Bogut gets more $ than Jefferson

[Winter Wonder]

Bogut's contract coupled with what we saw Diop sign for should just go to show everyone though that true centers are typically overpaid and that is the market for them. Talent wise, is Bogut greater the Jefferson? I would definitely say no. But the real question is how much and how quick is the drop off in talent from power forwards vs. centers? There are a number of fairly talented PF's, but there are far fewer talented C's. Jefferson > Bogut but it is far easier to find a PF to play with Bogut than it is to find a C to play with Jefferson, which forces us to play Jefferson at C alot.

Supply and demand dictates that centers are typically overpaid.

[SoSick]

Thre are only a few legit starting C's in the league and Bogut is one of them. A promising young C' that has upside. I think they overpaid him but not as much as ORL overpaid for Lewis

[farzi]

I can only hope we get a #1 pick sometime, and we can see how unattached we are to that player.

I think it came down to this. They invested the number 1 on him. Years of growth. To sign him for less would show their fans that they know they made a mistake taking him number 1...something they won't do

[deeney0]

Thre are only a few legit starting C's in the league and Bogut is one of them. A promising young C' that has upside. I think they overpaid him but not as much as ORL overpaid for Lewis

Orlando felt Lewis might be the missing piece. He was the best player available in the window when they had the money to spend it. Orlando significantly improved after signing him. Even with RJ, Milwaukee is still going to be a lottery team (in the East!) next year.

[casey]

I can only hope we get a #1 pick sometime, and we can see how unattached we are to that player.

I think it came down to this. They invested the number 1 on him. Years of growth. To sign him for less would show their fans that they know they made a mistake taking him number 1...something they won't do

Just like how the Wolves signing Jefferson for less than the max showed that they know they made a mistake in trading KG for him? That's some pretty flawed logic.

[paulpressey25]

As as Milwaukee fan, we could have traded Bogut and it wouldn't impact ticket sales whatsoever. Our ticket sales are driven entirely by whether the team wins and is exciting to watch. It hasn't been the last couple years at all.

What you guys are missing that most of the league and media are missing is the fact that Bogut finally "got it" the second half of last season. We debate on our board of how to define his play, but from January on, he was essentially a 17/12/3/2 guy who played great anchor defense in the middle.

None of us are thrilled with the contract but many on our board would not trade the guy for Jefferson, simply because we think Bogut will be at Jefferson's numbers next season, but on top of it be a defensive anchor in the middle that Jefferson will never be. He might not hit Al's scoring average, but he'll be in shouting distance of it, with the other rebounding/block/assists stats being good.

But again the league slept on all that because our team just stunk. So no one followed our games and most are under the impression Bogut is the same 11/8 underachiever he has been his first two years in the league. He'll be a top 5 center in the league by the end of next year and he's still 23. But I recognize that the "top 5" moniker means there still is a massive gap between Bogut and say a Shaq in his prime.

[deeney0]

I watch a lot of Milwaukee basketball living in Wisconsin. Bogut has a lot farther to go to become solid defensively than Al does, and any Bucks fans who would trade him for Al are nuts. Andrew is not a top 5 center in this league, and he's not going to be.

[TheFranchise21]

You have to slightly adjust for the inflated big man numbers in the East. Bogut only has to face Yao, Duncan, Amare, Shaq, and Jefferson twice a year. All faces those 4X a year.

[stop-n-pop]

I don't get this thread. First, he's not making more than Jefferson. Big Al has more guaranteed money ($65 vs $60) and $2 mil less in total max money (Bogut has $12 in non-guaranteed incentives). Second, it's right in line with what the market is giving young centers. Kaman is getting between 9-12 mil per year during his 5 year deal, Al is between 11-15, Howard is between 12-18, and even Nene brought down between 9-12. This is exactly market value. Nobody overpaid here. Hell, how much was Theo Ratliff pulling down last year?

As for some of the comments about Bogut's lack of defense...well, that's just not right. He draws charges, gets blocks, and grabs rebounds. There's one team in the league that has a worse perimeter d than the Wolves and it's the Bucks. Bogut is not the defensive problem child on that squad.

Bogut is going to be a top flight center in the league for the next 6-8 years. He's every bit the cornerstone as Jefferson and he may even become more of a rounded player than Jefferson as he can get 20/10 with little improvement on the offensive end while having far less area to cover than Jefferson in order to become a top-flight defender. This has nothing to do with trying to make a #1 pick look like he panned out. Bogut is a damn good player and he's young and will only get better. It would have been a steal had the Wolves been able to land him in a trade.

[Devilzsidewalk]

Depends on the incentives, I'd assume they're going to be very attainable goals. Nene and Ratliff are good examples of why you shouldn't pay huge extensions based on assumptions. Howard was a no brainer. Kaman put up similar numbers at the time of his extension and it was still for way less and he was already an established defensive/rebounding anchor at the time of his extension, there was no major projection on LAC's part. Bogut isn't nearly the defensive presence.

Milwaukee is likely to end up paying 14 mil or so a year for projected improvement, dangerous proposition. Hope it works out for their sake.

[redred9]

Bogut is already a better defender than Kaman. He is solid positionally, draws a huge amount of charges and this last season became a legit shot blocker as well. His offensive game is what's lacking. And still he averaged 16 &10 in 2008. If he can make progress with his jumpshot/robotic post moves, he should be worth his 60mill contract easily.

Who knows what his incentives are, but if they were that easy to attain why bother with them in the first place?

[deeney0]

Bogut is already a better defender than Kaman.

No, he's not.

[Krapinsky]

I don't get this thread. First, he's not making more than Jefferson. Big Al has more guaranteed money ($65 vs $60) and $2 mil less in total max money (Bogut has $12 in non-guaranteed incentives). Second, it's right in line with what the market is giving young centers. Kaman is getting between 9-12 mil per year during his 5 year deal, Al is between 11-15, Howard is between 12-18, and even Nene brought down between 9-12. This is exactly market value. Nobody overpaid here. Hell, how much was Theo Ratliff pulling down last year?

As for some of the comments about Bogut's lack of defense...well, that's just not right. He draws charges, gets blocks, and grabs rebounds. There's one team in the league that has a worse perimeter d than the Wolves and it's the Bucks. Bogut is not the defensive problem child on that squad.

Bogut is going to be a top flight center in the league for the next 6-8 years. He's every bit the cornerstone as Jefferson and he may even become more of a rounded player than Jefferson as he can get 20/10 with little improvement on the offensive end while having far less area to cover than Jefferson in order to become a top-flight defender. This has nothing to do with trying to make a #1 pick look like he panned out. Bogut is a damn good player and he's young and will only get better. It would have been a steal had the Wolves been able to land him in a trade.

When the thread was made the article said he was getting $72/5. The article has since changed the figures to $60/5, which seems about right to me. Although 55/5 sounds better.