you had guy that was the heart and soul of your organization and gotten you to the conference finals.

Even without IT's injury which supposedly nobody thought was that serious at the time, do you really want "back up the Brink's truck" and pay a smaller guard max dollars into his 30's?

Historically smaller guards don't age well. Chris Paul has been the exception and we've seen him start to break down. A big man is going to always be big regardless but for a smaller guard who's primary weapon is their speed and quickness, once that starts to fade its usually a wrap.