[FaceOfTheFranchiseParticipant]

 Playing 2k earlier the anouncers mentioned how Gordon Hayward believed he was a max contract player. This got me thinking, which players in the league are truly max contract worthy. I thought of a tier system with tier 1 being top players deserving of max contracts and tier 2 being players who may be the best player on their current team but not max contract worthy, or have the potential to be. My list goes:

Tier 1;

LeBron

Westbrook

Harden – D’Antoni’s system really helped

Cousins – Needs more help or change of scenery

Curry – 4th highest on team?

Durant – Free agency aside still a top player

AD – Solid 2 way player needs to stay healthy

Kawhi – All around player

PG13 – Bounced back well from freak injury

Greek Freak – Length and youth

Jimmy Butler – Kawhi-lite 

Kyrie – Clutch player top 5 PG easily

Wall – Made huge strides with team recently near top PG

Marc Gasol – 2 way big man with extended range now

Lillard – All Star snub again worthy of max deal

CP3 – Injury prone but can still lead a team 

 

 

Tier 2;

Gordon Hayward – reason for thread

Klay Thompson – borderline tier 1, great team mates

DeRozan – consistent 3 point shot away

IT – borderline tier 1 after this season

Love – basically a spot up shooter at this point

Melo – doesn’t make team mates better but can score with the best

Kemba – All Star but doesn’t scream super star

Griffin – injury history but using less athleticism more skill now

Drummond – post game and free throws away from tier 1

Whiteside – good stats but empty stats?

Horford – perfect complimentary piece 

Millsap – same as Horford, needs a new team

Conley – over 150 mil now, not better than any tier 1 player

Aldridge – good compliment to Kawhi clearly not 1st option anymore i.e Bosh

Bledsoe – can do everything, another injury prone player

Beal – should be getting less than Wall, but great compliments to each other

 

 

Younger guys with potential;

Wiggins – showing an all around game this year

Towns – great inside outside game, needs better post D not just blocks

Gobert – anchor of a great defense, maybe not superstar but higher tier 2 potential

Booker – showing signs of stardom and still one of the youngest players

Embiid – trust the process

Jokic – flirts with triple doubles already 

Parker – showing flashes this season but still inconsistent

 

Not sure who else I missed. Basically the tier 1 players are max contract players ($26-36 mil) while the tier 2 players would still get $15-20 million in todays NBA. Looking at the list it appears that you need at least one tier 1 player and one tier 2 player to compete, however the top teams have at least 3 players in those tiers. Thoughts? Your list?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[r377Participant]

That is a pretty good list you have made….

I would put CJ McCollum in list 2 and you could argue about Lillard being list 2 and not being truly elite.

Lillard thinks he is steph curry and tries to do too much. He doesn’t shoot good % and his team should be better. For instance if he was replaced with John Wall, Curry, Westbrook, CP3 how many more wins would the Blazers have this season ?

[FaceOfTheFranchiseParticipant]

 Ahh yes McCollum, good point. I was on the fence about Lillard when I started, and not seeing too many Blazers games unless they’re prime time or against the Bulls made it a little more difficult. 

I would agree with McCollum definitely in tier 2, I think my determining factor on Lillard was his marketability which can be argued with Griffin as well. However, like you said if his percentages are lower showing empty stats then he can easily be argued non -max contract worthy. 

That’s a great point as well with him being replaced by another top PG I believe they would be slightly better, seeing as they’re the 9th seed right now. They have some big injuries but still have enough depth to be a better team.

Another guy I thought of after the post, up and coming would be Porzingis. He needs to stay healthy as well but has shown flashes of stardom and can easily be borderline tier 1 one day. 

 

 

 

 

[machu46Participant]

In today’s NBA, I’d still guess that at least 5 of the Tier 2 guys would get max contracts if they were signing today:

– Hayward

– IT

– DeRozan

– Klay

– Blake Griffin

But I agree with the concept that Tier 1 = definite max guys and Tier 2 = probably shouldn’t be but still might get one and this is a pretty good list for both.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FaceOfTheFranchiseParticipant]

 I would agree that the reality is that each of those players would still get max deals if they were signing today. Hayward was the obvious reason of the thread and while he’s a great all-around player, I believe on a championship contender he’d make a great 2nd option. 

IT is becoming a max level player after the season he’s had, crazy to think the last overall pick, and a guy who’s the average height of a pedestrian, would be a top 20 player. DeRozan is like Hayward IMO and would be a great 2nd option on a championship contender. Klay Thompson is arguably the best player out of the 5, but how much of that goes to him having some of the best team mates in the league, and a proven system. Furthermore, if he was the 1st option on a team would they be championship contenders or middle of the pack team. Granted Klay has put up ridiculous quarters and games through 3 quarters, so he may be an exception.

Griffin a couple years ago would definitely be a max contract player, the Clippers have done well without him on the floor, so how valuable can he really be. But I would agree that in today’s NBA whether deserving or not these 5 players would still get a max contract. 

 

 

 

[BiggysmallsParticipant]

 Do away with max contract. Baffles me that that’s a thing. LeBron shouldn’t be limited to making a certain amount of money no matter how long he’s been in the league. He should be in a tier by himself and maybe throw in KD. 

It’s absurd that Gordon Hayward will make close to the same amount of money. I love Gordon Hayward’s game. He’s a terrific all-around player. But it’s incomprehensible. 

 

[Robb_CParticipant]

Get rid of the Max Contract and you can kiss every small market team being competitive goodbye.. The Max Contract is set up to allow small market teams to offer contracts without getting smoked by larger markets

[nath09Participant]

That could actually have a two way reaction. If you had no limit on individual contracts but still had the same cap the idea of a big 3 may become alittle harder to put together. I think if there was no max contract it would be a lot harder to keep GSW big 3 together.

As an overall picture I think the best way to keep small market teams competitive would be a hard cap so that the bigger teams don’t get away with just paying tax.

The other point is if there is no max and Lebron was earning $50 mil. a year soeone would still be stupid enough to throw it at a tier 2 player. 

If a team is going to pay Chandler Parsons 30 they’re hoing to pay Hayward 50.

 

 

  

[BiggysmallsParticipant]

 Yeah cuz so many teams are competitive in the NBA as it is…

Market size wouldn’t matter if teams can only afford one max guy. Golden State wouldn’t have been able to sign Durant because some team like the Lakers could’ve offered him 50 some mil per year. GS had enough for a 23 mil max or whatever it was. 

If there’s a hard cap and no max, teams can’t just keep clearing 20 mil for a "max" contract. 

 

 

 

[HitsterParticipant]

 Kyle Lowry has a player option for $12 million this summer that he is likely to opt out of and given what his team mate DeRozan and fellow PG Mike Conley got last summer, I’d assume he’d be looking for a very big pay day.

Kyle turns 31 soon so may not get a 5 year deal but I’d think he’d be looking at something around $25 million a year. 

I’d put him in the 2nd tier that as regards the original posters ratings.

 

 

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