History lesson

Recent free agents have more duds than studs

With a loaded free-agent market in the summer of 2003, a number of clubs will be tempted to break out their checkbooks to ink star players from other teams to big contracts.

Based on recent history, however, they might want to reconsider. Over the past three years, only a handful of the 19 players who changed teams by signing blockbuster contracts of more than $25 million can be called successes. The following chart tells the sad story:

Free agents studs and duds
Signed by...	Player	Contract Terms	Year Signed
	Chauncey Billups	6 years, $33 million	2002
Verdict: The Pistons couldn't have won 50 games without all the big shots from their point guard. Billups is still getting better and could make the All-Star team next year.
	Derek Anderson	6 years, $48 million	2001
Verdict: Portland lifted Anderson from San Antonio, forcing it into a sign-and-trade deal, and got a rare commodity: a Trail Blazer who behaves.
	Calvin Booth	6 years, $34 million	2001
Verdict: Seattle has never gotten the hang of signing big men (see also McIlvaine, Jim; James, Jerome).
	Ruben Patterson	6 years, $34 million	2001
Verdict: Patterson never cracked the starting lineup after signing his deal and has spent much of the past two seasons on the verge of incarceration.
	Joe Smith	6 years, $34 million	2001
Verdict: As if the T'wolves hadn't learned their lesson from the first time they tried to sign Smith.
	Maurice Taylor	6 years, $48 million	2001
Verdict: Taylor wasn't that good to begin with, and he blew out his Achilles before he ever played a game for the Rockets.
	Eddie Robinson	6 years, $31 million	2001
Verdict: The Bulls were excited that they plucked Robinson from the Hornets, but a rash of injuries has held him down.
	Todd MacCulloch	6 years, $34 million	2001
Verdict: The Nets got one good year out of him, but the last five will be a wash, thanks to a nerve problem that likely will end his career.
	Shandon Anderson	6 years, $42 million	2001
Verdict: Anderson couldn't help the Rockets much before being sent to the Knicks, and he's helped them even less.
	Clarence Weatherspoon	5 years, $27 million	2001
Verdict: The Knicks bought Weatherspoon's stock at its peak and have been counting their losses ever since.
	Danny Fortson	7 years, $38 million	2000
Verdict: Fortson collects his paychecks at the end of Golden State's bench, and he'll have that seat for four more years.
	Glen Rice	4 years, $36 million	2002
Verdict: Somehow, he sold the Knicks on the idea he could still play. Then again, a lot of people on this list have done that.
	Ron Mercer	4 years, $27 million	2000
Verdict: It's hard to see how Jerry Krause never got the Bulls turned around, isn't it?
	Tracy McGrady	7 years, $93 million	2000
Verdict: Actually, stud is an understatement. Let's just say this one worked out for Orlando.
	Grant Hill	7 years, $93 million	2002
Verdict: They might have wanted to check out that ankle a bit more thoroughly.
	Howard Eisley	7 years, $41 million	2000
Verdict: The one misstep in the Mavs' dramatic rebuilding job, but they pawned him off on -- you guessed it -- the Knicks.
	Eddie Jones	7 years, $93 million	2002
Verdict: The Heat's sign-and-trade with the Hornets was a disaster; Jamal Mashburn and P.J. Brown for Anthony Mason and Jones.
	Brian Grant	7 years, $86 million	2002
Verdict: And Jones wasn't even Pat Riley's worst deal of the 2000 offseason.
	Ben Wallace	6 years, $30 million	2002
Verdict: Included as a sign-and-trade in the deal for Grant Hill, he ended up being the best player in the trade.