Josh turned down 3 years / 45 million before season from Hawks

[Admin]

http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/page/weekenddime-130412-13/awards-ballot

It's easy to forget now, after they tried so hard to trade him in February, but the Hawks did want to sign Josh Smith to a contract extension before the season started.

The figure shared with me this week: Atlanta's offer coming into the 2012-13 campaign was a three-year extension worth in excess of $45 million.

Yet sources close to the situation say that the extension talks never got too deep because Smith made it clear from the start that he wanted to make it to free agency, which would enable him to sign a longer deal. League rules on extensions precluded the Hawks from offering anything longer than three extra years during the season.

The Hawks, however, grew increasingly uneasy with the arrangement as the season wore on, since Smith's stance set him up to be an unrestricted free agent July 1 who could leave town without compensation. So Atlanta aggressively shopped Smith before the Feb. 21 trade deadline and was engaged in serious talks with Milwaukee right up to the trade buzzer. But the Bucks, unwilling to include Monta Ellis or Ersan Ilyasova in the deal, watched the Hawks walk away from the table with mere minutes to go before the deadline and instead swing a deal with Orlando headlined by J.J. Redick.

Now to see what happens on the open market for Smith in 80 days. The all-purpose lefty forward who perennially ranks as one of the league's foremost defenders has no shortage of detractors as well as fans. Just don't forget that he's headed into a players' market -- with numerous teams projected to have salary-cap space to spend -- as the No. 3 available free agent in the latest ESPN rankings courtesy of ESPN Insider's Amin Elhassan

[yungsta]

Hopefully he was offered that so he could of been used as a trading asset since this offseason we wont have many assets at all but an enormous amount of cap space. His value when we tried to trade him while he was expiring was next to zero.

Edited April 15, 2013 by yungsta

[Peoriabird]

Thank God!!!!

[Brotha2ThaNite]

Dang, I want to see this link "latest ESPN rankings"Can any of you share that link?

[coachx]

T. Evans + JJ Hickson for $15 mill per year > Josh Smith for $15 mill per year

[MrMeltdown]

Might take 15 to 16 a year to resign and I would not.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

T. Evans + JJ Hickson for $15 mill per year > Josh Smith for $15 mill per year

If we could get those two for that price, that would be big time. May have to overpay to pry Tyreke from Kings though. Not sure I'd do that. But overpaying Tyreke means something like 8 - 9 mill a year, compared to overpaying for Josh, which would mean 14 - 16 mill a year.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

As for Josh turning down that deal, he had to turn down that deal. He'll get a contract more than 45 million from somebody. A team will at least give him a 4 year - 50 to 60 million dollar deal. I still say that a team like Houston or Cleveland is going to make a big run at Josh this summer.

People must keep in mind that the main reason why Josh is somewhat expendable to the Hawks, is because Horford can slide right in and play PF. At that point, if the Hawks can get a quality center ( Nicola Pekovic ) at a price cheaper than Josh, that will help balance out the team in a big way on offense. Problem is, I can easily see the T-Wolves overpaying to keep Pekovic in the mix, because he's a big time fan favorite now.

[yungsta]

As for Josh turning down that deal, he had to turn down that deal. He'll get a contract more than 45 million from somebody. A team will at least give him a 4 year - 50 to 60 million dollar deal. I still say that a team like Houston or Cleveland is going to make a big run at Josh this summer.

People must keep in mind that the main reason why Josh is somewhat expendable to the Hawks, is because Horford can slide right in and play PF. At that point, if the Hawks can get a quality center ( Nicola Pekovic ) at a price cheaper than Josh, that will help balance out the team in a big way on offense. Problem is, I can easily see the T-Wolves overpaying to keep Pekovic in the mix, because he's a big time fan favorite now.

Due to the Gilbert Arenas rule of the new CBA since he was a 2nd round pick he cant be paid more than a certain amount. I think the max he can get is like 12 mil a year. The twolves would match that easily so yea he is going no where.

[Buzzard]

Due to the Gilbert Arenas rule of the new CBA since he was a 2nd round pick he cant be paid more than a certain amount. I think the max he can get is like 12 mil a year. The twolves would match that easily so yea he is going no where.

I think the Wolves will match 12 also, but reports are their brain trust won't like it. Not many think a maxed out core of Rubio, Love, and Nikola is good enough to play for a championship; and that includes TWolves own management team. If we don't get Howard, I say force their hand and make them pay.

[Admin]

I think the Wolves will match 12 also, but reports are their brain trust won't like it. Not many think a maxed out core of Rubio, Love, and Nikola is good enough to play for a championship; and that includes TWolves own management team. If we don't get Howard, I say force their hand and make them pay.

Only downside to that is that we'd have to wait a week for them to match and during that time our funds would be tied up in the offer. Which means we'd have to renounce Smith to open up another max salary spot and I'm not sure Ferry will be willing to do that.

[MaceCase]

Only downside to that is that we'd have to wait a week for them to match and during that time our funds would be tied up in the offer. Which means we'd have to renounce Smith to open up another max salary spot and I'm not sure Ferry will be willing to do that.

It's 3 days now.

[Admin]

It's 3 days now.

Really? I hadn't heard of that but that's a lot more incentive to go after a RFA. Didn't it use to be 2 weeks when it first started?