Free agent period produces more airballs than slam dunks

Ah, July 1.

It's the day when NBA franchises can shoot for the moon, but usually end up like a North Korean missile, splashing embarrassingly into the ocean.

Carlos Boozer? Shawn Marion? Ron Artest?

Is there a day anywhere on the pro basketball calendar when more there are more collective misses?

Corey Maggette. Baron Davis. Elton Brand.

Free agency has become a rite of summer akin to sunburn, only it often takes more than a couple bottles of aloe vera lotion to ease the pain.

Were the 76ers really thinking that Brand was the missing piece of the puzzle that could elevate them to the level of Boston, Cleveland and Orlando when they handed him a five-year, $80-million contract?

Were the Clippers really thinking that Davis' magic inside Don Nelson's high-octane offense with the Warriors was really going to translate into part of a playoff picture in Los Angeles when they gave him $65 million over five years?

Was anyone at Golden State thinking at all when they sprinkled six years and $42 million at the feet of Maggette?

So here is a league, barely past hyperventilating over last week's NBA Draft now breathless in anticipation over the opportunity to make overpaying mistakes that could tie up franchises into so many pretzel knots for years?

Penny Hardaway. Jim McIlvaine. Allan Houston.

The free agent sweepstakes produce more airballs than slam dunks.

It all conjures up images of sailors rolling into port and tripping over themselves on the way down the gangplank with their thirsts matched only by the wads of cash in their fists. Or the little kids who crack up their piggy banks and can't wait to spend the jingling fortune in their pockets on something, anything.

How far will they go to the extremes? Do teams really think it matters if they make up a jersey with the would-be signee's name sewn on the back? Are they really -- as some have done -- required to show up on a free agent's doorstep and ring the bell at 12:01 a.m. to profess their love?

"Do you really want me to call you at 12:01?" Knicks president Donnie Walsh cracked the other day to Newsday's Alan Hahn. "Is it that important to you? If it's that important to you, I'll call at 12:01?"

Or is it perhaps more important for franchises to learn the simple lessons of free agents past?

You just don't buy championships off another team's roster. With few exceptions.

Moses Malone. Shaquille O'Neal. Chauncey Billups.

Technically, it was a trade that sent the two-time MVP Malone from Houston to Philadelphia in 1982. But the swap only occurred after the Sixers had made a then-whopping, 6-year, $13.2 million offer to the free agent Malone, who arrived in Philly and promptly won his third MVP trophy in finally getting the Sixers over the hump to a championship.

O'Neal's jump from Orlando to L.A. in '96 was the second step in GM Jerry West's two-pronged attack after trading for the rights to draft pick Kobe Bryant and four years later the twosome delivered the first of their three straight titles.

Billups had already played on four different NBA teams when the Pistons signed him as their point guard and on-court leader in 2002 and it only took two seasons for Mr. Big Shot to strike up the parade music once again in Motown.

Vlade Divac. Tim Hardaway. Gilbert Arenas.

While each one provided the Kings, Heat and Wizards with solid performance and some bang for the buck, not one was able to carry his team to a berth in The Finals.

The Hornets were quite pleased with their return on the five-year, $60-million deal that reeled in Peja Stojakovic when they finishing with the second-best record in the Western Conference in 2008. But nobody's smiling after this season was plagued by a recurrence of his back problems with the team still on the hook for $30 million through 2011.

It was just two years ago when Rashard Lewis was the plum of the free agent pool and eventually turned his availability into a sign-and-trade deal that sent him from Seattle to Orlando for $117 million over six years. Indeed, the Magic made their run to the NBA Finals this season, but was Lewis the driving force or an expensive, fancy chrome bumper that rode alone with Dwight Howard?

Is the start of free agency really a time when teams should compete against each other to see who can make the biggest cannonball splash with the biggest name or lock themselves inside padded room until the temptation to jump into the deep end of the pool passes?

Let's face it. The true franchise players -- Kobe, Tim Duncan, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, et al -- have always been locked up by their current teams. That often leaves wannabe organizations approaching the secondary tier of talent as if they had money burning a hole through their pockets.

Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza were invaluable parts of the Lakers championship machine that could just that kind of tempting reach.

However, when it comes to free agents who make the difference in winning championships, it is not usually the biggest names that have the greatest impact.

Michael Finley was exactly the outside shooting presence that the Spurs needed to plug into their lineup. He started, he came off the bench, he hit them when it counted and was a key ingredient in San Antonio's last title run in 2007.

James Posey was the all-around utility man for the Celtics in 2008, a defensive stopper, a game-changing hustler, a clutch shooter.

Derek Fisher re-signed with the Lakers two summers ago, since that time they've gone to The Finals twice and there he was hitting those huge buckets in Orlando.

So as the countdown clock approaches midnight, there's a lesson in all of this. The long-term story often winds up less about the fireworks than the fizzle.