This week, I had my overnight orientation for Temple U so I was kind of disconnected from the sports world a bit. When Darren tweeted me about the Anderson Varejao story, I was shocked! I did not think in a million years that Varejao would get a 6-year, $50 million contract; especially with Shaq incoming. Personally, after reviewing the facts, I believe Varejao is now extremely overpaid. But, I would be wrong to not present the facts before jumping down Andy’s throat.
Here is a comparison of Varejao’s 2008-2009 statistics against those of Tim Duncan, Pau Gasol and Amare Stoudemire:
- Varejao – 81 gp, .536 FG%, .616 FT%, 7.2 rpg, 8.6 ppg
- Stoudemire ($15 million in ‘08-’09) – 53 gp, .539 FG%, .835 FT%, 8.1 rpg, 21.4 ppg
- Duncan ($20.5 million in ‘08-’09) – 75 gp, .504 FG%, .692 FT%, 10.7 rpg, 19.3 ppg
- Gasol (15 million in ‘08-’09) – 81 gp, .563 FG%, .786 FT%, 9.5 rpg, 18.9 ppg
All the details of Varejao’s contract have not been released, but if you base his $42.5 million in guaranteed money (final year is partially guaranteed) over six years, it equals a little over $7 million per year.
4 Comments
You picked numbers that don't favor Varejao. True, he's not as good as the three comps you selected. But his combo of rebounding and defense is a valuable commodity. If you examine his stat line per 48 minutes – which is always far more revealing than per game stats – and his advanced metrics, you'll see his value. And how many bigs can guard down low and on the perimeter like him?
I think Varejao, like many athletes does a lot of off the court work and dirty work that stat keepers can't measure quantatitively like ppg, or steals. However, 50 million..may be a little high I agree. He won't feel the raining effects of the recession.
I am not disagreeing with you in the aspect of "is he good enough" because obviously he is a great player. However, my department entails seeing if giving him such a large contract is worth it for the Cavs. You have to remember, Varejao will be a little less than guys who have won championships and have been in All-Star games. I am no final judge so we can go back and forth as much as we'd like but in my mind, Varejao isn't worth that kind of money; especially when LJ and Shaq are now on the payroll.
I feel he is worth close to that for other teams..but like you said with Shaq and The One..you have to think money will be tight. I like your article though.