Maybe he will play better if he thinks he is over paid! He doesn't seem like the type of guy that would coast after getting his money. I think he wants to be the best PF in the game.
Strawman. Other than perhaps Rondo, none of those other guys deserve to be paid in the same ballpark as Aldridge. I mean, come on, Bargnani, Tyrus Thomas? Where's Adam Morrison? Seriously, if the Bulls big decision is to pay Tyrus Thomas $65 million (or even $50 million) or let him walk, I think that's a pretty easy decision. BNM
Ahahahahahaha if Tyrus Thomas or his agent think he's in LMA's league that's pretty laughable (as seen by the ahahahahahahaha at the start of my sentence). As BNM said Rondo is the only one left in the draft class affected by LMA's contract - none of the others come close, and Rudy Gay was never going to get an extension from the Grizzlies regardless of who else received one.
Paul won't have his health forever. I'm glad he got LMA locked up. I do agree locking him up before it was really necessary may be a bad idea, but what would happen if he had a really good season and some team threw out a ridiculous contract offer to Aldridge, knowing that we'd be forced to match (kind of like we tried to do with Milsap). There's no way we would have not matched whatever offer was given to Lamarcus. Not to mention that Lamarcus may feel insulted to let the Blazers let the league set his value. Yeah it's business, but it's still insulting.
Locking up Roy and Aldridge long term was definitely the right thing to do this off season. They, along with Oden, are the cornerstones of the team and having all three locked up will guarantee a long window of championship contention. Aldridge may not be the prototypical low post power forward, but that's what makes him an ideal complimentary player to Greg Oden. People who don't follow the team (and don't even know that Brandon Roy is a shooting guard), probably overlook this fact. We had a low post scoring, rebounding PF named Zach Randolph who was traded the day we drafted Oden for exactly this reason. Zach was traded to let LaMarcus move into the starting PF spot and develop alongside Oden. Oden's surgery delayed the pair developing together, but Aldridge has definitely blossomed over the last two seasons into exactly the kind of player we need beside Oden. The plan was sound on draft day 2007, and still is. Now that Oden is showing he can be the low post power player and rebounder we thought he could be, it makes more sense than ever to lock up Aldrige long term to play beside him on our front court for the next decade. BNM
Agreed. The timing was perfect and part of the long term plan. He has shown improvement each of his three seasons in the league. No reason that trend won't continue for several more years as he is still about 5 years away from his prime. Aldridge is a hard worker, talented and has great length for a power forward. He presents match-up problems for most other power forwards. And, his length keeps him from getting abused on the low blocks by shorter, stronger players. He has been part of our long term plans since his rookie season. Not locking him up when you have the chance would have been risky. The Blazers want him here, and he wants to be here. I'm glad they both got what they wanted. BNM
For LMA to be overpaid, we need to compare what contract he could have likely signed in free agency and what else it could have cost us. With the scarcity of big men, it is not unconceivable for LMA to have gotten a max deal without being a true franchise player. There are alot of teams that will have cap space next year as well. We could match any offer, but I think it is worth not having the headache or running the risk of LMA accepting the qualifying offer. Ask the Chicago fans how much they enjoyed the Ben Gordon situation over the past couple of years. I am glad to see him locked up.
Agreed. Two classic low-post players don't work well together. You really can't post up on the weak side...there's no use. Only one player can post up on the strong side. Oden is clearly best suited to be a low-post player. He may knock down a jumper once in a while, but most of his time on offense should be establishing position on the block. The best power forward complement to that is a high post power forward...a power forward who can shoot mid-range jumpers, take other big men off the dribble if they come out on him and pass the ball a little. Essentially a perfect fit for Aldridge's skillset. Oden and Aldridge have a chance to be something special, mostly due to their talent but also because their talents complement each other so well. Very little overlap and forces defenses to make hard choices. And then there's that Roy guy, whom defenses might want to pay some attention to...
Okay. Do an exercise. Find out what the estimated salary cap is for next summer. Assume that LaMarcus attracts a MAX free agent salary offer from one of the teams with MAX cap room (despite the best unrestricted free agent class in history - we will assume one of these teams wants to make LaMarcus this offer for some reason that makes no real sense now, but whatever). Now, figure out what is the absolute richest contract offer that could be offered to LaMarcus? How does that compare to what LaMarcus got now?
When you look at his numbers (18/8) they really don't jump out at you. Put him in a faster tempo'd offense and his numbers would look a lot better. When you can run the court like LMA can you need to run. Nate refuses. He's being used wrong.
I assume that exercise you are speaking about is exactly what took so long for the contract to get worked out. Compared to Roy, Lamarcus did not get the max. Was it maybe a little too rich? Perhaps. For Paul Allen is it better just to have a piece of mind knowing that he has the core of our team locked up for the prime of their careers? Hell yeah. It's not your money, so does it really matter? Ticket prices might go up a little, but the product on the floor will be better so it will be worth it.
No I didn't. I'm not a cap geek. If you would be so kind to work out the numbers and then tell us how overpaid LMA is, it would be really nice of you. In fact, I think KP would appreciate it too, since nobody really knows where the cap will be at next year. As of now, LMA was signed for less than the max, and we have the piece of mind knowing that he's locked up for the prime of his career and our window of opportunity will be open for a while. My original example was a poor one, but it sounded good when I heard it from somewhere else. I'm still unsure why you think it is such a big deal if LMA was overpaid by a million or two per season. We aren't going to be under the cap anymore and there is no way the luxury tax is gonna force Allen to move the team to Seattle after a few years in the tax. You are paranoid over nothing.
If the cap is 50.3M next year (projected minimum), and, say, the Knicks signed LMA to a max deal, it could only be worth 5/67.2M, w/a starting salary in 2010-11 of 11.59M. If the cap was 53.6M (projected maximum), the Knicks could sign LMA for 5/70.2M, w/a starting salary of 12.28M.