I should put more thought into this before starting a thread, because I know there have been quite a few. However, this Rashard Lewis MAX contract has got me focused on posting this now. The max deal that the Magic gave to Lewis has to be ranked among the worst contracts ever. I'm hoping we can think of more that are equally insane (or moreso!) and revel in the failure that they have or will wrought. I plan to fill in the contract amounts when the motivation is there. Suffice to say these are generally BIG deals, so the specifics are a bit irrelevant. So we've got Rashard Lewis -- seriously, this can't be up for discussion, can it? They guy is a nice #2. Not a great #2. Not a #1 by any means, but he's nice. He can score a bit (not like Kobe or AI or even T-Mac), but some. He's not very good on defense, and doesn't really rebound well. So he got a max deal, so he ends up on this discussion. Darius Miles -- Wow. This one was bad. Portland (I think) is STILL paying the price. Dude was AWESOME on NBA Live on PS2, but terrible on the court, and inexplicably worse off of it. David Carr -- He's terrible, everyone knows he's ruined, the tapes suggest nothing to the contrary yet the Texans give him another chance under Kubiak (this is a rare contract you can blame on the owner, not the GM.) So they see just how bad he is, and that he's more interested in leading his family in singing campfire songs than leading an NFL team. So they cut him. Ouch. Bad deal Joe Smith -- back in the day, this one essentially cost the T'Wolves their entire franchise, due to the tampering rules. Carl Pavano -- As a Yankee fan, I'm pretty sure this signing cursed the franchise. Until further notice, I'm sticking with that. No, Ricky Williams is not in this discussion. Period.
I don't think Rashard will be THAT bad. I mean, he has 20 a game out west, so I believe he will be able to replicate that and some in the East. If Rashard is on there, then Peja HAS to be for the Bees. He is older than Lewis and literally doesn't seem to ever play anymore. No doubt in the world Darius Miles and Joe Smith are in that discussion, b/c Miles is... an idiot, and Joe Smith cost the Wolves tons and tons of 1st rounders, and never did much. I will throw a few more into the fire, though. Mike Hampton's insane deal with the Rockies comes to mind. something like 8 years and 121 mill. giving a pitcher 8 years in the 1st place is insane, but especially in Colorado where no pitcher will succeed. Grant Hill's max deal in Orlando is obviously one, too. It was a good idea at the time, but signing someone who is on crutches at the press conference is always a bad idea. Kevin Brown 7 years 105 mill is on the list for sure. In a way, A-Rod's 250 million is a bad contract, too, for the Rangers, anyway... They weren't able to do crap with him, and got next to nothing for him when they finally realized it.
He hasn't written an article in a while. I think he must be on hiatus, or otherwise occupied with the Sox being that far ahead of the Yankees.
I call the Magic the New Saints. They make decisions that "could" work out but in the big picture everybody knows won't and then act surprised when it doesn't. Then when the media start bashing them they through up some "stats" showing how uch money they spend on thier players, blah, blah, blah. Problem is you can pay me 13 million dollars to stand on that court, that doesn't give your fans quality basketball to watch! Back to wirse contracts...I hear the Magic and always have to comment on it...they make me sick!
Honorable mention: The Dodgers just gave Juan Pierre 5 years/$50+ million. He is one of the worst position players in baseball. Worse than Eckstein, even.
