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"He tends to take some criticism because he has sort of a weird body, but he takes a lot of pride in his game."
- Donyell Marshall's agent, Andy Miller

July 4, 2006
by: Scott
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While teams can't officially sign free agents until July 12, gentlemen's agreements (I use the term "gentlemen" with Paris Hiltonesque looseness in regards to this league) are already being made. The action has been fast and furious, so let's evaluate the deals that have gone down so far.

Denver Nuggets re-sign Nenê for six years, $60 million
This deal absolutely boggled my mind. Sure, he's young and huge, but he's shown no improvement in any of his four seasons. He's a decent scorer and defender, but he's a very poor rebounder and shot blocker for his size. But hey, he's got "potential". You hear that word thrown around a lot to justify massive contracts to unproven centers. This is the same contract that Samuel Dalembert and Tyson Chandler signed last year, and their employers are now trying to trade them for whatever it takes to shed the contracts.

New Orleans Hornets sign Peja Stojakovic for five years, $64 million
The good news about this signing is that it allowed me to exhale after worrying that the Raptors would sign him. The bad news is that Peja is a one-dimensional player who is unquestionably past his prime and a track record of choking in the playoffs. Would you give this kind of money to a player whose shooting percentage and points per game have declined for two straight seasons?

Atlanta Hawks sign Speedy Claxton for four years, $25 million
For what it's worth, I'll take T.J. Ford over Claxton any day, though this isn't a bad deal for the point-guard-starved Hawks. Speedy won't have to be a "pure point" playing next to Joe Johnson and he should fare well in the Hawks' up-tempo offence.

L.A. Clippers re-sign Sam Cassell for two years, $13 million
Great move, great player. If I thought the Raptors were anywhere close to contending (they're not), I would have supported Colangelo outbidding the Clips for this guy.

Chicago Bulls sign Ben Wallace for four years, $60 million
I saved the biggest for last. We all knew somebody was going to overpay for Big Ben, and Chicago stepped up with this juicy deal. The price is steep, but it's tempered by the fact that it's only four years and it turns Chicago into a legitimate contender in the Eastern Conference. The one time I advocate overpaying a free agent is when it keeps or adds a key piece for a potential championship team.

Chicago's not quite there yet, however. While Thomas, Chandler and Wallace would form a certifiable "swat team", I think it's clear that Chandler is the odd man out now. If I'm John Paxson, I would dangle Chandler, Luol Deng, the Knicks' 2007 pick and one or two filler players in front of Kevin McHale in an attempt to liberate Kevin Garnett. Unlike most other scenarios I've read, this is one package that makes perfect sense in terms of starting a proper re-building program in Minnesota.

I'm not a Bulls fan (obviously) but a Duhon/Hinrich/Nocioni/Garnett/Wallace lineup with Ben Gordon and Tyrus Thomas coming off the bench is pretty damn exciting. That looks like an Eastern Conference champion.

While we're on the subject, can we talk about Joe Dumars for a minute? Since the Pistons won it all in 2004, he's allowed Mehmet Okur to leave as a free agent (he averaged 18 and 9 for the Jazz last season) and traded Darko Milicic (my surefire pick to win next season's Most Improved Player award) for Kelvin Cato (who they probably won't re-sign). Now, he's lost out on the Big Ben bidding war and will probably have to settle for Joel Przybilla as a consolation prize.

Pistons fans must be in a weird headspace about this. On the one hand, Joe D. brought them a championship two years ago. On the other hand, he passed over Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade for Darko, let Darko's value plummet after two-and-a-half seasons buried on the bench, finally traded him for Cato's expiring contract – theoretically to clear capspace to re-sign Wallace – and then let Wallace sign with an up-and-coming conference rival. Has any other GM gone from "genius" to "incompetent" so quickly?