12:01 a.m.
Both Rasheed Wallace (headband) and Marcin Gortat (skinband) are on the Hawks' free agent hot list this summer. The NBA free agent negotiating period began at midnight.
HAWKSVILLE - It’s 12:01 a.m., do you know where your No. 1 free agent target is.
And No. 2, and No. 3 and on and on.
The Hawks do.
The Hawks’ front office staff was still working late Tuesday night in anticipation of the midnight start to the NBA’s free agent negotiating period.
Everyone knows about the Hawks’ (quasi-internal) targets – Mike Bibby, Zaza Pachulia and Flip Murray are all unrestricted free agents while Marvin Williams, Solomon Jones and Mario West are all restricted free agents, as is Josh Childress (who remains under contract with Greek power Olympiakos, though he has an opt out that he must exercise by July 15) . But there’s more going on that just that.
After year’s of failing to grab the attention of the league’s best free agents on the market, the Hawks are suddenly in the mix for some of the most coveted players on the market, per several of my most well placed sources around the league.
“The only thing missing all these years was a winning team,” a former Western Conference executive told me Tuesday night. “And now that they’ve got that. So they’re going to be in the mix for guys if they want to be in the mix. Half the league lives in Atlanta [during the offseason] anyway.”
I remember a couple of years ago when Gary Payton was traded to the Hawks in a package deal and he wouldn’t even set foot in the city, apparently a 26 or 30 win team didn’t appeal to a veteran player hunting a title.
Jamal Crawford’s reaction to coming here in a trade last week was complete 180 from Payton’s thanks-but-no-thanks stance.
I have a feeling that the Hawks’ pursuit of the likes of Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess and Marcin Gortat, all big men my sources tell me the Hawks will have made contact with by the time you finish breakfast.
It’s the kind of free agent busy work that I never heard about in previous summers. Times have changed. And clearly for the better if you’re a Hawks fan.
Still, there’s so much work to be done this summer. Presumably, the opinions around here on what the Hawks should do with Bibby, Zaza and Flip have ranged from the semi-reasonable to the absolutely preposterous.
It seems clear that in a free agent climate that will be short on monster deals and full of teams looking to stretch their available dollars, the Hawks will have an extremely hard time retaining all of their guys. Tough choices will have to be made, as will alternate plans.
Maybe Hawks captain and All-Star Joe Johnson knew a little more than he let on last week when he ended our conversation with this, “Whatever we do this summer, we have to do it right,” he said. “We have to do it big and we have to do it right. Because we’re not going back to those losing seasons and watching the playoffs. We’re not going back there.”
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544 comments Add your comment
Ariose
July 1st, 2009
8:10 pm
Nire, yeah. Hopefully he can follow in Chris Paul’s footsteps and become a Giant Killer.
Reggie
July 1st, 2009
8:10 pm
Can somebody post “Best under-the-radar free agents” its on espn.com, but you have to be an Espn insider.
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=freeagents-090701&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fnba%2finsider%2fcolumns%2fstory%3fcolumnist%3dhollinger_john%26page%3dfreeagents-090701
Ariose
July 1st, 2009
8:11 pm
OOOOOOHHHH WEEEEEEE, Wabe those WERE Sick lol!!!!!!!!
chuckw/deadjournalist
July 1st, 2009
8:12 pm
does charlie v’s deal set a benchmark for marvin?
Melvin
July 1st, 2009
8:12 pm
With the Pistons adding Gordon and Charlie V, looks like they are changing there philosophy from defense to offense. I agree with Nire, i dont see those signing making them an elite team..
Ariose
July 1st, 2009
8:14 pm
Chuck, I think it does. 7mill a year is very reasonable for Marvin. Sund wouldn’t give Chills that, but I wouldn’t hesitate to give that cash to Marvin. BTW, I think you’re following me on twitter lol.
Good Grief
July 1st, 2009
8:17 pm
I didn’t understand Detroit last year when they traded Billups and I don’t get what they’re doing now…only word I can think of is rebuilding…at least there was some kind of action today
drmaryb
July 1st, 2009
8:17 pm
*CLYDE*
Hey baby, I have been under a pile of paperwork! trying to keep my door open in this messed up economy! Man, what would it take to get “CAMBY” in here?
We need an active big-man who can move his feet and play with his back to the basket and help smoove block some damn balls man! We need SHAQ! in here man! Is there anybody out there like that?
Clyde, stop trying to fire that man! He has a wife and two kids to feed! Don’t you think the unemployment line in the “A” is already long-enough? LOL!
Don’t you want to see that man keep his house off the foreclosure-list? Show come LOVE – Clyde. Do I need to go and get my **razor-sharp thong -song out and dust it off?** It’s been a long-time since the Hawks have made me feel uncomfortable in my own under-wear? LMAO!
Wabe
July 1st, 2009
8:17 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvMSShMb0Ws&feature=related
The quality of this video ain’t great. But I think it’s something else you can watch anytime you start doubtin this kid.
Wabe
July 1st, 2009
8:19 pm
Jay Billas said it on draft night after the Hawks took him,
he said he doesn’t think ANYBODY can stay in front of this kid.
Ariose
July 1st, 2009
8:19 pm
I love this Kid lol!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwposMephTM
Max
July 1st, 2009
8:21 pm
Now that the Pistons signed Gordon and Vilanueva, the Hawks are at best a 5 seed. They HAVE to get Sheed, its a priority now, if Boston gets him, the hawks will go no where!
PG: Crawford, Teague
SG: Johnson, Flip
PF: Rasheed, Marvin
SF: Smith, Mo Evans
C: Horford, Zaza
Bench: Solo, Mario, Gardner,
Ariose
July 1st, 2009
8:23 pm
Got a funny shot though, so we’ll see. He only shot 44% from three. Conversely, Acie and Salim both shot the three at a 50% clip coming out of college. Then again, they were seniors and he was a sophomore.
chuckw/deadjournalist
July 1st, 2009
8:24 pm
Ariose –
Indeed, I am. I finally gave in to Twitter …
Back to Marvin. I agree – and I think that $7M of five years would be a deal that the Hawks would be willing to do. Funny, because Ben Gordon and Jamal Crawford’s deal from a per year perspective is similar. Marvin would be a free agent again at 28 so much like Josh Smith, he’d still have another potentially big payday.
Ariose
July 1st, 2009
8:25 pm
Overall, Teauge is WAY more athletic than Law and he’s bigger and has a better wingspan than salim. I love his relentless atack on the basket tooo, I hope Woody doesn’t try to tame him. He just needs to let teauge do his thing and figure it out.
darrell starks
July 1st, 2009
8:25 pm
The hawks better be on the move this year they cant wait around like they did last year or everybody will be gone.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!
Ariose
July 1st, 2009
8:27 pm
Chuck, cool. I wasn’t sure if it was you or not. I’ll follow you then as well. BTW if anyone else has or decides to get a twitter lemme know so I can follow you and vice versa.
Stating the Obvious
July 1st, 2009
8:28 pm
I think we should break the bank for Marvin. He is by far our best player. He could probably be the leading scorer in the NBA if Coach Woodson would let him shoot 30 time a game. He is better than Josh and Joe. I think we should pay him 10 million dollars a year, and make him the star of the team. We will be the best team in the east then.
Sekou Smith
July 1st, 2009
8:28 pm
Pistons get Charlie V and Ben Gordon on the first day without a coach. And Childress is definitely visiting Milwaukee tomorrow. But he”s still officially under contract with Olympiacos until July 5.
Max
July 1st, 2009
8:32 pm
Sekou,
If Childress a restricted free agent?
Assuming, he opts out of his deal with olympiacos, and an NBA team offers him something, all the Hawks have to do is match that offer to get him back. Right?
drmaryb
July 1st, 2009
8:32 pm
Good-Grief
I have no idea what they are doin’ in the “Motor-City” man! When they traded “Mr. Big-Shot” for “AI?” The wheels began to come off the F-150! The un-raveling began, and from there?
Rip’s game faded and Tayshaun Prince – Well, he disappeared! Prince looked like a dumb-deer standing in the middle of the road…waiting to get hit! Billups was the engine that made that car-go!
The same thing will happen to the HAWKS if they let Bibby walk! Bibby brings so many intangibles to this team! He brings a NASTY-EDGE and LEADERSHIP and DIRECTION and CONFIDENCE to the Hawks! The Hawks before BIBBY were un-organized and they looked SCARED and LOST (Woody Included!) Hell – BIBBY saved Woody’s JOB and got him a 2-year EXTENSION with just one stroke of a pen!
You people on here that want to send BIBBY packing? Are village IDIOTS! You don’t miss your water – until the well runs DRY! Remember that! BIBBY is a nice player who is tough-minded and doesn’t back down to anybody. He’s the SOLE-REASON Zsa-Zsa had the balls and huge fore-head to GET in KG’s FACE! remember that! when your’e driving Bibby to The Hartsfield International – Maynard Jackson Airport!
chuckw/deadjournalist
July 1st, 2009
8:35 pm
Sekou –
I saw that note on Childress. Sign and trade possibility?
cdog
July 1st, 2009
8:35 pm
I LOVE THE ENTHUSIAMS OF YOU ALL. I WISH MOST OF YOU COULD BE THE GM AND FIX THE HAWKS. ALL OF YOU ALL MAKE SENSE. NOW WHY CAN RICK SUND BE ON THE SAME PAGE WITH US ALL AND SEE THINGS THE WAY WE DO? I QUESS HE’S BEEN HANGING AROUND BOBBY COX. IT TOOK HIM ALMOST THREE MONTHS TO SEE THAT KELLY JOHNSON WAS NOT HIS SECOND BASEMAN. SUND PROBABLY STILL CAN’T SEE WE NEED A BIG MAN. WELL I GUESS HE WANTS DETROIT AND THE EAST TEAMS TO JUMP PAST US. THEN HE WILL HAVE SILLY EXCUSE LIKE YOU CAN”T TRADE FOR SUPERSTARS YOU DRAFT THEM
Ariose
July 1st, 2009
8:37 pm
OOOHHH!!!! Check out the video footage from when the Haws drafted Teauge on June 25th. I’d been looking for this clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8IaIzWXMhY&feature=rec-HM-fresh+div
The REAL Stating the Obvious
July 1st, 2009
8:37 pm
Rod,
When you try to post as me, at least be a bit more clever about it and don’t make the same stupid capitalization mistakes you always do. Didn’t you ever learn from when you posted under 2 different names, all the while making the exact same writing style, right down to the spelling mistakes? Tsk tsk.
deb1820
July 1st, 2009
8:37 pm
Sekou,
Is there any chance the Hawks can make a deal with Dallas and get Ryan Hollins. He’s 7 feet and athletic, which is what I think the Hawks need.
cp
July 1st, 2009
8:37 pm
People on here want a 7 footer regardless if the guy has any skills or grossly overpaid. We should try to get Deandre Jordan from the Clippers or Camby. They have to move somebody to get Blake some pt.
I think Marvin could score 20 a night easily on a different team if he was the second option. He is probably our most efficient scorer. I have no doubts that he could score 6 more points per game given more shots.
And Reggie somebody pasted the list for you on the last blog. You just have to search for it.
Max
July 1st, 2009
8:42 pm
Sekou,
Is Childress a restricted free agent?
Assuming, he opts out of his deal with olympiacos, and an NBA team offers him something, all the Hawks have to do is match that offer to get him back. Right?
Good Grief
July 1st, 2009
8:43 pm
Max,
Detroit last year with Sheed, Rip, Iverson, Prince, Stuckey finished as an 8 seed. They’re losing Sheed (a huge piece) and with this move Charlie V will probably take his place which I think is a drop off. I wonder do Rip Ham leave town now via trade? Who knows, maybe even Prince and to add they don’t have a coach. There’s no way I would bump those guys up 4 spots to the 4th seed over the Hawks right now. I’d say the Pistons are rebuilding. While those two names look good, thats a major downgrade for those guys which isn’t our problem at all.
We’ll have to wait to see how things play out, but right now I’d say the Hawks are a strong 4 seed in the east right now, and depending on who we can bring back and add to bolster depth we could possibly threaten to be a 3 seed…ok so that may be wishful thinking but as of now the Hawks are still a strong 4 seed…
Ariose
July 1st, 2009
8:44 pm
cp, I beleive reggie is talking about a new article:
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=freeagents-090701&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fnba%2finsider%2fcolumns%2fstory%3fcolumnist%3dhollinger_john%26page%3dfreeagents-090701
niremetal
July 1st, 2009
8:46 pm
Stating the Obvious,
Don’t bother, I stopped making a running tally of the number of stupid posts RodSamRod has made. My all-time favorite is still the one where he said that drawing an offensive foul can result in free throws…and then later claimed that he’d played D-1 ball.
He’s good for entertainment value, but don’t get baited into actually trying to argue with him.
Sekou,
Have you gotten any indication on whether the Hawks are willing to match up to the mid-level with Chills?
Sekou Smith
July 1st, 2009
8:48 pm
Childress is restricted and the Hawks would match any offer to him that makes sense. If the Bucks are cash strapped as it appears, the Hawks would match anything they threw out there without blinking. S&T is a possibility, but it would take something really attractive for the Hawks to go S&T.
Childress is in LA right now and the word is the Lakers and Clippers are among several teams (Cleveland is another) poking around just to see how interested he might be in returning to the NBA. Again, he has until the 15th to decide if he will opt out of his deal or not. No word yet on what he’ll do, but he has crazy options right now.
Ryan Hollins would be interesting. But if things don’t workout with Zaza, I think the Hawks would want a more experienced big. But Hollins has the size you want in a center.
Sekou Smith
July 1st, 2009
8:51 pm
Consider the mid-level for Childress matched. That’s what the Hawks were going to pay him anyway. Plus, they made that clear to Childress and his people in a a recent meeting. They will match any reasonable offer.
darrell starks
July 1st, 2009
8:58 pm
Why do we get caught up in a 7footer my thing is can you play randolph morris is 7foot or 6′11 in a half so play him but people are going say he cant play so what im trying to say there is not more than 5 center in the nba who are good.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!
KevinA
July 1st, 2009
9:01 pm
Go look at shot attempts for last year. Look at shooting percentages. I believe Marvin, Josh and Al could average 20 pts a game if they shot as many as JJ.
Reggie
July 1st, 2009
9:12 pm
Sekou
if the Clippers are interested in Childress, how about the Clippers trade Marcus Camby for Josh Childress
Zach
July 1st, 2009
9:26 pm
Sekou,
Thanks for doing a great job with coverage. I would really like to keep both Bibby and Zaza on the team. Like you said it doesn’t seem like Marvin is going anywhere unless something crazy happens. And it seems like a good time to lock him up long term in this market. Something like 5 years $30 mil?
What do you think that the numbers are for Bibby and flip to resign them. What are the chances of the Hawks extending maybe two year deals to flip and mike to save them a little bit of money. Thanks
UGA
July 1st, 2009
9:32 pm
If we match the offer to Childress, does that mean we keep him in Atlanta??????????
RealSquawk
July 1st, 2009
9:34 pm
Reggie,
I am down with that scenario, but I think Camby makes 10 a year.
Ernest
July 1st, 2009
9:45 pm
If the Hawks could get Marvin in a deal similar to what CharlieV got, it would be great for them. This also eliminates Detroit as a possible suitor for Marvin.
Sekou Smith
July 1st, 2009
9:48 pm
Villanueva’s deal with the Pistons just the set the bar for a lot of cats this summer. In this new economic climate, that’s the kind of deal players are going to have to expect. The days of those 50 and 60 million deals might be a thing of the past if you’re not a legitimate All-Star.
Zach, I have no idea what the range is for anyone. I honestly didn’t think Ben Gordon would get $50-plus, but he did. So I’ll stay away from idle speculation about what kind of cash it’s going to take.
If the Clippers were willing to deal, and you could get Camby for something other than a player in your core (technically, Childress is not a part of that core right now), it’s worth exploring. I’m just not sure what the Hawks have to work with right now.
Aaron
July 1st, 2009
9:57 pm
Childress will be BYC, so a S&T is VERY unlikely for that reason alone. The Hawks simply do not have the movable parts outside of Morris and maybe Evans to get a deal done.
To trade Childress AND Evans AND take on salary would be a steep price. It would make more sense, as Sekou says, to simply match the offer and trade him the next year.
Melvin
July 1st, 2009
9:59 pm
Yes sir, bring the Fro’ home. It’s nice to hear that the Hawks are still interesting in keeping him. Now all we need to happen is have another team make a reasonable offer so we could match it. Oh yeah, tell Mo Evans to find another jersey (hopefully with another team logo on it)…
The Truth
July 1st, 2009
10:06 pm
I’m reading that Charlie V contract is a 5-year deal worth at least $35 million. That isn’t really telling me much. My question is why did he decide so soon? With much interest around the league for his services, seems like he could have waited and possibly gotten an even better deal. Just who is his misguided agent?
KevinA
July 1st, 2009
10:11 pm
If Chills is back, is it do able to trade Crawford and Solo for that elusive big? Lose Bibby, and keep Flip.
KevinA
July 1st, 2009
10:15 pm
I like the Woody defence with Chills at point at the end of games. A bunch of long athletic defenders that can do almost anything.
JJ can play the 1,2,3
Chills can play the 1,2,3
Marvin can play the 2,3,
Flip ——————-1,2
chuckw/deadjournalist
July 1st, 2009
10:22 pm
wow. so memphis picks up z-bo for q’s warm body. there has to be a pick in that deal too.
that might take camby off the market too.
Melvin
July 1st, 2009
10:23 pm
Truth,
There’s only a hand full of teams that has salary cap space to offer Charlie V more than the MLE. What he’s projected to get from the Pistons is problem going to be his best offer. However, it’s only a verbal agreeement therefore if another team make a better offer I’m sure he would consider them as well. Besides, I rather see him go to Detroit than Cleveland, Boston or Orlando….
Melvin
July 1st, 2009
10:26 pm
Looks like we can strike Camby or Kaman off our wish list of big man since the Clips found a taker for Zach…
O'Brien
July 1st, 2009
10:32 pm
Truth,
I think Charlie realized that most other teams could only afford the mid-level, which is closer to $6 mil, so rather than wait and take the chance that the Pistons go somewhere else, he went ahead and signed.
I would be surprised if a team offers Chills a contract, because more than likely, all he would get is the mid-level, which is $6 mil or so. And the Hawks will match.
I would love to have Chills on the bench though. If we have Chills, Mo Evans, Jamal, Teague, Zaza, and one more big, I think Woody would have no complaints about his bench.