Why? He knows he's a big part of the future and he knows his bball related problem (guards sucking, and Gerald dominating) are both temporary.
Caphold small = no rush for the Blazers to reduce capspace in the summer by making a big offer to Nic now. They can give him a big offer after signing a FA this summer. And there have been plenty of players better than Nic who did not get offers before becoming RFAs. Not getting a big offer now doesn't mean shit.
Stern has yet to reach an offer for Eric Gordon. We can throw a toxic offer at him this summer and I bet the other owners would not match. If we land EJ because we have more capspace in the summer, and match an offer for Nic later on, this delay will be well worth it. Gordon is just an example, but there will be a TON of FAs this summer to go after. Having as much capspace as possible is key.
When I worked at the Garden I saw how he was around his mom. He's a momma's boy. I knew that was what has been frustrating him. He hasn't looked for his shot at all.
Speaking of EJ, guys who also did not get extensions today: Eric Gordon, Roy Hibbert, George Hill, Mike Beasley, DJ Augustin, Brook Lopez, Ryan Anderson, Serge Ibaka. All of those guys are arguably more valuable than Nic. That's Eric Gordon's nickname.
The Thunder will have to let some of the young talent go. Or move somebody. They won't be able to afford everyone.
Oh I don't know if they did him wrong exactly ... but at the same time they have GW on the roster and they didn't make a commitment to him
It will be interesting to see what they do. Nick Collison is signed to that cheap deal and is a good big to fill in if Ibaka leaves, and they do have Thabo signed to a decent deal to fill in if Harden leaves. They are high on Maynor too.
I think Batum was in the driver's seat all along. He probably made idiotic demands knowing he can test the FA market after the season. He'll probably get a toxic offer and go from there. I think the chances we were going to sign him were about 5%. The whole thing was no big deal.
10 minutes to go on a Batum extension. Can't really blame the Blazers on this one without knowing what was offered, though. Nic might get an offer of up to $10 million/per this summer, based on contracts to Afflalo and Gallinari.
