Atlanta Hawks: Hawks trade Willie Green for rights to Greek center Schortsanitis
Hawks GM Danny Ferry gained some more of the financial flexibility he covets by sending Willie Green to the Clippers in a sign-and-trade for the rights to Greek center Sofoklis Schortsanitis.
Schortsanitis signed a three-year contract with Athens club Panathinaikos earlier this month so chances are he won’t be joining Atlanta’s roster. The value for the Hawks in the deal is gaining a trade exception in the amount of Green’s first-year salary with the Clippers, which wasn’t immediately known.
Update: According to ESPN.com’s John Hollinger, the exception is worth between $1.65 million and $2.75 million.
A trade exception works as a sort of credit that would allow the Hawks to make a trade while over the salary cap without meeting the usual salary-matching requirements. The credit expires one year from the date of the trade.
The Clippers selected Schortsanitis in the second round of the 2003 draft. He was listed at 6-9 and 345 pounds while playing for the Clippers’ summer league entry in 2010. Schortsanitis played for Olympiacos and Maccabi before joining Panathinaikos.
Green signed with the Hawks before last season and went on to post a career-best year in scoring efficiency. His 1.04 points scored per possession (on 395 possessions used) ranked 24th in the league, according to Synergy Sports Technology.
Like pretty much every key Hawks reserve, Green struggled to score in the playoffs against the Celtics. In addition, Green’s defensive weaknesses–too slow to handle quicker opponents, too small to check bigger foes–were magnified during that series.
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
219 comments Add your comment
hawksfancents95
August 1st, 2012
2:00 pm
i think a major problem last year was we played to many guys every game. our rotation was usually 10 guys every game. it was too many options and it didnt let guys get in a real groove(esp teague). i like yi jianlin but i would only get him if ivan doesnt re-sign. theres too few of minutes to go around and yi can only really play PF aND thats a strong position we have filled. lets get a vet min SF McGuire or Delfino and we are fine. i see us now as:
teague/harris
lou will/morrow/jenkins
jsmooth/korver
al/ivan(hopefully)
zaza/petro
that leaves deshawn, jordan williams, keith benson, Def SF left for our 12 man rotation. maybe we take keith benson over petro as well. i think Yi Jianlin will get a better than vet min contract elsewhere to be a backup PF.
Astro Joe
August 1st, 2012
2:00 pm
doc, funny. Frankly, I’d rather see Keith Benson added to the team than Yi. I like the idea of Horford, Zaza, Josh & Ivan getting around 90 of the 96 minutes at C/PF. Give those other token minutes to a project player (like Benson).
SteveW
August 1st, 2012
3:59 pm
Yi has been all athlete and no BB player to me to this point in his career. You keep thinking he’s going to be the next great thing, then nothing. He’s not high on my priority list right now for the Hawks.
Of course, he now becomes the next LeBron lite since I say this…
SteveW
August 1st, 2012
4:06 pm
KevinM – I take Chalmers in the clutch over Teague and Devin all day long.
But over the long haul – to get to the clutch situations, I take the other two.
But your right – Chalmers is clutch usually (thinking about a TO or two he made in the playoffs late, but still).
And I would have much rather have had Chalmers for 4mill, which is his contract, than Hinrich for 8 mill.
Even if we would have to give Chalmers the Mid level of 5.2 mill per season, way better than Hinrich.
And I like Hinrich, and he was somewhat of an overall upgrade over Bibby (not offensive statistics, but the eye test) – but that guy had lost some when he got here.
Probably his high point was the Orlando playoff series – played solid – I have no idea what his stats were, I just remember he did ok.
And Chicago just signed Hinrich for 2 years 8 mill – I know he’s Coach TT’s type player, but really? He’ll play hard for a few games, then the nagging injuries come back.
SteveW
August 1st, 2012
4:07 pm
AJ – With you 100% on Benson over Yi.
But like I said, Yi becomes the next Superstar because I say that. Life hurts.
SteveW
August 1st, 2012
4:08 pm
And isn’t Sofoklis some Muppet character?
SteveW
August 1st, 2012
4:10 pm
Alonzo Gee would be a nice addition to this squad as well. I’m not sure we have the roster space for both he and Benson according to MC’s article, unless we waived Jordan Williams.
Now of course he will be good since I say this…
Just messin’ ya’ll about that stuff.
KevinM
August 1st, 2012
4:44 pm
“Astro Joe
August 1st, 2012
9:38 am
One more thing on the “fire LD now” discussion. Ferry’s moves so far have either been neutral or have improved his boss’ financial commitment. If he fires LD now, LD gets his last year of salary plus ownership has to pay the new head coach. For what? Again, the ‘12-13 team is not built to do anything special or wonderful. It is a stop-gap team, a purgatory team, a lame duck team, so it should have a lame duck head coach to lead it.”
AJ, I can agree to this stop-gap logic if we are on the plan of not competing for a championship this year. If you are considering a run at the trophy, LD can’t be your man, 1M or no 1M. We’ve wasted way more than 1M over the years that BK and Sund were here.
If you don’t have the proper system in place, how are you going to know what guys to bring here?
LD is about sharing the ball, running his Princeton offense and what looks like little flexibility to play differently. I see us shooting a lot of long jumpers which you die by (ask OKC), and never attacking a team’s weaknesses. We play caution ball, but we do have to have top talent to attack with. So what we have gotten maybe has been the best we could have expected.
Our defense appeared to be highly ranked and our offense was good when the jumpers were falling. I don’t think we get to the FT line enough. That’s how OKC and MIA get a lot of points.
OKC was ranked 2nd in FTA behind DEN, MIA 8th and they settle for a lot of jumpers.
The Hawks were 21st, tied WASH at 21 FTA/game. OKC is getting 6 more pts/game than we are at the charity stripe.
Now based on our current roster, who’s going to get you points at the line? Teague / Lou and Josh, but Josh leaves bunches of points at the FT line each year. Josh is 29th in FTA, our best Hawk in that category.
Others: Joe was 75th(pathetic), JT was 88th, Zaza 94th
Others: Lou was 35th(we might like this move more and more every day)
Tyreke Evans – 45th
Rudy Gay – 46th
Getting those last 3 on the same team isn’t that much of a reach. I know Al is not included here, but he’s not much of a FTA person either.
(ranked 112th in 2010-11)…pathetic once again.
I hope Danny isn’t done dealing.
Melvin
August 1st, 2012
4:51 pm
I would prefer to see the Hawks take a chane on Blatche… Low risk, high reward….
Najeh Davenpoop
August 1st, 2012
5:05 pm
“And isn’t Sofoklis some Muppet character?”
I thought he was an ancient Greek playwright
ryan
August 1st, 2012
5:07 pm
If D12 is traded out west LA or Houston is Evans and Gay a possibility for the Hawks would not mind having those players Yi may not be a bad choice ether we have the money would like to see some big moves down the road .
Grandad
August 1st, 2012
5:34 pm
I watched Benson closely during all 5 Summer League games.
His play was disappointing at best.
He started strong but his effort and more importantly his energy
tailed off dramatically.
His shot-blocking [supposedly his forte] was non-existent.
I will add that I was disappointed with Mike Scott as well.
I hope we are one of the teams negotiating with S.Machado.
* [he does not wish to play behind Lin]
Yi, however, would be low risk high reward;
much like A.B.
-note-
understand … I was really pullin` for Benson & Scott
perhaps D-League affilliate-
will give us a chance to develop thoase kinds of players
Astro Joe
August 1st, 2012
5:37 pm
AJ, I can agree to this stop-gap logic if we are on the plan of not competing for a championship this year.
Kevin, there is NOTHING about this roster that suggests Ferry is making a run at a title this year. NOTHING. Do you really think that Ferry was able to gut the team for the purpose of clearing cap space for next summer AND improve the roster at the same time? As currently constructed, we will look to defend SGs and SFs in the league (the two positions that feature some of the most lethal offensive weapons capable of creating their own shot) with a combination of Morrow, Jenkins, Lou Williams, Korver, Josh and Stevenson. Stevenson is one dimensional and can’t likely play more than 15 minutes/game. Josh is sub-optimized chasing SFs around the court. Odds are high that we will watch some career scoring nights from opposing SGs and SFs this coming season. So again, I ask, what is it about this roster that looks ready to compete for a Finals appearance.
Kevin, LD is an average head coach on his best day. I am in no way defending his competency. I am simply saying that the time to make a change is not now… this is a roster in transition. These 1-year FAs are auditioniong for long-term contracts in the future. Many of them are more likely headed toward the year-to-year phase of their careers. IMO, we’re looking at a 42 win team if everything goes right.
Astro Joe
August 1st, 2012
5:40 pm
if Ferry is trying to establish any type of winning culture, Audray Blatche would be a mockery to that sentiment. The Wizards paid him to not come to the arena. the Wizards. If we simply want a low risk/high reward project to play with… go sign Greg Oden to a 2-year deal with a team option.
Ken Strickland
August 1st, 2012
5:43 pm
STEVEW-I believe it was before FA started, but I read where the Hawks had Gee high on their radar. And what has Yi done lately to warrant a contract? He’s regressed from a starter to a D-League caliber bench warmer. We don’t need anymore of that because Ferry won’t have it.
KevinM
August 1st, 2012
5:43 pm
If Houston decides they don’t like Harrellson as a backup to Asik, Danny should go get him. He has a knack for rebounding and getting his hands dirty. A good cheap backup, and better than Yi from what I’ve seen out of 4 years of Yi.
Harrellson has to be released by 8/15 or Houston owes him 762K.
And Yi was being considered by us to be drafted in Al’s slot in ‘07. I didn’t remember that Al was picked one slot behind KD and 1 slot ahead of Conley, 3 slots ahead of Yi.
Aside of Marc Gasol(48th to the Lakers), BK got that draft pick right!
Slim
August 1st, 2012
5:50 pm
Some people call themselves fans, no need to panic the boys will be just fine. I recall during last season josh was the true leader on the team, duh, why do you think he took the last shot in game six, joe didn’t want it, also during joe’s abscene, josh clearly dominated, there was better ball movement, and everybody ate. Although I going to miss joe, josh will average around 24, 26 points per, hell he may get a few more triple-doubles this year, we now have better shooters and more space for josh and al to operate. Joe missed, I think three games with the knee before the break last season, one game that stands out is hawks vs. thunder, josh went head up with Durant, clearly dominated, this tells you he can do this every night, with joe gone he will do this every night. With better shooters on the roster, this will prove my theory to be exact. On the coaching side, I truly think LD will do a good job, hopefully the players buy in.
Sautee
August 1st, 2012
6:54 pm
new blog up
Bivinsky S
August 4th, 2012
4:58 pm
It’s amazing how we are are all self proclaimed general managers with all the needed solutions to guarantee immediate championships. How is it that we keep getting overlooked for these positions? However, I do think that Danny Ferry is proving to be a much better GM than he ever was a player. Probably the best acquisition that the Hawks have made in several years. Something tells me that we may be in for something good.