Well first of all, there's no such thing as centers in the All Star game anymore, there are guards and forwards. Brook has to compete with for instance Luol Deng or LeBron. Secondly, Lopez made the game as a replacement to Rondo (point guard). 6 months ago, I would've agreed that Brook got paid too much. But that's 2012. He went from a horrible, unhealthy season to an amazing one and career best. He's a legit all star who's easily worth the money this year and the best player on a 32-22 team. You are kind of dismissing him because he's playing in a major market? I don't understand that part at all. Parsons is an average or maybe even above average starting SF right now. Which is very nice, especially at his salary. But no one is giving all stars for that.
torn wrist ligament during the Miami series this summer. Shooting hand still stiff. There have been stretches where he couldn't even make free throws. Still, his rebounding is basically the same and his rim protection is crazy good.
Brook Lopez is in the same tier of Impact players as Josh Smith. He's a great 3rd piece but he is not going to take you anywhere.
but that said, Hibbert never really played at the current Lopez level. Last year's nomination was more of a "hey, the Pacers are pretty good, lets pick one of them." He shouldn't have been selected over Tyson Chandler last year, that was just a crazy snub.
that means even less as a replacement...the coach didnt have a center so chose him...his production compared to other SF and PF isnt even close...the east team just need a big man. Dont get me wrong He is one of the best centers in the east...and He has a great PER. He gets a lot of points because he has an elite PG now....and I am not saying parsons is even a better player. Just the production vs salary is a HUGE part of the NBA. Which makes him more valuable. This isnt baseball....you can just have the 5 best players at each position anymore. A team with 3 high salary players such as Kobe, Nash, Pau that is already at the luxury tax, cant do SnT, has lower MLE and other exceptions to offer...faced with strict luxury tax penalties that escalate with repeated offenses... desperately need started caliber players on low salary to counter balance. Parsons is a HUGE asset....He plays equivalent to a 8 million dollar player for 800k..allows a team to roster him instead of a ron artest or matt barnes....... For instance if the nets offered brooke for parsons I highly doubt morey would be interested....because that ties up our cap space on a player you cant build around. Moves like that is what keeps marginal teams marginal.
David Stern selects replacements... and the East had too many centers. and true post up centers aren't that necessary in the all star game. and Lopez would've been a huge snub if he wasn't selected, there's like 3 or 4 East players in the game who didn't have near as good a season as Lopez. anyway, i think lets leave this AS game selections topic, it's getting more and more off track. i absolutely agree that money matters, it's just that you are taking it to extremes. Max for Lopez is very reasonable given his current play and he's an all star. If Parsons was signed at 800k for life, i could see some sense in your position, but... As for nash and Pau... Lopez is way better than both of them at this point. maybe that's the problem? you are probably just way underrating Lopez and think he's overpaid and that's why we see it so differently...
How is this off topic? This thread is "lakers"...I dont care about the all star game.....I am responding to you saying Lopez and picks trumps Parsons and Asik and I am saying it doesnt.
maybe i misread that...you are wanting to move from all star talk..... Lopez isnt even close to Pau.... I mean paul is unhealthy and thats the only reason we are talking about this. Pau is a way better post game, rebounds extremely better, and their mid range game are pretty similar statistically.....pau has just been injured and misused this season.
IMHO Parsons and Asik is too much for a player like Dwight that can be signed in the summer. Remember Lakers can't do sign and trades since they are over the Tax.
I need to slow down and double check what I post before posting...ugh...my bad. Pau no Paul...and has a better post game.
yah but they can trade him to Brooklin for Lopez and marshon brookes ...so that would give them enough leverage to get parsons and asik from us.
I believe it's been determined that they can't receive a S&T player...but they can send out Dwight in a S&T.
it's not off topic, it's just off track. i've found myself explaining all star game selection procedure in the last few posts, and that's a bit of a waste of time as opposed to a discussion that leads somewhere.. basically, i tried to leave that in a polite way. i understand your main point, as i said i think you are way off. but i guess agree to disagree, i don't see a bridge there.
well sure, he's unhealthy and now he's got the first serious injury of his career. I'm not talking about prime Pau and prime Nash of course. Brook has a great post game. He's a far better scorer in the post compared to Pau. Pau is a great passer so that makes it a bit closer. Brook is also better on the other end at this point.
Kupchak on ESPN Radio: Not trading Dwight.(reiterated many times throughout) Kobe & Dwight are "a work in progress" (describing their relationship) With Dwight, when he wins his first (championship), people will look at him differently. Dwight is the future. Kobe has one year left on his deal - that's all he can bank on. A 2 year window - this year and next year(and a lot of that has to do with Kobe.) We aren't trading Dwight Howard. There is nothing that anyone can do to ask him that and get a positive response.(re: Dwight) We aren't trading Pau today or tomorrow. Doesn't anticipate anything happening. Happy with Mike D'Antoni Why so adamant about not trading Dwight? He's the best center. He's our future. Talent is hard to get in this league. Dwight deserves his name on the wall and statue in front of Staples.
Sounded to me like Kupchak would really like to move Pau in the summer. Not exactly shocking, I suppose.
