I like $30M/4, but I'm also of the unpopular opinion that if he doesn't have a true "breakout" year this year (ie, clearly outplay Wallace), then he should be trade bait. Young talent can fetch a premium on the market. It's possible that he's worth more as a chip than on the court.
How is he supposed to "break out" if he and Wallace play the same position. What happens when Wallace is gone in 2 years and we had already traded Nic?
Yup, I'm not saying we don't resign him for more then that next summer, just that if we get locked into paying him now we should get a discount. It's worth a lot of money to the Blazers to have Nic sign a deal in the offseason instead of now, he'll take up less cap space and we can better evaluate his talents. If Nic eventually realizes his potential, unlike Miles, we can pay him a max deal when he's 27. Miles was a hell of a lot more productive then Nic and younger then Nic is now, when we gave him that god awful contract. Happens all the time with young SF's who have sexy "potential". Lets see the potential develop before we are guarteed to have to pay a larger portion of our cap for it.
And here's to hoping toxic offers based on potential are less substantial due to the luxury tax implications.
We always get stuck paying for potential, because our coach's system delays player development. We need a coach who lets players play loosely at 100% from their first day in the league. When I say this, someone pipes up that Batum is an example of a rookie given minutes by McMillan. So what. You now see that even when given minutes, a McMillan player doesn't develop normally, and management must estimate potential years later at contract time.
That's a silly question. You and I both know that Batum and Wallace will both get plenty of PT, and often be on the floor together. He'll have more than enough opportunity to show any improvements in his game. I guess that all depends on what we traded him for, now doesn't it? Plus, who says Wallace is gone in 2 years? Just because his current contract ends by then doesn't mean he won't extend. Fear of the unknown is no justification for paralysis.
I was thinking the same, so I just looked at the numbers. If Wallace/Crawford opt out, we also remove Felton, Oden, Camby, Smith, LA (13.8)/Wes (6.5)/Nic(~7) will be our only three major contracts. Then add ~ 10 for various capholds, draft picks, and Thomas. That comes out to ~37mil. Even being generous with Nic, we'd have ~19mil of capspace (assuming 59mil as cap) left. Again this is taking into consideration that both Wallace and Crawford will opt out. Both of those guys will be looking for their last major contracts, so I would guess that they would opt out.
I doubt Wallace opts out. Crawford maybe, if he has a big year. Felton is probably as important if not more than Nic is, so letting him walk is scary
TBH, I see Wallace preferring a 3yr, 25 mil deal over a 1yr 10mil deal at this point in his career. I guess it depends on how we do this year. If we somehow break through and make the WCFs, then I see not only these guys willing to stay, but also PA paying through the nose. And the loss of Felton can be mitigated by bringing in DWill.
And just looking at the FA list: http://www.sbnation.com/2011-nba-fr...nts-2012-ranking-dwight-howard-deron-williams Nearly everyone is restricted. I don't see much high-level talent on that list. Capspace can be useful for trades, but as far as FA goes, I don't see us making too big of a splash.
Something like Wes Matthews should be fine (gotta knock 1 year from it because the new CBA). It's manageable, tradable and allows room to keep us in the mix for resigning other players.
Plus, extension for Felton adds another 8M or so, Crawford's 5M if he doesn't opt out, Kurt Thomas and Craig Smith are another, what, 1.5M combined, and our #1 this year is another 1M+. Add those all on to the 43.75M you have there, and we're right at the 59M projected for next year's salary cap. Cap space is almost completely contingent on whether or not we keep our starting PG, starting SF, and 6th man.
well, to be honest, most teams cap space are dependent on that, dallas just gave away chandler to save space, lakers gave away odom, knicks gave away billups, etc. if we want cap space, we need to not resign our own players, pretty typical
But doesn't Batum's extension count after next season? Basically still under his rookie contract until the extension kicks in? I actually don't know.
he will have a cap hold during next offseason if he hasnt signed an extension yet, 250% of this years salary, or about 6 millionish i believe
