General

Philly Prints Money to Pay Iguodala

Aug 13, 2008, 3:50 PM UTC

After all that, Andre Iguodala appears poised to land one of the heaviest contracts of the summer. While still not official, we’re talking $80 million for six years, plus incentives. That’s more than anyone signed these last few months, except for new teammate Elton Brand or the Wizards’ Gilbert Arenas. It’s certainly more than Josh Smith, who early this week saw the Grizzlies’ 5 year, $58 million offer matched.â†µâ†µThat’s at least $2 million more a year for Iggy. Luol Deng’s re-up with the Bulls -- six years, $71 million, incentives -- also edged out Smith’s contract. This when J-Smoovizzoozle, while still inconsistent, is by most rational estimations an often dominant player of sky-high potential. Iguodala is a swingman who passes well, defends, and doesn’t like to ruffle feathers. Semi-versatile, sort-of scorer Deng has proven even less than Smith, who only happens to be Marcus Camby in James Posey’s body with the offensive mentality of an imperfect Dwyane Wade. And no, I’m not biased because I just interviewed him.â†µ

â†µâ†µInstead of expressing outrage on behalf of Smith, let’s come at this from another angle: I know that two players set the market value, not one guy at the mercy of two horrid organizations. But seriously, is anyone in Philly or Chicago feeling 100% jazzed about these long-term deals? That’s a lot of money. And no way either of those cats is better than Monta Ellis, who’s younger, still improving, and oh yeah, got Josh Smith money.â†µ

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â†µI know we like to talk about "setting the market", and players (and their agents) frantically monitor what the other man's getting. But the bottom line is that, while Smith should've gotten more by these standards, using Iguodala and Deng as points of reference seems a bit weird to me. Those are silly contracts that teams and fans will regret. Smith, on the other hand, is emminently tradeable if the Hawks let him down, and won't wreck a franchise with his salary. Then, at the musty age of 28, he gets a max deal, while Iguodala and Deng will most likely come at a discount next time they're free and disengaged.â†µ

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â†µBONUS: Ziller breaks down the '04 class' contracts, graph style. Average salary per year is in green, PER is shown in player's team color (sorta):â†µ

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