Vin Baker makes it on this list. But where is Mo Taylor, Maloney, Shandon Anderson, Cato, and Moochie? The Rockets get no respect! http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/kelly_dwyer/08/01/bad.deals/index.html No. 10: Golden State signs Adonal Foyle to a six-year, $51-million deal, and Derek Fisher to a six-year, $36-million contract. After retiring from active duty, Warriors legend Chris Mullin spent three seasons involved in an awkward arrangement with beleaguered former GM Garry St. Jean in which both acted as purported personnel heads. By '04, St. Jean had stepped aside, and Mullin began his solo tenure with a pair of brutal signings that seemed preposterous even at the time they were inked. Both Foyle and Fisher are strong-willed, overachieving veterans with a lot to teach, but not at half this price. Though Mullin has made a series of strong moves since, he'll still be paying backup center Foyle until he's 34 and backup point guard Fisher until he's 36. No. 9: In 2001, Denver signs Tariq Abdul-Wahad to a seven-year, $43-million deal. No "bum deal" retrospective would be complete without a nod to former Denver boss Dan Issel, who presided over an unending commitment to mediocrity in his time at the helm of the Nuggets. After averaging nine points a game and 57 games a season over his first three years in the NBA -- for three teams, no less -- Issel somehow saw fit to throw beaucoup de bucks at the French off-guard. I nearly flunked out of high school French, obviously, but Issel had just about the same success rate with NBA capology. Abdul-Wahad played in just 87 games in the five years after signing. No. 8: Indiana re-signs Austin Croshere to a seven-year, $51-million deal, and Jalen Rose to a seven-year, $92.9-million deal in 2000. Jalen Rose Jalen Rose developed into a prolific scorer in Indiana, albeit a high-salaried -- and high-maintenance -- one. Following a glorious spring that saw the Pacers make their first NBA Finals appearance, the Pacers followed with a sobering summer. After the Chicago Bulls drove his asking price up, Croshere re-upped with the Pacers despite having started a mere 14 times at that point in his career. Rose was actually a restricted free agent heading into the summer, but because the CBA had no provisions in which a veteran of Rose's status could act as a RFA, the Pacers actually fought to have Rose on the open market. Subsequently, both players clashed with new coach Isiah Thomas, another unfortunate signing, and Croshere's confidence never returned. The Pacers paid the Bulls back two years later when Rose was sent to Chicago, and has been wreaking havoc upon locker rooms ever since. No. 7: The Phoenix Suns sign deals in 1999 with Luc Longley for six years, $32 million, Tom Gugliotta for six years, $59 million, and Penny Hardaway for seven years, $87 million. Flush with cap space, two picks in the '99 draft, the Larry Bird rights to Antonio McDyess and the presence of Jason Kidd, the Phoenix Suns had hoped to lord over the abbreviated '99 offseason. Names such as Vlade Divac, Scottie Pippen and Ike Austin were bandied about; but while the Suns explored their options, the Denver Nuggets got in the ear of McDyess, and somehow lured him to a team coming off an 11-win season. The Suns didn't rebound well from that loss, working a sign-and-trade for Longley that included their first-round pick, and picking up Gugliotta with the rest of their cash. After a 27-23 lockout season, they added injury to insult by initiating a sign-and-trade for Penny Hardaway. By '01, Penny and Googs had one working ligament between them, Longley had retired, and that first-round pick had turned into future All-Star Ron Artest. No. 6: Milwaukee signs Tim Thomas to a six-year, $67-million deal in 2000. As with Croshere, the desperate (as in, "we'll sign Ron Mercer"-desperate) Chicago Bulls threatened to throw big money Thomas' way, and drove his asking price through the roof. Then-Bucks coach George Karl thought he could do big things with the 6-foot-10 Thomas, and the results were predictably underwhelming. The 28-year-old current Knicks forward has yet to average more than 4.8 rebounds per game in a single season. No. 5: Sacramento inks Chris Webber to a seven-year, $122.7-million contract in 2001. After sorting through all these inflated deals, these numbers tend to lose their meaning, but, damn, that's a lot of cash. Webber, currently playing for the Philadelphia 76ers, will make in excess of 22 million bucks in the '07-08 season, a campaign that should see him celebrate his 35th birthday. Yeah, this can't end well. No. 4: The SuperSonics re-sign Vin Baker in 1999 to a seven-year, $87-million deal. Seattle was hoping against hope with this one. After Baker showed up to camp impossibly out of shape following a six-month lockout, and after watching him shoot a career low from the floor (45 percent) and the line (the same), while providing the worst per-game averages since his rookie year, the SuperSonics somehow talked themselves into giving the 27-year-old a maxed-out deal. Nice. For some reason, former owner Berry Ackerly had to sell the team a year later. No. 3: The Miami Heat engineer sign-and-trade deals in 2000 for Brian Grant (seven years, $86 million) and Eddie Jones (seven years, $93 million). Not only did it seem like the right idea at the time, it seemed like a move toward the first championship in Miami Heat history. Everyone knew Pat Riley was likely overpaying Grant and Jones, but the man was sick of losing in the first round of the playoffs, and in securing two of the top free agents on the market, he was set to field his finest starting five in more than a decade. Then Murphy came to town, his Law in tow, and Alonzo Mourning's kidney issues came to light. Grant actually had a career year in '00-01, but playing out of position at center led to his body breaking down prematurely. Jones was never anything more than a nice scorer and complementary player. No. 2: The Knicks re-sign Allan Houston to a six-year, $100-million deal, and the Dallas Mavericks extend Michael Finley's contract (seven years, $102 million). Everyone knew these deals were just moronic back then, and yet both teams forged ahead with pen in hand. Each squad had its reasons for extending two borderline All-Stars with deals like these, but none of them made much sense, on or off the court. Former Knicks GM Scott Layden was reeling from the firing of his boss and mentor (former MSG exec Dave Checketts) in the early summer of '01, and probably tried to save his own hide by shooting for that 45-win ideal and six more years of Houston's pleasant perimeter touch. Houston did have his best season in '02-03, but his knees have fallen apart in the months since. Finley took advantage of Mark Cuban's early attempts to prove that the business model of every other NBA franchise was obsolete (by attempting to overpay for just about every available player while making up for the impending loss of revenue and cap flexibility with a creative business touch and deep pockets). It's hardly my place to start handing out business advice -- not with my bank account -- but Fin's a week or two away from being waived, so I'll let that speak for itself. No. 1: The Orlando Magic engineer a sign-and-trade deal in 2000 for Grant Hill and his seven-year, $93-million contract. This was unfortunate on so many levels. This deal probably cost Magic GM John Gabriel and coach Doc Rivers their respective gigs, cost Orlando the services of three-time All-Star Ben Wallace and cost us the chance to see two all-world talents such as Hill and Tracy McGrady on the same court at the same time. Hill, possibly the finest talent this league had to offer during the '99-00 season, has averaged only 30 games a season with the Magic since the trade.
i dont know if grant hill should be number 1. no one really knew what was going to happen to his ankle, and also no one knew ben wallace was going to be the type of player he is today. also, arent we glad we didn't get chris webber?
I agree. Webber should be #1. But Juwan should also be there too. Washington stunk it up with his fat contract. The entire Fab Five team was overrated and overpaid.
Props to Kelly... that's a great read. I know the article was more about recent deals (1999-2005 CBA period), but since it did say worst deals "of all-time", I think Juwan Howard's $100+ million deal could maybe go in there (though he was more productive than many of those on the list). Seattle ridiculously overpaying Jim McIlvaine in 1997 to the tune of $34 million caused all kinds of anger/jealousy problems with the Sonics, leading to Kemp being dealt. But a 6-year, $13 million deal, miniscule by today's standards, has to be the most ridiculous. Atlanta gave that deal to Jon Koncak in 89 I think. Maybe 90. The Hawks just lost their mind and panicked and when Koncak signed that deal, the ripple effect was huge. That was a lot of money at the time -- more than Michael Jordan was making -- and it became the new market price for stiffs who average 4 points a game. And voila ... 4 or 5 years later, Glenn Robinson was asking for $100 million before even being drafted.
Thanks Clutch. I forgot, Glenn Robinson sucks too. I blame him for ruining Ray Allen and Sam's best chance to make the finals. They would have beaten the Lakers cause Sam is a Laker Killer. Too bad Big Dog was a Buck Killer. Philly paid him too, for sitting on the bench. He piggy backed Horry for a ring this year.
Horry? Nonstarter Horry? I mean I know he is clutch, but he is a role player and a very good at that. Horry has been feasting on open 3's his whole career
Interesting read. It's nice having a writer for a major sports publication on the board. Not that it matters or anything, but I wanted to point out that this thread is probably a better fit for the Dish.
I look at the Dallas Mavericks' signings over the past few years and still wonder how in the blazes they can keep acquiring people : Shawn Bradley 7 years $35 million Erick Dampier 7 years $73 million Tariq Abdul-Wahad 7 years $43 million Evan Eschmeyer 6 years $19.2 million (ok, not outrageous, but what did he ever do?!) Jerry Stackhouse looks like he's owed something like $25 million over the last 3 years of his contract Michael Finley 7 years and the GDP of some 3rd world countries What in the hell?? And in the middle of all that mess, they took on Keith van Horn and others.
i think i woulda put allen houston at #1 since the new amnesty clause has been known to all as "the allen houston rule"
well no one knew the severity of the injury but you could see how bad it must have been when Hill was limping around in the playoffs against the Heat. Aside from a VERY select few, I would never sign a player to a max contract that just had ankle surgery.
The reason Tariq got such a massive contract was because Rick Pitino thought the stiff would be a perfect fit for his "system." He started a bidding war with the Nuggets for his services, but the Celtics owner wouldn't let him sign him for over $40 million.
sure its risky, but is that worse than all the other contracts in the list? i mean all the other contracts were given to lousy/non-productive/over the hill type players, whereas grant hill was sidelined with a tricky injury. it just seems unfair to both grant hill and his employers.
Given the outcome, it turned out to be one of the worst, but it doesn't fit the other 9 on the list that have a "what were they thinking element" and given that the writer agrees T-Mac and Grant Hill would have been great then it its a little contradictory to the concept of the article. You say they were fools but it would have been great.
Grant Hill's ankle stays healthy and it's a solid deal ~ J. Howard is a better fit on that list Hill - IMHO.
unlike big dog robinson. Horry hits his open jumpers. Ask Sam and Ray about that 3 foot putback against the Sixers that Glen missed. Horry=true champion Big Dog=John Salley
