Big-name busts

The Boston Red Sox paid $51.1 million for the right to negotiate a contract with Japanese ace pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka. That’s fifty-one million dollars for a conversation, just for the right to negotiate. Fifty-one million and the Red Sox aren’t even guaranteed of signing him. They’re putting an awful lot of faith in this guy, considering he has never pitched a game in the major league.

This brings me to a pretty clear observation. In sports, teams invest a lot in potential. Sports franchises are in love with high-risk, high-reward moves that have produced the likes of Kwame Brown, Darko Milicic and all those Yankees who started stinking once they put on the pinstripes. These franchises have enough cash to make a significant dent in the Philippine budget deficit, and yet some of them continually bungle decisions on which players to sign and which players to stay away from.

Fantasy sports are no exception. And since it is basketball season, fantasy basketball is in full swing and it’s becoming pretty clear who the busts and steals of the season are. Some guys continue to spend their top picks on guys based solely on potential, which often leads to disappointment. There are also those people who strike gold with late-round picks who turn into über-productive studs.

There is no worse feeling in fantasy basketball than watching a high draft pick lay goose eggs all season long. On the flipside, there is no better feeling than witnessing a mid-to-late-rounder explode into superstardom. The former is like buying an iPod, and then finding out it can only play songs by Kevin Federline. The latter is like, well, watching Kevin Federline walk away after impregnating Britney Spears with a record deal, a trailer full of money and a match with John Cena on WWE Raw.

Here are some of the sexy pre-season picks and big names that are turning out to be busts. Keep in mind that it’s only been two weeks, and some of these guys may start picking it up:

1. Kenyon Martin, Denver Nuggets. He hasn’t done much the last few years except sit on the bench and nurse his knees. Martin started off the season decently averaging about 10 and 10 in his first two games. Of course, true to his reputation, Martin is out again with a knee that needs another surgery.

2. Bonzi Wells, Houston Rockets. Has he even played yet? After averaging 23 points and 12 boards in last year’s playoffs, the Rockets’ big off-season acquisition has only played two games, averaging three points per. The word is he’s still getting back into shape, but with Shane Battier, Kirk Snyder, Luther Head and company playing pretty well and with the Rockets at 7-4, Wells may take his time.

3. Andrei Kirilenko, Utah Jazz. Before his seemingly routine injury, AK47 was averaging 8.4 points per game. To put that in perspective, Gordan Giricek, Utah’s sixth leading scorer, is averaging 9.3 points a game. AK seemed like a bust before he went down; getting injured is just rubbing it in.

4. Gerald Wallace, Charlotte Bobcats. Having been the only player since David Robinson and Hakeem Olajuwon to average at least two blocks and two steals per game, G-Force is down to 1.4 steals and 0.5 blocks per game this year. This is probably due to the return of Emeka Okafor at the power forward spot (where Wallace was playing most of last year) and Wallace’s shift to his natural small forward spot. Wallace was highly touted coming into the season, but now he looks as ordinary as Matt Harpring.

5. Chris Webber, Philadelphia 76ers. After being back to a 20-point, 10-rebound guy last season, C-Webb finds himself riding the pine in most fourth quarters this season. He’s down to 10 points and eight boards a game in less than 30 minutes of playing time. And he isn’t exactly playing for a team with a lot of depth in his position. One of the league’s highest-paid players is watching from the bench while his team battles it out in crunch time.

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For questions, comments or corrections, please e-mail me at emailcarlramirez@yahoo.com