Seattle SuperSonics

Most Overpaid Players in the NBA

Not too long ago, I wrote about who I thought were the most overrated players in the NBA and the most underrated players in the league.  After the Shaq trade, I started thinking about the most overpaid and the most underpaid players.  First of all, I am not trying to hate on Shaq, but at this point in his career he is overpaid.  Secondly, overpaid does not necessarily mean overrated, just as underpaid doesn’t necessarily mean underrated.  Many times, successful rookies are underpaid because of the salary cap structure. 

Here are the 10 most overpaid players in the league and their salaries for this year, and the team with the biggest payroll problem (it’s not who you think it is). 

10.) Jason Williams (Miami) 8.9 million

9.)  Kenny Thomas (Sacramento) 7.3 million

8.)  Brian Scalabrine (Boston) 3.0 million

7.)  Antoine Walker (Minnesota) 8.3 million

6.)  Stephon Marbury (New York) 19.0 million

5.)  Rasho Nesterovic (Toronto) 7.8 million

4.)  Adonal Foyle (Orlando) 8.9 million

3.)  Ben Wallace (Chicago) 15.5 million

2.)  Malik Rose (New York) 7.1 million

1.)  Raef LaFrentz (Portland) 12.4 million 

There can be much argument about the rankings of these 10, but I think LaFrentz is the easy number 1. He is doing nothing, is not injured, and is making All-Star money.  This list does not consider guys who are still getting paid but are not playing for the teams that are paying them.  Chris Webber is still getting 19.0 million from Philly, Steve Francis is getting 16.4 million from Portland, and Michael Finley is getting 18.6 million from Dallas. 

The team with the ugliest payroll, I think has to be the 76ers.  They are paying out 26 million to two guys (Webber and McKie) that don’t even play for them any more.  Of the top 7 guys on their payroll, only 2 are starters. 

It was hard to whittle this list down to only 10 guys, so feel free to throw out some guys that you think are obscenely overpaid. 

Worst of the Week (Jan. 28-Feb. 3)

5.)  Joe Johnson:  30.2% FG, 12.0 PPG, 5.0 Reb, 2.7 Ast 

Johnson has come into his own after leaving Phoenix for Atlanta.  Last year was his career year, and, for the most part, he has been having another good year to date.  This past week though was a different story.  He is suffering from some ankle problems, which could account for some of his struggles.  His stroke left him this past week though, as he had 2 games in which he shot less than 30% from the field. 

4.)  Raja Bell:  25% FG, 5.0 PPG, 4.5 Reb, 1.0 Ast 

Bell is a role player that, because of the Phoenix run-n-gun offense, gets to score quite a bit.  His scoring is down a little this year, but he generally gets you about 15 a game.  Not this past week.  He only took 4 shots in a tough game against San Antonio (making only 1) as the Suns were held to only 81 points.  Bell is coming off of a streak of five games in which he averaged almost 21 PPG. 

3.)  Luke Ridnour:  26.7% FG, 4.0 PPG, 2.0 Reb, 3.3 Ast, no steals, no blocks 

Seattle is having a rough year, and it all starts with their guard play.  They have three guards (Ridnour, West, Watson) that can play the point in the NBA and none of the three are getting it done.  All three have landed on this list in the past, and West almost made the bottom 5 this past week also.  If you notice, Ridnour had virtually nothing going in the hustle stats—no steals and only 2 rebounds per game.

 2.)  Channing Frye:  22.2% FG, 4.5 PPG, 4.0 Reb, no assists, no steals, no blocks 

I never thought I would say this about any player, but he would be better off back with the Knicks.  He was showing some promise with the Knicks, but now he can’t even beat our Joel Przybilla for a starting gig.  Frye had an almost empty stat line.  I still haven’t figured out how the Blazers are winning in the West, but I do know that Frye isn’t the reason they are winning. 

1.)  Francisco Garcia:  0/9 FG, 0.3 PPG, 2.7 Reb, 1.0 Ast, no steals 

This is a guy that has 2 30-point games on the season and a handful of 20-point games and look at what he has become.  He has been pushed out of the starting lineup with the return of both Mike Bibby and Ron Artest.  Not only is he not starting, he is getting very few minutes.  Still, he played enough minutes to put up more than 1 point and 2 assists for the week.  This guy has the talent and should be in the lineup.  By the end of the season either Garcia, Bibby, or Artest will be traded and you will see Garcia feeling a little better about himself. 

Un-Honorable Mention:  Delonte West, Andres Nocioni, Dwayne Wade, Randy Foye, Yi Jianlian, Al Harrington, and Leandro Barbosa.   

Worst of the Week (Jan. 7-13)

Some weeks are good and some weeks are bad; for these guys it was a bad week. 

Delonte West:  22.2% FG, 50% FT, 4.3 PPG, 4.3 Ast

He was a piece in the Ray Allen deal and was supposed to give the Sonics solid PG play.  That has not happened, and the Sonics have been doing PG by committee (which has worked out horribly you will see later).  Delonte is not the starter, but he is consistently getting 20-25 minutes per game.  He is not shooting well, obviously, but he is the most talented PG on their team.  Maybe he needs the starting gig to find his rhythm. 

Andrea Bargnani:  40% FG, 5.7 PPG, 2.0 Reb, No Blocks

The number 1 overall pick from 2006 has not panned out thus far.  He showed some flashes the week before last, but then he had a week like this. He is young, but in an era were there are 18 and 19 year-olds playing well, that is really not much of an excuse for this 22 year-old.  He had a 25 point game on Jan.4, but he has yet to score more than 7 since.  The disturbing thing for this 6-10 guy 250-pounder is his lack of rebounding and shot blocking. 

Quentin Richardson:  21.4% FG, 2.8 PPG, 2.3 Reb

This guy is still starting!  I don’t understand why you would start a guy and then let him play only 11 minutes.  He is playing horribly right now (this is his second week in a row on this list), but either let him play through it (he does have some talent) or don’t start him.  This is the Knicks we are talking about, so who am I to question.  Richardson may be having the worst shooting season of anyone this year.  He is shooting only 30.9% from the field and 60% from the line for the season.     

Earl Watson:  18.2% FG, 50% FT, 4 PPG, 3.3 Ast

These are the stats for the starting PG for the Sonics.  That makes 2/3 of the committee, Luke Ridnour being left out, on the worst of list.  Watson was coming off a good week; a week were he had a 20 point effort and an 18 point effort.  That is the thing with these guys.  They are all serviceable PG’s, but they just can’t seem to get it together this year in Seattle.  They will have one good week followed by 2 or 3 horrible weeks.   

Morris Peterson:  23.1% FG, 2.7 PPG, 2 Reb, 0.3 Ast

Mo’ Pete had a horrible week shooting the ball, and the tragedy is that he really brings little else to the table.  He doesn’t play defense, he doesn’t rebound, and he doesn’t distribute the ball.  Luckily for New Orleans, they have a good all-around team, and they can bring Bobby Jackson off the bench when Mo isn’t shooting so well.  Jackson is 6 inches shorter than Peterson, yet he still gets nearly as many rebounds and works harder on defense.  I think a change is in order. 

Here are a few more guys who may need to self-medicate after their performance over the past week. 

Un-honorable mention:  Ray Allen, Peja Stojakovic, Ricky Davis, Brendan Haywood, Sam Cassell, Troy Murphy, Yi Jianlian

My Top 5 BBall Movies of All Time

#5) Celtic Pride

-A big debate for the last spot between The 6th Man, The Air up There, and this Boston bball film where two crazed fans kidnap the star player of the Utah Jazz.  Turns out I like Marlon Wayans better than Damon, Kevin Bacon and that dude from Home Alone.  And the bar/drinking/kidnapping scene is hysterical.

 #4) White Man Can’t Jump

-Billy, I even know 7 foods that start with the letter q.  I mean how many quotes can come from one movie that we still throw out today.  We goin’ Sizzler, we goin’ sizzler.  Hmmm, I guess its two if you’ve used that first one ever.  Still awesome to think basketball hustling could ever involve Woody Harrelson.

#3) He Got Game

-Spike Lee knows basketball.  Denzel is awesome and you have to pick up the soundtrack if you haven’t heard it.  This is worth purchasing solely for the sex scenes with such up and comers as Milla Jovovich and Rosario Dawson.  Oh yah, and Ray Allen has a threesome with two white chicks who are porn stars in real life.  Well played, Spike, well played.

 #2) Blue Chips

-Nick Nolte acts like himself, Shaq forgot they weren’t filming Kazaam, Penny is actually awesome, and the story alone makes it a worthwhile film.  Right along with The Program in showing stuff we’re not supposed to talk about.  What I can’t believe is Reggie Bush only took $300k while at USC.

#1) Hoosiers

-Still sets the standard for sports films.  Just in a different class than anything else and I am just realizing I might be a Gene Hackman fan.  Not sure how I feel about this.  I am going to go sit in the dark and contemplate that one for awhile.

I better not get comments for Eddie.  Chris Paul, MVP 2008 booyah!

« go back