yeah i sort of wanna see what he can do. bring him in and either Juwan or Swift on a 1 year contract and have em battle it out
I'm pretty sure that next year will be the 4th season since he was drafted so he'll be able to avoid the rookie salary scale and come in at whatever the club is able to negotiate. Since PDX will be over the salary cap, the most they could offer is their full MLE STOMP
after a player has completed their rookie deal, where they were drafted usually doesn't have much to do with what sort of contract they can generate... I'll throw out Gilbert Arenas and Channing Frye as examples... so I don't share your indignation about JF's draft position factoring into his potential value. He's a very different prospect now then when he was initially selected and quality Bigs have supply and demand on their side. It's entirely possible that a player in his situation could be worth far more then the MLE. I'm not saying he is worth more as I've never seen him play except in highlights. But if he is thought to be ready for 20+ minutes a night in the NBA next season, a full MLE is pretty reasonable. STOMP
I agree with Stomp: for a couple of years I assumed Freeland was a waste of a pick - certainly not worth a first-rounder. Now I see him as easily a low lottery talent. I'm not sure it would take the whole mid-level exception to get him, though. He's not a Ricky Rubio - he is likely to be earning around $1M at the absolute tops in Europe. (Of course, it is after taxes, and with accommodation et al also provided gratis.)
