7 years and 42 million? What, in the name of Alan Henderson, is going on there? It sounds like a classic case of overvaluing someone who has played well and overrewarding that player for his efforts. What Malik Rose gives the Spurs is solid effort and some decent size, but there are other players that pop up every year that seem to give the same kind of effort that Rose gives, and you don't have to commit 7 years and 42 million dollars to them. Am I missing the boat here, but is he special enough to deserve that kind of jack? I would have rolled the dice and thanks Malik for his efforts, but he would have had to sign for less to have me bring him back.... And, it wasn't just Malik, either... 3 years for Bruce Bowen? 2 years for Danny Ferry? The Spurs evidently feel they are set for a title run and needed to lock everyone down and overpay and overcommit in the process. What exactly does Bruce Bowen do that every team in the league doesn't have on their roster, too? Ditto Danny Ferry..... Bowen got 3 years, which is ridiculous in itself, but for ELEVEN million dollars....Who are the Spurs bidding against?
"sounds like a cato deal" So I guess they shared the same pot that Dawson and Rudy T. were smoking at the time.
There are probably five or six teams in the west that if the Lakers weren't around would have a legitimate shot at the championship.
Rose is a good player, but not worth that kind of money. Then again, Corliss Williamson and Jerome Williams set the market at that same figure, so Rose is getting what he likely felt he was worth. Bowen is one of the league's better defenders - but he, too, is slightly overpaid at $3m/yr. The motivation behind this is more than likely to show Tim Duncan that they are going to keep the pieces around him intact for the next few years in order to provide stability for the team, even after DRob retires. Is it enough? I don't know...these contracts seriously tear into their ability to sign a big free agent next year alongside Duncan, though don't totally demolish them. It just means they'd have to renounce nearly everyone, including Steve Smith, to complete such a deal. We'll see in a year what Duncan does...but the Spurs are making some (not all) of the right moves.
This may be the key. Are they not trying to ensure Duncan's loyalty come new contract time? These guys must be his buds-- not to mention decent players.
Malik Rose's contract may be a little rich, but not ridiculously so. He's a pretty good player. As for Bowen, this is his reward for playing for the minimum last season. So, it is essentially 4 years at $12 million, $3 million per season. That really isn't a lot of money, and pretty low for a starter. In fact, I wonder if that isn't a bit low.
I guess every move the Spurs make will be questioned here. Rose is nowhere even close to Kelvin Cato. He has range on his jumper, post moves inside, and gives 110% every single game. As a starter in the playoffs (with Robinson injured), he averaged 16 points and 10 boards. He's the ideal sixth man in the NBA. He can make a seamless transition to the starting lineup when Robinson goes down. He can give you a double double off the bench with loads of hustle if you need him to. The deal's total value is big. But, this year, it starts at 4.1 mil. That is LESS than the value of the MCE! In other words, in the first couple of years of his contract, Rose is a bargain. The Spurs plan is to sign at least one max free agent in the summer of 2003 to go along with Duncan, and another player in the 5-7 million range if the cap isn't enough for them to get two max players. Rose's contract does grow to the 7-8 million range... but it is years down the road when the Spurs will be over the cap anyway. By the time he might actually be overpaid, the Spurs will be over the cap regardless so it really doesn't matter. Bowen at 11 million for 3 years? I thought that was a good deal when I read it. There are a lot of on ball defenders, but Bowen is one of the few that distinguishes himself. He may be the best on ball defender in the league. I don't care what Kobe averaged in the playoffs... he's the best player in the game. Watch the Spurs-Lakers series again. More than any player I've ever seen, Bowen anticipated Bryant's moves, stayed in front of him, had a hand in his face, didn't reach in and foul, etc. He made Kobe take tough, tough shots... but he just made them. He's good. Bowen does a superb job every night guarding the top swingmen in the league, and has a very good corner jumper. There's nothing wrong with paying about 3 million per year for that... seems more like a bargain to me. Ferry signed for about the minimum. mfclark: you can definitely count on them renouncing Steve Smith. What a worthless piece of trash... I should've believed all the Blazer fans saying he was done last summer.
I don't think the Spurs needed to pay that much money to re-sign him. What teams made offers? I know I heard a long time ago LA would be interested. I just don't believe in paying backup players anything more than 3 mill or so a year. Whenever the hell the luxury tax gets into place, the Spurs will wish they didn't sign him to so much money, for so long. It will be hard to trade a backup player who makes so much money. Right now, it doesn't really hurt them, but in a few years they will regret it.
The Spurs have actually had a very nice, but quiet, offseason. Resigning their core role players is always a good move, and they might have overpaid Rose, or at least gave him too many years. But, keeping a good team intact is always a good thing and keeps their chemistry going. They stole Speedy Claxton away from the Sixers for John Salmons and Mark Bryant. Backup PG was a need the Spurs had to address, and they got a guy who will be a very energetic spark off of the bench. I'm not quite sure where this leaves Antonio Daniels, but he is more of a tweener guard like the Kings Bobby Jackson. Watch out for Emanuel Ginobili. He was voted the second best player in Europe last season finishing behind Yugoslavia's Dejan Bodiroga (who is a great, great player). This guy is very exciting to watch and loves to dunk and dunk hard. He will get plenty of minutes and might even start eventually over Steve Smith. With Duncan commanding so much attention 'Manu' will be free to slash and hit his nice outside jumper. He is my pick for ROY if he gets the minutes and adapts quickly to the NBA.
I think Bowen is totally and completely overrated. His rap as a good defender is overblown. He is like Mario ELie except he lacks a 3ptr and can't run the floor. I actually saw him play live at seattle this year, they tried to put him on Payton and he got completely abused. Granted, payton is a great player, but Bowen looked like Charles Barkley on defense out there. Just not impressive at all.
Probably the reason why the Spurs overpay for their role players is that 1) they have to pay a premium to have them stay in small market San Antonio, and no free agents are going to want to go there (unless escaping the hell of cleveland like derek anderson); and 2) they might as well spend their cap room on somebody (aka the "trade for Glen Rice theory")
mav: you're basing your evaluation of Bowen on one game. I watched his man on man defense for many, many games, and he is legit. Bowen is a small forward. Naturally, swingmen aren't equipped to guard the point guards of the league, since they are the smallest, craftiest, and quickest players in the league. The Spurs didn't overpay for Bowen; if anything, he's underpaid. Rose is underpaid in the first two years of his deal, and though he may be overpaid in the final years, the Spurs will be over the cap anyway. Free agents WILL want to go to San Antonio. It's a matter of the Spurs having cap room. When the Spurs were having trouble with resigning Robinson last summer, Webber showed interest in playing there. Honestly, how many players wouldn't want to play alongside the MVP of the league for the max salary, along with a warm weather climate, new arena, and contending team? The fact that Derek Anderson (who came out of Los Angeles, not Cleveland) would sign for the 2.25M exception when more lucrative deals were available is actually an example of free agents wanting to play in San Antonio. Yes, he held out for more money in the following offseason, but knowing the Spurs had money long-term, he tried to milk them for all he could get. The Spurs didn't bite, and held firm to their cap room in 2003 plan. With DA resigned at the 8.5 million he wanted (ridiculous) the Spurs probably can't make a max offer next offseason.
If the Spurs still have the money to spend it on a free agent then Elton Brand would be an excellent choice to replace Robinson which could enable Duncan to move to the center position. I do feel that Sterling will sign Brand to a big contract but you never know he might goof up and leave the front court in the hands of Wilcox and Ely.
Malik's a good role player, especially since he does a lot of garbage work and takes a load of Duncan. IMO, he's not worth 7/42, but looks like that might be the going rate for role players these days (i.e. Shandon, Cato, Jerome Williams, Croshere, etc.) Biggest problem for the Spurs is that Duncan is a FA next year and has not committed to the team. The Spurs better make sure they re-sign Duncan and at least one more impact player because otherwise, they'll be left with a bunch of overpaid role players.
Are you saying that the Spurs think they might be able to sign three max deals (Duncan + 2 FA's)? Just how much cap space will they have? That seems impossible. Although, I guess they could sign new guys first, then sing Duncan and be able to go over the cap. Anyway, my real question was hom much room they will have.
