re: 7mil for Palacio.....!

[bird <birdwl@earthlink.net>]

>  From: "Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>
>
> I like Palacio, but this is
> just too much money. There's no way there was a market out there for this
> guy at $3.5 mil per year, regardless of the length of the deal.

Someone emailed me off-list and mentioned that the Fakers were reported to 
want to offer Milt the 4.5 million exception. Maybe if he reads this he'll 
post more info to the List, if there is any.

> It feels
> like the McCarty contract. You can talk about it "only" being two years, 
> but
> the way Wallace keeps talking about the budget over the next two years, it
> would seem to even further hinder any roster movement.

How?  Again, the Celts are 1) over the cap, 2) under the luxury tax 
(presumably) and 3) aren't going to be engaging in any roster movement.  
If this hinders the ability to do something they weren't going to do 
anyway, what's the problem?  Looks like the C's are lining up contracts to 
expire in two years -- that they limit their flexibility for those two 
years means very little to them, I think.

[from another post:]
> Tyronn Lue signed for $3.6 mil over two years with Washington. We can 
> argue
> over who is better, but I'd say Lue and Palacio are comparable. And the
> Celtics paid double for Milt, and for the same length of contract.

While I agree that Lue and Milt are comparable talent-wise (and probably 
have similar potential, as far as I can judge right now), the fallacy here 
is that NBA teams pay according to talent.  Not so -- teams pay because 
they need a certain player's size, or ball-handling, or shooting, or to 
fill a team need.  This is why the BWS get paid well -- they are tall.  We 
can sit here and decry the salaries players get compared to ours all we 
like, but you know what?  Teams will still pay money for players they want.
   Teams don't care about these "piddling" (and, boy, would I like to have 
a small chunk of it) contracts, they care about the 120 million over six 
or seven year contracts, and the like.  Who knows, maybe Mega Milt will 
turn out to be worth it.  Wait, and watch to see how he plays.  And if he 
doesn't pan out, at least the team doesn't have some guy warming the bench 
or stashed on the IL (like Kenny), or a guy warming up his vocals cords 
and getting precious few minutes like McCarty for multiple years.  In the 
end, Palacio's contract is nothing like McCarty's -- Milt will probably 
play (maybe even start) and (dare I say it?) might even be productive.

(The Celtic "Tird",
  Celticus "tirdius")