By request: the Wizards
Andray Blatche, 398,762 (-3.1) [FA]
Donell Taylor, 398,762 (-3.1) [FA]
Calvin Booth, 900,498 (-2.6) [FA]
Mike Hall, 398,762 (-3.1) [FA]
Jarvis Hayes, 2.1 million (-1.4) [FA]
Antawn Jamison, 9.0 million (+5.5) [FA] (has since signed a contract, I think)
Roger Mason, 719, 373 (-2.8) [FA]
Mike Ruffin, 1.0 million (-2.5) [FA]
DeShawn Stevenson, 900,498 (-2.6) [FA]
Gilbert Arenas, 10.7 milion (+7.2) [1]
Etan Thomas, 6.1 million (+2.6) [2]
Antonio Daniels, 6.0 million (+2.5) [3]
Brendan Haywood, 3.3 million (-0.2) [3]
Darius Songailia, 4.6 million (+1.1) [3]
Caron Butler, 6.0 million (+2.5) [4]
The first key number is six red numbers, meaning they technically pay six players "starting" money. On deeper look is some more complexity, which actually speaks volumes about this particular team composition. Notably, the Wizards are known for being a three-headed pig, but they have zero max contracts. I'm not sure what Jamison's contract is now, but he used to average 9 million on his contract- granted this was weighted by his rookie contract that he extended, and the past season he actually earned 12 million, but it simply means that he's not paid that much. He and Arenas combine for the bulk of the high money, but even with Arenas netting a max contract he makes considerably less than other star players. Caron Butler rounds out the top three on the team, but his contract, also, is about right. He's paid a decent amount of money for someone who's probably an all-star calibur offensive wingman, who works hard on defense but isn't really there yet defensively. All in all, the top three on this team actually make a surprisingly low amount of money for their stats...
The flip side is, of the six people in red figures, three don't start. Them's alarming numbers. First is Darius Songailia, who I keep having to remind myself exists. He battled injuries the past season, but he's a forward, he's still probably not going to start, unless the Wizards shift to a rather big setup (which is possible, mind you, except for one problem...) with Arenas, Butler at 2, Jamison and Songailia at 3/4 and a C. Except they have crap 5s so that wouldn't work that spectacularly, but eh. At this point, this is an overpay, a fairly hefty one, and it's also a contract that won't be going away anytime soon (he's their longest contract). Then Antonio Daniels, who's paid as much as Caron Butler, and Etan Thomas, who's paid more. Daniels is a streaky bench shooter. That's really about it. If you pay 6 million a year to Caron Butler and you pay 6 million a year to Daniels, there's something wrong. That being said! 82games.com says Daniels had their fourth-best plus-minus rating, so he might actually be worth it. Ginobili-like, if you will.
Etan Thomas and Brendan Haywood form a head-scratcher. The two of them are really not much better than the rotation of Elson and Oberto, but they cost almost twice as much. In particular is the salary of Thomas, whose contract is large and long, for a fairly low-impact player. That's the kind of overpayment you can't really be doing. Combined, the Wizards are paying a whopping 9.4 million per year, on average, for 48 minutes of Center-ing. Does the production feel like it's worth that much? Arenas obviously didn't think so.
The green players are one of the more interesting ones on this team. A bunch of them are great. DeShawn Stevenson provides a much needed defensive presence... at the veteran's minimum. He's going to be getting a big contract though, probably to starter money, because he's worth that much (that would give them, if you're counting, a bloated seven people in red figures). Ruffin, Hayes and Haywood are role players and they're paid as such. Ruffin probably won't be getting much more than the vet minimum raise, while Hayes, I'm not sure. The rest are all projects. I think the Wizards were one of the most active teams in regards to these test players, incidentally, as they routinely had at least four players, including Awvee Storey and Peter John Ramos on their roster whom were cycled.
Relatively speaking, though, the Wizards have a good amount of quality players. Most of their overspending isn't on fat, long contracts, but rather relatively low overspends (probably to beat out competition for the players), and they hold down the contracts of their star players, giving them a good amount of cap space and all. Grunfeld seems to know what he's doing, which is nice. They have the 23rd highest payroll in the league.
Donell Taylor, 398,762 (-3.1) [FA]
Calvin Booth, 900,498 (-2.6) [FA]
Mike Hall, 398,762 (-3.1) [FA]
Jarvis Hayes, 2.1 million (-1.4) [FA]
Antawn Jamison, 9.0 million (+5.5) [FA] (has since signed a contract, I think)
Roger Mason, 719, 373 (-2.8) [FA]
Mike Ruffin, 1.0 million (-2.5) [FA]
DeShawn Stevenson, 900,498 (-2.6) [FA]
Gilbert Arenas, 10.7 milion (+7.2) [1]
Etan Thomas, 6.1 million (+2.6) [2]
Antonio Daniels, 6.0 million (+2.5) [3]
Brendan Haywood, 3.3 million (-0.2) [3]
Darius Songailia, 4.6 million (+1.1) [3]
Caron Butler, 6.0 million (+2.5) [4]
The first key number is six red numbers, meaning they technically pay six players "starting" money. On deeper look is some more complexity, which actually speaks volumes about this particular team composition. Notably, the Wizards are known for being a three-headed pig, but they have zero max contracts. I'm not sure what Jamison's contract is now, but he used to average 9 million on his contract- granted this was weighted by his rookie contract that he extended, and the past season he actually earned 12 million, but it simply means that he's not paid that much. He and Arenas combine for the bulk of the high money, but even with Arenas netting a max contract he makes considerably less than other star players. Caron Butler rounds out the top three on the team, but his contract, also, is about right. He's paid a decent amount of money for someone who's probably an all-star calibur offensive wingman, who works hard on defense but isn't really there yet defensively. All in all, the top three on this team actually make a surprisingly low amount of money for their stats...
The flip side is, of the six people in red figures, three don't start. Them's alarming numbers. First is Darius Songailia, who I keep having to remind myself exists. He battled injuries the past season, but he's a forward, he's still probably not going to start, unless the Wizards shift to a rather big setup (which is possible, mind you, except for one problem...) with Arenas, Butler at 2, Jamison and Songailia at 3/4 and a C. Except they have crap 5s so that wouldn't work that spectacularly, but eh. At this point, this is an overpay, a fairly hefty one, and it's also a contract that won't be going away anytime soon (he's their longest contract). Then Antonio Daniels, who's paid as much as Caron Butler, and Etan Thomas, who's paid more. Daniels is a streaky bench shooter. That's really about it. If you pay 6 million a year to Caron Butler and you pay 6 million a year to Daniels, there's something wrong. That being said! 82games.com says Daniels had their fourth-best plus-minus rating, so he might actually be worth it. Ginobili-like, if you will.
Etan Thomas and Brendan Haywood form a head-scratcher. The two of them are really not much better than the rotation of Elson and Oberto, but they cost almost twice as much. In particular is the salary of Thomas, whose contract is large and long, for a fairly low-impact player. That's the kind of overpayment you can't really be doing. Combined, the Wizards are paying a whopping 9.4 million per year, on average, for 48 minutes of Center-ing. Does the production feel like it's worth that much? Arenas obviously didn't think so.
The green players are one of the more interesting ones on this team. A bunch of them are great. DeShawn Stevenson provides a much needed defensive presence... at the veteran's minimum. He's going to be getting a big contract though, probably to starter money, because he's worth that much (that would give them, if you're counting, a bloated seven people in red figures). Ruffin, Hayes and Haywood are role players and they're paid as such. Ruffin probably won't be getting much more than the vet minimum raise, while Hayes, I'm not sure. The rest are all projects. I think the Wizards were one of the most active teams in regards to these test players, incidentally, as they routinely had at least four players, including Awvee Storey and Peter John Ramos on their roster whom were cycled.
Relatively speaking, though, the Wizards have a good amount of quality players. Most of their overspending isn't on fat, long contracts, but rather relatively low overspends (probably to beat out competition for the players), and they hold down the contracts of their star players, giving them a good amount of cap space and all. Grunfeld seems to know what he's doing, which is nice. They have the 23rd highest payroll in the league.
posted by Mary Celeste @ 10:21 pm
1 Comments:
At Wed Jun 20, 01:15:00 pm BST,
jonathan said…
cool.
It's nice to see that we have space to give Arenas a max contract, and (as you and I have both read), he's probably going to wait to sign that max contract, in order for the team to sign other players (again, not really sure how that works, signing late vs. early).
Anyways, I'm looking forward for the Wizards having the big three back next year, so we can make that push for the eastern conference title (I mean, if the Cavs can do it with one superstar, having three can't be *that* much harder, can it?). That's the dream, anyways. Hopefully we won't have as many injuries this year, and some of the project players start to pan out.
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