I still don't get the "IT isn't a max player" argument.
Is he in the same category as Beal, Lillard, Conley, Horford, Parsons, H. Barnes, etc.?
Those guys are "max" guys. I don't think any of them elevates this team more than IT. Our options are pay IT, or let him walk and then hope to sign a "max" player who probably isn't as good as IT in a few years.
Agree 100%, Roy. Don't understand the "IT isn't a max guy" or "IT needs to come off the bench" comments and thoughts. It's almost as if people aren't watching what has transpired on this team the last two years and how much IT starting at PG and being the leader of this team is responsible for it.
And the idea that Fultz or Ball would come right in and be at IT's level so we can't pay IT or have him on the team while they are on the team is absurd. Anyone drafted this year probably won't be ready to be a leader and top producer on a playoff team that could be headed to the ECF for 4-6 years, or in other words, after ITs prime and max contract is over.
I can't speak for everyone else but while I think he is a max caliber player (and I think all of the 6th man talk is ludicrous) I doubt he'll get it on the open market.
I've argued this before but the cap is going to level off which means less teams will even be able to offer max money. The league is already flush with PG's and 5 of the top 10 draft picks this summer are likely to be PG's so of the teams that have max money, there might not be any that need a PG. And all of the defense/size/age concerns that posters here have about IT (which are mostly valid) will be shared by opposing GM's.
So whether or not he's "worth" max money and whether or not someone will be willing to give it to him on the open market are two different questions. I don't think he'll get that offerr.
I think he'll get it. I don't know every team's projected cap situation, but the Lakers would sign him. Knicks. Nets. Sixers. Pistons. Magic. Spurs. Nuggets. Mavericks. Pelicans? Kings?
I think fans have this tendency to think teams are either "all in" or are doing a Sixers-style rebuild. That's how the CB Draft works, but not the NBA. Teams try to sign free agents to improve and to put butts in the seats.
Since we're a year out, all of these numbers and players and situations are totally flexible and this might be totally meaningless in 3 months (in fact, it probably will be) but:
If the Lakers and Sixers draft PG's this summer are they going to turn around and max out a PG the very next summer? Same question for the Magic and Kings, really. Not every team is going to draft a PG this summer but this draft will cross a few teams off that list.
The Nuggets have Jamal Murray, Emmanuel Mudiay, and Gary Harris as hybrid guards and their center is one of the best playmakers in the league. Are they going to max out a point guard right before all of these guys will be coming up for big raises? What will they be paying Gallinari by then? Are they going to spend money this summer?
The Spurs will have $42 mil wrapped up in just Kawhi and Lamarcus. Dallas will be paying $43 mil for just Harrison Barnes and Wes Matthews (play whatever they'll have to pay Nerlens this summer). Detroit will spend $57 mil on Drummond, Tobias Harris, and Reggie Jackson. And the Pelicans might have over $70 mil committed to Davis, Cousins, and Holiday alone.
Who knows what the Knicks will look like a year from now. Maybe they'll have double max room in '18 or maybe they'll be capped out. I wouldn't be surprised by either. The Nets will probably have money. Maybe they're the only team that needs to for the C's to have to pony up big for IT. It only takes one, right?
But with the way the cap is moving and the amount of quality PG's in the league, I wouldn't be surprised if that one team never materialized.
Topic: Have these last 7 games changed your opinion on IT? (Read 16716 times)