I have seen a lot more that I like from Bird than I ever did from Nader. Think he deserves a contract similar to what Nader had.
I see these two arguments a lot:
1. He “deserves” a contract;
2. He’s better than Nader.
The second argument is irrelevant to me, for two reasons. Most importantly, being better than one non-NBA player does not imply that Bird himself is an NBA player. Both seem like NBA scrubs to me at the present time. There are dozens of guys out there as free agents who will help the team more. Secondly, for Nader, he earned the spot. Not only did he defer an NBA contract for a year by agreeing to play in the D-League, but he excelled there winning ROY.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/gleague/players/n/naderab01d.htmlAs for “deserving” a contract, I don’t get it. Did Kadeem Allen deserve a contract?
The only compelling reasons to keep Bird to me are:
1. Danny thinks he’ll contribute more this year than any other free agent or buyout; or
2. He thinks that Bird’s future potential is so bright / value is so good that it’s worth being slightly worse in the short term.
I don’t think either is the case.