Killing the cap softly.(NBA)

It's probably a good thing that, for most of us, salaries remain known only to ourselves, the folks in human resources and the IRS. That way, if anyone asks, we're free to generously add a few grand or adjust the decimal point to our advantage. Alas, when you're pulling down seven figures as an NBA player, your salary often goes public. The league does not announce salaries, but the right combination of loose-lipped front-office employees and agents looking to pump up their reps can make the numbers accessible.

Unfortunately for some players, what they're taking to the bank does not match what they do on the floor. In honor of those players, we bring you our annual list of the guys who do the most damage to the salary cap while doing the least damage on the floor--also known as the Bryant Reeves Memorial List.

(By way of ground rules, we should point out that in order to qualify for the list, a player must have more than one year left on his contract and that injuries cannot be the primary reason for the player's lack of production--which gets Vince Carter, Grant Hill and Dikembe Mutombo off the hook.)

1. Vin Baker, Celtics. Remaining contract: Three years, $44 million. It could be argued that Baker's problems with alcohol constitute an injury, but we're not buying it. The Celtics got just 52 games and an average of 5.2 points from Baker in what was supposed to be his renaissance season.

2. Damon Stoudamire, Blazers. Contract: Two years, $30 million. Last season was the worst of Stoudamire's defunct career; he averaged lows in minutes (22.3), shooting (37.6 percent) and scoring (6.9 points). That little metal detector problem doesn't help, either.

3. Austin Croshere, Pacers. Contract: Four years, $34 million. It's shocking that Croshere still is in Indiana, which overpaid him as a free agent after his breakthrough in the 2000 Finals. His contract is indirectly responsible for the Pacers trading Brad Miller.

4. Danny Fortson, Mavericks. Contract: Four years, $25 million. As Fortson earned a reputation as a rebounding machine, he also earned a reputation as a bad teammate, which is why he was shoved aside for all but 17 games with Golden State last season.