A Look At Contracts

I know, I know, this has been done a million times. That doesn't mean I can't have fun with the subject too. Here's a list of some bad contracts broken down into a few different categories. I tried not to evaluate players still on their rookie contracts. I also steered away from expiring contracts because those actually have value even if the player is being grossly over-paid (I just couldn't resist a few of these expiring contracts).


Cashing in and coasting
Baron Davis - 3 more years at $13,050,000, $13,950,000, $14,850,000
Davis has never been the same since inking his new deal. Is it the long-term stability, his knees, or the absence of the Warriors run-n-gun style? Either way his production and efficiency have taken a nose dive since moving to LA.

Elton Brand - 3 more years at $15,959,099, $17,059,726, $18,160,354
The often injured Brand is 6 points and 3.5 rebounds below his career averages. And he is only getting older

Loul Deng - 4 more years at $11,355,850, $12,341,275, $13,326,700, $14,312,125
Deng actually beat his career number this season. Still, he eats a lot of cap space to produce at the rate of a 3rd option. I guess you could make the case that he should be able to relax after earning enough money to put him in the top .5 % of money earners in his home country.

Contract Year Dedication
Matt Carroll - 3 years remaining at $4,300,000, $3,900,000, $3,500,000
Scoring 9 points per for the worst team in league (at the time ) in his contract year earned him this fat contract. Carroll, an alleged 3-point marksman, hasn't shot over 27% from the arc in the 3 seasons since he signed this deal. Additionally, I have yet to see a white guy pull of wearing an arm sleeve, but nice try, Matt.

Larry Hughes - expiring contract for $13,655,268 paid by the Kings
Hughes chucked his way into a contract worthy of being LeBron's sidekick for the Cavs. The only problem has been Hughes chucking his way out of rotations ever since he signed this deal. He has played for 5 teams since signing, and I'm sure all the teams he went to thought they were getting a better player than he always turned out to be.

Andrei Kirilenko - One year left at $17,822,187
Kirilenko's points plunged 7 points after signing this deal in '06. He has been steadily improving his numbers since but not to the level of his contract year. To his credit, if was getting paid $17M and was married to a Russian Pop Star that allows me to cheat, I would do a lot crazier things than mentally checking out of my profession and cutting Mohawks in my hair.

Big Contracts that take up big bench space
Mark Blount - expiring contract at season's end for $7,962,500
Earned almost $8M to stay at home

Erick Dampier - one year left at $13,075,000
He earned this fat contract putting up 12/12 for the Warriors. In the 6 years since then his best numbers have been 9/8.5. Obviously the Mavs didn't learn from this after offering Martin Gortat hard cash to produce the same type of numbers. Luckily the Magic matched Gortat's offer sheet and now it is their headache

Kenny Thomas - contract expires at season's end for $8,553,125
Played 26 games for the Kings, averaging 1.2 points per

If he did want to mettle, Obama may void these contracts
Matt Bonner - expiring contract at $3,240,380
Does the Collective Bargaining Agreement mandate a certain amount of the leagues salaries to go to white Americans?

Brian Scalabrine - expiring contract at $3,413,793
Does the Collective Bargaining Agreement mandate a certain amount of the leagues salaries to go to white Americans?

Jason Kapono - one year left at $6,641,440
Okay, Kapono can shoot. But with a career average of 19 minutes per, $6.6M seems like more of a stretch than the yoga instructor from Couples Retreat.


Fresh Ink
Desagana Diop - 3 more years at $6,478,600, $6,925,400, $7,372,200
Lasagna Flop is making serious loot for only playing 27 games and 261 minutes. If he were paid by the point, every bucket would earn him roughly $406,000!

Hedo Turkoglu - 4 more years at $9,800,000, $10,600,000, $11,400,000, $12,200,000
Turkododo wants out of Toronto! Well I'm sure they would oblige your request if they could find any takers. With his coring down over 5 points per and his efficiency below his already inefficient levels, Tukododo needs a change of scenery. It was obvious that the team was better with the low-profile, less paid options off their bench in Sonny Weems and Antoine Wright.

Shawn Marion - 4 years at $7,305,500, $7,975,932, $8,646,364, $9,316,796
The aging Marion is already 5 points per below is career averages. His age is showing in more ways that his hairline. He's not the worst player to have on your team but when his deal expires he will be 37 years old. Ouch!

WTF
Gilbert Arenas - 4 years at $17,730,694, $19,269,308, $20,807,922, $22,346,536
As selfish and inefficient as they come. They may be able to sucker some poor team into taking this contract off their hands. It would still be a rip-off even if the team acquiring Arenas gave up next to nothing.



Peja Stojakovic - one year at $15,336,000
Peja got old fast. His contract may be a trade chip next season for the cash strapped Hornets. His efficiency has been declining and his field goal % are hovering right around 40%.

Luke Walton
The Walton name carries this contract for everything beyond the veterans minimum. To be fair, Walton averaged 11 points in 33 minutes in his contract year for the talent starved Lakers of 06-07.