Brokentree

It's not all doom and gloom. Lets say the Hawks send Bibby and Marvin to the Hornets for Okafor and Collison. We could then, in a separate trade, send the TE to them for Julian Wright. (This scenario is based purely on the fact that he refused to play on their summer league team and that they might want to get rid of him)

This example isn't very good but the basic idea is that we do a trade that is in our favor and then do a trade that lets the other team dump a player they may not want.

From what I understand a TE can only be used to aquire a player by itself. If its a 3 million TE then we can only use it to trade for a 3 million dollar contract. We can't package it with the MLE for a player and we can't package it with another player contract.

Can we use the TE to take on Posey contract is my main concern or only FA's?

TE's can only be used to trade for players on other teams.

1. Shaq won't sign with the Hawks for the MLE. He has said that.

I'm beginning to wonder if he will get more then the MLE from any team now. Miami could still sign him to a minimum but do the Hawks have any other serious competition for Shaq's services now?

I'm just glad the whole ordeal is over with. I got the impression that he never wanted to play for the Hawks and we don't need those types of players on the team. Good luck to him on a team he wants to play for.. but don't let the door hit you on the way out a the same time.

trying to unload the guard to teams able to absorb his salary

Is it a question of "should we" or a question of "can we"?

You can't take someone that CAN play Center in the NBA and just play him at PF. It is just too hard to find a good Center that doesn't foul out in 10 minutes. You could put Dwight Howard on the Hawks and I still think Al would have to play Center for 5-10 minutes a game. Having a flexible lineup and being able to play different positions is a strength.

That being said.. if..

Josh Smith is traded to N.O. along with Bibby (and draft picks?) for Chris Paul. (not likely especially considering they'd have to trade West or play Smith at sf there)

Josh Childress and Jamal Crawford are traded to Cleveland for AV and Shaq. (AV is one of their better players but if they want to make changes then getting an expiring contract for next year might be a plus. Jamal's scoring ability might be able to distract some of their fans from the Lebron saga as well)

PG- Paul 30m+, Teague 10m+

SG- JJ 30m+, Jordan Crawford 10m+

SF- Marvin 30m+, JJ 5m+

PF- Horford 30m+, AV 10m+

C-Shaq 20m+, AV 10m+, Zaza 10m+, Horford 10m+

Sprinkle in the rest of the bench as needed. Less overall flexibility but a stronger and more mentally tough starting lineup.

It's not likely that this scenario would play out, and I'm more 50/50 that I'd even want it to, but it's this type of scenario that would have to play out for Horford to play PF minutes.