The Sport Count

Great contract. Terrible facial hair.

Just a few days into the free agency season and we’ve already seen a good amount of pen put to paper. No atrocities yet, though Kwame Brown is yet to be signed. (Hey, Philadelphia, how’d you like to drop five million a year on a small-handed, historically significant draft bust?).

Let’s grade the action so far:

Grizzlies sign Marc Gasol, the rights to whom they received in the Pau Gasol trade | Approx $3.5m | 3 years | You can’t miss here, with a wealth of positives — he’s related to Pau Gasol and that can’t hurt, the nice cheap rookie contract, Memphis PR constantly claim he’d ‘totally be a lottery pick this year’, he’s neither Kwame Brown nor Darko Milicic — and only one negative: yes, he’s totally got asshole facial hair (see above).

Grade: Doesn’t it seem like this Grizzlies team could be reasonable next year? Like, 25 wins reasonable, but really fun to watch. A-

Gilbert Arenas re-signs with the Wizards | $111m | 6 years | If you’re a Washington fan desperate for the team to add some bench depth or frontcourt strength, the close-to-max of Arenas will hurt. Not to say Arenas doesn’t deserve it — if you’re paying a guy to entertain, practice hard, keep the fans involved, and play some basketball, you may as well pay Gilbert Arenas — it’s just that you assume the Wizards could’ve kept him for less.

(Another negative: it should’ve been the Warriors. There isn’t a basketball fan alive immune to the charm of a hungry Gilbert Arenas playing with Stephen Jackson in a shoot-first-shoot-second offense).

Grade: Washington did the right thing in keeping Arenas. Unfortunately that means six more frustrating years of not quite making the conference finals, B-

Beno Udrih re-signs with the Kings | $32m | 5 years | Tough call for the Kings, with a young guy coming off one relatively strong, if not terribly efficient, season. You worry if he has plateaued. You worry that, just like when you figured Mikki Moore was worth more than five million a year, you might be paying for potential that may not be there.

Grade: Udrih will give them five serviceable years… but will serviceable be good enough for a team with (ridiculously misguided) championship aspirations? (Memo to Ron Artest: if you wanted a ring, you should’ve opted out). B-

Chris Duhon leaves the Bulls for the Knicks | Mid-Level Exception (Approx. $5.8m) | 2 years | A definite upgrade for the Knickerbockers (no, you don’t want Nate Robinson running the point), and a far sweeter situation for Duhon than the crowded Bulls backcourt.

The Knicks may have overpaid a touch — Duhon is significantly better in NBA 2K8 than in real life — but the fact we didn’t watch Isiah sign him to a $30m behemoth will make sleep a little easier for New York fans.

Grade: Assuming Duhon didn’t get his confidence shattered riding the Chicago pine, B+

Gerald Green signs with the Mavericks | minimum | one-year (probably non-guaranteed) | It never hurts to sign anyone to a non-guaranteed minimum contract*. Especially when there’s a slight chance their hyper athletic upside will pay off in a contract year scorcher in which the Governor General** averages fifteen points off the bench, most of them on breakaway dunks.

Grade: All of which is pretty unlikely to happen, but at least Dallas heads will have someone to cheer in the dunk contest, B-

Posted By: Anton

*Cuban, if you’re looking for a reality ratings winner, I’m totally willing to sign a non-guaranteed minimum wage contract and play for the Mavericks. I’ll do it.

**Gerald Green’s nickname, obviously.