Wow. He's good and he was a main piece of that championship team years back, but he's not kobe bryant, and this is almost kobe-like cash. I'm happy though, With this big contract, the spurs won't be able to sign many free agents
More like JRich-like cash or little bit more than KevinMartin-like or MontaEllis-like cash. Kobe's new 3-year extension will pay him over 25, 28 and 30.5 million dollars so no, this in not "kobe-like cash" Speaking of Manu, I would argue that it is pretty close to his value and seeing that he has been underpaid his whole career (at least without taking the injuries into account), I dont' have much of a problem with this. His play on the court hasn't really regressed yet and if he manages to play most of the games from now on, it's a fair contract I guess. If the Spurs can remain contenders for the duration of that contract, I don't know. I guess the hope is Tim Duncan regresses only slowly and they can find more help with good draft choices and signings like they have been doing. I don't agree with the crowd who thinks that Spurs are done. They can still be contenders at least this year and the next. Not the favorites but contenders still.
he definitely deserves the money, while i would never admit this in public to any of my spurs friends, they are a class organization and treat their players great and our beloved by the entire city. as much as i wanted to see him come join scola in houston, their is no way we could afford him unless he took a huge pay cut. all we get here in austin are spurs games and i have to say he is one of the most entertaining players in the league. he makes some ridiculous play every game that you have to press rewind on your dvr. he may be aging but the guy can still play and is a proven leader, well worth it for the spurs to resign your best player that brings that competitive fire every game. although timmy is great i think that team belongs to manu right now.
Hey, maybe the Spurs are paying him for "what he has done" not just what he can do. He helped bring the city 3 championships! If he went and signed with another team for that kinda money, than I would say "that" team overpaid for him.
or maybe the spurs know if they let him go they'll be screwed. Keep in mind San antonio was never the frist thing that came to mind in a FA's mind. Almost every significant player they got prior to their rings was through the draft. The current guys TD, Manu, parker, all drafted. When these guys are gone, will they be able to attract FAs? there's no guarantee they'll hit a home run in future drafts. It's very likely that after these guys are gone the spurs will suck again for a while until they get lucky in the draft and then prove they're a serious contender again before FAs come knocking. the best case for SA is to wrap up TD and manu for a few more years and hope other guys want to come play with them before their legs fall off.
The problem is that I think anyone could have gotten him easily for 30 million over 3 years, instead of 40 million. It is wasted money and it could come back to bite the Spurs.
Well, did anyone think a team will pay for a 33yr old SG who can't average 30mpg, who's on his last legs, 3yrs/$40 mil? I'm not sure what your point is. Are you saying that because a Yao-clone hasn't signed an extension, that we cannot extrapolate Yao's market value from other player signings? My point is that this extension seems to indicate that teams are more willing to spend than we were previously led to believe. Even on older FAs that are high risk signings. Sure, Yao is higher risk than Manu. But his reward potential is also exponentially higher, assuming he takes Big Z's route of recovery.
he can't average 30 mpg? THats his role that poppovich chooses to give him. In Euro and even in the summer olympics he can play the whole game, hes in shape, he can play more minutes and start and do well as we have seen the 2nd half, but he just was the ultimate team player by coming off the bench during his prime when most players would demand a trade bc his agenda is to win and do what the coaches ask
It's not that big a contract considering he's been underpaid for his production for years and the figure is close to what he's already making. Plus the Spurs would've been limited to the MLE anyway.
I wonder if Spurs and Manu have some mutual agreements under the table regarding his off season obligations towards Argentina National Team.
