yeah lets sign your boy Fesenko for the MAX instead. Might cure your Asperger syndrome one of these days.
Why further lower your credibility by making and irrelevant comment--and by resorting to hyperbole? Even I would acknowledge that Fes is not worth the max and is probably not worth the MLE.
As for AK, he will be a 30+ role player with increasing back spasm (and other) problems and who has'nt been a big factor in any of the playoff series over the last 4 years. Oh, he surely deserves a 9 mil per yer contract, right? Because it wont be the Utah Jazz if we did'nt have atleast one overpaid role player on the team consistently underperforming in the playoffs.
I guess it depends on what you call "big factor". While the injuries of the last two seasons are a big negative, it doesn't relegate Kirilenko to the MLE. He started
every game of the first two playoff seasons of the past four years, and he averaged nearly 10 points per game and more than 2 blocks per game in those playoff tournaments. In the real world (not yours), the standard for such production is more than the MLE.
So, Boozer prevented AK from helping him play better defense? Funny crap.
Not funny at all. It is widely known that Boozer is a pathetic defender, and it's difficult to provide good help defense if the initial man-to-man defense sucks. Unlike your spewing, I'll actually provide a citation also.
The 2006–2007 season was a tremendous disappointment for Kirilenko. While playing in 70 games and not missing much playing time, he averaged career lows in points (8.3), rebounds (4.7), and field goal attempts (3.4). It has been said that much of this decline can be attributed to the main offensive emphasis on Carlos Boozer, Deron Williams, and Mehmet Okur, and that Kirilenko was uncomfortable losing his position as the main go-to guy on the team. His frustration eventually culminated in a widely-publicized breakdown near the end of the Jazz's first-round playoffs series against the Houston Rockets. Kirilenko bounced back to lead Russia to the championship in EuroBasket 2007, and was named MVP of the tournament. Following his performance in the 2007 European championship he asked to be released from his contract to return to Russia to play basketball.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Kirilenko_(basketball)#Utah_Jazz_.281999-present.29
It's also no secret that Kirilenko's involvement in the offense and "touches" went way down with Carlos Boozer, who probably didn't put forth any effort whatsoever in involving AK in the offense because it potentially would've reduced CB's precious stat line.
If you had read my post carefully, actually the very first line, I had talked about giving him MORE than the mid-level as the debatable part, especially if he doesnt have a stellar season. I never said he was not worth or "barely worth" the mid-level. I even said the Jazz FO can redeem themselves by making AK agree to a mid-level contract. Which part of that did you not get?
OK yes, I misread that had actually allowed the notion that AK would warrant more than the MLE. My apologies.
Then you go on to say that it's "foolish to spend 8-9 mil year on a guy who has screwed this franchise for the last 5 years" when his effort has been decent--not outstanding--and wasn't screwing anybody; he was playing under an arms-length, two-way contract, and he wasn't even using his "free pass" from Masha (lol).
The tone of your rant struck me as undervaluing AK, and the SF "comps" are well above the MLE. You confirmed that the Jazz "can redeem themselves by making AK agree to a mid-level contract." Such a notion is silly; few players--if any--do that. Under your logic, the Jazz owe Matthews a check for starting much of the season on a minimum rookie contract << rolleyes >>.
AK can easily go back to Russia for big money or to the Nets for reasonable money. He doesn't have to right a wrong salarywise when it was the Jazz who were in error for giving him so much money. He's not a max guy, but he's not an MLE guy, either.
That's what I focused on, and that's what I stand by.
