<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LLWjQ7nZTkI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> You mean this?
Right. He was so hyped up that the Suns had to include a first round draft pick with him in order to acquire Aaron Brooks.
He was an ALL-NBA 3rd team player just a season ago. What's changed with him? Has he been injured since? He hasn't. He deserves the MAX. He plays very well when he is given a green light like he did in JH's first year there. They created a mess by bringing in Thomas. They should've just stuck with a healthy dose of Dragic and Bledsoe.
16 mil, you can make a case for. The max though for someone like Dragic is absurd. He's not worth 20-24 mil a season, even after the cap goes up next summer. He's never made an All-Star team. He's been in the playoffs only once in 8 years. And he just turned 29, which means there's a 99% chance this is as good as he'll ever be.* *A rare recent exception of an NBA player becoming even better in his 30's was Steve Nash(ironically the guy Dragic used to back up in Phoenix), but he was already an All-Star with some playoff success under his belt before he turned into a 2-time league MVP. Dragic is not in his class.
And yet he can't help the Heat to even make the playoff in the EAST? Even without Bosh, he still got Wade and Whiteside?
Hope Dragic makes Riley sweat on that contract. If I am Dragic I would hold out for the full max. As long as the Lakers/Knicks are out there as teams Dragic can play off of, he has the threat to leave.
I don't think anyone is really dumb enough to pay Dragic the full max on the open market. We would have done it because he probably would have meant a trip to the finals this year, but he isn't worth that much to a team with cap space. He's not that type of a difference maker.
The Lakers and Knicks ARE that dumb(and desperate). Hell, I'd throw Cuban and the Mavs into that mix if they get spurned by every other big name free agent this summer.
Do you think they are that dumb? When is the last time the Lakers made a bad contract offer? Do you really think Phil is going offer Dragic 20 million a year? When is the last time a PJ team had a PG that made more than the MLE? For Dallas to offer max money, they would have to dump Tyson Chandler. Do you really think they are going to give Tyson to make Gogi the max. This isn't CP25 max which is really a minimax. This is the real deal max at over 20 million bucks.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Goran Dragic has declined his player option with the Miami Heat, expected but now actual <a href="https://twitter.com/BBallInsiders">@BBallInsiders</a></p>— Eric Pincus (@EricPincus) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricPincus/status/613053132969369600">June 22, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Hope Wade leaves so that may consider Dragic to look elsewhere. Not too late to join a winner, Dragon.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">With the Lakers likely to draft Jahlil Okafor, the team may make a serious run at Goran Dragic this summer. Rajon Rondo in the mix as well.</p>— Ryan Ward (@Lakers_Examiner) <a href="https://twitter.com/Lakers_Examiner/status/613058960812212225">June 22, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I don't care what happens to the cap next year and in 2017. 5 yrs, $100 million is a nutty contract to give Dragic, especially when Bosh is still owed 4 yrs, $98 million. That's a guarantee of mediocrity assuming both guys are each year. If Riles does this, how can he keep Wade?