12:01 a.m.

O’Brien,

If we get Chills back, what would you do with Marvin. Sign & trade for a big?
At some point, especially if we re-sign Chills, Josh or Marvin have to be traded for some size. Once again, BK signed too many players that play the same position!

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Aroise show this people some videos on chris wilcox.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!

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Hoops,

Lee is untradeable. Since he’s restricted, and sign-and-trade would trigger BYC rules and since Lee’s old contract is so tiny (just over $1M per year) and the new one is likely to be at least $5.8M, a trade between the over-the-cap Knicks couldn’t be accomplished.

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people I’d target this off season:

1. David Lee – monster rebounding, near basket finisher, shoots a very high percentage, hustle and energy big man, agile and skilled, sufficient/decent in other areas, one of league leaders in rebounds and fg%.

Think of it this way, you can’t score if you don’t have the ball, that’s why you need to have a guy like Lee on your team to make sure that you have your possessions. and, if your opponents doesn’t have the ball, they can’t score, so more the reason why it’s a very good idea to have a monster rebounder on the team.

2. Darko Milicic – a very nice frontcourt rotation piece, shot blocking ability, low post defender. agile though still has a ways to go.

Think of him this way, forget that he was the #2 pick. Just think of him as “second rounder”. He’s got legit length, strength and agility for a big man. He can be an effective post-defender (had a good game defensively against Tim Duncan last season when he was given the chance to play). Just don’t expect him to be the star big man, just a very nice frontcourt rotation piece. With this shot blocker on board the Hawks will be a NO FLY ZONE (Smoove-Darko-Hoffa). Your opponents can’t beat you if they can’t score. Also a run the floor big, can play with an up tempo running team. We need someone who can handle the opposing big defensively, Hoffa and Smoove need help here.

3. Josh Childress – a very excellent piece, delivers a lot of intangibles, sound defensively, skilled in all areas

Think of Josh as a very nice team piece. He doesn’t have to be one of the team’s top scorers, although he can, just let him do his damage in the other areas when he gives you quality minutes. He’s a proven high percentage scorer which is important because you only have so many possessions to go around, and you have to make the most of the chances that you get (which bothers me because Jamal Crawford is such a low percentage volume shooter, so a lot of possessions/opportunities are definitely going to be wasted through him). Excellent defender for the swing positions, a must have in this league when most of your opposing scorers are at these positions.

Get these people. The Hawks are legit contenders in the East, just complete the puzzle pieces.

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Nire……. I don’t think BYC rules apply when a player is involved in a S&T. I only think it applies if a player is signed and traded later in his first year. I will double check, but if BYC rules applied their would never be S&T’s.

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See Q76 in Coon’s FAQ:
One complication with sign-and-trade deals is that the signed player can immediately become a BYC player (see question number 73 for more information on BYC), so the player’s BYC value must be used when determining whether the trade is allowed.

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I stand corrected………

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Sorry, SB – having to up late makes me edgy.

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If the Hawks are truly close with Bibby, Sign Swift, McDysse, Zaza, Marvin and then Bibby. We need 2 bigs that can play for back up’s, a third with up side in Swift would be great.

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Sekou, I’m confused. If we resign Bibby, is Jamal going to come off the bench? He’s a 20 ppg scorer making $9 million who is used to playing high minutes even by starter standards. And when is Teague going to play? I’d hate to see him get stuck in a losing situation like Acie Law. I know JJ plays the three a lot for Woody, but not a whole lot if Marvin comes back. And that’s not to mention the possibility of if they match a Childress offer. I know the Hawks’ biggest problem last year was depth, but it takes a commitment from these guys to accept a lesser role. Has anybody asked Jamal about that?

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This initial talk about the Hawks going after a big fish seems to be only that…talk. Ths clubs that were serious about making runs at players were on the job just after midnight. We’ve heard no such thing concerning the Hawks so far except for “getting closer to a middle ground” with Bibby. It will take a trade to make a major difference as the ASG / Sund will be too passive in free agency as usual.

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I do agree with yall about Chris Wilcox, however look at the number of games he has played.

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/chris_wilcox/career_stats.html

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I hope Sund do waste an opportunity to sign Marvin, just to be able to sign Bibby. That would be incredibly short sighted. We need Marvin, we need defensive ability at the point and in the paint. Signing Bibby means that we will not have either one.

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i dont have a problem with bibby coming back and think in the short term it would be excellent. so if the money and time restrictions are good then i keep him. it is the bottom of my list of priorities though but it may come first.

i think the hawks bigger needs are in the front court between making sure that marvin is kept or a facsimile of him is in place to replace him and two bigs one of the zaza nature and one that might be able to step out and shoot the three ball. if that was not available then i would happily go after a banger type or defensive specialist. doubt we can find one guy to fit all those categories. funny solo in time might get closest to it as he grows into his body, soft touch, good from the foul line and can be the long arms that get in the way when they come into the paint. dont know if woody will trust him enough to develop him but when big baby was allowed to grow into the role between the tears he became man mountain back there.

success this off season? i guess i would be really pleased to see zaza solo and wilcox brought in. bring back bibby and marvin and have chills get over his love affair with money and experiences and stay under luxury for about 73 mil of player payrolls and we got a contending team. yeah then all i have to do is show up and have some more fun. better sign up guys for the coming attraction, bet there are some good seats still out there.

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can somebody who has Espn insider post this

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=freeagents-090701&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.esp

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http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=freeagents-090701

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Sekou said,

>>you could have a guard rotation of Joe, Bibby, JCrawford and Teague and I think you’d be fine<<

Though I’d prefer to keep Flip purely for financial reasons, I can see the logic behind this also. Woody has a comfort level with Bibby. Add to that the chemistry that has developed on the team with Bibby leading the way along with a chance to have a good mentor for Teague, it makes sense for the future of the team. Crawford can still get between 25-30 minutes a game which IMO is more important than starting.

It will be interesting to see in Zaza looks for a deal before Gortat signs with someone. We need Zaza, again because of chemistry and his understanding of his role on this team. If he is looking for a starting position, that will make it difficult for the to keep him. That is the appeal of guys like CFrye and CWilcox, they’d come in knowing their role would be to come off the bench and provide solid D and providing on offensive option.

In hindsight, I wish the Hawks could have gotten Jarvis Hayes last year. Being 6′8″, he probably could have provided better defense with the same offense (at a lower salary) that what Evans provides. I wonder if the team will look to upgrade that position?

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Hoops,

Even if we get Chills, I still want to keep Marvin. That would make us really strong at the SF position, and that would limit Mo Evans’ minutes too.

I like the sign and trade idea of Chills to Milwaukee for Sessions though.

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SUND BRING BACK WILCOX FROM YOUR SEATTLE DAYS

DO NOT GIVE CHILLZ A CONTRACT HERE IF WE ARE RESIGNING MARVIN

DO NOT OVERPAY BIBBY

KEEP J SMOOTH ON THE MARKET AND SEE IF A TEAM WILL BE WILLING TO PART WITH A BIG FOR HIM

RESIGN ZSA ZSA

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Hollinger apparently has Marvin listed as one of 12 “undervalued” free agents. Hopefully it’s only he and the Hawks that hold that view…

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big dave,

now that we have Crawford as our backup SG, the only other position left for Mo is SF. I do agree that Mo is too small and gets beat. If we had Chills, we would not nrrd Mo except for bench depth and injuries.

nire,

Assuming Marvin wants to be a starter, which team (besides the Hawks) can offer him a starting position?

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Is it just me or are the words *upside* and *potential* are the most overused 2 words in sports and grading talent. We all have wish lists but realisticly do we really want everyone back. We can do without Flip or Bibby, who really cares if Childress comes back when we did perfectly well without him. Mo Evans was a good find given what we had. Pachulia should be resigned and I would love to see Chris Wilcox signed also. Forget about Sheed and McDyess. They are old and aging and mind cause unbalance in the lockerroom. If we get Marvin back, he should improve once again. But please, please, stop using *upside* and *potential*. I have the potential take Mark Bradley’s job because I have the upside on becoming a columnist when I graduate college but I don’t really want to do that.

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Reggie, HEre it is

Marcin Gortat played in all 11 of the Magic’s games in the Eastern Conference finals and NBA Finals in the 2009 playoffs, and didn’t score more than four points in any of them. He averaged 3.8 points per game in the regular season and has exactly four double-doubles in his two-season career.

So it might be surprising to learn that as free agency opened at 12:01 a.m. ET Wednesday, the Houston Rockets were waiting on his doorstep. And they weren’t just there to check out his seriously souped-up BMW. (He drove slowly past me leaving practice one day during the NBA Finals, and even at 10 mph the thing sounds like a jet engine.)

The Rockets aren’t the only ones, either. Pitches from Dallas, New York, Atlanta and Indiana may follow in the coming hours, as teams step up their pursuit of the restricted free-agent big man.

Why such a furor over a player with such modest accomplishments? Because once one adjusts for the paltry minutes Gortat played behind all-world center Dwight Howard, it quickly becomes apparent just how effective he was this past regular season.

Gortat shot 56.7 percent from the floor and averaged a whopping 14.4 rebounds per 40 minutes last season. His rebound rate of 20.3 ranked sixth in the league — meaning on more than one out of every five missed shot, he got the board — and his offensive rebound rate of 14.0 was better than Howard’s. Gortat also blocked 2.7 shots per 40 minutes, putting him 12th among centers, and while his foul rate was fairly high (5.6 per 40 minutes), it wasn’t off the charts.

Overall, his 17.04 player efficiency rating was 19th among centers. But with the exception of Chris Andersen, everyone ahead of him is either on a rookie contract or making more than $9 million a year.

It doesn’t appear to be a fluke. He had even better numbers in limited minutes the previous season, and his translated numbers from Europe indicate that at worst he’d be a decent backup center. He’s also nimble for his size, making him a good pick-and-roll defender.

Basically, he’s a starting NBA center and he’s only 24. Given those parameters, a midlevel deal for him suddenly looks like pretty good value.

As a result, Gortat heads my list of under-the-radar free agents for this summer. While names like Hedo Turkoglu, Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Paul Millsap and David Lee are likely to dominate the discussion over the next few days, I would argue that spending the midlevel exception or less on players such as these are better values than dropping $10 million a season on the aforementioned quintet. Here’s the rest of my 12-man all-undervalued roster:

Sessions
Ramon Sessions (restricted, Milwaukee)
There are a few reasons why the Bucks didn’t give a qualifying offer to Charlie Villanueva, but one is that it’s good poker. By sending a signal to the market that Sessions is the guy they want to keep, the Bucks effectively precluded anyone from making a strong offer to try to wrest him away in free agency and thus almost certainly lowered his final price.

He’s worth it, too. Sessions can’t make 3s and needs the ball in his hands to be successful, but he’s a deft passer who can also score around the rim. Last season, he averaged 18.8 points and 8.3 assists per 40 minutes, and did it efficiently, as he had the ninth-best turnover ratio among point guards. He’s also an effective rebounder (5.0 boards per 40 minutes) and rated 13th among point guards in PER.

Best of all, he’s only 23. Considering all the veteran point guards getting attention this summer despite presenting far greater risk because of their ages (Jason Kidd, Andre Miller), it’s puzzling to see Sessions virtually ignored.

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Williams
Marvin Williams (restricted, Atlanta)
Continuing that age theme: If you’re going to dive into the free agent pool, doesn’t it make more sense to add 23-year-olds than 36-year-olds? Well, Williams is 23 and is coming off a strong season, one in which he ranked 13th among small forwards in PER at 16.04 while becoming the Hawks’ main defensive stopper on the wings.

At 6-9, he has the length to harass opposing small forwards, and he added the 3-pointer to his arsenal last season, hitting 35.5 percent. His tendency to fade into the background can be vexing, but on the right team that’s not necessarily a bad thing. And as his offensive game continues to blossom, he could be the quiet gem in this year’s free-agent class. Not that he’ll come cheaply — Atlanta is likely to match any sane offer — but his restricted status may allow the Hawks to get a great deal on a key building block.

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Wafer
Von Wafer (unrestricted, Rockets)
Another 23-year-old who still has plenty of upside to explore, Wafer is a knockdown shooter who can also put it on the floor and use his athleticism to score at the trim.

While his defense is a work in progress and his passing only a rumor, he averaged 19.9 points per 40 minutes for Houston last season while shooting 39.0 percent on 3s. He’s also an unrestricted free agent and the Rockets are facing luxury tax issues, meaning he might be had for the right price. As a source of bench scoring, you could do plenty worse, especially since he has enough upside to eventually start.

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Warrick
Hakim Warrick (restricted, Memphis)
Power forward is the league’s easiest position to fill right now, but the lack of attention for Warrick is shocking given how productive he’s been for the Grizzlies the past two seasons.

That’s partly because he’s a lousy defender, but Warrick can flat-out score. He averaged 19 points per 40 minutes for the Griz the past two season, and did it fairly efficiently, with modest turnover rates and true shooting marks in the mid-50s. That’s very hard to do on a bad offensive team, and it makes him a strong sixth man candidate for a better club.

Memphis made a qualifying offer, but given its expected pursuit of Lee and draft-day addition of Hasheem Thabeet and their history of parsimony, Warrick can probably be had for a decent price.

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Gooden

Drew Gooden (unrestricted, Spurs)
Yes, he’s a little flighty and doesn’t always run the plays correctly, and that can make him maddening for a coach. On the other hand, he produces. Gooden has averaged a double-double on a per-40 minutes basis for five straight seasons, and last season was the fourth in the past five in which his PER was well above the league average.

And this may be hard to believe for a guy who has been around the block so much, but he’s still only 27. He’ll likely come cheap given how far down the power forward hierarchy he is this summer (Villanueva, Millsap, Lee, Anderson Varejao, Brandon Bass, Lamar Odom and Rasheed Wallace clearly outrank him), but you’d be hard-pressed to find a more effective reserve big man on the market.

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Moon
Jamario Moon (restricted, Miami)
It’s not clear if the Heat are willing to cut into their cap space by re-signing Moon, and if not, it’s a good opportunity for another team to get a quality defender on the cheap.

Moon can be frustrating offensively because of his tendency to take quick 3s, but he’s not chopped liver out there (35.5 percent) and he doesn’t turn the ball over. Additionally, he’s one of the best rebounding 3-guards in the league and is long enough to play the 4 in small-ball arrangements.

Though he’s 29, Moon has been in the NBA for only two seasons, so he may still have some improvement left in him. Teams looking to split their midlevel exception among multiple players and needing a quality wing should have their eye out for him.

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Nesterovic
Rasho Nesterovic (unrestricted, Pacers)
Probably the unsexiest free-agent pickup out there, Nesterovic can’t jump, looks like he’s aiming a rocket launcher when he shoots and has an almost comic ability to avoid drawing fouls. But instead of winning the news conference, he lets you win games.

The 33-year-old 7-footer shot better than 51 percent from the field the past three seasons while using his solid frame to ward off opposing post threats. He’s a good passer who can space the floor and his floor-bound game is likely to lose little to age. While he’s not worth anywhere near the $8.4 million he made a season ago, he’s going to provide somebody with a nice backup center this coming season.

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Carney
Rodney Carney (unrestricted, Timberwolves)
A rotation player who can likely be had at a bargain price since the Wolves didn’t pick up the final year of his contract, making him an unrestricted free agent. Carney offers two things nearly every team is looking for: an athletic wing who can defend and a decent 3-point shooter. He made 35 percent from distance last season while taking more than half his shots from out there.

Carney doesn’t have great offensive instincts, so unless he’s throwing down a highlight-reel jam he’s pretty much a catch-and-shoot guy. But he’s a solid role player and, at 25, still has a chance to get better.

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Frye
Channing Frye (unrestricted, Portland)

Portland opted to turn him loose in a bid for cap space, and Frye has two big items in his favor: He can shoot and he can play center.

He’s not a good defensive player and probably needs to be less ambitious with the shooting, but his numbers have been much better when he’s played the center position (his first and third seasons) rather than power forward (his second and fourth seasons). As a floor-spacing backup 5 who can also play extended minutes at the 4, Frye seems like a good bargain pickup, especially since he’s well-liked in the locker room and is only 26.

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Diogu
Ike Diogu (unrestricted, Kings)
If you’re looking at guys who will be available for the minimum or not much more, Diogu is a good place to start. Let’s start with the negatives: His practice habits and conditioning have been questionable at best, and he’s not a good defender.

But look at the production. Diogu has been in the league four seasons for four different teams, and put up big numbers at every stop. His PER has been above the league average all four seasons, he has averaged more than 22 points per 40 minutes the past two, and he’s done it with reasonably efficiency — a difficult feat when the minutes come in sporadic seven-minute chunks.

As a scoring big man off the bench he can be devastatingly effective, and I’m surprised he hasn’t got the chance to do it more regularly. For a team looking to fill that role, he’ll be available for pennies.

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Othyus Jeffers
My favorite D-League alum that nobody’s heard of, Jeffers was third in the NBDL in PER last season behind James White and Courtney Sims. The latter two got call-ups but he didn’t, even though Jeffers has a lot of promise. Unlike a lot of D-Leaguers, he’s still pretty young — he doesn’t turn 24 til August — and he’s a savage defensive player.

He has some issues that will hurt him in the pros — he’s undersized at 6-3 (his listed height of 6-5 is a joke) and he can’t shoot 3s — but his tenacity should allow him to stick as a defending role player once he gets the chance. If I’m looking at a minimum contract, I’d much rather take a shot on him than on a proven failure.

John Hollinger writes for ESPN Insider. To

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Hi everyone,

I understand your concerns about our free agents. My goal since day 1 of this offseason has been:

1) Resign our free agents

2) Sign free agent big men who cost nothing to sign

3) Also, my goal for next season is to win as many games as we won this season, but to win 1 game in the second round. Not to advance past the 2nd round, but to win 1 game.

Cheers,
Rick

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