Hawks can’t afford to slide back (and why not Chris Paul?)
Are these the three players who will lead the Hawks again next season -- and is that your first choice? (Courtesy of Slam Magazine)
After consecutive years of first-round wins but second-round humiliations, the Hawks are in a precarious situation. They are mandating improvement at a time when their best — albeit sometimes unpopular — player, Joe Johnson, is entering free agency and owners have a death grip on their wallets.
The draft is Thursday. It’s safe to assume that the Hawks’ chances of taking the next step do not hinge on the 24th selection. It depends on almost everything else: Johnson’s re-signing; the front-office scramble if he leaves; the potential return or trade of expatriate, Josh Childress; any potential trade involving almost anybody else (save Al Horford, who might as well stick his feet in concrete because he’s not going anywhere).
As summers go, this one ranks up there in importance with any in Hawks’ history. If they take a step back, they potentially lose some of the goodwill they’ve built up. Even if they remain flat, there will be cries to blow it up again.
The team has made one move this off-season and it didn’t exactly jump start a season ticket campaign: Larry Drew’s promotion to head coach. Whether you believe that criticism was justified or not, it’s undeniable. How do the Hawks combat that? Or do they bother?
This is where general manager Rick Sund attempts to add perspective: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen an off-season where people didn’t say this was an important year — and most years the media says, ‘It’s the most important year.’ I think every year is important. Last year was important. The year before that was important – you had Josh Smith and Josh Childress as free agents and they had just made the playoffs for the first time.”
Point taken. Here’s the counter-argument: Higher expectations bring greater demands. Sund set the bar himself when he decided to change head coaches.
Last summer, after the step up with the playoff series win over Miami, Sund re-signed three of the team’s free agents: Mike Bibby, Marvin Williams and Zaza Pachulia. It seemed big then. Doesn’t seem as big now. Bibby’s nose dive this past season didn’t help. Neither did another year of seeming underachievement by Williams. (The biggest move easily turned out to be the acquisition of Jamal Crawford.)
Sund will tell you draft plans are not impacted by Johnson’s impending free agency because, logically, the 24th pick won’t be on that level. Besides, nobody is sure where Johnson starts — possibly not even he. The Hawks can offer one more season (six years) on a contract than other bidders. But there’s also a sense Johnson might be fed up with fan and media criticism and prefers to start fresh elsewhere.
OK, so the Hawks trade for Chris Paul, sign LeBron James and then . . . never mind, dream over.
Even if the Hawks re-sign Johnson, they have to figure out how to re-market the All-Star, given the damage he caused with pedestrian playoff performances and comments during the Orlando series. But they’ll worry about that later.
This could be a chance for Sund to remake the team, but he doesn’t have any desire to do so. The problem: if Johnson bolts, he’ll need more than Spackle.
Here’s one idea: Chris Paul.
The throw-it-against-the-wall rumor quotient in the NBA is higher than ever. In addition to the free agency class, there have been several reports that Paul, arguably the best point guard in the league when healthy, has been put on the trading block by New Orleans. The Hornets deny this. But what a way for the Hawks to make up for one of their biggest draft miscues in history.
Here’s a dream scenario: The Hawks deal Smith for Paul, re-sign Johnson and then convince LeBron James to follow Paul, his close friend, to Atlanta. Then the starting line up looks like this: Chris Paul, Joe Johnson, LeBron James, Al Horford and Some Guy Off The Street. Sweet! Wait until that goes viral on the Internet!
Sund is low-keying it for now.
“I like our team,” he said.
And this: “I don’t talk about hypotheticals.”
But don’t believe he hasn’t thought about them. This off-season is too important not to.
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143 comments Add your comment
Jeff Schultz
June 22nd, 2010
6:01 pm
DeepDiver — Repeating, Josh-for-Paul is cap friendly. Obviously signing both Joe and LeBron makes things difficult but I was just kidding about LeBron, I think you know that.
juicesourcer
June 22nd, 2010
6:02 pm
I promise you they will go backwards this year.
RSX
June 22nd, 2010
6:18 pm
Saw the draftees walking thru CNN Center foodcourt after getting worked out today. One face I’m almost positive I saw was Solomon Alabi. We could use his height + skill.
JSS
June 22nd, 2010
6:20 pm
“Obviously signing both Joe and LeBron makes things difficult but I was just kidding about LeBron, I think you know that.?”
@ Jeff Schultz…
Man, you forgot again where you are writing! The first line should always include: “I’m just kidding.”
Delbert D.
June 22nd, 2010
6:26 pm
Well, there’s Roman Abramovich, who is listed as owner of Chelsea football club. He’s ranked #51 in the world. Then there’s Alisher Usmanov, who owns 23% of Arsenal FC. He’s only worth $1.6 billion, #450 in the world. You can’t even get a reservation at the top clubs in New York with that paltry amount. I’d go for one of the LUKoil guys; you know they’ll be there for you.
JeJe
June 22nd, 2010
6:26 pm
“But don’t believe he hasn’t thought about them.’
Why would I believe that? Sund is an unimaginative moron. HE DRAFTED ROBERT SWIFT, SENE, AND PETRO 3 YEARS IN A ROW WITH HIGH PICKS
JeJe
June 22nd, 2010
6:27 pm
People overestimate Josh Smith’s trade value. Who wants a tweener PF/SF with a horrific attitude, no jumpshot, and who takes plays off?
Not me.
Benjamin
June 22nd, 2010
6:28 pm
Trading Josh for Paul is cap-friendly, and with that, we could look at a three guard lineup of Paul, Crawford, and Johnson. Marvin at the four, Horford at the five, and Childress/ZaZa/Mo Evans/Teague/couple veterans off the bench?
Make it happen, Sund…
JSS
June 22nd, 2010
6:32 pm
@ Delbert D…
Did you watch any of Parliament yesterday? The days of the British having wealth buy playthings aboard are officially over thanks to the new Tory (Conservative) government! Can anybody say “hello Monaco and Abu Dubai!”
Sage of Bluesland
June 22nd, 2010
6:43 pm
The Hawks are where they were in the early 1990s: good enough to make the playoffs, yet good enough to miss out on the prime draft picks…hence, a near-unbreakable cycle of utter mediocrity awaits. Good enough to win more than lose–but never enough to seriously challenge the big boys when it counts.
I told that clown Steve Holman this on a radio call-in show then; he guffawed, stating we were closer than not. Typical organizational stooge.
This organization doesn’t want to do what it takes to win a title, period. It’s going to take another rebuild from square-one…and that is assuming the drafting falls into place and we don’t draft more bums like Marvin or Sheldon…
It’s actually a tough place to be in for the Hawks…Oh well, I don’t subsidize them to begin with, so whatever…
Time
June 22nd, 2010
6:47 pm
Absolutely no way they should deal Smith for anyone. I don’t care what the bandwagoners and carpetbaggers say. Patience ATL, there will come a day when you’ll be really happy to have Smoove around.
Sign and trade with Joe could work, IF, Joe would agree to it. NO wouldn’t be bad without Paul as Collison put up pretty much CP3 numbers while he was out last year. West is a solid guy, they have other pieces. So maybe he’d go for it. But that’s the only way it would happen.
Now, if they pull this off and the thing with Lebron following Paul is true, then you break the bank to sign James with no regard luxury taxes. His mere presence would generate so much revenue that the luxury tax will be more than worth paying.
WCJ
June 22nd, 2010
6:54 pm
The hawks are going to lose Joe Johnson; their best bet would be a sign and trade for Luol Deng from Chicago. The hawks could then sign from these group of players: Josh Howard, Brandon Hayward, John Salmons, Josh Childress, Ruy Guy. Even if the hawks were to get Chris Paul, New Orleans would want Josh Smith and Jeff Teaque instead of Joe Johnson.
West Coast Hawks Fan
June 22nd, 2010
6:57 pm
I hear that Allen Iverson wants to play again and that he has committed himself back to the game. The Hawks should consider signing him especially if he accepts the role of coming off the bench. This solely depends on Joe leaving. Jamal would start at the 2 and A.I. would take over Jamal’s role. I believe even at this stage in his career Iverson can give you a strong 15 to 17 points off the bench. Let’s see what happens.
BamaBill
June 22nd, 2010
6:59 pm
The Hawks had a chance to get a legit C in Samuel Dalembert who went to the Kings for 2 bench players (Hawes isn’t any good and Nocioni isn’t either)…He may not score alot, but he rebounds and blocks shots…would have allowed Horford to move to PF…
Ken Strickland
June 22nd, 2010
7:05 pm
The CPaul trade could work, but expecting to lure LJames and resign JJ is really nothing more than a pipe dream. However, we might be able to get New Orleans to part with CPaul if we are willing to take EOkofor off their hands. Their combined salaries total $24,318,000. We can send them JSmith($10,800,000), MEvans($2,500,000), MBibby($6,217,617)and ZPachulia($4,750,000), who’s total salaries = $24,267,617.
A starting lineup of PG-CPaul, SG-JJ, SF-JChildress, C-EOkofar, PF-AHorford would be solid. Bench: SG/PG-JCrawford, SF/PF-MWilliams, PG-JTeague, C-DJ MBenga, PF/C-RMorris, draft pick, and FA PF/C. Rebounding, scoring and DEF wouldn’t be a problem for that starting lineup, and the bench would be versatile and deep.
This would be a far more realistic accomplishment than trying to add LJames to the mix. Let’s face it, Lebron has yet to prove he can play without the ball in his hands, and if you add CPaul and JJ to the mix, something would have to give.
JSS
June 22nd, 2010
7:10 pm
Regarding Iverson:
If he hasn’t committed himself to being someone’s 7th man and instant offense without having to have the boy in his hands 97% of the time; I say NO!!!
Zach
June 22nd, 2010
7:16 pm
what about a sign a trade for JJ, (and give them marvin) your starting 5 are:
paul
crawford
lebron
josh
al
Ken Strickland
June 22nd, 2010
7:25 pm
WCJ-considering the outstanding season rookie PG Collison had last yr in place of CPaul, why wouldn’t they be willing to add an All Star SG to go with him? JJ is certainly an upgrade over any SG they currently have. And with All Star DWest already at PF, their interest in JSmith might not be as great as you think. If we did a sign and trade with JJ, depending on how much they agree to pay him, we’d have to take on Okafor’s and CPaul’s salaries($24,318,000) and include Zaza($4,750,000)and possibly MEvans($2,500,000) or MBibby($6,217,617)to make it work.
That would give us a starting lineup of PG-CPaul, SG-Draft Pick, SF-JChildress, C-AHorford and PF-JSmith. BENCH: C-EOkafor, SF/PF-MWilliams, SG/PG-JCrawford, PG-JTeague, SG/SF-MEvans or SG/PG-MBibby, C-DJ MBenga and PF/C-RMorris.
Tmac
June 22nd, 2010
7:26 pm
i’d offer NO the #24 pick, marvin williams and mike bibby for paul right now. If they don’t take it, substitute jeff teague for bibby and say take it or leave it.
Then you might resign Joe Johnson and your team is better than last year and the point guard position is solid.
Ken Strickland
June 22nd, 2010
7:35 pm
Allan Iverson is an alcoholic, and I seriously doubt he’s completely overcome his addiction at this point. I just don’t understand this reverence some of you have for a selfish, ball hogging player that plays absolutely no DEF, and that was before his childish and selfish attitude toward coming off the bench. He’s clearly demonstrated his only concern is for himself and what he wants, not for any team and what it wants or needs.
WHY WOULD ANYONE EVEN THINK A PLAYER LIKE THIS COULD DO US ANY GOOD. After all, isn’t one of the reasons we let MWoodson go was due to his dependence on too much ISO and one on one play, and you want us to bring in Iverson, the king of ISO and one on one play.
The Wad
June 22nd, 2010
7:46 pm
No scenario matters unless it nets the Hawks a true center that has ten years of upside left. Someone like that Love kid at Minn. If we had him in the center with Horford and Smith down low, Teague and Jamal…… then we could do fine without JJ. The idea of a sign and trade of JJ is carzy because he won`t go just anywhere and we need something specific that is a rarity right now. I would trade JJ,Bbibby,Pachulia, and Childress for Love. But that`s as big a dream as anything else we can come up with. This team ha ownership that is stuck with no real options to improve whether Joe is here or not. And anybody who thinks this team will be better with Childress instead of JJ is patently stupid.
Manny
June 22nd, 2010
7:53 pm
If the Hawks couldn’t afford Mike Woodson, how do you think they’re going to afford Chris Paul?
Jeff Schultz
June 22nd, 2010
8:05 pm
Trotting Home: Here ya go: http://blogs.ajc.com/hawks/2010/06/22/atlanta-hawks-could-these-draft-prospects-help-the-hawks-now/?cxntfid=blogs_hawks
Jeff Schultz
June 22nd, 2010
8:06 pm
Snoop1717 — If that was a 2-year clause, and I’m not sure off-hand, then it has expired. Smith is 2 years into the contract.
Jeff Schultz
June 22nd, 2010
8:08 pm
RSX — You were correct. Solomon Alabi was among those who worked out today.
Jeff Schultz
June 22nd, 2010
8:09 pm
JSS — I guess I should know by now that not everybody can pick up on sarcasm. I would’ve thought the 2 exclamation points were a dead giveaway.
Jeff Schultz
June 22nd, 2010
8:11 pm
JeJe — I think “unimaginative moran” might be a tad harsh, and this comes from somebody who has come across several morons in his career. But yes, Rick Sund has whiffed a few times.
Jeff Schultz
June 22nd, 2010
8:12 pm
Time — I’ve actually been one of Josh Smith’s biggest defenders and I’m not at all saying he needs to be traded. But if there’s a makeable deal for Chris Paul, to me you don’t even hesitate.
Jeff Schultz
June 22nd, 2010
8:14 pm
WCJ — I think it’s 50-50 on Joe. (I realize that’s not going out on a limb.) The name I’ve heard most often as a backup plan is John Salmons. Obviously Childress also could be a factor since he can play the 2 or the 3.
Jeff Schultz
June 22nd, 2010
8:14 pm
West Coast Hawks Fan: I absolutely love Allen Iverson. Five years ago.
Jeff Schultz
June 22nd, 2010
8:16 pm
TMac — For New Orleans to deal Paul, you’re going to have to give them a marketable player in return. Not sure any of those names qualify.
Jeff Schultz
June 22nd, 2010
8:16 pm
Manny — Couldn’t “afford” Mike Woodson? Where did you get that from?
Ray
June 22nd, 2010
8:23 pm
I seriously think people have issues every time I read these comments on blogs concerning the hawks. First Josh Smith shouldn’t go anywhere the guy was almost an all-star, and if he does go anywhere we’d best get something big in return.
I agree Marvin Williams isn’t panning out like we thought,but by no means is he a complete bust he’s a bust in terms that he was drafted wayyyyyy too high.
If anything I seriously say trade Josh Childress while I would like to see him in a hawks uniform again he has been away too long from the team. Plus trading him has a lot of value I think we can sneak into the top 10 trading him to someone.
cheshire
June 22nd, 2010
8:28 pm
The tragedy of all of this is that Atlanta really does have a lot of pieces to be players in this Lebron market. There is no reason we couldn’t be mentioned in the talk for ANY of these free agents. Of all the teams mentioned up for Lebron – Chicago, New Jersey, L.A. Clippers, etc. – not one of them provides as quick a possibility to win a championship as Atlanta does. We are one great player away from playing championships, and our weakest starting position last year was at forward, which is what Lebron is. Take out Marvin and plug in Lebron and this team is a favorite for the NBA finals.
The reason we aren’t mentioned in any of these talks? Ownership. That’s it. Who on earth would want to walk into a situation where (a.) the owners don’t want to spend any $ and (b.) they are fighting with one another. Such a total waste… with a good owner (owner, not owners), we would be among the elite teams in the NBA. The pieces are there, but the owners can’t/won’t do anything with them.
Infamous
June 22nd, 2010
8:32 pm
I have been saying this forever!! Finally somebody agrees with me and mentions it. But will the cheap owners want to pay to win. Prob not.
Hunter
June 22nd, 2010
8:40 pm
Hey Jeff — I wrote a response to your article on BR, let me know what you think. Thanks!
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/410006-chris-paul-to-the-hawks-no-way
Ray
June 22nd, 2010
8:41 pm
One thing I wish we knew is whether or not Johnson will bolt in free agency if he does sign and trade him to a team with one of the Top 5 picks they’ll more than likely welcome the trade I’d hope.
Tchoup 504
June 22nd, 2010
8:50 pm
So the Hornets are going to hand over Chris Paul, the franchise player, to the Hawks for a sack of aging players, maybe a draft choice, and maybe unload a bad contract….that’s rich. Only Atlanta arrogance could give birth to that fantasy.
Hunter
June 22nd, 2010
9:04 pm
Tchoup 504 — I couldn’t agree with you any more than I do. You’re spot on. Read more about why we’re right here, but from the Hawks side of things. Please leave a comment with more opinions from the New Orleans viewpoint.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/410006-chris-paul-to-the-hawks-no-way
Delbert D.
June 22nd, 2010
9:31 pm
jss – So the Conservatives in parliament are not going to allow Russian billionaires to buy anything more? Well, that blows the premise to the movie “RocknRolla” (which was not quite as good as Guy Ritchies’ “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch”, IMHO.)
STEELY DAN MAN
June 22nd, 2010
9:46 pm
What ever happened to Garret Siler ….. the guy eveyone was so excited about last year ?
J.R. Rider
June 22nd, 2010
9:57 pm
Scrap the whole roster and sign me.
Pi$$onaDawg
June 22nd, 2010
10:02 pm
Is that a Hemorrhoid or are the Hawks still sucking BUTT?
BIG
June 22nd, 2010
10:07 pm
That must be some GOOD STUFF YOU SMOKING in which case I can ONLY say PUFF PUFF PASS. If you believe that you got to be smoking something or on some kind of DRUGS!
JSS
June 22nd, 2010
10:18 pm
@ Delbert D…
That’s why entertainment films are “fiction.” Austerity financial policy plus the need to find revenue instead of realizing that getting a economy back on track and letting tax revenues catch back up on a incline, Wow, the return of Hoover economics! The Office of the Exchequer is going to tax everything and anything not tied down or too poor not to have any real income. They’ll (the poor) will just get screwed at the cashier (the VAT-value added tax). The foreign investors who took advantage of Labours freeing of the the old British tax code are going to be screaming like Georgia when Sherman came through!
PlusSizeModel
June 22nd, 2010
10:25 pm
If the N.O. is stupid enough to take Josh for Paul that will be one of the biggest steals in NBA history.
KevinM
June 22nd, 2010
10:27 pm
Realistically, JJ IMO isn’t coming back. I don’t think he has the spine to take the criticism. Wait til he gets to NY!
Moorman, Crawford in no scenario is coming off the bench this year. I wouldn’t be surprised to see LD just slide Craw into JJ’s slot and little changes, except iso Joe. I won’t miss that at all.
Ken Strickland, what you suggest is to blow up the entire roster. While a couple of moves is ideal, you aren’t Mike Ditka dealing for Ricky Williams.
We all know how this is going to turn out. JJ leaves after getting an offer elsewhere and says like Phoenix that he doesn’t want to return. We try to get something for him in a S&T, and perhaps we get future considerations and a expiring contract.
Sund will make a minor tweak, and bring in a vet to replace Joe Smith.
This team needs to move Horford or Smoove so we can get a center for defensive purposes….or, lets propose Marvin for Thabeet and we pick up a Salmons or a journeyman 3.
Getting Bibby off the roster and Marvin would be positive moves by Sund after his mistake to extend these limited players. That includes Zaza, who I can’t recall if he helped at all last year.
Still hoping for a Cousins drafting miracle to team up with Teague.
PlusSizeModel
June 22nd, 2010
10:27 pm
“i’d offer NO the #24 pick, marvin williams and mike bibby for paul right now. If they don’t take it, substitute jeff teague for bibby and say take it or leave it.”
Yeah, they’d take that trade. How did you fingure out how to log on to a computer?
JSS
June 22nd, 2010
10:33 pm
@ Steely man
Garret Siler’s played last season in the Chinese League on Yao Ming’s Shanghai Sharks team. He led them in rebounding and was 3rd in scoring. Shot nearly 76% from the field with the wider international lane. He is back in Augusta now after his team was eliminated in the Semi-final of CBA’s playoffs where he averaged a double/double in five of their nine playoff games…
http://www.asia-basket.com/team.asp?Cntry=CHN&Team=1950
He is weighing his options for next year. Utah, Miami, and Houston have shown interest… Nothing as of yet from the Hawks…
STEELY DAN MAN
June 22nd, 2010
11:28 pm
@ JSS ….Much oblidged !!!!!!