Amazing Stat. Just like Pryzbilla before him. Trail Blazers' Robin Lopez making a case for NBA's Most Improved Player
How is something like that quantified? Rolo has improved so much from that lead footed clumsy scrub I remember in phoenix. Easily a top 10 c in the league and he's improving tangibly
Luckily we have him for next year at a reasonable salary. It will give us plenty of time to vet him to see what he's really worth on a long-term deal.
At the center position, Lopez is a near All Star. How many West centers are better than him? Gasol and Howard? Maybe Jordan and Pekovic? He's close. And he still has room to grow. I have no problem with giving him the max.
If they don't, I'm pretty certain the way he worked this last off season, Neil can someone similar for maybe less money.
You can only afford (at most) 3 MAX players in the NBA today. Lopez is great but with LMA and Lillard getting MAX in two years and Wes Matthew's contract up soon Lopez realistically can't get MAX for us to continue to improve (good thing is I don't think Lopez cares about getting close to max). We will have 6th man-types (either already on the team or free-agents) to pay soon as well.
Until you give say your 1st, 4th, and 5th best players MAX and can't pay your 2nd and 3rd best player so they leave. Of course this doesn't necessarily apply to us (just an issue for most all teams in general) but it could down the road if we went that route.
I would guess he will sign for a reasonable/high compromise. I think he likes it here, and recognizes this is a good fit and system for him. But, he also deserves to get paid. Pek money sounds likely and is a good comp.
I'm just saying its Paul's money. As long as we improve and beer prices continue to stay high I could careless about how much he pays in luxury tax. I know its fun for fan gm's to play keep under budget but reality is the owner can pay as little or as much as he wants.
Da comrade, is true. Paulski Allenovitch are spend all his money for to have team like Brooklyn. $100M payroll is good, nyet?
Eh, kinda but not really. Once you hit the cap it severely inhibits your ability to sign new players to improve the team or keep it competitive. We're going to be dealing with that this summer and we haven't even gotten to the point of locking up Rolo (or Lillard). SPAM will not work.
Nyet, nyet--you no understandski. Other team are want to send expensive player here, for to save money. Allenovitch will spend many rubles to make team win. Speak not of the, how you call it?--"C B A". League cannot stop him. Paulski's gold > Adam Silver.
I don't think he's worth the max by any means, and I don't think any team would pay him that much. That being said, if you're a capable 7-footer you can earn a 10 mil/year contract pretty easily. I think he'll get something between what Splitter (4/36mil) and Pekovic (5/60mil) got.
Huh? Which competitive team isn't going to be dealing with the cap this summer? I can't think of anybody in the West, outside of maybe Phoenix. It will be about trades and good use of the MLE for all the teams in the west. If you want to look at teams that are screwed by having dead weight contracts, Houston, the Clippers, and OKC jump out at me.
I agree it is advantages to be under the cap when signing new players, but it is also inevitable that the Blazers will be over by 2015-16. (if they resign LMA) And I think it is smart to try not to over pay your players in case you need to move them. Technically once you are over......you are over. The only one it really hurts is Paul. And if he wants to do it....fine by me It does seems like Robin will get close to Pekovic cash (which is 12 /yr) but I would try like hell to get him at 10 per year. To me he is worth that. Anything over 10 per he will enter the Ostertag/Koncak scenario where fans will turn on him in a second if he does not live up to the contract. He may end up being happier if he just signs a "fair" deal as opposed to a max deal.
