1). His trade value will still be high this offseason. 2). Bledsoe is only 24 and has incredible up-side. He'll only get better with more playing time. 3). 2 and a half years till Bledsoe hits free agency 4). I think Milsap wants to get paid and be a starter. He can have both on another team. 5). Agreed, but I still think they can get more than a half a season rental for Bledsoe. 6). I agree that they will trade Bledsoe, but they can afford to wait till the offseason if they don't like the offers they're getting now. 7). Agreed the clips have to move him now or this offseason.
1) Again, the less team/cost control, the less value. Four years of a cheap young player > three years of a cheap young player. Three years of a cheap young player > two years of a cheap young player. Two years of a cheap young player > one year of a cheap young player. This is why draft picks are so incredibly valuable. A first round pick = a player under team/cost control for four years. 2) The perception is that Bledsoe has incredible upside. The reality is that he may or may not ever blossom into anything special. I have seen this happen so many times, where a guy is perceived to have "incredible upside" but never really gets much better. He does, however, get more expensive! A 23-year-old Bledsoe making $1.7 mil > a 25-year-old Bledsoe making $9 mil. 3) Bledsoe is in his third season as a pro. So he's going to be a restricted free agent in the summer of 2014, not the summer of 2015. 4) Millsap ideally wants as many minutes as possible, but mostly, he wants as much money as possible, preferably with a team that is winning a lot of ballgames. He probably would wind up being third on this team in minutes/game, anyway, behind Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. He's not just replacing Lamar Odom in the rotation. He's also stealing minutes from Caron Butler (the starting SF) when the team goes big and DeAndre Jordan (the starting C) when the team goes small. Millsap is a lot better than either Butler or Jordan. During the final eight minutes of the fourth quarter in playoff games, Millsap is going to be on the floor. Matchups are important in the playoffs, and with Millsap, you can go big (with Millsap at SF) or you can go small (with Griffin at C and Millsap at PF). 5) They'd be getting more than a half season rental for Bledsoe here. They'd be getting a guy they can re-sign to an extension in Millsap. And again, they're trying to win a championship! Millsap is a lot more valuable than Bledsoe right now as a player. Clippers fans will not be complaining about trading Bledsoe if they win or come close to winning a championship, especially when Bledsoe is the 20th best starting PG in the league, making $9-$10 mil/year, in a couple of years. 6) They could wait until the offseason to trade Bledsoe, but if the idea is to parlay a big question mark (Bledsoe) into somebody you know is really good right now (e.g., Millsap) who will help you win a championship right now, why not try to win a championship this year and next year (again, I think they'd re-sign Millsap) instead of just trying to win a championship next year? 7) Agreed, the Clippers for sure trade him either prior to 2/21 or during the offseason.
Bro, I disagree that the clips can resign Milsap. He wants to start, but Griffen is the starter. He wants money, but the Clips don't have the money to max out Paul and resign Milsap to market value. Also, as a restricted free agent, any team that has the cap room controls Bledsoe as long as he's in their uniform. If Utah trades for him, for example, he's theirs for the next 2 years. Being a restricted free agent doesn't make you a free agent if your team has cap room.
The Clippers should be able to re-sign both Paul and Millsap, although it might put them into luxury tax territory. Which should be fine, really. The time to pay the luxury tax is, ideally, when you are trying to win a championship. I doubt that the Clippers would even entertain trading Bledsoe for Millsap if their intent was not to re-sign Millsap. I think we are talking past each other here. The point is that Bledsoe is under COST control until the summer of 2014, i.e., just under a year and a half. Bledsoe is under TEAM control beyond that, even if he signs an offer sheet with another team, as Utah can match any offer sheet, since he is a restricted (rather than unrestricted) free agent in the summer of 2014. Also, Utah can match any offer sheet whether they have cap room or not. My main point is that Bledsoe is only going to be cheap for the next 16 months or so, and starting in July 2014, he starts getting expensive. And, since the Clippers sure as hell aren't going to want to pay the guy $9-$10 mil/year to play 10-15 minutes/game, they should absolutely trade him for a veteran such as Millsap who will help them win a championship. With Millsap, the Clippers are probably right there with Miami, Oklahoma City, and San Antonio this season as the four legit contenders for the 2013 NBA championship.
Good points. We'll agree to disagree that Milsap signs with the Clips next year. I don't see that happening...which is why I don't think the clips trade Bledsoe to the jazz for Milsap.
Bledsoe is a good young PG who's incredibly athletic. But the question is, can he run a team full time as the main PG? Eric Bledsoe seems like the perfect explosive PG off the bench who can make a big impact immediately. But as a starting PG that is running the team's offense requires so much more responsibility. I'm not saying he can't do it because he's still young and still have room to grow. But I don't think he's the type of PG you want to start your team off of. He doesn't have the true PG skill set like some of the elite ones. He does have the explosiveness that can really make a big impact but as a starting PG who is asked of to run the team's offense on a nightly basis may be too difficult for a player like Bledsoe. Because he's playing with CP3 and Billups who are guiding him every step of the way helps out a lot but when he's no longer under their shadows and have to learn to be a floor leader and have to run the offense with precision is a tough task to handle. He has potential to be a good player but I think teams are overlooking his weaknesses because of his explosiveness and athleticism.
Uh what? If the Clips trade Bledsoe before CP3 signs a long term deal they're out of their minds. We don't really know what's going on in CP3's head, he wants to win and while the Clips are in LA they aren't exactly a glamour team, all the hype they had was more due to Blake Griffin and his Kia rather than actual franchise star power rather than say Lakers or Knicks. Realistically speaking, the Clips right now are no where near good enough to take on OKC. So there's a really big risk he leaves them and goes to another team. A KG+parts trade IMHo is worth doing as it would assure CP3 signs an extension, but if it's just for Millsap they should stand pat and keep Bledsoe. Bledsoe can be traded in 2014, but if CP3 leaves they would be stuck with no pointguard and two forwards.
Unless they think that Millsap is the missing piece (and he might very well be). Glamorous or not. If Paul thinks the Clippers are legit contenders, he'll stay.
The "Oh, my God, Chris Paul might leave, you can't trade Eric Bledsoe until you're sure Chris Paul re-signs!" narrative is a myth that has been perpetuated primarily by Paul and his agent, so as to create leverage within the organization, which is ideally used to pressure ownership/management into making moves that increase the team's chances at winning a championship (code language for "spending money"). Paul knows that he will re-sign with the Clippers. The NBA media establishment perpetuates the myth because they are lazy, bad at math, and don't understand how the CBA works; in other words, they're willfully ignorant tools. Besides, let's say Paul did leave for another team. Then what? Does that make giving Eric Bledsoe four years, $36-$40 mil a good idea all of a sudden? It's a bad idea, whether Paul stays or not. Why not trade your magic beans for something really good, like Millsap?
And didnt chris broussard break lebron to heat? A lot of people think wojs source is in the league office which is why he always hears about proposed trades before anyone else but he doesnt have every connection in the social world of players so I see other people break player stories and free agency before him sometimes. Edit:wrong thread lol
Stop bumping old threads playas I thought Nuggets had lost it and wanted to flip Sap hours after signing him
{I thought they just signed Milsap . . . . I thought they had to wait until dec or some such to trade him} Edit!!! Was caught by the time jump Rocket River I wonder if Milsap feels used by all this
