What's REALLY Killing the NBA

Stop blaming the high school kids. Stop blaming the “thugs”. Stop blaming lack of fundamentals. Here is a partial list of the true problems in the NBA, in no particular order.

Isiah Thomas
Chris Mullin
Billy King
Donnie Nelson
Larry Bird
Elgin Baylor
Kiki Vandeweghe
Billy Knight
Bryan Colangelo
John Nash
John Weisbrod
Randy Pfund
Jerry West
Mitch Kupchack
Joe Dumars
Danny Ainge


Who are these guys? This is a partial list of men who thought it was a good idea to give the likes of Adonal Foyle a 5 year, $41.6 million contract extension. Or Allan Houston a 6 year, $100 million contract extension before his current contract was even up. Or Austin Croshere a 7 year, $51 million contract after a couple of good playoff games. Or Chris Webber a 7 year, $123 million contract when everyone knew he only had one good leg.

To further illustrate the point, let’s take a look at the list of top 25 salaries in the NBA for 2005-2006. Look at how many of these guys are role players or out of the league completely.

Shaquille O’Neal $20,000,000
Chris Webber $19,130,000
Michael Finley $18,612,000
Kevin Garnett $18,000,000
Allen Iverson $16,450,000
Stephon Marbury $16,450,000
Jason Kidd $16,440,000
Jermaine O’Neal $16,430,000
Kobe Bryant $15,950,000
Tim Duncan $15,850,000
Keith Van Horn $15,700,000
Jalen Rose $15,694,000
Grant Hill $15,690,000
Tracy McGrady $15,690,000
Eddie Jones $14,560,000
Tim Thomas $13,975,000
Paul Pierce $13,843,157
Vince Carter $13,840,000
Antawn Jamison $13,840,000
Dirk Nowitzki $13,840,000
Baron Davis $13,770,000
Steve Francis $13,770,000
Shawn Marion $13,770,000
Ray Allen $13,220,000
Elton Brand $13,150,000


So the next time you want to complain about the NBA, thank all the NBA general managers that have paralyzed their teams due to these multi-year guaranteed contracts. After all, how do you give young men millions of dollars guaranteed and then tell them they are doing everything wrong?