well, I hate to drag this thread up..
but andrei Kirilenko just inked a deal worth $10million a year
Batum - $12million
Gerald wallace - $10million
suddenly, can we really say that Danny overpaid for Green giving him $9million? it seems like the going rate for solid SF's who can average double digits is around 10million$$
Value is typically situational however.
Nicolas Batum was a restricted free agent. Two things happen with restricted free agents. Either 1) they are ignored or 2) they are given ridiculous contracts to prevent the other team from matching.
Andrei Kirilenko's contract is only for two years. If he underperforms it, Minnesota only has him for his expiring year in addition. If Jeff Green underperforms, the Celtics are stuck with him for three more years.
Gerald Wallace was a ridiculous overpay out of desperation. Billy King traded a lottery pick for him (#6 overall), basically forcing him to overpay Wallace or give up a lottery pick for nothing. Also, this is the same team that gave Brook Lopez a max contract, gave Kris Humphries $12 million a year, and took the Joe Johnson contract. The franchise with the billionaire Russian owner desperate to make a splash on his move to Brooklyn.
Each situation is very different from the last. Also, I don't know if we should be looking to contracts structured by David Kahn and Billy King as examples for solid roster building.
To me, Danny was in a tough spot, having to either overpay or let Jeff Green leave for nothing. He chose overpay.