I think putting performance milestones in rookie contracts is a good idea. I just don't think Memphis was in a good situation to challenge the status quo.
I don't understand signing 1st rounders but why even have a scale? Why not just state 120% as the minimum and maximum?
It is a good idea, if the incentives are still obtainable. One of the incentives was playing in the summer league, but the summer league had already passed. It should have been removed after the summer league was over.
It would be a good idea, if lottery picks weren't the most ridiculously underpaid players in the NBA. Under the old CBA, where a rookie Shaq got nearly the same salary as a multiple all-star Hakeem, then these performance bonuses are almost necessary to reduce the risk by teams. Under the current rookie salary-slotting, the difference is so little just about all teams feel it's not worth the hassle.
Where does Xavier Henry fit in with this team? Terrible pick IMO and he left too early/went too high.
Man can you imagine the trouble they just caused themselves for future picks? i can imagine a player who is in the 6-14 range not wanting to go to the grizzlies or any agents willing to deal with them. the grizzlies really shot themselves in the foot with this one and the worst thing is that its not the first time they've done that this summer
Xavier's talented. The guy was followed by KU since middle school. He is the wrong role the he's a slashing sg. Not the back up pg the griz want
From what I understand the only reason they did it this year was because the owner only became aware that you can put performance incentives on rookie contracts this year. If he had been aware before the Grizz would have tried this one long ago. As for those actually feeling sorry for the owner or think performance incentives are logical, please remember that under this rookie scale contract, players will make somewhere in the 2-3M range a year. For that low first rounder they have, he's probably gonna make around 1-2M a year. That comes up to around 2-400k max. For a team with a 60M cap, are you really gonna cry over 200k? C'mon now The hilarity is they're paying Rudy Gay 20M a year but don't want to give 200k to their rookies. SMH.
the starting PF is over 30, so pat has a chance to be a starter for the team that drafted him in the near future.
I agree rookies are underpaid and I don't think performance milestones are useful to mitigate risk. And, rookies are going to try hard anyway so they can maximize their next contract and make names for themselves in the league. Paltry additions to their salaries probably won't motivate them to try harder than they otherwise would. But, I do think it could be a useful tool for defining goals, being specific, and emphasizing what the franchise thinks is really important for him to be working on. So, you'd need to be careful how you craft incentives. Incentives for participating in summer league is pointless. Something like leading rookies in rebounds sends a clear signal of what kind of player the team wants you to be, and it is specific, measurable, actionable, reasonable, and time-bound. Of course, there is also the danger of a player sacrificing things that are not rewarded to achieve things that are rewarded, so you do need to be careful.
