01-28-2024, 10:58 AM
(01-28-2024, 10:55 AM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: I guess what I’m saying is I don’t totally buy what Marks is saying as an absolute and certainly not as it pertains to Dallas and these rookie scale guys in particular. I agree that teams are going to want to avoid the second apron if they aren’t in it. We may see teams take steps to get under it in the next two weeks (Miami?).
Rookie scale deals have two values in a 2-apron world. If your rookie is good enough to contribute (Lively) it allows you to spend elsewhere until their extension kicks in. If you are really good and already pushing the 2nd apron, your rookie scale extensions are a way to step over the line temporarily if you already have the depth needed to compete the next season or two. But, eventually your depth will dwindle and you won’t have a path to replace it adequately. Denver will be an interesting test for this. Do their rookies adequately replace Brown?
But, it is all situational and the rookie scale guy has to be the right rookie scale guy. If you have tied up too much money into 3rd/4th/5th/6th man types, you have to balance that with something (either a lack of stars or rookies). I think what we are seeing with the contracts that were handed out this summer is teams will try to hold the line on certain archetypes. Outside of Grant, VanVleet and maybe Bruce Brown’s one year guarantee, everyone else kind of slotted into the reality of their place on a team. Even some stars like Irving, Middleton and Draymond took “discounts” to what they might have demanded in years past. I think once teams work off some bad deals, we’ll see more of this slotting. Good players on rookie scale deals will always be valuable. But right now Hardy doesn’t fit that definition, the path for him to ‘prove-it’ is difficult and he’s a year from RFA. I would have no issue cutting that cord for the right opportunity despite what Marks says. I think doing so would actually help OMax over time, so there is an additional benefit to doing so.
This all makes sense.
I just wonder (not suggest, just wonder) whether or not the day is coming when staying below the 2nd apron OVERTLY takes priority over winning for the vast majority of teams, to the point where the situations don't matter, only the salary. As in, almost no middle class, whatsoever.