[Commercialappeal.com] Grizzlies' Swift shows he's well worth the cash

For those interested in Stromile Swift....shocker, he is going where the money is.....just looking for "market value".

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http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/grizzlies/article/0,1426,MCA_475_3599014,00.html

Tillery: Grizzlies' Swift shows he's well worth the cash
By Ron Tillery
March 6, 2005

Now, last summer seems so silly.

Stromile Swift should have been signed to a long-term deal, and he's shown why.

Given the opportunity to perform at power forward, the fifth-year mound of potential has elevated his game in place of Pau Gasol.

Swift can now cement his future with a solid regular-season conclusion as he readies for a possible return to action this week.

That touchy summer should have been avoided.

There are those who would argue that it took the Grizzlies' hardball stance in contract negotiations to inspire Swift.

But his emergence can be summed up in a word: maturity.

The Grizzlies knew what Swift had in him, and that's why they will make him their No. 1 priority during the offseason.

Ignore recent reports that New Orleans will target the former LSU star.

Atlanta has big money to spend, too.

But not even a new collective bargaining agreement will change the Grizzlies' right to pay Swift the most money.

Yet the scary part for the Griz is that Swift will become an unrestricted free agent no longer shackled by circumstance or bias or the rookie salary structure.

He can walk for whatever reason he chooses.

Swift's agent, Mason Ashe, argued last summer that a contract extension "had to anticipate what his value will be over the next six years."

It was the same premise used when negotiating an extension for a not-yet-fully developed Gasol.

No one is saying that Swift deserves maximum money. But surely both parties could have compromised, and now the Griz likely will pay a higher premium for Swift's services.

West offered several incentive-laden packages worth a minimum of $37 million. Swift's camp countered with six years, and $60 million.

Swift won't get a contract averaging $10 million per season, but he's made sure he won't get low-balled, either.

"As long as he gets market value, it doesn't matter (if the league shortens the length of maximum contracts)," Ashe said last summer. "We think Stro will eventually get market value."

And it's difficult to argue that he hasn't earned it.