Greg Buckner

Greg Buckner - Marc Spears reported on a comeback attempt. Hasn't happened yet though.

- Greg Buckner * - Always a bit ambitious to have listed him here, really.

Greg Buckner - Buckner was always a marginal talent who was the lucky beneficiary of two exceptionally generous contracts. In 2002, Buckner signed a six year contract with Philadelphia, and in 2006, he signed a five year deal with Dallas. He managed to stay on the roster for only five of those eleven seasons, and did not play anywhere last year, but if anyone needs a defensive minded unathletic 6'4 guard with occasional point guard abilities but no scoring ability, then Greg Buckner is your man. He'll sign for as many years as you are willing to give him.

- Greg Buckner

Buckner was waived by the Mavericks in training camp and has not signed elsewhere since. His unguaranteed salary would have been a pretty awesome trade chip at the deadline, but the Mavericks - already with Erick Dampier's unguaranteed contract for next year, Josh Howard's team option, Drew Gooden's expiring/unguaranteed and Shawne Williams's expiring - figured they had enough trade chips already. To be honest, I think they should have kept Buckner's unguaranteed over Williams's expiring, as the value of that unguaranteed would have been magnified in this economy. But I guess even the Mavericks have a budget limit, which is fair enough.

Remember the Love Mayo trade on draft night 2008? Eight players were involved; Love and Mayo (obviously), Brian Cardinal, Mike Miller, Jason Collins, Antoine Walker, Marko Jaric and Buckner. Minnesota took the opportunity to get a good contributor in Miller (which, it later turned out, was also a big part of getting Ricky Rubio), while Memphis traded up for the player they wanted more, taking the opportunity to open up $6 million in 2008/09 cap room in the process. All things considered, a win win situation, if you look at the deal independent of the prospects. But the four players Minnesota received (Love, Cardinal, Collins and Miller) are still in the league, while three of Memphis' four acquisitions are out of it already (Jaric, Walker, Buckner).

I just thought that was interesting. It probably isn't.