In 4 years, Leonard will only be 24 years old. At that point, he'll need a new contract, so you can choose between Hibbert and Leonard, keep both, or use Hibbert in a deadline trade as an expiring contract to either accumulate more picks, or, best case, Leonard makes Hibbert expendable at that point, and you don't have to worry about losing Hibbert, so you trade him for value to a team that wants his Bird rights.
So, you don't understand my point. I'm not comparing across generations, I'm setting a certain standard for what I view as All Star caliber. If you want me to put it in more elitist terms, for clarity, here it is: I don't trust the fan voting to get all the best players in and I think how the All Star ballot uses stricter position categories for voting isn't conducive to getting the best players on the team. So I'll use my own standards.
I'm not sure he's worth $15m/year, but I know he's worth at least $10m/year, and with a RFA, you have to pay over market value to have a shot at acquiring the player.
Wrong. We have lots of cap room. Comparison matters. Would you rather sign a better center (who?) or would you rather go after another player (who?) or would you rather just spend no money at all and let the cap room go to waste. If you would rather go after another center, say so and why. Or if you'd rather. After another position, say so and why. We signed Aldridge to a max contract and he wasn't an All Star. Why on EARTH would you not want to spend on a 25 year old All Star center who can grow with Aldridge who is nearly the same age? Who would you rather have?
He is long retired. An All Star, by the way. But what "solid big man" would you rather sign NOW? Now is all that matters.
I have no issue with your "borderline" term, because Hibbert is one in terms of All-Star. With that, comparing his selection to Magloire's isn't fair to Hibbert. Magloire never even sniffed a 19 PER season. I think that right now, Hibbert is on the same tier as Marc Gasol.
Not just the RFA, but also that he's young, he's an All-Star, and he's a legit center in a league where legit centers are rare. Add all that up and you have a guy who requires a bigger contract than he may have earned. Batum on the other hand..... plays an easier position to fill, hasn't shown any consistency, and is a bigger injury risk because of his international commitments.
Hibbert wasn't voted in by the fans so that point is moot. Great, you think Steve Francis and Iverson shouldn't have made All Star teams when they sucked. Who cares? We're talkin about Hibbert, voted in by coaches.
I'm not comparing him with Magloire, I was just using Magloire as a handy example of why I said "normal year." I think Hibbert would have been an okay All Star in any year. Magloire wouldn't have been.
I care. And I was never invalidating Hibbert's selection, I was explaining to you my process in deeming someone "All Star" or "borderline All Star" caliber, since you were asking me questions.
He's hurt and unavailable. He also doesn't want to play here. He also only averaged 9/7/1.5 when he played. Who cares? Moot point. What AVAILABLE guy would you prefer play center? You said to sign a solid big man. I asked who and you mentioned a guy who is retired. What AVAILABLE center do you want?
i don't think hibbert is a "dominant" big man that can lead a team to championship but then again none of the free agents, outside of maybe dwill, can be considered franchise changers. and just because we may not use the cap money this year doesn't mean it "goes to waste" as we could sign guys to one year deals, let the youngsters get some burn and try again next season.
