[JazzinSLCParticipant]

Like the Hawks apparently have to resign Joe Johnson?

There just aren’t that many guys who are worth max, or close to max salaries. There are maybe a dozen guys in the league, who genuinely deserve max dollars. Joe Johnson isn’t one of those. Rudy Gay isn’t one of those. Carlos Boozer isn’t one of those. In my opinion, Chris Bosh isn’t either. It’s going to be interesting to see which teams are so afraid to lose one of there top guys, that they are willing to pay them max money, or sign them to five or six years deals, even if they will be in their mid-thirties by the end of their contracts. Such stupidity. But I guess that’s what makes free agency so much fun. Watching teams literally throwing money away.

[RickyRubio9Participant]

There’s only two players in my mind that deserve the max…
Paul Pierce & Ray Allen…LOL Jkidding.
LeBron James & Dwayne Wade are the ONLY Max Contract Players.
I’d put some others in that category if they weren’t old..i.e Dirk.

[JazzinSLCParticipant]

Kobe, Gasol, Howard, Dirk, LeBron, D-Wade, Durant…and then, I’m not sure. Duncan probably isn’t anymore. Nash…maybe, but he’s near the end of his career. Perhaps Paul, and D-Will because they are argueably the best at their position. Ming if he was healthy. Guess you could make an arguement for Carmelo. Brandon Roy? That’s about it.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

It is crazy, but it seems players take statuses on these teams as being the franchise, hence think they deserve that kind of money. Happened with Kenyon Martin, when he was on the Nets, happened with Iguodala, happened with Rudy Gay. It makes no sense to me, but I guess it is all about trying to stay competitive. If the Grizzlies let Rudy Gay go, than what? They pray again for some luck in the lottery? They cross their fingers they can sign Carmelo next year? Teams must think these things through, and I am sure it must kill them to overspend like that, but they at the same time need to keep their team afloat. Memphis had a good year last year, they have some good young pieces and are addressing issues, and by spending that kind of money on Rudy Gay it shows that they are not giving up. The future has to be a huge concern however, not only with what they might need to pay OJ Mayo and Marc Gasol, but also the development of Hasheem Thabeet and what they will do with Zach Randolph. Are we going to see a third Zach Randolph salary dump? I would not doubt it, and it would leave major questions as to what they would do at PF. I would get a nice defender and rebounder, as the scoring load will seem to be mostly taken by Rudy and OJ, not to mention Gasol being a good option in the low post (he actually is, I did not expect him to be) and possibly having Xavier Henry play some minutes. Mike Conley does not seem to be a part of their future, but I would not count out them resigning Ronnie Brewer, and maybe looking for some kind of prospect at point in the Randolph trade. But, at least they do not lose another piece like they have in the past, because in the end, could they have found some better replacement for Rudy Gay with that money? The odds seem to say no.

[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

All of them.

Just remember all this spending when the owners cry poor this fall and next spring.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

Sheed doesn’t use his head 🙂

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