LBPTarHeel27 wrote:I get what you are saying here and the theme is accurate...but not the details.
Ainge signed Horford on a contract that arguably exceeds his value on the court. However, the fact that they have a guy like Thomas as "their guy" allows Horford to properly fall in to his role. Horford is no longer worth 26 million, IMO...but it works because of the overall roster make up. You talk about these assets that Ainge has accumulated but in reality, Horford's situation is the only one that applies to this conversation. The other guys were either brought in before the cap exploded or they are home grown with a low level of potential. If Avery Bradley is still the same player in 2 years...would you feel the same way about Ainge if he paid Bradley near 20 million? That will likely be the case, whether it is Boston or someone else.
You look at what we did with Biz....17 Million. Sounds like a ton for a guy that is completely one dimensional. However, if the Rockets give him that contract...there is a case to be made that he could be at the head of the class in the DPOY conversation. When you put him on a great offensive team, the fact that he is one dimensional no longer matters...it actually compliments the roster.
As for Harris/Fournier/Dipo...
First off, we didn't really let Fournier hit the market. We technically extended him...didn't let him sign an offer sheet anywhere. Exactly what you are asking Henny to do. Then you have Dipo...who we were not going to keep because we decided on keeping Fournier. When I spoke with Henny at the Luncheon, he was certain that Fournier would have gotten a huge offer sheet in RFA...so it is hard to say that we overpaid him. When it comes to Fournier...we did exactly what you are talking about doing.
Then as far as Tobias goes...17 million is an overpay? I am by no means a fan of his...I actually think he is nothing more than a decent role player...but in today's NBA, him at 17 million is a very fair deal. Especially when you consider that it is a declining contract that will be 14.8 mill in the final year. Where is the overpay?
Horford is the exception to what I stated (assuming Horford isn't actually worth more than a max contract), but if you look at the totality of their roster, Ainge has acquired bargain after bargain. Crowder, Thomas, and Bradley were all bargains. This is true even under the economics of the NBA before the cap "exploded."
1st year salary of contract as a percentage of the team's salary cap when the contract was signed:
Isaiah Thomas: 11.5%
Avery Bradley: 11.4%
Jae Crowder: 8.6%Tobias Harris: 22.9%
Evan Fournier: 18.1%
Bizmack Biyombo: 18.1%Bradley in two years on a 20M per year deal would be 18.5% of their cap. No. I wouldn't feel the same about his value then as I do now. It might make sense for them to give him that much, but probably not.
The increase in salary cap in conjunction with a weak free agent pool led to some massive overpays. This certainly doesn't make these contracts any more palatable in the long-term. We are relying on the cap continuing to climb just to find some scrap of rationale to justify them.
There is no hypothetical scenario that makes Biyombo look appealing at 18% of the salary cap. It is a massive overpay for a player that has no chance of providing the utility to justify the expenditure. There might be some marginal importance in roster composition, but it is negligible next to the productivity of the player.
What other teams are willing to pay is irrelevant. The Magic have a finite amount of resources at their disposal. The only important factors are the totality of a player's contributions on the court and how much of those limited resources that player takes up. The value of any player is inversely related to what they are earning. Fournier on a rookie-scale deal is a far more valuable player than he is on his current contract.
Just for clarification, I wasn't advocating that Fournier was extended at all. I was advocating that the decision between Fournier and Oladipo should've been made before Fournier hit restricted free agency. Fournier wasn't extended ahead of time. He reached his agreement on the eve of restricted free agency. The Magic had exhausted any leverage they had in that situation before finally reaching that agreement. Because they failed to address the issue before the eve of his restricted free agency, the Magic really only had one choice between Fournier and Oladipo. Choosing Oladipo in this hypothetical means they let Fournier walk for nothing, or they give Fournier his contract and find a way to dump it before extending Oladipo. The decision makes itself at that point, because Fournier's trade value had already plunged.
"Xatticus has always been, in my humble opinion best poster here. Should write articles or something."
-pepe1991
