Who will finish next season with better numbers-- Mason or Pietrus?

[Tully365]

Wow, the French posters really came out of the woodwork on this one.

Still, I don't see a full MLE player. We'll find out soon enough.

There's a chance Orlando agrees with you but decided overpaying a bit and improving the team was a better option than doing nothing. I think it was a good move on their part. They added necessary (and good) defense, and are still not burdened with a contract that is impossible to move if things don't work out.

[TJastal]

Guys like Pietrus, Ariza, Bowen, Posey who have the flexibility to guard a variety of positions and play good defense on all of em, that's a very valuable commodity in today's NBA, and if you look at what Pietrus can do offensively too (and he's only gonna get better at age 26) its a no-brainer to sign this guy up for MLE type money IMO.

[Tully365]

Guys like Pietrus, Ariza, Bowen, Posey who have the flexibility to guard a variety of positions and play good defense on all of em, that's a very valuable commodity in today's NBA, and if you look at what Pietrus can do offensively too (and he's only gonna get better at age 26) its a no-brainer to sign this guy up for MLE type money IMO.

Yeah, and so much just depends on the market. In this free agent market there were lots of teams that could only offer the MLE, and lots of those teams were looking at Pietrus. Orlando acted fast and got their guy. Is it fair that Pietrus will make more next year than Bowen has ever made? Maybe not, but it's not fair that Marbury makes double what Parker makes either. The market is a very imprecise animal, and sometimes you gotta feed it more than you'd like to keep it from eating you.

[objective]

Is it fair that Pietrus will make more next year than Bowen has ever made? Maybe not, but it's not fair that Marbury makes double what Parker makes either. The market is a very imprecise animal, and sometimes you gotta feed it more than you'd like to keep it from eating you.

speaking of the market and Bowen, is it even fair that Roger Mason will be making more than Bowen did his first 5 seasons with the Spurs?

[TJastal]

Yeah, and so much just depends on the market. In this free agent market there were lots of teams that could only offer the MLE, and lots of those teams were looking at Pietrus. Orlando acted fast and got their guy. Is it fair that Pietrus will make more next year than Bowen has ever made? Maybe not, but it's not fair that Marbury makes double what Parker makes either. The market is a very imprecise animal, and sometimes you gotta feed it more than you'd like to keep it from eating you.

Well, Bowen is 37 years old, on the downswing, if not the final year of his career. If he was 26 and in his prime right now, I'm sure he could go out in today's market and find himself a similar contract to Pietrus'

So what's your point?

[Tully365]

Well, Bowen is 37 years old, on the downswing, if not the final year of his career. If he was 26 and in his prime right now, I'm sure he could go out in today's market and find himself a similar contract to Pietrus'

So what's your point?

I agree. My point is that the market fluctuates, and the front office of a single team has little ability to change that. You have to decide if you want to add pieces or if you want to stand pat. When Bowen was in his prime, age-wise, not many teams went after him. in retrospect, he was an amazing bargain for the Spurs. But the Spurs paid more per year for Rasho and for Malik Rose than they did for Bowen, hoping those guys would contribute more than they did. Again, the market made it necessary to overpay-- Rasho was a guy with "potential" and he was 7'0". If Rasho had continued to grow and had become a 13 pt/8 reb per game type of player, the Spurs would have had themselves a deal. But he didn't, and they traded him for a more reasonable contract-- Matt Bonner's. Bowen, on the other hand, did work out.... but still never made more than Rasho. Life isn't always fair...