Dollars and Sense

Oh no they didn't!

Hello again blogging world. It's a great time to be a fan, the playoffs start this coming weekend, so expect plenty of dog fights between the middle seeded teams, especially in the West. Also expect to see some of the top paid players strutting their stuff in their bling and duds on the sidelines, choosing to "rest" before the first round of the playoffs. I won't talk much about this now, but I am a little ticked that I didn't get to see Lebron play today.

Our good friend Rasheed Wallace has been known for his fan favorite quote, "Ball don't lie." In the same vein, I've always been a firm believer of the ideology that "stats don't lie." A closer look at an individual players stats can tell you much about how much he really adds to the team. The other set of numbers that are worth a look are players' salaries. After all, in our recession plagued time, and with grumblings of a potential lockout on the horizon, it's worth to look at how much the players really are making.

One of the main reasons the league is struggling right now isn't because of the money that the bonafide superstars are making. Lebron, Kobe, Dwyane Wade, Melo, Dwight and the other elite players command high salaries (especially Wade and Lebron after this season), but they arguably make up for it with the amount of money they bring in with merchandise and ticket sales. Today I want to focus on the players that are a veritable drain on the league--The most overpaid players in the league. Coupled with their salaries, I will also show their averages to see how their production isn't equaling their pay. After all my friends, "stats don't lie." Thanks again to Sheed for helping is to think this way. Also, since Sheed took a substantial pay cut to gain weight, be lazy, and shoot near career worst percentages from the field for the Celts this offseason, I won't include him on my list... for now.

Darko Milicic- $7,540,000 a year

Minnesota Timberwolves, 2nd overall pick in 2003 draft

Carrer Averages 5.5 PPG, 4.0 RPG

The Smooth Serbian who was taken before Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh has stayed in the league for seven seasons now, and plays for his fifth team. This kid sucks for lack of a better term, and this year he makes nearly twice as much money as MVP candidate Kevin Durant.

Andris Biedrins- $9,000,000,000 a year

Golden State Warriors 5.0 PPG, 7.8 RPG

This one is my personal vendetta. After a breakout year last season, I took him pretty early in my fantasy draft back in November. He had his worst averages since his rookie season, and spent more than half of the season on the bench with injuries. His coach, Don Nelson has accused him of being soft, and I accuse him of ruining my run at a second straight fantasy league title. I hope you get heavily taxed on your $9 million Biedrins!

Bobby Simmons- $11,242,666 a year

New Jersey Nets 7.8 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 1.9 APG

Simmons was the winner of the NBA's Most Improved Player Award in 04-05 season. He has since "improved" by suffering huge injuries, seeing a more than 50% decline in PPG and RPG and being traded to the hapless, Jay-Z Nets.

Tracy McGrady- $22,843,124

New York Knicks- Career Averages 22.1 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 4.7 APG

THIS SEASON 9.7 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 3.9 APG

For years, he was largely touted as one of the future best players of the league, and signed at the time, the largest contract in league history. Now he's touted as an injury riddled, selfish player, who's sole purpose is to help teams gain cap relief when he becomes a free agent.

Jermaine O Neal- $23,016,000

Miami Heat 13.7 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 1.7APG

He makes slightly less than Kobe, and that ranks second highest for league salaries this

season. Props to the Sports Guy, Bill Simmons for this obervation, "[O Neal] makes more money this season than Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Serge Ibaka, Eric Maynor, Thabo Sefolosha and Jeff Green combined." Hardly worth it.

Other notable guys that are running the league to financial ruin:

Shaq-$21,000,000

Zach Randolph- $16,000,000

Michael Redd- $17,040,000

Peja Stojacovic- $13,392,000

Samuel Dalembert- $12,025,694

Andrei Kirilenko- $15,456,976

I have long been in favor of an incentive based pay system for players, that can rise and diminish due to favorable and poor performance respectively. A base pay can be negotiated due on past performance,after all, this will still give players to be awesome the last seasons of their contract (Carlos Boozer anyone?). But these multi-million dollar, multi-year contracts for guys that sit out games with a cold and average less points than I did for my high school team, are hardly worth the investment. But for now, this is the way things are. However, if this trend continues, look forward to a lockout sometime in the next few seasons.

Look forward to future posts and a fun last week of the season.

The Kiss of Death

Well NBA fans, it is that time of year again. The time of year where the Western Conference experiences their yearly log jam of 2-5 place, and the world holds their breath to see which sub-par teams in the Eastern Conference will undeservedly clinch a playoff berth. But today's post isn't about my feelings on why I don't like the current playoff format, this is about something so much more.

I am a Jazz fan. The first step is admittance and I should come out and say it. Funny thing is, I don't regret it. I love our team this year and am optimistic about what might happen in the playoffs. I was very excited especially after the huge, yet controversial win against the Thunder Tuesday night. However, that all changed on Wednesday. No, I am not talking about the throttling we took against the Rockets that night, even though that bout was about as one sided as the matchup of Ivan Drago vs. Apollo Creed in Rocky IV (interestingly enough, Kirilenko didn't play that night.)

My reason for disillusion came during the ESPN Half time show, when the analysts were giving their predictions as to who would take 2nd place in the Western Conference. Jamal Mashburn picked the Mavericks to take the 2nd seed, and Avery Johnson picked the Jazz. Now, this might seem like good news, especially given that the Jazz have a knack for avoiding any kind of positive, national props. But given that Avery Johnson predictions are about as valid as a tarot card readers', this doesn't look good. Let's look at Avery's track record over the past few years:

- Paul Pierce will win reg. Season MVP- 2008 (Pierce didn't receive any votes that year)

-“I always thought of him as a triple double guy” (speaking of Antoine Walker- who now is out of the league and $85 million in debt)

- Nuggets will upset the Lakers in 2007 (Nuggets were swept in first round)

- Israel (the country) is one of the biggest media markets for the NBA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RjmjejukO0)

-The Toronto Raptors will finish in the top 4in the East this season (they currently have been bumped from the playoffs)

I could go on, but to be blunt, Avery's predictions seem to be a kiss of death almost every time, and to add to the irony, he has cartoonishly gigantic lips. So you can see my reason for worry now that the "Little General" (Avery) has given us his misplaced confidence.

I still remain optimistic, but this is reason to worry. Let's hope that the Little General can actually get close on this one. Sometimes he has been known to hit his mark. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUHIfOicCbU