Who would you rather have on our team; Batum on his $46mil contract or George on his $90mil contract? I bet all NBA teams would take George by a landslide. I would do that trade in an instant and easily throw in Meyers Leonard or CJ McCollum.
How about 2 Batum's for 1 george? Batum and Matthews don't even add up to the contract total of George. Its not saying that George isn't light years better than Batum; but George isn't at a level that warrants 2 Batum sized contracts.
I read on here how They would take George in a "landslide" or he's "lightyears" better than Nic. I will admit that I am biased, and I realize how half this forum hates Nic and claims he is so inconsistent. But you realize 90M is LeBron level money. I would really appreciate one of you guys to do a split side by side of last seasons stats between these 2 players so I can see the $50Million difference. Educate me.
I think the true difference between the players is George is all-star caliber; while Batum is super-role player caliber. So when I say "lightyears" I am only referring to his ability to take his game to the next level; while Batum plays over-seas and gets himself hurt during our seasons. He may not miss games that much, but I notice most the season, he is battling through injuries. I think Batum has the ability to be a true star but needs some recovery and conditioning to get him through the long season healthy. If he can do that, then the comparison is much tighter, IMO. And I do not agree that George warrants a 50 mil tax from Batum. I would rather have 2 Batum's than 1 George.
Paul George is overrated. His D is good but inconsistent and he can disappears for long stretches of games, sounds a lot like what everyones been bitching about Batums game as well. He is this years George Hill(although a much better player), a player who played well in the regular season, had some amazing games that people seem to remember while forgetting his other games, then blew up in the playoffs. He is showing the same kind of career progression that Granger showed, but I'm not sure if he will become as good as Granger was. I like PG but i don't think he is a franchise player and think he is suited more to a second/third banana on offense so he can spend so much more of his time trying to be the lock down defender everyone seems to think he can be. Great player to have at 10/y, overpaid as a max player at 16/y. Then again indiana is a small market and this is a superstar league. George is their best option to become a superstar and someone else would have offered George the max in FA and this contract is more about potential then what he has done so i'll say he is overpaid but has the chance to earn his contract, I just don't think he will.
I totally agree with this. 90 mil is a lot of money for a 3rd tier player. He is 2nd tier on the Pacers, but he should be a third tier for a league vote.
How is third team all nba not a franchise player? Aldridge is our franchise player, and he didn't make any team. I am also lost a bit how he is 2nd or 3rd banana? he took the most shots on his team, and played the most minutes per game
You look at the overall advanced stats and it's not like George is worlds better. It's not like George is a 21-25ppg scorer, which is kind of what you hope for in a $90m guy. Indiana is clearly gambling on George's upside, which is substantial @ 22 years old. But every year he's in the league his FG% has declined (.453, .440, .419) as he handles the ball more and more and gets more minutes. He and Nic both take the same number of threes/game (6) and they are about the same efficiency (36%). Nic's the better passer, George is the better rebounder. I think that there are so many ways these two guys compare should raise some red flags about George's deal. Batum is in no way a $90m guy. George will have to improve pretty significantly to be worth that. There was no doubt in my mind Brandon Roy was a max contract guy by his third year. Click here and you can see why George's deal is a much riskier proposition. Even if you just compare rookie Roy to current George (when they were both 22) Roy still looks better because of the FG% and ability to draw fouls (things you look for in star swing men). Run BJM makes a great point that in the current CBA Indiana has to do what it can to lock in its best players. This is the deal they had to make. It's a risky one, though.
18 mil per season. Maybe you can compare PG to Dwight Howard? They make around the same money. Who would you rather have? Aldridge made 14 mil for seasons that out produced George.
Indiana 49-32 Portland 33-49 Did LA outproduce Goerge? George easily over Howard. I think he is extremely overrated though, so that's not fair. 22 years old NBA all 3rd team. Very good offensive and defensive player (NBA all 2nd team)
Didn't realize that a player was the sole reason for success. Guess we can toss out bench, coaching and other starting caliber players. Sucks to be Hibbert man!
So you people who say Batum has a better value contract; would you trade Batum for a resigned Paul George? I do that every day.
Batum makes 7 million less. The better question is "Would you trade PG for LBJ?" They make as much and play the same position.
LBJ is the one player that basically breaks the collective bargaining agreement; he's worth at least 1.5x the current max.
I'm out and about. Can somebody please put Nic's stats side by side with this superstars from last season....please Sent from HCPs Baller-Ass iPhone 5...FAMS!
I didn't follow the Pacers much last season, so I'm not 100% sure, but because they are a small market team that's interested in overachieving, they do have to overpay to keep talent.
I guess you are right, but then again, isn't the new bargaining agreement supposed to combat "big brother" teams with a shit ton of money? It's not like PG can walk to one of those teams and get that lion share max contract. This may bite them in the ass when they need more talent to build around.
