Originally Posted by
Pelicanidae
You can't make a firm plan for the future if you don't even know what you're doing with a guy who's making more than $25m a year. If AD wants out, we can build a future path around that. If he wants to stay, we can build a future path around that. In either case, you get on that path ASAP and start walking it.
If AD says 'oh hey guys, how about you just pay me $25m while I make up my mind', then you can make some plans but you can't start on either path properly because you don't know which road you're going to be forced to take. Imagine you start making preliminary moves for AD to stay, and then in a year he says ''thanks for the cash, but I still want to leave''. Then you have to go into scramble mode, walk back the plans you were working on, and start again. That's a waste of effort and resources, and most importantly: a waste of time.
We have Zion coming in this summer. The moment he's on the team, the way I see it, the clock has started. If we fail him like we failed AD, then he's going to want out too after a while. It's way better to start on that road to success now, before he plays a single game for us, so that when he arrives for his rookie year we actually know where we're going. Way better than him arriving and finding out that his rookie year is an unfocused wash, where we're paralysed until AD makes his mind up. Then you run the risk of a top 5 player leaving halfway through Zion's rookie season. That's not a great start. Much better to have the plan decided this summer, know what we're working with, and make Zion's rookie year a success.