Post#45 » by rockymac52 » Tue Jul 2, 2013 12:57 am
I hate to be this pessimistic and negative about a backup PG signing, but I really do not like this signing. I think AJ Price was, is, and will continue to be better than Eric Maynor. Furthermore, I'm pretty sure we could have signed AJ Price on a 1 year deal for less money. I don't understand what the front office had against Price, or rather, what they see in Maynor that they didn't see in Price.
I really dislike the fact that it's a 2 year deal. If he ends up having a really good year for us, he's gone next year because he has a player option and can get more than $2 million a year, or at least can get more guaranteed years, which are important to a fringe NBA player like Maynor, on the open market. If he doesn't do very well, or he's just bleh, then he'll exercise his player option and stay with us when we might not really want him. I don't like that.
Furthermore, we're expected to have a lot of cap space next summer with the Okariza and Ernie's Kids contracts coming off the books. By my calculations, around $20-22 million. If Maynor exercises his player option, then that's just $2 million less that we're going to have to chase after actual quality free agents. If that $2 million comes to haunt us next summer, I will be livid.
Eric Maynor has been one of the most overrated players in the entire league since his rookie season. I don't know what it is, but everyone has always considered him this young, up and coming prospect, but he hasn't performed even halfway decent at any of the 3 teams (!!!) that he's played for in his first 4 seasons. I think everybody still remembers the shot he hit against Duke in the NCAA Tournament, and we still all consider him our hero because let's be real, we all loved seeing Duke lose that game. I also think playing in OKC behind an All-Star PG only added to the hype. It happens every year. Below average role players for championship contenders get over-hyped just because they lucked their way onto a great team.
And everybody clings to his ACL tear and uses it as an excuse for his poor performance, but it's not like he really got that much worse, he was just always very below average to begin with. Then everybody's talking about how he spent the first half of last season recovering from the ACL tear, and then when he went to Portland he started playing well. NO HE DIDN'T!!! He just got more playing time because Portland had arguably the worst bench in basketball last season. His minutes doubled, and as a result, all of his counting stats doubled, and the "common fan" thought that meant he was getting better. Look at his per 36 numbers in Portland vs. the rest of his career - he didn't actually get any better. Yes, he increased his FG% substantially from the first half of the season with OKC... but that's only because his FG% was disgustingly low in OKC - 31.3%. He increased it to 42.2% when he went to Portland. Is that supposed to impress me?
I think this move was somewhat related to the fact that he went to VCU, a local school. The fan base never really connected with AJ Price, and I suspect the front office might have decided to go with a similarly talented player with a local tie, because it could make him a fan favorite from day one, and they'll stick with him even if he struggles, because he went to a local school! Frustrating......
Seriously, look at his year by year ORtg and DRtgs. He has consistently been a putrid offensive player, and a Jamison-esque defensive player. There is literally nothing to get excited about. Unless he helps convince Larry Sanders to sign with us as a RFA next summer, he does nothing for me (but if he does that, he's more than worth this contract haha).
Synergy stats say he is one of the worst pick and roll players in the league, and is also awful in transition. He is a good spot up shooter, to his credit, especially from 3, but that's it. Again, it's just our backup PG, he's probably going to get about 12 MPG, it's not the end of the world. But man oh man was this a weak signing. I'm not falling for the hype. There's a reason why we're his 4th team in 5 years.