Free Agent Review
by Harlan Schreiber (7/12/05)
As we wait for the NBA free agent bonanza of 2005 to officially begin, I thought this would be a good time to take a step back and see how often free agency has worked for teams. In this vein, below we'll list and review most of the major free agent contracts given out for 2000, 2001, and 2002 summers. The contracts were taken from RealGM.com and from other sources and may not be to the exact dollar (but are very close). We pick these summers because the contract data is less readily available prior to 2000 and it is really too soon to assess contracts from after 2002. With these ideas in mind, let's start with the summer of 2000:
Year Player Old Team New Team Years Dollars
2000 Tim Duncan 24 San Antonio re-signed 3 $36 million
2000 Grant Hill 28 Detroit Orlando 7 $93 million
2000 Jalen Rose 28 Indiana re-signed 7 $93 million
2000 Eddie Jones 29 Charlotte Miami 7 $93 million
2000 Rashard Lewis 21 Seattle re-signed 2 $13 million
2000 Tracy McGrady 21 Toronto Orlando 7 $93 million
2000 Brian Grant 28 Portland Miami 7 $86 million
2000 Tim Thomas 23 Milwaukee re-signed 6 $65 million
2000 Maurice Taylor 24 L.A. Clipps Houston 1 $2.25 million
2000 Austin Croshere 25 Indiana re-signed 7 $51 million
2000 Derek Anderson 26 L.A. Clipps San Antonio 1 $2.25 million
2000 Reggie Miller 35 Indiana re-signed 3 $36 million
2000 Ron Mercer 24 Orlando Chicago 4 $27 million
2000 Glen Rice 33 L.A. Lakers New York 4 $36 million
2000 Joe Smith 25 Minnesota re-signed 1 $2 million
2000 Howard Eisley 28 Utah Dallas 7 $41 million
The Good
-Tim Duncan: After flirting with Orlando, Duncan came back to San Antonio and has been the best signing of the class.
-Tracy McGrady: At the time McGrady was actually an unknown commodity. Orlando was 100% correct about him.
The Bad
-Grant Hill: Not a bad signing as much as it was bad luck that Hill's ankle never healed. He was as close to a sure thing as one would think.
-Jalen Rose/Austin Croshere: At the time the Pacers were coming off a Finals appearance and felt the need to keep all their young players. Rose wasn't actually as young as people thought and he wasn't nearly as good. He was a replaceable two guard and the Pacers gave him the max. Still, you can put a positive spin on this one to the extent that Donnie Walsh was able to trade him for Brad Miller and Ron Artest. Doesn't excuse the contract though. Meanwhile, Croshere has been a salary cap anchor for the last five years. A decent player but not worth the cash outlay.
-Eddie Jones/Brian Grant: The Heat were looking for that push to get past the Knicks, so they threw serious cash at Eddie Jones and Brian Grant, neither of which have worked at well at all. Jones and Grant were solid but overpaid from that start. To the extent that Pat Riley thought these moves were the icing on a possible championship, they made some sense. But frankly the Heat gave up better players than Jones and injuries and age caught up to the core (Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway) which made the contracts look even worse.
-Tim Thomas: This deal was defensible in the sense that Thomas was a young player with some theoretical upside. Problem here was that the Bucks were already loaded at small forward and with perimeter players. Thomas has barely developed since then.
-Glen Rice: Yuck. Rice had been declining for several years and the Knicks decided that rather than save the cap room they could have for letting Patrick Ewing go, the put it into Rice. This in keeping with Knick policy was the perfect storm in bad ideas. Signing an aging perimeter on a team already loaded with guards.
-Ron Mercer: After every desirable free agent spurned him, Jerry Krause decided to throw the cash burning a hole in his pocket at Mercer. Mercer was young but not very good, an inefficient two guard who couldn't hit threes or defend.
-Howard Eisley: Like Rice (who he was later traded for), giving an aging player a long-term deal made little sense. How the Mavs dumped this contract still mystifies me.
Year Player Age Old Team New Team Years Dollars
2001 Shawn Bradley 29 Dallas re-signed 7 $30 million
2001 Michael Finley 28 Dallas re-signed 7 $102 million
2001 Jim Jackson 31 Cleveland Miami 1 $ 2 million
2001 Joe Smith 26 Detroit Milwaukee 6 $34 million
2001 Marc Jackson 27 G. State re-signed 6 $24 million
2001 Hakeem Olajuwon 39 Houston Toronto 3 $17 million
2001 Anthony Mason 35 Miami Milwaukee 4 $21 million
2001 Allan Houston 30 New York re-signed 7 $102 million
2001 Dikembe Mutombo 35 Philadelphia re-signed 4 $65 million
2001 Todd MacCulloch 26 Philadelphia New Jersey 6 $35 million
2001 Chris Webber 28 Sacramento re-signed 7 $123 million
2001 Derek Anderson 27 San Antonio Portland 6 $48 million
2001 David Robinson 36 San Antonio re-signed 2 $20 million
2001 Patrick Ewing 39 Seattle Orlando 2 $4.5 million
2001 Ruben Patterson 26 Seattle Portland 6 $34 million
2001 Antonio Davis 33 Toronto re-signed 5 $55 million
2001 Eddie Robinson 25 Charlotte Chicago 5 $30 million
2001 Maurice Taylor 25 Houston re-signed 6 $48 million
2001 Clarence Weatherspoon 31 Cleveland New York 5 $27 million
2001 Shandon Anderson 28 Utah Houston 6 $42 million
For 2001, there really aren't any good deals. There were neutral deals, bad deals, and really bad deals. The repercussions of the summer of 2001 are just now being felt as the Mavs and Knicks are looking to dump Finley and Houston in hopes of avoiding luxury tax dollars on rapidly declining assets. Webber's deal made sense at the time, as he was the piece that made Sacramento a title contender. He was only good, however, for about two years before injuries knocked him down.
2001 also had it's fair share of bad contracts that were gifted to some mid-range players like Shawn Bradley, Hakeem Olajuwon, Anthony Mason, and Eddie Robinson. The only good contracts short-term deals like Jackson.
Year Player Old Team New Team Years Dollars
2002 Rodney Rogers 31 Boston New Jersey 3 $9.4 million
2002 Jim Jackson 32 Miami Sacramento 1 $ 2 million
2002 Matt Harpring 26 Philadelphia Utah 4 $18.5 million
2002 Larry Hughes 24 G. State Washington 3 $15 million
2002 Pat Garrity 26 Orlando re-signed 6 $18.5 million
2002 Ricky Davis 23 Cleveland re-signed 6 $34 million
2002 Keon Clark 27 Toronto Sacramento 2 $9.5 million
2002 Raef Lafrentz 26 Dallas re-signed 7 $70 million
2002 Chauncey Billups 26 Minnesota Detroit 6 $34 million
2002 Bruce Bowen 31 San Antonio re-signed 3 $11.7 million
2002 Malik Rose 28 San Antonio re-signed 7 $42 million
2002 Donyell Marshall 29 Utah Chicago 3 $14 million
2002 Jeff Mcinnis 28 L.A. Clipps Portland 3 $11 million
2002 Bonzi Wells 26 Portland re-signed 4 $30 million
2002 Mike Bibby 24 Sacramento re-signed 7 $80.5 million
2002 Jerome James 27 Seattle re-signed 3 $15 million
2002 Rashard Lewis 23 Seattle re-signed 7 $60 million
Feeling the heat of the economic recession, the GMs backed off big deals in 2002. There were a ton of value free agents in 2002:
The Good
-Jim Jackson: Again, he was good for a team on a cheap one-year deal.
-Chauncey Billups: The steal of 2002. Billups had floundered for a few years before looking like a solid player for the T-Wolves. The Pistons were able to lock up the young point for a relatively cheap deal and the rest has been history.
-Larry Hughes: Hughes was given a cheap short-term deal for a young player. He slowly developed into a very a player and he's about to parlay that into a huge deal with the Cavs this summer (which may not turn out quite as well).
-Donyell Marshall: Marshall played surprisingly well for Chicago and Toronto and now is also in line for a nice contract for 2005-06.
-Jeff McInnis/Ricky Davis: Both these guys have been a pain to coach but have been pretty good players in spurts. Mcinnis cheap price tag almost excuses some of his behavior. Davis is a bit overpriced but he's only locked up for his prime years so he still has some value.
-Jerome James: This really wasn't a good deal but it was vilified for a while (until the 2004-05 playoffs). The bottom line is, however, that $5 million is the going rate for a mediocre center.
The Bad
-Malik Rose: In an effort to keep his good friend Tim Duncan happy, Rose was given a heavy extension. The contract worked in the sense that Duncan re-signed with the Spurs in 2003 but Rose wasn't quite productive. He only hit double figures in points once in his career. The Spurs lucked out by having the Knicks take Rose off their hands for the productive and cheaper Nazr Mohammed.
-Raef Lafrentz: Dallas had just acquired Lafrentz from Denver and wasn't quite sure what to do with him. Lafrentz put up mediocre numbers with Dallas after the trade (10.8 ppg and 7.4 rpg, .437 fg% in 27 games). But Raef was a young player and the Mavs felt he was a good gamble. Lafrentz has had knee problems since and hasn't been worth the $10 million per season he got.
-Mike Bibby: This really isn't a bad deal as much as that Bibby earned himself an extra $20 million with a great playoffs where he ate up Steve Nash and then almost took down the Lakers. Bibby has been a great player since but arguably slightly overpaid.
In the end, we see that the free agency period rarely brings a panacea. Most long-term big contracts blow up for the team that gave them. Really, teams should be searching for low cost values to plug in holes and for young players who have some upside. Lastly, it's very clear that overpaying for a two-guard is not a good idea. In fact, from 2000 through 2002, McGrady is pretty much the only two guard to be a good long-term signing for big money. We hope the GMs take a look at this before throwing the big money and speculative contracts.
--
FROM 159.226.42.*