I'm beginning to think that the Blazers may not match Nic in order to keep a bit of flexibility. I'd much rather have Hibbert on a "max" deal than Nic at $12m/year, and having both of those contracts doesn't make much sense to me. How quickly would LMA break down if it's Freeland, Leonard, and LMA as the front-line rotation next year? The Blazers HAVE to get somebody to play alongside LMA, and Hibbert seems ideal to me.
If they can get Hibbert and then extend Batum, I think they might do it. But if Batum gets in the way of them signing Hibbert, they might let him walk or sign and trade. I never in a million years thought Nic would be getting 12 million a year. Just fucking ludicrous for a guy who averages 13.9 ppg.
Disagree. Rose and Durant, for instance, are multiple-time all-stars and entitled to a "Higher-than-normal-rookie-max" (TM) contract. Hibbert is not. So no, he's not in the Rose/Durant category coming off rookie contracts, but the tier below...which seems about right to me. He'd make less-than-LMA money. As a 1-time-All-Star big man about to enter his prime, it doesn't seem like a massive overpay. And if you're worrying about signing an All-Star caliber legit C for 14+M a year, how big a brick are you shitting about Nic being offered 11-12M?
Why does having both contracts not make much sense to you? I think it's unlikely that the Blazers can acquire a significantly better player for that $12 million/year and it's probably not productive to attempt to remain under the cap for too long in any case. Unused cap space is potential not being directed toward winning games. I think Lillard, Batum, Aldridge and Hibbert can form the nucleus of a pretty good young team, with Freeland and Leonard as interesting reserves.
So you think the Blazers should pickup some smart amnesty waivers, take on other teams salary to get future draft picks, and only sign one year deals? Then we can try for a better free agent in future off-season. I think that could be a good strategy as well. I still think Hibbert would be a good signing, but if the Pacers match Neil needs to be very careful with how he ties up our cap long-term.
Brooke Lopez is a foot injury waiting to happen. I think his career will be cut short in much the same way that Yao Ming was.
I totally disagree regarding Batum's contract. I think having him on the books for $12million could most definitely prevent the team from adding a stud player in the future. I don't think Paul Allen will pay the new higher luxury tax. Batum's value to the team would not be close to the cost of his contract on the salary cap and luxury tax. Batum would be similar to a players such as Joe Johnson or Hedo Turkoglu, he would have value on the basketball court and should be in a rotation, but that large of a contract would make him a negative asset to the roster. The team should aim to sign players that become positive assets, where their worth exceeds the cost of their contracts. If you believe Batum will be an all-star then fine the Blazers should match. But I don't believe he will improve terribly much more from the player he is today, and that level of player on that large of a contract is a hinderance toward building a contender. This isn't the 1999 Blazers where we can aim to collect as much talent regardless of contracts. The new NBA is a moneyball league that will be driven by players outperforming their salary cost.
That's a good point. His contract will be much worse than what's on the paper because of the luxury tax.
Most definitely, but do we want Brook Lopez? He is as terrible of a rebounder as Bargnani. I don't think him along with a below average rebounding LaMarcus could ever make noise in the playoffs.
Lopez is also a poor defender. He basically contributes to the team like a Zach Randolph except he can't rebound.
All bigs have a higher risk of injury, but Lopez is just coming off a major injury and feet problems are tricky. In addition, Lopez is too similar to Aldridge to make a good pair. Aldridge and Hibbert are synergistic. Also, Hibbert is "worth" more on the open market the Lopez, thus he would probably be easier to move if needed in the future. Also, Indiana is a very income constrained team that is on a strict budget, and thus is much much much more likely to decide to let an overpaid player walk than the Nets who have no such constraints - at all. The only reason the Nets would let Lopez walk would be if they knew he was damaged goods, or maybe they needed the cap space to sign someone better - and after their own Deron Williams the only better free agents than Lopez is Eric Gordon and......Hibbert. To answer your question - no. If we offer less than max, NJ will match, unless they know Lopez is damaged, in which case we don't want him.
