Gilbert Arenas, despite a troubled career of late, will have made around $160 million in salary when his current contract expires. Photo by Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE

When Arizona’s Derrick Williams is selected in Thursday’s NBA Draft — with likely the No. 1 or No. 2 pick — it will start a new era for the Wildcats: He’ll be the first of Sean Miller’s recruits to move on to the next level.

But the meter is still running on Lute Olson’s former players … and that meter has passed three-quarters of a billion dollars in NBA salaries for the more than 30 ex-Cats who have (in many cases) gone from Lute to luxury.

Not counting money from endorsements, appearance fees, autograph shows, camps or any of that other stuff — strictly NBA salary — the grand total is approaching $770 million.

And that doesn’t include the very good living that several former Wildcats have made playing in leagues overseas.

There is still plenty of money on the books, too. Gilbert Arenas, now with the Orlando Magic, is still owed $62 million over the next three seasons, for example. The San Antonio Spurs are on the hook to Richard Jefferson for about $30 million over the next three years.

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Steve Kerr celebrates the last of his five NBA championships with the San Antonio Spurs in 2003. Photo by Matt Rourke/AFP/Getty Images)

Had an interesting discussion last night. Which former Arizona Wildcat has had the best NBA career?

The debate started on KCUB 1290-AM during the drive-time In the House show. Guest hosts Brad Allis and John Schuster posed the question for their listeners, with Schuster, in particular, making the case for newly-crowned NBA champion Jason Terry.

A couple of months ago, Terry wouldn’t have been in the forefront of the discussion. But he’s earned his championship ring — and he was especially good in the final two games as the Dallas Mavericks closed out the NBA Finals in six games against the Miami Heat.

But has Terry really had the best NBA career of all the ex-Wildcats?

That conversation continued later last night as Allis and Schuster joined me and TucsonCitizen.com bloggers (and former Arizona basketball beat reporters) Steve Rivera and Javier Morales at a northwest side establishment. Allis also blogs at TucsonCitizen.com.

Rivera said the choice was a no-brainer: Steve Kerr.

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Former Arizona Wildcat Jason Terry of the Dallas Mavericks talks about a variety of UA topics in this interview, including being hosted on his recruiting trip by Damon Stoudamire.

Terry also talks about Sean Miller, predicts sophomore Derrick Williams will be in the NBA next season and says Williams reminds him of a couple of other Wildcat greats.

UA quarterback Nick Foles, who leads an efficient passing game, answers questions from Tuesday's press conference/photo courtesy of WildcatSportsReport.com

Here we are for our third go-round of WWW. The big Oregon-Arizona game is approaching, so let’s start with that.

SI.com: Cory McCartney breaks down the matchup under this headline: Game of the Week: Oregon battles Arizona for Rose Bowl life.

I might rewrite that to say Arizona battles Oregon for Rose Bowl life … but whatever.

There’s some good stuff here scouting the Arizona offense, with comments from NAU defensive coordinator Andy Thompson.

He says, “They can line up and run right at you. They’re a tough, physical, very hard-nosed team, and then they have the game where they can spread you out and throw the football with a passing game that’s very efficient. They make you cover the whole field. They have the ability to do both and it makes it very difficult on a defense.” Check the link for more.

• CBSSports.com: Gary Parrish — who I find to be one of the best and most even-handed of the national college hoops columnist — weighs on in Josh Pastner’s coaching debut from Tuesday night. The Boy Wonder did well to have his Memphis team within a winning shot of No. 1 Kansas at the end. There’s more Pastner from SI.com, and even more from one of our new bloggers, Matt Minkus, who interviewed Pastner recently for the locally produced radioexiles.com.

• NewOrleans.com: Former UA All-American Chris McAlister is back in the NFL. Knee problems plagued his past two seasons, but the ex-Baltimore Raven All-Pro cornerback has signed on the New Orleans Saints and appears ready to roll. He joins ex-Cat running back Mike Bell with the Saints. Super Bowl bound?

• Eugene Register-Guard: The Oregon Ducks haven’t been very lucky with quarterbacks in their past two trips to Tucson.

• NBA.com: Nice Q&A with the Dallas Mavericks’ Jason Terry, who is still the same super sub he was for Arizona’s 1997 national championship team. Except one thing: He’s actually playing some defense this season. He explains.

Previous World Wide Wildcats:
Oct. 29

Nov. 12

Anthony Gimino can be reached at anthonygimino (at) gmail.com