There's no team in history that given the chance to extend someone on the level of embiid wouldn't do it. Looks bad now at this moment in time, but everyone would have done it.
He signed this extension two months ago, it's not like anything is happening this season that we have not seen from him throughout his entire career. If it looks bad now, then it would have looked bad two months ago too, nothing drastically has changed in those two months. I do not think every team would have offered him that extension. He has played 8 seasons and averaged less than 48 games per year in those 8 seasons. This is excluding his first two years where he didn't play at all due to injury. He has played in about 50% of playable games over a 10 year career, and they decided to give him a max extension. Don't act like this is some no brainer move, he is the highest paid player all time on a games played basis. To put this into prospective, Kawhi has played 30% more throughout his career than Joel, and at least Kawhi was somewhat reliable in his prime and got two different franchises championships as the finals MVP each time.
Portland gave dame, a FAR inferior player a supermax extension the moment they could. That’s how the nba works, teams pay their stars. I’m not saying it was a smart decision, it wasn’t. Just that’s what always happens
Morey didn’t want to give James Harden a max just to turn around and hand over a max to a worse player only a few months younger than Harden Sixers at least .500 right now if James Harden was on their roster providing the playmaking and PG play they so desperately need
Dame was one of the most reliable players of the past decade, he had several seasons where he played 80+ games, and for his career he has played in 86% of games, Joel is at 50%, and that is after missing his first two seasons in the league. Dame played 82 games every year his first 3 seasons. A lot of Dame's contract was more about rewarding a franchise player that was always there for the team for a decade+.
Sure, but he’s also nowhere near embiid’s level and small guards almost always age poorly. It was a LUDICROUS contract that had a zero % chance to not be an albatross. 60 games of embiid >>>>>> 80 dame games
Morey seems to take public opinion into consideration I am beginning to think that is part of his calculation He feels that public opinion will cow players into taking less or at least make it ok when he don't resign them Rocket River
Well, Harden was never a public darling when he was in Houston. But Morey catered to him all the way. TBH, the Philly turn around between Morey and Harden was quite shocking to me. And signing PG was almost like the Melo debacle except PG is much more expensive.
I think LeBron has us believing 34 isn't old. For a basketball that's ancient. The list of players who noticeably declined in a relatively short time after age 32-33 is long. Carmelo is the perfect example.
Honest this current batch for 34+ year olds are amazing Harden Curry Durant LeBron Chris Paul Conley Westbrook Butler I guess Paul George Dame is 34 The still highly good. .. playing at a high level Earning starting spots and not being granted them Rocket River
I remember reading somewhere reports of it not really being Morey's choice.... I really don't think it was... I think ownership told him to renege on the deal he promised Harden... Ultimately in Harden's perspective that doesn't matter... Don't make a promise you can't fulfill.
If the Blazers remotely had a chance to contend, you would be correct. But since they did not, Dame's two-year extension (as ridiculous as it was) posed zero risk to them. It was not an albatross.
I was stunned Morey didn't give Harden that deal he has bent over backwards to him for years and finally said no or was told to say no by ownership.
They need a PG? FVV and all the Phoenix picks for Maxey. 1 protected pick for Brogdon. Amen, Maxey, Tari, Bari, Sengun. Brogdon, Brooks, Greeen, Landale. WS conference finals.
Fair enough. Was more so discussing reliability when it came to availability not so much performance. If Embiid was only available 50 games in reg season and all of playoffs, I would def prefer him (although I still think Dame is overpaid) , but he's only been available 48 games on avg for 10 seasons and also missing playoff games as of late. I would not have extended him this summer like they did. They gave him guaranteed money until 2029. I would have waited until the contract was about to expire and then give him a deal similar to what Clippers gave Kawhi. Kawhi has been more available and a proven winner, so that would have been more than fair. I think for injury prone players, teams should be handing out incentive laden contracts like they did for Zion. Zion's deal has qualifiers if he has a recurring issue w the same injury and has weight qualifiers that determine if each year is guaranteed or unguaranteed. If I were a sixer fan, I would not feel good about being tied to Embiid until the end of the decade. If it is someone like Steph Curry that has brought you 4 rings, then I would pay out of loyalty, but Embiid has not done anything close to that.
What was the deal he was willing to give Harden? Harden really lost out on the bag more than once, he should have given a little bit and gotten more guaranteed money long term. I think he looks good when he is running his own team, to the point someone may give him another 2 year $50-$70M (maybe the Clippers) after this deal is up. I was more surprised DM gave PG that deal, it honestly makes no sense. It's like going to a casino with a plan and strategy, trying to be disciplined, and then going all in on a bad hand because you get impatient.
PG has never really impressed me post injury I don't know why anyone would have given him that deal Rocket River
