My biggest problem with Melo is that I don't think he's worth the max, and I would hate to overpay. Yes he can take over a game, but I don't see him as a top player that can lead your team to the finals and a possible championship. I would hate to pay 20m for someone like that. I, personally, believe there are only so many people in the NBA that are truly worth max contracts. The sad thing is, nowadays you have to overpay if you want the top level players, even if you don't consider them worth of the max. Players actually worth the max, in my opinion: 1) Lebron James 2) Dwayne Wade 3) Kobe Bryant 4) Dwight Howard 5) Kevin Durant Others I would consider, but doubt: 1) Derrick Rose 2) Amar'e Stoudemire 3) Deron Williams 4) Carmelo Anthony 5) Chris Paul 6) Blake Griffin 7) Dirk (ugh, kills me to say this, but I'd really think long and hard about this one) Just for the heck of it because I'm bored since the tax software is down, honorable mentions: LaMarcus Aldridge, Andrew Bynum, Andrew Bogut, Paul Pierce, Danny Granger, Chris Bosh, Steve Nash, Pau Gasol, Monta Ellis, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, Chuck Hayes(!) :grin: In your opinion, who is actually worth the max, or close to it? Pugs
Remember that "the max" is an artificial ceiling. Guys like LeBron, Kobe, and Howard should actually be payed way MORE. Carmelo isn't worth as much as those guys, but he is certainly worth the max.
Now, are we giving these players a max contract as of this season? I'm tweaking the idea a bit. Instead of focusing on my opinion, I am just imaging how a perfect league would be for me. So I still end up inflating some guy's contracts but this is my idea of balance. (Note: Lists are not ordered on who deserves it more) If so, then my list is: 1. LeBron 2. Dwight Howard 3. Kevin Durant 4. Wade The reason I exclude Kobe, Dirk and any other great player who is producing still at a decent level is that it is hard to give someone who is already past 30 a max contract. Now, for political reasons, you give them a max because of what they have done for the team, but as a stand alone "These guys deserve it" then just those four. And Wade is an iffy due to his injuries. Would get it but age holds them back from giving them a max contract (Or borderline for Nash) as of today. 1. Tim Duncan 2. Kobe 3. Dirk 4. KG 5. Pierce 6. Nash (Even at prime, still wouldn't get a max) There are the borderline contracts: (Around $90m or so) 1. Carmelo 2. Amare 3. Blake 4. Rose/Paul/Deron/Westbrook: Hard to win with a point guard built team. 5. Gasol (He could fit in the above list) 6. Bosh 7. Bogut (Big guys are a plus) Below borderline: (Around $65m to $80m) 1. Granger 2. Kevin Love 3. Ellis 4. Noah (A big iffy, but big guys are needed badly) 5. J. Johnson 6. Rondo (Nothing against him, but his shooting holds him back. You don't want to give him an overly huge contract and not have enough for actual shooters that are consistent). 7. Boozer 8. LMA 9. Kevin Martin/Scola (I'll put both on the lower side of this range. Same goes for Boozer) 10. Z. Randolph Injury Exception List (Had they been healthy): 1. Yao. I didn't cover everyone. I was thinking about it but I am pressed for time.
who cares we over paid t-mac and yao, and they didnt even play most of the time! right about now all i want is an all-star player at any price, heck ill even take andrea bargnani or something we can build around.
and he is much more efficient. however, rose will get better so he deserves the max if he was a free agent today.
Yeah, it did go through my head about who would be worth the max NOW versus who would be worth it in general. I used more general terms...when you think of a player like Kobe, you think of one of the greatest of all time. It would be hard to imagine not giving him the max, even though he is getting old. I do see how age gets in the way though. Nice list btw. Who said anything about players making the max that don't deserve it. All I was trying to do was get some opinions about who people think actually deserve the max and/or close to it. Yeah JJ doesn't deserve anywhere near the max, but he got paid. Notice the lists that have been made don't include him anywhere near the top? All I was hoping to get out of this was simple opinions, nothing more. Is that too hard to understand? Pugs
JJ is decent.. and puts up good numbers and no one else is going to ATL anyways... te most crazy crappy contract has to be Rashard Lewis.. He's the 2nd highest paid play behind Kobe...
Might as bring Latrell (sp?) out of retirement as well, I'm sure he's tired of living off of fish sticks and frozen pizza. Pugs
I wish you had started the thread with the words: Andrew Bynum so that I would have stopped reading. Even if I agree with other names your talent evaluation is clearly bonkers and I wasted valuable battery life on this post. Less than 10% left. Thanks.
I understand what you're saying. At small forward, Lebron is an order of magnitude better than Carmelo, but they make about the same. If you paid the same amount for a new Chevy that your neighbor paid for a new Cadillac, didn't you just get screwed? Well, if you both bought your cars for five grand, the answer is no. You just got the bargain of a lifetime. The production of any of those players on your second-tier list is much more valuable than a max contract, even if they aren't truly ridiculous bargains like the guys on your first tier. Look at this another way: The lux tax like is about 71 million. Take any three guys on the second tier list who play different positions, say, Rose, Griffin, and Anthony, and give them each a contract worth 20 million a year. Then give Morey the remaining 11 million to find bargains to put around them. That's not overpaid, that's a title favorite for the next five years.
Actually, looking at the impact of Lebron James had on the Cavs, you can argue that he's worth about $35 MM. Assuming there's no such thing as max contract, the basics of valuation of players should be how easily it would be to replace a player. Or think of it another way, would Cavaliers rather have $35MM in cap space or Lebron James? You take Lebron James because you can't spend $35MM and assemble a better team than one with Lebron. How many players are arguably better than Melo and how many of them are available? If you don't pay Melo the max, what viable alternatives are available for $14MM a year? And oh yeah, read aeolus13 post, great analogy. Last thing to keep in mind, think about the Rockets, we've been smart with our money, decent pick record, but we don't have one of the top 15 players (and I would argue those are the players that deserve the max or more). When you have the opportunity to offer a player like Carmelo a butt load of money, you do it because it's the best move you can make. People overpay guys like JJ and Redd more because that those opportunity do not always exist. You don't get a chance to pay a guy like Melo the max, and it's even pretty hard to get and keep a top 30 player, so you are almost kind of obligated to over pay a couple of people.
Why in the F word would Bynum be considered a near max player? I mean am I totally missing something cuz I think this is one of the most over hyped overrated players in the past 15 years. He puts up average numbers, is never healthy, and benefits from the attention gasol and odom get on the front line and Kobe gets on the wing. The guy is garbage. Just a big body "slightly" skilled.
