NBA off-season spending is puzzling and growing

Some Wizards fans may remember power forward and center Brian Cardinal from his half-year with Washington back in the 2002-2003 season. However, most won't, seeing as how he played very sparingly, averaging 2.1 points and less than one rebound per game in only eight appearances. Not once did he ever block a shot.

Last season, Cardinal latched on with the Golden State following their trade of Antawn Jamison to Dallas. Cardinal played much better, staying in Oakland starting 11 games and playing 76. But his numbers weren't outrageously great, or even that good. The former Purdue forward scored 9.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, which is solid enough for a bench player on one of the worst teams in the West last season.

One might expect a good bench contributor to land a decent deal, but the Memphis Grizzlies surprised (and confused) many by signing him to a six-year, $39 million deal to bring him to the largest NBA city in the south not called Washington.

Even more surprising was the free spending by Utah, who had the most cap space coming into the summer frenzy. They inked Mehmet Okur to a $50 million deal over six years to get his 3.7 points and 2.8 rebounds in the playoffs. $50 million for that?!? Okur was so bad that he was taken out of Detroit's playoff rotation coming into the finals. Now he's making nearly $9 million per year.

A contract clause that was once seen as bad for players is now a major benefit to them - restricted free-agent status. If a team wants a player bad enough, such as Cardinal or Okur or Carlos Boozer (to Utah, six years/$68 million), they will tend to overpay to make sure the old team does not match that contract. Detroit has said they will not match Okur. NBA Free Agency has become a player auction, where if teams want something bad enough they overpay so nobody else wants it anymore.

The frenzy has been especially remarkable this year. Restricted offer sheet deals like Cardinal's, Hedo Turkoglu's (to Orlando, 6 year/$39 million) and Etan Thomas' (Milwaukee, $6 year/$36.5 million) show players receiving long-term deals from the mid-level exception of about $5 million and then increasing in later years. In no other year did more than one player receive a mid-level deal of over four seasons. Last year, only Juwan Howard got more than four years at the exception, and he scored 17 points and had 11.8 rebounds, far higher numbers than Cardinal, Okur, Boozer, Turkoglu and Thomas, who are all getting paid more than him for next year.

But don't worry; big name players are also getting paid, and very well at that. Steve Nash signed for $65 million over five seasons with the Suns as an unrestricted free agent and Kenyon Martin got the maximum, seven years and over $90 million from the Nets before getting dealt in the NBA's distinct sign-and-trade to Denver for three future first-round picks.

Some other winners will be Rasheed Wallace and Erick Dampier, free agents without a team, who have seen big men with small numbers get huge paydays. They will rightfully ask to get more money for their talent, and could be looking at nearly $70 or $80 million deals.

This incredible free spending has been caused by NBA general managers' fear, who are paying huge this year more than ever to make sure other teams don't land players they want. Observers have accurately called almost every deal mentioned here a rip-off by the players and agents. But that's the market that the NBA has surprisingly set for itself in one of the weakest free-agent pools in recent memory.