Childress in play?
(Former) Hawks swingman Josh Childress appears to be in play for the second straight summer as a restricted free agent. He's in Milwaukee today visiting the Bucks.
HAWKSVILLE - From Athens to Milwaukee and back to Atlanta, the name Josh Childress is being tossed around in every direction these days.
Childress is in Milwaukee today visiting the Bucks with his agent, Jim Tanner.
What that means for the Hawks is that they might get a do-over with Childress, a restricted free agent again this summer as he was last summer.
Last summer they lost him as an asset when he chose to sign with Greek power Olympiakos (for $20 million post taxes). What the Hawks didn’t lose was the right of first refusal on Childress if he decided to return to the NBA this summer.
And two of my spies have made it clear that were Childress to receive any sort of “reasonable” NBA offer (the $5.6 million mid-level exception or below), the Hawks would match it before Childress finished signing his name on the offer sheet (the aim, however, is to work out a sign-and-trade deal to appease both sides since Childress has made clear his desire to play elsewhere, per a source).
Still, no player on the free agent market has more intriguing options than Childress. He has until July 15 to decide if he wants to return to the NBA (he’d have to exercise the opt-out clause in his contract with Olympiakos). So he has a window now that allows him to gauge his current value around the NBA while also holding on to the safety net that is his lucrative contract with Olympiakos.
Childress was in Atlanta last Sunday to meet with the Hawks’ brass and made clear that he would do his due diligence in evaluating his NBA options before deciding whether to return to Greece or not. It’s smart business yet again on the part of Childress, who had drawn interest from a number of other teams (Lakers, Clippers, Cavaliers and Spurs are included in that list, according to my league spies) curious to explore the potential of him making an return to the league now as opposed to at the end of his contract with Olympiakos.
“It’s a tough free agent market right now,” a former player now working as an analyst told me by phone Thursday morning. “I can’t imagine [Childress] could do better financially than he would by going back to Greece. But you never know what might go on in free agency, so he’s wise to explore his options.”
MOSTLY QUIET ON THE FREE AGENT FRONT: Things are quiet where the Hawks’ other free agent targets are concerned. Neither Zaza Pachulia nor Marvin Williams is scheduled to visit anywhere as of right now.
Plenty of teams are interested, from what I’m hearing, but no face-to-face meetings have been set up as of yet. Williams is a restricted free agent, so it’s expected that his summer will last a little longer. Pachulia’s summer could heat up rather quickly if one of the big man dominoes on the summer circuit (Rasheed Wallace, Marcin Gortat, etc.) were to commit to a new team.
Several sources inform me that the Hawks have moved into the “common ground” phase of their talks with Mike Bibby’s camp. Nothing has been announced yet, but those sources insist that a deal is closer to getting done than people might think. I’ll be curious to see how things progress through the July 4th weekend and into early next week, when the salary cap numbers come out on the 8th.
Rumors are flying around about what teams are doing. It’s almost too difficult to keep up with it all, since there are so many different outlets reporting (fact and fiction). But my man Adrian Wojnarowski from Yahoo! Sports does as good as job as anyone at keeping his finger on the pulse of what’s happening out there. Check out his latest buzz.
RECESSION? WHAT RECESSION?: While most of us working class folk are struggling to make ends meet during these tough economic time, there is a segment of the population that’s doing just fine. Check out some of the NBA players on Sports Illustrated’s list of top “ballers” in sports.
Steve Francis should be your new hero, since he clocked $20 million last year without playing a single second of basketball. How’d that song from the 90s go, “I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller.” Dang skippy!
NORTH OF THE BORDER: Both Cousin Doug up in Toronto and my man Ken Berger of CBSSPORTS.com are reporting that David Lee has become the object of the Toronto Raptors’ affection now that it appears Hedo Turkoglu could be headed to Portland.
Turkoglu agreeing to a deal could open the floodgates for guys like Williams, especially, considering Charlie Villanueva’s deal with Detroit (5-years, $35-$40 sounds reasonable, though it raises some issues for the Pistons, per my man David Aldridge of TNT) has already set a benchmark for players of that ilk.
Stay tuned folks. There’s no telling where this free agent roller coaster goes next.
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642 comments Add your comment
Big Ray
July 2nd, 2009
5:59 pm
Darrell Starks,
Nothing is guaranteed. Look at the Cavs. Best record in the league (was it? I think it was) at 66 games. Most Valuable Player. Coach of The Year. Didn’t make it to the NBA Finals after having their butts handed to them by the Magic, whom many thought wouldn’t make it past the second round of the playoffs.
Chemistry is important, and a guy like Amare has to be a steadying force, not just a glowing individual. Shaq said he was the future of the NBA. He ain’t.
I’m reluctant to trade Josh or Al for him for a number of reasons, and don’t feel like arguing about it.
darrell starks
July 2nd, 2009
6:02 pm
LIKE i say why in the world would you pay gortat 6mill or even 5mill a year when the guy average 3.2 pts and 4 rebounds a game is it because he 7′0 foot tall like i say we need player who can play.
GO HAWKS!!!!
terrell barron
July 2nd, 2009
6:05 pm
Detroit overpayed for Villanueva. IMO 8 mill a year. Wow!
Big Ray
July 2nd, 2009
6:06 pm
Niremetal,
Do you really want to compare those two organizations with ours? Really? I didn’t say we should have only one owner, that’s just what you thought I was thinking. By the way, if I asked Paul Allen or Ted Turner how many Finals appearances they had, they’d probably say just as many as the ASG. Yep. And uh, who do you think is doing a better job of building their team into a contender right now, us or Portland? Be honest…
terrell barron
July 2nd, 2009
6:07 pm
Please dont overpay for Bibby. 5 or 6 mill a year. Take it or leave it.
darrell starks
July 2nd, 2009
6:12 pm
Why not give randolph morris 5mill or 6mill he 7′0 foot tall.
GO HAWKS!!!!!
jhan
July 2nd, 2009
6:17 pm
I’d be suprised if Bibby gets more than $6M/Year. Hopefully for 2 with a team option for the 3rd. I’ve said many times that Bibby is a defensive liability & haven’t changed my mind. What he does bring is veteran leadership & stability – something we don’t seem to get from JJ or Woody. That has to count for something. He should also play less minutes this season which will help also.
Nookah
July 2nd, 2009
6:17 pm
I like the banter on the blog. Great stuff guys and very entertaining.
I am in agreement with the idea that if Chills doesn’t want to play here then S&T him if possible. I am a little skeptical with doing the business with the Bucks. What of vakue do they really have? If we are going to sign Bibby then Jack and Sessions are out of play. Gadzuric is not the answer. His career numbers are 15.5MPG/.509%/4.6RPG/0.9BPG and 5PPG. Are those numbers worth it? I don’t think so. Maybe the Clippers is the better team to do the business with. They have more pieces. Hopefully we can dump RandMo in the mix for Camby.
My wish is to get Camby. I’d love to get Zaza and Camby on the bench. If we have Camby we can do some stuff in the playoffs. If not forget it, we’ll just be going through the motions, especially with the changes the Big 3 are making. Sheed to Boston, Shaq to Cavs and possibly Artest or Ariza. Not sold on the Orlando move unless they add another piece.
As usual the Hawks are moving at their usual pace………slow and deliberate!!!!!!
Go Hawks!!!
Clyde
July 2nd, 2009
6:21 pm
jhan so do you believe the Hawks can compete for a championship next year if we don’t add any help to our front line?
niremetal
July 2nd, 2009
6:23 pm
Ray,
You’re making my point for me. As I often do, I just was using your post as a leaping-off-point for an issue that I’ve repeatedly seen come up on this blog. My point is this” It’s not about how many owners the teams have or even who owns the team. It’s about how well the team is run. But those are two separate issues.
People need to get past the ownership group. You might not have said it, but lots of people have expressed a desire that the Hawks be purchased by a sole owner, be it McDavid, Turner, or Arthur Blank. But the mere fact that a group of people own the team instead of a sole owner doesn’t mean anything. You can have teams that do really well under sole owners (Lakers) or really badly (Clippers; Warriors, although their owner got other investors back in ‘05) and everywhere in between. Same with ownership groups. You have sole owners who let the GMs handle everything (Leslie Alexander), and sole owners that poke their nose into every decision (Cuban) and everything in between. Same with ownership groups.
The Knicks are owned by a conglomerate. They have the highest payroll in basketball. They also suck, because all the money in the world can’t make up for a series of GMs who didn’t know what they hell they were doing. Now that Walsh is on board, we’ll see if they do better.
We can argue all day about which category the Hawks fall into. We have no clue how much ASG influences/interferes with Sund’s decisionmaking. If they’re being too nosy and Gearon thinks he’s Cuban, that makes a difference. But the fact that the ASG is an ownership group – that there are “too many of them” – doesn’t mean jack.
niremetal
July 2nd, 2009
6:24 pm
Clyde,
Who do you want? Shawn Bradley? Sean Williams? Shaun of the Dead?
Volman
July 2nd, 2009
6:26 pm
Ray, you can to give Portland some credit but they have been HANDED (one by us, one by the mockery…excuse me, lottery) two studs in Roy and Oden.
I’ll give them credit for the Aldridge trade and acquiring some talent like Rudy Fernandez…but honestly what else have they done? They got a bunch of draft picks one year…but not really anything else.
Seriously, the Hawks handed them Roy and the NBA handed them Oden. What else have they done?
MannyT
July 2nd, 2009
6:27 pm
Nire & Hawksfanatic, you guys keep looking at the why we cannot trade side of the CBA. I’m sure you know that the most common way to move a BYC contract to a team over the cap is to get a 3rd team in the mix. If the team that picked up Chills moved a 2nd player worth say 2 mil to a 3rd team, that team could send the Hawks a player worth a few hundred thou less in salary about 1.5-1.8 mil (like Robin Lopez: 1.746 mil salary–not that he is going anywhere) to make up the difference.
All that to say, it’s not easy, but a trade is possible.
jhan, then we would no longer have that larger than average cap hold for a guy that is unlikely to play for the Hawks. If we were interested in making it happen, I suspect that there are people that work for Sund and for Chills agents that could make the numbers work quite easily before July 15th. The trickier part is getting the agreement between Chills, the new team, the 3rd team and the Hawks as all have to be on board for the magic to happen.
Some dancing British guy in the 1980s said–You gotta have faith at least during the offseason.
BWAF
MannyT
July 2nd, 2009
6:31 pm
Volman, don’t hate. I believe the T’Wolves, Chicago & Boston actually/literally did more to help Portland than we ever did.
Roll the recall link
http://www.nba.com/blazers/news/Trail_Blazers_Land_Brandon_Roy-183312-1177.html
BWAF
MannyT
July 2nd, 2009
6:36 pm
niremetal, you bring me to the funny segue of the day.
Sekou’s boy Mark Bradley had a thing about the survey of best sports franchises.
No surprise that the Hawks were not at the top of the list, but I had to laugh that they ranked higher in ownership than they did in players or coaching. You know I’m no Woody fan, but I do give him more credit than the Belkin (no 2nd pick for our best player) and Sydell (this team costs too much for me to keep putting money into it) tag team.
BWAF
BrittishAnger
July 2nd, 2009
6:47 pm
For Bibby, I’d give him 7 to 8 Million over two years with a team option or even a player option for a third at 5 Million (about 20 Mill over three seasons). We aren’t going to find a veteran like him in the works for a few more years, short of extending an offer to Rip Hamilton and giving him the reigns to run thangs (not a horrible idea if Bibby negotiations fall through, but unlikely if anybody else is willing to sign him on the double, as we’re only on the single), there is no better PG to use as a role model for developing young players like Teague than Bibby (except Derek Fisher, but that’s just me dreaming). Teague should learn tons from him and even Jamal, and if Woody were to start taking some ideas from his players and start teaching how to properly run a pick and roll offense, things could become very interesting in Atlanta over the next few seasons. That, of course, depends on whether Woody would accept that notion, and short of a major breakthrough this season, this will be his last (Breakthrough = 50 wins minimum + Not getting swashbuckled out of the 2nd round of the playoffs + No Woody and Josh beef, NONE). Bibby is our best bet, and if we resign him quickly enough, let him, Josh and Al go to a few three-on-three competitions and build up a stronger rapport between each other: there should be alley-oops all over the place with those three around, and are a staple to even maintaing Phillips as “The Highlight Factory”.
Rod from College Park
July 2nd, 2009
6:50 pm
“He (Chills), Horford, and Marvin are the only solid players we’ve had in the past few years who are willing to give up a shot at gaudier stat lines to help the team win.” Niremetal
Maybe they give up shots because their offensive games are limited. And this is the clown who calls himself an expert. Stick to law school and cap stuff, because you OBVIOUSLY know nothing about basketball. (LOL)
Stating the Obvious,
OBVIOUSLY you are gay. So let me make this OBVIOUS to you. I am not. I don’t like men, so get off my nuts. Maybe you are a 15 year old who has nothing to do but post as me and respond to everything I say with dumbass. Get a life or a woman, and leave me alone. OBVIOUSLY you are lonely. Stop being a keyboard killer and find something constructive to do with your time. Since you and Niremetal know so much maybe you can holla at him. He’s going to be a lawyer you know. He’s a good catch.(LOL)
darrell starks
July 2nd, 2009
6:51 pm
Sund i think chill would like phoenix it would be closer to home for him.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!
Volman
July 2nd, 2009
6:54 pm
I’m not hating…I just don’t want to give the Blazers TOO much credit… Yes, they have some great YOUNG talent but this Hawks team does, too. The BASG has plenty of faults, but they are definitely trying to get this thing steered in the correct direction. We have to give them credit for the success over this past year. It’s been a while, but it seems like they’re going in the right direction.
I’ll eat my crow on the ROY thing. I’ll admit when I was wrong They went and “got him” I guess, but still… They couldn’t have gotten him if the Hawks didn’t snap him up!
MannyT
July 2nd, 2009
6:56 pm
terrell, remember that the scale provides for 8% raises each year for a free agent this is not your own. CV will probably make less than $7 mil this next season if that contract has those raises in it. By the last year he will make over 9 mil.
BWAF
Wabe
July 2nd, 2009
6:56 pm
Lollllllll
That’s too funny.
niremetal
July 2nd, 2009
7:00 pm
Here’s a little rant on the Blazers. Love them, but honestly don’t think that they’re any closer to a title than we are talent-wise. I honestly have seen enough of both JJ and Roy to say that they are very close talent-wise. Same with Aldridge and Horford (the big difference is how many touches each gets). I’d take Josh over pretty much anyone that I haven’t mentioned yet except Oden (who fell into their laps, as jhan pointed out) and I’d take Marvin over Outlaw (mainly because Outlaw is two years older but still gives almost zero effort on D). The only difference is that McMillan uses a deeper rotation and an offense that features TONS of ball movement on offense.
And have we mentioned Steve Francis, Raef LaFrentz, or Darius Miles? Yeesh.
I keep remembering the Blazers teams from around the turn of the decade with huge payrolls, several former or future All-Stars, and a decent coach (Dunleavy) that never seemed to be able to put it all together. I honestly don’t know yet that McMillan is the kind of coach that can lead a team to a title. I think he’s great at developing young players of all stripes, but he didn’t make adjustments against the Rockets at all. Battier and Artest cut off the usual passing lanes, and they had no answer for the give-and-go offense that Adelman used.
I’d take McMillan over Woody any day during the regular season – his style of offense and use of a deep bench could have made us a 52+ win team, I think. But he looked just as overmatched as Woody in the playoffs.
niremetal
July 2nd, 2009
7:03 pm
Rod,
You’re the guy who said that offensive fouls result in free throws, that Pau Gasol had never played in the playoffs before the Lakers, and about a dozen other things that were just plain wrong. Everyone around here has seen clear as day that you’re the one who knows nothing about…well, pretty much anything except making an ass yourself. But keep it up. Doesn’t bother me.
Volman
July 2nd, 2009
7:15 pm
Rod, didn’t know people your age said LOL.
jhan
July 2nd, 2009
7:17 pm
Clyde – it depends on your definition of competing. I think the Hawks will be in the upper half of the East again with a shot to get to the Eastern Conference Finals. I don’t believe they will be playing in the NBA finals next year.
I don’t see any front court players we could trade for that would make that a reality. We could in theory make our front court stronger – say trade JJ & Horford/Smith for Amare. That would make our front court better next year but would it make our team better? I don’t think so.
I don’t disagree that we need bigger & better players in the post. I just disagree that these players are readily available. If you take into account all the financial restraints & rules that must be observed in the NBA you will realize this is no easy task.
Not to get political but I believe Obama is finding out that it is much easier to sit on the sidelines (like bloggers) & rationalize what should be done. When you actually have to deal with the other side & follow rules (that you really don’t know until you’re eyeball deep in them) it is a much different story. I remember during the elections how easy he claimed dealing with Iran was going to be. How has that turned out so far?
Rod from College Park
July 2nd, 2009
7:24 pm
Niremetal,
Ahh you may be correct young Jedi, but how many things have I said that were right. Correct me if I’m wrong, doesn’t Everyone mean (All). So if someone on here told me they agree with me then your statement would be false counselor. You just lost you first case. Practice young jedi! Practice! See how easy it is to make a false statement. Again this might be the dumbest statement of the year:
“He (Chills), Horford, and Marvin are the only solid players we’ve had in the past few years who are willing to give up a shot at gaudier stat lines to help the team win.” Niremetal
I we were in court, I would prove you wrong in so many ways that your head would spin. So according to you statment, Joe, Josh Bibby, Flip were not solid players. You got a long way to go. Maybe you should reconsider and become a CAPOLOGIST. You wouldn’t last a day in the Fulton county courthouse with stupid statements like that.
Let me make my own quote,
“He who thinks he knows it all, really knows nothing.”
Rod from College Park
Rod from College Park
July 2nd, 2009
7:28 pm
Volman,
In my mid 30’s. Not to far gone yet.
O'Brien
July 2nd, 2009
7:33 pm
If Sheed goes to Boston, they are once again at the top of the East, especially if KG is healthy. Sund talks about us closing the gap, so I hope we get ZaZa back, along with another productive big, and a starting PG.
I dont mind Bibby as our starter. I just dont want Woody playing him too many minutes. Lets face it. If Bibby is not hitting shots, he is almost useless, but Woody still plays him 36 minutes per game regardless. Cut his minutes down to 24-28 (unless he is playing well). Give Crawford and Teague some if his minutes.
cp
July 2nd, 2009
7:35 pm
Dallas is known for overpaying for Centers.
Dukester9
July 2nd, 2009
7:36 pm
Im gonna say it again if the Hawks dont get a real center none of this matters. We will win 40 games and be out in the 1st or 2nd round
Samuel
July 2nd, 2009
7:38 pm
Clyde,
You know me and you don’t agree on much but I agree with you on us needing to get better in the post.
All this talk about Childress, Flip, marvin and Bibby but not even a mention of attempting to aquire post players. Will it put us in the top three, dont know but I do know that the top three kills us inside.
Cleveland adds Shaq, Boston, Sheed and the Hawks Crawford and talking about Childress, Flip and Bibby.
I know Horford is “gonna” be a beast but he really needs to step up this year and we really need to get him some “real” help.
Dukester9
July 2nd, 2009
7:43 pm
Trade him for tyson chandler, Chandler at center Horford at power and Smith at small. Now thats a front line that can win the playoffs baby. I mean all of them are under 26 years of age thats a front line for the at least the next 3 years. wow If only i made the decisions.
jhan
July 2nd, 2009
7:43 pm
Rod – are you capable of reading & comprehending at the same time?
What nire said was they were the only solid players that were willing to sacrifice personal stats for the good of the team. He did not say they were the only solid players on the team.
Looks like more than one person needs to step up their game. The way you stumble over words & comprehension reminds me of a certain SF on the Hawks that has the same stumbling issues while driving to the basket!
Dukester9
July 2nd, 2009
7:44 pm
Samuel with that post i dont need to say anything else it really dont get any clearer than that sir. Your right on it. LOL
KevinA
July 2nd, 2009
7:45 pm
The advantage of youth. Our core is not only good but young. They will only get better. If we end up with the same team except for the Crawford trade I see 50+ wins. A Chills addition would be fantastic.
Giving the impression that Josh is selfish with shooting attempts is nuts.
I have complained about attempts and shooting percentage by the back court as much as anyone.
I don’t blame the players, I blame the system.
This chemistry between the players seem great. The chemistry between Woody and the players would poll lower than the belly of a snake.
BrittishAnger
July 2nd, 2009
7:46 pm
Rod from CP,
I like your quote, though i think several, maybe every, eastern philosophy has a variation on it, so no points for originality, but bonuses in usage make up for it….
KevinA
July 2nd, 2009
7:50 pm
Kevin McCail was known as the dark hole. If you passed to him the ball never came back. Would you consider him non solid?
Rod, you got this one wrong.
NBA Free Agent/ Trades July 2nd Update | Digital Sports Dailiy
July 2nd, 2009
7:51 pm
[...] are that Josh Childress who played overseas last season with the Greek power Olympiakos, will be in Milwaukee to visit with the Bucks. Childress has a clause in his contract that allows him to opt out at the end of every season-in [...]
KevinA
July 2nd, 2009
7:56 pm
jhan, you would dump Marvin? The only guy drawing fouls by giving up his body? It don’t have to be pretty as long as you get to the line. If only JJ would play like that. Then you have a star. He could add 5 ppg easy.
Blast
July 2nd, 2009
7:59 pm
Nire,
Of all the 4 bigs you mentioned, only one I would like to see as a Hawk is Marcus Camby. If Hawks are looking for a legit center on a 1 year rental, then I will take Camby over Bosh, Amare or Chandler simply because Camby brings a strong defensive presence that the other three do not. Maybe Chandler to some extent, but Marcus is the most refined and professional of the bunch. Bosh and Amare score better, but I don’t like those two guys because Amare has health problem, does not play a lick of defence, I do not think he is loyal to his employers and Bosh is soft as butter. Imagine Camby, Josh and Horford blocking shots left, right and center? Crazy, dude. And Ray made a good point. If Amare was so great, how come the Suns did not do better with him AND Shaq? And how come there are no takers for his services so far? Huh?
BrittishAnger,
Good point. Teague cannot ask for a better teacher/role model than Bibby. I thought that would happen with Bibby and Acie Law, but we all know how that went.
Rod from College Park,
That was funny as hell.
Yeah, Hawks better snap up Zaza quick. If Hawks can resign all their free agents including Zaza and find another back up big, then I would be satisfied with the off season.
Go, Hawks, Go!
Stating the Obvious
July 2nd, 2009
8:02 pm
Lets see. Rod spends 95% of his time talking about one man. The other 5% he spends talking about how people around the blog must be gay.
What do you call someone who talks constantly about one man and claims to have perfect gay-dar? Oh right. GAY.
Ariose
July 2nd, 2009
8:04 pm
ARTEST TO LA!!!! WTF IS GOING ON!!!!!
Ariose
July 2nd, 2009
8:06 pm
ChuckW/deadjounalist just informed me on twitter….This is getting crazy.
Ariose
July 2nd, 2009
8:08 pm
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4303679
newkid
July 2nd, 2009
8:16 pm
Not suggesting that success comes easy, or merely because one wishes it, or merely because one is prepared to write a check with 8 – 10 significant figures to several very tall persons who are exceptionally proficient at dribbling and shooting an inflated spherical leather object. Most organizations and individuals who’ve achieved even modest success largely got there not because of some dumb luck, but because of dogged work year after year, excruiciating attention to detail, and development and execution of ‘business’ models that properly reflect the relationship between the variables and the intended results. Certainly not suggesting that I’m even remotely qualified to say what that model is for the Hawks or how Hawks’ success ought be pursued, consequently I don’t often offer advice on how Sund et al ought pursue that success. Results are what matter.
I’m a consumer of the product (sometimes), a fan of the game, have a yearning for men’s professional basketball in Atlanta in June (someday soon), and have a strong desire to witness a mid-June parade on Peachtree in which a gold O’Brien trophy is prominently displayed. Rather than electing to offer explanations and/or excuses for the product not having reached the level that many other franchises have reached, I elect to advocate for an ownership and management that does what it takes (EVERYDAY) to get to the top of the mountain. Haven’t seen the result in ‘our’ product. If the owners and managers can’t get it done (and there’s not necessarily shame in that), I’m an advocate of ‘new’ owners and/or ‘new’ managers who WILL get it done. Maybe (hopefully) Sund will, maybe he won’t. If he does I’m his biggest fan (well, one of them); if he doesn’t, I’m the biggest critic of his results. I’m a fan.
Big Ray
July 2nd, 2009
8:16 pm
Niremetal,
Yes, the number of owners is not the issue when talking about ALL teams and franchises. But it is in OUR case. Within months, the huge group managed a split with it’s biggest partner. Clearly one too many egos. That’s all I have to say about that.
As for Portland, they have managed assets better than we have, by and large, and in recent years. They may not be any closer to a title than we are, but we’re also not in the West. I know a lot of people scoff at that remark, saying that the East is pretty good. Then they bend over and start talking with their hineys when the conversation begins to compare the Hawks to other Eastern Teams. Suddenly, the East is just not that good, and there is no reason to think that anybody other than the Big Three is any sort of threat. Heh….
As for McMillan, I wouldn’t compare what he faced to what Woody faced. McMillan gets to go against Poppovich, Jackson, Sloan, Adelman, and even guys like Karl…on a regular basis. And let’s not conveniently leave out the veterans that Houston had. How do you suppose we’d fare against Artest and Battier (a player you have a particular appreciation for, do you not?). And Yao? Give me a break. We’d have been swept. Between Battier and Artest, JJ would have been lucky to average double figures in that series, particularly with the “offense” that Woody runs.
Look, I’m a Hawk fan for sure, but Portland is on a better track. They’re young, but all they have to do is mix the right veterans in with their developing youngsters, and they’ll make strides. Sure, Oden fell to them. But also look at what they’ve done with their picks, and who they’ve gotten other teams to trade to them.
Have we done that? Finally, here’s the worst of it all: We drafted Sheldon. They drafted Roy. ‘Nuff said.
Not a Blazer fan. But damn do I wish we had done some of the things they did. Oh well, spilled milk and all…
Blast
July 2nd, 2009
8:24 pm
Ron Artest going to the Lakers? Hawks better make some moves!
On that vein, Rockets trying to sign Gortat and Ariza? Good for them, but right now, I would not sign with the Rockets for anything, especially if they are losing Yao and Artest and looking to trade McGrady. I mean, Adelman is good at making less work, but no All-Star on their squad? How far can they go in that deep darn West without an All-Star? At least Rockets are making some strong moves, though.
Rod from College Park
July 2nd, 2009
8:27 pm
Jhan,
Yes I am capable. If I was not I would not be able to respond to you. The statement is false in so many ways, that was only 1 way. So if his statement was true then why did we win 47 games this year or take Boston to 7 last year. Was it really because Horford, Marvin and Chills, gave up a shot at gaudier stats? I would argue that it was not. Trust me I know exactly what he was saying, that’s the point. Maybe it’s over your head. You just joined the Circus also. Ringling Brothers.
Another quote:
“In order to understand how one comprehends, you must understand how one thinks.” 1+1 does not always equal 2.
Big Ray
July 2nd, 2009
8:29 pm
Newkid,
Understood. And so we labor on as fans, buying the product or not, whatever the case may be.
Volman,
I know you’re not a hater, man
. What have the Blazers done? I think they’ve managed their assets fairly decently. Yeah, they were handed Roy by us. That only goes to show just how STUPID we were not to pick him, which was part of my point. Of course, we can go with the old “well, if we drafted him, we wouldn’t have Horford.” I’m about f’in tired of hearing that. Not because I don’t like Horford. But because that is a flimsy thing to fall back on. Horford does a lot for us, but does he have the same kind of impact on our team that Roy has on his? How about CP3? Deron Williams? Exactly, and there is no way around that crap, no matter how many hairs you split. All three of those guys are leading their teams. Is Horford leading this one?
Again, this is not hating on Horford or saying I’d trade one guy for the other. This is me being sick of “we wouldn’t have Horford” as the fall-back for the defensive argument, for which there is no real defense.
Back to the Blazers. Don’t know about you, but I’d not call Oden a gift at this very moment. Currently he is a part-time serviceable big man…at best. He could develop into more if 1)He ever can stay healthy, and 2)He ever stays healthy long enough to actually build some stamina. He was breathing out of his mouth on the sidelines all year long, and he didn’t even play heavy minutes. Yeesh.
And you make my point for me: The Blazers have amassed picks, but not made any huge moves. Yet there they were, following up a .500 season in ‘07-’08 with a playoff appearance this past year. Too bad they got matched up with a Houston team that was good enough to beat the Lakers and probably advance all the way to the NBA Finals (and win) if they could have stayed healthy.
No, don’t want to give the Blazers too much credit. I’m not a fan. But I’m not a Spurs fan either, and I think that is possibly the best organization in the NBA. I give credit where I figure it’s due.
Big Ray
July 2nd, 2009
8:34 pm
Artest to L.A., huh? The rich get richer. Ariza is a cooked goose, but I’d hold onto Odom if I was L.A.
I don’t fret when I see moves like this. We’re not anywhere near a level yet where we can worry about things like this. We’re just not. And we’re not in the West, so why get all bound up? Besides, big time players like that want a ring. They can’t get it here right now, no matter how bad we or they want it.