Cowology wrote:Ayton is definitely more than just a rim runner, but I don't think you want him as your 2nd best player either. He is probably 3rd or 4th best on a championship team, which works well for him in Phx with Paul/Booker ahead of him.
Then the question becomes... can you afford to pay your 3rd/4th best player a Max contract? Can your team support that many max contracts? Most teams can't. Rookie contracts sorta push that problem down the road, but eventually you still need to deal with it and probably right about the time your team is peaking.
C is such a weird position. Embiid/Jokic are dominant and if you have an MVP caliber guy like that in the middle you are in pretty good shape but overall C's are the least impactful position at the moment. It's a perimeter players league. All of that makes maxing Ayton a very mixed proposition. He's clearly not in that elite tier, but he is very good and C is probably going to be the hardest position to upgrade.
I kinda vacillate on this one. I wouldn't be upset if we offered the max, but I won't be upset when Phx keeps him either. He's clearly a talent upgrade, but I'm not 100% convinced that's where I want to allocate my resources.
Pretty much how I see it, although I think Ayton could be a solid 3rd option; I think he's better than his numbers now because he has two pretty prolific scorers in Booker and CP3 ahead of him and Bridges right behind him at 14 PPG. I'm also torn on whether $32 million/year on Ayton is the right way to spend that $32 million given where the team is at, but the team may arrive at a point where he's the best option. Which obviously depends on where the draft pick lands, a Grant trade, and FA moves.
Hypothetically let's say they trade Grant and get a decent scoring guard in return (either in the trade or as a draft pick) then draft one of the PF's. So now you've got Cade, a decent scoring guard, Bey at SF, the drafted PF--who you'd hope will be a mid to high performer--and Stew. At that point is it worth $32 million to sign Ayton and move Stew to the bench? The starting five would most definitely be improved and would have an average age of what--21-22?
Like I've said before, I think there's too much focus on the salary cap. Let's say the lineup I just described actually does manifest itself and the team loses in the 2nd round of the playoffs in 6-7 games, i.e. clearly shows the potential to be a championship contender with the expected growth of the young players, so it makes sense to keep them together. Does anyone really care if Gores has to go into the luxury tax to keep them together? And why wouldn't he? Past history has shown that if the Pistons are a real playoff team (not the squeaking in as a #8 seed, i.e. the Blake years) then games sell out, merchandise sales go up, TV money goes up...the team WILL make money even if they exceed the cap; there are multiple of examples around the league to support that logic.
Ultimately my hope is that the organization puts the BEST team together between this offseason and next in order to be ready for a championship run in 2023-24 (or sooner); I don't think the cost moving forward needs to be as big a concern as some people make it out to be. The days of 5+ years of championship windows are gone; it's pretty much 2-4 years then if multiple young players explode they have to get paid, either by you or someone else, so you either pay them or maybe trade one away and reload as best you can. So take the best shot you can while the gettin's good and worry about later...later.