dig

Remember that there's no reliable information that suggests either Smith or Howard have any interest in playing for the Hawks long-term. In fact, there's evidence to the contrary. This holy union of Smith + Howard +/- CP3 is pure speculation. Then, keep in mind that the Magic own Howard's rights... they will trade him to the team that offers them the best package, irrespective of Dwight's desire to sign an extension with that team. While the Hawks certainly have the potential to offer a more attractive package than, say, the Rockets or Mavs, that package would have to include both Al Horford and the willingness to accept bad contracts in return. That's because the teams we would (hypothetically) be competing with are going to offer several talented players (altho no one on Al's level, agreed)... and because shedding these contracts (particularly Hedo's) is imperative to the Magic's rebuilding process. Again, I think Ferry knows what he's doing and will only entertain the idea if he's certain Howard will sign an extension. Obviously, the dream would be to trade Al + expirings + Teague/1st for Dwight and then announcing his extension the next day, but even after today I don't see that happening.

Hollinger lives in Atlanta and is a hawks fan... in fact, he probably posts on this board. I knew he would post a hallelujah article tonight, and he didn't disappoint. I used to be a fan of Harris and wanted him here for years... even coming out of Wisconsin I was hoping he'd fall to us when we ultimately took Childress. But his game has regressed, particularly defensively, he still can't shoot, and he's an average passer.... plus he's always battling some nagging injury (even when he's playing). You can say some of those things about Teague (altho Jeff plays harder on D), and Harris is probably better right now when healthy... but not by much. Plus, we're not going to win a lot of games next year with or without Harris, and he'll most certainly be gone next summer. Plus, Teague is our PG of the future (for now), and needs playing time. Plus, I wouldn't mind getting a higher draft pick seeing as we aren't going to be contenders next season. So, I wouldn't mind shipping Harris out or playing Teague over him.

Orlando will obviously ask for Horford plus a couple of our new expirings, and make us take at least one bad contract (Hedo, Duhon, Big Baby, Quentin/Jason Richardson), if not two. They may also ask for our pick or Houston's lotto protected pick, or Teague. That may sound like a lot, but even if the Rockets can't offer the Magic an All Star they do have a number of talented, cheap young players. Of course, it sounds like Howard would have no interest in re-signing with the Rockets if he's traded there.I think if Howard agrees to sign an extension you trade Al/expirings for him and take Hedo's contract... it may take Teague/1st rounder on top of that. If Howard refuses to commit to an extension, then I think it's too big of a gamble b/c he's never shown a strong desire to play in Atlanta even though it seems like such an attractive destination for him. Ferry's background, and now his actions, indicate he's positioning the Hawks for long-term success and stability, and won't trade our best asset + picks for a one year rental while taking on a bad contract.

I give Josh props for the way he played down the stretch, but it still feels like (on balance) he is more of a liability than asset due to his well-chronicled lack of discipline and basketball IQ (namely shot selection, also turnovers/bad passes and the poor positioning lw3 mentioned). He's already played 7 seasons, and if the light hasn't come on yet he may never "get it." His value is still in his potential to be elite as much as in his performance as intermittently spectacular, which is pretty ridiculous for someone with his level of experience. I would love to see how he'd play under a disciplinarian coach who whipped him into shape and sat him every time he took a shot outside of 16ft, but it seems like he's regressed in this regard under Larry Drew -- who looks to be our coach for quite a while after this performance. Hate to make such negative remarks after a great win, but it seems sometimes we get wins like this in spite of Josh rather than because of him (his best rnd 1 game was the blowout loss, and he missed our only other Bulls win this year). However, if he can somehow convince his buddy Dwight to come home to ATL then his value goes through the roof.

I think JJ's tired of hearing that he's not a superstar because he doesn't show up in big/playoff games, and that he's not worth the $120M (there is merit to both arguments, of course).... he's finally playing with that edge/confidence/attack mode that we've seen in bursts during the regular season throughout the past few years. He knows there's no one on the Bulls that can guard him, as he's too fast or too big for anyone on that team, and is trusting his talent to put him in good positions to score, instead of either over-dribbling until the clock runs out or taking contested jumpers. If we can alternate this with Jamal's shot-making, I love our chances.

I agree with coachx above... this draft is weak at every position but PG, and many teams are cash-strapped and may be willing to move down to avoid the higher rookie contract. I like the three guys he mentioned... my order would be 1. Lawson, 2. Flynn, 3. Maynor), as well as Jrue Holiday and of course Jennings/Rubio likely out of reach. The beauty of those three guys is that they are essentially Woody-proof (especially Lawson), in that they are already NBA-ready and NCAA winners (of course we thought this with Law, also, but...). If we can't make this happen (by giving up Acie, Marvin, or Bibby), my top two realistically would be Jarret Jack and Sergio Rodriguez, who are basically polar opposites of one another and might actually work well together. The problem is the Blazers are trying to package their depth to get a PG until Bayless is ready, and Sergio alone isn't good enough IMO. Sessions is solid, but he also has no range and, more importantly, is a mediocre defender (although certainly better than Bibby). I would take him in a heartbeat tho and let Bibby walk, then draft a PG for the future coach to develop. Maybe just as good, sign Andre Miller (who prob wants to go back West) to a short contract and let him teach the new PG (and Acie) until we get a real coach. I also agree with coachx's last paragraph.... this team is going nowhere until Woody is gone. We've gotten this far on pure talent alone but b/c of our coaching deficiencies it's obvious that our ceiling is not very high -- even if we were healthy and had improved depth and roster balance....

Remember Rio was a walk on at Tech who managed to find his way onto an NBA roster... he's the type of guy who would take the assignment seriously, and likely has been an underdog his whole basketball career and would love to show D-Wade up. This is the type of brilliant move that the games better coaches (ie. Phil sticking Tyron Lue on Iverson) are capable of -- sadly, I don't think Woody has the foresight or confidence in himself to do this. I think it could work great in stretches but I'd be reluctant to keep Flip/Bibby off the court for too long give our "creative offensive" deficiencies... but why not let Rio hound Wade for a few minutes when he starts to go on a tear...

This is actually a pretty good thought... the more we win the more attractive the Hawks will be to vets looking for a good situation. I think Deke would consider us for the LLE, although a few other teams would likely be interested. I also like the Jake Voskuhl idea if he's in shape.

He is worth more to us than any other team for marketing and PR reasons (as well as our lack of game-changing talent). We can afford to sit back and see what other teams offer him, and simply match the highest deal that comes in... few teams have cap space this summer, and those that do will give him a big contract but probably not max $$. I'm hoping for a deal around six years/$70M that starts at $10M and escalates to $13M by the last year... I think that's fair. Not too untradeable, yet decent value if he blows up. Smoove may not have made the All-Star team last year but he's already a top 20 player in the EC... if he played for a coach he respected he could be an All-Star even without developing a jump shot/offensive game...

Nothing has really been determined on the David Andersen front... there was a report that said we signed DA to a "preliminary contract" but there is no such contract in the NBA and I think the Israeli newspaper was just confused... Obviously, we own his rights, and he is a free agent this summer. He has also said that he'd like to play in the NBA in the future.... all good signs. However, he's being paid well in Europe... ~$2M after taxes plus all his expenses are paid for, and he'll get a raise this summer. He's also an All-Star and on a winning club (he just led CSKA to the Euroleague championship... their 3rd straight appearance and second title in three years). I think it would take at least $4M to get him over here using our MLE, but we might have to use the whole MLE (~$5.5M) which I'm not sure the ASG would go for. Until the contract is signed I'd give it 50/50 just b/c DA has said he'd really like to play in the NBA.

Quote: its actually 50 mil if speedy resigns, cos of cap decreases on players for next season, so if we dont resign josh and josh in the resigning time, we can spend 5 mil on someone and go over the cap to resign both joshes joshes and have the mle and lle. the joshes dont hold any cap at all if we dont resign them. we can get a really good player for 9/8 mil if speedy retires but we dont resign both joshes, we want to sign both joshes after we sign a allstar not resign them like i keep saying lol... so bottom line its possible to get a goood player here, depends on speedy, anyway since yous dont believe me or something lol which player on the mle and lle would use like to sign ? 1. As soon as you renounce a player you lose his Bird Rights... if we don't re-sign the Joshes during the matching period or renounce them they are essentially unrestricted free agents and we can't go over the cap to sign them. In other words we can't sign another FA during the summer and then still use their restricted status to go over the cap. If this were possible there would be no need for a cap hold. 2. Consider our salary right now to be about ~$70M... we also have Salim with a x2 cap hold ($1.6M) that can be renounced and Solo's small contract that can be waived. That means we are over the cap unless we let both Joshes walk, and if both are brought back we'll likely will hit the luxury tax threshold (~$70M coincidentally) without even using the MLE or LLE. 3. I think right now the MLE is earmarked for David Andersen, although it's not certain that he'll come over. I can't think of anyone else who's worth it on the market more than DA, but again the ASG has to be willing to go over the LT. FYI about 13 teams in the NBA in were over the LT last year, and the only decent ones under had stars on rookie/cheap contracts (Howard, CP3, Deron, Calderon). I understand the ASG has been losing money on its franchises each year, so I wouldn't be surprised if we went into next season with the same roster we have now to avoid even more losses....

They were lucky they got anything (a conditional 2nd-rounder & $9M trade exception) for Rashard Lewis as he opted out and they had no leverage... he wasn't going to be re-signed as they wouldn't have matched the ridiculous, monstrous deal Orlando gave Lewis. Sund's real mistake was not trading Lewis earlier in the year when they could have received value for him... I know many Sonics fans thought they could have re-signed him but he repeatedly said he was going to opt out so Sund should have traded him realizing ownership wouldn't have stepped up and matched other offers...

Quote: The bottom line here is that beggars can't be choosers. Everyone else was turning the Hawks down. If you were an assistant GM would you take a job here relatively low pay knowing that the coach is already in place and that Gearon & Co would be meddling in your job? I agree with this... if you consider the ASG's record & reputation, getting a veteran GM (albeit one with a questionable profile) like Gund is a homerun in my book... I was sure that Billy King or a complete unknown like Harold Ellis would get the job by default, especially after Stein's article that indicated Chris Grant, of all people, turned the job down.

The only way Baron Davis comes to ATL is if we give him a contract extension that other, better teams are reluctant to provide given his injury risk.... Do you see the ASG doing that? He would prefer to stay in Golden State and he's a West Coast guy, so would only leave if he got tons of $$ or went to a better situation. The Warriors won't trade his existing contract as they'd rather keep him for the season (vs., say, Bibby) and if they need to his expiring can be moved before the deadline...

Well, Sund didn't pick Durant.... he was "re-assigned" and Presti was hired as GM to make the selection (again, a no-brainer). All in all, Sund has a pretty mediocre draft record, but the ownership situation there has been a mess (even Schultz gave little support before Bennett arrived, although Howard is trying to make amends right now).... Sund had very little money to work with. That doesn't excuse his draft results, but Swift's injury really tarnished Sund's reputation (although only high-risk high schoolers like Jefferson and J. Smith have really made an impact after #12), and Sene was taken as a LT project in a very weak draft.... Petro was a good pick @#25..... Ridnour looks average now but was once considered a decent prospect, and Collison @ #12 is actually pretty solid as a 10/10 guy who'll have a long career.