Two Bucks on NBA's most overpaid list

By RICK SOLEM
ricks@mwfbroadcasting.com

Forbes Magazine put out a list of the NBA’s most overpaid players.

No. 1 was New York Knick center Andrea Bargnani, who makes $11.8 million this season. Last season, teammate Carmelo Anthony and his $19.4-million salary topped the list.

I hate just about everything about Anthony’s game, but he certainly wasn’t the most overpaid last year when he led the league in scoring. And Bargnani topping this list is somewhat justified, but the criteria is skewed..

Two Bucks made the list, No. 7 Ersan Ilyasova ($7.9 million) and No. 10 O.J. Mayo ($8 million).

I don’t agree with that. I don’t agree with quite a few of the players on the list. And I don’t agree with the stipulation of excluding some players because of minutes/injuries, yet others on the list are included, ignoring the rule.

Amar’e Stoudemire is easily the most overpaid player in the NBA, if not all those who play sports. He’s making $21.6 million this season. He was excluded from the list because of the minutes/injury clause, but he isn’t injured and his minutes are cut to prevent injury, not because of it.

He’s played in 39 of 52 games – one less game than Ilyasova and two less than Mayo.

Mayo has seen his minutes plummet this season because of a combination of injuries and coaching decisions. Ilyasova is in the same boat. But it’s easy to pile on Milwaukee, since it’s won one game in January and one game in February and has the worst record in the NBA (9-23) – nearly half as many wins as the next-worst team, Philadelphia (15-39).

At least the Bucks haven’t lost by 35 points and 43 points in back-to-back games, like the 76ers did on Feb. 9 vs. the L.A. Clippers (123-78) and Feb. 10 against the Golden St. Warriors (123-80). But now I’m getting off topic.

One could argue Caron Butler is Milwaukee’s most overpaid player at $8 million. He certainly isn’t making his teammates better and his public complaining for minutes doesn’t help anything.

For the record, the three highest paid in the NBA are Kobe Bryant ($30.4 million), Dirk Nowitzki ($22.7 million) and Gilbert Arenas ($22.3 million).

Yes, Arenas, who hasn’t played since a 17-game stint in 2011-12.

Stoudemire is fourth highest-paid player in the NBA and Anthony is fifth ($21.5 million).

The Top 3 on the Forbes list are fair, though Gordon is only playing 14.4 minutes a game, so either he should be excluded or Stoudemire should be No. 1-2.

Of all the players that shouldn’t be on this list, it’s Chris Bosh ($19.1 million) at No. 9. I don’t like Bosh, i think he’s a glorified jump-shooter, who doesn’t rebound or block shots.

But Miami needs a glorified jump-shooting power forward that allows it to leave the lane open for LeBron James to drive. I’d add Dwayne Wade to that equation, but he has become the Heat’s new glorified jump shooter, who sits out multiple games to prevent injury. Wade no longer drives to the lane. Perhaps he’s saving himself for the playoffs, because teams barely need to win games in the East, but Wade has clearly getting to over-the-hill status.

Bosh is picking up Wade’s slack and in some circles, is an all-NBA first-team candidate. Perhaps it’s Wade and his $18.5 million salary – 13th highest in the NBA – that should be on the list.

No. 4 on the list is Pau Gasol, who hasn’t had a good season, but the Lakers are a mess with injuries to players that handle the ball and pass to big men. It’s hard to be good when you don’t get passed the ball, and, when you do, there’s nobody else to pass to.

Joe Johnson at No. 5 has had somewhat of a resurgence this season – compared to last – but all he really does now is shoot 3s. He should probably be No. 2-3 on this list.

Anthony Bennett at No. 5 is a complete joke. He doesn’t get minutes, is stuck on a team with multiple big men, a shoot-first, look-at-me point guard and this isn’t a list of biggest draft busts. He would hardly be eligible for that list, either. Not yet. He does shoot an exorbitant amount of 3s for a 6-foot-8, 260-pound power forward, however. But you can’t deem someone overpaid as a rookie, plus the NBA sets their salaries.

After Ilyasova, Zach Randolpoh sits at No. 8 and, yeah, he’s overpaid, but so are all athletes and Z-Bo does what his team needs to fairly well – score and rebound.

And Mayo rounds out the list, hardly overpaid. He, like Ilyasova, are under-utilized.