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Assuming that money is not an issue in this deal, and only looking at it from Atlanta's side (meaning it looks like a wash from our viewpoint, but might not from the other teams), I can only think of 4 players that would even come into play: Aldridge, Jefferson, Okafur and Beasley. Each of these guys has an advantage over Smith in certain categories, while Smith has advantages over each of these guys in others. I wouldn't fell ripped off if a one of these trades went down, but none of them are really going to have a dramatic change on where the Hawks end op in the standings for the next couple of years (although Beasley might have the most impact down the road). I'm not sure any of the other teams would be inclined to make these trades, either due ot financial reasons ro team make-up, but from the Hawks perspective, these seem to be close to washes.

1. No 2. No 3. Possibly, depending on what shape Curry is in at camp. Murphy just makes too much money for what he would bring us, and he would restrict our ability to bring anybody in next year and the year after. Jaric has an awful contract for what he brings, and is viewed as almost an untouchable due to this. Curry has a ton of potential, but a ton of weight as well. He would probably sulk coming off the bench, so I doubt this would work. A trade with Indy that may make more sense than Murphy might be Tinsley/Foster for Claxton/Zaza/Solomon. Indy wants to dump Tinsley in the worst way, and if they can trade him at all, they will. Foster would be the defensive big we want, and Solo we could replace with a bunch of guys (David Harrison, DJ Mbenga, etc.). Tinsley may be a cancer and I can understand why we may not want to do this, but he is a better player than a healthy Speedy, and we still would get the best player in the deal in Foster.

Looking at this as the glass half full, realize that none of those guys had even average years last year, and Law, Morris, Zaza and Jones can only be better with another year of experience (or in Zaza's case, hopefully to forget the regular season and play like he did in the playoffs). You also forgot Speedy, because if he does in fact come back, it is a big upgrade at PG off the bench vs. last year. In signing this guy center (if that is what we do), I think this is a great move considering what resources we have left to spend. No big is going to get a lot of time, and this would also take some pressure off of the younger guys to perform right away at the beginning of the season. No matter what, he comes with 6 fouls a game!

That's not allowed according to the CBA. Has to be individual incentives, not team. I think that rule is crap, but that's what was agreed upon.

The only cap room this would make vs. Josh signing the QO is getting rid of Speedy for one year, worth $5.2M. Meanwhile, we'd be making Miami very strong. This is an awful trade unless an extension (at a reasonable amount) could be worked out with Marion ahead of time. And I still wouldn't like it.

The simple solutions piece is the most likely scenario, with Morris being the big and instead of JR Smith (we are NOT getting him), put in someone like Kareem Rush who would come cheap and get good minutes. If I were GM, I'd try to do the following: 1) Sign Josh Smith for around 6/$66. 2) Sign Kwame Brown for around 2/$6.5 ro 3/$10 3) Sign Luke Jackson, Richardson, West & Hunter 4) Talk to Charlotte around a S&T for Okafur. He's unhappy, and I think Brown wants to put his stamp on the franchise over the next two summers, so he probably wants expiring contracts and potential. Offer the following: Okafur, Felton and Wallace for Bibby, Zaza and Marvin and our #1 in 09 (signing Okafur to a similar contract to Chandler) In the same deal (3-way), move Wallace to Minnesota for Miller. Why this works (or doesn't): For Charlotte, they get Marvin who still has a ton of potential (contrary to Diesel's thoughts!), and two large expring deals who maybe they could sign for less money the following year. This would also give them a dynamic backcourt of Bibby/Richardson, which I would think Brown would be in favor of if they feel Felton can't run the team. Wallace, for some reason, is out of favor and has a long term contract that they may want to rid themselves of as well. For Minnesota, I haven't been able to figure out why they wanted Miller when they already have a gunner in McCants, and he's also much older than the rest of the rotation. Wallace could give them a starting SF for the next 4-5 years to go with Jefferson and Love, which would be very formidable. For Atlanta, a frontline of Okafur/Horford/Smith/Miller with Brown/Jackson as a back-up would be great (who cares who starts, and injuries will probably dictate that anyway). Felton could be let go next year if he doesn't work out, but would provide a great competition with Law going forward, as they are almost the same player. The LT money is the problem, as this would push us close to the LT in the out years assuming Joe is given an extention and Felton is resigned. But this deal would have this team set for the next 4 years and be extremely competitive. Rotation: C - Okafur (33), Horford (9), Brown (6) PF - Smith (18), Horford (24), Brown (6) SF - Miller (28), Smith (15), Jackson (5) SG - Johnson (33), Miller (5), Felton (10) PG - Felton (23), Law (20), Johnson (5) Total minutes - Okafur (33), Horford (33), Smith (33), Miller (33), Johnson (38), Felton (33), Law (20), Brown (12), Jackson (5) Rest of bench - West, Richardson, Jones, Claxton, Hunter If Speedy would actually retire, that would be huge. Removing his $'s from the cap going forward would allow this team to stick together without approaching the LT in 09/10. But since I'm not the GM, this has about a 0% chance of happening!

I would assume that most of those would still be on the table, except for Nene (now that they moved Camby for nothing, I can't believe they can afford to give up another big and leave Martin as your center!). If you had to choose one of these, I'd be considering the Portland deal, as Webster would take care of your outside shooting and you'd still get another big in the rotation. Plus, if Webster didn't work out, you could just let him walk next year.

Quote: As far as what we can get... My thought was if we have SNT ability on him, we can sign and trade him at 2 million and get any 2 million dollar player who a team might not want. This of course being after we sign the Joshes to reasonable contracts. Jarvis Hayes just signed for about $2 million per year. I can't believe Salim gets anything over $1.3 million. I just don't see it. And with a S&T, we can only take back the average of last year and whatever he signs for, correct? So even if he got $2 million next year, the most we could take back for him alone would be $1.8 or so. He would need to be moved in a package, unless we could get another player similar to him in the same kind of deal. A deal for POB might work, but unfortunately that's the type of player you're probably looking at straight up.

This, unfortunately, is a horrible trade for Portland. It amounts to Aldridge, Pryzbilla and Blake for Marvin, Speedy and Snow. This is an absolutely horrible trade from their perspective. And who, btw, is this second "young buck with potential" you refer to? Speedy? Snow? If you were Portland, would you trade Aldridge for Marvin? Przybilla for Speedy? Blake for Snow? If you wouldn't do them straight up, why would the package be any better? And the fact that they would be giving away two bigs and getting two over the hill PG's and a wing with potential? Right now they have Blake (starter), Sergio and Bayless, and possibly the Finish kid at the point, and now you're trading their starter for two more PG's who aren't good enough to start? Diesel, save me here! At least your trades of Marvin are fair for the other team!

Quote: Any conversations need to start with Louis Williams and Marreese Speights along with future 1sts. I agree 5 years and 80 million is simply too much. That could seriously hinder our ability to resign Horf in a few years. What if Philly won't play the S&T game? What if they say "screw the Hawks, if they want Smith, they can have him at the max." Everyone just assumes Philly will do a S&T. If I'm Philly, I say "here's your S&T deal: Reggie Evans and a 2nd round pick in 2011. Take it or leave it." This is what the Hawks were afraid to do with Joe Johnson, and many fans have ridiculed the Hawks for giving Phoenix too much. Now we just expect Philly to be willing partners in a S&T deal with a conference opponent. I just don't see Philly being very gracious here.

Fair, but not likely to ever be considered. NJ wants to clear cap space the summer before Richardson's contract is up, so this just doesn't do enough for NJ. I love Wallace, but working through NJ needs to happen a different way.

Okafur - not without a sign and trade. And taking on T-Mac or VC doesn't make as much sense to me, as they really play the same position as JJ, and I'm not in favor of moving JJ to SF. But I do have some ideas about a Plan B if we were to get picks from Philly: Go after Hinrich and something in a 3 way with Chicago & GS involving Bibby to GS and Harrington to Chicago. Go after Gerald Wallace and Ray Felton on Charlotte. Go after Artest on Sacto. Go after Mike Miller on Minny. Go after Conley and a bad contract (Darko?) on Memphis Go after Odom on Lakers Go after Biedrins on GS And I would try to make a S&T with Okafur, as we might have enough cap room with the BYC issue. Just some random thuoghts off the top of my head.

It's not actually as easy as that. Theoretically, yes, but practically, no. There are currently only a few teams under the salary cap (Clippers possibly, Grizzlies, 76ers, and maybe GS now) With free agents still to sign, I could see the Grizzlies as the only team under the cap when the season starts. In your scenario, we would have to trade Zaza to the Grizzlies, because no one else would be able to absorb his $4M without giving some back to us. And with the trading structure in place, a team taking on salary must be within 125% +100k of the salaries going out. So a team taking on Zaza at $4.0 must give back $3.3M. Unless they are under the cap (remember, this is the salary cap, not the luxury tax threshhold), then they can absorb teh amount up to the cap line, and then the erst of the salary they are receiving is subject to the 125% +100k rule.

The ASG isn't about to pass up $2.5M or whatever the payout amount will be next year to go slightly over the cap. Say the cap is $70M this year (since it hasn't been decided yet). If the Hawks have a payroll after the trade deadline of exactly $70M, they participate equally with all the other clubs that didn't go over the cap, which last year was worth $2.5M/team. If their payroll is $70,000,001, they pay out $1 to the league and do not participate in the cap distribution that all the other clubs under the cap participate in. Unless the team is really vying for a championship THIS YEAR, it make s little financial sense to go over the cap from an ownership stanpoint.

You may be right about the average. but the BYC status only affects the team that is trading him. In other words, while we can only take half of what Smith is paid in salary, his entire salary counts towards what Philly receives. The same thing goes for Williams, Philly can only take back half of what he gets, but his whole salary counts against us in the deal. This is the main reason why it is so difficult to deal BYC players. And again, this only impacts if a team is over the cap. An example would be if we S&T Smith for Okafur (who would also be S&T). If they both were signed to a $12M deal (just picking a random figure), Philly could only take back $6M in salary for Okafur, the same amount we could take back for Smith. Since the salaries aren't within 125% of one another ($6M vs. $12M), the deal would need a lot more pieces to make it equitable. The only reason it worked with JJ is that the Hawks were so far under the cap, that we could take his full amount without hitting the cap. While Philly is under the cap, we are not and wouldn't be able to take back Dalembert's big salary.

I'm not against the trade as a whole if push comes to shove, but Smith will be a BYC and the trade won't work. We would only be able to take back about $16M ($7M for Smith and $5.8M for Speedy, plus 25% leaves you with $16M max). Dalembert and Evans make $15.7 alone without Williams.

I had just posted this on a different thread, so here it is again! Start thinking about veterans like Tyronn Lue (this would not surprise me at the least), Eric Piatkowski, Casey Jacobsen, Kareem Rush, possibly even Brent Barry, if SA doesn't want him back. Each of these guys could probably be had for under $1.5M, which is probably the range Sund is thinking. Everybody else would cost more. For bigs, think Jamaal MaGloire, Scott Pollard, Theo Ratliff, Earl Barron, Jake Voshkul, Michael Doleac, Sean Marks, Brian Skinner, and Francisco Elson. Outside shot at Kurt Thomas, but I think he goes back to SA for a couple million. Diop and Brown are possibilities, but I feel somebody will throw bad money at them.

Davis isn't going to be cheap at all. Sund's comment "for the love of the game and not money" doesn't apply to Davis quite yet. He's still too young. And all the other players you mention are VERY young. That's not the kind of players that Sund is going to look to acquire. Jones will cost $4+, since he's opting out of a $3+ contract now, Smith is going to look to get paid as well, and Green is looking just to lock on to a team. He might be signable to fill out the roster, but not for the shooter we are looking for. We need a cheap veteran. Start thinking about veterans like Tyronn Lue (this would not surprise me at the least), Eric Piatkowski, Casey Jacobsen, Kareem Rush, possibly even Brent Barry, if SA doesn't want him back. Each of these guys could probably be had for under $1.5M, which is probably the range Sund is thinking. Everybody else would cost more. For bigs, think Jamaal MaGloire, Scott Pollard, Theo Ratliff, Earl Barron, Jake Voshkul, Michael Doleac, Sean Marks, Brian Skinner, and Francisco Elson. Outside shot at Kurt Thomas, but I think he goes back to SA for a couple million. Diop and Brown are possibilities, but I feel somebody will throw bad money at them.

The Suns trade actually makes the most sense, but you don't need to include Zaza, or even the future pick, in the deal. Marvin for Barbosa and #15 would be fair. Suns need a SF so that Hill can come off the bench, plus they want cap space. I don't think they want Zaza at all in this deal. I would love to get Jordan or Ajinca and put him in the D-League for a year or two. Players with their potential don't become available at #15 very often, if at all.

You say "Also I'm not sure if Calderon is ready for prime time." Well, Colangelo is, and he's been making that clear by offering Ford around. Why? Not to get another starting PG, but to get a SF. Look at the teams that need a PG. How about Portland? Ford for Outlaw, Fry and Jack, or even Webster, Frye and Jack. Or Seattle? Ford for Wilcox. Or Sacremento? Or Denver, for that matter? Ford for Camby. The point is, they can do a lot better than this trade just by being excluded from this deal. They aren't getting enough back. Also, I never said Bargnani was going to ATL. I said they were essentially swapping Bagnani for Williams. And even though Bargnani is available, they're not giving him away. He's not a throw-in to make salaries work.

Good trade for the Hawks. Good trade for Denver. Horrible trade for Toronto. They aren't looking for a starting PG if they move Ford, they are looking for a backup to Calderon. And they aren't about to pay $15M for a backup! Bargnani for Marvin straight up they might consider, but then they throw in Kapono as well? Purely fantasy on this one. If you were a Toronto fan, would you make this deal?

Just remember, Woodson might feel entitled to a raise, and we have no idea what the structure of the cotract looks like. Maybe it's a pay cut, and Woody will say no. We just don't know anything at this point besides he was offered a two year extension. Woody may see what other coaches ar making and say to hell with this job. You just never know until something is signed. Keep the faith!

In the JO/JT trade, Marvin was not part of it. It was just Bibby/Zaza/Speedy. Someone else suggested then trading Marvin for spare parts due to salary isues, which may or may not be there.

Click on the "links" menu item at the top of the page to get salaries to answer your question.

This trade can't possbly work. Indiana is giving up O'Neal and Dunleavy, two huge contracts, and getting back Biedrins (still small salary until he re-signs), Pietrus (very small salary) and Zaza ($4.0M). How the heck does that work?????????