Every year in sports, the GM from at least one team fumbles in FA and cracks under the pressure to "sign someone" and ends up dealing out a ridiculous contract. But this year, Olshey has given 3 of them. And he has no excuse with Crabbe and Leonard because he knew well what they were. Leonard is like a a 7 foot volleyball player that learned how to shoot in his driveway. He's not even good enough to be in our rotation. Crabbe is an average backup. And Turner ugh. No one will take this contracts. I bet the Nets would not even take Crabbe if we packaged him with a draft pick, because GMs have woken up from their drunken offseason stupor.
-16 playing backup minutes. That's an indictment not only of him, but of my point to how poorly the team performs when Damian is off the court. If our bench could at least hold their own, we'd probably be 7-1.
At the start of last season, Leonard passed up $40M. Then he was handed the starting PF position, not C, tailored to his lack of normal 7 foot 2 skill. Then he immediately failed, forcing Stotts to start the near-rookie Vonleh. All season long as his worth dropped, posters laughed at Leonard, saying, bye bye! His fans said, well this is good. Now we'll re-sign him for a lot less. First thing in the summer, Olshey pays Leonard $41M, a number Olshey picked to prove to us that Leonard had made the right move in passing up $40M, and that Olshey never deserts his own picks. Fuckin' Olshey. Reminds me of when Pritchard gave Roy $80M without negotiating him down. So eager to hand out free money just because he's "supposed" to spend it that summer.
Extending all our guys seems like asset accumulation really. Keeping money would have not done us any good because it would be gone next year anyway with CJ's extension, and this way we might have some good assets to do a big trade, which will IMO be something Olshey will look at heavily during the next two months. We cannot land a big free agent, as evidenced by last Summer when we were not even in proper contention for Howard or Whiteside, but we can land a big player through trade if we have enough arguments.
He's a trade asset, and is actually on a reasonable contract for what he is. It's better to have these pieces on the roster to be able to make a move later on.
I don't think out that group Harkless is not over paid he been stepping up and he the one that call the team out and then has back it up.
What's weird to me is that the bench guys aren't even attempting shots. Turner 1-3 Crabbe 2-6 Vonleh somehow got up 8 shots in 15 minutes. In the game before that, Turner went 0-0 and Crabbe attempted 4 shots. And in the game before that, Turner went 1-8 and Crabbe went 2-9. So we're winning, but our bench guys aren't even trying to shoot anymore.
Harkless at $10M is a very good deal, people forget he is only 23 and has large upside. He has been shooting the ball better this season and had some very good appearances, last night included. I like him a lot and hope he will be a permanent fixture in small forward role for years to come.
Turner is a poor shooter so I don't mind it that much, Crabbe however has been very disapponting. Utah game aside, has he been good in any of the games so far?
Why would his seat be getting warm? We've got off to a much better start than last year and his options during the offseason were limited. No one wants come here in Free Agency. Layman was looking like a good deep draft pick, the Batum trade is looking better and better with the emergence of Vonleh. We have plenty of assets to make a trade come deadline time or sooner.
I'm with you. Let's see what he does at the trade deadline first. He might have something up his sleeve.
The bench has clearly sucked so far which is surprising to me. But it's not inconceivable that guys are still trying to figure out their roles. Or that they're still adjusting to other teams taking them seriously, as opposed to last year. Or that they're still learning to play with increased expectations, both for the team and for them personally due to their new contracts. And despite the rocky start they are still 5-3 (likely 5-4 after tonight), so they've been able to win some games in spite of themselves, always a good sign. The games they've actually lost were against a very good Clippers team, a very good GS team, and on the road against Phoenix in OT, who for some reason we always struggle against. The way it's constructed, I think it's highly improbable that this team doesn't make a trade before the deadline. 8 games in and the only contracts that seem high so far are Turner and Crabbe, and I think at least one of them will find their groove. If you look around the league, Meyers has a reasonable contract, and I would go so far as to say that Harkless, Aminu, Davis, Vonleh and Plumlee are all below market value relative to what they bring.
Well of course his seat is getting warmer.... the longer you sit in your seat, the warmer it will naturally get.
Harkless contract is awesome. That Turner deal was awful and most of us here got sick from reading the news about his signing. Crabbe deal was "ok", because you might be able to move him for something you need. Leonard deal...i don't know, anyone in the league wants this guy? he is basically Andrea Bargnani with that contract now and Knicks aren't as stupid as they use to be.
Frankly, if Turner's deal was awful, then Crabbe's deal is fucking terrible. His production has been as bad, if not worse, than Turner's... and he is significantly more difficult to trade. Also, Turner at least has a track record as a serviceable player in the NBA. Crabbe has never really shown a consistent ability to produce.
Dom't fret too much. There are other stupid teams out there that may want a floor spacing big. For some reason, Meyers seems to play well against SAC. Maybe they'll take him. I call it the Harvey Grant effect. Have ONE good game against a team and the next thing you know, they're trading for you. BNM
LoL without loosing CJ. Everyone wants to call CJ a star but when Dame goes out of the game the Blazers just fall apart. Even if CJ is still in the game.
so just recently everyone was like oh we need a big 3 to win in this league. we get a big 2 and are working towards and 3rd and now it's not balanced enough?