[外電] Nate為什麼要不到合約?
看板ChicagoBulls作者AhUtopian (It's my Life)時間11年前 (2013/07/16 14:06)推噓5(5推 0噓 10→)留言15則, 5人參與討論串1/3 (看更多)
Nate Robinson, the NBA's vagrant offensive bargain
http://ppt.cc/mcN7
Nearly all of the major pieces have been snatched off the board as NBA free
agency pushes into its third week, bringing forth a few undeniable lessons in
this year's run to acquire veteran talent. Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov openly
stands in defiance of the luxury tax, stars still very much want to team up
with other stars and the price of acquiring first-round picks in what's
presumed to be a loaded 2014 draft class has skyrocketed.
All things considered, veterans are still finding their money under the new
CBA, but there is one kind of player who seems to be getting squeezed out:
the undersized scoring guard. Nate Robinson exemplifies their struggle better
than anyone.
The cascade of activity, rumored or concrete, makes the start of every free
agency period feel like a broken dam of information, but it still took nearly
two full weeks for even the smallest rumble to come from Robinson's market.
According to ESPN's Marc Stein, the Denver Nuggets are interested in the
pint-sized scoring dynamo, and the Chicago Bulls are not keen on bringing
him back due to the reservations of coach Tom Thibodeau. So far, that's all
we know.
An apparent lack of suitors might come as a surprise to the 29-year-old
Robinson, but it's certainly nothing new. Robinson has earned over $20
million playing in the NBA, but the end of his prime has been marked by
minimum contracts even as his game has held up as well as ever.
It's likely that Robinson thought he was set for a huge raise after turning
in what might have been a career year last season for the Chicago Bulls.
Robinson didn't sign until the last day of July a year ago, and the best he
could do was a non-guaranteed deal from a team that already looked stacked at
point guard. The Bulls had previously signed Kirk Hinrich and drafted
Marquis Teague, and everyone thought they would welcome star Derrick Rose
back from injury at some point in the second half of the season.
Funny how things work out. The Bulls' season was defined by a group striving
to find success. Rose chose to sit out the entire season and make a full
recovery, and Robinson was the main beneficiary. There were times last
season when Nate Robinson did a damn good Derrick Rose impression, and that
extended to clutch performances in postseason games when Chicago needed him
the most.
For Bulls fans, Robinson turned himself into something of a miniature folk
hero. He scored 34 points in an instant-classic triple-overtime victory in
Game 4 of the first-round series against the Nets, with 29 of those points
coming after the third quarter. In Game 6, Robinson was throwing up into a
garbage can on the Bulls' bench after being one of several players to come
down with flu-like symptoms, and he still scored 18 points and nearly
willed the team to a victory.
After Chicago advanced to the second round by winning Game 7 in Brooklyn,
Robinson did it again in the opener against the Heat. LeBron James fell on
his head in the first half, but Robinson closed the fourth quarter scoring
nine of the Bulls’ final 12 points to give Chicago an unthinkable Game 1
victory.
And yet Robinson still waits in free agency, with the hope of signing one
more multi-year contract starting to fade. If Robinson can't coax a decent
amount of change out of some franchise after all he did for the Bulls last
season, it's likely he'll be playing on small deals (if not the minimum)
for the rest of his career.
Robinson isn't the only player of his ilk to find disappointment in free
agency. Bucks point guard Brandon Jennings was hoping to draw a maximum
contract while playing in Milwaukee last season, but the restricted free
agent is still unsigned as his own team made it a priority to give another
point guard (Atlanta's Jeff Teague) an offer sheet before working out a
long-term deal with him. Monta Ellis did get $28 million from the Dallas
Mavericks, but only after the team lost out on Dwight Howard and Andre
Iguodala.
It isn't hard to imagine Ellis drawing much more interest and something
close to a max deal if he entered free agency at this point in his career,
say, four seasons ago. That was when Ben Gordon left the Bulls to sign a
$58 million contract with the Detroit Pistons.
Gordon was terrific for the Bulls during his peak, but there isn't a ton
separating him from Robinson, at least not a $57 million difference.
Gordon is six inches taller but is still undersized at two-guard. Robinson
made over 40 percent of this three-pointers on greater than four attempts
per game last season, something Gordon did the first five seasons of his
career and never since. Neither plays much defense and both are certified
crunch-time shot creators and shot makers. Combine Gordon's timing in
free agency with the visceral disaster that is Joe Dumars with cap space,
and it's easy to see why he should consider himself fortunate to have
cashed in.
It has become apparent that Robinson will never be so lucky, even after a
season when he was basically indispensable for Chicago. The ability to score
in isolation in late-game situations would seem to be something teams would
pay for, but Robinson's warts have trumped the things he brings to the
table. Where J.R. Smith's burst of flames were considered an essential
spice to the Knicks' offense (he signed for $24 million), Robinson was
thought to be not worth the hassle.
It's enough to make you wonder if combo guards are the next market
inefficiency in the NBA. Robinson is a player who has lasted in the league
for nearly a decade despite obvious shortcomings, but somehow still has a
tendency to look like one of the NBA's biggest bargains at year's end.
Stars get paid maximum contracts to get buckets at the end of games. Nate
Robinson can do the same thing for a fraction of the price.
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