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The contract year: the final season of a player's agreement before he becomes a free agent.
There is no greater form of deception in all of sports.
One player Mark Blounts his way through half a season and another Carlos Beltrans his way through the playoffs to earn a big payday.
In the NBA, this type of behavior has turned into a recurring theme.
This year's culprits: Bobby Simmons and Jerome James.
Both players, in the final year of their pacts with their respective ball clubs, figured it was time to stop underachieving and start performing.
If there is only one time during your whole contract that you plan to impress, ideally, the end is the best time.
Bobby Simmons must have slipped a derivative of Rohypnol into Milwaukee Bucks General Manager Larry Harris' drink to earn a five-year, $47 million contract.
Simmons, a three-year lemon for the Washington Wizards and Los Angeles Clippers, finally emerged in his fourth and contract season as a Clipper.
He did average 16.4 points per game last year but does one good season justify a $47 million investment? After all, it was for the lowly Clippers.
While Simmons waited until the last season of his contract to show up, Jerome James remained patient, ensuring that not even a single extra calorie of effort was exerted.
James, who is averaging 4.9 ppg and 3.5 rpg for his career, delayed until the postseason to even lift a finger. In his 11 playoff games, he feigned the characteristics of a legitimate center, scoring 12.5 ppg with 6.8 rpg and nearly 2 bpg to go along with it.
That interval of elevated statistics was enough to convince New York Knicks General Manager Isiah Thomas to agree to a five-year, $29 million contract with James.
If you blank out the financial figures temporarily and evaluate the Bucks and Knicks merely from a talent standpoint, sure, they both look good.
The Bucks could have a quick rebound in the East's now that they have plugged Simmons into the one gaping vacancy in the starting lineup. Maurice Williams is a budding point guard, Andrew Bogut could contribute right away at center, Michael Redd is the franchise at shooting guard, and Joe Smith is a quality power forward. Factor in small forward Desmond Mason off the bench and possible contributions from point guard T.J. Ford and the Bucks have made a pretty good turnaround in one offseason.
As for the Knicks, the addition of James means the team is two-deep at every position. Stephon Marbury and Nate Robinson at point guard, Jamal Crawford and Trevor Ariza at shooting guard, Quentin Richardson and Tim Thomas at small forward, Michael Sweetney and David Lee at power forward, and James and Channing Frye at center.
On paper, everything looks well-fitted, but as many teams know, especially the Knicks, poor financial decisions can cripple the future.
If you keep telling yourself that the benefits outweigh the price tag, eventually you will believe it.
But Raef Lafrentz, Jalen Rose, Jamal Mashburn, Wally Szczerbiak, and Brian Grant are also examples of decisions that appeared right at the time.
Just ask the Golden State Warriors, who inked Derek Fisher to a six-year, $37 million contract and Adonal Foyle to a five-year, $41 million contract just last year. That's a steep price for a backup point guard and a center that averages 4.5 ppg and 5.5 rpg.
As it is, most NBA players do not commensurate their long term contracts so at the very least, if you plan on making an investment over a period of time, you may want to bank on proven players and not only contract-year wonders.
The now and the later mix like Mondays and me.
"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." — Abraham Lincoln
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