TomSelleck

I never understood re-signing him to that contract. If the team didn't feel like DeMarre Carroll was worth $15M per season, why is Bazemore worth $17M per year? When smart teams find viable players off the scrap heap, they're supposed to let them go when they become too expensive, let a dumb team overpay them, and find the next viable player off the scrap heap.

Unfortunately, that seems to be a thing of the past. He just posted the third worst rebounding numbers of his career the year after posting the second worst. There is a definite trend going down.

I'm sure the owners thought it would be a good idea to institute max contracts but in reality it probably isn't a good idea because it artificially deflates the value of true max players and inflates the salaries for lesser players. In a true open market, a player like LeBron James is probably worth $50 million per season. But in this system he only makes $25 million which means teams have lots of extra money to give players who aren't LeBron James $25 million per season. Everyone can say Al Horford is a max player because some team will give him a max contract, but the problem is if Cleveland can pay LeBron $25 million and get what they get out of him, how much more money does Atlanta have to spend in addition to the $25 million they would have to give Horford to make up for everything Horford can't do that LeBron can? In other words, the Hawks would have to spend $40-50 million for Horford and 2-3 other players to be able to do everything that LeBron can do by himself. You can't win that way.

Great post.

I don't know how your starting center who wants a max contract gets rebounded by Kent Bazemore in the playoffs.

According to HoopsHype, the Hawks have the #6 payroll in the NBA. They're spending a ton of money. They have 5 players who make at least $7.5 million per season. They have the 10th highest paid player in the league. Unfortunately, they're just not getting a good return on investment for most of it.

Is he? Joe may be a marginally better athlete in a vacuum, but if you throw in a height adjustment, Dirk is way, way more athletic than your average 7'0" player in the NBA compared to how Joe would relate to your average 6'7" NBA player.

Versus Orlando Joe Johnson: 108 points Jamal Crawford: 123 points

A lot of people are talking about Mark Cuban being able to throw money at players to get them, but in most cases the Mavs had to give something up to get those players, so it's not just about money. The Mavs have done a great job holding onto assets and moving them when the time was right. To get Jason Kidd they traded Devin Harris, some expiring contracts, and two 1st round picks. To get Tyson Chandler they dumped Erick Dampier's expiring contract. People talk about the Hawks not making moves, but they have little to no assets other teams would want. You have to give up something to get something.

As I was saying....

How many balanced teams were Gilbert Arenas, Michael Redd, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, Grant Hill, Jason Richardson, Jerry Stackhouse, and every other pretty good but not great wing player of the last ten years? Joe Johnson has been in the same situation the rest of the league has been in.

At his best average a 24-14-5, win a NBA MVP, 3-time all-NBA first team, 3-time all-NBA second team, 6-time all-defensive first team, 2-time all-defensive second team, 4-time rebounding champ, and 10-time all star.

Gilbert Arenas

The organization doesn't care about championships. They just want to keep their jobs, win 45-48 games every years, and hopefully win a 1st round playoff series.

Dirk is also a significantly better rebounder. Granted he is much taller and plays a position more favorable for getting rebounds, but the point is he does more than score.

It is arguable that the Hawks have been overachieving. They have a lot of good players but what people complain about the most is not having a true #1 alpha dog type player. But they do have more #2 and #3 level players than a lot of the teams still playing.

Come on Dirk is the #28 scorer in NBA history to Joe's #164 while only being 3 years older. Over 9,000 points separate them. That's like comparing John Elway before his Super Bowl titles to Trent Green.

Forget Dirk Nowitzki. I'm not even sure Joe Johnson is any better than Jason Terry.

I think a much better Hawks comparison would be Boris Diaw. Acie and Salim proved they couldn't play for ANY team. Diaw may not have been able to play for the Hawks for various reasons, but he was able to play for other teams. Even if the Hawks hadn't finally played Teague major minutes against the Bulls, some other team would have eventually given him a chance.

The most depressing thing is Atlanta has the #7 payroll and OKC the #25 payroll.

Older players are more injury-prone. The older Joe Johnson gets, the less he'll be able to recover from stress on his body he's previously been able to overcome.

Ron Artest 2011-2012: $6,790,640 2012-2013: $7,258,960 (Player Option) 2013-2014: $7,727,280 (Player Option) Marvin Williams 2011-2012: $8,050,000 2012-2013: $8,837,500 2013-2014: $8,050,000 (Player Option) At the least the Hawks would clear up a little salary, but I'm not sure I'd want Artest and Josh Smith hanging out together.

Joe's contract may be somewhat feasible right now, but it's not going to be like that forever. His contract is going to account for roughly 1/3 of the team's salary cap for 5 more years. If you look across the NBA, the worst contracts by far are held by perimeter players on the wrong side of 30 - Rashard Lewis, Michael Redd, Andrei Kirilenko, Gilbert Arenas, and Vince Carter. This shouldn't be news but Joe Johnson is a perimeter player who turns 30 in a month. All evidence shows he's not going to keep it up much longer.

The Hawks only have two players from the last five drafts still on the roster, Horford and Teague. If they're not careful this team is going to get old soon. I'd prefer to keep my assets diversified with young and old players.

Here are the highest paid non-big men in the NBA right now: 1. Kobe Bryant 2. Rashard Lewis 3. Michael Redd 4. Andrei Kirilenko 5. Gilbert Arenas 6. Vince Carter Do we think Joe Johnson has more in common with Kobe Bryant or everyone else?