Sleeper Free Agents

NBA Free Agency started not even three days ago, and already analysts and reporters have been bombarded with possible scenarios on where the big-name players will land. Tonight, LeBron James will be done with team meetings after Chicago and Cleveland are talking to the King today. Chris Bosh is done with his meetings (for now) but the chances of the Raptors doing a sign-and-trade is decreasing by the minute. Dwyane Wade, the most likely to stay with his previous team of the trio, was "intrigued" with the Knicks' proposal and met with the Bulls twice. It seems like we're a few days away from hearing where the top free agents will land, but a few of the underrated players agreed to contracts since July 1st. Rudy Gay, John Salmons and Channing Frye all resigned with their former teams, and I feel that these three guys will have big impacts on their squads in the 2010-2011 season.

Rudy Gay agreed to a five-year contract worth $80 million. The former Uconn Husky has quietly put up about 20 points per game and 6 rebounds per game each of the last three seasons. One of the more underrated players in the league, Gay was one of the main reasons why Memphis won 40 games for the first time since the 2005-2006 season. He would have been a huge loss for a team that has loads of young talent: only one player on the team is over 30 years old. With OJ Mayo, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, I think the Grizzlies have a lot to look forward to in the near future.

Another player who doesn't get the attention he deserves is John Salmons. Salmons just agreed to a five-year contract with the Bucks that's worth $39 million. The 8-year NBA veteran has picked up his game in the last two years and is now a reliable scorer who averaged 19.9 PPG in his 30 regular season games with the Bucks. In the last week, the Bucks added Corey Maggette, Drew Gooden and Chris Douglas-Roberts, and now resigning Salmons gives them a very dangerous team on the offensive side of the ball. With Brandon Jennings now having a year of NBA ball under his belt and Andrew Bogut returning healthy, I expect the Bucks to have another solid year under coach Scott Skiles, who finished second in the NBA Coach of the Year voting in just his second year with Milwaukee.

Then there's Channing Frye. Frye was drafted 8th by the Knicks in the 2005 NBA Draft. He didn't live up to the expectations in his first four seasons with New York and Portland, as his points per game average decreased each season. But this year, Frye revived his image with the Suns and is known as dangerous big man from long distance. He averaged 11.2 points per game, his best since his rookie season, and 5.3 rebounds as an anchor for the strong Phoenix bench that came alive during the 2010 postseason. Frye's new contract is worth $30 million over five years, and his playing time should increase now that the Suns also signed Hakeem Warrick, signifying that Amare Stoudemire will most likely be playing elsewhere.