While there has been a lot of talk about whether the Milwaukee Bucks will be able to re-sign John Salmons and how the acquisition of Corey Maggette might influence said process, the franchise from Wisconsin pulled off a rather surprising move on the first day of free agency. More precisely, GM John Hammond committed the Bucks' full MLE to signing forward-center Drew Gooden to a 5-year deal worth approximately $32 million.

On one hand, Gooden's price tag appears to be justified when one takes into consideration what he brings to the table. Last year, Gooden averaged 14.8 points and 9.4 rebounds in 30 minutes a night for the Los Angeles Clippers after being traded by the Dallas Mavericks. Where as his numbers where a bit lower in the first half of the season in Texas, it should be noted that he received significantly less playing time. Thus, committing the MLE to a serviceable big men who has no trouble finding the basket appears to be a solid move.

However, on the other hand, the signing is somewhat odd when one takes a closer look at Milwaukee's roster and the financial situation of the team. Firstly, the Bucks already have an excellent starting center in Andrew Bogut as well as a solid power forward with Ersan Ilyasova. Likewise, Luc Mbah a Moute turned out to be a great backup for the Bucks' big men and is still on a very affordable rookie contract at less than $1 million a year. Moreover, Milwaukee had to hold a fire sale last summer as the city is one of the smallest markets in professional sports and does not cater for large spending sprees of the franchises management. Therefore, it remains to be seen whether committing over $6 million a year to a player who might only get backup minutes and has already played for eight different teams is a smart move on the Bucks' part.

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