Jason Terry shows off his new Lucky the Leprechaun tattoo during Boston Celtics media day last week. Photo by Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE

If there is one former Arizona Wildcat who can bring a smile to your face, it’s guard Jason Terry.

Terry, at age 35, is still going strong in the NBA and is bringing his good cheer (and, hopefully, his jumper) to the Boston Celtics after five seasons in Atlanta and the past eight with Dallas, including a championship season in 2011.

He signed with the Celtics after last season, signing a three-year deal and hoping to fill the production void left by Ray Allen.

The University of Arizona has given New England Tedy Bruschi, Terry Francona and Rob Gronkowski … now comes Jet.

But Boston is a whole new world; watch as Terry tries to learn the wicked sweet lingo …

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.

Andre Iguodala is in the middle of a six-year, $80 million contract. When that runs out after the 2013-14 season, he’ll be 30 years old — in line for another monster contract. In all, 11 former Wildcats were earning in the NBA last season. The meter is still running.

One day, it’s easy to see this all adding up to about $1 billion in NBA salaries for Olson’s players at Arizona.

Here is the breakdown (with current players in bold):

Sources: I have kept this database for several years, with the main source of information coming from the USA Today salary database and basketball-reference.com, as well as a variety of news stories and Tucson Citizen archives. The USA Today database and basketball-reference.com do not agree in all cases, but the differences are usually minor. Let me know in the comments section or at agimino (at) tucsoncitizen.com — if you see any corrections that need to be made.

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.

By virtue of Kerr’s five championship rings — three with the Chicago Bulls and two with the San Antonio Spurs — all the former Wildcats probably would trade their careers for Kerr’s. But that’s not quite the same thing as having the best career.

Kerr played 15 seasons, with a well-defined role as a shooter off the bench. He made an NBA career-record 45.4 percent of his 3-point shots (726 of 1,599). On the other hand, his career scoring average was only 6.0 points per game.

Terry has played 12 seasons, with little indication of slowing down. Since his rookie season, he has averaged less than 15.5 points only once — and that was in the 2004-05 season, his first in Dallas, when he still managed to score 12.4 points per game.

He has scored 15,537 points, which is 10,100 more than Kerr (5,437). Terry averages 16.2 points per game for his career.

But for pure scoring, no ex-Cat touches Gilbert Arenas, who has a career average of 21.2 points. For a while, he was one of the top five players in the game, averaging 29.3 points in the 2005-06 season and 28.4 in the following season.

Since then, injuries and off-court problems have diminished his production and his star power … and his postseason career has been nothing special, limited to a mere 25 games.

Then there’s Sean Elliott — 12 seasons, a 14.2-point scoring average, the 1999 championship with the San Antonio Spurs … and a forever-highlight: The Memorial Day Miracle, as he nailed a 3-pointer from the corner to beat Portland in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals.

Damon Stoudamire had a 13-year career, averaging 13.4 points and earning about $100 million in salary.

Richard Jefferson has played 10 seasons, averaging 16.4 points, although his two seasons with the Spurs haven’t been as productive offensively. There is still time for him, like there was for Terry, to get that NBA title on the back end of his career.

Mike Bibby spent some years as one of the NBA’s best point guards. He still has career averages of 15.2 points and 5.7 assists, although he seems to be fading at 33, while Terry at the same age, seems to have a few years left in the tank.

Jason Terry kisses the Larry O'Brien trophy as the Dallas Mavericks celebrate their NBA championship. Photo by Mike Ehrmann, Getty Images

So, which ex-Cat has had the best NBA career?

Kerr has the postseason success and a shooting stroke for the ages.

Arenas has the prolific scoring.

Others have enjoyed long and productive careers.

Terry can’t match Kerr’s rings or Arenas’ scoring, but he is in a sweet spot of consistency, outpacing Kerr’s scoring, matching Elliott’s championship and now holding an NBA title that has eluded Arenas.

Based on all that, I’m going with Terry as the answer to this debate.

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