NBA Free Agency 2012: Omer Asik and Other Overvalued FA Targets

When free agency comes about, a few players always make a little more, or in some cases a lot more, than they are actually worth. 

That's not to insult the players or disrespect them. All of the players on this list deserve to be in the NBA and have shown enough to make someone believe they are worth what they are getting paid. 

Still, sometimes when bidding starts, things get out of hand, and some of the players who have been signed were awarded contracts that maybe just got a little bit out of hand. 

Here are 10 contracts that gave players either too much money or too many years. 

Marcus Camby, 3 Years, $13.2 Million

Marcus Camby has been a sensational defender his entire career and will be a solid backup to Tyson Chandler in his return to New York. 

The issue I have here isn't so much with the money but the years. He was the fifth-oldest player in the game last season, and the Knicks signed him to a three-year deal. 

He'll be 40 in the final year of that contract for those who are wondering. How much is he going to be worth then? My guess is not somewhere in the neighborhood of $4 million. 

Brandon Roy, 2 Years, $10.4 Million

Brandon Roy was a fine player before he ran into knee problems. 

Having not one but two degenerative knees is a sufficient reason to retire. 

It's also sufficient reason to second-guess the Minnesota Timberwolves giving him a two-year, $10.4 million contract. Granted, the second year isn't guaranteed, but if he plays part of the second year, he gets it. 

That doesn't mean he's going to be able to play all of next year. That could be a big chunk of change for a player to sit on the bench for all or parts of one season, or perhaps even both. 

Ersan Ilyasova, 5 Years, $45 Million

Ersan Ilyasova played great coming down the stretch last year, but the Bucks might have been a little too enthusiastic about that performance, giving him a five-year, $45 million contract. 

Prior to last year, he averaged just 8.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. 

Over the first 23 games of the 2011-12 season, he averaged 8.0 points and 7.5 rebounds. Then he blew up for the last 38 games, scoring 15.8 points and nabbing 9.5 rebounds. 

I can see going as high as $8 million for three years, but five years at $9 million per? That just seems like an awful risk that the last half of last season wasn't an anomaly. 

Goran Dragic, 4 Years, $30 Million

Goran Dragic had a nice season with the Rockets last year, stepping in admirably when starter Kyle Lowry went down for a while. 

He averaged 18.0 points and 8.4 assists in the 28 games he started. 

He has never been trusted to carry a team before, though, and there are some questions as to whether he can really do that. There is a good chance he'll be a disappointment and not live up to his $7.5 million per year salary. 

Landry Fields, 3 Years, $18.7 Million

What possessed the Toronto Raptors to think that Landry Fields was worth a three-year, $18.7 million contract?

Granted, Landry Fields has his strengths and is one of the better second-round draft picks in the last few years. 

He's a solid rebounder for a shooting guard and plays excellent defense, but he also has a career average of 9.3 points per game and just 11.2 points per 36 minutes. This isn't going to be fixed by more playing time. 

It's tough to win in this league with a 2 guard who can't score, especially if you're paying him nearly $7 million a year. 

Omer Asik, 3 Years, $25 Million

Omer Asik is one of the more dominant defensive players in the game today. In fact, over the last two seasons, his defensive rating is the best in the NBA. 

The problem is that his offense is as bad as his defense is good. 

Houston offered him an outrageous $25 million, three-year deal. The first two years aren't bad, but the $15 million for the third year is eye-popping. 

it's going to be hard to justify having a $15 million backup center on the roster. 

Brook Lopez, 4 Years, $60 Million

Brook Lopez is a nice scorer. I'll give you that. But is he worth a max deal over four years?

I don't think so. 

He can score, averaging 17.4 points per game over his career and 20.3 over the last two seasons. The problem is that over the same time frame, he has averaged just 5.8 rebounds per game. 

That's fine for a shooting guard, but for a seven-foot center to be getting that? That's certainly not max deal performance. 

Michael Beasley, 3 Years, $18 Million

Michael Beasley should have played football. 

After all, he's a ball-hog, and in football they toss around a pigskin, so it's a perfect match. 

What is not a perfect match, though, is his play and three-year, $18 million contract. 

He's not even worth the mid-level exception. He's a one-dimensional player who only scores and doesn't even do that efficiently. In short, he makes a team worse, not better. 

Roy Hibbert

Roy Hibbert has been longer on potential than actual performance his entire career. 

Every once in a while, like in a couple of playoff games against the Miami Heat, it seems like he could really break out and be one of the most dominant centers in the league. 

Then he drifts back into the slightly above-average to marginally above-mediocre stage where he seems to hover around the rest of the time. 

Lest you think I'm exaggerating here, take this into account: In his entire NBA career, how many games has he had 20 points and 10 rebounds?

If you guess 11, you're dead on. But then if you guessed that, you know he's not a max contract player.

Jeremy Lin

Jeremy Lin already claimed his 15 minutes of fame. Now in three years he'll claim his $15 million in fortune. That will be added to the $10 million he'll total in the first two seasons for a three-year, $25 million deal. 

The Houston "We Offer Poison Pills" Rockets, not content to overpay Omer Asik and leave it at that, also decided they would overpay Jeremy Lin. 

What else is there to say? Between that, the trades around draft day and the way they've tried to do anything they can to get Dwight Howard (to no avail), it has been a strange, strange summer in Houston. 

Yes, Houston. We do have a problem.