What is Felton worth?

[murphman]

This is a two part question. What is worth on the open market to other teams and what is he worth to us. I'm talking money and contract length. As strong as he looked in Jan. & Feb., he has come crashing back down as the season ended. His FG% has been debated in the other thread but the bigger question is how much has that damaged his stock?

Any chance of a 5 year/7.5 per seems unlikely now. Many factors will come into play this summer. 1) there are few teams with the cap space to offer him a high priced contract. 2) so many teams are saving space for the free agent monster pool in 2010. 3) other teams know that we may match. 4) (and this might be the biggest issue) Felton is at the age that his next contract will probably the "big one" or "career maker" and he only gets one crack at it. If the best offer is 6.25 per he may rather just sign his tender at 5.5 for one year and try to improve his stock under Brown's supervision and get a better offer next year. Yes, there is the injury factor to consider..I understand that. Yes, it makes him perfect trade bait to other teams meaning he may be in three cities over a short period of time. Yes, it means he will be competing with much bigger free agents next summer meaning there may be less of a pie to divy up his way.

For the Bobcats, the ideal situation would be for Felton to sign his tender, DJ to turn into a full time starter before the mid-season trade deadline, and Felton be packaged with Nazar (assuming we still have him which is likely) for a player to fill in our biggest hole at that time or perhaps a lottery pick.

Is Felton staying here long term really a wise decision? Two top ten lottery PG's on the same team for 4+ more seasons together?

[teej]

I think we definately need to keep Felton over DJ, he is more Larry's style point guard and has improved tremendously since LB got here. LB has warmed to him, and I think that is going to get Ray a lot of money, whether its now or next offseason. I think Ray is worth about 7-8 million per, and thats to be our starter. If we plan on letting DJ take over, which I wouldn't, then we don't need to let Ray get that kind of money. If Ray seems to think he's worth more, go ahead and make the qualifying offer, that can't hurt us any with the summer of LeBron coming up and the way the economy is. I just think Ray wants to be here enough and Larry likes him that we'll find a way to keep him

But 7-8 is my answer for any team wanting him to be a starter. MLE for backing up...

[BRNC]

I think it will be tough to keep Ray since I think 3-4 teams will make a push to sign him...Portland. Kings, Mavs (caveat:if J.Kidd leaves), and the Knicks (Robinson I believe has worn out his welcome with D'Antoni and if Nash extends with the Suns)...

Portland needs a defensive PG that can match with the elite PGs in the West, they are young and I think they will shy away from a rookie and instead make a push for Ray, he will not have to score for them (they have enough scoring options) and of the four I mentioned we may get the best sign and trade from them...

Kings are in a similar position with young talent and again I think they'll see Ray as a proven commodity...

The Mavs were already interested since J.Kidd does not defend the way he use to...in their case they need young legs to again match the elite PGs in the West...

I think the Knicks will come if Nash extends with the Suns...D'Antoni sees Ray as a PG that can push the ball and that is what he wants...

We will have to bid against teams that want him so it will be tough...and I think some of these teams feel they can get him in the 8-9 range and we will not match and they are not over-paying to get a quality defensive PG to match teams they have to match...

I like Ray (for us) in the 7ish range but I think he will be offered more...those are my best guesses...

[spectre]

Any chance of a 5 year/7.5 per seems unlikely now.

I disagree; tho I'd like to get him for less I think he's still worth that.

If the best offer is 6.25 per he may rather just sign his tender at 5.5 for one year and try to improve his stock under Brown's supervision and get a better offer next year. Yes, there is the injury factor to consider..I understand that. Yes, it makes him perfect trade bait to other teams meaning he may be in three cities over a short period of time. Yes, it means he will be competing with much bigger free agents next summer meaning there may be less of a pie to divy up his way.

For the Bobcats, the ideal situation would be for Felton to sign his tender, DJ to turn into a full time starter before the mid-season trade deadline, and Felton be packaged with Nazar (assuming we still have him which is likely) for a player to fill in our biggest hole at that time or perhaps a lottery pick.

Is Felton staying here long term really a wise decision? Two top ten lottery PG's on the same team for 4+ more seasons together?

That above is worst case scenario...for US. If we let him play on the QO then we're pretty much assured he'll walk for nothing in '10. There's teams who have been promising their fans they'll get a higher end player as an excuse for sucking so much...only there won't be any to be had. If Felton takes it to '10 (and if I were his agent he most likely would) I imagine he'll get paid.

Look at Corey Maggette and the golden situation he found himself in and GSW.

Also, if he takes the QO he must approve any trade...so there will be no "let's tie Felton to Nazr" ideas unless it's something he wants to do.

I also don't understand your last paragraph. DJ is on a rookie deal thru the '11-'12 season, allowing us to pay Felton and cover the position at a decent amount.

As Teej & BRNC said I'd be content with a Jameer Nelson type contract, basically in the mid 7ish range.

[ammofan]

Most likely, I think, Felton is gonna be gone this summer. And you guys are saying Felton is more of LB's type of point guard, then why would Larry Brown go out of his way last second during the draft, to make sure we drafted DJ? Honestly, as great as DJ is and could be, I would've rather had Brook Lopez and then Chalmers(If he was available at 20.)

[dnbman]

Most likely, I think, Felton is gonna be gone this summer. And you guys are saying Felton is more of LB's type of point guard, then why would Larry Brown go out of his way last second during the draft, to make sure we drafted DJ?

Man, this has been answered like 20 million times. To recap:

Brown didn't know what he had in Felton.
He knew he needed a pg one way or the other (to start or for depth.)
He thought Augustin was one of the better players in the draft.

In no way does drafting Augustin mean that Felton is out, though it does allow us to move Felton and still have a solid pg. But, then we'd have the depth issue to contend with.

I don't know if Felton is going to stay or not, but I hope we can resign him for about $7M a season or less.

[murphman]

Another thing to consider is the draft. Of the 5-6 teams that may have interest in him and the cap space to bring him in, at least 2 or 3 have an opportunity to address PG with their lottery pick. Thus by the time free agency begins the pool of teams interested now may be smaller.

Dallas is already on the hook for nearly 69 million next year and that is only for 8 players. Atlanta may be interested if they lose Bibby (that would suck for us). Detroit seems to be a very strong candidate unless Stuckey is a lock to be the future starter.

[ALong13]

3 years 21 million dollars...

2009/2010 Season -6 million
2010/2011 Season -7 million
2011/2012 Season -8 Million

[Marvel]

To me DJ has more talent and potential than Ray. He's a better scorer and his playmaking skills wil get better over time.Durant was asked in a S.I interview who were the best shooters in college and he named DJ,J.D Lewis and someone else... the name escapes me.The time to move Felton is now and to me he hasn't gotten any better this year his assists are down his turnovers are up which is more frustrating to me than any other stat to tell you the truth, his fg% is down from last year.He still has value though and could be a better player in a differrent system say a faster more free flowing one,trade him to move up in the draft.

[mrtarheel]

To me DJ has more talent and potential than Ray. He's a better scorer and his playmaking skills wil get better over time.Durant was asked in a S.I interview who were the best shooters in college and he named DJ,J.D Lewis and someone else... the name escapes me.The time to move Felton is now and to me he hasn't gotten any better this year his assists are down his turnovers are up which is more frustrating to me than any other stat to tell you the truth, his fg% is down from last year.He still has value though and could be a better player in a differrent system say a faster more free flowing one,trade him to move up in the draft.

Move up in the draft to get what?

Felts gives us heart, not as much as Wallace but toughness and defense. We should keep him if we could get him for about 8 mill max. You can't begin to build a team and then tear it down. Our core of untouchables should be Wallace, Felts, Bell, Diaw, Dj, and Ok50 but if the right deal came along for ok50 it could get a second look.