Maggette Has Second Thoughts About Not Signing With Spurs

[The Franchise]

I love it when I hear fans say they would turn down millions for a chance at a championship. You are some lying mother ers! You say that because the reality is you aren't being offered millions, so you don't have anything to put your false pretense up against. 99% of you would do a 180 if that type of finacial security was made tangible for you. Lying to others is a common practice. Lying to yourself is a little sociopathic so please don't do it.

[SmellyFeet]

I love it when I hear fans say they would turn down millions for a chance at a championship. You are some lying mother ers! You say that because the reality is you aren't being offered millions, so you don't have anything to put your false pretense up against. 99% of you would do a 180 if that type of finacial security was made tangible for you. Lying to others is a common practice. Lying to yourself is a little sociopathic so please don't do it.

Great post. Most of us wouldn't't see a couple mil in our whole life's, this is beyond anything we can fathom really.

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

I love it when I hear fans say they would turn down millions for a chance at a championship. You are some lying mother ers! You say that because the reality is you aren't being offered millions, so you don't have anything to put your false pretense up against. 99% of you would do a 180 if that type of finacial security was made tangible for you. Lying to others is a common practice. Lying to yourself is a little sociopathic so please don't do it.

I agree with you. Saying that 35 mil is the same as 50 mil, or even remotely close is nonsense.15 mil is more money than we could even dream of getting our whole life.It's not like we offered him 35 mil and he went for 37. So, I can't blame him and it seems like it's a win/win situation.

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

Didn't Karl Malone take like an $18M pay cut to join the Lakers in '04? I know he wasn't going to get tens of millions, but I'm pretty sure he took the vet min.

Funny thing is, he never got his ring. If Corey had taken millions less for a better shot at the championship there's no guarantee he would ever get it...so take the sure thing ($$$$).

Yeah, Malone did at the end of his career, you're right.

I love it when I hear fans say they would turn down millions for a chance at a championship. You are some lying mother ers! You say that because the reality is you aren't being offered millions, so you don't have anything to put your false pretense up against. 99% of you would do a 180 if that type of finacial security was made tangible for you. Lying to others is a common practice. Lying to yourself is a little sociopathic so please don't do it.

Which totally misses the point. Your case is going from nothing to millions, which of course none of us would turn down, but we are talking about a guy who has already played 9 years in the league and already has 10s of millions of dollars making a choice about the best team for the rest of his useful career. At that point he has a choice to take max money and play for a poor team, or less money to maybe win it all. 5 Spurs players we have already named did the latter, admittedly giving up less money than Magette would have had to. Maggette and most other athletes choose the former, and that's their choice, but it doesn't mean that everyone would behave the same way.

Going by this thread, some of us would choose personal satisfaction over extra dollars that we could never spend anyway. If you can't see that you are a fool. News flash - not everyone centres their life purpose around maximising their income because there are other values by which to live a life.

It's a real pity that money has so perverted our societies that most people only ever think the way you do, or are forced to by cir stances once they've buried themselves in the (everything on debt) McMansion-SUV-plasma TV-keeping up with the Joneses-grass is greener illusion that surrounds us all. But then I really don't expect you to have a clue what I'm talking about.

[hitmanyr2k]

I love it when I hear fans say they would turn down millions for a chance at a championship. You are some lying mother ers! You say that because the reality is you aren't being offered millions, so you don't have anything to put your false pretense up against. 99% of you would do a 180 if that type of finacial security was made tangible for you. Lying to others is a common practice. Lying to yourself is a little sociopathic so please don't do it.

You make it sound like Maggette is starting from scratch or something. That MF already has loot. You're telling me that if you had millions stowed away from wasting your career losing year after year with the Clippers that you wouldn't seriously think about taking a little paycut to play for a contender? If you're not putting yourself in a position for some kind of success then what the are you playing for?

[m33p0]

karl malone had to take a paycut, otherwise there was no way he was getting on the laker bus.

what's more relevant are players who either took a paycut or accepted smaller contracts to 'build' a contender. malone doesn't belong to that list. lakers were a contender with or without him.

[JPB]

Many folks talk about taking less money to win, but as far as I've seen only Manu, Tony and Tim have actually followed through on it (can you name any other NBA players who have?).

C'est la NBA, and c'est la Spurs. That's why I love our guys.

As for those who think that you have to take the money because it's there, check your heads. Really, what is the difference between 35mil and 50mil? Is that going to cripple the rest of his life, leaving that money on the table. No freakin way. This is just a sign of the ridiculous obsession that the world has about money - it is NOT the be all, it is a means to an end... and 35 vs 50 million don't mean .

Agreed.

Once you have more than you and your family need to live really really well for the rest of your life, it should allow you to consider what money can't bring you.

[Kori Ellis]

Some guys don't play "to win it all." They play because they love basketball, or because they want to make as much money as possible. If a player wants to make as much money as he can, maybe it's to secure the future of himself, his kids and his kid's kids and so on. Maybe it's so he can give more to charity. Maybe it's so he can just spend it on cars and women. Who knows.

I just think it's funny that everyone thinks players should always turn down more money for a shot to play with the Spurs. It wasn't a little difference for Maggette. It was a huge difference - about $20 million. Maybe he wants to secure the future of his grandkids, who knows. The Spurs weren't even the favorite for a le going into this season or anything.

[JPB]

I wasn't necesseraly talking about the spurs, but in general.
It's clear that the majority of the players choose money over their career.

I'm not sure either that they don't regret it at some point of their career or life, when they look back at what they've lived or accomplished (for those who really like the game anyway).

It's their right to choose money but I don't think they're doing this for their children or grandchildren. They would have more than enough in any case and have to accomplish something in their life anyway other than living on Dad's or Grandad's money.

They're just doing it for the money and what it represents nowadays.

If you look at the coaches and people who are still involved in the Game today, that's people who had respect for the game in their player's career, earned consideration and respect from other people, made solid relationships not based on money which will last their whole life.
And they're still making good money after that player's career.

[Brazil]

The guy will be crazy to accept the spurs proposal over GS. We are not talking about 10% less but about 40% less !

Let's imagine you on the same situation you have a decent job and you have good results, your value market is up : a company is offering you 40% more than a well established company with the same kind of contract, what do you do honestly ?

Ok he won't win les with GS but in counterpart he has a better contract, the possibility to be the franchise player and a good challenge in front of him to help GS to grow.

[mrspurs]

I cant believe yall are still rambling on Cory and money. hahahahaha.....Wait yes I can.

[SpursIndonesia]

Nothing's guaranteed regarding championship, while 40% more money is written in letter. There are quite few retired NBA players who has gone bankrupt, while having millions in the bank before hand, i think Magette realizes that well. You guys think that it's monompoly money that we're talking about, well, life's hard and could be unforgiving with just one mistake financially, so 20 mil of more security is pretty much a logical way to go in his case.

[spurspokesman]

Yeah, like them living in a fantasy world with their monopoly money, and not giving a about the game and just money.

Maggette is the epitome of that.

We don't need him. We just need a few good men (mason-hill) and a big besides duncan that can spell rebound and well be able to make some noise as usual

[VaSpursFan]

everything worked out in the end. cory got his money and we have the player that our system needed. mason is a much better fit than c. magg anyway. c. magg can get to the foul line but mason spreads the d for us, is a better passer and is a uva shooter off the dribble.

[Dex]

I don't blame him for taking the money. I think that was pretty much common sense.

I just think it's funny for him to come back later, 15 millions dollar richer, and give the "if things had been different" excuse just because you just got your ass handed to you.

Sure, hindsight is 20/20, but that also seems a little unfair to the locker room that he chose to be in. How much support do you think his teammates feel about that statement?

It's funny to hear on our side, but it's probably one of those cases where he would've been better keeping his mouth shut.

[The Franchise]

Yeah, Malone did at the end of his career, you're right.



Which totally misses the point. Your case is going from nothing to millions, which of course none of us would turn down, but we are talking about a guy who has already played 9 years in the league and already has 10s of millions of dollars making a choice about the best team for the rest of his useful career. At that point he has a choice to take max money and play for a poor team, or less money to maybe win it all. 5 Spurs players we have already named did the latter, admittedly giving up less money than Magette would have had to. Maggette and most other athletes choose the former, and that's their choice, but it doesn't mean that everyone would behave the same way.

Going by this thread, some of us would choose personal satisfaction over extra dollars that we could never spend anyway. If you can't see that you are a fool. News flash - not everyone centres their life purpose around maximising their income because there are other values by which to live a life.

It's a real pity that money has so perverted our societies that most people only ever think the way you do, or are forced to by cir stances once they've buried themselves in the (everything on debt) McMansion-SUV-plasma TV-keeping up with the Joneses-grass is greener illusion that surrounds us all. But then I really don't expect you to have a clue what I'm talking about.

You speak so definitively about a situation of which you have no experience of living under. How can you say how much money is enough when your situation is totally different? Your point that there are other values by which to live a life is a relative one. You live your life by the values you choose because your cir stances dictate those values. To say that your outlook would not be a little different if you lived your entire adult life under wealth and privilege is a little hard to swallow. I do think that you believe in different values as you stated. I also think that if your cir stances were changed your values would be different as well.

[King]

A ring is nice and all, but how many ex-players have ended up selling their trophies/rings because the well has dried up?

In 20 years, being a role player on a possible championship team is a nice story to tell - but being able to support yourself is nicer.

How many of you would turn down a much higher paying job in your field, at a still good company - for a lesser paying job, where the company is a bit better?

[Tully365]

Despite playing nearly double the minutes per game, Maggette averages fewer assists than Oberto.

[Dex]

I wonder if Charles Barkley would've given up 15 million for a championship.

Or John Stockton...

Or Karl Malone...

Or Reggie Miller...

Or....

[The Franchise]

I wonder if Charles Barkley would've given up 15 million for a championship.

Or John Stockton...

Or Karl Malone...

Or Reggie Miller...

Or....

I'd guess no. Well Karl Malone tried and failed.

[rascal]

After years of making 8 and 9 million a year, and probobly over a career you've totaled 50 to 60 million, then yes I would've taken the less money over a couple years to sign for a championships.

Stuff it.

Agree. How many millions do you greedy bas s need to live on?

[m33p0]

funny how Magette and the Spurs wanted the same thing... Money.

[Bruno]

We will never know if Maggette would have been good in SA. The only sure thing is that Mason has been very good so far and he has a short contract which allow Spurs to try to get some big FAs in 2010.

Maggette choose the money over a shot at a le. It's his choice and I don't see how I can judge him for that.

[Fingaroll44]

Fortunately for Maggette, he can cry himself to sleep over his decision in a big bag of money.

lol...u mean his bed pillow?

[Fingaroll44]

Nothing's guaranteed regarding championship, while 40% more money is written in letter. There are quite few retired NBA players who has gone bankrupt, while having millions in the bank before hand, i think Magette realizes that well. You guys think that it's monompoly money that we're talking about, well, life's hard and could be unforgiving with just one mistake financially, so 20 mil of more security is pretty much a logical way to go in his case.

aww boo hoo.... a fool and his money are soon parted....no matter how little or great said money may be