ESPN’s John Hollinger pans the Minnesota Timberwolves for their signing of free agent center Darko Milicic.
The two questions I always have to ask when I see a deal like this are: (1) Who were they bidding against, and (2) What’s a reasonable expectation for this player going forward.
The answer to the first query is nobody. Nobody else in the NBA wanted Milicic at anything close to that price, and his threat to return to Europe was just that if money was going to be any kind of factor. In all likelihood, Minnesota could have comfortably won the bidding for Darko’s services at a fraction of the price.
The answer to the second is shown by his statistical performance — even last season he was a subpar offensive performer, while defensively he was decent but nothing special. (Unless, that is, you had been watching Al Jefferson all season.) He’s a backup center, basically, and backup centers aren’t supposed to make this kind of bank — especially when their attitude and motivation have been questioned at every stop in a seven-year career.
For everything Timberwolves, head over to SB Nation’s excellent Canis Hoopus.