« Reply #171 on: March 17, 2018, 10:42:56 PM »
His last game as a Celtic has been played, sucks to see him go out like that.
I think it's entirely possible he is back either in the playoffs or next year.
Me too.
Which team is going to give Smart $9 million plus. The guy is worth bringing back at that amount.
Ultimately, I think Smart gets more than that in the open market. It's going to be a tough decision if he gets to unrestricted free agency.
I find it hard to see Smart getting more than the $8+ million a year that an MLE player gets. Roberson got $10 million a year in a better market. Lou Williams got only $8 million a year in this market. Smart shot like crap this year. Was out 11 games because of a maturity issue when he punched a picture. Now he's out for weeks with another injury.
Smart might need to take the qualifying offer and attempt to significantly improve his shot while establishing value greater than the MLE to get a big payday.
Lou Williams wasn't in the market
Splitting hairs here Moranis. Maybe more accurate to say Lou Williams only got $8 million a year just a couple of months ago with a contract extension, but I think the vast majority of people, like everyone but you, know what I meant by saying what I did.
extensions though are limited in what they can be. He just wanted stability, but he wasn't in the market so you can't really use him as an example of the market.
I think there is a chance Phoenix offers Smart 10+ million a year. He would be a very nice fit with Booker and they have a real need at that position (Payton trade not with standing) and the cap space to do it. I don't think Phoenix is the only team with cap space that will look at Smart either. This won't be a crazy market like a couple of seasons ago, but there will be teams with room that will look very hard at signing Smart at a fairly reasonable price (like 10-11 million a year).
If I were the Phoenix owner and the GM suggested signing Smart, I'd fire him on the spot. The Suns are a lousy team. If they sign Smart, they'd still be a lousy team but have 10-11M less cap space per your suggestion. Assuming they can't sign a star caliber player, they need to use their cap space for taking on salary dumps.
they don't need more young guys or later 1st round picks. They have plenty of young players. What they need is someone like Smart that hustled, defends, does the dirty work, etc. He is worth a lot more to a team like Phoenix then he would be worth to a contender.
Completely disagree. Smart makes a lot more sense for a contender with good offense players that needs to shore up its defense. Smart wouldn't make the Suns significantly better. Most of their young players aren't even mediocre.
the Suns have a lot of offense in Booker and Warren on the wing. Smart is the perfect compliment to them.
The Suns offensive rating is at the bottom of the league. They're only scoring 104.3 ppg even though they are 2nd in pace. They're defense is at the bottom of the league too but adding Smart isn't going to do much to improve that.
a large part of that is they have pretty poor offensive players at the 1, 4, and 5 spots on the floor. I realize Smart is also a poor offensive player, but he is a much better fit next to Warren and Booker (who are both excellent offensive players) than Payton and everyone else on the Suns. They may just decide to re-up Payton and not risk Boston matching, but Phoenix makes a heck of a lot of sense as a destination for Smart, and if they let Payton walk, they will have 10 million+ to offer Smart.
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