2021-2022 AROUND the NBA: GSW Champs [ARCHIVED]

[DanSchwartzgan]

I think the thing a lot of people would disagree with you on is that our role players are ALREADY being elevated. Also, I'm not sure who we're calling role players. Golden State is starting Curry, Klay, Wiggins, Draymond, and Looney. The only one you can call a role player there is Looney, and he obliterated his role player counterpart on our team. Similarly, Boston is starting Smart, Brown, Tatum, Horford, and Williams... that front court crushes ours.

Something both teams have in common is both took on high salary players who where thought to have albatross contracts.  Both Wiggins and Horford were discussed here a great bit with very little support for taking on that kind of money.  I mean ‘why would anyone pay that kind of money for somone who is likely the 4th/5th best player on the team’?  Well, now we know why.  Because it is hard to get 4 or 5 guys of that quality without an overpay somewhere along the line.

I think many of us make the same mistake with Gobert.  He’s easily a top 20 player in the league and the first negative thing anyone says is how much money he makes.  Well, to get him we have to salary match to within a certain percentage of what Gobert makes.  Those outgoing players combined won’t be nearly as efficient as Gobert, yet somehow more money for a great player is a worse idea than 75-cents on the dollar for much worse players.

Concerns about playoff role are potentially valid with Gobert, but unknowable given the different scheme and players who would be around Gobert.  But the greater lesson of Wiggins and Horford is you may have to overspend to get the depth of quality needed to win it all.