Atlanta Hawks: What about Dwight?
Almost immediately after Hawks GM Danny Ferry took what were most definitely not half measures the speculation turned to whether it’s all just a prelude to a trade for Dwight Howard.
All of the usual dots have been connected: Howard wants out of Orlando, Howard is from Atlanta, and he’s boys with Josh Smith. But the one blank I have yet to see filled in is a desire by Howard to play for his hometown franchise over the long term.
In fact, the only thing I’ve ever heard is the opposite. Howard used to regularly attend Dream games at Phillips Arena during summers. Witnesses tell me that Howard would tell anyone who would listen that Philips is supposed to be his house but “they don’t know how to act.” And by “they” he of course means the team’s owners and management.
And then there were Howard’s comments during the 2011 playoffs, when he said he hates losing, “especially to the Hawks.” Asked to elaborate, Howard, annoyed by the question, snapped: “Come on. You know the answer to that.”
The answer is that Howard, like his pal Smith, doesn’t view the Hawks as a serious franchise. Or at least he didn’t back then. Obviously Danny Ferry is trying to change the perception of the Hawks, so maybe Howard (and/or Smith) changes his mind.
There’s been no word that’s happened so far, though. Howard still wants a trade to the Nets, who now are in no hurry to move him.
The Magic and Hawks had trade discussions over the past week involving Howard and I’m sure they are ongoing. But I don’t think Ferry is willing to trade Al Horford and the four years remaining on his reasonable contract for one year of Howard and all the associated drama.
The Hawks had serious trade discussions with Orlando for Howard back in December, the early days of the Dwightmare. Atlanta apparently was willing to make the deal without an assurance that Howard would even opt-in for next season. Horford was the main piece in that proposed deal.
But I don’t see the Hawks as being willing to trade for Howard without a long-term commitment now. That’s especially true if Orlando, as reported, is looking to unload one of its bad contracts as part of any deal for Howard.
The Hawks clearly would do that if Howard declares he’ll sign an extension here. Until that happens I doubt Howard will have a homecoming.
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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1,008 comments Add your comment
Hoops
July 4th, 2012
11:52 pm
Whatever the Hawks do with the trade for D12, they will wait until the trade with the Nets for Joe Johnson is official on July 11. That way the Nets can’t back out on them. Then we may see some real action by D Ferry!
Reggis Theus
July 4th, 2012
11:52 pm
O’Brien the Lakers already have Nash
Melvin
July 4th, 2012
11:54 pm
OB,
Welcome to get Dwight now bandwagon (or dark side) with me, najeh, northcyde, slimjr, EmirS., Rev from Tampa (i think) and drmaryb…. LOL
Melvin
July 4th, 2012
11:56 pm
OB,
Perkins didn’t don anything in the Final except make mean faces…. HASHEEM THABEET can’t do any worst than Perkins….
Reggis Theus
July 4th, 2012
11:58 pm
Dwight is coming to A town and Al is going to Florida!
Hip hip hooray….Hip hip hooray
Reggie Theus
July 5th, 2012
12:03 am
95% of this Blog Page say’s trade Teague and Al for Dwight Right now! but I agree, we should wait to the dead line or there abouts. I dont think the Nets will back out because the will have a very very tough squad. If they back out then Willams will be a free agent. They wanted to lock Joe to assure Williams so they wont back out.
O'Brien
July 5th, 2012
12:06 am
Nash is now trying to convince Grant Hill to sign with the Lakers. If you get one star, its easier to get other solid role players to take less $
SteveW
July 5th, 2012
12:15 am
OB – See my 10:55 post on Grant Hill and Nash
KevinM – No – Can’t but out Farmar until at least July 11th. So we could keep him and trade him.
Harris/Farmar is not a bad PG rotation for Orlando if they wanted to go that route. And let us keep Teague.
SteveW
July 5th, 2012
12:19 am
KevinM – Buy out not but out Farmar – my bad!!
Ra'mon
July 5th, 2012
12:37 am
O’b, do you think the Hawks could afford Jason Richardson’s contract (prefer him over Hedo) with Dwight, and still be able to add a third star next off season?
Hawks Blog Legend Worldwide Clyde
July 5th, 2012
2:20 am
FIRE LD
Najeh Davenpoop
July 5th, 2012
3:03 am
“Dude, it is quite OBVIOUS you know absolutely nothing about basketball. If Rashard stays healthy, he will give you 16pts and 8 rebounds per.”
First of all, you quoted me quoting northcyde, so really you were responding to him.
Secondly, Rashard Lewis has never averaged more than 7 rebounds per game in his career.
Third, it has been four years since he averaged 16 points per game.
He is washed up. A slightly better version of Vlad at this point. Doesn’t even make 3s at a great rate anymore.
Najeh Davenpoop
July 5th, 2012
3:07 am
“Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn’t this the season that Nelson and Lewis made the All Stars? Wasn’t this the year that Turk had the best season of his career?”
Is there any more obvious proof that they benefited from Dwight’s presence, and not the other way around, than Turk subsequently falling off a cliff after signing with Toronto?
I don’t remember who among the Magic that year made the All Star game (don’t think Turk did, maybe Nelson) but it wouldn’t be the first time a mediocre supporting player put up career best stats thanks to a vastly superior teammate and parlayed it into an All Star appearance. See Mo Williams in Cleveland for example.
I stand by what I said before. None of those players — Nelson, Turk, Lewis — in their prime had anywhere near the impact Josh has on a game. Dwight and Josh as a 1-2 punch is better than what that Magic team had. Get them a good point guard and you have the foundation for a championship contender.
Najeh Davenpoop
July 5th, 2012
3:15 am
“My goodness, HASHEEM THABEET has agree to a 2yr contract with OKC on the 4th day of free agency. Didn’t know he was that high in demand….”
Probably just jumped at the first (only?) team that offered him a contract.
Must be nice to be 7′3″. That guy might end up like Kwame Brown, somehow squeaking out a ten year career despite having no discernible NBA skill.
dukeofdukie
July 5th, 2012
3:19 am
Lakers say they will go into the season with gasol and bynum now that they’ve acquired Nash. eliminating them from a Dwight trade. we are the ONLY real suitors 4 him at this point
DUKEOFDOOKIE
July 5th, 2012
3:23 am
Dave McMenamin: Pau or Bynum trade the next shoe to drop after Nash? Not so fast. Source tells me Lakers intend to keep core intact to play with Nash Twitter
Najeh Davenpoop
July 5th, 2012
3:24 am
I am glad that Nash went to the Lakers and not the Knicks — since the Knicks are an East team and also since I hate all New York teams — but if the Suns really thought two low first-rounders was a better offer than the Knicks giving up a first-rounder plus Iman Shumpert, they are crazy.
EmirS.
July 5th, 2012
3:25 am
@dukeofdukie
Once again with Mirza Teletovic’s contract being reconstructed…the nets can still acquire Dwight Howard. Now it’s just a matter of who can compile a better package for the Magic. Us or the Nets.
Also take into account that there are several other teams (I’m sure) that would love to have him as a one year rental. I forget who was first to state that Danny Ferry might be waiting for July 11th, but I agree with that statement. It make to much sense no to disagree with it.
Anyone else notice how slow time is moving all of a sudden?
EmirS.
July 5th, 2012
3:28 am
@Najeh
True but as much loyalty as Nash has given the Suns, I believe it’s not to far-fetched to say the Suns wanted to send him to a REAL Championship contender. A real show of Integrity on the Sun’s part.
Just Joe
July 5th, 2012
6:09 am
If you wait until July 11th for the Joe Johnson trade to be complete, then the only trade eligible players for two months become Teague, Josh, Al, and Horford. This moratorium is like a loophole to allow multi-team trades to be made within a 10 day period.
On Farmar, we can’t buy him out until the trade to us is complete. As of now, his contract is worth $4.2M. It sounded like all parties knew going in that he wanted his new team to buy him out so that he can be a free agent his summer. Maybe a team could change his mind.
Just Joe
July 5th, 2012
6:21 am
A Knicks sign and trade for Nash would have been more complicated thanks to Toronto taking Landry Fields out of the equation. They would of had to package 3 or 4 of their lesser contracts, and their next available 1st rd pick is in 2016 thanks to the Melo trade (Houston got this year’s and Denver gets 2014).
brigadierjerry
July 5th, 2012
6:23 am
Question for Hawks fans do you ride getting Howard now or if you do and lose Howard at the end of the season, what are the Hawks backup plan?
Also, Nets players that they signed can be traded away after December. Will be interesting to see what happens.
Marcus
July 5th, 2012
6:31 am
If salary cap, luxury tax rules, and creative accounting/contract-wrangling allow, it kinda looks like LAL and BKLN are positioning themselves for D12 in 2013 as well, each collecting a “big 2″ this year and hoping his decision is one of them.
richbrave
July 5th, 2012
7:01 am
I think you folks are going to love JENKINS and SCOTT, two quality picks in my estimation.
Marcus
July 5th, 2012
7:06 am
If D. Ferry has any relationship w/HOU (Daryl Morey GM), I hope he fosters it soon…. As their preliminary roster is currently constructed, seems like they have 11-12 frontcourt players (SF/PF/C) of varying talents courtesy of recent drafts, draft-related trades and free agency. Maybe via numbers game or modest trade of some of our recently-acquired talent, we could work out our SF deficiency.
—————–
Kyle Lowry 7 Point guard
Luis Scola 4 Power forward
Kevin Martin 12 Shooting guard
Chandler Parsons 25 Power forward
Goran Dragić 3 Point guard
Marcus Camby 29 Center
Courtney Lee 5 Point guard
Marcus Morris 2 Power forward
Aaron Brooks
Patrick Patterson 54 Power forward
Courtney Fortson 9 Shooting guard
Diamon Simpson 20 Power forward
Malcolm Thomas Small forward
Jon Brockman 40 Power forward
Shaun Livingston 9 Point guard
Jon Leuer 30 Power forward
Greg Smith 0 Center
2012 draft picks:
Royce White – Small/Power Forward
Terrence Jones – Power Forward
Jeremy Lamb – Shooting Guard
2012 FA
Omer Asik – Center
vava74
July 5th, 2012
7:12 am
MC,
The Blog monster ate my latest post.
There could be one word which may be objectionable, however, since @ss also means donkey, I think you could pry my post away from the monster’s claws.
drmaryb.(""_*).
July 5th, 2012
8:36 am
Attrition
“Lakers say they will go into the season with gasol and bynum now that they’ve acquired Nash. eliminating them from a Dwight trade. we are the ONLY real suitors 4 him at this point”
____________
The field is ripe for the harvest. The only thing standing between Mr. Ferry and Mr. Howard is Air and Opportunity. There is a Basketball god in Atlanta after all.
All the “waiters” on here can go get me a menu and, take my order please?
Hmmmm … I think i’ll have a:
D12 Burger
JSmoove Smoothie
Zaza’s Zanie Fries
Devin’s Deviled Eggs (2)
Johnnie Jenkins Pancakes (3)
and, Some Fish Heads & Rice
_________
Hold off on the Horf-Radish & Iced Tea(gue)
Oh Yeah! … and, send the bill to AJ & G-Daddy. lol
drmaryb.(""_*).
July 5th, 2012
8:42 am
vava74
“There could be one word which may be objectionable, however, since @ss also means donkey, I think you could pry my post away from the monster’s claws.”
______________
To The Bloginator … Im like a donkey under the mistletoe, he can kiss my azz. FREE vava’s post and let it go! do it now!
drmaryb.(""_*).
July 5th, 2012
8:47 am
Briggs!
“Question for Hawks fans do you ride getting Howard now or if you do and lose Howard at the end of the season, what are the Hawks backup plan?”
_______________
Answer: Only cross a bridge when, you come to it. S&T
(don’t forget Bird Rights + D12 market value -vs- that of Horfford & Teague)
Ray
July 5th, 2012
8:49 am
@ DMB
……………….SMH
darre starks
July 5th, 2012
8:51 am
drmarby.
Okay we got rid of 2 contracts Marvin and Joe, now Hawks must build from there, don’t rush for D12 this team just need to add pieces and spen money wisely.
JOSH, HORFORD, TEAGUE ARE THE HAWKS FUTURE.
D12 could sign with the Hawks in 2013 along with CP3.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!
drmaryb.(""_*).
July 5th, 2012
8:52 am
Newz Flash!
Hello People … D12 will be moved before next season begins. So The Hawks better run like a wide receiver and, put them hands up. Don’t drop the ball in the end zone – Do The Dirty Bird Dance! Touch Down!
SteveW
July 5th, 2012
8:57 am
The backup plan is:
1) Convince Josh to stay and build around him in his prime (he’ll be 27 Dec.5th of this year) with tons of cap space. Not a bad plan B, with a guy who is insanely trying to improve his game in the off season, and is probably poised to be one of the Top 20 players in the NBA, if he’s not already.
2) Rebuild with scads of cap space
steven a smith
July 5th, 2012
9:01 am
Dwight “the Diva Big Baby”Howard needs to grow up before he can truely help an organization. Not getting on the Dwight Howard to Atlanta “Bandwagon.” He really had only one great season here in Orlando. I have seen the guy play, not impressed with his offense or passing ability out of the post.
vava74
July 5th, 2012
9:05 am
In the event that my post is not salvaged by MC, here is a summary:
Everyone complained about the ASG and Sund for bad contracts and lack of bold moves.
Now the contracts are gone and we have a chance to land a top 5 player and everyone is scared like little girls to go “ALL IN”.
There are times that one has to go “ALL IN”.
If we don’t take the risk, Howard could land Brooklyn and if he does, Deron, JJ and Howard is right up there with the Heat as an impossible obstacle for the Hawks for the next 5 years, so having Teague and Horford will be WORTHLESS.
We have momentum – all eyes are on the Hawks as an up and coming franchise – now but if we do not sign Howard, we will be back to being “sorry @ss Hawks” diced by everyone, including free agents.
Without Howard and Smoove, there is not even a chance of getting Paul, nor even Harden or Jefferson, but with him, we could have that chance.
vava74
July 5th, 2012
9:06 am
“with them”
darre starks
July 5th, 2012
9:07 am
2013.
Horford 12mill
Teague 3mill
Ivan 1mill
Jenkins 1mil
Scott 7hundred
17mill.
Sign
CP3 17mill
D12 17mill
Josh 15mill
66mill with 8players sign.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!
vava74
July 5th, 2012
9:08 am
And, you can always look to convince Howard and Smoove with my proposal of yesterday:
Offer a 5 year contract to both BUT with an opt out clause after year 2.
That would guarantee us 3 years of both and still would allow them to move, if they wanted, by the age of 30/31, just in time to win a championship with a going white bearded Lebron.
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July 5th, 2012
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vava74
July 5th, 2012
9:09 am
… or with a wooden legged Kobe.
steven a smith
July 5th, 2012
9:09 am
drmaryb.(”"_*).
July 5th, 2012
8:52 am
Newz Flash!
Hello People … D12 will be moved before next season begins. So The Hawks better run like a wide receiver and, put them hands up. Don’t drop the ball in the end zone – Do The Dirty Bird Dance! Touch Down!
An excellent example why the Bible states that the HUSBAND will rule over his WIFE and women will not have authority over men.
darre starks
July 5th, 2012
9:12 am
2013 ATLANTA HAWKS
STATER CP3, ? , JOSH, HORFORD, D12
BENCH TEAGUE, JENKINS, ? , IVAN, ?
RESERVE SCOTT, ?, ?
This team would bring home a championship.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SteveW
July 5th, 2012
9:14 am
Let’s look at the past few Champions:
1) Miami built completely thru free agency and trades, except for DWade – their last lottery pick was Micheal Beasley
2) Dallas built completely thru free agency and trades – when was their last lottery pick?
3) Celtics – Built completely thru free agency and trades – when was their last lottery pick who meant anything? A #21 pick really helped them.
4) Detroit – Free Agency and Trades put them over the top
5) Los Angles – Built completely thru trades and free agency Except for Bynum – when was their last lottery pick? A #16 pick or so (Bynum) is helping them
6) San Antonio – Built thru one #1 pick (Duncan), a #28 pick (Parker), and a #57 pick (Ginobili) with various late picks sprinkled in.
Lesson learned – the Draft is way overrated. If you have a chance to get an established player for a draft pick, do it in most cases.
OKC is the outlier – they got 2 great top 5 picks in Westbrook and Durant.
So we can either build thru Free Agency, the draft or trades, or a combination of the 3.
Almost no team is completely one way or the other in reality.
I try to get Dwight with the least possible. But my “final” offer, if I have to show my hand, or it takes it to keep him from GSW, the Rockets, the Nets or Lakers, or even the Mavs is:
Al, Jeff, ZaZa, and 4 1st picks. Preferably with a long term commitment from him.
But if not, I got lot’s of cash to rebuild on.
SteveW
July 5th, 2012
9:20 am
D12 – 20 mill
Smoove – 15, 16 mill
JRich – 6 mill
Jenkins 1.4 mill
Lets say the cap is 58 million next season – a realistic possibility. You would have over 15 mill to offer a FA in year 1 of their contract, which for most Free Agents is max money.
Or you could sign 1 guy starting at 7 mill, 1 at 8 mill per year. And still have your Mid level and Bi annual to sign somebody else. 3 above average free agents.
That money this year gets you Asik, Dragic, Nash, Lin, Fields, probably Illyasova, Jason Terry, Jamal Crawford etc. And you get 3 of those type guys…
darrell starks
July 5th, 2012
9:27 am
I believe D12 now see the Hawks going in a new direction would rather comeback home rather 2 move NYC, that place is so crowded and miserable with cost of living being outrageous commpared to Atlanta where more piecefull and spreaded out more he would make the right decision and comeback home.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SteveW
July 5th, 2012
9:30 am
Worst case scenario – everybody leaves after next season and your stuck with JRich and Jenkins.
Somebody’s going to give you a 2nd pick for JRich – dudes a good ball player – dump him.
You sign 5 guys for 9-10 mill per year
Sign 1 for 7-8 mill
Use your Mid Level and Biannual
And you’ve got 9 quality guys, and you fill our the rest with Vet min., camp invites etc.
Maybe sign a couple of the 9-10 mill per or the 7-8 mill per also for 1 season like the Nets did Humphries and the Sixers did Hawes – Then you’ve got money to go after a max FA the next season surrounded by several top quality pieces.
drmaryb.(""_*).
July 5th, 2012
9:36 am
The Head can’t Turn without The neck!
“An excellent example why the Bible states that the HUSBAND will rule over his WIFE and women will not have authority over men.” – the resident troll -
_____________
You know you are a bad azz when … You can get your husband to MMS your wife a pic of you phoning her. (thatz the epitome of clueless) -drmaryb-
yoursporthousedotcom
July 5th, 2012
9:44 am
2013 ATLANTA HAWKS
STATER CP3, ? , JOSH, HORFORD, D12
BENCH TEAGUE, JENKINS, ? , IVAN, ?
RESERVE SCOTT, ?, ?
This team would bring home a championship.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope that can be done but I don’t think so. Horford would have to go if we get Howard, and possibly Teague as well. Devin Harris may be a part of that equation. However, I think this could be the result if Ferry pulls it off:
Starters: Teague, Stevenson, Gay or Harden, Josh, Howard or CP3, Stevenson, Turk, Josh, Howard
Somehow Ferry is trying to create a big 3 here.
Bench: Petro (unfortunately cause he’s horrible, hopefully he can be traded) or Zaza, Jenkins, Morrow, Scott, Ivan, another PG and SF.
The cap will be around 60 give or take so.
Ken Strickland
July 5th, 2012
9:45 am
I don’t understand the rush to potentially wreak our franchises future by trading our rising PG(JTeague), our All NBA center(AHorford), and one of the NBAs top backup OC(ZPachulia), for an OC on an expiring contract that has indicated absolutely no desire whatsoever that he wants to be here.
I’m also certain that his best friends demand to be traded, because of the fans and ownership, didn’t do anything to encourage Dwight to change his mind about not wanting to come here. The main reason Dwight wants out of Orlando was his dislike for his HC and GM,and him blaming them for their inability to surround him with the talent he wanted.
How in the devil can anyone be stupid enough to believe he’d want to resign with a team that he’s not interested in playing for to begin with, especially after the team has gutted its talent base to acquire him? Even with us regularly making the playoffs and gettting to the 2nd rd, some of you continued to bitch, moan, and complain. What would you clowns do it we made the trade and he bolted, which would leave us with nothing but your beloved JSmith and no 1st rd picks for the next 2-3yrs?
SteveW
July 5th, 2012
9:52 am
Get generational talents whenever you can. But make sure the doctors tell you D12 is healthy or this stuff is off.
But Ferry has put us in great position with these two moves. Get D12
And the longer this goes, the better for the Hawks. I think if the Nets could have, they’d have already done a D12 deal. The longer it goes, the better for the Hawks.