Dear god people Iguodala is NOT willie green, he's not fungible, he's not easily replaced, he's a key high level piece of a team that wants to win a title...if you let him walk and sign an inferior person than that 'full step' you took forward by signing brand not has a pretty substantiali partial step backwards...
But yeah, ignore the first four regular seasons and the progression, focus only on the small sample size of the first playoff appearance without iverson, i think that's a stronger indicator of what andre iguodala can do and not do, not the close to 350 games he played before those playoffs
QFT. While I don't
want to pay Iggy 6/75, if that's what it takes to keep him... you have to strongly consider it. It wouldn't be a 'bad' contract in a
Kevin Kenyon Martin or Zach Randolph way (unlike what some of you are suggesting). Our whole athletic/full-court/hard-defense was set in place by and for him. Igoudala may not have the greatest outside shot, but he scores, rebounds, defends and passes, basically the NBA equivalent of a "5-tool" player in baseball. How many guys are there in the league like that? No one knows how well he will play with Brand at the 4 and he at the 2. Don't you think we ought to find out first before we lose him for nothing?
Besides, there is the sad truth that
beyond rookie contracts, most players in the NBA are about 20% overpaid. It's the reality of restricted free agency. I hear a bunch of candidates to replace him (Gordon, Ellis, Redd) but all of those are a significant downgrade
defensively. Not only that, but Redd is just as 'overpaid' as Iggy would be, as we'd have to overpay to get Gordon or Ellis because they are restricted.