Trading Andersen’s rights suggests Hawks’ spree is over
If you liked the Hawks last season, you’ll like them even more in 2009-2010. They’ll be the same team, only with Jamal Crawford instead of Flip Murray and Jeff Teague instead of Acie Law. And that’s fine. That’s a good-looking squad.
But if you were awaiting yet another big-name import … well, the sale of David Andersen’s rights to Houston on Tuesday indicates the Atlanta Spirit’s cash outlay for its basketball entity is approaching maximum load. The Hawks still figure to wind up with Marvin Williams via a one-year qualifying offer or a long-term re-up, but he’s apt to be the last significant roster move until next summer.
Rick Sund has done well. The Hawks added Crawford and kept Mike Bibby for what Bibby alone was making last season ($14.9 million), and Zaza Pachulia’s new contract offers only a slight raise from his $4 million. But the qualifying offer for Williams is nearly $2 million above last season’s salary, and as much as the many Spirit partners might like to win they’re also businessmen who’ve lost real money this past year.
Bottom line: The Hawks keep trying to get better, but they’re not yet ready to pay a luxury tax to do it. Mike Woodson says he wants to add a veteran big man, and Andersen, the Australian who was drafted by the Hawks in 2002 and who played last season for FC Barcelona, wouldn’t have cost all that much. (According to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, the Rockets are trying to sign him using “a portion of the mid-level exception,” which is $5.8 million in its entirety.)
But the Hawks traded Andersen’s rights for cash and a second-round draft pick, which is next to nothing. Which tells us that, when/if Williams re-signs, the local club’s offseason shopping will have neared its end. There might be one more modest purchase to come, but nothing major. If you were wishing for Lamar Odom, your hopes were in vain.
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84 comments Add your comment
Ted Striker
July 15th, 2009
5:27 am
Jimminy Crickets, Mark — What in the name of the wide wide world of sports are you doing up at 4:55 am?
Me, I just completed a 9 mile run, 347 sit-ups, and did some yoga. Now I’m snacking on a crouton and some juice.
blue hawk
July 15th, 2009
5:28 am
i think this was a bad move.
i would have taken a chance on him anyday since he is a proven, productive and experienced pro, albeit a euro pro. i would have taken a chance on that over a second rounder college kid who would’ve been a ‘real’ rookie.
anyway, i don’t think it would’ve worked anyway with woody at the helm. he’s TERRIBLE at giving guys a chance to play, develop or prove themselves. narrow minded and hard headed.
Bob
July 15th, 2009
5:36 am
“and as much as the many Spirit partners might like to win they’re also businessmen who’ve lost real money this past year.”
But did their loss come from the Hawks ?
It’s not because they have lost from some of their business that they should report their cut on all their business.
I don’t expect them to pay Luxury Tax, but at least to spend up to the Tax Threshold to add the best big Sund can find for the money left.
Ernest
July 15th, 2009
6:09 am
This was a prudent business move. As the 2nd big man off the bench, Andersen would have only gotten 6-10 minutes/game at most. As a result, the Hawks were willing to pay according to that slot however Andersen wanted more. This trade allows them to recover the pick along with some cash.
Andersen is 29 and will probably need some time to become acclimated to the NBA. Houston represents the best chance for him to get significant playing time, if he is as good as he believes.
JSS
July 15th, 2009
6:36 am
Glad you liked the the Vegas Summer League… Hadn’t had a chance to watch the Orlando games yet… Well, they got back what they put out in 2002… We all know how well they picked back in the good old days… That’s not a slam on the Aussie, I don’t care if he’s 29. Ballin’ is ballin!!! Good luck breaking in to that Houston front line rotation.
CajunStorm
July 15th, 2009
6:37 am
Well Mark, I guess you were speaking the truth…all you do is sit in front of the computer all day. Early too. one thing I can say about Sund is he is SHREWD! I like that. Anybody upset over losing Andersen needs to get a grip. He was not coming here for cheap $ and he was going to be the 3rd big off the bench at best. You don’t pay big $ for bench depth, you save for the ELITE player, or spend more on the core group which is exactly what Sund is doing.
As I stated yesterday, we shouuld not be too upset if Marvin takes the one year tenure. With JJ being a free agent next year that will leave us with $22,000,000 in flexibility to re-sign both or go another way. If we do get Marvin on the cheap (5yrs @ $7-$8million) COOL! We keep our core and have young, athletic, high potential, and reasonably priced pieces that we can play or trade.
Can anyone tell me when is the last time the HAWKS were in the driver’s seat with leverage? Easy…..NEVER until now. Well, maybe the last year we had Mr. Dominique Wilkens, Then we traded for Danny Manning. Dang it, that didn’t work out very well did it! LOL
The Real Fan
July 15th, 2009
6:44 am
No veteran big, no second round playoff win.
Ron E.
July 15th, 2009
6:50 am
The Hawks might as well trade away their 2nd round pick every year since they treat it as a joke rather than as an opportunity to find an undervalued player.
CajunStorm
July 15th, 2009
6:53 am
Not to blog up your blog, Mark, but in your wise wisdom, please tell me why the Hawks haven’t pursued Drew Gooden for our back-up PF and Center. 6′10″, 250lbs, 12pts and 8 rebounds from a guy known for great defense, knowing his role, and made $1.5 million last year sounds like a pefect fit to me. If I heard folks talking about $4-$6 mill for MARCIN GORTAT as a back-up, how is Drew not worth $2-$3 mill for the same role which to this point he has proven to be better. His problen, to me has always been almost like Marvin’s…his draft status. 4th overall picks are supposed to be better than 12 & 9. Well we aren’t picking him in the draft or paying him like the 4th pick in the draft! We can, however, pay a very reasonable price for an available FA that plays meets our needs. Hell, Drew goes from Lottery BUST to FA STEAL!!
Matt the Brave
July 15th, 2009
6:56 am
I don’t think that Andersen had any intention of playing in Atlanta if he hasn’t wanted to play for us since 2002…just a hunch. I think if he stated that he wasn’t going to play for us, we got what we put into him (which was a pick and $$). Wish we could have done the same for Josh Childress, but we’ll see what happens with that next year. I hope we offer to him so he has to either play for us or someone overpays for him and we get picks.
Mac
July 15th, 2009
7:41 am
Guess Andersen must’ve told ‘em he wasn’t ever comin’ ‘ere, mate.
Mac
July 15th, 2009
7:42 am
We old people get up early.
MightyQuinn
July 15th, 2009
7:53 am
Judging by the pic it’s too bad he’s not going to be a Hawk ’cause he’s got some serious bird legs!
Bank Walker, Texas Ranger
July 15th, 2009
7:54 am
No biggy on Andersen, but what does singe my drawers is the not spending part. We still need a PF/C and I’m suppose to be happy with Randolph?
dap01
July 15th, 2009
8:00 am
We still need defensive presure at the PG and in the center position.
We might also be able to use a second offensive play to work in this year. Sometime we may need it if ISO JOE and shoot a long three (Bibby) does not work.
I am especially excited that Woodson is working with the young Hawks fine tuning their games this summer. He is isn’t he?
lawton
July 15th, 2009
8:08 am
40 something years in the atl. the last time the hawks made the CONFERENCE finals was 1970, so excuse me if im not excited over the scrubs. yawn, you hit the nail on the head, they just REPLACED their backcourt, did NOTHING to address the sorry coaching and nonexistant post game on offense or defense. lol same ole………….
Mr. Phil
July 15th, 2009
8:12 am
Let none of us forget, Andersen has a history of injuries and isn’t a “banger” capable of doing a lot of dirty work. His post moves are anemic and his jumper is only passable. Maybe Sund just took a long look at his game and realized it was not worth it.
SpaniardHawk
July 15th, 2009
8:47 am
I like the trade if we use the money to get a center. Maybe Andersen will become a new Luis Scola, but a I have seen him play this year with Barcelona and I think that he is not the player that the Hawks need. But maybe I am wrong.
Avery
July 15th, 2009
8:55 am
Just because Anderson will sign cheap with Houston doesn’t mean he would have signed at all with us. Most reports were favorable until Zaza re-signed. Then suddenly any contract wasn’t good enough for him. To assume the Hawks could have landed him at all is probably a mistake.
Someone who was worried about beating out a backup center for playing time doesn’t seem to be a difference-maker.
ATMAN
July 15th, 2009
8:58 am
May as well trade Anderson for something, he wasn’t coming here on the cheap. I sure hope we aren’t done. Wilcox, Lee, Gooden, Boozer (that would be awesome, doubt we have a shot), even Siler looks good as added big man depth. Why can the Lakers, Cavs, Boston, etc… keep adding pieces to there already loaded teams and the Hawks can’t add a backup PF/C? Come on owners, step up to the plate. You get what you pay for!
Matty Ice
July 15th, 2009
9:00 am
quality bigs are impossible to get and we had one in Dave Andersen for cheap. At the very least this guy was worth a late 1st round pick. The Hawks needed Andersen and traded him for almost nothing. I agree that the Hawks must be strapped to make a move like this – I doubt this was Rick Sund’s preference.
Mark Bradley
July 15th, 2009
9:05 am
Actually, Andersen told FC Barcelona not long ago he wanted to play in the NBA in 2009-2010. Didn’t necessarily say for the Hawks, though.
jg
July 15th, 2009
9:05 am
cajunstorm,
please don’t remind me of that trade again. i remember i was working in television when this trade went down and how everyone told me i was crazy thinking this wasn’t a great move to get danny manning. it made me sick then and i’m sick every time i think of it. the hawks had the best record in the nba at the time of the deal and ‘nique was playing great ball like always. but we trade him for an already washed up d-manning–who went on to average about 8 points 5 boards for the hawks. oh well ‘nique was only putting up about 22 and 9 at the time. but we DANNY “freaking Manning. what a joke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and for all those tv people that told me i was stupid! where are you now???????
Mark Bradley
July 15th, 2009
9:06 am
A lot of folks have asked, today and other days, about Drew Gooden. I’m not high on him, truth be told.
ATLeon
July 15th, 2009
9:08 am
I was reading this on the ESPN ticker last night and was excited with anticipation to see what we would get out of it. Then it comes up…cash and future considerations. I wanted to go scuba diving in quick sand. Are these guys drinking buddies or something? I guess we cant always be the robbers (Tony Gonzalez for a 2nd round pick next year was a grand heist), but my goodness. Houston is in worse shape than we are when it comes to bigs. The only big on that squad is Yao, who may never play again, certainly not this year. So Anderson doesn’t have to “break into a rotation,” as JSS so eloquently put it, because he is the rotation!
Mark Bradley
July 15th, 2009
9:08 am
Oh, and Ron, the Hawks didn’t trade away a second-round pick. They got Houston’s second-round pick.
mountain_jim
July 15th, 2009
9:08 am
Unless the cash goes into additional talent on the court this year, preferably a defensive big, then Mark is right the Hawks allowed their pocket to be picked (late 2nd round pick is squat) to save money.
ATMAN
July 15th, 2009
9:09 am
Mark, if we pick up Marvin for 7.5mil where does that leave us vs the cap.
ILL-logical
July 15th, 2009
9:15 am
Basically, the BASG is treading water until the Woodson era comes to a close and they organizee their confusion.
Woodson got just about everything he asked for ,except the rookie point guard, so there will be no excuses for the team’s performance based on his coaching. Once the inevitable happens, the retooling of the roster will begin. Mr. Sund’s guy-if Mr.Sund is still around- will want a roster geared to his style and so changes will have to made.
Until then, it is still the Woodson show.
Mark Bradley
July 15th, 2009
9:17 am
And it could well be that Sund and his aides weren’t high on Andersen. (Though I must tell you I never got any indication of that.) But here was a guy whose rights you controlled and who has said he want to play over here, and all it would take to make that happen (presumably) was money.
Mark Bradley
July 15th, 2009
9:23 am
ATMAN, the Hawks were actually a bit over the cap last season — most teams are — and figure to be again. But, even if they keep Marvin, I don’t think they’ll be in the luxury tax range. That kicks in at $69.92 million. The Hawks were at $62 million in payroll last season — the cap for 2009-2010 is $57.7 million — and they haven’t added much.
Anakin Joe
July 15th, 2009
9:34 am
Look, Sund could still deliver answers to known problems, but to date, he has not. What roster problems needed to be addressed after watching 93 games last season? Has addressed a single one? No. And yet, we’re supposed to applaud his off-season because we don’t appear to e taking a step back? Is that the new standard, do no harm? Again, there may be something brewing but writing columns that reward maintaining the status quo seems like championing mediocrity.
MannyT
July 15th, 2009
9:46 am
I suspect the Hawks saw the decreasing value of a 29 year old rookie who did not want to be on the bench behind a bunch of younger players. Better to get something for Andersen now. Sund didn’t draft him and he was never here so it was easier to let him go.
I suspect a value big man will be added once Marvin’s deal is done. How much they spend on that big will depend on the cash left in the budgetary can.
BWAF
smartguy
July 15th, 2009
9:52 am
FIRE WOODY!
DHD
July 15th, 2009
10:14 am
If we sign Marvin I could still go with a Josh for Amare’ trade. It answers the big man question.
jeffrey d
July 15th, 2009
10:15 am
the Hawks were actually a bit over the cap last season — most teams are — and figure to be again. But, even if they keep Marvin, I don’t think they’ll be in the luxury tax range
Sorry for the rookie basketball question, but this implies that there’s a salary cap, but you’re not penalized unless you go way over it?
Josh
July 15th, 2009
10:22 am
ok if they trade Akyol I’n done. btw Houston knows talent anyone heard of Luis Scola? they traded nothing to get him from the Spurs .
Dos Hawkquis
July 15th, 2009
10:23 am
Mark,
What does “2nd rd pick, cash and future considerations” mean? How much cash are we talking and what typically are “future considerations”?
“I don’t always watch basketball, but when I do, I prefer the Hawks. Stay thirsty my friends!”
Mark Bradley
July 15th, 2009
10:24 am
You’re not penalized until you hit the luxury-tax threshold, and there’s always some wiggle room around the cap — the mid-level exception, the Larry Bird exception. I confess I don’t understand it all, either.
Hay Maker
July 15th, 2009
10:25 am
The Hawks are still the Hawks. All I keep hearing is how smart Sund is. Well I don’t see any difference between him and Billy Knight. The only difference is how the media is treating Sund comparied to Knight. The Hawks will be losser again, because they have no heart, and the coach sucks. Bibby is no leader, and he could not by a basket if his life depended on it if the shot met winning or losing. Joe Johson has about as much enegry as a 100 year old man. Joe Johson is not a leader, and please don’t say he leades by his play. What the Hawks need is a leader, and one is avalible Allen Iverson. I know what the Hawks would say to that he is a trouble maker. What they are really saying is we don’t know how to coach a player with real talent.
Mark Bradley
July 15th, 2009
10:26 am
I was scratching my head over “future considerations,” too, Dos. Maybe it’s something along the lines of, “If Yao Ming ever gets healthy, we’ll trade him to you for Randolph Morris.”
Then again, perhaps not.
VS
July 15th, 2009
10:32 am
I’m actually more concerned that we didn’t go after brandon bass – the man signed with orlando for 4mil a year. I think he would probably have been our best option for a good 4th big while still staying under the taxline
JC
July 15th, 2009
10:40 am
Hay Maker – maybe we should sign AI, so we can get better when we trade him or he goes down with a season-ending injury (see: Nuggets, Denver;Pistons, Detroit). And while we’re at it, let’s sign Marbury as a chemistry guy and Shaq as a free-throw coach!
Hawk Str8Talk
July 15th, 2009
10:44 am
Mark, I’m still puzzled by your decision at this stage to say that the Hawks have done well this offseason. They resigned a team that was flawed for much of the 2nd half of the season and the postseason. I realize that everyone is giddy over being viable again, but if the goal is winning a title (or being a serious contender even) – what did we do this offseason to address the things that are our flaws. If you put aside coaching (my #1 issue), then adding only the players that fit a lame duck coach’s ’system’ is not a recipe for good. I would agree that we want to sign Williams and Pachulia, but Bibby and Crawford solve none of the issues that ailed us last year. We certainly aren’t getting any improvements in defense, interior depth, rebounding, leadership, or toughness. So, if that’s it – I’m unsure why you or Schultz seem to have this love affair with Sund’s offseason.
Have your expectations been lowered so much that if he doesn’t kill any thought of making the playoffs that you’re happy. To date, all the teams ahead of us and a few behind us have made moves to ADD to what they already had. We haven’t done anything this postseason to improve this team. Status quo is not success in my book and I’m trying to understand why it is for anyone else – unless you’re looking at the past as your guide. I’d argue that signing Bibby and trading for Crawford will be our downfall this year – playing shooters where you need defense and passers is going to haunt us in the postseason just as it did last year. I’d hope for Teague to bring something, but as you should know by now…a Woodson who is coaching for his job is NOT going to play a rookie enough to gain any trust in him when it counts.
Jay
July 15th, 2009
10:45 am
You missed the point on this whole story, Mark.
Anderson said he didnt want to play for Atlanta after we signed Zaza to a 4-year deal, and that he wanted to be traded. Sund trades him away to put an end to the drama surrounding him. And Woodson has already said on the ready that they are looking at adding at least 1 big man.
gcs
July 15th, 2009
10:51 am
Hey, Spirit! Save some of that money for the Thrashers!
.
JSS
July 15th, 2009
10:52 am
Hmmm… Was trying to remember where he would fit with Scoia, Hayes, Landry, and Cook. But with Yao out, he may work in Adelman’s hybrid/flex thing… Welcome to the work of trying to guard Timmy “Ball Game.”
Bob
July 15th, 2009
10:56 am
Hawk Str8Talk, if Marvin stays, the upgrade will be Crawford intsead of Murray.
Why ? because Crawford will allow 48min of ISO, he will continue what Joe is doing, and what is the only thing Woodson knows in offense.
Bring a big instead of Crawford would have need some better offensive coaching to justify this choice, but as long as Woodson struggles to get our big guys implicated, what’s the point to add one for thi kind money ?
Sad but Sund bring exactly a perfect piece for Woodson, which by itself means we are not improving a lot.
Now, for just a complement big, we will need to wait until Marvin is signed, to know exactly what’s left under the tax threshold.
JC
July 15th, 2009
10:59 am
I’m sorry Str8talk, how can you not be impressed with Sund? He kept a core of guys who made it to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since I don’t have time to look it up, he resigned Bibby, who was one of the top 15-paid players in the NBA last year, for the same we were paying Speedy Claxton to ride the bench, he brought in a scorer in Crawford for basically nothing (Woodson wouldn’t play Acie and Speedy, well, you know…) and he did it all while dealing with an ownership group unwilling to spend anything. I’m on Bradley’s side (I can’t believe I just said that) and I say bravo.
Reid Adair
July 15th, 2009
10:59 am
I don’t have a problem with Rick Sund making this deal. As others have said, I think the Hawks would have had to pay Andersen far more than he would have been worth as a bench player. This move certainly doesn’t take away from all of the great moves Sund has made to improve the Hawks’ roster so far this off-season.