Perhaps, but Ant hasn't come close to proving he can do anything similar to what Brunson did in a tight Playoff situation. Brunson played over his skis in the Playoffs. Ant played well in games the franchise was trying to lose and the opponents knew it. Huge difference.
Ant got a box and one treatment from multiple teams and was the primary focus of their entire defense for about three months.
This is a fact and a Knicks overpay should not set the market for anything. So just because Brunson is making way too much doesn't mean Ant needs to or will.
Gotta remember that Ant is still a restricted free agent. A team most likely isn’t gonna tie up their cap space on a guy they know they won’t get anyway. So at best what are they doing, driving up the price for Portland? Cool I guess.
I don't know what three months we're talking about. He had a really good January and February (shortened due to allstar break) and two games in March. We can call that doing it for two months and we can agree that even though after about three weeks of that teams were throwing very challenging defensive schemes at him that he was beating, he was not beating them singlehandedly. The entire offense was geared towards getting him his looks. That doesn't mean it's not impressive. It means it's a limited sample size in which a really talented guy did what his team tried to get him to do while winning 12 and dropping 15. There were a lot of nights where those intense defensive schemes let Ant off the hook once the game was out of reach. This isn't me shitting on Ant. If the dude gets 20M next season I'll be happy for him because that contract won't be punitive for us but it would be a slight overpay. If Ant's new contract starts at over 22M... I'll have real problems with it. I'd like for it to start at 18M but that would just be a pleasant surprise. While the guy has performed well in them he only has 35 career starts and doesn't have a winning record in games he's started.
Ant’s price tag is likely going to be set by other teams’ offers. Given his age, talent and the well known fact that it’s not likely the Blazers can attract someone else with those attributes through free agency, Cronin will have to pay the man. That doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a long term marriage, but the Blazers can’t afford to lose an asset as valuable as Simons without compensation.
Yeah and the truth is I wouldn't let Ant walk for nothing but I don't think there's another team out there as dumb as the Knicks. Also there are only six teams with the cap space to make us pay more than 22M next season: Memphis who I don't think would want Ant and still has decisions to make about Tyus Jones, SloMo and Culver, Indy who has Brogdon, Hield, McConnell, Haliburton and Duarte so they don't really need more guard play, Orlando who has Fultz, Suggs and Cole Anthony who are all ball dominant guards and have bigger needs at other positions but I guess I could see them trying to fuck us over if they want to be dicks, San Antonio who is trying to trade away their star guard maybe thinking they can overpay Ant instead but I really don't see that being the case and Detroit who I think still has the cap space to fuck us after getting Kemba, Nerlens and Alec Burks but they also just drafted Ivey... so with Kemba and Ivey I don't plus a bunch of other young guards, I don't think they're going to play around with offering Ant anything. I really don't think we have to worry about an offer sheet but obviously I could be wrong. I'm only really worried about us bidding against ourselves with both Ant and Nurk but we'll see if that's just a Neil thing or if Joe will do that too.
I agree that we will not let Ant walk but look at the teams that have the room and tell me who it's going to be that throws out a punitive offer sheet (something long term starting at over 22M for next season) at Ant? I just don't see one of them doing it. I think Ant's contract has already been agreed to, I think Nurk's has too. That would be the only reason I could see the two of them going along with the tank in a contract year where they could have likely driven up their value in the free agent market. So, I just hope that whatever Joe got them to sit with isn't a big overpay.
"this isn't me shitting on Ant..." but lemme just go ahead and do it anyway. the difference between a "slight overpay" and "real problems" is 2 mil per year?
It's a starting salary that's 2M more. I don't know why that wouldn't be about right. If I think 20M in the first year of his contract (which I assume will have the maximum annual raises) is a slight overpay of course I think 22M (with the same percentage more tacked on for every year we sign him after next) will be a problem. When I say a player's salary is pushing me beyond my comfort zone how much further does it need to be pushed to be a problem? I just watched the team dump a bunch of talented players in February for chump change and all anyone could say is we didn't get value back for their talent because their contracts were in some way punitive. So yeah, when we just drafted a guy that looks like he'd fit a lot better next to Dame in a back court... I want to make sure that whatever we sign Ant to will help us bring back maximum value for him if we need to trade him.
2 mil next season is irrelevant but I'm not talking about 2 mil next season. I'm talking about 4 mil because I think the right amount for Ant's contract to start at is 18M but I'm really not talking about the 4 mil because I think we're going to need Ant next season. I'm talking about the difference between 20 mil and 25 mil in the summer of 2024 when Ant has been playing out of position for two seasons and Shaedon has surpassed him at least at SG... so Ant's trade value is significantly different at 25 mil than it would be at 20 mil. So when I split the difference it's something I can stomach but that's as far as I can go without think we're being fucking irresponsible by bidding against ourselves. If we have to match an offersheet that starts at 22 mil, I'll be fine with that because we definitely can't let Ant walk for nothing but if we set the price for Ant at a contract that starts at 22 mil and increases by 5% every season for three or four more seasons, when no one made us jump up that far, I'll be pissed. I was pissed when we did it for CJ and for Meyers and there might have been a few other cases of it. If we do it with Ant and Nurk this off season it will be upsetting and feel like a vestige of the Olshey era and I hope none of those exist.
If you take Ants career 100 possession numbers, which I believe to be the best way to gauge this… ppg 26 19 22 29 He’s been good from the bounce, he just wasn’t let loose until much later. The numbers always supported him though
Some assistance, please How much, if at all, does it benefit Portland to come to a verbal agreement with Ant and Nurk, assuming they want both back, but hold off signing them until they add other free agents?
