Grant is going to be a tough call. He is a useful, versatile, young player who has been improving. But if it takes $12M to keep him, we may not be able to afford that.
I don’t see why we wouldn’t be able to afford that. It’s for next year, the cap and tax will go up another 10%, and Horford isn’t getting paid $26.5 million next year. Grant and Al are getting paid $30.8 million combined this year. Collectively they’ll very likely cost less.
You are right, we could but to me, that is just too much money for him. I like Grant, love his versatility but I don't see him as a $12M-$13M player. I am almost always wrong about how much players can get on the open market though. They always get more than I think.
He will be a restricted FA. I think just under what Rob Williams got would be fair. Maybe starting at say $9M? His QO is $6.2M. I am sure that will be offered and then he can test the market.
Yeah, I think you're just underestimating him a lot. The MLE is currently forecast 4 years, $48.5 million, and will likely go up a little. He's almost certain to exceed that if he hits free agency -- that MLE is his floor.
Grants a decent bench guy, however, I think many overestimate his abilities. In 24.4mpg last season, Grant gave the C’s 7.8pts and 3.6rebs per game. His per 36 is 11.6pts and 5.3rebs, which isn’t very good. His defense is good, but not great.
Now compare that to Rob who played 29.6mpg and gave the C’s 10pts, 9.6rebs and 2.2blks per game while playing great defense. His per 36 is 12.1pts, 11.7rebs, and 2.7blk. Rob is a much better player. Grant should not be paid more than Rob.
Rob got his contract after year 3, not after year 4. Rob's year 3 numbers were 8 points, 7 boards and 2 blocks in 19 minutes per game. And that was after showing pretty much nothing in his first two years, compared to Grant who's been in the rotation from practically Day 1 and has been much more regularly available than Rob. You can't compare Grant at Year 3 to Rob in Year 4 and say "Oh, Grant can't be paid as much as Rob".
And again, for what seems like the millionth time but can't be because I only have 4000 posts, the salary cap increases practically every year, and you have to take that into account. Guys who sign a deal a year later, will, on average, be paid more than the guy who signed a year earlier. It's just how it works. It jumped a ton from last year to this year, substantially more than was projected when Rob signed his contract, and will increase again next year -- it's currently projected to be 12% higher when Grant's contract kicks in that it was projected to be for Rob's new deal when he signed. So if they were equals, you'd expect Grant to make 12% more than Rob. That would put Grant at about 4 years, $54 million guaranteed, with incentives taking the deal up to around 4 years $60 million. I think somewhere between the MLE forecast of 4/$48.5 and 4/60, is where he ends up.
Ok, so let’s compare year 3 then.
Grant: In 24.4mpg: 7.8pts, 3.6rebs, 1ast, 0.7blk
Per36: 11.6pts, 5.3reb, 1.5ast, 1.1blk, 0.7stl
Rob: In 18.9mpg: 8pts, 6.9reb, 1.8ast, 1.8blk.
Per36: 15.2pts, 13.1rebs, 3.4ast, 3.3blk, 1.6stl
On second thought, Grant should be making quite a bit less than Rob. Maybe $8M/season. Didn’t realize how substantially different the numbers were between both players while in their 3rd year.