Andray Blatche - Amnesty's "feel good" story

With the NBA's amnesty period complete and five players having cleared waivers (but only one, Metta World Peace signed), it appears the attractiveness of the amnestied is not what it used to be. Bottom line: the single best anmesty pick-up was Andray Blatche; the single worst, Travis Outlaw.

As Jeff Caplan wrote this week, of the 15 players amnestied in the first two years of the program eight are no longer in the NBA: four (James Posey, Charlie Bell, Ryan Gomes and Darko Milicic) were never re-signed and four others (Gilbert Arenas, Josh Childress, Baron Davis and Brandon Roy) are out of the league. Five players remain with the teams that signed them in the amnesty waiver process, but of those, just three — Blatche, Luis Scola of the Suns, and Chris Andersen of the Heat — played significant roles last season. One of the other two who are still with their new team, Outlaw, still has two years running on his contract.

It can easily be argued that Blatche, who is the youngest player amnestied, produced the most last season, although Andersen won a ring with the Heat. Scola may have averaged two points and one rebound more, but Blatche did it in fewer minutes and had a top 15 PER for a playoff team. Blatche has also resigned and seven years younger than Scola.

Outlaw's lousy performance in Sacramento may have been one reason why none of the five amnestied players this year attracted even a minimum bid during the waiver process. Two years ago, the Kings bid $12 million on the remaining four years of Outlaw's $35 million contract. Other than a late season surge in April, he's been awful for the Kings, averaging less than five points in 77 games over two years.

Who, if anyone, is a likely bargain in this year's group --Mike Miller, Tyrus Thomas, Drew Gooden and Linas Kleiza? Miller with two rings is being pursued by the Thunder and Nuggets. Kleiza is likely headed overseas. Thomas reportedly has interest from the Knicks and Mavericks but there's been no news on the 31-year-old Gooden. Besides Miller, Thomas may be the best bet. He's still young, at 26, but has been hit with one injury after another. There's not indication the Nets are interested in any of them. They already hit the jackpot with Blatche.

• ‘Amnesty THAT!’ An Amnesty Find Is Rare - Jeff Caplan - NBA.com