly under his production in his early 30s).
Yep, they are freaks and all-time greats, but Butler isn't far behind from a production standpoint; he's just not in an offense that has him shooting 16-18 times per game. (His per 36 puts him at 12.5 shots per game and 21ppg this season; if he got ~5 more shots, we can conservatively assume he'd make 2 of those, which would put him at ~25-26ppg per 36.)
The larger point is Jimmy Butler hasn't shown any signs of decline and doesn't have an injury history to suggest a sudden drop-off in production. In an ideal world, Miami would not pay a premium for a 36/37 yr old Butler, but I would rather see Miami pay Butler ~$50-$55/year to ~37 than to see Miami move Butler and pay significantly more for a Jonathan Kuminga, who supposedly is looking for a max extension which I think is in the $40M/year range.
I'm not against trading Butler, but the draft picks and young talent some people on the board want is not the kind of trade Miami is going for or likely to make.
So, i disagree on that point. Jimmy was never a prolific scorer in his career. It's easy to put up many shots if you are a shooter like Curry. And Jimmy doesn't have that brute force like LeBron to power through big guys.
He has to work so much more for his shots. So, in a short series, he can empty his reserve to be that special player, but it's draining to play like that over the long season.
I'm fine w a 2 yr extension but I think his side wants a long one that he can retire with
