Austin Croshere
Remember Jerome James playing huge for the Sonics in the playoffs and getting rewarded with a fat contract from the Knicks? I think Ariza will be ok because he can flat out play D and he is still young. Problem is that he can not create his own offense. If you have other stars around him, then he is worth the money because he does all the little things. If you don't have stars around him, he will struggle and look overrated. Personally, I think the Lakers made a wise decision not over paying him.
As for Croshere, yes, that was a very similar situation. He used the playoffs as a platform to showcase himself and get the big contract, and he has not looked the same since.
Does anyone know what Croshere's contract was for (years and amount)? From what I remember it was ridiculous, but I also remember him having a monster playoff series. I liked him as a player, but it seemed like his shooting touch dwindled as he got older.
As far as Ariza goes, he's young and he's really not getting paid tons of money as far as NBA players are concerned. I think he's still got a lot of things to work on, but for all we know he may grow a lot by no longer being a sidekick to Kobe and Gasol. Every year he has been in the league he has improved. I think that in 1 year, maybe two years at the most the Lakers are really going to wish that they had Ariza because I see Ron going on the decline by then and Ariza is still going to be in his early mid twenties and that's assuming Ron doesn't drive Kobe and Phil crazy before then.
Thats exactly what happened Croshere had that good playoff and the pacers got to the finals and after that payday he was never the same player I think that houston is in for a big surprise because i really think ariza was a product of the laker system and he is really gonna get exposed in houston cause he has no help out ther Shane Battier is not going to be drawing double teams so that he can have wide open shots.
Austin Croshere = Another AVERAGE white guy that Larry Bird OVERVALUED & OVERPAID. I can't remember how many years it was for, but the total was for $51 MILLION I think.
I liked Croshere (met him during AAU one summer), but he was nothing more than a role player. Larry Bird thought he'd be a 'star' though. He played well during the NBA Finals vs the Lakers averaging about 15 points and Larry Bird went bananas. The Pacers paid dearly for this contract because we had no flexibility.
Add Travis Diener on this list too... In 2007, Bird signed him to a 3 year $14.86 MILLION contract...
Another AVERAGE white guy that Bird OVERVALUED & OVERPAID.
The trend continues...
Troy Murphy - $11,047,619 in 2008/2009 (Double-double guy, but soft, no D and no back to the basket moves)
Mike Dunleavy - $9,780,992 in 2008/2009 (Nice, but this is all-star money)
Jeff Foster - $6,077,500 in 2008/2009 (Role player)
Josh McRoberts - $1,000,497 in 2008/2009 (My boy, but what has he done to make $1 MILLION?)
Bird has to go... How ironic... The two words for my CAPTCHA is "Laude BIRDCAGE"... The Pacers are def. in the damn "Bird-Cage" right now.
Diener being payed that much is wack.. He is a third string pg on most teams. Too small and bad at everything except for shooting. Jeff Foster needs to be on a championship contender. Great role player, can rebound like crazy and would fit perfectly on a team like the Celtics that needs a good defensive backup for Kg or even for Perkins. Dunleavy is a solid third option one dimensional scorer and Murphy is definately an above average big man with an intruiging skill set, but neither deserve to be payed nearly what they make right now. We'll know what's really up with Bird when he gives J.J. Redick a $25 Million contract next season!
Croshere's contract
2000-01 Indiana Pacers NBA $5,300,000
2001-02 Indiana Pacers NBA $6,310,000
2002-03 Indiana Pacers NBA $6,960,000
2003-04 Indiana Pacers NBA $7,610,000
2004-05 Indiana Pacers NBA $8,260,000
2005-06 Indiana Pacers NBA $7,900,000
2006-07 Dallas Mavericks NBA $7,300,000
I also wanted to point out that Bird had nothing to do with the Croshere contract. He had already left the organization when they gave Austin that big contract and he was in fact highly critical of the direction the franchise was taking after his departure. He criticized them for hiring Isiah Thomas as his replacement as coach and it was'nt until years later that Bird came back to Indiana and took over as GM. I respect your opinion, but you just seem to spout random incorrect facts when you try and bash Bird.
Yea, you're right about Diener... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_Diener had it wrong. They had 3 years for $14.86 MILLION, but after doing further research I found out it was actually 3 years for $4.86 MILLION, w/ a player option for the 3rd year. He made $1,500,000 in 2007-08, $1,620,000 in 2008-09 and just excercised his player option for $1,740,000 in 2009-2010. When you consider what Diener did in Orlando before 2007-2008 (nothing) AND what he's done w/ the Pacers (nothing) he was still OVERPAID.
Bird may not have 'signed' Croshere, but he sure gave him one helluva endorsement. Bird handpicked Croshere out of Providence and it was documented that Croshere was his pet project. Bird said numerous times he thought Croshere would be a "great player". If you don't think Bird had anything to do w/ Croshere getting that contract and was completely out of the loop w/ Donnie Walsh after he retired as coach, you're just silly.
llperez22 you can keep battling me on this, but my opinion is that Bird overvalues average white guys... Period. He didn't sign Murphy and Dunleavy, but he sure traded for them! I'm very critical of Bird. Not only does he overvalue and overpay average white guys, he's too conservative.
Austin Croshere, so you are probably thinking "Who is he" or "He Sucks".
For some reason today a friend and I where talking about him (we are Pacer's fans so thats why he came up) and for some reason his big payday with the Pacer's reminded me of Ariza.
Let me explain, Croshere was a solid rotation guy for the Pacer's in 1999-2000, the year they made it to the Finals only to lose to the Lakers. (The Pacers were forced to try and stop Shaq in his prime with these guys...a old Rick Smits, Dale Davis, Sam Perkins, and Jeff Foster) anyway the bright point of the Pacer's playoff run was the emergence of Croshere as a starter and even as a go to scorer in the Final series. This was a contract year for Croshere and the Pacers rewarded him with a huge contract, (other teams were really intersted in him at the time, hard to believe now.)
Croshere never came close to living up to what it was believed he would come and was at the end of the bench before the end of the next season.
Anyway this just reminded me of how Ariza went from a solid role player with the Lakers this season to a star in the making during their playoff run. However when his price got inflated, the Lakers said we can replace him (unlike the Pacers).
I hope Ariza doesn't fade away like Croshere, but you have to wonder if he is really read to make the leap or if he is over hyped by his great playoffs.