ESPN reporting Okafor - 6/72...

[76ciology]

:(. I just like to type alot. And I feel like I've made some type of sense. Iguodala just isn't consistent enough on both ends to recieve Kevin Martin type deals.

Because they got that money? I don't care about position. I care about basketball skill. Ellis is a natural scorer. Biedrins is a guy that hangs around the basket. Okafor is a proven championship caliber player(don't blame him for CHA'S Woes). Iguodala isn't close to those 3 players, TALENT WISE. Couldn't care less about size and position.

From here on out it is all about winning in the playoffs for the 76ers. That said the only time ME has been to the playoffs his minutes dropped. Nelly glued him to the bench at the end of games because he couldn't defend. Natural Scorer--yes but he has yet to be anything other than a 4th option for the Warriors. You are confused if you think he has ever been their go to guy. So were Danny Ferry and Christian laettner proven champioship guys and would you have been just as happy with them. How skilled do you think Okafor is? Here is a clue....He's got such great skillz that Coach K picked Tyson Chandler over him to be on the Olympic team. Tyson Friggin Chandler! This is on a team that only had 1 legit big man. Champioship caliber players by defintion have to get to the playoffs. There are certainly way better players in the NBA than Iggy but don't give me Ellis and Okafor. At least name guys who have accomplished something at this level.

WOW I just reread your post and you included Biedrins. All I can say is WOW!

Someone who actually follows the USA olympic team knows they have 2 low post players already. Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh. The USA olympic team is developed to be balanced offensively. And Tyson Chandler fits with their Run N Gun system. And by Championship caliber players I meant players who actually have made an IMPACT if you haven't caught on yet. Name ONE NBA team that wouldn't love to have Emeka Okafor. Name ONE. I believe in Okafor's rookie season, he broke Shaq's record of double doubles for a rookie. The consistency is there, and consistency is the most important thing from a center in the NBA. Ben Gordan is an elite 6th man/starter when he's near a team with defenders.

Gordan and Okafor have won titles on the college level. Because they were great players who fit perfectly in championship desired roles on good teams. Look at that Kansas team for an example of this. Darrell Arthur grabbed rebounds and put shots in. Brandon Rush could handle and shoot the ball and draw fouls. Chambers could score. These are championship caliber players. They may not be stars. But you can sure as hell bet that Kansas was the most talented team in the country. And the most cohesive team in the country. The second one was Memphis. And both..made the finals.

Biedrins is a CONSISTENT! 10/10/1 BPG player. And that's what half the teams in the league wish they could have. That's what we have in Dalembert. Andre Miller, if he were ever on a decent team(like this one). Is a CONSISTENT PG.

Consistency, something Iguodala has never shown in his career outside of defense.

Nice post.

Not only that, improvement should also be a must. Improvement shows promise and dedication of a player to improve his game. Monta Ellis DID improve his game. Emeka DID improve his game. But Iggy has been the same since his first year in the league, and the only reason for the raise in his stats is because of the opportunities like shot attempts that increased after the departure of Iggy and C-webb.

I mean, if Iggy have only shown improvement in his game. If I am the owner, It wouldn't be hard to give him what he was asking. Nobody complained about Monta's money because we all know he deserves it after being a "no one" to a 16ppg player, Kevin Martin raised his 10ppg to 20ppg, and Emeka Okafor improved his defense, especially with his shotblocking after working out with Hakeem Olajuwon. What has Iggy showed that makes you wanna say he deserves this kind of money? And what really scares the most of me is that Iggy might have already reached his ceiling and if that's so, I really don't think that a 10 to 11M/year is the right amount for a player of his caliber.

[Sandalf42]

Someone recently showed on this forum a list of players who are about the same caliber as Iggy and they were all making in the neighborhood of $9 mil - $13 mil. I took the liberty of figuring out what his contract would like like if he got one starting at $12 mil, which seemed like an incredibly generous offer, but a price that didn't seem too unreasonable compared to what other players of his caliber were making. The contract came to $88 mil.

Now that is a ridiculous offer. I agree that the Okafor deal should be a ceiling for Iggy. But to be honest I wouldn't be mad at all if Iggy got that same deal. So, 6 years for $72 mil is an acceptable deal for Iggy to me.

Basically, I can now sleep at night knowing that Iggy will get a fair deal. (Wow, wouldn't it be funny to have these discussions with SendEm still here?)

[ness]

You know what ...none of these players should have never turned down there extensions as bad as things are in todays economy just hearing these fools turn down millions of dollars like its nothing just makes me sick cause I'm personally going through some mess with me losing my job in May cause this company decided to move to mexico to save on production cost. The thing is the money they were offering to me was fair market value for all of them ...none of them are allstars so they shouldn't get paid like one...just my opinion....lol turning down millions of dollars that we the fans pay them to play a game.

I know their entertainers but these athletes nowadays are getting ridiculous. I can understand if they were trying to low ball them but to me all those offers were market value. Make an allstar team before you start demanding 14 ..15 ..16 million a year.

[tk76]

NBA salaries have actually come down some over the past 5 years. Rookies used to get 100M contracts before the new CBA.

Look at previous marginal star like Finley. He was paid 18M by the Mavs last year- that makes Iguodala demanding 12M sound like a steal.

[Sixerscan]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3509028

"I hope that it works out because I was with him a little while and he's a terrific kid," Brown said earlier this month. "He plays a position that's very hard to find. And he's the second pick in the draft. I'm sure we'll do what's right. Hopefully he'll be here."

Uh, ok...

[eyeatoma]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3509028

"I hope that it works out because I was with him a little while and he's a terrific kid," Brown said earlier this month. "He plays a position that's very hard to find. And he's the second pick in the draft. I'm sure we'll do what's right. Hopefully he'll be here."

Uh, ok...

He likes to smell his kids, nuff said...

[51X3RF4N]

Well, to be honest. I don't think these other player's deals will mean much in the negotiations. He will ask for a number. If we feel HE is worth it...he will get it. Has nothing to do with the "market". I think Stefanski makes things clear. If you think the player is worth the money, no matter the position or the relative value in comparison to other RFA's, you sign him to the amount you think he's worth. You don't lowball people. That is what the Clips did. And they lost bigtime.

This is just my personal opinion, but I really do think that it will come down to how ED and the SIXERS value Iggy and his contributions to our success. Not how much other people got or what positions they played.

Hopefully we'll have some news soon.

[freshie2]

If Iggy actually works on it for the first time ever this off-season though, he can close the gap a bit and then, MAYBE, MAYBE I'll consider that 5/57 deal he turned down.

When has Iguodala's work ethic ever been in question? He's always been known as a workout warrior/gym rat. This isn't the old AI we're talking about. Silly comment...it's OK if you think he's potentially going to be overpaid, but why question was has been pretty well established as true??

[tk76]

I guess improved scoring, and becoming the focal point in the offense does not qualify as improvement- just opportunity?

Last year in his 2nd season of being the focal point of the offense he increased his scoring, blks, stls, Fg%, 3pt %, jump shooting eFG%(by 7%) while dramatically reducing TO's. But he had a few less assists, reb and had worse FT%, so I guess you consider that a wash? Or maybe the 6 playoff series is more important than the regular season?

[76ciology]

I guess improved scoring, and becoming the focal point in the offense does not qualify as improvement- just opportunity?

Last year in his 2nd season of being the focal point of the offense he increased his scoring, blks, stls, Fg%, 3pt %, jump shooting eFG%(by 7%) while dramatically reducing TO's. But he had a few less assists, reb and had worse FT%, so I guess you consider that a wash? Or maybe the 6 playoff series is more important than the regular season?

Again. It's not improvement. It's just opportunity. The 1.7ppg increased in his PPG was contributed because of his 2.6 more shot attempts per game. Monta Ellis and Kevin Martin would have laughed at that.

Increased in Blocks? .2? Okafor would have laughed at that.

Increased in Steals? .1? It's so small that I didn't even noticed it.

How about the 10% drop in his FT%? I bet you didn't noticed that.

I wouldn't overpay someone who seems to have reached his ceiling (lack of improvement) and can't save his dear life when his contract is in the line (failure during the play-offs).

[tk76]

O.K. I think Iguodala has improved each year he has been in the league. We don't have to agree- and I'm fine leaving it at that- esp since it has been argued to death with a previous poster.

I guess we'll see how he does as the weapons around him are upgraded (Brand this year and Lou and Thad developing over the next few years.) Should be interesting either way.