Kent Bazemore’s singular greatest career accomplishment might have been turning his experience as the seventh man on that 60-win Hawks team, then being the starter next year on a 50-win Hawks team, into a big-boy $70 million deal that pays him like a primary scoring option. Whoever his agent is, I want to hire him to represent me when I’m haggling over prices of frozen dinners at the supermarket. The guy who scored a role-player like Kent Bazemore that gigantic contract should also be able to help me convince the checkout person that there was a ten for ten dollars special going on for the Lean Cuisines that are loaded up in my cart.
I think everybody knew that Bazemore wouldn’t adjust very well to having to play on a bad team. Like most role-players, he thrives when surrounded by talent who can shoulder most of the scoring load. On this dismal Hawks squad where he truly might be the third-best scorer (Schroder and Belinelli ahead of him, don’t @ me), he’s averaging a career-best 13 PPG on career-low percentages. The fact that 13 PPG is his career best makes his contract seem even more outrageous, honestly.