there's no way Ariza will see significant minutes anyway in his 1st 2 seasons...Isiah will lock him up to a very reasonable contract if he feels he has what it takes, & then he'll more likely find a bigger role on this team...coincidentally, as pointed out in the 1st post on this thread, in 2 years time, Penny will likely be gone already, & TT's contract expires at that time...then you have Shandon & Houston's contracts expiring the following year...that's when you can expect to see Ariza getting bigger minutes if he's still here by then, but he won't have a chance to demand big bucks after his 1st 2 seasons because his playing time will simply prevent him from putting up the types of #'s to get there.

Actually, I'd say its very possible for Ariza to get playing time. One of the things Zeke has stressed since he got here was to give these young guys time.
Besides, I can't be the only who sees a very good chance that either TT or Penny are moved around the deadline. Ariza may have to be relied on to pick up some minutes.

That's why this post is called "in two years" numb nutz.

How did the convo turn into a debate over Ariza's contract?

Let's start again shall we:

Timmy, Penny and Nazr will be free agents....
Houston will be 35 in his last year....Shandon will also be in his last year.

Trevor Ariza will be 21 with 2 years pro experience.....also in his free agent year.....most likely a restricted free agent.

The plan is set already to roll with Timmy and Penny and then when Ariza is 21 give him the reigns at small forward with Marbs and Crawford.....29 and 26 respectively.

I could deal with that. I got some high expectations on Trevor Ariza. He could very well become the Scottie Pippen type especially having to go the way of the TrailBlazer(O'neal, Zack, Woods, Outlaw, Telflair all had to or are currently paying dues).

I can see the future and it is good.

By the way Sweetney will also be only 24.

Posted by TMS:

some minutes, sure...but he won't see enough to make enough of an impact that will entail him demanding big dollars after his rookie contract expires.

But wouldn't you prefer that he had a small 3 year contract (like Lampe had with the Knicks) so that Isiah wouldn't have to have the concern about "well, if I play him and he plays well, he'll demand big dollars. Maybe I shouldn't play him or should play him sparingly." Wouldn't you rather he had a 3 year contract where we had his Bird rights and could right away play him as much as he was ready to play?