CJ McCollum Agrees To Three-Year, $100 Million Extension With Blazers

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CJ McCollum Agrees To Three-Year, $100 Million Extension With Blazers 

Post#1 » by RealGM Wiretap » Tue Jul 30, 2019 6:05 pm

CJ McCollum agreed to a three-year, $100 million extension with the Portland Trail Blazers, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.


The agreement extends his current deal to five-years and $157 million.

Via Adrian Wojnarowski/ESPN

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Re: CJ McCollum Agrees To Three-Year, $100 Million Extension With Blazers 

Post#2 » by Adam Stern » Tue Jul 30, 2019 6:27 pm

Wow. Didn't know McCollum was making that kind of money.
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Re: CJ McCollum Agrees To Three-Year, $100 Million Extension With Blazers 

Post#3 » by Sam195 » Tue Jul 30, 2019 6:42 pm

Adam Stern wrote:Wow. Didn't know McCollum was making that kind of money.


He took a discount by signing this deal he definitely would get more money if he held out for his free agency. This deal likely will save Blazers millions in luxury tax depite the 4 year 196M supermax extension Lillard signed earlier this month.
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Re: CJ McCollum Agrees To Three-Year, $100 Million Extension With Blazers 

Post#4 » by Adam Stern » Tue Jul 30, 2019 6:49 pm

Sam195 wrote:
Adam Stern wrote:Wow. Didn't know McCollum was making that kind of money.


He took a discount by signing this deal he definitely would get more money if he held out for his free agency. This deal likely will save Blazers millions in luxury tax depite the 4 year 196M supermax extension Lillard signed earlier this month.


You really think McCollum could get more than the $30+ million a year he's getting now?
$40 million is franchise player money.
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Re: CJ McCollum Agrees To Three-Year, $100 Million Extension With Blazers 

Post#5 » by Furinkazan » Tue Jul 30, 2019 6:52 pm

gz on getting that negative value status :lol:
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Re: CJ McCollum Agrees To Three-Year, $100 Million Extension With Blazers 

Post#6 » by hyberx » Tue Jul 30, 2019 6:54 pm

Not a good move for the team but something Portland has to do. McCollum is a very talented scorer but he is pretty much the same like Lillard, both small scoring guards and playing them together won't get you the ring. Pretty much like the Ws' Monta Ellis and Curry days, exciting to watch but that's it. That's why Portland got owned by the Ws time after time in the last few playoffs.

However they need to sign him to the extension as an asset if they eventually want to trade him.
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Re: CJ McCollum Agrees To Three-Year, $100 Million Extension With Blazers 

Post#7 » by LAKESHOW » Tue Jul 30, 2019 7:09 pm

Cj mccollum is a balla! Once he gets positioned with cash. He will come over to fix the legacy issue he will inevitably run into.
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Re: CJ McCollum Agrees To Three-Year, $100 Million Extension With Blazers 

Post#8 » by Pickled Prunes » Tue Jul 30, 2019 8:18 pm

Adam Stern wrote:
Sam195 wrote:
Adam Stern wrote:Wow. Didn't know McCollum was making that kind of money.


He took a discount by signing this deal he definitely would get more money if he held out for his free agency. This deal likely will save Blazers millions in luxury tax depite the 4 year 196M supermax extension Lillard signed earlier this month.


You really think McCollum could get more than the $30+ million a year he's getting now?
$40 million is franchise player money.

This would be a 30% max deal, so he couldn't get more money. And since he's got two years left on his current deal, I don't believe he could get more years either. CJ isn't worth anything near that, and I'm a Blazer fan. Love the dude, but he's now officially a good player on a elite player contract. You can't have a player at his level eating a third of your cap space and expect to win anything. Not a good sign for Blazer fans!
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Re: CJ McCollum Agrees To Three-Year, $100 Million Extension With Blazers 

Post#9 » by madmaxmedia » Tue Jul 30, 2019 8:42 pm

hyberx wrote:Not a good move for the team but something Portland has to do. McCollum is a very talented scorer but he is pretty much the same like Lillard, both small scoring guards and playing them together won't get you the ring. Pretty much like the Ws' Monta Ellis and Curry days, exciting to watch but that's it. That's why Portland got owned by the Ws time after time in the last few playoffs.

However they need to sign him to the extension as an asset if they eventually want to trade him.


I think this is a pretty good summary of his contract extension. Going forward, the bar for whether a signing is worthwhile or not will be lower as GSW settles into being a very good but no longer dynastic team. Re-signing your guy to a roughly market value contract no longer has to be a death knell. I think that's a good thing generally, because pretty much no one had the tools to compete with GSW anyway.
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Re: CJ McCollum Agrees To Three-Year, $100 Million Extension With Blazers 

Post#10 » by arasu » Tue Jul 30, 2019 8:46 pm

Pickled Prunes wrote:
Adam Stern wrote:
Sam195 wrote:
He took a discount by signing this deal he definitely would get more money if he held out for his free agency. This deal likely will save Blazers millions in luxury tax depite the 4 year 196M supermax extension Lillard signed earlier this month.


You really think McCollum could get more than the $30+ million a year he's getting now?
$40 million is franchise player money.

This would be a 30% max deal, so he couldn't get more money. And since he's got two years left on his current deal, I don't believe he could get more years either. CJ isn't worth anything near that, and I'm a Blazer fan. Love the dude, but he's now officially a good player on a elite player contract. You can't have a player at his level eating a third of your cap space and expect to win anything. Not a good sign for Blazer fans!

The max goes up with the cap, so yes, if he were to wait he could get more. If he signed as a fee agent starting with the '21-22 season, he would start at $36.5+ million with raises each year after. If he took a two year deal in '21-'22 and signed a long term deal going into '23-24, he would be eligible for the 10 year 35% max starting at $47+ million. As long as the cap keeps going up, max contracts will look smaller in comparison in future years. That's one reason why so many players have been more willing to take shorter deals.

I think this is a bit of an overpay, but if he stays healthy, it's not an albatross contract. This doesn't ruin the Blazers cap situation, and he will be very tradeable, if they go that route.
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Re: CJ McCollum Agrees To Three-Year, $100 Million Extension With Blazers 

Post#11 » by Pickled Prunes » Tue Jul 30, 2019 10:20 pm

arasu wrote:
Pickled Prunes wrote:
Adam Stern wrote:
You really think McCollum could get more than the $30+ million a year he's getting now?
$40 million is franchise player money.

This would be a 30% max deal, so he couldn't get more money. And since he's got two years left on his current deal, I don't believe he could get more years either. CJ isn't worth anything near that, and I'm a Blazer fan. Love the dude, but he's now officially a good player on a elite player contract. You can't have a player at his level eating a third of your cap space and expect to win anything. Not a good sign for Blazer fans!

The max goes up with the cap, so yes, if he were to wait he could get more. If he signed as a fee agent starting with the '21-22 season, he would start at $36.5+ million with raises each year after. If he took a two year deal in '21-'22 and signed a long term deal going into '23-24, he would be eligible for the 10 year 35% max starting at $47+ million. As long as the cap keeps going up, max contracts will look smaller in comparison in future years. That's one reason why so many players have been more willing to take shorter deals.

I think this is a bit of an overpay, but if he stays healthy, it's not an albatross contract. This doesn't ruin the Blazers cap situation, and he will be very tradeable, if they go that route.

You are correct, he could potentially get a few million more if he waited for the cap to go up but that has nothing to do with free agency. And since his value is more likely to go down than up, this is insurance for him. And since he isn't worth a 30% max at age 27 there is no need wondering if he could get a 35% max at 31. That wasn't going to happen either way and even CJ knows that. And while he is more tradeable than a guy like Wiggins, he is only tradeable to the most desperate of teams. This is not a team friendly deal. Lots of teams would like to have CJ but only a handful would want him at this price... and of those, which of them would send back something the Blazers would want. If this deal gets traded it will be for late picks and salary filler.
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Re: CJ McCollum Agrees To Three-Year, $100 Million Extension With Blazers 

Post#12 » by USER0023942 » Wed Jul 31, 2019 1:21 pm

Pickled Prunes wrote:
Adam Stern wrote:
Sam195 wrote:
He took a discount by signing this deal he definitely would get more money if he held out for his free agency. This deal likely will save Blazers millions in luxury tax depite the 4 year 196M supermax extension Lillard signed earlier this month.


You really think McCollum could get more than the $30+ million a year he's getting now?
$40 million is franchise player money.

This would be a 30% max deal, so he couldn't get more money. And since he's got two years left on his current deal, I don't believe he could get more years either. CJ isn't worth anything near that, and I'm a Blazer fan. Love the dude, but he's now officially a good player on a elite player contract. You can't have a player at his level eating a third of your cap space and expect to win anything. Not a good sign for Blazer fans!


With Dame's contract, the terms of this extension wouldn't affect the cap at all. We are capped out. I'd rather have the MLE and McCollum versus some prospect on a rookie deal. At the very least it demonstrates the owner's willingness to pay luxury penalties to keep our stars. That is a good sign.
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Re: CJ McCollum Agrees To Three-Year, $100 Million Extension With Blazers 

Post#13 » by Pickled Prunes » Wed Jul 31, 2019 7:49 pm

USER0023942 wrote:
Pickled Prunes wrote:
Adam Stern wrote:
You really think McCollum could get more than the $30+ million a year he's getting now?
$40 million is franchise player money.

This would be a 30% max deal, so he couldn't get more money. And since he's got two years left on his current deal, I don't believe he could get more years either. CJ isn't worth anything near that, and I'm a Blazer fan. Love the dude, but he's now officially a good player on a elite player contract. You can't have a player at his level eating a third of your cap space and expect to win anything. Not a good sign for Blazer fans!


With Dame's contract, the terms of this extension wouldn't affect the cap at all. We are capped out. I'd rather have the MLE and McCollum versus some prospect on a rookie deal. At the very least it demonstrates the owner's willingness to pay luxury penalties to keep our stars. That is a good sign.

First off, of course this will affect their cap going forward. They are capped out but with expiring deals in hand. If they denounce the Bird rights of Whiteside and Bazemore next summer they would be under the cap. That is assuming they don't trade one or both by the deadline.

As far as CJ's value, look at CJ's PER... I know people hat that stat, and it is flawed in many ways. It favors bigs that rebound but rarely shoot so it isn't real valuable when looking at players, particularly bigs, with limited playing time. It starts to get fuzzy with Vucevic at #9, but at the top you will find a list of true max players.

1) Giannis
2) Harden
3) AD
4) KAT
5) Jokic
6) Kawhi
7) Embiid
8) Lebron
.
.
17) Dame
.
.
.

99) CJ

CJ is waaaay down that list! He does a few things very well, but he doesn't do enough things well to warrant this contract. Take a look at that list and tell me there is a player lower than #50 and over 25 years old that you would be happy to give a max deal to. A few players below #50 you might think about because of age and upside: Fox, Siakam, Mitchell, etc. But CJ doesn't have that upside; he is what he is.... and that is not a $33M player.
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Re: CJ McCollum Agrees To Three-Year, $100 Million Extension With Blazers 

Post#14 » by Sam195 » Wed Jul 31, 2019 8:30 pm

USER0023942 wrote:
Pickled Prunes wrote:
Adam Stern wrote:
You really think McCollum could get more than the $30+ million a year he's getting now?
$40 million is franchise player money.

This would be a 30% max deal, so he couldn't get more money. And since he's got two years left on his current deal, I don't believe he could get more years either. CJ isn't worth anything near that, and I'm a Blazer fan. Love the dude, but he's now officially a good player on a elite player contract. You can't have a player at his level eating a third of your cap space and expect to win anything. Not a good sign for Blazer fans!


With Dame's contract, the terms of this extension wouldn't affect the cap at all. We are capped out. I'd rather have the MLE and McCollum versus some prospect on a rookie deal. At the very least it demonstrates the owner's willingness to pay luxury penalties to keep our stars. That is a good sign.


Your owner is dead. The team and Paul Allen's other sports assets like Seahawks and a stake in the Sounders are now under control of a trust I think managed by his sister (he was never married or had any kids). I have a feeling the rush to lock up top guys to extensions and field a competitive team is in preparation for an inevitable sale. Paul Allen's family lives in Seattle and I highly doubt relocating the Blazers is an option because the trust owns the Rose Garden/Moda Center. Lol how do you sell an arena when there is no major sports team (the major anchor tenant) as a source of revenue? However, I could see some rich Oregon Billionaire or anyone interested in nba ownership trying to buy the team and willing to keep it in Portland.
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Re: CJ McCollum Agrees To Three-Year, $100 Million Extension With Blazers 

Post#15 » by Sam195 » Wed Jul 31, 2019 8:38 pm

arasu wrote:
Pickled Prunes wrote:
Adam Stern wrote:
You really think McCollum could get more than the $30+ million a year he's getting now?
$40 million is franchise player money.

This would be a 30% max deal, so he couldn't get more money. And since he's got two years left on his current deal, I don't believe he could get more years either. CJ isn't worth anything near that, and I'm a Blazer fan. Love the dude, but he's now officially a good player on a elite player contract. You can't have a player at his level eating a third of your cap space and expect to win anything. Not a good sign for Blazer fans!

The max goes up with the cap, so yes, if he were to wait he could get more. If he signed as a fee agent starting with the '21-22 season, he would start at $36.5+ million with raises each year after. If he took a two year deal in '21-'22 and signed a long term deal going into '23-24, he would be eligible for the 10 year 35% max starting at $47+ million. As long as the cap keeps going up, max contracts will look smaller in comparison in future years. That's one reason why so many players have been more willing to take shorter deals.

I think this is a bit of an overpay, but if he stays healthy, it's not an albatross contract. This doesn't ruin the Blazers cap situation, and he will be very tradeable, if they go that route.


Tobias Harris was offered a 4 year 90M contract extension after he rejected it Clippers shopped him for the best deal they could get by the trade deadline. Tobias landed in Philly and resigned for 5 years 180m which is exactly double the amount of guaranteed dollars he passed up last summer. Tobias like CJ has never been an allstar yet got paid more. If CJ was a ufa he could get whatever the max is from a team in the weaker eastern conference if Blazers didn't pay to retain him. We live in a world where a backup PG in Terry Rozier just got 3 years $60M from Hornets.
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Re: CJ McCollum Agrees To Three-Year, $100 Million Extension With Blazers 

Post#16 » by Sam195 » Wed Jul 31, 2019 8:46 pm

Actually I looked over his deal if the last year is a player option this may actually be a smart decision that locks him down some more guaranteed money in the present while he prepares to sign another 5 year max deal at age 31 (as a 10 year veteran opting out) starting at 35% of whatever the salary cap is. He is basically doing kind of what Kawhi just did with Clippers to get to the 10 year Max category except he is doing it with one team and using the discounted extension route (which is raise based on his current deal not cap based like free agency or designated rookie/supermax extensions).
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Re: CJ McCollum Agrees To Three-Year, $100 Million Extension With Blazers 

Post#17 » by arasu » Wed Jul 31, 2019 8:55 pm

Pickled Prunes wrote:
arasu wrote:
Pickled Prunes wrote:This would be a 30% max deal, so he couldn't get more money. And since he's got two years left on his current deal, I don't believe he could get more years either. CJ isn't worth anything near that, and I'm a Blazer fan. Love the dude, but he's now officially a good player on a elite player contract. You can't have a player at his level eating a third of your cap space and expect to win anything. Not a good sign for Blazer fans!

The max goes up with the cap, so yes, if he were to wait he could get more. If he signed as a fee agent starting with the '21-22 season, he would start at $36.5+ million with raises each year after. If he took a two year deal in '21-'22 and signed a long term deal going into '23-24, he would be eligible for the 10 year 35% max starting at $47+ million. As long as the cap keeps going up, max contracts will look smaller in comparison in future years. That's one reason why so many players have been more willing to take shorter deals.

I think this is a bit of an overpay, but if he stays healthy, it's not an albatross contract. This doesn't ruin the Blazers cap situation, and he will be very tradeable, if they go that route.


You are correct, he could potentially get a few million more if he waited for the cap to go up but that has nothing to do with free agency. And since his value is more likely to go down than up, this is insurance for him. And since he isn't worth a 30% max at age 27 there is no need wondering if he could get a 35% max at 31. That wasn't going to happen either way and even CJ knows that. And while he is more tradeable than a guy like Wiggins, he is only tradeable to the most desperate of teams. This is not a team friendly deal. Lots of teams would like to have CJ but only a handful would want him at this price... and of those, which of them would send back something the Blazers would want. If this deal gets traded it will be for late picks and salary filler.


The difference between the $100 million extension and what he could get in free agency is about $20 million, no small sum. My point is that the cap outgrows the salary increases in these max contracts, making them less than max contracts down the line. Marc Gasol is one example of this, as he signed a max deal a while back, but by last season his salary was considerably less than max allowing the Raptors to have 4 players with max or near max level contracts. McCollum is young enough that there is little expectation that his production will drop off soon, so if his production stays the same but his cap percentage decreases, he becomes more valuable over time, or at least more tradeable. I could see a team 3 years from now using him as their third highest paid player, but 3rd, 4th, or 5th best player, as a solid compliment to their contending roster.

I agree that there won't be teams chomping at the bit to trade for him any time soon, but an opportunity to get good value for him will probably come up, if he remains healthy and productive, and if the Blazers remain patient. Better yet, they could find or develop other players that compliment their current backcourt tandem and take them into real contention. I could see Nassir Little potentially developing into an elite two-way star, among other possibilities.
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Re: CJ McCollum Agrees To Three-Year, $100 Million Extension With Blazers 

Post#18 » by arasu » Wed Jul 31, 2019 9:06 pm

Pickled Prunes wrote:
USER0023942 wrote:
Pickled Prunes wrote:This would be a 30% max deal, so he couldn't get more money. And since he's got two years left on his current deal, I don't believe he could get more years either. CJ isn't worth anything near that, and I'm a Blazer fan. Love the dude, but he's now officially a good player on a elite player contract. You can't have a player at his level eating a third of your cap space and expect to win anything. Not a good sign for Blazer fans!


With Dame's contract, the terms of this extension wouldn't affect the cap at all. We are capped out. I'd rather have the MLE and McCollum versus some prospect on a rookie deal. At the very least it demonstrates the owner's willingness to pay luxury penalties to keep our stars. That is a good sign.

First off, of course this will affect their cap going forward. They are capped out but with expiring deals in hand. If they denounce the Bird rights of Whiteside and Bazemore next summer they would be under the cap. That is assuming they don't trade one or both by the deadline.

As far as CJ's value, look at CJ's PER... I know people hat that stat, and it is flawed in many ways. It favors bigs that rebound but rarely shoot so it isn't real valuable when looking at players, particularly bigs, with limited playing time. It starts to get fuzzy with Vucevic at #9, but at the top you will find a list of true max players.

1) Giannis
2) Harden
3) AD
4) KAT
5) Jokic
6) Kawhi
7) Embiid
8) Lebron
.
.
17) Dame
.
.
.

99) CJ

CJ is waaaay down that list! He does a few things very well, but he doesn't do enough things well to warrant this contract. Take a look at that list and tell me there is a player lower than #50 and over 25 years old that you would be happy to give a max deal to. A few players below #50 you might think about because of age and upside: Fox, Siakam, Mitchell, etc. But CJ doesn't have that upside; he is what he is.... and that is not a $33M player.


Shooters matter in this league. Like you mentioned, PER isn't a great stat, and it's less so because of the increased emphasis on shooting and away from bigs. So your list does't really translate to max players at all. Also the max isn't just for "franchise" players. The cap and max is set up so that contenders can have up to three full max players, or four near max players, or some combination of two max players and other well paid players, especially if a team is willing to pay the tax. 3rd tier players probably shouldn't get the full max, but many do. And as I mentioned in the other post, a constantly rising cap dwarfs those max contracts over time. Even a guy like Wiggins might not seem too overpaid in a year or two, if he can produce current production on an actual contender.
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Re: CJ McCollum Agrees To Three-Year, $100 Million Extension With Blazers 

Post#19 » by Pickled Prunes » Thu Aug 1, 2019 5:12 am

Sam195 wrote:
arasu wrote:
Pickled Prunes wrote:This would be a 30% max deal, so he couldn't get more money. And since he's got two years left on his current deal, I don't believe he could get more years either. CJ isn't worth anything near that, and I'm a Blazer fan. Love the dude, but he's now officially a good player on a elite player contract. You can't have a player at his level eating a third of your cap space and expect to win anything. Not a good sign for Blazer fans!

The max goes up with the cap, so yes, if he were to wait he could get more. If he signed as a fee agent starting with the '21-22 season, he would start at $36.5+ million with raises each year after. If he took a two year deal in '21-'22 and signed a long term deal going into '23-24, he would be eligible for the 10 year 35% max starting at $47+ million. As long as the cap keeps going up, max contracts will look smaller in comparison in future years. That's one reason why so many players have been more willing to take shorter deals.

I think this is a bit of an overpay, but if he stays healthy, it's not an albatross contract. This doesn't ruin the Blazers cap situation, and he will be very tradeable, if they go that route.


Tobias Harris was offered a 4 year 90M contract extension after he rejected it Clippers shopped him for the best deal they could get by the trade deadline. Tobias landed in Philly and resigned for 5 years 180m which is exactly double the amount of guaranteed dollars he passed up last summer. Tobias like CJ has never been an allstar yet got paid more. If CJ was a ufa he could get whatever the max is from a team in the weaker eastern conference if Blazers didn't pay to retain him. We live in a world where a backup PG in Terry Rozier just got 3 years $60M from Hornets.

I wasn't talking about what CJ could get on the open market. I was talking about what he's worth. And yes, if there is a team with cap space foolish enough and desperate enough they will pay almost anything. Harris and Rozier were certainly overpays. But I'm borderline taking Rozier at $20M over CJ at $33M. Rozier is younger and capable of being a 5th starter on a good team. He still has upside and will be just 27 and a tradeable expiring right when CHA probably hopes to end their tanking. On the other hand, if CJ is your 2nd best player your screwed... and the Blazers are locked into CJ being their 2nd best player for the foreseeable future!
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Re: CJ McCollum Agrees To Three-Year, $100 Million Extension With Blazers 

Post#20 » by Pickled Prunes » Thu Aug 1, 2019 5:44 am

arasu wrote:
Pickled Prunes wrote:
USER0023942 wrote:
With Dame's contract, the terms of this extension wouldn't affect the cap at all. We are capped out. I'd rather have the MLE and McCollum versus some prospect on a rookie deal. At the very least it demonstrates the owner's willingness to pay luxury penalties to keep our stars. That is a good sign.

First off, of course this will affect their cap going forward. They are capped out but with expiring deals in hand. If they denounce the Bird rights of Whiteside and Bazemore next summer they would be under the cap. That is assuming they don't trade one or both by the deadline.

As far as CJ's value, look at CJ's PER... I know people hat that stat, and it is flawed in many ways. It favors bigs that rebound but rarely shoot so it isn't real valuable when looking at players, particularly bigs, with limited playing time. It starts to get fuzzy with Vucevic at #9, but at the top you will find a list of true max players.

1) Giannis
2) Harden
3) AD
4) KAT
5) Jokic
6) Kawhi
7) Embiid
8) Lebron
.
.
17) Dame
.
.
.

99) CJ

CJ is waaaay down that list! He does a few things very well, but he doesn't do enough things well to warrant this contract. Take a look at that list and tell me there is a player lower than #50 and over 25 years old that you would be happy to give a max deal to. A few players below #50 you might think about because of age and upside: Fox, Siakam, Mitchell, etc. But CJ doesn't have that upside; he is what he is.... and that is not a $33M player.


Shooters matter in this league. Like you mentioned, PER isn't a great stat, and it's less so because of the increased emphasis on shooting and away from bigs. So your list does't really translate to max players at all. Also the max isn't just for "franchise" players. The cap and max is set up so that contenders can have up to three full max players, or four near max players, or some combination of two max players and other well paid players, especially if a team is willing to pay the tax. 3rd tier players probably shouldn't get the full max, but many do. And as I mentioned in the other post, a constantly rising cap dwarfs those max contracts over time. Even a guy like Wiggins might not seem too overpaid in a year or two, if he can produce current production on an actual contender.

PER is actually a great stat for deciding which players are max-worthy, conceding that you can mentally weed out some of the bigs that clearly don't belong. There's just a bit of noise, but I'm sure you agree on those top 8 players being max guys. So I'd ask you to find a player that was truly max-worthy based on last seasons performance that had a lower PER than PG13 at #22. PG would have been higher prior to his shoulder injuries, but I'll use that as a baseline. And I'm not saying what they can or did get. I'm talking about what you would want your team to pay them. And I'm not talking about youth where you are betting on future performance. Which player below #22 was worth a max last season?

#30 Kemba- I'll need to see it on a good team
#36 Westbrook- not last season
#40 Beal- you've got an argument, but career high in USG% and career low in 3pt%. Does he have another gear?
#45 Buttler- oft injured, losing a step and quit on 3 teams in 2 years. Nope
#48 Simmons- not yet, maybe never?
#49 CP3- not anymore
#51 Jrue- really the last guy on the list that I could make a case for. Love this dudes game... but maybe not at $35M+!

Everybody south of this is basically out of the question based on last season's performance, although several players down there will certainly be max worthy in the future so you lock them in as early as possible. Luka, Fox, Siakam, etc. Long story long, don't hate on PER. Learn to use it and know when and when not to bust it out! :D

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