NBA Free Agents 2011: Nene Bidding War Proves League Will Still Spend Like Mad

Another CBA, another chance for owners to prove they have no idea how to spend their money. The mad case of Nene will show that nothing was learned by owners that are still crying poor to this day. 

Those poor owners were forced to spend frivolously for years on overrated talent. Thank God they stuck to their guns and whittled the players down a peg in the latest CBA that should be signed shortly—hopefully. 

We all knew they would learn from their mistake and make intelligent assessments of players and pay accordingly, or not. 

Nene is a prized big man that is no doubt a star, when healthy. The question is how big a star is he? I ask that because he is about to get an All-Star-type paycheck from either the Denver Nuggets or the New Jersey Nets. Well, I hope he makes the All-Star squad one of these years then. 

Matt Moore of CBS Sports writes that the market for Nene is blossoming into a ridiculous landscape with only one conclusion, one team will overpay for his services. 

The likely teams come down to the Nuggets who still want the center despite him opting to test the free-agent waters. And, of course, the Nets who will view money as no object in pursuit of a big man. 

There are hardly much better big men in the open market than Nene. He is versatile, physical and comes with a great set of hands that make him a great asset for low-post handling of the ball. 

However, he isn't a star, nor is he a game-changer that will automatically make whatever team he goes to a contender. Yet, that is exactly how he will be paid as a bunch of teams get into the Nene auction. 

The only thing that will come from that is the load of bull the owners just passed off as the problems leading to the aforementioned lockout. 

When you add that the Warriors and Rockets are also interested in Nene, you can see that things are about to get ridiculous. 

Nene is about to get paid handsomely, and that should irk just about everyone that watches this fine game.