Apparently WFAN 660 NY Sports Radio is reporting that PG Gilbert Arenas is likely to accept a 3 year 30 million + deal with the Miami Heat.
<i>$10 million</i>/yr for Arenas?!?! Wow, they will regret this. The Heat would have been better off without that cap space....
That really is waaay too much for a guy who's really done nothing in his career (besides Rookie game MVP).
At least they learned from the Jones and Grant mistakes. No long term contract. Just long enough to get his bird rights and then re-assess. I really get the feeling EJ is out of the door.
At least now they have a guy who can play point guard. I think Arenas is poised for a real breakout season and I wouldn't be surprised to see him become one of the top scorers in the league.
overpaid. i fail to say overrated because i believe this kid can play. he's just overpaid. but go where the money takes you i guess....
What did players say Taylor and Cato have done in their career when they got their fat contracts? I can name loads of more overpaid players and worse contracts (should Arenas get this contract that is because I think that Arenas will seek a 6-7 year deal instead). A 3 year, 10m per year deal is much much wiser and less overpaying (from a club's prespective that is, not from the player's) than a 6/7 year, 7/8m per year type deal (read Cato and Taylor). Even if he doesn't live up to the hype, the large cap space in 3 years or the expiring contract in 2 years will come in handy while the 6-7 years type is like an eternal in basketball and hard to get rid in this era of CBA and luxury tax.
Macbeth, Are you sure you heard this? Some people are listening to WFAN to confirm it but there's been no mention of it as of now.
I heard the same thing. With news that the Nugs have signed Andre Miller to a 7 year contract, this isn't a surprise.
I've been saying this for a while. What really makes a bad contract is the duration. I think this is smart on both end, because in truth, a person should be able to live the rest of their lives off of 3 yrs 30 mill. I think what Riley did was very smart from a team standpoint and what Gilbert did was good also. The Clipps offered Brand 4 yrs and i think more and more, team will start to get rid of these long contracts mainly because of the health issues. Unless a guy i a really max type talent,franchise type players which i can only count about 4 or 5 in the entire league, teams are better served giving 4yr contracts. As a player and looking at what happened to Shawn Kemp and Pippen, the cba can quickly turn your good money into chump change. Pippen and Kemp went from being underrated to overrated in 1 contract. Pippens agent told him not to sign for the duration he did in Chicago, but he went against his agent. When the Bulls brought in Kukoc and Ron Harper, Pippen was the 4th highest paid player on his team and Jordan wasn't even playing then. Unlike football, a player has to wait 3yrs before it can have yrs or money added and then it can only be so much. In Seattle the same thing happened with Kemp whe they brought in Jim McIllvaign and gave him like 5m a yr. A yr earlier, Kemp had sined like a 4yr contract paying him about 3.5m a yr, but jim was making more than him and he sucked. Kemp sulked and then they had to trade him so the new team could renegotiate a contract and thats how he got 100m. For once, Riley the gm did something smart, but i wouldn't have faulted him if had he gave a 22yr old Arenas 7 yrs instead of a 29yr old Jones or Grant. The only way GS can match those numbers is if Sa hop in and take some of their contracts and maybe even lotto picks. I mentioned Foyle,Dunleavy, and Fortson to Sa for future picks that way GS can offer the same money or match. The ball is in their court now.
The Sun-Sentinel, the Heat's main paper, has no new news on the team today. If this report were true, I'd imagine it'd be in the paper with at least some mention today...so that leads me to take it with a grain of salt. It doesn't make sense for managing the cap, anyway, though it makes a lot of positional sense.
I think A LOT of GMs laughed when Arenas' agent (Dan Fegan) said that Arenas would be looking for a contract starting around 8 to 9 million a year. Quite frankly that is WAY too much for Arenas. He should be more in the 7 million a year range at best. But it looks like Arenas will GET that contract. 10 million a year? Outrageous! Way overpaid. However, the key to this deal is that it is ONLY 3 years! They grossly overpaid for him but since they are only getting 3 years the contract is not so bad. It gives them bird rights if he does play well enough to warrant a raise and if he stinks up the joint they get 10 million in cap space and let him go. Besides, in 3 years won't Brian Grant's and Eddie Jones contracts be up? How much money will the team have then!? Like others have said, it is not so much the "dollar amount" that is a big deal, it is the "years" that makes the contract good or bad. The longer the contract is in length the more of an albatross it can be if the player does not pan out or gets injured. These contracts are GUARANTEED! So I think the NBA teams have a right to only give them 3 or 4 year deals. The player gets tons of money and the teams don't get hamstrung if the production does not keep up to par with the pay. As said MANY times before, it is best not to put a lot of "years" on contracts for "role players." Only give the superstars long contracts. I know a lot of teams try to lower the base yearly dollar amount by adding extra years to make up for it but I think that is mostly a mistake.
Oh, God, no. I am not a source on this...I said 'apparently' because it was being talked about on the radio here, quoting the NY radio station, but I have no info to trust. Thanks for the faith, and I agree that when I quote info as true, I back it up, but in this case I was just passing on a report I'd heard on the radio...It was also being discussed as a given in the G.Sate ESPN board, so I thought it was pretty solid, but if nothing is being reported today, the radio station might have been jumping the gun. I never actually heard the WFAN report, but it was being discussed as solid. One qualifier...the report I did hear cited the NY radio station , as I quoted, as saying 'likely' to accept deal...so I'm not sure if that's the kind of thing that a newspaper reports.
I like it from both the Heat and Arenas's perspective. Look at his first two seasons: year PT AS RB SL 1st 11 3.7 2.8 1.5 2nd 18 6.3 4.7 1.5 What you also have to remember is Arenas was 19/20 years old his rookie year, and only 20/21 over the course of this year. He is the same age with less prof experience than Tony Parker--further Gilbert is relatively immature for his age. Also, his shooting and offensive efficieny humbers are also decent considering he plays on the Warriors: 44% from the field, 35% from 3s, and has a good PPS (scoring efficiency). Again I like the way this deal works if true. Arenas is confident he is or will be worth 10 million so he took the short term contract. The Heat only commit 30 mil instead of like 50mil for a 6 year deal. I will end with this though. Arenas, like Francis, may not ever be a great traditional PG. I could see Arenas sharing PG duties with their new rook if he signs with the Heat--because he may be better off the ball than with it.
When Riley recently stated that he made offers to five or so free agents and doesn't expect to sign any of them, he also indicated that agents and players need a reality check. If that's so, I think Arenas for this kind of money would not make sense. Granted, Riles might find a taker for Eddie Jones (Chicago?) He certainly needs to flesh out his roster. Adding Arenas at the amount mentioned would give him three at or near maxed-out contracts, a rookie, a sophomore, and scrubs. Of course I'm also the one who said it would be impossible for the Lakers to sign Malone and Payton at such low contracts. Still, Arenas better be careful. He can sign with the Spurs or the Jazz if he wants, but I don't think anyone wants him at Fegan's price. It wouldn't hurt my feelings to see Fegan (Olajuwon, Moochie) screw himself this time, but not at the cost of his player.
Is Miami "pussyland" per Oily's post, referencing Mobley has packed his bags for "pussyland" and it's a question of who we get. I recall rumors of EJ or Brian Grant to the Rox. It would likely be a Mobley plus Rice deal. Damn, I'm not sure I'd like that at all.
Pointing out that Cato and Mo are overpaid doesn't help the argument that Arenas is potentially getting overpaid. Teams will never learn.
