Hickson at $5M is a tremendous value signing. Similar to what we got with Mo. Difference is we got our value player at a position of need, whereas Denver didn't.
I'm a big TRob fan and excited we got him but I got to say I'd take Hickson over TRob for that backup PF spot next season. Both guys ended up costing $5million but we didn’t know that would be the case at the time. Hickson doesn’t have as much long term upside but he is a proven contributor. JJ really helped open up our offense last season as defenses couldn’t double off him to defend LaMarcus or Damian. His rebounding and efficient inside scoring was as good as anyone in the NBA. If we just had a defender like Lopez to bang a few minutes here or there Hickson would’ve been great in a 3 way big man rotation. I hope Thomas can carve out a role that provides as many positives as JJ contributed last year.
Yes. Paul Millsap was a great signing as well, I can't believe anyone mentioned his deal negatively in this thread. He is better than Al Jefferson and nearly half the price. Only two years has little downside if for some reason he is a bad fit the team can dump him as an expiring contract next season.
I didn't mean to say that the Millsap signing was bad, but that comparatively if you were a particular team how much would you want to pay for each player? 2 year, $19M ($9.5 M a year) for Millsap, 4 years, $54M ($13.5 M a year) for Smith, or 1 year, $5 M for JJ Hickson? I was using the deals to compare what JJ got under the current CBA.
I personally think TRob has a way higher ceiling than Hickson. I liked JJ, I thought he was a good player and will be a good bench forward, but Robinson has the potential to be a star.
In terms of value I'd go Hickson > Millsap > Smith. In terms of actually running a team, I'd probably go Millsap > Hickson > Smith.
Hickson made an enormous difference in our record. With only Leonard and Freeland at center, we would have been historically bad.
Hickson's deal with Denver is actually 3 years for $16M. I think Denver got a bargain, but he kind of duplicates what Faried brings.
