I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt about playing so great this year in what happened to be a contract year, but I just looked at his career stats and I see that he did the exact same thing the last time he was in a contract year too. His only season other than last year that was impressive was his 2nd season when he put up 12/9 and was "coincidentally" also in a contract year. I'm a little more skeptical now. He'd still be an upgrade over Nazy, but I'd have some concerns about giving him a long-term contract. Given Damps' history, I think I'd prefer Big Z, although I'd still be happy to get Damps.

I don't see why people keep bringing up the "contract year", if you look at his stats for those two years you would also see that those two seasons were the only two seasons in which he got more than 30mpg. You have to remember that Dampier has been splitting a lot of his minutes with Foyle and as a result his numbers aren't as good as they could be. However, if he comes to the East and gets to play with Stephon Marbury for over 30 mpg I have no doubt that his numbers would go up even higher than last year. I think his production has more to do with getting more minutes and staying healthy than him being in his contract year.

[Edited by - s3231 on 07/14/2004 14:58:37]