Your Dream Is Dead, Go Learn Golf

I was browsing through some NBA rosters the other day and it struck me that there were a lot of players wasting away on the bench that are of virtually no value whatsoever. They have long proven their lack of worth and really have no reason to be on an NBA team other than their mistakenly given massive contracts or as roster fodder. Surely these roster spots could be given to some young kid from the NBDL who has a chance and the desire to prove their worth in the NBA since these guys haven’t? So, why are these 6 guys in the league still? Read mine and tell the Deuce who you think shouldn’t be in the league.

Othella Harrington:
I have a soft spot for Othella since he played at Georgetown here in DC, but it has got to be time for the guy to hang up the shoes. He’s played in just 8 games this year for the woeful Bobcats and hasn’t had a good year since the 1999-2000 season. How has a guy with career averages of 7.5 points and 4.5 rebounds stuck around this long? He is a big man that doesn’t even rebound? Why does someone want to employ this guy? Oh right, because he has 1 more year left on his deal after this one.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim:
Long gone are the days when Shareef was filling a stat line with 20/9/3 every night. The guy is 31 years old and has lost his shooting touch…as well as his ability to move like he used to. He’s a jump shooting power forward with a bad shot and hasn’t been able to even crack the 2nd rotation of the Kings. Sadly for the Kings, they still have to pay this stiff another 12.8 million for 2 more years to sit on their bench and rot.

Kevin Ollie:
Ollie was benched after 23 games last season when the Philadelphia 76ers realized he’s old and cannot run the point anymore. Perhaps their first clue about this could have been in looking at his career statistics of pure crap. Ollie has a career apg of 2.4…and he’s a pure point guard. Not much distribution of the ball there, eh Kev? Its not like he was jacking the ball up in the air or scoring a ton of baskets with his less than gaudy career average of 3.9 ppg. Sure he has been held back in his statistics with the fact that he has averaged 16 minutes per game for 11 seasons of basketball. I’m no general manager or scout but this guy seems to have never belonged in the NBA in the first place? Luckily, he’s in the last year of his contract.

Eric Piatkowski:
The Phoenix Suns kept Eric around all year last year and didn’t use him fore more than 11 games worth of garbage time, and for that, they picked up his contract for 1 more year. Amazingly enough, he’s actually appeared in 9 games so far, and has done even less than he did last year. Piatkowski is 37 years old and is 5 years removed from his last meaningful season in the NBA, coincidentally this is his last year with the Clippers. Their taint went with him after he left. Poor guy. Must be nice to get paid over 1 million dollars to sit in the best seats in the arena every night and watch an amazing team like the Suns play ball. Yes, we all want to be Eric Piatkowski, he’s like the Jim Sorgi or Matt Cassell of the NBA.

Lorenzen Wright:
The tread on Wright’s tired wore out around his last year with Memphis in 2005-2006. In wisdom only the GM of the Atlanta Hawks could follow, this meant they should sign him to a 2 year contract. This, of course has blown up in their faces. This season Lorenzen has appeared in 9 games and has a total of, wait for it, 9 points. He did have one game this season where he played for nearly 30 minutes and dragged down 12 boards, but sadly for him, that has not been duplicated. It was a quick fall for Lorenzen, he should exit the league even quicker.

Pat Garrity:
Was Pat Garrity ever good? Well, he did have a couple decent years for the Magic, but since the 2002-2003 season, he has been suck in a can for the Magic. He’s got wrecked knees and he can no longer do one the thing he was particularly adept at…that is shoot the ball. He has averaged 2.2 points this year and last year and around 4.7 the two years before that. Would you believe that he banked over 7 million dollars for this season and last season combined? This guy took the money and just stopped running. I think it is time the Magic let go of their boy Pat.

There are many more than just these 6 guys so, I open it up to the readers, who else doesn’t belong in the league anymore?

Filed under: Basketball • Eric Piatkowski • Kevin Ollie • Lorenzen Wright • NBA • Othella Harrington • Pat Garrity • Shareef Abdur Rahim

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!

Possibly related posts