i told ya. he s smart enough to know no team is going to offer a substantial amount of money. the MLE would actually be less than what his current salary is. this Crawford stuff is also bogus, NO chance of happening--they can write whatever they want, but chicago could never afford to let Crawford walk for 5mm.

i dont know where we are going right now if dampier might be going to LA. it comes to a point where i might close my wallet.

Briggs, what is west and Paxon supposed to say? "Hey come take our players, I won't match a max offer"... wake up man!!

Posted by BRIGGS:

i told ya. he s smart enough to know no team is going to offer a substantial amount of money. the MLE would actually be less than what his current salary is. this Crawford stuff is also bogus, NO chance of happening--they can write whatever they want, but chicago could never afford to let Crawford walk for 5mm.

i dont know where we are going right now if dampier might be going to LA. it comes to a point where i might close my wallet.

The word gullible is written on the ceiling

well if Jerry West said it, it must be true. Go ahead... and his in a year his payroll will be $70mm with Gasol, Swift, Miller, Williams, Posey all with 40-50 (close to max for Gasol) contracts. I didnt know the Grizz could afford that kind of payroll but I guess its like you said.

right now they could afford to match for swift. But what would that have as a consequence ?

next yr, pau gasol and battier are RFA. If they pay that much for swift, how much will they have to pay for gasol ?

yr after that, wells is UFA.

(btw, did mike miller sign a contract extension with orlando ? otherwise, he would be FA soon).

So in a few yrs, they'd be in luxury tax land, what a team of this size can't afford to be.

According to Chad Ford's column on insider today, Swift may be part of a sign and trade to GS for Dampier.

Posted by BRIGGS:

thats the cost of a good big man. the Pistons gave 33 year old Elden Cambell 3 years 15 the sonics gave calvin booth jerome james 5mm etc... a good big man will make 5-6 mm and at 65 years old, I dont think Jerry cares about the last 3 years on his contract. It wasnt brain science to figure out if they were willing to pay him 6mm next year--theyd be more than willing to pay him 5.

And everyone of those those guys you mention is an immovable cap mistake that the team regrets. 18 minute a game, 5-6 million dollar players start becoming cap liabilities and malcontents more often than not. If they bring back Swift they are gonna have to expand his role, and behind Gasol that's gonna be tough to do.

Posted by BRIGGS:

thats the cost of a good big man. the Pistons gave 33 year old Elden Cambell 3 years 15 the sonics gave calvin booth jerome james 5mm etc... a good big man will make 5-6 mm and at 65 years old, I dont think Jerry cares about the last 3 years on his contract. It wasnt brain science to figure out if they were willing to pay him 6mm next year--theyd be more than willing to pay him 5.

and they gave campbell 3 years with an opt out after 2 @ 4mil per. so this "65" year old player is only really worth $8-9mil while swift would be for a guaranteed $40 mil - BIG DIFFERENCE.

you have to realize that not every team can operate under the knicks financial umbrella. if they commit to swift, then they're handtied when it comes to their other free agents coming up. west's philosphy is to amass as much talent as possible, build them up, then try to move them for a superstar. committing $40 mil to a bench player seriously hinders that.

no i dont go on what the papers, I actually listen to the GMs. Like I said, it doesnt take brain science to understand that if Memphis was willing to pay stromile 6mm this year--theyd be more than happy to pay him 5. That is the going rate for a good big man. and same thing with chicago--i believe just like the nets--they are willing to let the market dictate Crawfords salary and than match OR they may come in with an offer just about the MLE perhaps 5 years 33mm with opt outs after 3. Chicago has been bad for 7 years now. they cannot afford to let high draft picks who have proven themselves just walk away unless someone radically overpaid. its just common sense. you think they would go into a season with two rookies and a second year player as the starters and leta player who had a 50 point 7 rebound 7 assist game in the last week of the season go without compensation--and i dont mean KT. Of course they wont. We have NO chance at Crawford--if we did he would already be here.

Stromile is not a star- Jerry West has a great eye for talent and will easialy find the next "Stromile" somewhere else without having to spend $40 million.

I am not sure I'd spend $40m on Stro.

Briggs.. the only reason he's getting paid that at all is because he was the #2 draft choice and thats what his rookie salary calls for. That was one of the worst drafts in the last 20 years. Not only is he overpaid right now, but he's moving in the wrong direction in terms of minutes and productions. His 2nd year he average 26 minutes. Then 22, last year it was 19 minutes. See a pattern? Nobody questions his potential. Is his potential worth 40mm to play behind Gasol? I dont think so, and my guess is neither does Jerry. 6 year contracts are not easy to just move, even if they are MLE. The backloaded deal might not matter to Hubie or Jerry but it matter to whoever they want to trade Swift too when he can get minutes behind Gasol.