Money not well spent: NBA's all-overpaid team

[RonnieBrewer (Reverse Layup)]

Money not well spent: NBA's all-overpaid team
By Sean Deveney, Sporting News
Posted August 31, 2007

Here we are, heading into the final month of the NBA offseason, and there are
still plenty of decent free agents milling about in the unemployment line. If
guys like Earl Boykins are looking for someone to blame for their lack of
contract opportunities, they should look to some of their brethren -- the
cap-chewers, players so grotesquely overpaid that they sap the limited amount
of cap space teams have. Or, if players don't want to think ill of their own,
they can blame the silly general managers who proffered these fat contracts.

With this, we begin yet another edition of the Bryant "Big Country" Reeves
Memorial Overpaid List, also known by the simple acronym, BBCRMOL. The annual
list honors those NBA players of limited ability but bounteous salary.

We're going to tweak the list a bit. In the past, we've kept injured players
out. But I asked myself, why? Even if a guy is legitimately hurt, what if he
is taking up, say, $13 million in cap space and not contributing a dang thing?
Isn't he still a payroll-killer?

You betcha. So, injured players will be eligible this year. Especially ones
who are making eight figures.

Players who have been bought out are not be eligible, though. That spares the
likes of Steve Francis and Adonal Foyle. And to be on the list, you need to
be scheduled to make a good bit more for the upcoming year than the mid-level
exception of $5.4 million. I put the minimum at $7 million.

With that, here is the list for 2007-08:

1. Kenyon Martin, Nuggets. Martin has to be tops on this list because he is
making $13 million after playing just two games for Denver. It's easy now to
blast the $86 million deal for Martin, whose persistent knee problems have
prevented him from being anything close to an All-Star. Martin, remember, was
recovering from knee surgery when the Nuggets signed him and there were
whispers that the Nets knew he was damaged goods. But the move, at the time,
was widely viewed as a coup for Denver and big-time blow to the Nets. Alas.

2. Stephon Marbury, Knicks. Marbury is only 30, but his skills are quickly
deteriorating. Last year was a disaster, as Marbury's numbers dipped to their
lowest since his rookie season --especially tough to swallow was his 41.5
percent shooting. He is being paid (more than $17 million) to be the leader
of this bunch, but he's repeatedly shown that leadership just isn't his thing.
Plus, he's been acting like a space cadet lately.

3. Andrei Kirilenko, Jazz. Speaking of space cadets, it's hard not to look
back on Kirilenko's 2006-07 and not wonder, "What happened?" A lot of teams
still like this guy, which is why the Jazz should move him before he repeats
last year's career lows in minutes, points and rebounds. It's not so much
that Kirilenko stunk, it's that he seemed so dang emotionally fragile,
getting teary-eyed in the playoffs when discussing his reduced role. I have
nothing against crying, but not in the first freaking round. Kirilenko's
price: $13.7 million.

4. Theo Ratliff, Timberwolves. You can pick your injury with Ratliff --
ankle, knee, back. Whatever. He is 34, and he is done. Still, if the Celtics
win a championship this year, they should send Ratliff a ring. He has one
year left on his contract, at $12 million, and the cap relief that will bring
to Minnesota was a key to the Kevin Garnett trade.

5. Antoine Walker, Heat. It's been a rough summer for 'Toine, robbed in his
Chicago home at gunpoint, so I am inclined to go easy on him. But it's
impossible to ignore just how bad he was last year. He shot 39.7 percent from
the field, which put him 355th in the league. He was 43.8 percent from the
free-throw line, which was 432nd. He shot 27.5 percent from the 3-point line,
or 232nd. That is an alarmingly low success rate for an NBA player, especially
one making $8.5 million.

6. Raef LaFrentz, Blazers. After he played just 17 games for the Celtics in
'03-'04, LaFrentz wrote an open letter to Celtics fans, apologizing for his
lack of productivity. That was nice of him. Of course, he did not offer to
give back any of the millions he was making. He is in Portland now, averaging
3.7 points and earning just under $12 million.

7. Malik Rose, Knicks. Rose is a likable fellow, but the fact is, he is a 6-7
power forward who shot 39.8 percent. He was perfectly healthy, yet averaged
just 3.0 points and 2.7 rebounds in 12.5 minutes. Such production will cost
the Knicks $7 million this year.

8. Wally Szczerbiak, Seattle. Two bad ankles have made Szczerbiak a standstill
perimeter shooter. He can still stroke it, but he has been healthy for just
104 games in the last four years. The Sonics got him to make the numbers in
the Ray Allen trade work, and will get out of his contract after next year.
In the meantime, they owe him $12 million.

9. Ben Wallace, Bulls. I'm a little torn because I know the Bulls brought in
Wallace to solidify themselves in the middle and help them take the next step.
Wallace's defense on Shaquille O'Neal in the first round of the playoffs in
some ways justified the big contract. I knew some of Wallace's contributions
would be intangible, but his production was very subpar (6.7 points, 10.7
rebounds and 2.2 blocks) and Wallace rarely looked like the guy the Bulls
thought they were getting. At $15.5 million -- that's about 28 percent of the
Bulls' salary-cap space -- it's impossible to keep Wallace off this list.

10. Kwame Brown, Lakers. When it comes to reasons the Lakers can't seem to
get any better, Brown and his $9 million salary should top the list. There's
something about this guy ... he just seems to be missing a fundamental
understanding of what it means to play in the NBA. Brown missed half of last
season with injuries and when he did play, he averaged just 8.4 points and
6.0 rebounds. The good news: He is in the final year of his contract and is
valuable trade bait.


                http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=265722 

--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) 
◆ From: 219.135.156.47
→ RonnieBrewer:Jim McIlvaine..Adonal Foyle, greg Ostertag ..
→ RonnieBrewer:越會蓋鍋 越有機會被overpaid
推 yellowboy:好好賺
推 monmo:阿魯喬:所以我連200萬都要不到(哭哭)
推 CarlosBoozer:一樓暗批隊友