gt4403

Can some of our Cap experts clear something up? According to Hoopshype, we had 52 million committed before the trade. Now we have approximately 44 million. With Horford's Caphold at 18 million that would take us up to 62 million. I believe the new cap is 94 million. Does that mean we now have 32 million to work with even including Horford?

I know I'm probably in the minority but if I was in Danny Ferry's position, I don't know that I would have done anything different. Would I have traded last years No #1 pick for cap space? Maybe. We don't know what information he has on Lucas's health. Also, Danny may have been trying to do something else with the cap space that didn't work out. Would I go out there and sign some of these free agents just to say I did something? Absolutely not. I'm tired of paying top dollar for fringe talent. Even if it half way works out, you handicap yourself with the salary cap going forward. It's easy to criticize but what would you have reasonably done if you were in his position.

I have a question. I'm sorry if it has already been asked but I'm curious how extending the waiver deadline helps Salmons. I keep hearing he would have to agree with it but my understanding is he would just be waiting to go to another team and then be waived. Financially he gets the same money. If he refuses it, he can then start negotiating his next job before all the money is gone from other teams. I must be looking at this wrong.

We are in such a difficult position right now. Teams without stars don't win big and we don't have any. I'm not a proponent of tanking because it's too unpredictable and for the most part the good organizations never tank, they just make good decisions. I'm also not a proponent of signing mid career veterans to large contracts who are not stars and have reached their ceiling. I think the only way to move forward is to identify the young player or players that you can build around. They can be in the draft or on some teams roster right now. You identify them and then find a way to make a deal to get them. Then when you have your new core, you fill in the gaps with veterans to build a team that can compete for titles.

The thing you have to ask yourself is whether that team is any better than the team we just dismantled last summer. I believe Joe Johnson's contract runs three more years. My opinion is if we go that direction, we should have just stayed the course and settled for the second round each year. My guess is, Ferry doesn't do anything that he doesn't believe would lead to a championship and those players are not leading us to a championship.

I totally agree that we will fall back to an afterthought if we try to use cap space as our way to improve. Unless you land a superstar, you usually pay more and get less than just improving through the draft which isn't any fun. Of course he wants LA and LA wants him, the majority of athletes feel that way but nobody would follow sports if everyone played in NY or LA. The proposal I have seen for Orlando in this deal is not very good. If I was them, I would hold onto him til next year and do a sign and trade at that time. He won't have any team options or abilty to get the money without their help. They have nothing to lose and these offers are not going to help their team.

There is one thing that a lot of people are forgetting. Maybe there is another reason Orlando is not keen on the idea of sending Dwight to LA no matter what the deal is. Orlando has already been down this road in supplying LA an all world HOF center. Orlando had Shaq and he took them to the finals but they couldn't win. He goes to LA and gets them multiple titles. They have Dwight and he takes them to the finals but they don't win again. So now they just going to send him to LA and watch them play for tiltles for the next ten years. I know it's a business but it's a busines ran by people who can get just a sick as us at LA always getting what they want. I mean look at the list of centers they have had Mican, Chamberlain, Jabbar, Shaq, and now maybe Dwight. Compare that to other teams in the league and it seems unfair. At some point, I think teams will get tired of helping them and maybe Orlando is there right now especially since they have been here before. It is really up to them because if they don't trade him there, he won't be able to get there. I'm of the opinion that Orlando has a lot more leverage than people think because wherever they trade is the most likely place he resigns. I don't see him walking away from the money to go to a bad team with cap space. Every title contender I see won't have any room next year unless they can work out a trade.

I'm not worried about this rumor or whatever you call it. The trade wouldn't help the team now or in the future. The truth is Horford is better than any player you can get at #2. He has already been through the NBA growing pains, young, on a reasonable contract, an all star, a big, and good in the locker room. This is the kind of player you want to have unless you can use him to get a superstar. The trade really has no upside for us.

As much as it pains me to admit, I don't believe there is a whole lot that can be done. The team is too poorly built in both skill sets and dollars spent to ever compete for a championship. They have the wrong players playing together and way too much money spent on players that don't peform to their contracts. I'm not one of the fans who says the ownership is cheap although there are some examples where they have seemed that way. My biggest issue is how they spent their money. They didn't really make sound business decisions that would most benefit the team down the road. It seems nobody in the organization has a direction. As far as what can be done. Us fans are going to have to be patient again because the most likely next step is the team will eventually be sold. I don't think anyone believes that they just changed their minds and decided to stay in for the long haul. The real question is when. I doubt they will make any changes that might look like they are starting over since this will make it more difficult to sale. I see the team not changing a whole lot until the new owners are on board and then things may happen swiftly. If it happens say in the next year, you will have several players getting close to the end of their contracts making it much easier to make changes. Even someone like Joe can be traded with a couple of years left if the team he goes to thinks they can get a title. Our team can rebuild quickly if they make good moves which is something we as fans are not used to seeing. Their are too many examples in the NBA of teams going from bottom dwellers to the playoffs to believe it will take 5 or 6 years to be relevant again. For goodness sake half the teams make the playoffs. With the right moves, the team could be back where they are pretty soon but better constructed. Let's be honest, the only reason it took so long the first time is our ownership was attrocious in the draft basically wasting picks every year.

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.

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.

You say he is a bust as a #2. I don't agree with that historically there have been many players drafted #2 that haven't done as well as him in there first few years. When you say bust, that insinuates a clear miss which he wasn't. Should he have been two, probably not, but three, four, or five aren't out of the question. I mean lets be honest he isn't Tim Thomas or Sam Bowie yet. So no he isn't a bust at two either. I don't beleive if you look back, you will ever find a year where the draft order exactly followed their career production and worth. Many a good player ended up playing a little ahead or behind there draft position but that didn't make them a bust. He may never be the second best player but I don't believe he is a bust just because we wilsh we had Paul which I beleive is the main reason people label him that now. One player's excellence has somehow made another look worse than he is.

I want to start out by saying I have been a Hawks fan for over 25 years. I have been reading this site for a while but not posting. I just wanted to add one man's opinion on Marvin as a bust or not. First off, when this particular draft happened, I didn't want Marvin but I didn't want Paul either. I thought he was too small to defend his position in the pros and saw too many of his games in college where I thought he was outplayed by Jack, etc.. I actually wanted Deron Williams. I do remember the majority of the media saying Marvin should either be the first or second pick. On to the Marvin debate, I know there are alot of people who would like to trade him to just about anyone willing to take him but I want to bring up a couple of points I feel are important. He is 21 years old and despite what has been said, he has got better every year. This year alone compared to last year. His points went up, his field goal percentage went up, his free throw percentage went up, his steals went up, his turnovers went down, and his rebounds went up. He pretty much improved in every area. Is he Paul, no, that kid is special, but Marvin is no slouch and he will get better. I do believe he will be an all star some day but not a perennial one. He will put up good numbers be borderline and then make it a couple of times. You redo that draft he is is still a top 5 pick so he is definitely not a bust. I am interested in what people really think of him not what they think compared to Paul. I intend on contributing more often and respect all your opinions.