Sekou's new blog

[coachx]

http://blogs.ajc.com/hawks/2009/06/10/doll...fid=blogs_hawks Edited June 10, 2009 by coachx

[gsuteke]

I don't think you can say with certainty that the Hawks front office has been cheap.

They haven't dished out huge money because they've had almost all of their key players under rookie contracts. The front office and ownership knew those contracts would be running out in time.

They did take on additional salary (and a substantial amount of it) in the Bibby trade last year.

I don't take them not spending money on Childress last summer as necessarily being "cheap." I think what they perceived Childress' value to be and Childress' agent's weren't in the same ballpark. Since no other NBA team stepped up with an offer to Childress forcing the Hawks to match it I'd tend to side with the Hawks on that decision vs. Childress' agent.

If Bibby takes a 5 million dollar pay cut (he should take more than that actually) and you add it to Marvin's contract from this season one piece is there. Pachulia will command a 1 to 2 million dollar raise. Flip will command 3.

My point is the Hawks could resign all of their FAs and easily come in with only a slightly larger payroll than this year.

That is until Al needs to be resigned the following year.

I just don't see the Chicken Little reaction here.

[coachx]

No, the sky is not falling.

I do not think the Hawks have been cheap either. As you said, the Bibby aquisition proved that and bumped Atlanta right againt the luxury tax limit.

The Chillz bit was off. The entire NBA was "cheap" then in refering to Chillz using the logic of the blog. He chose to take more money / perks in Greece. Thats fine but it does not make the Hawks cheap b/c they did not over spend for him. No other team in the NBA gave him an offer either. He may have had talks with other teams but they never actually gave him the dotted line to sign.

The Smoove situation was not cheap either. Its how you do business with RFAs. There were no bidders for Smith until very later in the FA process. Why bid against yourself ? That is just bad business.

Now we live in the present. Hopefully they keep it together this off season. Looking foward to seeing how the roster pans out.

Edited June 10, 2009 by coachx

[NJHAWK]

I wonder what vet point guard the Hawks are debating on sending Speedy and pick 19 for? Hinrich, TJFord?

[bird_dirt]

I wonder what vet point guard the Hawks are debating on sending Speedy and pick 19 for? Hinrich, TJFord?

that was what i found most intriguing in this blog.

"And from all the conversations I’ve had, the Hawks are torn between using the 19th pick and Speedy Claxton’s contract (along with other potential considerations) to grab an established point guard or gambling that the player they deem worthy will still be available at 19."

wonder if they have had any talks with other teams over trades for a pg already. also curious given sekou's wording on the second part of the sentance above if they've already decided on who "the player they deem worthy" is in this draft. outside of patty mills, i haven't heard much on the hawks working anybody out.

[macdaddy]

I think they're wrong about Chill. If he stays another year in Greece I think interest in him will wane. He can still come back to the NBA but I think he'll be better off doing it now. Seems like some teams would give him an offer because I would think the Hawks wouldn't match at this point.

[TheDude]

that was what i found most intriguing in this blog.

"And from all the conversations I’ve had, the Hawks are torn between using the 19th pick and Speedy Claxton’s contract (along with other potential considerations) to grab an established point guard or gambling that the player they deem worthy will still be available at 19."

wonder if they have had any talks with other teams over trades for a pg already. also curious given sekou's wording on the second part of the sentance above if they've already decided on who "the player they deem worthy" is in this draft. outside of patty mills, i haven't heard much on the hawks working anybody out.

agree..i could be looking too much into but if they are looking at a player thats worthy to be there but have a possibility of not being there, then we could rule out maybe some players whose stock is below that such as Douglas...

in any case, i'd love to trade for hinrich or get gordon as a poster after the article said...but hinrich would be good.

[Guest]

“Check their roster and see how many guys they spent serious money on. It’s a short list. They inherited Bibby’s big deal and now that’s gone. They signed Joe [Johnson] and Josh [smith] to their deals. Beyond that, there wasn’t a single guy on their roster they spent mid-level money on, not one, and that says something.”

Uh...didn't we spend more than the MLE on Claxton? Yup. This Eastern Conference exec must not be very good. Any guesses? I woulud venture to say someone in the Pacers organization because thats where Sekou was previously a beat writer. Also the Pacers aren't a good organization, they spend a lot of money and don't produce, thus giving them a slanted view of the NBA that you need to spend to be competative.

I also don't see how "interiting" a contract is any different than signing someone. You had to sign someone at some point in time to be able to acquire a contract.

[DrReality]

Sekou is usually not this pessimistic. Wonder if he knows more or its speculation?

[ATLJA316]

Sekou is usually not this pessimistic. Wonder if he knows more or its speculation?

HAHAHA, if you look to the left of Bibby's shorts in the pic on Sekou's blog, you can see me with my hand in the air yelling.

I love that pic.

[coachx]

Sekou is usually not this pessimistic. Wonder if he knows more or its speculation?

One player pointed to last summer's free agent season as proof that the Hawks didn't exactly swing for the fences and insisted that their frugal ways will come back to haunt them eventually, perhaps as soon as this summer.

"They waited until the last minute on [smith] and had to wait for Memphis to put something on the table to get a deal done," he said. "They lost the other Josh to Greece and then filled the holes with role players. Let's be real man, and I’m not disrespecting anybody but signing Randolph Morris, Othello Hunter and Thomas Gardner doesn’t translate into championship moves. That sounds more like a team worried about spending some real money. And to players, that's the kind of franchise you don't want to deal with when you're a free agent."

I wonder what "player" said this ? Was it a Hawks' player ? I doubt a guy on the Hawks would name players / teamates by name like that but would a player on another team even know Gardner and Hunter's 1st names ? Hmmmmmm. The threat of "hurting them this summer" makes it sound like it could have been one of our own FA's saying this as a "threat." However, I'm betting Chillz is the guy Sekou is quoting here. Chillz has sour grapes and notice there was no mention of Flip or Mo (the guys who took Chillz place, for less combined money, and combined to give much more production).

I see nothing wrong with the way the Smoove and Chillz were handled. No team in the NBA thought Chillz was worth what he makes in Greece. It was not in the Hawks best interest to bid against themselves in the Smoove free agency. They waited for the market to set his value and then matched and retained him. The signing of Hunter was a good one for a team without a draft pick. Dude has a 9'2'' reach and could be solid PF off the bench one day.

Edited June 11, 2009 by coachx

[gt4403]

I have a question I have been wondering about for a while. Why was an overseas team able to even sign chillz to a contract. I know he was a restricted free agent. He was allowed to sign an offer sheet which we could match or he could take our qualifying offer and play it out to free agency. But this sounds like they signed him outrigt with us not being able to match no that we would have any way. It is my understanding that for us to sign overseas players we have to wait until there contract is up or they have an opt out. This doesn't seem to apply to chillz. I'm sure ther is a reason. I just don't know what it is.

[coachx]

I have a question I have been wondering about for a while. Why was an overseas team able to even sign chillz to a contract. I know he was a restricted free agent. He was allowed to sign an offer sheet which we could match or he could take our qualifying offer and play it out to free agency. But this sounds like they signed him outrigt with us not being able to match no that we would have any way. It is my understanding that for us to sign overseas players we have to wait until there contract is up or they have an opt out. This doesn't seem to apply to chillz. I'm sure ther is a reason. I just don't know what it is.

The free agent rules in the NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement apply to NBA teams only. They have no authority to control Euro teams over seas.

[gt4403]

It does seem as though we can not sign their players the same way. We have to wait until their contracts end or work on a buyout. Unless I am missing something, it seems a little one sided. It seems the NBA would find a way to discourage players from not honoring the CBA maybe a by banning said player for a certain amount of time.

[Packfill]

It does seem as though we can not sign their players the same way. We have to wait until their contracts end or work on a buyout. Unless I am missing something, it seems a little one sided. It seems the NBA would find a way to discourage players from not honoring the CBA maybe a by banning said player for a certain amount of time.

Chills was not under contract when he signed to play in Greece. It is no different then a Euro player signing with an NBA team after their contract has terminated. The reason for the buyouts is because the contract is ongoing. The Euro club essentially agrees to void the remaining years on the players contract in exchange for cash.

I don't see the problem.