Oops!
Last season I was watching a Lakers game at Staples with my friend Vayacondios. Although I was content with the Lakers progress last season, I couldn’t help but wonder how they could improve next year. VCD and I started talking about free agents that the Lakers could sign and I mentioned Bonzi Wells, who played well towards the end of the season and was great in the first round of the playoffs for the Sacramento Kings.
I thought the Lakers could play him as a shooting guard and move Kobe Bryant to the small forward position. VCD liked the idea but figured the Lakers couldn’t afford him since they could only offer the mid-level exception (about $5 million) and Bonzi would probably be looking for $6-8 million and would probably get it from some other team.
Turns out we were only half right. Wells was looking for more than the mid-level as he turned down an offer from the Kings for five-years for $36 million. But it turns out that the Kings were the only team that was willing to give him that much. So earlier this week, “poor” Bonzi had to settle for a two-year deal from the Houston Rockets for $5 million, with the option to become a free agent next summer.
This has got to be one of the biggest mistakes by a free agent in NBA history. It’s right up there with Michael Olowokandi turning down a seven-year $50 million extension from the Clippers and ending up with a three-year $16 million deal from the Timberwolves the following year. Obviously Bonzi and his agent overvalued Bonzi’s worth and misread the market for a 30 year old shooting guard with a career average of 12.8 points per game.
Nevertheless, another friend of mine, AbogadoDeNegros, maintains that Bonzi didn’t make a mistake and simply chose Houston because he wants to win. ADN doesn’t think there’s much of a difference between $10 M and $36 M since Bonzi has already made a lot of money during his NBA career. He sees Bonzi as playing the Scottie Pippen role to Tracy McGrady’s Jordan. While he admits there are better championship contenders, he thinks that Houston was the best fit for Bonzi.
I’m sure ADN is right. Even though Houston didn’t even make the playoffs last year, I’m sure they’ll win the title in 2007. I’m also sure Bonzi will be able to fit the Pippen role really well even if he’s coming off the bench since Houston traded for their starting small forward Shane Battier earlier this summer. And I’m sure that Bonzi’s firing of his agent earlier this month had nothing to do with there being a huge difference between the $36 M they turned down and the $10 M offer Wells ended up with.
I still wish that Bonzi had somehow ended up on the Lakers, even if it meant giving him the mid-level for five years. But I am hopeful about the Vladimir Radmanovic signing and think it would have been a mistake for the Lakers to wait for Wells. But if it doesn't work out for either the Lakers or the Rockets, there's always next summer and hopefully next time around Bonzi won't make the same mistake.
I thought the Lakers could play him as a shooting guard and move Kobe Bryant to the small forward position. VCD liked the idea but figured the Lakers couldn’t afford him since they could only offer the mid-level exception (about $5 million) and Bonzi would probably be looking for $6-8 million and would probably get it from some other team.
Turns out we were only half right. Wells was looking for more than the mid-level as he turned down an offer from the Kings for five-years for $36 million. But it turns out that the Kings were the only team that was willing to give him that much. So earlier this week, “poor” Bonzi had to settle for a two-year deal from the Houston Rockets for $5 million, with the option to become a free agent next summer.
This has got to be one of the biggest mistakes by a free agent in NBA history. It’s right up there with Michael Olowokandi turning down a seven-year $50 million extension from the Clippers and ending up with a three-year $16 million deal from the Timberwolves the following year. Obviously Bonzi and his agent overvalued Bonzi’s worth and misread the market for a 30 year old shooting guard with a career average of 12.8 points per game.
Nevertheless, another friend of mine, AbogadoDeNegros, maintains that Bonzi didn’t make a mistake and simply chose Houston because he wants to win. ADN doesn’t think there’s much of a difference between $10 M and $36 M since Bonzi has already made a lot of money during his NBA career. He sees Bonzi as playing the Scottie Pippen role to Tracy McGrady’s Jordan. While he admits there are better championship contenders, he thinks that Houston was the best fit for Bonzi.
I’m sure ADN is right. Even though Houston didn’t even make the playoffs last year, I’m sure they’ll win the title in 2007. I’m also sure Bonzi will be able to fit the Pippen role really well even if he’s coming off the bench since Houston traded for their starting small forward Shane Battier earlier this summer. And I’m sure that Bonzi’s firing of his agent earlier this month had nothing to do with there being a huge difference between the $36 M they turned down and the $10 M offer Wells ended up with.
I still wish that Bonzi had somehow ended up on the Lakers, even if it meant giving him the mid-level for five years. But I am hopeful about the Vladimir Radmanovic signing and think it would have been a mistake for the Lakers to wait for Wells. But if it doesn't work out for either the Lakers or the Rockets, there's always next summer and hopefully next time around Bonzi won't make the same mistake.
posted by The Pocho at 1:02 PM
2 Comments:
I'm very glad the Lakers didn't sign Bonzi to a multi-year deal. I would never sign Bonzi (or Tim Thomas, for that matter) to anything more than a 10-day contract. Trust me, we're better off without him.
You're probably right. There's no way either Thomas or Bonzi will play as well as they did in the post-season. At least I hope you're right.
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