National Basketball Association

What's with these crazy contract offers?

Published Jul. 3, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

In the initial 24 hours of the free agency frenzy, various players have either been offered or have accepted contracts worth a total of $518 million. Within the next few days, that sum will surely be doubled and will exceed a billion.

What’s going on here?

Several teams have been diligently clearing cap space in preparation for this summer’s extravaganza — with the signing of LeBron, of course, being every franchise’s fondest desire. Many of these teams were hugely disappointed when the King named only a handful of supplicants whose offerings he would deign to consider.

The snubbed franchises then undertook to offer/sign second, third, fourth and even fifth tier players to hugely inappropriate contracts.

Let’s take a gander at some of these situations:

Toronto paying Amir Johnson $34 million for five years is the most ludicrous deal. Yes, Chris Bosh is determined to go elsewhere, but do the Raptors really believe that Johnson can in any way take Bosh’s place? All throughout his previous five seasons in the NBA, Johnson’s high-end potential has been universally celebrated but, although he’s still only 23, there have been very few signs that Johnson will ever produce the returns that the Raptors' investment demands.

This is a move that smacks of sheer desperation.

Nobody, however, is more desperate than the Hawks, whose six-year, $119M offer to Joe Johnson is patently absurd. With his 29th birthday in sight, JJ’s game is already showing alarming indications that his best years are behind him, something that was increasingly evident during his embarrassing performance in the playoffs. By the time he’s 35, he won’t be able to navigate his way into the paint. Meanwhile, the maximization of Atlanta’s salary cap will prohibit them from signing any meaningful free agents until Johnson wanders off into the sunset.

Memphis exhibited the same kind of panic when they re-upped Rudy Gay for five-years and $82 million. In truth, both Zach Randolph and O.J. Mayo are better players than Gay, and within a year or two Marc Gasol will also surpass him.

And what does Gay bring to the Grizzlies' mix? Scoring. He can’t defend or pass, and his game has been static for the last two years. In a more rational basketball universe, Gay’s true value is about half of what he’ll be paid.

The Knicks' expected inking of Amar’e Stoudemire for five years and $100 million is another act that reeks of desperation. With all of their available cap space, and with LeBron indicating that he’d rather play in Chicago, Miami, Cleveland, or anywhere else but the Big Apple, the Knicks simply had to make a dramatic move just to show to their fans that they are indeed doing something.

And what are they getting in Stoudemire? A talented player with an extremely low basketball IQ, no defensive awareness, and a selfish desire to have every offensive play run through him. Plus his chronic injuries have made his contract uninsurable. Even worse for the Knick Nation, most of Stoudemire’s point-making resulted from the genius of Steve Nash. Somehow, playing with Chris Duhon (or whoever winds up pointing Mike D’Antoni’s offense) won’t come close to duplicating the numerical successes that Stoudemire enjoyed in Phoenix.

In fact, the only rationalization for bringing Stoudemire on board is if his presence can induce either LBJ or D-Wade to join forces with him. Given Stoudemire’s many shortcomings, this is a doubtful outcome.

Is Channing Frye supposed to replace Stoudemire in Phoenix? At “only” $30 million for five years, Frye certainly comes cheaper than Stoudemire, but he’s strictly a one-dimensional player. No defense, no rebounding, no passing. Given last year’s stats and equal distribution of his money, the Suns will pay Frye $34,883.72 for each successful 3-point shot.

Milwaukee’s agreements with John Salmons (five years, $40 million) and Drew Gooden (five years, $32 million) make only marginal sense. Since the Bucks will be ninth team that has employed Gooden in what will be his ninth NBA season, Gooden’s contract is way out of line for someone who’s the epitome of a journeyman player.

Also, with Corey Maggette and Michael Redd already on the roster, what’s the need for Salmons? Especially since Maggette was such a recent acquisition and Redd’s most recent injury and humongous contract make him virtually untradable.

So far, the only player who’s worthy of his new contract is Paul Pierce — four years, $61 million (the max Boston could pay him). Too bad PP will be 33 soon and is already slowing down. Signing Pierce also indicates that the Celtics believe their current roster (with only a few tweaks, most notably obtaining big men to replace Rasheed Wallace and to fill in while Kendrick Perkins recuperates) can make another serious run for the gold.

Too many of these teams will eventually come to rue their rash and desperate moves when their costly investments inevitably prove inadequate, and their stuffed salary caps prohibit any more serious free agent deals.

Instead of “Where Caring Happens,” the NBA’s new motto should be caveat emptor. Buyer beware.