By RaptorTalk:


Earlier this summer, Andrea Bargnani signed a contract extension with the Toronto Raptors for a reported 5 years/ $50 million. 

The cynics panned the signing as an over-payment for a guy who has only performed well for a 60 game stretch and otherwise had under-performed.

So when reports surfaced claiming that Portland had just inked PF LaMarcus Aldridge to a 5 year/ $65 million extension, I decided to do a little investigation into the numbers to determine if the Bargnani contract was a good deal or bad deal.

         

First, everyone knows that Aldridge and Bargnani are 2006 draft mates whose careers will forever be linked and compared. To be honest, my preference was for the Raptors to select LMA at the time, but I am not disappointed to have Andrea instead.

Second, the real determination as to the merits of the Bargnai extension will only be known after his contract has ended. But, we can still have a look at the numbers which may initially validate or invalidate the wisdom of Colangelo's contract offer to Il Mago.

So let's start a review of all the numbers beginning with a comparison of Bargnani's and Aldridge's statistics from 2008-09. At first glance, they are very similar:

LaMarcus Aldridge:
Age:24
6'11", 240 lbs.

32.0 mpg
15.4 ppg
6.8 rpg
1.1 bpg
.487 fg%
.216 3pt%
.764 ft%

Andrea Bargnani
Age:24 (on Oct. 25th)
7'0", 250 lbs.

31.4 mpg
15.4 ppg
5.3 rpg
1.2 bpg
.450 fg%
.409 3pt%
.831 ft%

The argument can be made, that Bargnani's more relevant numbers occured when he was a starter and averaged in the range of 19 ppg/ 6 rpg. While that may be true, I think the 15.4/ 5.3 full season stats are still very favorable for Andrea.

Let's compare the contracts

Because the LMA deal is not yet public, I had to make an educated guess as to the year by year numbers. This is likely what the Lamarcus Aldridge deal looks like on an annual basis:

2010 - $11 million
2011 - $12 million
2012 - $13 million
2013 - $14 million
2014 - $15 million

LMA TOTAL - $65 million /5 years + Bonus
(up to $5 million in bonuses which ESPN's Chad Ford reports will be difficult to achieve)

On average, Il mago earns $3 million less per year than does Aldridge. For comparison purposes, this is Andrea Bargnani's contract extension:

2010 - $8.5 million
2011 - $9.25 million
2012 - $10.0 million
2013 - $10.75million
2014 - $11.5 million

AB TOTAL - $50 million /5 years

For the 2009-2010 season, both guys play under the terms of their rookie deals.Their new extensions don't kick in until next season.

What are other young bigs getting paid?

I also looked at younger bigs (relatively speaking), who were past their rookie deals and who had at least 3 years left on their contracts. I eliminated older bigs and those younger guys from the equation (like Amare Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler) because their contracts are inflated and not representative of today's market.

This is what those players on my list will earn in 2010, as a comparison:

Bynum -  $13.7 million
Jefferson -  $13 million
Okafur -  $11.6 million
Kaman -  $11.3 million
Bogut -  $11 million
Aldridge -  $11 million
Okur -  $9.9 million
Bargnani -  $8.5 million
Millsap -  $7.6 million
Diop -  $6.5 million
Gortat -  $6.3 million

I think that's most of them who may be comparable to Bargnani from an age and salary perspective. Admittedly, I could have missed one on two. Nonetheless, this is a fair representative sample.

The median annual salary for a decent young big in the NBA is $10 million. For a young starting big its around $11.1 million. So Bargnani's contract is certainly reasonable when compared to others. Here's the deal, in the open market Andrea's getting at least $10 million to start, simply based on the tantalizing potential of an offensively skilled 7 footer. No way Andrea could or would accept a deal at $5 or $6 million per year. Never, ever would happen.

When we compare Andrea's contract to Aldridge's extension, Bargnani's deal is 30% lower - yet their stats are almost identical. And when we look at Andrea's ticket in comparison to his peers, again his numbers come out at the low end of the spectrum.

Also, don't overlook the Bosh factor in this. Andrea's contract extension was partly a signal to CB4 that we have pieces in place at reasonable numbers to secure a solid core for the future.

Bottomline is that the numbers certainly make Andrea's contract extension look like a relative bargain in terms of the general market for an NBA just hitting their prime. Bryan Colangelo deserves credit for negotiating a fair deal for Bargnani and locking him up for a total of six more years.

So, in a word - NO. The Raptors did not overpay Andrea Bargnani.