Another Hawks dilemma: Pay Jamal Crawford or dump him?
Here we see Jamal Crawford in a moment of exultation. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
An unsatisfying offseason has the potential to turn unsavory. In the same summer the Hawks made Joe Johnson the priciest free-agent signing and Larry Drew the cheapest head-coaching hire, they must now deal with Jamal Crawford. This isn’t what any doctor — from Dr. J to Dr. Jack Ramsey — would have ordered.
According to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe, Crawford and his agent are expected to meet with general manager Rick Sund this week. Crawford is thought to want one of two things: To sign a contract extension before the new season commences or to be traded forthwith. Given that his was the happiest Hawks story of a season that ended unhappily, Crawford must be taken seriously. Given that these are the Hawks, who are so cheap they haven’t yet fleshed out their roster, he shouldn’t hold his breath.
Yes, cheap. Even after sinking $120 million into Joe Johnson, the Hawks keep giving us reason to doubt their long-avowed Commitment To Excellence. They could have hired an established NBA head coach to replace Mike Woodson and wound up promoting Drew, who’d been Woodson’s assistant all along. They could have spent significant money to find another big man, and instead they’ve attempted to make do with Josh Powell and another episode of the Jason Collins Saga. (For late tuners-in, Collins was on the Hawks’ roster all last season, though not so you noticed.)
It’s unclear what Crawford really thinks is apt to happen if he does deliver a pay-me-more-or-trade-me-now demand. Because the Hawks aren’t apt to pay anyone more. Public statements notwithstanding, the Atlanta Spirit seems uninterested in paying one in-the-red cent of luxury tax. Beyond that, there’s a more pressing matter: What to do with Al Horford, who means even more to this franchise?
Horford can become a restricted free agent at season’s end. The Hawks would prefer he not test the market because they know full well he’d be coveted from sea to shining sea. If any Hawk is apt to receive a contract extension before Halloween, it’s Horfy. There’s almost no chance two Hawks will be offered preseason extensions at this late date.
So, if Sund doesn’t hand Crawford a new contract, what does the GM do? Trade him? Even though any attempt to shed a disgruntled player creates a buyer’s market? Even though the Hawks would be pressed to get anything comparable to Crawford in return? Even though the strength of this team headed into 2010-11 figured to be its continuity?
Loading ...On the other hand … do you want a disgruntled player in a locker room not overrun with vocal leaders? (Horford is the Hawk most apt to speak, and if he chooses not to accept an extension he’ll be facing contractual issues of his own.) The issue of Johnson’s impending free agency became a major story last season, and Crawford is 10 times more talkative than J.J.
Yes, the Hawks did draft a shooting guard in Jordan Crawford, but 26 players were taken ahead of him and there’s no assurance he’s not the 21st Century Roy Marble. This rookie cannot be seen as rotation-ready, meaning the Hawks can’t just trade one J. Crawford and hand his workload — the NBA’s sixth man of the year averaged 31 minutes a night — to another J. Crawford.
There was a time when the Hawks seemed a rousing success story: A team of young guys growing up together and learning to win. What we’re seeing is that NBA success carries a higher and higher price. A franchise cannot hold its core together for years on end without paying dearly, and paying dearly essentially means overpaying. The Hawks overpaid Johnson because they had no real alternative: To lose him would have meant losing much of the credibility they’ve spent the past decade trying to re-establish.
The price for credibility, alas, was flexibility. The Hawks have almost none. To give Jamal Crawford what he wants would be throwing more big money at a shooting guard already past 30 in the same offseason that has seen them lavish a six-year contract on a 29-year-old who plays the same position. To trade Crawford would be to weaken the team he helped lift from 47 victories to 53. There might be a happy ending to this latest Hawks tempest, but I’ll be darned if I see it.
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172 comments Add your comment
JeJe
August 30th, 2010
12:11 pm
LOL @ ASG NEVER giving a player an extension before the last minute. They did this to Smoove and Childress and this really pissed off Smoove
Crawford is the best player on this team at pointing the ball in the basket. He’s probably the fan favorite after Smoove and is one of 3 players on the team who ALWAYS will give 100 percent effort (Horford and ZaZa are the other 2).
ASG SELL THIS TEAM U MORONS
JustAThought
August 30th, 2010
12:36 pm
If the hawks can’t talk Al into re-signing before the season’s over…..he will walk. Why would he stay in this crap, and if it was you, why would you stay?
T.C
August 30th, 2010
12:41 pm
Calm down PPL! Crawford will be packaged with Marvin, Bibby, and Mo Evans to Denver for Chauncey and Carmelo Anthony. All will be well!
Hawks 2011 Champs!
JustAThought
August 30th, 2010
12:41 pm
The little difference in the money would not be enough to keep any sane person from walking away when the opportunity presented itself.
Mark Bradley
August 30th, 2010
12:44 pm
Al Horford would be a restricted free agent, JustAThought. The Hawks could match any offer.
Question Mark
August 30th, 2010
1:02 pm
I don’t understand some Hawks fans. Are you mad that ASG resigned Joe or that he recieved a max deal? I just don’t get it, the Hawks would clearly be 35-40 win team without him, so which is it because Crawford is not nearly the caliber player Joe is and many would prefer him over Joe, lol. He may be a dominant scorer, but he doesn’t pass, play defense, or rebound. Joe had to defend the opposing teams best perimeter player and be Mr. Offense for the Hawks, no wonder his numbers looked so bad in the playoffs after being double teamed and guarding the likes of P. Pierce, R. Allen, D. Wade, L. James, J. Salmons and V. Carter throughout their 3 year playoff run on a team with minimal offensive options. Give me a break, you guys will never be satisfied.
Gary O
August 30th, 2010
1:02 pm
robdawg08,
The Bulls would have offered him the max once they lost out on Wade. The Knicks were going to offer him the max, expecially after they lost out on LeBron.
Check the reports. It was a foregone conclusion that JJ would get max offers, so it didnt matter what his agent said.
Mark,
I think the Hawks will let Horford wait until next offseason before offering an extension. Because the CBA will likely lower salaries, so they can save money by waiting.
Mark Bradley
August 30th, 2010
1:05 pm
You could be right, Gary O. But they did offer Josh Smith an extension before his free-agent season, which he rejected.
NCBravesFan
August 30th, 2010
1:33 pm
Question Mark: I can’t speak for anyone else obviously but to answer the question posed in your post at 1:02pm:
It’s not any one thing the Hawks did this offseason – it’s the complete body of work coming off an historic playoff blowout (and two straight second round sweeps at that). Re-signing Joe was good and appropriate to me, but the ASG sold off their second round draft choice and implied that those funds would be used to get a veteran who could help the team. Sund was even quoted as saying the team needed a veteran presence rather than looking to the draft to improve the team right now.
They also said they were willing to go into luxury tax territory in order to improve this year, and then promptly backed away from that commitment when the major FA players were up for grabs.
If this was last year it would be one thing – but with that struggle against MIL and EPIC FAIL against ORL, fan’s perceptions are rightly suspicious of the team’s willingness to spend money.
Grumpy
August 30th, 2010
1:38 pm
It’s garbage like this that makes me less of a sports fan each year. The older I get, the more I find other things to do with my time.
Olik
August 30th, 2010
1:42 pm
Mark, why do you think the Hawks aren’t even in the universe of options people are talking about for Carmelo? There’s an article on ESPN listing 11 landing spots for Carmelo, and Atlanta is nowhere to be found. Normally the answer is that the Spirit Group is “cheap”, but the Jamal topic does bring the Hawks into the picture, yes? Any team that trades would need to give back salary close to Carmelo, so just “being cheap” doesn’t really answer the question. What’s the deal?
Pro sports stinks
August 30th, 2010
1:44 pm
What I hate is that you have such a disparity in the payscale. JJ is a great player, but is he rea
Ted Striker
August 30th, 2010
1:50 pm
1) Drew wasn’t a marquee hire but neither was Mark Fox at Georgia. I believe they hired the coach they thought was the best fit for the team and paid him what he’d take. Even if they’d been able to hire Doc Rivers (or Phil Jackson or coax Pat Riley back to the hardwood), there are no guarantees on the future, especially when it comes to sports. Get what you’re saying however not convinced Drew was strictly a money hire.
2) Crawford. Guy needs to shut up and play. Yeah, he’d like an extension and yes, he performed well, but at the point in time the season starts he needs to shut up and play. And if he dogs it on the floor I give 10% of whatever Crawford was asking for to Horford in addition to what I’d already give Horford. And publicly call out Crawford as selfish.
I’d respect that.
SteveW
August 30th, 2010
1:53 pm
We offered JJ a 4 year 60m dollar ext. before his last year, and he rejected it.
We had to pay JJ – The Bulls, Heat, Knicks, Nets, and maybe the Rockets were prepared to pay him the secondary max money. BTW – he is only a secondary max money guy – he didn’t get the full max like Kobe did – we do need to clarify that. JJ hadn’t been in the league long enough to get full max money.
We thought it was a coup signing Marvin last off season – now it’s a disaster? Why? He regressed, but we didn’t know he would at the time. He could have probably gotten more elsewhere, but wanted to stay here.
ZaZa is one of the most respected back up bigs in the league. We signed him cheap – look at Johan Petro, look at Darko, look at Jermaine O’Neil, look at the aging rapidly Brad Miller – we got a very good deal on ZaZa.
But he also regressed.
Woodson wanted Bibby. Sund felt he had to keep him. i would have preferred Andre Miller for just a little more. We re-signed him for 1 year too long.
And then Bibby also regressed. Why Bibby, Marvin, and ZaZa all regressed in the same year (as did Mo’ Evans), I have no idea. But when they signed their deals, they were considered very reasonable for the Hawks, except for Bibby.
Ted Striker
August 30th, 2010
1:53 pm
JeJe @ 2:11 — It’s only fair to point out that for ASG to sell the team, someone else needs to be willing to buy it. If you’ve got the cash, make an offer.
SteveW
August 30th, 2010
1:55 pm
The reason we overpaid for Bibby is because other teams needed his skill set – he was coming off of a very good season, and we would have probably lost in Free Agency. We paid him what the market was going for…
SteveW
August 30th, 2010
1:58 pm
If we offer Crawford anything above the MLE, with our cap situation, I would be shocked.
SteveW
August 30th, 2010
2:01 pm
Again, offer the Nuggets Jamal, Marvin, and 2 1st picks for Carmelo, and see what happens. We’re still below luxury tax (well below) this year with that deal. And we’re immediately contenders.
Move Mo’ down to the 2 to take Jamal’s spot, and sign Jarvis Hayes or Carney to back up Carmelo.
You might win yourself a Championship.
SteveW
August 30th, 2010
2:12 pm
And if the Nuggets want more than Jamal, Marvin and 2 1st picks for Carmelo, they want to much. He could just play out the string in Denver, and then get massively overpaid by NY or NJ even after the new CBA. And Denver would get nothing in return.
I would not trade Al or Smoove for Carmelo, not even straight up I don’t think. All these folks saying give them Smoove, Jamal and a 1st pick are willing to give up way too much in my opinion.
Carmelo only makes us contenders in my opinion if we keep JJ, Al, and Smoove while also acquiring Carmelo.
And remember people – Jamal will be 31 at the end of the season. Do we really want to overpay for 2 aging SG’s on the same roster? Isn’t 1 enough.
And Jamal is my favorite Backcourt player, and the only 1 I saw lay it all on the line against ORL. That’s why he shot 36% against ORL, because ORL basically found out he was the only Hawk giving his heart, so they double teamed him.
But business is business…
The Bishop of Basketball
August 30th, 2010
2:16 pm
A few points:
1. The Hawks should have signed-and-traded JJ to someone else, say, the Mavs (for, say, Caron Butler), signed Jamal to a 3 or so year deal and inserted him into the lineup at SG. But they didn’t, so now… we lose an asset. Which would you prefer: JJ alone or JC and CB (or equivalent)?
2. Hawks will survive this okay anyway even though they’ll lose JC, because the other JC (Jordan Crawford) is a serious, serious baller. I am so glad the Hawks got him…
The Bishop has spoken.
Dukester
August 30th, 2010
2:38 pm
I love Jamal and think all of the fans agree. But if ASG mess this up it will be the last straw. I hate to say it yes he must go we cant give contracts to him and JJ. I am on board with the Marvin and Crawford and a 1st round pick deal. I think its fair for both sides. I think Carmelo gets his wish of the big city lights. Denver will get a good scorer so they could compete this year. Marvin could play SF for them and they would have our 1st round pick. Denver would have 30 mil coming off the books so they could rebuild pretty fast.
Dukester
August 30th, 2010
2:54 pm
O Mark Bradley can you do me a favor and get grimey like the rest of the writers. Please write an article saying” Hawks have had talks with Denver about Crawford and Marvin and 1st rd pick for Carmelo” I mean it seems that it lights a fire across the nation and thats how trades happen. LOL Put a little pressure on ASG.
Tosh.No
August 30th, 2010
3:01 pm
Does it matter? Cut the guy lose so he can go lose somewhere else, unless he goes to Miami too. Not going to be watching basketball for a long time with the moves they made this off-season. Any of it.
Wolverine
August 30th, 2010
3:13 pm
If ASG were serious about winnnig they would simply trade Jamal Crawford and Mo Evans for Tyshaun Prince. I saw a few rumors that the Pistons are ready to rebuild so why not attempt to make it happen. Come on ASG…Give us something to believe in
Najeh Davenpoop
August 30th, 2010
3:13 pm
“Yes, the Hawks did draft a shooting guard in Jordan Crawford, but 26 players were taken ahead of him and there’s no assurance he’s not the 21st Century Roy Marble. This rookie cannot be seen as rotation-ready, meaning the Hawks can’t just trade one J. Crawford and hand his workload — the NBA’s sixth man of the year averaged 31 minutes a night — to another J. Crawford.”
If he wasn’t rotation ready, he shouldn’t have been drafted by a team that was set at shooting guard and had gaping holes at other positions. The Hawks drafted Damion James, who would have instantly pushed Marvin for playing time, and dealt him for Jordan. Sund’s decision to choose him makes extending Jamal a bad idea in the long run. The obvious move would have been to trade Jamal back in July for players who fill more pressing needs; as we’ve repeatedly seen from this directionless and clueless front office, though, there is little sense of long-term planning and the main focus of their moves seems to be short term savings.
I will say this though — after watching the Hawks’ summer league, I disagree that Jordan is not rotation ready. Maybe he won’t average 18 points per game like Jamal, but he will be a solid contributor given the minutes.
northcyde
August 30th, 2010
3:25 pm
Horford is the priority, not Crawford.
As great as a season as Jamal had, he struggled just like Joe Johnson did in the playoffs. In fact, his 36% FG shooting was even worse than JJ’s pitiful 39% FG shooting. JJ AND Crawford sold us out in the playoffs.
Most of us already know that the ASG was going to allow Crawford’s deal to either expire at the end of the season, or he was going to be traded at the deadline. Re-signing both Crawford and Horford will put us into the Luxury Tax, a place where this ownership has pretty much vowed to avoid at all costs.
You DO NOT give Crawford a long term contract, before you deal with Horford. If you do that, it may be Horford that is complaining about his extension ( especially if the Hawks try to “low ball” him, due to the fact that they have Crawford locked up long term ).
We can’t risk not being able to sign Horford, because some other team aggressively goes after him next summer. The ASG better keep in mind that a team could easily frontload Horford’s contract in an offer sheet given to him, which would force the ASG to pay more in that first year for Horford, than they normally would.
So instead of Horford possibly earning 12 or 13 million in that first year in his contract, he could be earning 16 or 17 million, in a frontloaded contract. Add JJ and Smoove, and you’re looking at the Hawks already being close to 48 million in payroll in a frontloaded deal for Horford, just amongst those 3 players.
Add 20 more million for the 5 players on the Hawks who have contracts through 2012 ( Marvin, Bibby, Zaza, Teague, Jordan ), and you’re already looking at the Hawks being close to 70 million in payroll, in a frontloaded Horford contract.
So if you we want to keep Al, we CAN’T negotiate with Crawford first. If we do, that may be an indication that Horford won’t be back here, unless the ASG, all of a sudden, decides that they are now willing to pay the luxury tax.
northcyde
August 30th, 2010
3:34 pm
SteveW . . . that’s BS. Jamal shot 36% for the same reason why JJ shot poorly. They couldn’t make the same type of shots that they were making in the regular season. Both Crawford and JJ were missing wide open jumpers at times and couldn’t buy tough lay-ups in traffic.
JJ is the captain, so he deserves to take more heat for our playoff meltdown vs Orlando. LOL . . but Crawford technically had one good game vs Orlando ( Game 2 ). He does NOT deserve to be praised like he was the only one balling in that series. The whole damn team sucked in that series.
King Teezo
August 30th, 2010
3:46 pm
northcyde
August 30th, 2010
3:34 pm
SteveW . . . that’s BS. Jamal shot 36% for the same reason why JJ shot poorly. They couldn’t make the same type of shots that they were making in the regular season. Both Crawford and JJ were missing wide open jumpers at times and couldn’t buy tough lay-ups in traffic.
JJ is the captain, so he deserves to take more heat for our playoff meltdown vs Orlando. LOL . . but Crawford technically had one good game vs Orlando ( Game 2 ). He does NOT deserve to be praised like he was the only one balling in that series. The whole damn team sucked in that series.
——————————————————————————
LOL @ the whole damn team sucked…lol…Ain’t that the truth…
And yea, Horford SHOULD be the priority right now, not Crawford, he’s not the only trigger happy shooter in the league…Peace…
tyger
August 30th, 2010
4:13 pm
Don’t Blame Crawford…contenders pay luxury taxes…duh!!!
Why shouldn’t Jamal ask for his money? This is a business, shouldn’t he be paid fair market value for his labor? Is he supposed to give his labor away or at a discount? Why?
Does he have a no-trade clause? No. Has ownership-mgt. guaranteed that he will end his career here? No. Then why shouldn’t he get fair market value?
He’s at his peak – NBA 6th Man of Year – and could’ve easily averaged over 20ppg. last season but deferred to JJ out of respect. Jamal is an intelligent player on and off the court. You never hear his name involved in foolishness. And in all fairness, the Hawks won 53 games, when they shouldv’e won 60 and many of those 53 were more b/c of Crawford than JJ or Bibby – two of the most overpaid Hawks.
You can’t blame Jamal for looking around the locker -room and not feeling used. Bibby’s getting $6M per, Marvin $7M per, JJ $18M per and neither is better than Jamal. Well, that’s the problem.
The solution is another story, which leads you back to the inept ATL Spirit – the root of all of our problems. Championship caliber teams pay luxury taxes…duh!!! Openly admitting your refusal to pay luxury taxes is an admission that your are not competing for a championship. Instead, you are riding the NBA economic bandwagon – we more like the Clippers than the Lakers.
durtyturd
August 30th, 2010
4:37 pm
The front office should be ashamed after this off-season. They are the laughing stock of the NBA at this point. Joe said screw the city and gets signed to an outrageous deal that pretty much will handicap the team for years to come. Maybe they are having buyers remorse and are gonna wait it out with crawford.
rusty
August 30th, 2010
4:39 pm
who the hell wants bibby,mo & marvin? that trio wouldnt get you a good steak ,melo are you crazy? why the hell did we give greedy ball hogging joe all of that money,he certainly didnt deseve it. he is a ball hog & an inconsistant shooter & i certainly dont want the ball in his hand in crunch time, jasmal is a better outside shooter,better going to the hoop, a better passer,certainly plays with more passion. we didnt have to pay greedy joe all that money,no one else would have. sund eats crap & has done nothing to improve this team
Top Magic and NBA news: Monday, August 30 | Outdoor sports, camping, tenis, golf
August 30th, 2010
4:41 pm
[...] Another Hawks dilemma: Pay Jamal Crawford or dump him?, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Mark Bradley The Buzz: “Crawford must be taken [...]
truthspitter
August 30th, 2010
4:46 pm
The Hawks have searched the garbage can and bout out Pap Sye.
http://hoopshype.com/rumors/tag/atlanta_hawks
Gary
August 30th, 2010
4:47 pm
Looks like the beginnng of the end of the Hawks brief run at respectability. I see the Hawks taking a giant step backwards this season, maybe not even making the playoff’s if this type of decision making continues. It’s a shame, Hawks fans and players deserve better.
tyger
August 30th, 2010
4:49 pm
Adding insult to injury…
TBS settles the $281M lawsuit award of David McDavid, i.e. the ATL Spirit never should’ve been “given” the franchise. All this agony and turmoil from a group of trespassers. The NBA governors should “evict” them and award the franchise to the rightful owner, McDavid.
Rock Conner
August 30th, 2010
5:01 pm
ASG deserves the likes of Jamal Crawford, & ATL fans deserve better than all these clowns.
Kapoonka
August 30th, 2010
5:26 pm
Some of ya’ll tripping!!!! J Crawford was pretty much the only reason I watched the Hawks. He has an unassuming demeanor with the skills of an assassin. Have you ever heard him in an interview? He’s intelligent, thoughtful and a bonafide shooter. He has more personality in his little finger than yaaawwwnnnn Joe Johnson has in his entire body. I know he should be starting, but they are dead set on letting Teague start who still isn’t ready. Jordan Crawford ain’t ready for prime time yet just because he dunked on LeBron once. Oh BTW…I know LBJ is going to return the favor whenever meet in a real NBA game. Jamal Crawford is definitely a keeper, so they need to do do whatever to keep him. How many games did he win last year on final shots? How many did JJ have? Great sixth men do not grow on trees. As Ochocinco would say….child please!!!!!
RomeDawg
August 30th, 2010
7:06 pm
Trade his arse!! He was never a winner until he played in Atlanta. Jordan Crawford has the potential to surprise. Not saying he’s as good as Jamal, but he has some big time potential.
MostKnownUnknown
August 30th, 2010
7:08 pm
Sekou is aboard the melo to atl 4 jcraw train
http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2010/08/30/summer-solutions/?ls=iref:nbahpt1
nash
August 30th, 2010
7:11 pm
The hawks might not be able to get carmelo. But what about a trade for J.R. Smith
Najeh Davenpoop
August 30th, 2010
7:22 pm
“You DO NOT give Crawford a long term contract, before you deal with Horford.”
I’ll take it a step further — you do not give Crawford a long term contract regardless of what happens with Horford. Signing one backup to a long-term deal when you just drafted another backup who is the exact same size and plays the exact same position the exact same way is just poor asset management. If the Hawks intend for Jordan Crawford to contribute to this team now or in the near future, signing Jamal Crawford to a long-term deal makes no sense. And if you presume that Jamal will be asking for Manu Ginobili money, you’re talking about $26 million worth of annual salary tied up in three players who all play SG — $28 million if you include Mo Evans at SG. That makes absolutely no sense for a team that refuses to exceed the luxury tax. Either you give Jamal a long term deal and trade Jordan — which isn’t feasible since you likely won’t get equal value in return for Jordan’s rookie scale contract — or you trade Jamal and keep Jordan.
Jamal is trade bait, and has been since Jordan got drafted. It’s just too bad our lazy azz GM and incompetent ownership didn’t make a trade happen already, before teams had more or less finalized their rosters for the upcoming season.
Najeh Davenpoop
August 30th, 2010
7:23 pm
And none of that is an indictment of Jamal Crawford as a player. I am a big fan of his and I’m not underestimating his impact on the Hawks last year. I am just saying that the Hawks’ decision to pick Jordan Crawford in the first round pretty much ensured that Jamal had to be traded. If the Hawks wanted to keep Jamal Crawford around, they should have hung on to Damion James.
DB
August 30th, 2010
7:34 pm
Here we go again…….please sell this team to Wyoming and let Atlantans go on and look forward to football. We will never be a Basketball town…..NEVER!!!!! I only hope the fans boycott this silly team and run them out of towm!!!!! FED THE HELL UP!!!
Roy Roger
August 30th, 2010
7:51 pm
Has anyone seen Sekou Smith’s latest blog entry on a potential Atlanta-Denver trade to satisfy Crawford and Melo? He presents a pretty interesting take on the situation and recommends a trade that would send Jamal Crawford and Josh Smith to Denver for Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith. As much as I’d hate to let Josh Smith go, considering he’s such an incredibly talented player with lots of versatility, you can’t really argue with the benefits that this type of trade would have on the Hawk’s team. This would give you one of the top 5 best players in the league, someone who could effectively become the primary scoring option and allow JJ to take a role as the second option, which he may be more comfortable with. This also makes the team more dangerous offensively as it gives multiple closers in close games. Not only that, but the Hawks would finally have the SF position solidified by moving Marvin to the bench, a role which I think he would be much more suited for. And, to top things off, this allows Horford to move to PF, a position which he finds to be more comfortable, for the majority of his minutes. However, I do see some potential issues arising from this trade.
Although you don’t essentially lose anything offensively (you actually gain offensive from this trade if you’re the Hawks), There would obviously be a bit of a hole in terms of post defense. Al will essentially have his position locked down, so I don’t worry much about him, but I don’t think the Hawks post defense would be as effective with someone other than Josh playing alongside him. Josh is one of the best help-side defenders in the league, and since Al is one of the best individual post-defenders, their skill sets complement one another very well. If you remove Josh though, who is left to cover the weak side and erase those extra defensive mistakes? I wouldn’t be comfortable starting Zaza at center, and I neither Powell nor Collins have proven to be anything close to exceptional on defense, so the Center position would most definitely become weaker if Horford moved to PF full-time.
This is where J.R. Smith comes in. He’s a streaky offensive player who can really explode for points on occasion, however, his attitude and lack of consistency seem to suggest that it would be best if the Hawks were to use him as a trade chip instead. I don’t think the Hawks will be hard-pressed for offense with a line-up that includes JJ, Melo, and Big Al in it. The Hawks could essentially package J.R. Smith and perhaps Bibby, Mo Evans, or one of the “third-string bigs” in a deal for a serviceable big man to start alongside Horford. I know a lot of this is hypothetical thinking, and Carmelo and Jamal would both have to actually want to play for Atlanta and Denver, respectively, but it’s fun to think about it. Imagine how much more publicity the Hawks would get with Melo on the team, and imagine how dangerous a team with JJ, Melo, Horford, Marvin, Teague, and JC2 could be now and in the future.
KevinM
August 30th, 2010
9:29 pm
Najeh, dead on! Sund had no clue where he stood with E#2, hence egg on the face with JC1 and JC2.
There isn’t enough bench slots to keep both of them.
Wanna bet LBJ wants to welcome JC2 to the NBA?
Roy, if you are moving anyone on this team to get Carmelo, its Marvin. Let someone else reap the rewards from a guy who never stepped up to the #2 or #3 offensive option. He doesn’t like the inside game and prefers to stand in the corner waiting for his jumper to show up.
I would hate to lose Smoove too, but getting a top 5 SF? Where do I sign? Al is more of a risk and more than Denver deserves knowing that they HAVE to trade him.
Perhaps a 3 headed monster, Marvin/JC1/Smoove….It will probably take Al or Smoove to peak their interest and then you have to roll the dice whether you could sign him LT.
We might have to take JR Smith off their hands…….but JR could get JC1’s minutes and be an instant contributor. I like that option. 6M is doable to bring in the risky Smith.
SteveW
August 30th, 2010
10:38 pm
Northcyde – I beg to differ – but I’ve been on basketball teams where most of your other teammates quit, usually due to daunting circumstances presented by the other team, and it’s no fun to be in that situation. You do all you can do, and realize there is really nothing you can do.
I think JJ quit during the 2nd round – between Matt Barnes and Peitreus guarding him, and a Free Agent contract looming – it just seemed to me that he deferred to Jamal, like here, you pick up the slack. Just my observations.
gapickett
August 30th, 2010
11:15 pm
Crawford and Marvin are from Washington State, Bibby is from Arizona. Melo and J.R. Smith are from the East Coast….So trade Crawford, Marvin, and Bibby to Denver for Melo and J.R., both are looking to get out of Denver.
Murph
August 31st, 2010
6:50 am
I remember when Sports had players with Honor! When you sign a contract it’s your reasonability to fulfill the contract, play hard and represent the team you play for with dignity and pride. I’d trade him to the worst team in the league!
Hawks moves mean pick Pape Sy will be at camp, will Jamal Crawford be? – ProBasketballTalk (blog) | Free NBA Videos
August 31st, 2010
10:31 am
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) [...]
Keith
August 31st, 2010
11:52 am
Pay the Man!! Yes..Jamal didn’t show up in the playoffs but they wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for him during the season. Atlanta needs to stop being so cheap & decide if they’re going to play with the bog boys…which might mean to take a few million hits of the Luxury tax to keep this party going. They will have a major problem next year when they try the same cheap tricjk when convincing Horford to stay…he’s a bona fide star who will end up in Miami if they let him get away!!