(09-18-2020, 12:31 PM)KillerLeft Wrote: I can agree that Powell might be (might be) overpaid, but the herd mentality on this board has become "purge him from our roster and lives" and I just can't get behind that.I didn't understand any hype Powell got for about his first 4 years here, I hated his first contract that we gave him (that at that time he didn't earn at all), and absolutely hated and was vocal about hating the double down approach. He's grown on me in the last 2 years and I believe he would be a great bench role player for the team, not starter (pre or post injury).
If there's a chance to get Giannis or some other difference maker through Free Agency, and Powell's deal is the one you need to move? Bye, bye!
But, many of you good people have convinced me that there aren't enough alternatives in 2021 to justify an all out sprint in that direction, so I'm not sure I like the idea of including Powell in every trade scenario just because of his contract.
I think the guy contributes. Like, a lot. I wish he was a better rebounder, but I think his contribution on offense is taken for granted here grossly and regularly, and I think he has the intelligence, drive and body type to be exactly the type of defender many teams need right now. I think he's still developing, and that both his defense and shooting will improve, given that he's healthy.
He's the team representative in the player's union, and it's obvious he's one of the team leaders, contributing to this culture we all know to be a positive. It's clear that both the locker room and the front office hold him in extremely high regard.
The only thing I'm worried about, even regarding his contract, is the injury. I'm much more worried about his injury than KP's latest one, for example. But, if they decide to keep him, I'll assume they feel at least decent about it.
The contract is something we have to work around and I'd prefer using that money in a better way, but I think the contract and injury together makes him a player that we'll have to keep for a year at least because I find it hard to believe a team would take it on without knowing how he's gonna get through the injury. That is, unless we're taking on an even worse contract like say Horford (in this instance, Horford would be taken to get a real prize from Phil like Richardson and we give up lesser value contracts to us like Powell and Wright to make it happen), who he himself would be a great contributor for this team off the bench/KP starter insurance.
In other words, I would move Powell if it gains us something that can help the team moving forward and that threshold for me isn't at Giannis level. I understand that threshold would be different for everyone here and that is why I basically say I would include him in the right deal.