GMs Find Pot of Gold, Kill Leprechaun

by Suckatsports

The NBA and NHL off seasons have started by almost physically 'making it rain.'  They have blasted out enormous contracts to merely mediocre players, and imagine the contracts good players got.  Was there some rainbow that they all followed to a big pot of gold that wasn't covered on ESPN?   I don't remember this much money thrown around since my weekend with Pac Man Jones.

Let's look at the NBA, because no one cares about what happens in the NHL.  But the NHL did throw it's money around like the pre-lockout days (lockout, what's that?!), you'll just have to take my word for it.

Rashard Lewis got a max contract.  The worst part is, I knew he was going to get one from the first day of the free agency moratorium.  I even saw the figures of what a max contract would look like.  But even that wasn't enough to prepare me for the $20+ million Rashard Lewis will be getting for six years.  If you've not read the Simmons chat on ESPN, his head exploded just like mine.  That is preposterous.  A 6'10" swimg man just like any other in the league who scores pretty well and doesn't defend at all, and with no history of leading his team to any kind of success just got enough money to buy a small country.

For comparison sake, Chauncey Billups (reminder: NBA Finals MVP and champion, 5 conference finals apperances) got half that contract, less money per year, and less years.  How is this even possible?  Is Otis Smith also stealing the Fruity Pebbles and Lucky Charms laced with heroine?  Why would you give a player like that a max contract?  Is he on the level of a Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O'Neal or Kobe Bryant?  Gerald Wallace: a younger, stronger, more versatile, and more sought-after player got around $57 million over six years.  What's different about these players?  How about the IQ of the GM signing them.

Matt Carrol, Jason Kapono, and Darko Millicic are averaging nearly $7 million a year now.  That's for a bunch of tall white guys with no athletic ability.  Isn't there a life time moratorium against signing tall white guys in the NBA?  I thought I read something about that.  How can spot up shooters be that important now, and why are these GMs driving the price up so high.  Colangelo signing Kapono is the most unbelievable, because out of all the teams mentioned, he's the only one that knows a lick about basketball.

I want to know what piggy bank they knocked over, and what kind of dirt they have on their owners that they can make marginal players into high priced NBA prizes.  I want some of that pot of gold Otis.