Fred wrote:
houheffna wrote:
Why couldn't the Bulls give him those kind of contracts ?
Because they are smart! That is too much money to pay a dude that plays 47 feet. I am sorry but I am sticking to my beliefs. 10mil average over so many years and that is it. Good luck to him, he cashed in....11.5 mil per season? More than Hedo and Odom? That's crazy.
A few points:
1. If you moved the economic climate of 2004, 05, 06, 07 and even 08 to the summer of 2009, BG would have made a lot more. This is a terrible economy, and the overall contracts being signed in every sport but football prove it. An 11 per year contract in 2009 would be closer to 13 or 14 million in the high-spending days before 09.
2. Scorers get paid. Why should Ben be any different? 11 million is the least you'll pay for guys who can score, even in this God-awful economy. If revenues continue to decline, it may go down to 10. But relevant to what other players make, scorers will always get more because scorers (especially those who win, like Ben) are hard to find. I'm pretty sure that if you look at the top 20 scorers in the league (Ben was #17), all of them will be making about 12 million per year, or they will soon be making that.
NAME PTS
D. Wade, MIA 30.2
L. James, CLE 28.4
K. Bryant, LAL 26.8
D. Nowitzki, DAL25.9
D. Granger, IND 25.8
K. Durant, OKC 25.3
C. Paul, NOR 22.8
C. Anthony, DEN 22.8
C. Bosh, TOR 22.7
B. Roy, POR 22.6
A. Jamison, WAS 22.2
T. Parker, SAS 22
J. Johnson, ATL 21.4
D. Harris, NJN 21.3
D. West, NOR 21
V. Carter, NJN 20.8
B. Gordon, CHI 20.7
3. Gilbert Arenas is one of the worst defenders in the history of the NBA. His D is a joke in NBA circles. Did you ever see what he makes. Hedo also has a rep for "playing 47 feet". That doesn't matter. Scorers get paid. Period.
4. Defense specialits, relevant to scorers, do not get paid. Bruce Bowen was widely acknowledged as one of the best defenders in the NBA. I don't believe he ever made over 6 million per year. Ditto Shane Battier. Trevor Ariza is one the top 10 defenders in the league. He signed for 6 per year. Ben is one of the top 30 scorers. He signed for 11. Kirk received his 9.75 per year based on the premise that he could continue to develop as a offensive player, along with his good d. He maxed out at 16 per game. He'll sign for 6 million per year on his next contract if he's lucky. Maybe 7 if the economy turns around.
A few counter points
1) On the list you provided the vast majority of players score and add something else to your team such as playmaking, rebounding, good defense etc... BG doesn't provide anything else besides scoring.
2) As you said scorers do get paid so maybe 12 million/year is most he is worth however, on a team when you are paying already paying Deng and Kirk and you want to keep money open for 2010 and you want to resign Rose to an extension it doesn't make sense to take on another 5/58 contract. I would be okay with Gordon at 12 mil if we got rid of one or both of Deng/Kirk's contracts first.
3) Everything the bulls do now must be to help Rose develop so, as Mr. Thonus's excellent blog post points out
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chi...more-thoughts-from-summer-league-chatter.html, maybe BG wasn't interested in helping Rose develop whereas Kirk was. Even though BG has been the
ultimate professional, maybe he wasn't he best fit for Rose's development (something the organization/coach would know better than us fans).
4) We have Salmons who at least for 1 year can make up 90% of what BG had given us. Granted keeping Salmons long term will cost the same as keeping BG but, we can make that decision after we see what happens in 2010. Salmons in Sacramento where he was the main guy, and here where he was a role player was able to score 18 ppg with 47% FG and and 42% on thees all averages that are comparible to BG.
5) As for the other 10%, the clutch shooting/ability to take over games, that needs to come from Rose. We need Rose to develop into that type of offensive player who is confident at end of games if he is to become the superstar we are all hoping for. During end of games, I wished they gave the ball to Rose more often. I already was confident that BG could make the play but, I wanted to see if Rose could do it. With BG gone, we either sink or swim with Rose and that is the only way to find out what we have in Rose.
Another side note, I have few friends who are piston fans who very upset that the pistons are paying BG 5/58 because, they don't see him as a "franchise" player. With the current makeup of their roster, he is a very expensive backup SG.
Barring unforeseen contributions, the Bulls will not be a better team next year but, for the long term flexibility this is the right move. What really hurts me is that we had to give up BG for nothing. If we could have traded him, we could have gotten a 1st round draft pick in 2010 or another good player.
At 5/58 million I am sorry to see BG go especially since I have to watch Deng still play on the Bulls. However, if we had kept BG at 5/60mil and kept Deng/Kirk, I would have been more upset.
laters,
postdiction
Go Illini!
