Both are free agents this summer. It is expected that Kandi will command a MAX offer. It makes no sense to me. Brad Miller is the better player with better work ethics. If you have money to burn wouldn't you try to sign Brad instead of Kandi? Me thinks Kandi, for all his sourpussiness may not be able to get a better deal than what Clippers offered him last year. With Seattle out of the free agent market now, this leaves one less team with cap room. If Stockton and Malone decide to stick for another year, that will leave Utah out as well. Depending on how things shake out, it may very well be that the best deal Kandi can get is for the MCE. On a side note, the fact that we are even comparing both is quite funny. Brad was never drafted by an NBA team, while Kandi was a #1 pick...
Based upon what? They can re-sign for as little as the Vet minimum and the Jazz will have a ton of cap room.
Yeah but the wont sign for minimum. Only reason they are playing now is to pad stats, and for money. Cause it sure isnt to win a championship. Threre is no way they will ever win one.
Kandi and his idiot agent only _think_ that he commands the MAX. They'll be in for a rude awakening this offseason. Sterling reportedly offered him $60mil/7 last summer (who knows if that's true or not). I bet he doesn't get close that this year. All he's proven is that he's a consistently poor shooter, has no fundamentals, turns the ball over a lot, and is injury prone. All this, and a lousy attitude to boot! The Clippers are better without him, and that's no surprise to the fans. I feel for whichever team ends up overpaying this stiff. Brad Miller by a longshot.
The last time I looked, the Jazz had only 5 players under contract for 2003-2004...Ostertag, Amaechie, Kirilenko, Padgett and Harpring. Stevenson is a team opt @ $1.6m. Their total is easily under $20m leaving about $22m for Malone, Stockton and a big tiime FA plus roster fill like Mark Jackson. If the FA is a SnT for Ostertag, they rid themselves of $8m of the ~$20m committed. The Jazz are currently 6th in the WC after a 3-7 start. If you don't think Malone and Stockton wouldn't take a pay cut to get Brad Miller or that they wouldn't be a serious contender with Miller, you are allowing your hatred to override your common sense. Or is that what the was supposed to mean?
How many 7ft guys are overpaid in this league. Rockets have two. Half the teams in the league have one or two. Half of Torontos roster this year seems like it's made up of loser big men. Olowakandi is going to get big bucks from someone who thinks they can motivate him to greatness. Good luck to them. He has had his chance. He is NOT the real deal. How many guys have spent years in the league only to become stars in mid career. Almost none. We are not talking about some highschooler here that is just coming into his own. As long as people talk about the Spurs or Nuggets or Jazz going after this guy then some GM is going to make a bonehead move to sign the guy for the max and watch his contract suck the future out of their team. Maybe the Spurs can afford that. Not many other teams can.
Miller on the other hand has been an exception. He played for a contract with Charlotte and when he went to Chicago was called a bust for the money. He is one of the few players in the league to improve his game the way he has. He SHOULD get more money. Spurs sign him and the power has shifted. A very solid big guy who can make other teams pay for overcovering Duncan.
Brad Miller shouldn't have been an All-Star.....was there by default. That being said, he's a good player to have on your roster compared to Khandi.
I don't think it is possible to get a good feel of how good Olowakandi is. He played on the Clippers, so of course he sounds like a malcontent. They make people unhappy. And, of course he looks bad -- everyone on their team looks bad this season because everyone basically quit when Sterling decided to not offer an extension to Brand. Even so, he does have some enviable stats: over 2 blocks per game and 9 rebounds. He just can't shoot worth a lick. In fact, he is basically just like Kelvin Cato, a good utility guy with a very limited offensive repertory. Miller can't block shots like Kandi and Cato, but he can score. In the end, Miller will probably make more money simply because the team he is currently playing for will be willing to pay his going rate. Kandi will have to switch teams and will lose money in the process. But, much like what has happened for Ben Wallace, if he's put into the right situation and works hard he could become a very good big man despite not scoring a lot.
DTS did NOT offer Kandi $60M....he offerred Kandi $50M and Brand $60M.....now, to be fair those are reasonable offers.....low end of reasonable, but reasonable. So, Kandi is worth 50-65M and maybe more to a GM that believes what I believe.....Kandi is still improving noticeably and will for about 2 more years, before he fully makes up for his late start in BB(20 years old b4 first BB game). Pay B Miller his money, probably about the same and what you see is what you get.....pay Kandi and you could get a ton more than what you paid for. Kandi will get his 65M(maybe more) in the open market....maybe a team overpays a M/year or so and maybe they will turn out with a huge bargain. The latter is a lock if Kandi improves as much in the next 2 years as he did in the last 2.
Kandi will be overpaid in free agency. Bank on it. Two of the best suitors for him are the Nuggets, who have a TON of cap room and can offer him the max and are looking for building blocks. I am sure thoughts about a Kandi/Hilario tandem have them excited. Plus they will have enough money to sign a Gilbert Arenas some someone else to fill out their roster. The other suitor is the Spurs. If the Spurs can't get Kidd then appeasing Duncan by getting Kandi to play CENTER (so Duncan does not have to) would probably be something they would seriously look at. Duncan has some serious problem with playing center and wants to get a center to add to the team to replace Robinson. Why Duncan is scared to play center is beyond me (he is a true center) but he has said many times he would like a center on the team. One of those teams will probably give Kandi the max. He won't deserve it but for the most part all NBA centers are overpaid. People always overpay for height. Brad Miller will get a pretty solid offer, not the max. Jermaine Oneal will get the max from the Pacers however. I can see Brad Miller getting a contract similar to what Raef Lafrenz got from the Mavs this summer. I would rather have Miller at that salary than Kandi for the max. For me what scares me the most about Kandi is his reported work ethic. Once he gets his bank will he have any incentive to play well or to improve? Serious question marks there! Chris
"Work ethic" on Kandi is another fabrication. He is not a gym rat, but he puts in the time, and he is probably in better shape than any big man in the L. Teaching is what Kandi needed and the LAC did not even try his first year and a half....then they brought in Kareem in a PR stunt. It was not until last year that they brought in a big man coach(KoKoskov(sp)) that Kandi started receiving the coaching he needed....this guy has gotten to where he is without much help at all.....if he gets to SA with Duncan to help him..and work against..he could really blossom.
Don't count on it. J.O. is a MAX contract, guaranteed. That doesn't leave tons of money for the Millers (Brad and Reggie). If a team offers Brad $8-10 per, Pacers let him walk. I agree with Clippy that no GM in their right mind should offer Kandi more than the $60M/7yr that Sterling reportedly offered. Maybe Sterling is not that cheap after all...
