10 Most Overpaid Players, Amare #4

Rashard Lewis was a no brainer as far as most overpaid but Kobe surprised me being on this list. Kobe was a victim of being the highest paid player in the NBA and his below average shooting efficiency.

Amare I thought would make this list. Doesn't play D, not a great rebounder and he's not scoring like he did in his hey day. I wish we could move him.

If you want to view all the player details, here's the link.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/47818415?slide=1

NBA Players Overpaid By Millions
Sports fans hold strong opinions about which pro basketball players deserve their massive salaries, and which ones don?t. One fan, however, has gone further than the average barstool commentator --- Southern Utah University economics professor David Berri.

Berri is co-author of the 2006 book ?The Wages of Wins,? which determines which players are overpaid with a statistical method called "Wins Produced" that he and his co-authors developed.

According to Berri, NBA players are paid for high scoring, so the more points an athlete racks up, the more money he earns. Berri believes that this overlooks other factors that contribute to a victory, such as shots taken, turnovers, rebounds and fouls.

These and other elements are included in the ?Wins Produced? algorithm.

?Wins in basketball are primarily about a team?s ability to get and keep possession of the ball and then turning those possessions into points,? Berri told CNBC.com in an e-mail. ?In 2011-12, NBA teams paid $1.9 billion for 990 regular season wins. This means that the cost per win was $1.946 million. Given the cost of each win and knowing both how many victories each player produced and his salary allows us to see which players were overpaid.



1. Rashard Lewis
2. Kobe Bryant
Overpaid by: $19,693,258
Salary: $25,244,493
Value of Wins: $5,551,235

Team: Los Angeles Lakers
Minutes Played: 2,232
Wins Produced: 2.85

Kobe Bryant is a basketball legend, and as such many people may bristle at his inclusion on this list. However, Berri contends that the player?s sterling reputation is something of a mirage. ?The media says Kobe was one of the best players in the game in 2011-12,? he said ?But the numbers tell a different story.?

According to Berri, Bryant?s scoring simply comes down to the fact that he takes a lot of shots. ?But in contrast to past years, Kobe?s shooting efficiency was below average for a shooting guard, and inefficient shooting doesn?t produce wins,? he said. ?However, if you take enough shots you can still score enough points to convince fans ? and the media ? that you are actually helping a team win.?

But doesn?t Bryant?s star power attract enough fans to help the team?s bottom line? No, according to Berri. ?The study of gate revenue reveals that it is wins that drive revenue. Star power is far less important.?

3. Antawn Jamison

4. Amare Stoudemire
Overpaid by: $14,918,309
Salary: $18,217,705
Value of Wins: $3,299,396

Team: New York Knicks
Minutes Played: 1,543
Wins Produced: 1.7

Amar?e Stoudemire?s professional career began in 2002 with the Phoenix Suns. During his eight years with the team, he suffered from a knee injury and a detached retina, then after joining the Knicks in 2010, he suffered injuries to his back and his hand.

According to Berri, all that damage adds up, and it?s had a negative impact on Stoudemire?s performance. ?His shooting efficiency has declined,? he said ?He also is below average on the boards. He still gets paid like a star, though.?


5. Chris Kaman
6. Mehmet Okur
7. Corey Maggette
8. Dirk Nowitzki
9. Deron Williams
10. Tyrus Thomas

:teeth:

No ****!

'over paid' is a term I would understand that players are not worth their contract.

Kobe, Dirk, and Derron Williams deserve the money they are making. Their teams would be nothing without them.

Damn you Melo allowing STAT to get 100 million dollars, Lin would have never allowed STAT to earn that much yen

Paul1355 said:

'over paid' is a term I would understand that players are not worth their contract.

Kobe, Dirk, and Derron Williams deserve the money they are making. Their teams would be nothing without them.

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The suns are saying the same thing about Amare right now. This list is a joke that looks only at statistics without understanding the underlying facts that drive those statistics and give them meaning.

Almost_famous718 said:

Im not surprised his contract is up there, Who gives a guy with bad knees and a history of injuries 100 mill??

New York wanted a Star and Amare was the closes thing to STAR player available at the time, that was willing to come here. We paid the price to get him "literally" paid the price, sure his first season as a Knick was incredible and nobody complained but Karma always comes back and now we have to suffer with Amare's contract and him not exactly playing how we want him to play.

One can only hope he bounces back next season and him and Melo can Co-exist fluently. I believe it can happen and i believe we will see a new stoudemire next season. (hopefully he is still working on his post play)

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Stat is getting older and injuries and age will inevitably take away that athleticism, he better be working on something for the second phase of his career.
I

tiger0330 said:

Stat is getting older and injuries and age will inevitably take away that athleticism, he better be working on something for the second phase of his career.
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^^ Real talk, i agree 100% injury+older age will definitely take a toll on a player, i read somewhere i forget which article it was, it was on some knick site but i read Chandler was working with Olajuwon this summer as well with Amare, if you dont know about it im sure you can easily find it, im to lazy to put link up right now lol ill do it later if you dont get to it.

Kobe is number 2? He earns too much money but that's ridiculous.

Anyone, including Dirk (WTF?) that won a ring doesn't deserve to be on this list.

I'd have STAT at number 2 behind Lewis purely because he's a defensive liability and a fire extinguisher punching moron. Add to that the injuries and the public promises and we're talking about a guy that's proven to be worth less per year than a lot of others making enormous cash the likes of him.

I think its terrible moral to have paid guys making millions and others making a half million. Especially when you feel you play harder ....Was this Walsh's move? I'd rather keep the team we had then to overspend for amar'e

I would definitely have Amare higher on this list. As others have said, winning a championship negates that money. Meanwhile Amare acts like he's this warrior type and the second coming of Ewing. Knicks absolutely overspent on him.

Unless the Knicks can win a ring for the duration of Amare's contract, he will always be remembered as an underachiever and one of the worst contracts Knicks ever signed.

I would put Carmelo Anthony on that list.

I think he will be on the list next year.

But Amar'e, many of us knew he was a terrible signing. It was a desperation signing. All the wrong reasons.

And then, AND THEN, you sign Amar'e, alright, fine, you have Coach MDA, figure we'll build the new Suns. But you blow it all up for Carmelo and effectively render Amar'e useless.

Just terrible situation.

If we're playing MDA ball with Amar'e, and we don't make that Carmelo trade, Amar'e doesn't make the list this year.