Article: Estimating Tre Jones' Next Contract

[MultiTroll]

Justified or not....... because of his leadership skills in the locker room, then it’s worth it IMO. Tre has been praised for his community service work and almost won an award for it last season.

The Patty Mills Championship Culture type stuff?

I saw zero improvement on the court during the Pop n Patty n Bryn Culture Club years.

[DAF86]

Unknown to who? This guy is almost 30 with more tape than Tre.

Unknown in the NBA. If he translates his game to the league, then there's no question I would rather have Micic over Tre. Are you ing serious?

[scott]

We’ll probably sign him to a contract that pisses everyone off, much like Doug’s, for it to eventually turn out to be irrelevant, like Doug’s.

[onechance87]

We’ll probably sign him to a contract that pisses everyone off, much like Doug’s, for it to eventually turn out to be irrelevant, like Doug’s.

yup...im expecting us to over pay him like 15 million a year over 4 years or some

[rankingtear]

Unknown in the NBA. If he translates his game to the league, then there's no question I would rather have Micic over Tre. Are you ing serious?

Seriously, a 29 year old rookie guard from euro league? Making a successful jump at 29 has not been done since the cold war. I'll take Tre low ceiling.

[cutewizard]

We really need a lead guard

[cutewizard]

Tony Parker can come out of retirement hahahahah

[MultiTroll]

What % of our season hinges on Tre Jones next contract?

[exstatic]

Well that’s the thing: do you think $10MM is “starting PG” money? I’m not sure it is, especially not in years 3 or 4 of the deal when the cap has increased.

Regardless, if you’re investing in Tre it should be assumed that, long-term, he’s likely just a reliable “floor general” for the bench unit and you still need an answer at starting PG. I would hope that we’re not considering just rolling with Tre for the next 2-3 years with no intention of bringing in any other PG talent whether it be through the draft, FA, or trades.

It's really not even right now. If you consider that contracts are approaching $60M/yr, $10M is like a solid rotation player contract.

[JuneJive]

I really don't see a problem with extending Jones for however many years if the price is reasonable, let's say ~11M.

He's smart, gritty, knows how to set up players, push the pace, be the floor general -- Pop's right hand man.
Won't complain. Won't be a defensive liability.

And what's most important, in close games he won't be one of the closers.

You have him for the start of the game where he does all the little things. Basically empowering his teammates.

When clutch time comes, he will most probably be on the bench. What's not to like in this, a very probable, scenario?

[duncan2150]

Let the market set his price, i don't see a cap space team offering him something ( maybe Houston or Utah if they really want a PG ) so he could have some MLE tough i'm not sur about that

Imo if the Spurs offers him something like 33/3 years that could be ok for both.

[DAF86]

Seriously, a 29 year old rookie guard from euro league? Making a successful jump at 29 has not been done since the cold war. I'll take Tre low ceiling.

At 4/40 nobody should take Tre's low ceiling.

[spurraider21]

i dont see a cap space team offering him 4/40, nor do i see above the cap teams blowing almost their entire MLE on tre jones

[Extra Stout]

If the Spurs strike out on acquiring a FA big man, might they overpay Tre on a shorter-term deal just to reach the salary floor?

[spurraider21]

If the Spurs strike out on acquiring a FA big man, might they overpay Tre on a shorter-term deal just to reach the salary floor?

it bothers me that this appears to be a likely scenario

[SpursFan86]

Assuming this means they’ll extend a qualifying offer, not necessarily saying he’d be surprised if they don’t re-sign him…but leaving here nevertheless.

[spurraider21]

he's getting tendered 100%

as he should

[Seventyniner]

I fully expect the Spurs to let Tre talk to other teams and then match an offer, rather than bid against themselves. The teams with cap space more than the MLE don't have much of a use for Tre anyway.

[MultiTroll]

I fully expect the Spurs to let Tre talk to other teams and then match an offer, rather than bid against themselves. The teams with cap space more than the MLE don't have much of a use for Tre anyway.

I dunno, how big of "Pops Pets" is Tre?

12:01 Patty Mills offer incoming?

[Chomag]

I like Tre , but I think the best thing to do is let him float out a little and see what offers other teams might be willing to pay and match it if its nothing crazy. Non of this 12:01 signing nonsense but sadly I do see this happening.

I don't see any teams looking to throw crazy money at Tre but if that does happen it's not like Tre is an irreplaceable type of player, even though I do feel like he is going to improve even more next season.

[Obstructed_View]

We’ll probably sign him to a contract that pisses everyone off, much like Doug’s, for it to eventually turn out to be irrelevant, like Doug’s.

Instead of that, how heavily can they front load his contract? Does the NBA have some provision against bonuses?

[Jordan Jackson]

Bryn Forbes 2: The Electric Boogaloo

Pop just can’t help himself. A short deal for short money would be ok.

[Ariel]

And if that's the case, that's just me being wrong and misinterpreting what they meant. I would certainly apologize for that. I don't think the greater debate is affected by that. The point isn't about whether Jones was one of the better PGs or even that he started last year and thus should get paid now for what he did then. I think a lot of people have cleaved to that notion that Jones is a backup. He's only a backup if he's actually backing up someone. If they're signing him expecting him to start, he would be justified in asking for a starter's salary. If they're signing him to be a backup, he wouldn't be justified (in my mind) to ask for that. Too many people are caught up in how good he was when the bigger factors for me concern what the team is going to do with the position now. If they don't upgrade from Jones, they don't have the same leverage some folks think.

But yes, this entire side spiral Ariel and I are having could be mainly because I wrongly interpreted something they said. That would be completely my bad and I could understand why me calling that interpretation dishonest would seem inappropriate. Do I care about whether I have a "habit" of it? No. But yeah, I would look pretty foolish.

I meant "fighting for minutes with Blake Wesley" as in overlapping roles compete for limited playing time and Blake was about the only available alternative for Tre (other than guys out of position and Graham later on) as I expanded in a follow-up post:

Players aren't starters or backups in a vacuum, being a starter is conditioned upon a certain set of cir stances over a period of time.

He got the starting job on a team where the possible alternatives to his role were rookies (Wesley) or players whose contribution was deemed detrimental by their teams (Graham) and we took on in a salary dump for compensation, or were situationally playing out of position (e.g.: Sochan).

Starting isn't the end all be all, as Killian Hayes and Tyus Jones exemplify at opposite sides of the spectrum, and that context is exactly what I mean by saying that "Tre was fighting for minutes with Blake Wesley". Who if not him (and later Graham) and a bunch of players out of position were playing PG? How is pointing that out "dishonest" (i.e., purposefully deceiving) when it's a factual description of those cir stances?

It never occurred to me that it could be reasonably interpreted as me implying they were on even terms or that it wasn't clear who had the nod, when Tre started in 65 out of 68 games and Blake only 1 out of 37 (and may be out of the league within a year or two). My point is that under those cir stances (tanking team with virtually no compe ion) being a "starter" doesn't really say much, just as it doesn't for Killan Hayes (who started most of the season for Detroit's tanktastic job).
To sum up, I don't think the Spurs should re-sign Tre "to start". , I'd even argue if they do he might bet on himself and go for LESS money just to take advantage of an opportunity he wouldn't be afforded anywhere else in the league. But if his role last season got to his head and that's his argument ("starter role, starter money"), maybe it's time to call the Wizards and get Monte Morris for a future 2nd (to "meet the salary floor") and put a fire under his butt. He's a good player but the Spurs can easily get an affordable and competent replacement.

PS: it's "he", as in (former Israeli Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon. Here in Argentina (where I'm from) Ariel is a boy's name.

[SpursFan86]

Unsurprising news but Spurs officially tendered a qualifying offer according to Tre’s agent.

[MultiTroll]

Please get this over with one way or the other.