A $40 mil back-up for PP?
This is what dumb teams do. And why they stink in many cases for decades, not years. Because typically, smart organizations don't ever go where you just went. You sign impact players to big deals, and role players to intelligent short reasonable contracts.... because they're replaceable.
And if you're not really good, let it go -- you're more likely to get good by being bad then you are by being mediocre.
Only All-stars are worth >mid-level. No Bargnanis. No Ty Thomases. No Villenuevas. For Pete's sake, Barbosa is a better basketball player than Green.
I challenge anyone to suggest what they feel the Celtics would be missing without Green. If the only answer is "a back-up to Pierce", or even worse "a SF once Pierce heads towards retirement", then you know how bad the signing is.
Plenty of non all-stars are worth more than the mid level. I'll throw out a ton: Tyson chandler, zach randolph, al jefferson, david west, ibaka, david lee, joakim noah, nic batum, varejao, kevin martin, milsap, ryan anderson, brandon jennings, ty lawson, kyle lowry, gortat, mike conley, carlos boozer, brook lopez, monta ellis,......
Those players would mostly be considered bargains in the 7-12 mil range. I think the hope in the signing was that jeff green could become that caliber of player and be worth his contract. So far he has not lived up to that of course, but i think there's still a chance he could be in the lower tier of that caliber player in a year or 2.
Great list of players but I think where you and some other might disagree is whether Jeff Green deserves to be mentioned as being equal quality as those players.
I think those players are on the fringe of being All-Star talent. To me, Jeff Green is on the fringe of having the ability to actually start in the NBA.
There's a fairly decent difference there IMHO.
Agreed. This is a list of players who have reached All-star teams, are starting NBA 5s or DPOY candidates. There are also a number of players either a) making less than Green (including some still on their rookie deals -- not sure why you listed them), or b) who should clearly not make the money you're talking about.
i have no interest in paying Ellis, Lee, Boozer or Batum cornerstone money -- not if i'm trying to win a championship.
Green is clearly a step down from virtually the entire list, and regardless the question remains: what would this team be missing without Jeff Green? Every time the guys scores 15 points -- to go along with his lazy rebounding and poor defense -- there's a new article about him "emerging". It's like a bad joke.