I agree he's overpaid, but my point was that this is a overpaying league and overpaying market. To get talents, you have to pay them, dearly. Allen Houston did get that Knicks team into the finals. If he had stayed healthy, he would have been totally worth the money.
the problem was orlando outbid themselves for rashard. they could have easily had him for cheaper since they were the only team that was going to shell out money for him.
That's a pretty dumb business decision, but it's not a knock on Lewis's value. In fact, it shows how Magic is committed to get real shooters around Howard, not just stationary-everything-has-to-be-perfect shooters.
Yes, I'm not arguing that you don't have to pay for talent. You obviously do. But, it's completely asinine to outbid yourself for a player that no one else was that high on. Would you ever go into a supermarket and pay MORE for an item than its listed price, even if you REALLY wanted that item?
Dude, this isn't a discussion about Lewis' ABSOLUTE basketball value. It's a discussion about Lewis' absolute basketball value and its correlation to the cost of obtaining said basketball value. Your argument is essentially saying that it's okay if we paid Chuck Hayes $20 million a year simply because it shows how dedicated we are to good defensive play. It's not a knock on Chuck Hayes' inherent basketball value, but it is a knock on his cost.
I probably wouldn't. But it wasn't a sure thing, right? Magic really wanted him, and wanted to be sure. Just like draft night, if you have 2 picks, one at 5 and one at 12. A player you really like could fall to 14/15 area, but you can't be sure that you can get him at 12. If you don't like anyone better than him when you get to draft at 5, why not just take him? Again, it might be a dumb business decision. But it shows Magic's commitment, it does pay off in the playoffs.
Refer to my second response. And just for clarification, your analogy doesn't work. The NBA offseason is nothing like draft night. In the offseason, teams have the option of matching offers, ultimately placing the decision on the player.
I wasn't aware of that situation, and I don't understand why Magic did that. Maybe Rashard has a really great agent?
At the time, Orlando wasn't exactly considered a hot destination for free agents. The Magic figured they had to "nuke the competition" to ensure Lewis didn't even talk to another team, which is exactly what happened.
This is the way i see value, this is just me. You have the happy to be in the league guys that make 2m or so like hayes. Then you have the 3-7m guys like scola, shane and probably Brooks. You have the 8-11m guys which is where odom,lewis,redd,hedo,boozer,rip and guys like that belong. Then you have the 12-15m guys which is where the so called franchise guys belong. Most of the guys a all star/first team types. The guys that make more is because they're grandfathered in through a mx deal. Lewis is a 10-11m guys based on his production,age,skill, and stuff like that Of course Orlando bid against themselves and these contracts never look bad until the end if the guy is injury prone. If you think about it, he 29 or 30 with 4 yrs left.The way he plays and his durability, i can see him playing like this for at least another 3 yrs. Now they will have to pay hedo and unless someoe offers hedo more than 10m per, he will probably reisgn.
So was that some sort of interference by Gasol on the final play of regulation? I know he touched the rim. Unsure about the rule..
The rule says that you can't touch the rim if the ball is up in the air, but that shot Courtney Lee threw up had no chance of going in.
I agree on the brackets you defined. But too bad that the market is never rational, once teams like Knicks or Dallas (under Cuban) step into the bidding war, everything is blown out of proportion. Just like the once hot stock or housing market, it only reacts to "market value". There are just not that many real franchise players or first team options on the market or in the whole NBA. So, lots of teams will end up paying more for A- players, that leads to overpaying of second fiddle players like Lewis as well. It turns out you have either to be a true contender, which will attract veteran players who are looking for nice closure instead of money, or to be a bottom feeder, who can accumulate young talents through draft picks, for 3 years. Then you hope to compete with a young talented core, like Bulls or Blazers. Rockets did an admirable job to be in current position - fighting through mediocrity for years, dealing with lots of bad contracts and lacking talents, hanging on 2 key players. Now we have lot better talents, some youth, great financial situation, and a 23 million contract in TMac, and Yao who can either be a great key piece as a 20-10 all star center or a great trading bait.
Horrible officiating once again by the refs and the Kobe bias is all too apparent. Give me a break the phantom fouls on Pietrus and especially Kobe trips on his own feet is plain wrong. Not on an excuse for the Magic loss but damn every point counts in a game that went to overtime. The last thing you need is the refs giving away easy points.
Guys that have been in the league and get paid for awhile want a ring, so they will tell you who they think is a contender. Thats not my only gauge, but when was the last time houston got a guy who was just bought out to come play for them? It hasn't happen since Dream days when guys knew houston was a contender. When guys want to give discounts now, they will go to cleveland,orlando,boston,La,and Sa before houston. They only way houston will ever get a big time wing player is if they overpay or if they trade for one under contract. Alot of wings across the league is enamored with the idea of always dumping the ball down and re dumping and waiting on yao to make a move. People think its easy or its attractive, but its not. Thats why people bang on Tracy alot and some is well deserved, but he doesn't mind doing that on a team with yao. Johnson,lebron,wade, and guys like that aren't going to want to do that where if the same offer was with orlando, they would go there to play with howard.
