Honestly I don't want to comment whether Conley is worth it, I mean, we're paying midlevel each to a backup C and a backup PG. My issue here is the Grizz painted themselves into a corner for no reason whatsoever. They had all the leverage in this case, the Grizz have a ton of capspace and everyone knew they would be resigning him. They could have had a "Landry" situation wherein even if the player blew up, nobody bothered giving him a contract and he settled for 3M. Instead, they sign him at an amount that he hasn't earned. The worst part about this is Conley and Gay are their two least important starters. They paid the max for Gay, and 7M for Conley. How much will May, Randolph and Gasol demand? If I was any of them I'd be looking for a max contract.
So a couple of good games 4 years into his NBA career makes up for 3 years of complete garbage he has produced? He has a TON of talent around him and he hasn't done much with it for the most part.
LMAO...Gay is probably our 2nd most important player behind Gasol. He is the only player we have in our starting 5 that is a physical/athletic mismatch to 95% of the players at his position (minus KD of course). OJ and ZBo are limited defensively. Gay is locked in this season. The World Championships did him wonders. I expect him to be an All Star this season. Another thing, $1 million of Conley's contract is deferred every season. His first year salary is $6.5 million, his qualifying offer was $6.49 million. So unless the plan was to renounce Conley, I am not sure why people think Conley was going to come cheaper or why he would except a contract extension for less than his qualifying offer.
We are paying midlevel or near midlevel to: A backup Center - Miller A backup PG - Lowry A starting SF - Battier A Backup PF - Jeffries We are the midlevel monsters of the NBA. DD
Good signing. Just watch. No question that 3 games is a very small sample size. Conley was always very talented and it seems like he put it all together. It's a risk, but you have to take risks to be a successful franchise. People questioned the Celtics signing of Rondo and now that contract is a huge bargain. Conley isn't Rondo but i would happily trade brooks for him right now and do so with a smile on my face.
I think the extension was completely nuts, but to be fair I'll give Conley a couple of months. IMO, Mayo is just as much under-the-gun as Conley to show growth this season. Is he going to be just an OK player or can he take his game to the next level? Obviously Gasol is the Grizzlies future. Z-Bo should not be signed long-term IMO.
This is my line of thinking. ZBo is still a huge ball stopper and terrible defensively plus an injury risk. I have never viewed Mayo as a big time SG prospect. If he can't develop into a PG he is limited by his size/athleticism and at the upper levels of the NBA (advancing in the playoffs) that will hurt you.
If Conley maintains his current production -- 15/5/8 and a couple steals -- I think he is probably worth that contract. He played pretty well for two solid months at the end of last season, I think he can keep it up. Many of us are using Rondo's production/contract as a barometer; however, I think Rondo's contract is an absolute steal, so it is probably unfair to judge Player X's PG production relative to Rondo's production and contract. I'm really beginning to wonder if the next CBA will really have such drastic cuts in salary cap etc. I think owners will have more flexibility with regard to dumping players (maybe less guaranteed years), sort of like the NFL, but I don't think the cap will be changed too much. Has anyone really substantiated Stern's claims of these 300 million dollar losses?
Ok. Well there was a report that said it would be 40 and 45 with incentives. I was confused bc I've never heard of a deal like that in basketball.. Anyways. the scrub had 18, 7, 13, 3 to, 3 stls tonight.
