Super Tuesday
The Hawks are the midst of trying to negotiate deals for both Marvin Williams (left) and Zaza Pachulia (center), two key free agents needed to help the Hawks keep pace in the constantly improving (and I mean by the day) Eastern Conference.
HAWKSVILLE - NBA free agents can put pen to paper Wednesday, consummating deals that have been in the works for days (and perhaps even longer for some).
The heavy lifting for the Hawks, however, comes a day early.
Hawks general manager Rick Sund is on his way to Washington D.C., where he will sit down with the representatives for three of the Hawks’ key free agents (Marvin Williams, Zaza Pachulia and Josh Childress) to hammer out the details of at least a couple of potential deals.
With Mike Bibby’s new deal needing only signatures, the Hawks can devote all the attention and resources necessary to the aforementioned players, and yes, that includes Childress (whose saga might not play out until after the July 15 deadline he has to either opt out of his contract with Olympiakos to return home and to the NBA. David Andersen, another player on the Hawks’ shopping list, has the same clause in his Spanish contract).
Folks keep asking what’s the latest on (All THE HAWKS’ SUMMER TARGETS)? So here’s a rundown, early on a day I’m dubbing Super Tuesday, of where things stand with the key players (and for a sobering look at just how crazy free agency is working this summer, check out this dagger from ESPN Insider and Alpharetta’s own John Hollinger):
MARVIN WILLIAMS: Using Charlie Villanueva’s deal in Detroit (5 years, $40 million-range) as your guide, things should get much easier to decipher in the curious case of Marvin Williams. With a qualifying offer of $7.5 million, we’re not talking about anything out of the ordinary her for a guy that’s proved to be a valuable starter the past three years. Finding another 6-9 starting small forward that fits the way he does on this team will not be easy, despite all of the suggestions around here to the contrary. Respected and prolific colleague Mark Bradley has suggested many times that if any of the Hawks’ remaining building blocks was expendable it was Marvin. But as I look across the free agent landscape, I cannot co-sign that theory. Not with the free agent moves/trades that have gone on in the Eastern Conference since draft night. Not with Hedo Turkoglu in Toronto now and Vince Carter in his old spot in Orlando. And not with Villanueva in Detroit and the addition of Rasheed Wallace in Boston. The length the Hawks used to their advantage across the frontline with Williams, Josh Smith and Al Horford is more critical than ever. Even in one of the many proposed sign-and-trade deals offered up around these parts, I don’t see the Hawks adding the piece that could take Marvin’s place on this roster (in fit, size and temperament … three crucial factors that Marvin brings that go largely unnoticed by the public). The Hawks have made clear their preference for Marvin to remain a part of the core of this team and I see no reason why that shouldn’t happen. I can’t see any scenario where he is not a part of this team in the future.
ZAZA PACHULIA: Much has been made in the past 72 hours about Zaza’s impending departure and his being replaced by Andersen, or a combination of players that includes the Australian big man. Slow down with that one. Sources tell me that while initially things didn’t look too good with the offer that was presented to him by the Hawks, the sides are working their way toward more agreeable terms (we’re talking slightly north of the $16 million over four years he signed for the last time he was a free agent but decidedly south of the $33 million over five years Marcin Gortat is expected to receive from Dallas). And in an Eastern Conference littered with bigs like Dwight Howard in Orlando, Shaquille O’Neal in Cleveland and now Wallace, Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins in Boston (and that’s just on the teams that finished ahead of the Hawks in the standings last season), that’s a good thing. Because the Hawks can ill-afford to lose a player like Zaza. He’s the only real bruiser on the roster. He’ll set a hard pick and has shown he’s not afraid to mix it up with the likes of Garnett and Howard. And while I’m not heavy into the stats that seem to guide so many people’s opinions about players, I do believe that some numbers tell a far different story than what the heart and mind can. There were six regular season games and three playoff games during the 2008-2009 season where Zaza played 30-plus minutes. He averaged 9.8 points, 10.1 rebounds (and 4.1 offensive rebounds) in those games. That means when he was needed to play above and beyond his pay grade, Pachulia delivered.
JOSH CHILDRESS: Like Andersen, Childress would do better financially (at least in the next year or two) by returning to Greece for another season with Olympiakos. But if he’s intent on returning to the NBA this summer, and there are indications that he would indeed love to return, things could get tricky. Childress has already visited Milwaukee. And the Bucks could present him with an offer sheet and gamble that the Hawks might not match it (fat chance). The obvious solution for both sides would be a sign-and-trade deal (the starting salary for Childress wouldn’t even be the full mid-level of $5.6 million, though the total contract would be nearly $31 million over five years). The Bucks have all the necessary tools to make something like that happen. Whatever happens, the Hawks need to close the door on the Childress saga that began last summer during his first round of restricted free agency. His jersey number was given away last summer (to Mo Evans) in a way that should have signaled the end of his time with the Hawks to all of us. I know I’ve spent much of the last year plotting hypothetical scenarios in which he could return to the Hawks. I realize now, finally, it’s just not going to happen. So if there is any way to salvage a player (Bruce Bowen has been mentioned) and a possible second-round draft pick out of the deal, the Hawks could finally walk away from the entire mess with some measure of satisfaction.
Resolve two of the three issues above by July 15 and the Hawks will have made some serious headway into a summer that’s long from over. The roster still needs filling out. And that might not come until much later in the summer and possibly even training camp, where a hungry free agent pickup like Mario West won roster spots in each of the past two camps.
The Hawks will still have the resources to chase down another big man (or possibly two) to fill out the rotation, which is still in need of fortification. But the heavy lifting starts today in D.C.
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636 comments Add your comment
B. M. Parks
July 7th, 2009
11:40 am
I think Chris Wilcox would be a great fit for our team.
Steve
July 7th, 2009
11:40 am
Get David Lee! He can be had – 16 ppg – 10+ rpg – 26 years old – played at Florida – whats not to like?
hawks#1fun
July 7th, 2009
11:43 am
If the hawks do a sign and trade i hope it won’t be for Bowen, we do not need Bowen, we have Evans who is a lot younger and just as good defender and shooter at a lot cheaper contract. I really think the hawks should sign and keep Childress, if not i hope they will trade him for the back up center the Bucks have, that will make sense, but i will not trade him for Bowen. Thanks Sekou.
Melvin
July 7th, 2009
11:43 am
WWD???
If the Hawks bring Chills back, it would be interesting to see who
would be the the first sub off of the bench for Woody. Chills was his security blank when he was here. Crawford is a scoring machince. Both guys could be sub for the 1, 2 or 3 spots. Would he be entice to sub Crawford over Chills or vice verse….lol
What would Woody Do????????????
Eric
July 7th, 2009
11:44 am
Is Rick Sund attempting to win in numbers, because right now I’m totally confused. Flip was argubly the M.V.P. of the Hawks last year, yet he’s being put on the back burner. You trade for Crawford which was a good move, but now it seems with this log jam you’re plans are to bring him off the bench. You don’t bring 20 ppg off the pine!!! You draft Teague then sign Bibby for 3 more years, does this mean Teague sits it out for the next 3 years??? Does anybody really know how good Anderson is? I hope there is a major trade with this to make some sense of everything.
GeeMack
July 7th, 2009
11:46 am
Stating the Obvious
OK the 04 Pistons! You still can not name another team that got to the conference finals without a superstar player, and the Hawks don’t have not one. Joe Johnson is the 3rd option on a Championship team at best. You can call me names all you want, but you can not deny the facts. We are not better than Bos, Orl, & Clev. Those are the teams we are competing against. I am a Hawks fan to the core, but it’s disappointing when the lakers have been to the finals 6 times this decade with 4 titles and the can’t get past the 2nd round and has been in the lottery since 2000.
terrell barron
July 7th, 2009
11:48 am
3 yr 18 mill for Bibby. I called it, but I wanted a team option for the 3rd year. lol
We got Bibby back, now Go get ZaZa!!!!
July 7th, 2009
11:53 am
Joe Johnson would be the first option on most teams. and at least the seconded option on the rest. there are only one maybe two teams where he would be the third option. Lakers is one of them and maybe Boston when everyone is healthy. JJ is an All-star and we just need one more All-star now and we could win it all..
That is one more to go with JJ not one more and trade JJ.
Stating the Obvious
July 7th, 2009
11:54 am
GeeMack,
Here a bunch of teams with a #1 option no better than JJ that have made conference finals in the past 20 yrs.
East
‘92 Cavs
‘97 Heat
‘99 Knicks
‘00 Knicks
‘01 Bucks
‘02 Celtics
‘04 Pacers
Every Pistons team from ‘03 to ‘08
West
‘99 Blazers
‘00 Blazers
‘03 Mavs
‘04 Wolves
Stating the Obvious
July 7th, 2009
11:55 am
If u wanna argue with me on the West teams, fine, but you cant seriously aregue on the East teams
MBZ
July 7th, 2009
11:57 am
Sekou, good stuff. I agree totally with niremetal… we got Bibby for a bargain. If we do a sign and trade with Childress, however, we are going to have another players salary on our books. And that’s money that could be used to sign David Anderson… From the little I have seen, Anderson seems to have a very nice skill set and seems to like the right side of the post where he can shoot over his left shoulder. If he is ever going to come over to this league the time is now as he is 29 years old. A shooting big man on our bench gives Teague and Crawford space to play some effective pick and pop basketball. Zaza and Marvin i think will resign. I think the issue is whether we should pull the trigger on Anderson or on somebody known like a Malik Allen or (preferably) Chris Wilcox.
Eric
July 7th, 2009
12:04 pm
Just looking at Anderson’s skill set and body movement, he looks and plays just like Utah’s Mehmet Okur. Works both baselines, loves the fade away jumper from the baseline.
terrell barron
July 7th, 2009
12:07 pm
Jim, Sund didn’t draft Acie, so he really didn’t care if Woody played the kid or not. Sund was just finding his way at the time. On the other hand he picked Teague for a reason. TO PLAY! If Woody wants any kind of shot at gettting an extension, he better put this kid on the floor. Gotta cut back on Bibby and JJ ’s min this year. Hell, Stevie Wonder can see that, so I’m sure Ole Woodrow can. Teague and Crawford(another Sund signing), wll both get major min. this year. Mark my words!
Tyger
July 7th, 2009
12:14 pm
Hopefully, Bibby is apart of a bigger sign + trade deal. As it stands, the Hawks franchise is treating Mike Bibby better than it treated Dominique Wilkins. If Dominique couldnt finish here, why should Bibby? Why should the fans be burdened with watching the wheels come off of Bibby? If anyone owed him a golden parachute it was Sacramento not Atlanta. Hopefully, he’ll be moved, the PGs of today are too quick for Bibby. Rondo and Paul make him look silly, now it wont just be him, its us, for resigning him.
Re-signing Marvin and Pachulia shouldve been the 1st priority. Good to hear Garrett Siler, 6′11, 300, C, Augusta St. has been invited to camp. Along with Randolph Morris, we could be developing some interesting BIGS in-house.
Kevin M
July 7th, 2009
12:16 pm
Nice move by Sund to get Bibby at 6M….now comes Zaza and if you aren’t going to add another big man, he is critical to our bench.
Next priority is probably Zaza even though Marvin is a starter until someone takes his slot. Chills won’t outplay Marvin and Crawford won’t play the defense that Wooden Head demands.
As long as Wooden Head is here, Teague will languish behind Bibby. 2 totally diff PGs here and the vet wins out.
My take is if Crawford doesn’t get enough shots in the minutes he is given, he will turn unhappy sooner than his contract expires. You have to make him a vital part this year and hope he plays both ends.
Re: remaining FAs, why not Big Baby? He would be a great addition off the bench. I still think he could line up with Smoove and Horford or Horford and Marvin, but Smoove will not be relegated to a bench role at this stage. We have to hope Smoove’s jumper improves like Marvin’s did last offseason.
Speaking of Marvin, he is gonna want near Smoove numbers and while Charlie V and Ariza got lesser deals, Marvin is gonna compare himself on this roster to Smoove and is about equal on production for his minutes.
I still gotta say look at Big Baby and force Boston to match. You gotta resolve the Wooden Head contract as well. I agree that Flip’s days are probably numbered. Shame for all he did for us last year filling in when JJ and Bibby struggled. They need to keep him as insurance IMO should our backcourt get off to a sluggish shooting start.
I didn’t mention Chills here because I don’t see us taking back Chills for the MLE. Someone will have to sign him and we will be ‘forced’ to trade him and take back a mediocre talent. Losing a lottery pick outright just doesn’t bode well in this case. We need to get something for him, but it won’t be what everyone expects. I take any serviceable post player for him quickly.
Daniel
July 7th, 2009
12:16 pm
terrell- you did call it. I wanted it to be an option 3rd year. Although, it is hard to argue this deal. Niremental- I thought that Bowen would be released by Milwaukee as part of the Jefferson deal, because they had to clean up their cap situation. I read about it from Hollinger when the trade went down.
Daniel
July 7th, 2009
12:20 pm
Kevin M. I agree with you on the Childress point. I think we are going to kind of have to take what we can get. Honestly, a lottery protected first rounder would be great at this point.
I don’t agree with your take on how Woodson will use Crawford. Didn’t Flip get plenty of pt? Crawford will get that and more as a pg/sg sub and small ball guard. Jamal has had some minor issues in the past, but he is a much more mature player now, and I don’t see him turning all Salim on us.
I got a better idea
July 7th, 2009
12:25 pm
Have the Hawks signed any undrafted free agents on to their summer league team? I don’t see why they wouldn’t look at Alade Aminu from Georgia Tech. He’s a hometown guy and a class act in the community. Plus he’s 6′11″ and athletic. He’s at least as good as Randolph Morris.
niremetal
July 7th, 2009
12:26 pm
Daniel,
Not sure what Hollinger said, but you can’t just cut a guy under contract and thereby get his salary off your books. If you cut him and another team signs him, you only have to pay the difference between his contract salary and the salary the new team pays him, but you don’t get out of it altogether.
PS – All you who think we can get David Lee, dream on. If he can’t get a deal at above the full mid-level, I’m pretty sure that he’ll take his QO and become an unrestricted FA next summer. Even if that weren’t true, the Knicks would match a full mid-level offer, which is all we can make for him.
JSS
July 7th, 2009
12:28 pm
Niremetal…
Glad to see you give Sund some platitudes on the Bibby deal on the $6M aspect… Now with the $4M below what most speculated that Bibby (now shown to be some wrong thinking) would demand, where can we go with that Cap wise in the ZaZa and possible Marvin resignings bring included in the Math?
To another poster…
It’s not an “inside joke.” It is just bad joke!!! Do you hang out with Mitt Romney chanting “Who let the dogs out?” Gee willickers!!!
Eric
July 7th, 2009
12:33 pm
Randolph Morris is GARBAGE!!! Rick Sund made a mistake, the first one so I’ll give him a pass on that one. He’s slow, can’t handle, can’t shot, can’t even be tough and give fouls. Morris won’t be in the league when the Hawks let him go.
GeeMack
July 7th, 2009
12:36 pm
Stating the Obvious
East
‘92 Cavs (Mark Price 4 time all star, Brad 5x all-star)
‘97 Heat ( 7x all-star, Tim H. 5x all star,
‘99 Knicks (A. Houston, Spreewell 4x all star, and Pat Ewing 11x all star)
‘00 Knicks
‘01 Bucks (Big Dog Ray Allen and Sam I am)
‘02 Celtics (PP & Toine)
‘04 Pacers (Reggi Miller & JO)
Every Pistons team from ‘03 to ‘08
West
‘99 Blazers
‘00 Blazers
‘03 Mavs
‘04 Wolves
Listen the names I put up is up for debate, but their numbers are similar to JJ. Dude I am not cracking on JJ. I am just saying we brought this guy here to help bring this franchise to a place where it can compete for a champioship JJ is in the last year of a 5 year deal and we still have not got a complementary player to go with him. If we were to play top 3 teams in the east in a 7 game series being the basketball purest you are! You would not confident we could take the series. As a Hawks fan I want to at least feel like we have a chance in the playoffs against the elite teams. Agree of disagree.
HawkKingBibby
July 7th, 2009
12:37 pm
I would love Amir Johnson for Chills as well but it wont work cap wise with Amir alone. Amir has already been traded a few times this summer so the Bucks cant trade him with other players for awile. It could be an Amir and Elson and a filler later on but not now.
HawkKingBibby
July 7th, 2009
12:39 pm
OH YEAH I ALMOST FORGOT I DONT HAVE TO CHANGE MY SCREEN NAME HERE NOW. YAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
j
July 7th, 2009
12:42 pm
Love the Bibby resign … he got us here, he’ll be able to keep the momentum (even if it is with limited playing time) … hopefully we can get Flip/Zaza resigned, so our bench will have depth to it next season (and so ISO Joe will get plenty of rest).
Looking forward to this season!
Smartguy = not so smart
Grip
July 7th, 2009
12:44 pm
For the Love of God People, Josh Childress is not coming back!!!! He feels he was better than Marvin when he was here and Woody would not give him the playing time that he earned, he does not want to be here!!!!!Let it Go!!!! He must be traded for a BIG that is serviceable, I do not agree with the Bibby signing because he can not guard anyone, but oh well, we do have a deeper backcourt now, I would have preferred Amare Studamire instead of Crawford, If you take Crawfords money and speedy’s sign flip back and make do at the point with flip and Teague…… i like that scenario better, of course this means my favorite player is traded (J-Smoove) but hey what do I know, of course in this scenario Eric Maynor would fit better also, now can we get Za Za and David Anderson signed????
doc
July 7th, 2009
12:50 pm
anakin, saw the note about the braves, fully agree, need upgrades soon or we resemble the braves of the seventies quickly. i thought you were optimistic early i the season, guess reality struck.
tennis blog? get out of here only three relevant weeks for tennis a year.
O'Brien
July 7th, 2009
12:52 pm
I was a fan of Jack and Sessions, but I am pleased with the 3 year $18 mil deal. Good job Sund and Bibby. (I also wanted the 3rd year to be a team option, but at that salary, he can always be traded).
It is imperative that the Hawks sign ZaZa. And then we must use (some or all of) the MLE to sign another big. That would be a very deep team.
PG – Bibby/Crawford/Teague
SG – JJ/Crawford
SF – Marvin/Mo Evans
PF – JSmoove/FA Big
C – Horford/ZaZa
And Woody/JJ would have no more excuses about wanting veterans in here.
Wabe
July 7th, 2009
12:54 pm
Think the Bucks would give the Hawks a future first round pick in exchange for Chills?
Or is that expecting a bit too much?
2nd round pick and money?
I MUS..........WRITE
July 7th, 2009
12:55 pm
I think alot of people are underestimating Flips contributions to this team last year…. If at all possible we need to resign the guy. Last year he made 1.5 mill im sure he would take 2.5. Think about it Gardner and R Morris together made more than Flip- The guy was responsible for atleast 10 wins last year -jus sayn
If we have to waive these guys so that Flip is still here lets do it -He’s our Vinnie Johnson off the bench Microwave baby…
Props to Slick Rick for making his mark before The Midddle of August-
Bruce Bowen is 38 yo no way we do that deal. S&T for Elson -he’s an okay big with size and athleticism and i think he makes right aroud 4 a year. Then we could let Solo or morris seek other employment.
I want Sund to contact Wilcox -He would be nice in our ratation of bigs-ZAZA,DA,Horford,Smoove,Wilcox and maybe Siler
The Solo R Mo experiment should stop….. Morris is garbage and Solo is 25 and has yet to get better…We need players if we plan to challenge the big boi’z next year.
Biiby’s deal is exactly what he should have gotten-
Wabe
July 7th, 2009
12:56 pm
And grip,
“for the love of god” – the hawks had 0 chance of aquiring amare.
Zero.
chaz
July 7th, 2009
12:59 pm
if we resign marvin for 7-8M and zaza for 5-6M, roughly how much would we be able to spend on additional players, be it a FA big and/or flip and/or d anderson? thanks
KevinA
July 7th, 2009
1:11 pm
If Bibby is in the fold we can sign Flip for 2.5. Crawford is now the only player on the team who is overpaid. Why would we not use his 9 mil to chase an upgrade. I like Chills but there are many other players who could help the Hawks with as much talent at a cheaper price.
cdog
July 7th, 2009
1:12 pm
i’m trying to figure out why so many want the hawks to resign zsa zsa. he can’t rebound unless the ball comes directly to him. defensively, he’s invisible. sure he got in garnett face but garnett and others dominates him on the court.even if we have trade for a odom, marion or someone who can defend against the howards,shaqs and garnetts that what we should do also get marvin and childress signed and everything else is complete.iwould rather have ben wallace before i would zsa zsa
Dan23
July 7th, 2009
1:15 pm
Any updates on the meetings in D.C.?
Mitun
July 7th, 2009
1:18 pm
thank you Wabe, at least someone agreed with me. If we did get Amare, he would have been useless for our team cause he keep getting injured alot and we don’t need that.
I would rather have either Carlos Boozer over Amare.
Anakin Joe
July 7th, 2009
1:21 pm
doc, you were quick to temper my enthusiasm for the Braves in the Spring and you were DEAD RIGHT!
I think I’d rather have Rasho than Andersen.
nire, I think Bowen may have a partially guaranteed contract this year. So he may have a fairly low buyout in the last year of his deal (which I think is why Hollinger thought that the Bucks would cut him loose).
niremetal
July 7th, 2009
1:21 pm
*ding* (to cdog)
niremetal
July 7th, 2009
1:22 pm
And triple co-sign O’brien
Anakin Joe
July 7th, 2009
1:28 pm
IMUS and others still calling for Flip, are you looking for Joe to play SF (and be dominated in that spot) or do you think that Teague was a wasted pick? I’m just trying to figure out why you think we could go from having a 3-guard rotation last year to a 5-guard rotation this year? Flip’s role belongs to Crawford. Hopefully, we’re done with our backcourt (other than grabbing a Brevin Knight/Kevin Ollie/Royal Ivey type 5th guard to sit on the bench).
WCJ
July 7th, 2009
1:28 pm
Mike Bibby signing saved the hawks from missing the playoffs in the up coming season. The hawks management to their credit are smarter than it seems. Maybe, just maybe they know what they are going this time. If Rick Sund can sign Marvin, ZaZa, and still have money to sign a front line player, he is the man!!!!
niremetal
July 7th, 2009
1:29 pm
Hahahahahaha:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4310653
a source close to Bibby told ESPN The Magazine’s Ric Bucher that the 11-year veteran has not yet agreed to a deal
ESPN is hilarious. Seriously. They report deals that are made up out of thin air and then display skepticism for well-sourced deals that are all but done.
Where is Sekou?
July 7th, 2009
1:40 pm
How you gonna start a blog and then disappear? Hopefully you are covering more signings. Either that or you leaked the story about Bibby signing too early and now he is backing out because he wants more money (did you pull an O’Brien on us?).
cdog
July 7th, 2009
1:49 pm
bibby is signed sealed and delivered. now we need to take the big step and sign a quality center(not zsa zsa) and marvin and childress.
doc
July 7th, 2009
1:50 pm
cdog guess he got really lucky on occasion, what 18 rebounds in one game and a couple including the postseason that were in the teens? wonder what his rebound per minute rate is and how it stacks up. no he isnt the second coming of ben wallace unless roids come back in vogue and he does a few cycles but come on get real.
aj, didnt want to be right, any team that cant go out and finish off the nats on a 5 game “streak” probably their biggest one in the last year sadly then lose three straight doesnt get my attention or respect.
got bibby for a reasonable rate. maybe they saved something for another big and that was the selling point to bibby.
kirkinga
July 7th, 2009
1:50 pm
Ok, with the Bibby news I go from nonplussed to slightly hopeful about what the Hawks can accomplish this Summer. Now we’re moving from Fantasy Basketball Land back to reality.
The retention of Bibby is a signal that Sund…and ASG, has decided that the team as presently constructed, has not reached a plateau. I think almost all of us can live with the contract even though there are some that remain Bibby-deniers. The most important “stat” concerning Bibby is the team’s record before and after his arrival. Everything else is secondary at best.
With Sund in a pursuit posture concerning Marvin and ZaZa, I think we have a clear signal that ASG remains committed to the core financially despite rumors to the contrary. As has often been stated, retaining Marvin and ZaZa does nothing more than keep the Hawks competitive for a playoff spot.
I don’t think we can expect a sizeable amount of organic growth. There will be some, but I don’t I think we aren’t going to get much more than what we’ve seen from the young players.They are what they are, and very close to being all they can be.
This means that Sund…and ASG, will have to address the team’s weaknesses from outside the organization. And with the much chronicled cap restraints, it remains unclear how the Hawks add an effective big body or two. The Hawks should not count on Childress opting out of his current contract. He seems to remain spiteful towards the organization (rightly or wrongly, but spiteful just the same) and this little tease could be nothing more than a ploy to stick it to the Hawks again.
I find it hard to believe that he all of a sudden want to play for the Bucks. The Bucks! Of all teams, that is the one his agent visits first? That is very strange to me. I could understand the Lakers, or one of the other multiple teams supposedly interested in him last season. But the Bucks?
I hope I’m wrong. I pray that I am wrong. But I smell a possible set up here, another chance to stick it to the Hawks. He dangles the possibility of a return, the Hawks proceed in good faith to pursue the best way to accommodate him and improve the team, and at the very last moment he decides he wants to play in the NBA again this season. This would leave the Hawks one less avenue to improve the team externally and put them at a disadvantage.
Hope I’m wrong about Childress.
Go Hawks!!
kirkinga
July 7th, 2009
1:56 pm
should read….does NOT want to play in the NBA again this season.
HawkKingBibby
July 7th, 2009
2:06 pm
Once Portland heard of the reasonable price for Bibby they called and said we can do better than that.
O'Brien
July 7th, 2009
2:10 pm
According to Hoopshype, Brandon Bass wants a salary close to the mid-level, but Dallas is not biting (although Dallas has upgraded their offer to approximately $3.5 mil). I hope he is on the Hawks radar.
Big Baby can also be had for the mid-level (or less), Antonio McDyess, Drew Gooden, just to name a few.
I must say, that so far, Mr. Sund has done a wonderful job. Drafting Teague, trading for Crawford, and signing Bibby for 3 years, $18 mil. Keep it coming Rick.
niremetal
July 7th, 2009
2:21 pm
I can just hear Clyde now…
“Who cares if we got Bibby for a good price? It doesn’t matter. Unless Sund trades Randolph Morris for Dwight Howard, he’s a miserable failure as a GM.
ROLL TIDE!”