What does it say when a player like Leon Powe, a great human being, who played through injury and pain for three straight years for the Boston Celtics, including in a playoff game after tearing his ACL, is rewarded by the team saying to him "we only have a short window to win, and you are not a part of our plans because you are now injured."It shows you the true state of the NBA.
The Celtics are traditionally a class act. I have great respect for the organization as a whole, but they truly missed it on this one.
I'm trying to wrap my mind around this one. On one hand, this definitely stinks for Powe - if you don't think your team is going to take care of you, why would you play harder and risk injury before you sign a new contract? On the other, the NBA is a business, not a charity, as players (I'm looking at you, Carlos Boozer, and you too, Elton Brand) are constantly reminding you when they leave to take more millions rather than staying with the team that developed them and who they may or may not have promised to stay with for less money. As some of the commentators on TrueHoop noted, would we be as sad if Powe was healthy and had left the Celtics for more millions elsewhere?
That being said, a 1-year qualifying offer is only 25% more than the rookie contract that Powe's on, so it's not a particularly huge investment compared with the millions that are being thrown around in the league these days. For that 100k-200k extra, the Celtics could buy themselves a great deal of PR (look, we take care of our own even if it cuts against our bottom line), a boost in morale from the other players on the team (Powe, as best I know, is a great locker-room guy, and keeping him sends a good message to the team) , and maybe some reciprocating from Powe if his knees heal and he gets a good offer down the road. Given the modest cost, I think the Celtics would be better off offering him something to rehab hard this year.
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