Simmons' 30 Worst NBA Contracts...Kills Our Boys

[Johnny Mac]

http://grantland.com/features/bill-simmons-breaks-down-the-2014-worst-nba-contracts/

So Bill Simmons writes about the 30 worst contracts in the NBA. Along the way, he wonders if he could put together a team with a payroll of at least $100,000,000 that could lose 70-plus games. He starts with:

Ben Gordon, Charlie Villaneuva, Caron Butler, and Emeka Okafor.

Oy vey! And that's before he begins the list with Rudy Gay at #30! Ouch!

 

[Inyatkin]

I'm sure they're crying over their eight-figure contracts over that.

 

[Chin Diesel]

http://grantland.com/features/bill-simmons-breaks-down-the-2014-worst-nba-contracts/

So Bill Simmons writes about the 30 worst contracts in the NBA. Along the way, he wonders if he could put together a team with a payroll of at least $100,000,000 that could lose 70-plus games. He starts with:

Ben Gordon, Charlie Villaneuva, Caron Butler, and Emeka Okafor.

Oy vey! And that's before he begins the list with Rudy Gay at #30! Ouch!

Can't disagree that those guys are cashing huge checks for little production.

I'll give Emeka a pass because he's had known injuries and they still paid him. Caronimo gets a bit of a pass too due to injuries. If owners are dumb enough to sign injury-prone players that's on them.

Ben and Charlie have been cashing checks and not giving much production at all for a few years now.

On the other hand, Andre, Kemba and even Jeremy are producing well above their contracts.

 

[tykurez]

I'm sure his buddy Jack-O had his input on that list. I'll never forget that podcast where they just bashed UConn and Calhoun.

 

[IMind]

Simmons was a Holy Cross student while Blaney was head coach... he's as much as said that he hated Blaney then... and was one of the reasons he went after UConn. Of course I don't know why we'd care what a guy who thinks that MTV reality shows and the LA Clippers are worth watching says.

 

[progrocks]

Yeah, and all those contracts are horrible. CV and BG are just cashing dem checks. They could not careless about being basketball players at this time.

 

[Walker11]

I hate when I see people saying Ben is simply cashing checks. I could be wrong but he has never showed up out of shape. I think his lack of defense has been his main issue. CV on the other hand...

 

[dsturdy5]

Whatever. Simmons' analysis has been spotty at best during his "career". He was much better 15 years ago when he was just a fan writing in blog/message board style and getting paid for it. I can count on one hand the number of times I've clicked on an article of his since 2002 when I got bored with the Karate Kid references. As for his site? I don't think I've ever visited it.

 

[Inyatkin]

This is tough, though. It could really be used against us on the recruiting trail.

"Don't go to UConn, all they do is send guys to the NBA who sign huge contracts and then don't live up to it. Then guys on the Internet say mean things about them!"

 

[progrocks]

His site has become great. The main writers for each sport are tremendously insightful, and his tv and film critics are great too. It has become a daily read for me.

Also, he knows more about basketball than anyone on this board, he just gets I to trouble when talking about stuff he doesn't know. For instance, I doubt he has watched UConn once this year, and probably does not even know KO is the head coach, but his NBA knowledge is immense. Mock him for his 90210 references if you like, he understands the game rely well.

 

[Palatine]

Only one Husky in his top 30 worst contracts. Rudy at #30 and that's questionable at best.

I wish more Huskies were overpaid.

 

[dsturdy5]

His site has become great. The main writers for each sport are tremendously insightful, and his tv and film critics are great too. It has become a daily read for me.

Also, he knows more about basketball than anyone on this board, he just gets I to trouble when talking about stuff he doesn't know. For instance, I doubt he has watched UConn once this year, and probably does not even know KO is the head coach, but his NBA knowledge is immense. Mock him for his 90210 references if you like, he understands the game rely well.

Then I assume he's better at writing about the NBA that he is at hosting on BSPN because that was equally as brutal.

 

[Pudge]

http://grantland.com/features/bill-simmons-breaks-down-the-2014-worst-nba-contracts/

So Bill Simmons writes about the 30 worst contracts in the NBA. Along the way, he wonders if he could put together a team with a payroll of at least $100,000,000 that could lose 70-plus games. He starts with:

Ben Gordon, Charlie Villaneuva, Caron Butler, and Emeka Okafor.

Oy vey! And that's before he begins the list with Rudy Gay at #30! Ouch!

I know what this is ...

It's a guy with the Red Sox view of the world (and occasionally WE ignore our own Sox misadventures).

 

[Deepster]

His site has become great. The main writers for each sport are tremendously insightful, and his tv and film critics are great too. It has become a daily read for me.

Also, he knows more about basketball than anyone on this board, he just gets I to trouble when talking about stuff he doesn't know. For instance, I doubt he has watched UConn once this year, and probably does not even know KO is the head coach, but his NBA knowledge is immense. Mock him for his 90210 references if you like, he understands the game rely well.

Yeah? Find me one of his cockeyed fake trades that any two GMs would actually ever pull off. I clicked on the contracts article above and couldn't make it through five paragraphs. Who wants to read this stuff?

 

[Leebo]

If you send a lot of people to the NBA, you're likely to have a normal distribution of overproducers and underproducers.

 

[aceboon]

His site has become great. The main writers for each sport are tremendously insightful, and his tv and film critics are great too. It has become a daily read for me.

Also, he knows more about basketball than anyone on this board, he just gets I to trouble when talking about stuff he doesn't know. For instance, I doubt he has watched UConn once this year, and probably does not even know KO is the head coach, but his NBA knowledge is immense. Mock him for his 90210 references if you like, he understands the game rely well.

He knows facts and historical notes about the NBA, as far as breaking down the game and analyzing film, please, gimmie an break. I'd rather read a post from Gurleyman or champs breaking down the game then listen to anything Simmons has to say. Dude sports a pair of clown shoes whenever he gets up on ESPN and tries to talk the game, his appearances during game broadcasts have been disasters.

 

[Walker11]

I think 1/3 of Grantland is awesome and 2/3 is unreadable. If you want good NBA analysis, skip Simmons' articles, but do read Zach Lowe's. I also have a soft spot got Mark Titus' power rankings.

 

[tzznandrew]

I find Simmons hit or miss. I think he's moved away (at least in his everyday articles) from a lot of those really lame 90s pop culture references. Those are still in his mailbag, which I don't bother to read. I do enjoy his insights on more general basketball things. Like aceboon says, I think he has a good sense of basketball history...probably from writing his book and meeting and speaking with older players like Russell and Magic. He's like a little kid, so he absorbs their stories and reflections open-mindedly--often willing to revise his old thoughts on things.

As for the others, Zach Lowe is fantastic. Love reading his pieces. Also enjoy Titus, but he's not nearly as good as Lowe.

 

[FrostyNuggets]

Bill Simmons has become everything he used to rail against back when he was the Boston Sports Guy.

 

[bmayuc]

you guys are looking at this all wrong. It is FANTASTIC that our guys get overpaid in the pros. It is a selling point, not a negative. The NBA folks value the UCONN brand such that they clearly overpay our guys relative to their skills. Keep it coming!

Thanks Simbo!

 

[Silk City]

The article is solely an indictment of poor GMs rather than players. If you read the last paragraph about Amare he raves about the guy's skills when used the right way and and basically says it's not like he gave himself the contract.

As someone said earlier, we may have overpaid guys but look at the value our latest class is bringing into the league. It's almost impossible to do a "best contracts" list if you include all the rookie deals out there, but nonetheless all 3 of our young guys are performing noticeably better than their draft stock, and we have a 4th on the way of whom I'm very confident will join that club.

 

[SubbaBub]

The 2004 guys are in their 10 year in the league, Ray is at 17. Unless you're an all-star, your contract from 6 years ago is a bad one.

Steve Nash is on the list and Kobe. I don't see it as a reflection on how bad Uconn players are. Instead, Uconn guys have long NBA careers and get paid a ton of money.

 

[Jerry1714]

I'm sure his buddy Jack-O had his input on that list. I'll never forget that podcast where they just bashed UConn and Calhoun.

You mean the one they do every year before the tournament?

 

[Adios]

Maybe "The Servant" can straighten his rear end out and teach him to respect Ollie and UConn? Simmons is already a lapdog for The Servant. I really doubt Ollie would leave until we are in the B1G or the ACC. This is going to be fun.

 

[SixRings]

Not our problem that many GM's are idiots and pay for past performances. Most players on this list did achieve a certain status at one point in the NBA career that led to a GM spending too much for what they eventually got. Take Ben for example. He went in the draft probably too quickly but wasn't overpaid in Chicago. He got them into the playoffs and won the sixth man as a rook. Too bad for GM's that cant assess players as they age better. They are the ones that should be embarrassed.