Metta World Peace - He makes 7.2 a year and in my opinion is no better than vet's minimum level player. He is way overpaid and at this point, it's not that he's just underachieving. With the salary chunk he takes up, he's hurting the team far more than he's helping.
Pau Gasol - He's making over 2x as much as he should. He should be around Metta's current salary in my opinion, and that's assuming he can be even a shell of the player he was in 2009. He could be done as a productive big man. But I think if he was a 7 million a year player the expectations would be more in line with his abilities and he wouldn't be so bad anymore. I've tried to defend him for years but it's just getting to the point where I can't anymore. Either he's no good or he's not right for the system. Either way, at 19 million he's hurting way more than he's helping.
Steve Blake - Definitely a veteran's minimum player. Overpaid and doesn't contribute enough to warrant a 4 million a year salary when he's on the court.
Chris Duhon - goes without saying. Bad contract, below average player.
Jordan Hill and Jodie Meeks - These are the types of players/contracts we need to have outside the stars. They're players that fit a certain role and are on really good contracts. Also it's much more tolerable to have a 2-3 million dollar player under-perform than a player of Gasol's contract.
I honestly don't know if we can compete until after next year when all the contracts come off the books and we can reload with players that are worthy of their contracts and role players that don't make 8 million a year and actually contribute. As it stands now we have the highest paid role player in the league in Pau Gasol. He contributes nothing more than a good role player but makes among the highest salaries in the league. That is not a recipe for a championship team. Our cap situation is no better than Brooklyn, who has too much money tied up in Joe Johnson and Lopez. They're stuck in cap hell and so are we. Luckily we get some relief in two years.
I also think the chemistry of this team is a problem, whether people want to say it's overblown or not. It may not implode like Shaq and Kobe did, but their lack of chemistry is a problem.
I'm going to continue to watch every game and be a fan, but I'm officially a member of the doom and gloom group. I hope they can prove me wrong.
Edited by zmarchbank, January 06, 2013 - 03:24 PM.
