D-Loser25 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 07, 2025 10:52 am
There’s a lot of overpaid players in the nba, and make no mistake, Naz Reid is one of them. Listen to the national guys who don’t have the Homer glasses on… it’s a forgone conclusion that contract was an overpay. Now if you wanna overpay to keep your guy happy and/or you’re too lazy to find that same production elsewhere for half the price, that’s fine. But it’s still an overpay.
If he leaves you still don't have any cap space to spend right now, so you now have no player and can't get one without using TMLE, etc... That is how this new CBA works, you can resign your own players and be over the cap, you can't sign other players while over the cap. You could have played hardball, but then he says I'll wait till next year to hopefully really cash in when lots of teams are projected to have cap space and maybe he opts in but is disgruntled all year. He could have even left now and you have no player and can't get one either.
It was basically sign him to this deal or he's gone and you still can't get a player. So it was Naz at this deal or no player and no return.
Yep, I get it. If I’m TC I offer the lower contract. If he chooses to opt in for the one year and is disgruntled, then I trade him during the year and that isn’t a good look for him coming up for a long term deal. If someone else nabs him this offseason because I low balled, great, then I would use use the full TMLE or maybe even the MLE or whatever I’m left with… AND maybe even resign NAW or trade naw for a useful player. Also, maybe it’s time to take a one year break from the LUX and let the young guys develop. Just saying I know all the risks and I would have low balled both NaZ and Reid. If Naz walks, there’s always ways to get higher salary players back. Don’t fool yourself. You don’t think Indiana can replace most of Myles turners salary this coming year if they really want to?
In the end TC did a fine job. Naz got his long term security and big payday, even if most NBA guys would say he's slightly underpaid. Having that security versus getting injured, etc... You never know. So maybe he took less then he could have got in FA next year. But thats a gamble.
The other thing to consider is that NBA contracts are going up and up. This isn't even a raise in the end! It's merely a continuation of his current deal. Really to say he is overpaid in this new deal, you need to think he's overpaid last year too.
If he leaves you still don't have any cap space to spend right now, so you now have no player and can't get one without using TMLE, etc... That is how this new CBA works, you can resign your own players and be over the cap, you can't sign other players while over the cap. You could have played hardball, but then he says I'll wait till next year to hopefully really cash in when lots of teams are projected to have cap space and maybe he opts in but is disgruntled all year. He could have even left now and you have no player and can't get one either.
It was basically sign him to this deal or he's gone and you still can't get a player. So it was Naz at this deal or no player and no return.
Yep, I get it. If I’m TC I offer the lower contract. If he chooses to opt in for the one year and is disgruntled, then I trade him during the year and that isn’t a good look for him coming up for a long term deal. If someone else nabs him this offseason because I low balled, great, then I would use use the full TMLE or maybe even the MLE or whatever I’m left with… AND maybe even resign NAW or trade naw for a useful player. Also, maybe it’s time to take a one year break from the LUX and let the young guys develop. Just saying I know all the risks and I would have low balled both NaZ and Reid. If Naz walks, there’s always ways to get higher salary players back. Don’t fool yourself. You don’t think Indiana can replace most of Myles turners salary this coming year if they really want to?
In the end TC did a fine job. Naz got his long term security and big payday, even if most NBA guys would say he's slightly underpaid. Having that security versus getting injured, etc... You never know. So maybe he took less then he could have got in FA next year. But thats a gamble.
The other thing to consider is that NBA contracts are going up and up. This isn't even a raise in the end! It's merely a continuation of his current deal. Really to say he is overpaid in this new deal, you need to think he's overpaid last year too.
Well said, Wolvesfan! Naz is the right player for this team now and going forward. They were able to lock him in for four years at a reasonable price, bring back all the critical pieces from last season’s Western Conference Finals squad and still get the payroll below the 2nd apron. Naz, Donte and even Randle all have moveable contracts just in case the organization needs to pivot. We have four very talented young upside players under 25 years old (TSJ, Clark, Dilly, Miller) plus two talented bigs from this year’s draft. Our draft cupboards remain pretty empty but we are otherwise well positioned.
Are there some things I wish TC had done differently? Yes. I wish he had moved Randle in a sign-and-trade and then signed Tyus Jones and either Looney or Kornet. But I can’t complain much about where we’re at right now. The keys to this team’s success next season remain: (1) continued improvement from Ant and Jaden; (2) a better season from Donte, which I consider likely; and (3) contributions from our young upside guys, primarily TSJ, Clark and Dilly. If just one of those three steps up and has a great year, that will bodes well for this team’s success next season. I think Dilly will be very good next season if given the chance but I also expect quite a few mistakes from him as a 20 year old in his second season after very little playing time last season.
Last edited by Lipoli390 on Tue Jul 08, 2025 11:49 am, edited 2 times in total.
Yep, I get it. If I’m TC I offer the lower contract. If he chooses to opt in for the one year and is disgruntled, then I trade him during the year and that isn’t a good look for him coming up for a long term deal. If someone else nabs him this offseason because I low balled, great, then I would use use the full TMLE or maybe even the MLE or whatever I’m left with… AND maybe even resign NAW or trade naw for a useful player. Also, maybe it’s time to take a one year break from the LUX and let the young guys develop. Just saying I know all the risks and I would have low balled both NaZ and Reid. If Naz walks, there’s always ways to get higher salary players back. Don’t fool yourself. You don’t think Indiana can replace most of Myles turners salary this coming year if they really want to?
In the end TC did a fine job. Naz got his long term security and big payday, even if most NBA guys would say he's slightly underpaid. Having that security versus getting injured, etc... You never know. So maybe he took less then he could have got in FA next year. But thats a gamble.
The other thing to consider is that NBA contracts are going up and up. This isn't even a raise in the end! It's merely a continuation of his current deal. Really to say he is overpaid in this new deal, you need to think he's overpaid last year too.
Well said, Wolvesfan! Naz is the right player for this team now and going forward. They were able to lock him in for four years at a reasonable price, bring back all the critical pieces from last season’s Western Conference Finals squad and still get the payroll below the 2nd apron. Naz, Donte and even Randle all have moveable contracts just in case the organization needs to pivot. We have four very talented young upside players under 25 years old (TSJ, Clark, Dilly, Miller) plus two talented bigs from this year’s draft. Our draft cupboards remain pretty empty but we are otherwise well positioned.
Are there some things I wish TC had done differently? Yes. I wish he had moved Randle in a sign-and-trade and then signed Tyus Jones are either Looney or Kornet. But I can’t complain much about where we’re at right now. The keys to this team’s success next season remain: (1) continued improvement from Ant and Jaden; (2) a better season from Donte, which I consider likely; and (3) contributions from our young upside guys, primarily TSJ, Clark and Dilly. If just one of those three steps up and has a great year, that will bode well for this team’s success next season. I think Dilly will be very good next season if given the chance but I also expect quite a few mistakes from him as a 20 year old in his second season after very little playing time last season.
Agreed on all points. Our success this year looks to really hinge on our youth. I'm optimistic that they all take big steps forward as we will need them to in order to beat OKC or likely even the retooled Houston and Denver squads. We might be 4th or 5th favorites unless we get leaps from the youth. Then we got a shot!
