NBA Free Agents: Dumbest Moves from Opening Weekend

The NBA lockout happened largely in part because so many teams were making insane moves and paying crazy amounts of money to players who never could live up to their contracts.

Of course, as soon as the new CBA was signed and the offseason began, GMs went right back into their old routine of making questionable moves and owners were overpaying mediocre talent.

Things never seem to change in this league.

Let’s take a look at some of the dumbest signings and other transactions of the past week.

Knicks Sign Mike Bibby

New York pulled off a great move to land Tyson Chandler, a defensive-minded center that filled their biggest need this offseason.

Unfortunately, they had to use their amnesty clause on Chauncey Billups to facilitate the deal under the cap, which left them woefully thin at point guard.

Of course, since we are talking about the Knicks, the offseason wouldn’t be complete without at least one stupid signing.

Look no further than the one-year, veteran’s minimum deal that Mike Bibby signed on Sunday.

Bibby is no longer a serviceable player in this league and even as a backup to Toney Douglas, he’s going to be more of a detriment than boon to this burgeoning team of young stars.

The Heat gave him a chance last year and he proved to be a total bust and actually recorded a "DNP – Coach’s Decision" during their decisive Game 6 loss in the Finals.

He’s useless and the Knicks should have looked elsewhere for a guard.

Lakers Lose Lamar Odom

Odom is a drama queen.

He was so upset that Lakers tried and failed to trade him that he requested to be moved away from the team, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

The Lakeshow obliged and sent the reigning Sixth Man of the Year to Dallas and got pretty much nothing of value in return.

Unless you consider a trade exception and a protected first-round pick from a perennial playoff team to be worth something.

Lamar was a lynchpin for two of the Lakers' recent Finals-winning teams and was able to come off the bench and play a number of positions with his unique skill set.

He’s now stuck with a Dallas team that is questionable to repeat as champs without a number of stars that helped them last year.

The Lakers have to scramble to replace Odom’s production with a player of lesser talent, just because he couldn’t understand this league is a business and teams look out for their best interest instead of players’ feelings. 

That's definitely a lesson he should have learned from the lockout.

Clippers Overpay Caron Butler

The Clippers direly needed a small forward and showed their desperation by signing Caron Butler to a three-year, $24 million contract on Friday.

Hey, Neil Olshey (Clippers GM), just because you have a glaring hole on your roster does not mean you need to rush out and overpay for a player who hasn’t proven he can stay healthy or play up to his former All-Star ability in years.

This is Butler’s sixth stop in the league, a number that some “journeymen” don’t even reach.

You’d think someone getting All-Star money would actually stick around with one team for a bit longer—especially considering it’s just his ninth year in the pros.

The only way to redeem themselves for this crazy move would be to pull off a Chris Paul signing, something the Clippers are apparently very close to doing.

Timberwolves Ink Jose Juan Barea

Listen, I love J.J. Barea and believe his contributions in the playoffs last year should be recognized and he should be properly compensated for them.

But not by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

T-Wolves GM David Kahn seems to have an unhealthy obsession with point guards, as evidenced by him selecting both Johnny Flynn and Ricky Rubio in the 2009 draft.

Now that he finally, and wisely, convinced Rubio to jump ship to the NBA from Spain, he’s gone out and made a boneheaded move by signing Barea.

Barea will join Rubio and Luke Ridnour in a log-jammed Minnesota backcourt, unless they make another move this offseason.

Of course, knowing Kahn, he’ll keep all three and try to get his coach to play them all.

David Stern Vetoes Chris Paul Trade

The dumbest move this offseason, and maybe one of the most ill-fated power plays in league history, goes to David Stern.

The commish decided to veto a trade that would have sent CP3 to the Lakers, Pau Gasol to the Rockets and Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Lamar Odom, Goran Dragic and New York’s 2012 first rounder to New Orleans for “basketball reasons.”

Everyone was stunned after Stern blocked the trade and it just showed that the old man has lost touch with his league and is no longer fit to run it—something we saw glimpses of by his handling of the lockout.

This certainly tarnishes his legacy and it will be a black mark on the NBA for years to come.