on April 7, 2026, 14:56:28, in reply to "Agreed on getting a name or two we aren't talking about right now."
Previous Message
and I do think there is a 50% chance 1 or both Petro and Bilic aren't on the roster next year. They very much could go away to make room money wise and minutes wise for better/younger talent. However, we do need spot backup minutes from experienced players and they both have good international experience. They'll also be 22 and 24 next season which is a huge plus vs. most 18 year olds.
If I had to take a guess, I'd say Bilic goes away and we resign Petrovic. Bilic isn't likely going to contribute meaningful minutes, but I think Petrovic can actually be really serviceable for about 10-15 minutes a game as long as he's good with that role...and I don't know why he wouldn't be. 10-15 minutes a game for a national title contender and I'm guessing $300k - $750k for the year is a hell of a lot better than $150k in Serbia Previous Message
Do we really think Bilic is gonna get 750K?
I also wonder if Petro stays.
That could add 1.5M into the fray without needing to really replace any minutes. That would essentially give 5.5M to get 2 impact pieces (Blackwell/Vaaks ---- or 2 others). My guess is we end up with 2 guys we aren't talking about now. Previous Message
I don't buy that Blackwell is getting $5M. I don't believe that UK offered him $4M. $3M even seems like a stretch but I could see a lower tier team throwing it out there because they'd have to just to be considered in the sweepstakes.
No one really knows what these numbers are outside of a few random examples. Flagg was a generational player and he made about $5M at Duke....people will claim $28M, but that is the total value of his multiyear deals with NewBalance and Fanatics.
Blackwell is no where near Flagg in terms of talent, impact, notoriety, or marketability. Is he worth half?....maybe.
It seems the rumor mills had our NIL budget for this year in the 9-12M range. I still think that is inflated, but let's say $10M for sake of argument. If it was $10 last year, then logic dictates we'll bump it up to $12 - $14/maybe even $15M this year in an effort to repeat and try to go all the way.
1. Blackwell $2.5M
2. Andrej $1.75M
3. Mirk $1.75M
4. T. Ivisic $1.25M
5. Z. Ivisic $1.25M
6. Quentin Coleman $.75M
7. Jake Davis $.75M
8. Ty Rodgers $.75M
9. T. Bilic $.75M
10. L. Morillo $.5M
11. J. Jacstys $.25M
12. M. Petrovic $.75M
13. Stefan Vaaks or Other New Balkan $1.5M
14. Incoming HS kid $.25M
15. Incoming HS kid $.25M
That's a $15M budget and I can't see us going over it. I could see Petrovic going away and use that money with the "stefan vaaks/other new balkan" to push that total to around $2M to get another really top guy though. It would also help with the minutes distribution as I'm not sure how you really go past 10 guys in a rotation.
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