Cavs Board

Well, with the season still a month away roughly, it’s time to start putting making some predictions and getting on my soapbox.  So I give you my first “The Worst Offseason Moves of (insert year)” piece. 

1.) The Nuggets trade Marcus Camby for a second-round pick:

Fine. You don’t want to pay the guy. I wish the Cavs didn’t have to pay Wallace or Wally either. But Camby is far more productive than the Cavaliers dead weight, and he makes nearly half of what those two do. There had to be a better option out there then to deal him for a second round pick, even if it’s not out there before the season.

At the trade deadline, when teams are trying to add that one piece (see Kurt Thomas to the Spurs) the Nuggets probably could have gotten a first-round choice, or at least some promising prospect who wasn’t going to be playing much with a contender (like a Donte Greene). Sure, they would have had to pay the luxury tax for one more year, but I think that’s a far better alternative.

Couple that with the fact that Camby’s deal is actually pretty reasonable ($8 million this season, $7.65 million next), and I’m completely underwhelmed by the “salary dump” that Denver found in the Clippers. When looking for a team with enough cap space to take on $8 million dollars, their choices were limited. But sometimes, if the party is full of fat chicks, you should just go home alone.

2.) The Knicks sign Chris Duhon for 2 years, $11 million:

I want to just write “it’s the Knicks” and move on, but here goes.

This deal is a bad deal. It’s yet another midlevel deal doled out to yet another career backup by the New Yorks Knicks.  If there is any team in the last five years who has so woefully misused their midlevel, it would be the New York Knicks. 

But to the Knicks credit, at least they didn’t give him a long, bad deal. In two years, if Duhon proves to be overpaid, they can wash their hands of him. They’re just reaching that point with Jared Jeffries and Jerome James, two of their other midlevel mistakes. They’re showing improvement in that respect.

When deciding between deals, Duhon was considering the Magic and Knicks, but the Knicks came to the table with a lot more money in offering 2 years at roughly $5.5 million per. Put that in perspective with West’s 3 years at roughly $4 million per with a third year team option, and you have to think they might have overspent a little on a position where they already have $21 million dollars invested in a lunatic (Marbury).

Speaking of bad deals for average role player talent….

3.) Kwame Brown to the Pistons for 2 years, $8 million:

I have a general rule. It’s an infrequently cited rule, but here goes.

If a team signs a player who has spent the last three years of his career with the Lakers, a storied franchise…. and if said player is cited as “former Washington Wizard Kwame Brown” in the adjoining article in the local rag announcing his acquisition, then said player must have sucked with the Lakers.

2 years, $8 million dollars… How Brown keeps getting money when he’s been an injury prone, inconsistent, baby-handed disappointment his whole career is beyond me. It just goes to show you that if you can fill out a uniform and are taller then 6’10” somebody will pay you.  $4 million dollars is not a ton of money for a big man (Ronny Turiaf who played less then Kwame in LA when Kwame was healthy got $4.5 per season), but it’s too much for a guy who can’t stay in the lineup for any long stretch of time of plays like he’s not in it even when he is.

The Pistons should have just taken 20 million dollars, mashed it up into a basketball shaped wad, and offered to let Kwame keep it all if he could catch it. I guarantee you Kwame would be playing for free.

4.) Joe Alexander taken with the 8th overall choice for the Milwaukee Bucks:

I didn’t get this at the time, and I still don’t understand it now. A poor summer league showing by Alexander only solidifies my belief that taking him with the 8th overall pick was the wrong move for the Bucks. It screams Luke Jackson revisited.

They moved Yi and Simmons to acquire Jefferson. They appear to be trying to “win now”. But then they turned around and drafted a guy with the number 8 pick who is not going to be able to significantly contribute being buried behind Jefferson. They lack interior bangers and when they dealt Mason in the Mo Williams deal, not only did they knowingly deal away the most talented player in the deal (Williams), but they failed to get back any big men.

The Alexander choice can’t be looked out without the context of the surrounding moves. But when you do consider the Bucks other maneuvers, it sticks out like a sore thumb. One that you’ll want to amputate from your hand later on.

5.) Corey Maggette signed to a 50 million dollar deal:

Maggette had little to no leverage when he inked his deal. The money on the free agent market had largely dried up. The Clippers has spent “Maggette’s money” on Baron Davis and still were under the impression they’d be resigning Brand. The Grizzlies weren’t going to spend their money period.

Nobody on the market was offering Magette the kind of money he felt he was worth ($10 million per season) mainly because nobody had that kind of money available. And in swooped the Warriors, bidding against themselves to get Maggette. It’s like taking a prostitute to a nice steak dinner. Completely unnecessary. You could have sex with her in your car, and not even share the Del Taco.

Now he’s not a bad player. Quite the opposite, but when you’ve got two free agents to resign (Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins) who both eventually cost more than $10 million per season, a little financial responsibility would have been nice to see. Who was going to outbid the Warriors if they’d only offered $8 million per year, or $8.5?