pretty honnest for once.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/kelly_dwyer/08/01/bad.deals/index.html


When the clock strikes noon on Tuesday, a newly-ratified Collective Bargaining Agreement will take into effect for the NBA and its players. The league, its fans, and the millionaires in short pants could not be happier; as the exacting legal document should go a long way toward continuing fiscal parity for all teams, guaranteeing money for players, and improving a product for its fan base to take in. Good news abounds.

That doesn't mean I can't feel a little twinge of sadness at the passing of the last CBA. That agreement, which nearly cost the league the entire 1998-99 season, set the league on its ear, ensured that teams in San Antonio and Indianapolis could compete with behemoths in New York and Los Angeles and made Internet superstars out of guys like Larry Coon and Chad Ford.

But since (as Abbie Hoffman once told all of us) nostalgia is a mild form of depression, it's only fitting to look back at some of the worst signings of the '99-05 CBA era. Not only did these contracts darken the arenas and dampen the checkbooks of the NBA's elite, they cost people jobs, respect, and luxury box suites.

Next week we'll be back with some of the better signings of the last six years, but for now, with the help of Frank Marousek's NBA transactions archive, here are the worst deals of all-time, in ascending order of hair-pulling frustration.
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.


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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).
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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.

Raven, you need to work on your copy and paste. Now doesn't this look much better to the human eye?

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 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.

How is Juwuanna Man Howard not in the Top 3.

I still remember when I found out he was making somewhere near 25 Mill one season I flipped out. I couldn't even believe it...