How Soon Teams Forget That Baron Davis and Corey Maggette Were Free Agents, Too

mmandlin — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:12:58 +0000

Do you remember back in the day, when Baron Davis and Corey Maggette signed huge long-term contracts? Oh yes, that was last summer; two teams bet their prospects on players who had spent a quarter of their careers on the injured list. Actually, that’s inaccurate; Maggette has now missed 22% of games played during his career – including 31 in his first year with the Warriors. Baron Davis, on the other hand, didn’t miss a game until his fourth season, in ’02. Since then he’s missed almost 26% of games played – including 17 in his first season as a Clipper.

Anyway, on this first day of free agency, it’s something to think about; will your team be the next to hire a cripple to run its offense?

In this spirit, I’ve created a statistic for Free Agency F_ck Ups: the FAFU, of which there are three distinct grades:

1. “We thought this guy was going to be really good, but it turns out he’s crap.” That’s a Grade I FAFU – you might also call it a “Curry” or a “Szczerbiak” contract.

2. “We thought this guy was going to be really good, but it turns out he’s just a rotation player.” That’s a Grade II. A “Hinrich” sounds good, but if you’re not into the whole brevity thing, calling it a Kenyon Martin contract would be more illustrative.

3. “We thought this guy was going to be a superstar, but it turns out he’s just really, really good.” You might as well call this a Bucks contract, since they signed one (Michael Redd) and traded for one (Richard Jefferson.) But the Bucks were so friendly to me when I covered them this past March, they get a pass; just call it a Richard Jefferson contract. When you’re a terrific player and get traded twice in two years, something’s kooky – either you’re an @sshole or you’re terrifically overpaid. And by all accounts, Jefferson is Beaver Cleaver.

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How Soon Teams Forget That Baron Davis and Corey Maggette Were Free Agents, Too