Udrih had a nice run as the Kings' emergency replacement at the point this past season, but that's the whole point: He was seen as a success mainly because the expectations were so low. Sacramento signed him as roster filler and was pleasantly surprised when it turned out he actually could play a little.

That doesn't mean the Kings should pay him the full midlevel for a half-decade, though. Udrih is 26 and a career 43.9 percent shooter. The most similar players at the same age are Vonteego Cummings, Khalid Reeves and Doug Overton, and his projected PER for 2008-09 comes in at 12.99. He's a good backup, but that's about it.

Given the Kings' recent history with their midlevel (coughShareef Abdur-Rahimcough), you'd think they would be a little more reticent to shell out -- especially given Geoff Petrie's rep as one of the game's shrewdest talent evaluators. One has to wonder whether the Maloof brothers' enthusiasm for their own players was a driving force here, and if so, whether it will come back to bite them again -- just as it did when Mike Bibby hit free agency in 2002.