Josh Smiths extension

[chillzatl]

This isn't really major or anything, but expect Josh to get an extension in the near future.

[DavidSomerset]

And what neighborhood can we expect it to be in in terms of years and money?

[Spiral]

I'd consider it pretty major. That's great to hear. Thanks Chillz.

[chillzatl]

close sources, can't say more than that. I haven't had a chance to ask questions yet. The info came from Josh's side, not the organizations. It went like "oh, they're talking to Josh about an extension now". I don't have anything more at the moment.

[Spiral]

Chillz has connections. He called T.Lue's contract a few years back. I remember who his source was, but since I don't know him personally, I'll leave it to him if he wants to post it.

Just have faith on this one, Chillz wouldn't post it if he didn't think it was true.

[DavidSomerset]

How about, in your personal opinion, what would you expect the extension to look like?

And from what your source said it sounds like they are just discussing it, not that they are close to signing it, right?

[Hoosier]

One thing I'm waiting to see Chillz, is whether the Hawks offer the Josh's 4yr contracts to skirt Belkin, or do they go with 5yrs and try to get his approval?

[HawksFan87]

Awesome NEWS!!!!!!

[chillzatl]

I think he'll be taken care of, but not maxxed.

Well I just doubled checked. Turns out the info wasn't as disjointed as I thought, I just didn't pay attention. A week or so ago I asked them to check around, but there was nothing going on that they knew of. They talked to someone today and asked again and were told talks were underway. So it could be a very recent thing. I'm pretty confident that there's no more than a few days gap in the info though. I should know more tomorrow or monday.

[chillzatl]

that's interesting, i'll ask them to ask about that and see what I get.

[Hoosier]

They can go over the Cap to sign their own players, without Belkin's approval. It is the 4yr vs 5yrs that will be the sticking point.

[Johnnybravo4]

All I know is if Luke Walton can get 30 mil then we are about to pay out of the azz

[WraithSentinel]

The major reason is so we can have him long term. The other reason is to prove they are committed. Regardless of how bogus the Amare rumors are and there might be some that still think it true. Trust and confidence in this ownership is at all time low. It is one thing to be that among the casual fans. There are some loyal fans that are starting to have distrust with this ownership.

[TheDude]

THanks Chill. Good to hear.

[Hoosier]

I am not going to comb through all the court ruling articles, and I am aware of the distinction you are making.

[AHF]

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They can go over the Cap to sign their own players, without Belkin's approval. It is the 4yr vs 5yrs that will be the sticking point.

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That is a Bird Right that you are talking about, but that does not circumvent what the Court has said. The Court specifically said that we cannot go over the salary cap without an absolute majority approval. Unless you have a different article on the court ruling from me then it still holds that the Court's ruling is above what an exception from the CBA states. Don't confuse CBA lingo with Court lingo because they are two different things.

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My understanding of the Court ruling is that they cannot exceed the cap even to sign their own players - except with Belkin's permission.

[uga2006]

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This isn't really major or anything, but expect Josh to get an extension in the near future.

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I'd hope so.

[txsting]

I'm also pretty sure the deal was that we couldn't exceed the cap without all owners approval.

Now, I wonder what the language is around that? When talking about Josh Smith's extension, we're talking about affecting our cap figure in 2008-2009, not 2007-2008, right? How can you avoid exceeding the cap in 08-09 without having any idea what the cap number is? This sounds like a big loophole in favor of the ATL spirit group. Another thing to note is that, for 08-09, we currently only have 8 players under contract for a total of about $40M. We could give Smoove 9M and Chillz 6M in that year and still be technically below the yet-unknown 08-09 cap figure. I'm assuming the salary cap can't shrink.

Here's where it gets interesting: say we go ahead and give Smoove and Chillz extensions starting at the above figures. That gives us 10 players for 08-09, at about $55M. The cap will probably be $58-60M. That only give us maybe $4M to work with, and team are required to carry 13 contracts. We might be forced to sign 3 guys at minimum contracts. You can easily imagine a scenario in which our artificial salary cap constraints directly clash with CBA roster requirements. If we increase our future salary commitments in this offseason, it will get really interesting.

[Lrenfro]

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Here's where it gets interesting: say we go ahead and give Smoove and Chillz extensions starting at the above figures. That gives us 10 players for 08-09, at about $55M. The cap will probably be $58-60M. That only give us maybe $4M to work with, and team are required to carry 13 contracts. We might be forced to sign 3 guys at minimum contracts. You can easily imagine a scenario in which our artificial salary cap constraints directly clash with CBA roster requirements. If we increase our future salary commitments in this offseason, it will get really interesting.

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I guess this would be assuming we don't trade away some of those contracts by next year.

If we buy someone out of a contract I.E Speedy, how does that work?