spotatl

drzachary- I enjoy thinking about how I would run the team if I were in charge. I enjoy looking at ways to exploit the nuances of the cap. What moves make sense and what are a waste of money. I'll criticize the owners when they do something dumb just to save money but I don't think its realistic. If you follow a league with a salary cap and a luxury tax I just think its ridiculous to act like salary shouldn't matter. I don't think anyone is obligated to throw millions of dollars down a hole.

I'm saying that with a MLE salary of 5.8 million salary it puts the Hawks over the luxury tax where they would be paying a 2M luxury tax payment plus missing out on their share of the escro payment which was 3.7M last season. So 11M is what Shaq would actually cost the Hawks if they spent the MLE on him and I can understand why they don't think he is worth it.

I'd still like to see Tolliver, Boone, or Amundson get signed.

I would have had zero issue with the Hawks having an offseason filling out the roster with Brad Miller, Jason Williams, and Brian Zoubek or Mikael Torrance. I don't think I'd be willing to pay $11M to bring Shaq in this season and once you factor in the luxury tax thats what he would cost the ASG. I think that a willingness to pay the tax if the right deal were to come along is all that I can ask for. I don't think that shaq is a difference maker for this team, I just would hate to see the team turn down a firesale kind off trade because they were 100% against paying the tax.

NJhawk- I do think that the Hawks are going to end up filling the roster with someone like Jason Williams or Earl Watson.

I don't see the contradictory statements here. They would prefer to bring in veterans to fill out the roster rather than Rookies. The hawks are willing to pay the luxury tax for the right player which I do believe them on. If a gasol got dropped in their lap they would pay the tax for them. You just ignored the critical part of "FOR THE RIGHT PLAYERS". To me that was pretty clear that htey weren't planning to spend the MLE unless someone absolutely dropped in their lap.

The Hawks could spend around 3.5 million for another player and still not pay the luxury tax.

Teague and Jordan Crawford haven't shown enough to be considered core. It wouldn't surprise me at all for Marvin to get a change of scenery. I could easily see the team using Jamal Crawford's expiring to upgrade the roster if the right deal came along. I do think that Woodson got a remakrable amount of producuction out of Jamal and he is likely to regress this season.

AHF- you don't understand.... We are talking about how the league decides whether teams will pay the luxury tax and all minimum salary players count exactly the same. You seem to think that only after a team crosses the luxury tax does the league start to count things differently but thats not the case. You gain no benefit when trying to avoid the luxury tax by signing a rookie to the minimum as opposed to a veteran at the minimum.

AHF- the hawks aren't concerned with the Cap- they are worried about the luxury tax. And when calculating the luxury tax the league INCREASES a rookie minimum salary player up to the minimum of a second year player. (I believe 854,389 this season) Likewise the league reduces the hit of a veteran FA to be the same as a second year player. When talking about the luxury tax there is no advantage of signing a rookie over a veteran as long as you are paying them the minimum.

We are talking about how contracts are counted when talking about the luxury tax. When you sign players to the minimum salary the league actually picks up a portion of the $$ and the player only counts as the minimum for a second year player. For a rookie when calculating the luxury tax you also count them as the minimum salary for a 2 year player.

coachx- if you finish third in your division then you can't be a top 4 seed. Teams that win the division are guaranteed a top 4 seed.

AHF- A rookie on the minimum salary and a veteran on the minimum salary would both cost the exact same as far as luxury tax payments go. How I see all of this is that there was never any real discussion of a S&T. The Hawks were considering whether to offer Shaq the full MLE- either they decided not to pay the luxury tax or they got signals from Shaq that it wouldn't be enough so they backed away. Shaq was pushing for a S&T because it would mean that he could get more than the mle and the Cavs would be fine with it because they would take Marvin for "free", but the Hawks were never really considering it.

When did they say that hte 3 million was to pay for the luxury tax? All I can ever remember them saying is that they would be willing to pay the tax for the "right player". And I do think thats the case- if a gift trade got dropped in their lap they would be willing to pay the tax. But they aren't going to pay the tax when they don't project to be a top 4 seed.

I'd actually expect Horford to sign a contract extension this offseason. He can lock in good value without having to worry about what the terms of the new CBA will be. Though Sund has shown that he doesn't at all mind playing hardball with RFA's so that does complicate matters. But who knows what the new cba will be like as far as restricted free agency is concerned.

I'm just hoping that Mcgrady has sufficiently burned his bridges in Orlando. I really wouldn't want to see him there as a guy who can just lurk in the corners and bury teams who collapse in on Dwight.

No... thats wrong. If the Hawks used the MLE on Shaq they would have to pay an extra 2 million for the luxury tax and they would also fail to get their cut of the escrow account (3.7 million dollars last season for being below the tax). So basically signing shaq to the MLE would cost the ASG 11 million dollars next season.

Ha- I'm negative 101 reputation points. I heven't ever noticed that part of the site before.

There aren't many owners who would pay the luxury tax for the third best team in the division. That means that you can't even get a top 4 seed.

The problem isn't the cap- its the luxury tax. JJ giving up money doesn't help with the cap whatsoever. And for JJ to give the Hawks 3 million in room this season it would cost him 23 million dollars over the life of the contract to where he would have been better off signing with the Bulls.

I think that someone who will only support the team if they are a championship contender is the definition of a fair weather fan.

This team is not championship contending- they are the third place team in the division. Its not hte fault of the Hawks that you don't want to hear about money even though you follow a league with a salary cap where what players get paid is very important. you just have unrealistic expectations. There are more than 20 teams every season that aren't in championship contension. Every team can't get the fairweather fans happy. And to be honest for fans that are only supporters when the team is a championship contender thats a prety good description.

People would drive Josh Smith to the airport to get Chris Paul here.

55 is a great number for a shotblocker. "Can't drive 55!"

I think Jason Williams would be a great fit and have been mentioning him for a while.