Top 50 NBA Free Agents: Which Ones Will Be Overpaid and Which Will Be Bargains?

The NBA owners and the Players Association are in the midst of the most important talks yet, and with the two sides making progress (or as it seems to the normal person, shouting at each other through the media), it's looking more and more like the lockout is going to bleed over into the season.

David Stern came out and said after talks on Tuesday that if a deal wasn't had by Monday then the first two weeks of the regular season would be canceled.  In other words, the first two weeks of the regular season have been canceled.

The reason games are going to be canceled nearly a month in advance comes down to the fact that it takes a good amount of time for the teams to organize quick training camps, play a few preseason games and of course, sign some free agents.

Of course, the list of free agents amounts to about 10 real game changers and a deep run of role players, young guys with potential and guys coming off contract years who put up stats nothing like what they had done in the past, and therefore will get wildly overpaid.

However, that's not to say there is nothing to take from this year's list of free agents. In fact, I've gone ahead and found the Top 50 free agents for you guys, taking out players who can't come back to the NBA because of signing a deal in China and players like Greg Oden who have all but re-signed with their teams. 

50. Brian Cardinal

Underpaid overpaid or just right? Underpaid

What's so great about The Custodian, just everything, that's what.

Brian Cardinal is the rare type of player in the NBA that is a smart basketball player, but just not built in the right way to be a great baller.  Cardinal's main attribute is that he is a hard worker and a great personality to have in the clubhouse.

There's a reason you see a guy like him on almost every championship team.

49. Yi Jianlian

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Just Right

Okay, that's enough.  Seriously quit laughing.

Are you done? Good.

For all the jokes that have been poured over poor Yi Jianlian over the past few years, there is still some potential in that big body of his.

He has a decent offensive game and some still think he could be polished up enough to be a poor man's Andrea Bargnani.  I just hope you don't mind it when a seven-footer plays 30 minutes a game and grabs five rebounds.

48. Mike Bibby

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Underpaid

At this point, everyone knows Mike Bibby as Mike Bibby's corpse or Zombie Mike Bibby.  Basically he's a shell of a shell of his former self.

However, when you take a look at Bibby, there is still a decent offensive game in that Bibby Shell, and for a veteran minimum contract you could do a lot worse for a backup point guard.

47. Reggie Williams

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Underpaid

Reggie Williams is a guy that flew in under the radar last year at Golden State, mostly because he only scored 9.2 points a game on a team where it seemed like everyone scored at least 15.

Williams shot an amazing percentage for a guy that had played less than a thousand minutes coming into the 2011 season, shooting nearly 43 percent from downtown and 46 percent (as a guard) from the field.

Put this cat on a contender with a good point guard and he's shooting 45 percent or better for three.

The only problem is that his contract that he signed with Caja Laboral in Spain includes a buyout where he (or more likely the team that signs him) has to pay Laboral $1 million if he leaves before the end of the season.

46. Joe Smith

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Underpaid

Joe Smith has been underwhelming as a former No. 1overall pick, but people never really got on his case about it, why is that?

Well, he has been one of those Brian Scalabrine, Brian Cardinal type players who hold a clubhouse together and do their best work behind the scenes, giving off a hardworking attitude and rubbing off on the younger players.

A team who needs a cheap veteran presence would be wise to sign him.

45. Anthony Carter

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Underpaid

Anthony Carter is another old man, but this guy is quite effective on the defensive end of the court, and he was one of the few players the Knicks had that could make them look like they had any kind of efficiency on defense.

The Knicks got Carter as a part of the Carmelo Anthony deal and they completely underutilized him because he didn't fit into their offensive system. But any team who plays more defense than offense would be picking up a great backup guard with Carter.

44. Patty Mills

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Just Right

Patty Mills came into the league with a decent amount of hype from the Australians talking him up, then the expectations fell back down, and at this point I think we have him valued just right.

He is a shorter point guard who is more capable of being a shooter than an actual point guard at this point, but with some potential to grow in all areas.

Mills is playing back in Australia right now, but he does have an opt-out clause for when the lockout ends.

43. Jamario Moon

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Overpaid

Jamario Moon has been hanging around and looking like a decent player for the past two or three years, but he started to fall off late last season.

Moon can still play some defense and isn't yet to the point where he can't keep up on offense anymore, but he is rapidly approaching that point.

42. Tracy McGrady

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Just Right.

Tracy McGrady has been in no man's land in Detroit.  He can't make them better, they can't put him in too much because he isn't good enough to justify it, so he's basically been hanging out for the past year.

Some borderline playoff team or a borderline contender will probably pick him up, and who knows, maybe he'll hit a stride and play better than he did on a miserable Pistons team.

Also, rumors that he's going to go play in China have yet to be fulfilled and are just that, rumors, at this point, so he is still available for the season when the lockout ends.

41. Josh McRoberts

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Overpaid

The biggest reason that Josh McRoberts is going to get overpaid is because of his body.  He puts up some good offensive numbers, and he legitimately has a good offensive game, but his body makes him look like he's a tough player on defense.

Hell, even I thought that he was a banger down low until I started to watch him more closely, and he shies away from contact more often than welcoming it.

40. Delonte West

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Underpaid

Delonte West's crazy behavior over the past few years have given him a bad reputation, but in reality he is probably one of the five best backup point guards in the NBA.

The only problem is that I'm not sure if he has an opt-out clause with Regency Furniture Showrooms, the furniture store that he is reportedly working for during the lockout.

39. Anthony Parker

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Just Right.

With Anthony Parker, just about every team out there knows what they are getting, there's no pulling any punches here.

Parker is first and foremost a three-point shooter who can play some defense from time-to-time so long as he doesn't have to guard one of the better offensive players one-on-one. 

38. Kwame Brown

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Just Right.

There has been a lot of talk about Kwame Brown recently, and there is a reason for that.  Kwame Brown knows the game of basketball, if he didn't he wouldn't have hung around the league for a decade.

Kwame Brown could easily go to a contender (Miami Heat? Boston Celtics?) for at or near the veteran minimum, which he signed on for with the Bobcats last year.

37. Kris Humphries

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Wayyyy overpaid.

I know that I've probably banged this point home dozens of times at this point, but Kris Humphries is the most obvious "I'm on a contract year so I better work my butt off," guy of the past decade.

He came into the perfect situation where he was playing power forward alongside a center who has increasingly become incapable of rebounding, so of course his rebounding numbers were going to go up. And as for his scoring, Humphries averaged the highest total of his career, but his points per 36 minutes were his lowest since his third year in the league.

Also, we don't know if he can opt out of this whole Kardashian contract to come play basketball again once the lockout ends.

36. Spencer Hawes

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Just Right.

It's hard to fool teams with big white guys who are in the league because they are seven-footers these days.  Teams now are more fooled by the player who achieves greatness early in their career and then stagnates for seven years while collecting $100 million.

Hawes is big, he can kind of score and he can't really rebound, and that's it.  Give him $3 million and get it over with.

35. DeShawn Stevenson

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Overpaid

DeShawn Stevenson was very vocal during the NBA Finals, and by doing that he probably made himself a few extra dollars.

Media and then other teams began to take notice of Stevenson as a great defender and then suddenly he was put on Shane Battier and Grant Hill's level, when he is probably still a notch or two below Tony Allen.

Don't get me wrong, he's a very good defender, but he's not one of those players that make you stop dead and stare in awe.

34. Michael Redd

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Underpaid

Michael Redd is going to sign with a contender for the veteran minimum and do just about the same thing that Kyle Korver does for the Bulls at about $3 million less.

So long as Redd doesn't get hurt (which is a possibility), a team can pick him up, stick him in the corner on defense, put him on the three-point line for about 20 minutes a game and let him shoot.

33. Kurt Thomas

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Underpaid

Kurt Thomas is like the big old guy in a pickup game that really only gets noticed because he's old, but doesn't do anything flashy.

He gets rebounds, boxes out and plays defense, but during the game you don't see him do anything phenomenal.  The only time you realize how good he is is when he's defending you, at which point you just have to shake his hand and give him props.

Thomas really knows how to play basketball. If he didn't, then why would he have been around the league for so long and why would a team looking to make a run deep in the playoffs like Chicago sign him last summer? 

32. Reggie Evans

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Just Right.

Reggie Evans can do two things on the basketball court, and at this point everybody knows what those two things are.

The man can rebound the hell out of the ball, and he can play dirty.

Any team looking for a player who is grittier than the dirt behind a homeless man's ear would be fine signing Evans. Where else are you going to find a player willing to tug on an opponent's junk just to get a rebound?

31. Ronnie Price

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Underpaid

Ronnie Price is a young up-and-comer with the Jazz, and as a unrestricted free agent I would have to assume that they are still going to end up re-signing him.

That's going to be a small price to pay for the potential that is locked up in his slight, yet athletic frame.

Price is a young 28, and looks like he could end up being one of those late-blooming point guards that we see all too often in the NBA.

30. Nick Young

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Overpaid

Nick Young landed in the perfect spot with the Washington Wizards.

He got to spend his developing years out of sight as there was constant turmoil on the Wizards for two years before John Wall came to town, and then suddenly he had a point guard there to make him look amazing.

Young's 17 points a game is a fishy number to me, and I don't think he does that with a mediocre point guard.

29. Shannon Brown

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Handsomely overpaid.

Shannon Brown has two major things going for him right now.  First, he was in the Slam Dunk Contest back in 2010 and he was a part of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Because of that he has seen more television time than most of the players like him who ride on their athleticism and play very little defense.

28. Glen Davis

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Overpaid

It seems despite his stats, Glen Davis has regressed over the past few years.

He is a decent offensive player, and if he was given a starting power forward job he would probably average a cool 15 points a game, but his game just doesn't seem very refined for a guy going into his fifth year in the league.

27. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Underpaid

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is one of the very good defensive swingmen in the league who almost nobody is talking about.

Most people know that he is a good defender, but he doesn't get nearly the love that some of the others at his position get, mostly because he isn't quite at his peak yet.

He looks like he's going to be like Tony Allen and struggle for the first handful of years in his career until he finds a place that's right for him, at which point he just kills it for a defensive-minded team.

26. Arron Afflalo

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Overpaid

Arron Afflalo is probably going to get overpaid just based on the fact that three of the Nuggets' free agents have signed deals in China and can't come back to the NBA until the end of their contracts in the CBA.

Afflalo is now the most important free agent the Nuggets have when they once had Kenyon Martin, Wilson Chandler and J.R. Smith to think about on top of him.

25. Rodney Stuckey

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Overpaid

It's going to be interesting to see what the Pistons do with Rodney Stuckey now that they have drafted Brandon Knight, as Stuckey handled a good portion of the point guard duties for Detroit over the past few years.

If they re-sign him they are going to have to work out a whole new game plan, because coming in Knight is already a better point guard than Stuckey pretends to be.

24. Brian Scalabrine

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Underpaid.

If they gave out an award for the NBA player who works the hardest in practice, keeps things light in the clubhouse and has a personality that can defuse tense situations in the locker room, only to play a couple hundred minutes a season, they would name it the Brian Scalabrine Award, and he would have won it for the majority of the last decade.

There's a reason this guy has been on so many good teams in his career. He's not just lucky, he's useful and he's great at what he does.

23. Mario Chalmers

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Just Right.

Mario Chalmers seems like a prime candidate to get overpaid, right?  He is an athletic young point guard who looks like he's a short way away from being a viable starting option at point guard for most teams.

However, if you're Chalmers and the Heat pick up your qualifying offer, don't you go ahead and just re-sign with them?  Where else are you going to have so little pressure with three All-Stars surrounding you and giving you such a good chance of winning a ring?

Chalmers should want to stay with Miami as long as they want him to.

22. Sasha Vujacic

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Just Right.

Sometimes it's hard to get past my utter dislike of this guy, mostly because of the fact that he's engaged to Maria Sharapova while having his hair slicked back in that uber-European style.  However, he has been quietly good since leaving the Lakers.

I thought he was going to take a huge downturn in production after leaving the LA, but if anything he has been better in every aspect of his game except three-point shooting.

The fact that his good half-season for the Nets was overshadowed by Deron Williams' arrival and Kris Humphries "breakout" year, should mean that he won't end up getting overpaid.

21. Chuck Hayes

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Underpaid

Chuck Hayes is primarily a dirty work guy, and dirty work guys very rarely get paid what they are actually worth.

Who else is going to play a position six inches shorter than nearly everyone else he lines up against and still be able to outwork many of them night in and night out while getting very little recognition?

20. Marco Belinelli

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Overpaid

I'm still trying to decide if Marco Belinelli is a three-point shooter with a slightly more three-dimensional game than most three-point shooters, or if he is legitimately turning into a three-dimensional NBA player.

It could really go either way at this point, but it seems like some team out there is going to drive up the price for him on the whim that he is beginning to get very good.

19. Aaron Brooks

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Overpaid

Aaron Brooks is in the perfect place for any young point guard who isn't exactly setting the world on fire with his defense.  He is sitting behind Steve Nash, learning how to get the most from your offensive game to overcome your defensive shortcomings.

Brooks will probably get some looks from around the league, some offers will roll in and then the Suns will realize that they really need him for the future of their team and throw a bucket of money at him.

18. Marcus Thornton

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Overpaid

Marcus Thornton is a hard guy to pin down for me.

On one hand he came to the Kings and took over after Tyreke Evans went down, breaking out and scoring 21 points a game over 27 games.

On the other hand he came into a team with very few consistent scorers and a point guard who hadn't cared about the game in four years.

Then again, he came in and his field-goal percentage went up four points.  Even then he didn't work as hard on defense, but he did look like a better passer.

So I'll just go with the default here and say that the NBA overpays, as it almost always does.

17. Jeff Green

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Just Right.

The attitude toward Jeff Green in Boston is pretty hostile because of the Kendrick Perkins trade that blew up their team's title hopes, which should drive down the price.

In any other case, a dozen teams would have looked at Green's potential and gave him an offer just to see what he can do, but at this point he'll most likely come back to Boston after they pick up his qualifying offer and not get much more than the $5 million that it's worth.

16. Jason Richardson

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Just Right.

Jason Richardson knows that he's on his last leg at this point in the NBA, the league knows it and the fans know it too, so that should mean teams refrain from overpaying him...right?

I'll go out on a limb and say yes.  It's not that difficult to realize that his percentages are dipping to a point where he's not worth eight figures anymore.

15. Tayshaun Prince

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Just Right

Tayshaun Prince is probably going to be ecstatic to be on a decent team once he gets signed away from Detroit, as he's had to deal with a horrible situation for the past three seasons.

Prince will come into the season with the Lakers, Heat or any other team that wants to give him their mid-level exception, play good defense and smile all day, every day.

14. Grant Hill

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Underpaid

Grant Hill is still going strong, even though he is something like 67 years old and shouldn't have legs after the number of surgeries he's had.

Hill is one of the better defensive small forwards in the league and his ability to still shoot the ball when he needs to is going to help him get a few more good one-year contracts before he starts to take a downturn.

13. Thaddeus Young

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Underpaid

Thaddeus Young is one of the most promising young players in the NBA today.

For a playoff team this year he averaged 13 points and five rebounds on 54 percent shooting.  Not bad for an undersized power forward.

His shot selection is getting much better and he is playing better defense alongside Andre Iguodala.  The only complaint is that he isn't a very good rebounder at all.

The latest news on reports that he was thinking about going to China is that he hasn't done anything yet and doesn't seem poised to.

12. Carl Landry

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Overpaid

Everyone in the basketball realm needs to realize this.  Chris Paul makes big dudes who can kind of score look like Pau Gasol.

Landry came in to help the Hornets after David West went down with an injury and promptly shot 54 percent and looked like the Hornets third-best player suddenly.

However, it scares me when a guy has been on three different teams in four years. Is this guy really that expendable? 

11. JJ Barea

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Overpaid

Everyone's (outside of Miami and Los Angeles) favorite little point guard is going onto the free agent market and is looking to make bank, which he probably will.

Barea thinks that he will end up back in Dallas, but with so many teams out there seeing what he can do in the NBA Finals, it's going to be tough to stay away from the sizable contract offer that he's sure to get.

10. Andrei Kirilenko

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Just Right.

After years of being overpaid and underperforming, Kirilenko is finally going to get a contract that suits him.

He has pulled himself out of the tailspin that he was in for three years and played a (mostly) healthy season where he (mostly) played well and (mostly) started to look like the versatile player he once was.

Kirilenko is playing ball in Russia right now, but he has an opt-out clause for whenever the lockout does end.

9. Jamal Crawford

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Overpaid

Jamal Crawford has an award on his otherwise dusty mantelpiece, so he has some hardware that he can point to when his agent goes to negotiate a contract.

The former Sixth Man of the Year is going to go for that final big contract before he starts getting one and two-year deals, and his offensive numbers will be enough for someone to overpay for him.

8. Samuel Dalembert

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Just Right.

Last year, Samuel Dalembert made $13 million.  He played well, but he didn't play anywhere near $13 million well.

Still, he was a good defender and rebounder and can even score if he is put in the right system. Somebody get this man an $8 million contract and let's move on down the road.

7. Caron Butler

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Overpaid

Caron Butler was the second most important player for the Dallas Mavericks until his season derailed when he had to have knee surgery and he missed out on nearly the entire 2011 portion of the schedule.

Still, Butler scored 15 points a game and continued to shoot well, even developing a three-point shot out of nowhere. He shot 43 percent from downtown, seven points better than his previous career high.

6. Shane Battier

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Underpaid

Shane Battier likely won't get more than whatever the mid-level exception ends up being, and really that's a shame, because he can transform the mentality of a team overnight.

Battier is as hard a worker as you'll find in the NBA, and his aggressive defensive style always seems to motivate his teammates.Plus he can still shoot the ball from time to time.

5. DeAndre Jordan

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Overpaid

Right now there are two young centers that everyone is talking about as guys that are full of potential and look like they'll be around the league dominating for the next decade.

One of those guys is DeAndre Jordan.

The Clippers picked up his qualifying offer of just over $1 million, but there's no way that's what he ends up signing for.  Some team is going to offer him a multi-year deal worth between $7 and $9 million bucks a year and the Clippers will end up matching that.

4. David West

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Overpaid

It's kind of hard to put a finger on David West at this point. 

On one hand he is a great offensive power forward who can at the very least hold his own on defense.  On the other hand he is recovering from a torn ACL, something that could always change the way a big man plays the game.

He will be an interesting player to follow once the lockout is over.

3. Nene

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Just Right

Nene is one of the few centers in the league who can back up a good offensive game with a fierce defensive presence, even though he is a bit short for a center.

Nene is probably going to end up back on the Nuggets now that they don't have to concentrate on re-signing J.R. Smith, Wilson Chandler or Kenyon Martin, but they probably will end up getting him for a fair price.

2. Tyson Chandler

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Overpaid

Tyson Chandler is a spot ahead of Nene because he just helped his team win a championship. But now that he does have that ring, he'll probably end up getting a sack full of money.

He'll be an efficient scorer, a good rebounder and a great defender, but is he really going to be worth the $11 million a year or so that he'll end up signing for?  I say in some ways yes and in some ways no.

1. Marc Gasol

Underpaid, overpaid or just right? Just Right.

To me, Marc Gasol is the ultimate example in this free-agent class of a guy full of potential, but one good thing about Gasol is that everyone just saw him exhibit his potential in the playoffs as he was absolutely dominant down low.

Gasol has the potential to become one of the three best centers in the league, as he knows how to use his body to get what he wants down low on either side of the court and is able to do the little things that a center should do.

Plus there's that beard that makes him look like he just strolled down a mountain after chopping down a tree, bludgeoning a bear with it and using the bear as a pillow to take a nap in a cave.  It really makes you wonder why Pau Gasol's beard makes him look like a scraggly homeless man, while Marc's makes him look like Spanish Louie the Lumberjack, Northern Arizona University's mascot.

If you are one of those twitterers, you can follow me at @JDorsey33.