Atlanta Hawks: Still waiting on J.J.

[GameTime]

The apparent hesitation by J.J. to accept the Hawks’ six-year, maximum contract offer has led to speculation that perhaps he’s waiting to see what happens with LeBron and other top free agents before committing to Atlanta.

SI’s Ian Thomsen reported earlier today that J.J. and Stoudemire remained “open-minded” about taking less money to sign with the Knicks if LeBron goes there (though now it looks like Amare already is committed to New York) . Under that scenario, which Thomsen described as a “longshot”, either J.J. or Amare (or both) would have to take even less than the non-Bird max to play with LeBron in New York since the Knicks don’t have the cap space to give all three max deals.

Meanwhile, the Hawks continue to wait on Joe. There still have been no indications that he won’t accept their offer. His agent says Joe is “comfortable” and “happy” in Atlanta. In their last meeting, the Hawks reiterated their desire to offer him $27 million more than what he can get on the market. So I’m not sure what’s the hold up.

If you are still hoping for a J.J. sign-and-trade, the transaction would have to happen all at once. When the signing period opens on July 8, the Hawks couldn’t sign J.J. and then trade him later in a separate transaction. Under CBA rules, if J.J. re-signs with the Hawks he’s not eligible to be traded for 90 days or until Dec. 15, whichever comes later.

http://blogs.ajc.com/hawks/2010/07/02/atlanta-hawks-still-waiting-on-j-j/?cxntfid=blogs_hawks&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Edited July 3, 2010 by GameTime

[gsuteke]

Bs

[coachx]

S.I.

All I need to say. S.I. has not been relevant in a decade.

NY has no shot at 3 max players. The Stoudemire, JJ, James reference is asinine and only intended to mislead the lunatic fans in NY and to get clicks to justify advertising charges.

[ILOVEmyWIFEtoo]

S.I.

All I need to say. S.I. has not been relevant in a decade.

NY has no shot at 3 max players. The Stoudemire, JJ, James reference is asinine and only intended to mislead the lunatic fans in NY and to get clicks to justify advertising charges.

+1

[WraithSentinel]

JJ :slap1: Either accept the fing deal now or go be a real Superstar b*tch.

Edited July 3, 2010 by Paladin

[buckeye242424]

Twenty-seven million dollars more. Speaks for itself in my mind. I think Joe re-signs. Hell, no one can officially sign for a few more days anyway...everyone will speculate. JJ would be dumb to turn this offer down.

[KB21]

I doubt the validity of the report, and at this point, I wouldn't trust anything anyone who has no association with the Hawks says.

However, if this were true, it could very well be a blessing in disguise. I know a lot of fans are misguided with the idea that the Hawks will stink without Joe, but if he did rebuff the Hawks to go to New York, then that gets the Hawks off the hook for this albatross of a contract and gets New York on the hook for TWO albatross contracts.

[HawksFan87]

Joe is gonna drag this out so long, that no one worth trading for or signing will be left. watch lol..