Skeezo wrote:BangerBrotha wrote:As for people talking about saving 5 years for Jonas, I think Jonas can still get a 5 year deal even if Lowry gets a 5 year deal right now, as we see with Wall and Gortat. As long as one is not a max contract, you can give 5 year deals. Another team with the same situation is Indiana with George Hill and Paul George.
As for 4 years or 5 years, like other guys, I am really hoping for 4 years 44 million. Even if he can produce 90% of what he did last year, that deal is a bargain in my mind. But. I don't really mind going up to 48 million myself if we have to. This guy's AAV would be 13 million per year if not for his past history. But it's not like this guy has ever dogged it in any season. Just had injury issues and problems with coaches. I believe he has matured since then.
I wouldn't say 4yrs/44m is a bargain... Matter of fact it is still a bit of an overpayment but I think one most fans can live with & one that also says the days are over where we will not drastically overpay to keep or get players... Michael Grange may take some flack here but he did address this issue in his latest article on sportsnet about the Raps trying to let the league know we are not there automatic ATM anymore... I think Amin Elhassan has his AAV just about right at 4yrs/36m (9m)... Might be a little low but definitely no more then 4yrs/40m...
As a franchise we've never had any problem "drastically overpaying" to get or keep players.
To wit:
Bargnani
Calderon
Turkoglu
Kapono
And that's only Clownangelo!
Well before that we opened the vault - in that case it was warranted - for Florida native Vince Carter, and organized Vince Carter Day, all of which exploded any idea or theory or conviction that Toronto could not hold onto its best players because it was too cold, foreign, boring, etc.
Re. Lowry. If Jose got a 5-year deal for pretty serious money, 9M ave. and a cap killer 10.5M in his final year, and Bargnani (!!!) got a 5-year deal for even more, like a 10M average (for decency's sake I won't mention Kapono and Turkoglu), then WHAT is a realistic / solid / appropriate offer to a REAL player like Lowry? He's the complete package, for crying out loud. No need for a tandem, i.e. a 2nd guy who compensates for a highly paid player's one-dimensional game, e.g. Calderon, whose best play came when he tandemed with Ford, who also cost something like 8M a year - so we were paying 17M a year for a Total PG! And where do you start with Andrea? How much did we have to pay, or should have paid, a backup C and/or PF to cover up his defensive "weaknesses", to be kind?
Come on, guys. 55/5 or whatever the hell it is is NOT overpaying. For better or worse, Lowry is both a complete player and a symbol of the franchise's SERIOUSNESS about being a real, competitive, professional NBA franchise, and NOT the complete joke that it was for the last 6 unbearably embarrassing years under Clownangelo.