OK, I guess that whole "Odom-Marion" thing is distracting from my central point and people just can't get past that. The point was this: Marion is extremely overpaid for a third stringer, and the Suns didn't make a bad decisions by refusing to extend his contract at the kind of money he's asking for, but they shouldn't have unloaded him for Shaq's contract either. Let's argue the central point here and avoid the silly, pointless debate about Marion vs. Odom, which has nothing to do with the thread topic.
Point taken, I meant as third option. You're right... Thank you, that's ALL I am saying. How do you justify paying near-max money for a guy who can never be considered a legitimate "second option" player on a championship team?
Don't the Jazz do that for AK-47? I think it is justifiable if the other parts of the team are balanced enough and the cap is managed well....like if the legit 2nd option plus the 1st option plus the rest of your team still combine to make a manageable team total salary.
Do you think that is a good contract? Do you think that the Jazz would get out of that contract if they could?
I don't know. They have Boozer locked up long term. They have Okur locked up? And DWill is on his rookie contract along with Ronnie Brewer. Harpring is middle money and so is Korver and Ronnie Price and Milsapp will always be middle or cheap. I'm pretty sure they had a long-term idea for their team when they game AK-47 big money...I mean, he was NEVER a 2nd option, but a great all around guy and great defender. DWill is the only guy they would max out in the future, but I think they would have thought of that when they game AK-47 the deal. Honestly, I think it's feasible...hell anything is possible with a soft-cap so it just depends on how much $ the owner wants to spend and if it puts them over the Lux Tax threshold and if the owner is okay with that. If I was a relatively poor owner, then I wouldn't do those deals for AK or Marion, but if I was banking, then I would spend whatever it takes to win.
Screw Shawn Marion. He might be the best role player in NBA history, but how could he ask for franchise player money when he can get a shot for himself or others!? The Heat are better off letting him walk and going for Jamario Moon. Come to think of it, we should go after him.
I think they can handle AK's contract right now because Deron is still in his rookie contract. When it's time for Deron to resign and get bigger money, they'll have problems.
Good god man...do you know what the hell our offense would look like if we swapped McGrady for Marion. Alternate Rafer Alston and Bobby Jackson jacking up desperation three's in hopes that Marion or Landry would pick up the offensive board. McGrady hate is reaching an all-time high. Anyway, it's been discussed, but the Suns problems began with letting Kurt Thomas go.
Do you know what our offense has looked like with McGrady past the 1st round? I find it tough to care how good McGrady is at any other time of year if he's gonna turn into a jump-shooter in every important 4th quarter we have.
If a basketball thread starts going downhill, I quickly skim through the rest of the thread to see if you made any posts. Your posts are very insightful, and the stats you find are great too. Keep up the good work.
your hate for mcgrady is just gettin ridiculous. you can swap mcgrady for any other superstar in the nba right now and we will have about the results. my point: we need a 3rd scorer. look at the spurs are doing. the talk was about how duncan was going to do against shaq/amare and guess who is stealing the show..ya parker/ginobli. who is our CONSISTENT third option? yao+tmac+??? and right now with out yao we dont even have a consistent 2nd option. so please tell me why you are blaming just 1 person.
I agree with Hollinger and think the Suns would have won last year if Amare doesn't leave the bench. Not sure why Kerr decided to screw the pooch, but glad he and Cuban basically submarined their own franchises by over reacting. Glad Morey has stayed the course ... DD
Agreed, the only team that made a blockbuster trade (this year) and came out on the winning end of it was, obviously, the Lakers. Both Dallas and Phoenix will have essentially the same team next year (and they'll in all likelihood make the playoffs and be ousted in the first round again), only their respective "missing pieces" (Shaq and Kidd) will be a year older, a step slower or 30lbs heavier.
Should I call this hindsight from John Hollinger? If you go to the playoff series page of Spurs vs Suns in ESPN, John Hollinger has predicted the Suns in 6 for the series. LOL! John Hollinger's Spurs vs Suns prediction
Larry Brown is the smartest in this aspect. LB actually ran plays for Ben Wallace to reward his effort in the court.
Regardless of all the talk about the Suns and Shaq and Marion, there is really only one winner in this entire saga: the Miami Heat. Not only did they manage to dump Shaq's huge contract, but they can now also just let Marion walk away and have his contract off the books if he isn't reasonable on a contract extension. Miami should be having a very good year with their top pick (in all likelihood) and all the money they're going to save that will make them a big player come this off season, and a few more after that.
and it actually helps the team because the player feels appreciated and works harder in the areas he's good at. and when he embarrasses his himself trying to create it's a fresh reminder why plays aren't consistently ran for him. wasted possession you say? well there are a lot of wasted possessions anyway when you call plays for your offensive stars, so why not waste a couple trying to help the team.
