NBA Playoffs Odds: Most Overpaid & Overrated Player

You get what you pay for – unless you’re a general manager in the NBA, in which case you pay and pray.

You never know what kind of performance you’re going to get from a player after you sign him to a seven-figure (or more) contract. And in a league with a salary cap, you only get so many kicks at the can before the money’s all gone. Just about every team, even those who made the playoffs, have an albatross contract to deal with. Some are more like an albatross with avian flu.

The Phoenix Suns, for example, could have been even better this year had they not signed Marcus Banks to a five-year, $21 million contract. The idea was to give Banks a healthy dose of floor time in relief of Steve Nash. Banks proved to be a bad fit in the Suns’ style of play; Nash ended up playing 35.3 minutes per game, virtually the same as last year. But Phoenix is still playing at an elite level with Leandro Barbosa delivering at either backcourt position, and Banks was never thought of highly enough to be considered overrated.

For that honor, we go to Cleveland. The Cavaliers are using Larry Hughes as a point guard, and while that may be good enough to get past the injury-riddled Washington Wizards, it’s hard to imagine the Cavs hanging with the NBA’s elite.

Hughes is earning max-level money for the next three years after this season ends, and while his conventional numbers look decent (14.9 points, 3.8 boards and 3.7 assists per game), Hughes is a break-even player at best with a plus-minus Roland Rating of plus-0.1. He’d be less of a problem at the 2-spot, but Cleveland is leery of using either rookie Daniel Gibson or the rapidly aging Eric Snow at point guard. Think they’d like to have Andre Miller back? I’m sure LeBron would rubber-stamp that one.

Check out the odds to win the NBA Championship from Bodog Sportsbook

Dallas Mavericks 2/1
Phoenix Suns 3/1
San Antonio Spurs 9/2
Detroit Pistons 5/1

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