Post#90 » by HornetJail » Sat Dec 8, 2018 6:22 pm
Kemba isn't just important to the franchise. He IS the franchise. Pay him what he wants in order to stick around, and worry about everything else second. If we let Kemba walk due to salary concerns and we turn into a Sacramento/Orlando type team that isn't fortunate enough to draft a franchise player for years, I would be worried about eventual relocation.
Marvin and Biz are 18 months away from coming off the books, meaning in six months they will be semi-productive 1-year contracts that can easily be moved, valued as filler rather than albatross contracts. We have all our picks, additional seconds from bad teams, and some young prospects to be excited about. I hope we can swing a trade now rather than later, but we'll be in a position to make moves to alleviate our cap problems and/or significantly improve the team around him.
I hate how much of Kemba's prime we've wasted, but there are still ways forward. If Kemba leaves money on the table to go to a better team, nobody will blame him, but all signs point to him liking Charlotte and wanting to stay here forever.
Kemba isn't Isaiah Thomas. Prime IT was so tiny and reliant on high end athleticism that even a slight loss of athleticism would wreck his game. He was never going to age well. Kemba doesn't have a massive hip injury to worry about, is bigger, and a much better shooter. He'll age better. The 5 year max is a risk but one that's worth the risk. Our team will look very different by the 2nd or 3rd year of that deal.
formerly KEMBAtheMETEOR