Regardless, his cap hold is 7.2 mm, I believe. That leaves about the same amount to spend on other FA. Retaining Hickson will set this franchise back the length of his next contract in it's growth process
That is another opinion though. That is what we are here to do (throw out our opinions) so no issue with it but forgive me when I don't take it as the gospel. There are a hundred different scenarios that you aren't taking into account and some of them are not even related to Free Agency.
So what do you think we could get that will be better than him? With his salary this year it ain't gonna be by trade, since he's the best value contract in the NBA
I think to answer this the best way, we need to decide the definition of "better" My definition is of "better" is as a franchise that can annually compete for home court advantage and maybe make a run at a title every now and then.
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=cubpel2 This could get us to the next level and we can still keep Hickson too!
And I think we have a better chance of that by keeping Hickson, 24, and letting this team grow and gel for a few years with the guys that we have, than trading one of our best players on a 4 mil salary for a draft pick in a weak draft. Or whatever else.
Personally I would love to have Hickson as the backup PF for our team; but I think we have some serious pressing needs at guard back-up and a starting center. The question is when will Leanord be able to take over the starting role at center? If he can develop quicker and start next season; then keeping Hickson isn't a bad idea. The problem is I just don't see Leanord being at that level any time soon. Leanord is seriously lost on the defensive end and he just doesn't box out worth a shit. We have rebounding problems now; just imagine the issues we will have with Leanord on our starting 5? If Leanord could become that starter and actually learn to box out and rebound the fucking ball; then keeping Hickson and offering max MLE for Reddick would be a smart choice. But we just can't compete if we have an undersized center like Hickson starting for this club.
Hey Mags, just a quick question. Where did you learn how to spell Leonard from? Just playing of course.
Hickson is a top 5 rebounder in this league...if we didn't have him our rebounding problems would be much worse..I'm not relying on Leonard for anything, maybe that's partly why I'm so enamored with keeping JJ!
Hickson's rebounding is a wash though because he isn't providing positive stats for this team. He's playing well, but his team doesn't when he is on the court. That's in the stats. As a back-up; hickson would be a monster for our bench. He's just not right as a starter at center.
He's the starting center on a playoff team that was predicted to be one of the worst teams in the West. He's not one of our top 3 players, but he's made a positive impact. We're not in playoff position right now without Hickson
Listen, I am all homer for wanting Hickson, but you really need to look at the advanced stats. Hickson's production actually doesn't help this team. We are a serious minus when he's on the court.
He's been one of our most productive players all season. Shouldn't we be a losing team if his production isn't helping?
PHXBlazer1, read this article about Hickson. This was posted on a thread I had about keeping Hickson and Aldridge. I will admit, that I was all for keeping hickson and I publicly debated on this topic. I am watching the games and taking in the consideration of those that want to trade Hickson. An I am more leaning on trading Hickson now, knowing that we can. http://www.blazersedge.com/2013/1/8...j-j-hickson-tops-list-of-overrated-rebounders
I think a lot of the disagreement here is that some people are looking at it from this years perspective, while others are looking at it from the next several years perspective. Hickson is a great rebounder, and has helped us tremendously in that role. However, let's say the Blazers sign Pekovic this off season. Hickson out rebounds him by 2.5 a game, but Pekovic's PER difference is light years better than Hickson's. At PF, Hickson has a PER of 28.9, but his PER against is 27.9, while at center his PER is 21.1 and PER against is 20.9, or a net on court advantage of 1.0 and .1 respectively Pekovic on the other hand has a PER of 19.8 and a PER against of only 13.3 for an on court advantage of 6.4 Personally, while a risk, I'd rather not try and re-sign a player who is basically a wash on the floor and instead try to sign a player who really helps his team win