First of all, check out the voting results--I think it's interesting how we can't seem to decide which dude is the worst investment!
Here's my guess at how to rank the dudes, from WORST contract to, well, LEAST bad contract:
#10 (LEAST bad contract): Joe Smith. It's interesting that JoeF thinks that Smith is the WORST contract on this list, because I think he's the LEAST bad contract here! No doubt, he's not very good, but he's not THAT bad, he plays a lot of minutes for a team that finished fifth in the West last year. I guess that I think that it's not HIS fault that the Timberwolves got busted, it's Kevin McHale's fault--so I don't hold all that against the guy like JoeF does. STILL, the dude is WAY overpaid, obviously.
#9: Jerome Williams. Yeah, the dude doesn't even touch the floor for a .500 team--but he USED to be an excellent rebounder, defender, and team leader for the Pistons back in the day. MAYBE he'll put his injury problems behind him, it's hard to say. But I tend to give guys with injury problems the benefit of the doubt.
#8: Danny Fortson. Not only is the guy one of the worst shooters among PFs and Cs in the league (only Antonio Davis and Clifford Robinson had worse field goal percentages last year among PFs and Cs)--not only does the guy have one of the worst assist-to-turnover ratios in the league (only a handful of guys were worse, e.g., Alonzo Mourning, Michael Olowokandi, Erick Dampier, who are all CENTERS, which makes their turnovers more excusable)--not only is the guy the WORST shot-blocker among PFs and Cs in the league (among PFs and Cs who played in at least 70 games last year, only Slava Medvedenko had fewer blocks per game--yet Medvedenko played SIGNIFICANTLY fewer minutes per game than did Fortson, and averaged TWICE as many blocks per 48 minutes than did Fortson!)--not only does the guy have a bad temper (top 20 in the league in technicals last season)--BUT, Antawn Jamison is being moved to PF full-time next year, AND Troy Murphy needs to be developed as a backup, which means that Fortson can't even get minutes for one of the 3-4 worst teams in the league next year! Jesus!
#7: Eddie Robinson. Like JoeF pointed out earlier, at least the dude still has hope. Does he? He's got $26.0 mil coming to him over the next four years--is he ever going to start for the Bulls (or for anybody)? Will he ever be more than, say, the #5 or #6 scoring option for the Bulls (or for ANYBODY)? What makes this contract so inexcusable is, as JoeF pointed out, he put together about 15 good games for the Hornets at the end of his final season in Charlotte, and Jerry Krause signed him on the basis of those 15 games to a huge contract. Krause made some pretty dumb moves there for 2-3 years--the Bulls would be WAY under the salary cap, and Krause couldn't get ANYBODY to sign--so, for whatever retarded reason, he spent the money ANYWAY on mediocrities like Ron Mercer and Eddie Robinson.
#6: Shawn Bradley. Let's see, the guy was a huge bust, he was ridiculously overpaid--and THEN somebody RE-SIGNED him to ANOTHER big contract? Who did that? Does anybody remember? Don Nelson? Sure, he is a good shot-blocker--but of COURSE he's a good shot-blocker, what is he, 7'6"? And that's ALL he can do--he KILLS you in every other way. Hell, he's not even a good defender, despite the blocked shots.
#5: Austin Croshere. It's hard to know who to blame here, Donnie Walsh for re-signing the guy to such a huge extension, or Isiah Thomas for not playing him. We all saw how solid he was a couple of years ago in the playoffs, but the Pacers could've signed him to about half as much as they gave him and they'd STILL be overpaying the guy! Bottom line: any time a guy is sitting at the end of your bench and making more than the league minimum, he's overpaid!
#4: Kelvin Cato. This guy wasn't the first big stiff to get a ton of money for being, well, BIG (Jon Koncak and Jim McIlvaine are two prominent examples, but there are many, many more), and he won't be the last, either. But JESUS, did they have to give him THAT much MONEY? Four more years and $20 mil total would be bad enough, but at LEAST understandable--but four more years and $30.4 MILLION is NOT!
#3: Shandon Anderson. Here is a guy who was a solid young backup back in the day, but somebody who showed NO INDICATION that he would ever be anything more than a SOLID BACKUP. And, as we all know, he's not even being given a chance to be a SOLID BACKUP in New York, despite the fact that he is being PAID like a solid STARTER! Why did the Knicks sign this guy to this deal when they already had Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell to begin with? Why wasn't Frank Layden fired two years ago?
#2: Howard Eisley. The dude was a mediocre backup in Utah; when Jerry Sloan plugged the dude into the offense to give John Stockton a breather, he had Karl Malone to toss the ball to, and plenty of nice veterans like Jeff Hornacek and Bryon Russell who made that offense run like a charm. The dude is the third-string point guard for a team with a lousy first-string point guard (Charlie Ward), that tells you all you need to know!
#1 (WORST CONTRACT): Tariq Abdul-Wahad. He doesn't make the MOST money of the dudes on this list, but he seems to be the only one who DOESN'T TOUCH THE FLOOR, besides Howard Eisley, who MIGHT touch the floor for the Knicks now that Mark Jackson has been shipped off. This guy never did a THING in the NBA, I can't remember him ever flashing an OUNCE of potential. Dan Issel may be the worst GM in NBA history.
EVERYBODY VOTE! Everybody rank the dudes! Let's hear what everybody has to say!
