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Players such as Iguodala and Okafor are reallying rolling the dice in holding out for a "better" offer when neither is a cornerstone player. They're both more like a complement to a top tier player like Gasol to K. Bryant.

With the 2008 free agency craze well under way and hundreds of millions of dollars already being committed, it's a good time to look back at past summers and see if spending all that dough really gets you anything. Is spending a boatload a harbinger of good things to come?

HOOPSWORLD takes a look at the free agency classes of 2005, 2006 and 2007 in an effort to see if teams received good returns on investment, see who wasted their cash, and see who actually ended up underpaid (it's all relative).

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=9369

okafor is likely to get overpaid.

Arenas already got overpaid, same with Jamison. But Josh Smith is likely to get overpaid as well because GS, Philly and ATL have interest in him.

I'm going to go with Smith signing with Philadelphia. If he signs... Otherwise, he'll be overpaid if he returns to Atlanta. That makes him and J. Johnson. I wonder what the Hawks do when Horford's turn comes.

James Posey

James Posey is one of them

Isn't it kind of standard for every free agent to be "overpaid"?

If someone pays Sasha Vuja-whathaveyou in McDogs**ts gift certificates, he will still make my overpaid list. Bumming him a smoke would be over paying him.

Daniel Gibson could be another candidate. Or Jannero Pargo. Because there's enough teams still hard up for a decent point guard either to start or to be a back up. The reason why contract throw aways like Marbury and Tinsley still can attract subtle interest for some in the league.

James Posey for sure.

Full MLE for 5 years? That is about Double what he is worth - both in money and years.

Good thing DA isn't that dumb.

Yeah, Arenas got $111 million, I think he already won.

Yeah, but Arenas won't get criticized for this signing afterwards. Because he's a productive player but one that has been injury prone recently.

A thought crossed my mind just now. Arenas = T. Owens/Mouth with talent = Mouth with talent

And neither were drafted high but proved to be one of the better players out of their draft class.

Kwame Brown. Anything he gets is overpaying.

Arenas shoots just 40% and turns the ball over a lot... he isn't productive at all, they did better without him too

Already: Arenas and Jamison.

Soon to be overpaid: James Posey and Josh Smith.

Yeah, I have to second the Josh Smith.

Josh Smith is pretty good. How much you guys think he is worth? I don't think he is a Max guy but he is right there with Al Jefferson. Maybe 10million a year?

Those who said Desagana Diop please step forward.

More fouls than points in his career. Never has scored more than 10 points in a single game. Here is 31 million dollars.

If Smith signs for less than $12m a year, I think he's worth it. He's a phenomenal shot blocker, can run the floor as well as any big, and still has a ton of growing to do: he's only 23 years old! He's probably the most athletic big man in the East, outside of maybe Dwight Howard.

His PER has gone progressively upward as time has passed, from 15.5 to 18.3 to 19 last year. Guys with that kind of all-around offensive productivity and potentially dominant defensive ability don't fall off of trees. Between him and Dalembert, you'll have a tough time getting ANYTHING in the paint.

My vote goes for Posey as most overpaid if he gets the full MLE from the Lakers or Hornets. At his age and his production (7 PPG), he's gone from underrated to overrated faster than Ben Wallace did. He's a nice role player, but anyone giving him $30m is crazy.

If Josh Smith gets max money for the Clips then yeah a bit overpaid. Other than that, lets see what kind of contract he gets before calling him overpaid.

I think Biedrins is a prime candidate.