without a doubt, setting up for the next deal...

[tmac13]

While I agree on Daly and Wilcox, that both are bums, thinking ahead in free agency has always turned out to be a pipedream here..Maybe Ridenour will be a posibility, but guys like Kaman and Hinrich will be signed to longterm deals by their current teams...

Every year we are looking at next years free agents and hoping we have money for them and every year they one by one resign with their current teams or either want so much money we consider them too costly..

[KB21]

We got Joe Johnson, didn't we? There probably hasn't been a better free agent signing in the past five years.

[Sothron]

I do think that Hinrich and Kaman are not going to sign extensions. Both the Bulls and Clippers are not going to pay luxury taxes and I think they are not going to give those guys a max deal or more than 10 million per to get them to stay.

I would kill to bring in say Kaman and Ridnour on this team. Ridnour would start over Claxton, Kaman would be a young center who can give us a low post scorer we haven't even come CLOSE to having since SAR was here and he can board, block, etc.

Blowing our cap space now would mean giving up on the chance to outspend those teams for those players.

[Final_quest]

I don't know. Steve Nash worked out pretty well, so did Gilbert Arenas and Manu Ginobli.

[flava]

Is Wilcox truly a C or is he a PF that can play C? Daly and Magloire are truly C's and that is what we need (minus Daly contract)...

flava

[tmac13]

That was a rarity, not a common happening..It took JJ wanting to come here, and it took Phoenix not really wanting to pay him..It also took quite a large package in return..Add all those things up and it is not likely to happen again for the Hawks, especially with Smoove, Marvin, and Chillz looking for extentions in the coming years and our completely screwed up ownership situation.

[Sothron]

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Is Wilcox truly a C or is he a PF that can play C? Daly and Magloire are truly C's and that is what we need (minus Daly contract)...

flava

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Wilcox is a PF/C tweener. He should play PF but he can play C which we all know he would be playing here in Atlanta. He's not worth 60 million dollars.

[Johnnybravo4]

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Ugh. I'd have to say choosing between Wilcox or Dalembert would be like picking between urine or feces for the second course.

I know we both agree about Dalembert but Wilcox IMO is even worse: he's a guy with only 28 games of doing anything worthwhile in the NBA and he's trying to get 60 million bones for it. I well remember being snowballed by Hendu into thinking he was worth that kind of money and once he got his contract he was MIA as far as heart and drive were concerned.

No thanks to Wilcox or Dalembert. I want us to keep our cap space to go after Kirk Hinrich, Chris Kaman or Ridnour in 2007 free agency.

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Oh I get it now...you want to spend our cap money on a white dude.

[Sothron]

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Ugh. I'd have to say choosing between Wilcox or Dalembert would be like picking between urine or feces for the second course.

I know we both agree about Dalembert but Wilcox IMO is even worse: he's a guy with only 28 games of doing anything worthwhile in the NBA and he's trying to get 60 million bones for it. I well remember being snowballed by Hendu into thinking he was worth that kind of money and once he got his contract he was MIA as far as heart and drive were concerned.

No thanks to Wilcox or Dalembert. I want us to keep our cap space to go after Kirk Hinrich, Chris Kaman or Ridnour in 2007 free agency.

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Oh I get it now...you want to spend our cap money on a white dude.

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lol honkey power!

Seriously though Kirk Hinrich or Kaman or a Ridnour would make us a much better team. Especially Hinrich and Kaman.

[Johnnybravo4]

Dalembert contract isn't that bad if we send Lue's contract and a 1st in exchange.

8 million a year for a double double 2bpg athletic true center is damn cheap.

[Johnnybravo4]

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Ugh. I'd have to say choosing between Wilcox or Dalembert would be like picking between urine or feces for the second course.

I know we both agree about Dalembert but Wilcox IMO is even worse: he's a guy with only 28 games of doing anything worthwhile in the NBA and he's trying to get 60 million bones for it. I well remember being snowballed by Hendu into thinking he was worth that kind of money and once he got his contract he was MIA as far as heart and drive were concerned.

No thanks to Wilcox or Dalembert. I want us to keep our cap space to go after Kirk Hinrich, Chris Kaman or Ridnour in 2007 free agency.

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Oh I get it now...you want to spend our cap money on a white dude.

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lol honkey power!

Seriously though Kirk Hinrich or Kaman or a Ridnour would make us a much better team. Especially Hinrich and Kaman.

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LMAO!

[Final_quest]

I agree. It's unlikely that we will get another signing like JJ.

What is our best contingency if neither Marvin or Smoove turn into a superstar?

1. Getting lucky in the lottery next year and drafting a top 3 pick.

2. Having a superstar, like KG or Dwight Howard, demand a trade.

[KB21]

It's rare that a legitimate player leaves his team in free agency, period. The fact is though, there were many on this board before it was ever rumored that Joe Johnson wanted to come to Atlanta that didn't think Atlanta had a snowball's chance in hell of getting him.

Personaly, I think the image of the Hawks around the league is not nearly as bad as it is with the fans at this point. The league sees the Hawks as a team that is on the rise. Sam Cassell's comments about the Hawks is an indication of that, IMO. I believe there are players that are going to monitor the progress the Hawks make this year, and if the Hawks make the kind of progress most expect, I believe those players will be very willing to sign with the Hawks.

Despite what people like to say, players do want to play in Atlanta. Joe Johnson wanted to play here. Chris Paul obviously wanted to play here. Dwight Howard wanted to play here. It may be that players who are from the southeast region would like to play for the Hawks to be closer to home, but there are players that want to play here. Heck, even Al Harrington wanted to stay because he felt the team was progressing. It seems the only player that legitimately didn't want to be in Atlanta over the past couple of years is Boris Diaw. Speedy Claxton wanted to play here.

As far as banking on future free agency moves, I don't think you should ever bank on free agency. In my opinion, the draft is where you build your team. Free agency is just a means to augment your team. However, if we make stupid deals and take back bad contracts, we kill our ability to augment our team through free agency.

Does anyone remember the mid-to-late '90s? The Hawks had a good team. They had a team that had four All-Stars in Mookie Blaylock, Steve Smith, Christian Laettner, and Dikembe Mutombo. However, it was a team that lacked depth, and it was a team that never could find a starting caliber small forward. The team lacked depth because management didn't know how to utilize the draft, and the team was strapped against the salary cap because of poor deals that had been made in the early to mid '90s. They were paying for players that weren't even on the team!! Therefore, the team was stuck in a perpetual state of mediocrity....never bad enough to get a high pick (which probably would have been blown anyway), and never good enough to make a push in the playoffs.

I don't know about any of you, but I don't want to get back to that state.

[KB21]

Anyone remember Steve Hawes who played for the Hawks in the '70s?

His nephew Spencer Hawes will be a freshman at Washington this coming season. Spencer is a 6'11", 240 lbs center that is Brad Miller type of pick and pop center. The guy has fantastic shooting ability for a big guy. I know I've heard talks about the Hawks wanting to get a guy that can "pick-and-pop". With the Indiana pick, Spencer Hawes is a guy they might be in a position to get if he decides to go pro.

Of course, I think it would be cool just to have somewhat of a legacy of a former Hawks player on the team.

[Teeareess]

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diesel, you're right about the cash statement. when have you heard of a deal being held up by the amount of green being offered.

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I agree. Bernie made it seem like the hold up in getting this name big that we had our eyes on, was the cash from this deal. It's not exactly comforting.

[Dragitoff]

Another thing we need to remember about a pick in the late teens and around 20. Who could we have gotten if we had a pick like that this year? How bout' Marcus Williams.

[KB21]

Yep, but I do not believe Indiana is going to be that good. They are definitely not one of the top 10 teams in the league.

[Johnnybravo4]

It is not rare, at least one happens every year in the offseason, and at least one happens every year near the trade deadline.

[DrReality]

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Yep, but I do not believe Indiana is going to be that good. They are definitely not one of the top 10 teams in the league.

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I agree about Indy. First off they will have several new bodies that will take time to gell. Secondly, as mucn as anyone, they are one injury away from tanking. And given Oneal's history, I think that is a crap shoot.

[Guest Walter]

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Either way we need another big. And the extra cash could be used for Andersen.

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Bring either Magliore and/or Anderson on board. I don't know why we haven't brought Anderson. I think he and ZaZa at 5 would be a good compliment to SW at the 4. Slightly more "O" minded centers and a defensive Pf.

That, or Magliore I can see alongside JS at the 4 with some limited success.

At least these guys resemble centers IMO.

Get something like this done.

W