"Good chance" David Andersen signs w/ Hawks

[sturt]

I asked the webmaster of David Andersen's website about his status, and received this reply... (you can rest assured, I don't make things up...)

Quote:

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David is interested in going to the NBA and playing with Atlanta Hawks. Its really up to the Atlanta Hawks. David is waiting for an offer from them. If you want to see David in Atlanta you should send emails to Atlanta Hawks and ask you friends to send emails to them also. If the fans want to see David in Atlanta and the Management know of this then there is a good chance he will sign this year.

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I took the benefit of a doubt, and asked the webmaster to see if David might participate with us in a Hawksquawk Q&A, similar to the days when we had Babcock come and answer our questions... no answer yet, but I'll keep everyone, especially chilz, informed.

He's aware of the site, of course, so I'd imagine/hope he'll be visiting sometime soon, if only to lurk and read.

[Popeye]

Let's trade with CSKA, we give them Lue and LO for Anderson.

[DrReality]

I'd much rather give money to DA than Lo. If we can ship him and a guard off we'll have the extra cap space. Don't know how much of an inside player DA is, but he is a big body. Could be we could trade his rights to someone as part of a deal?

[DrReality]

If he's going to give the NBA a shot he better hurry. The window of opportunity is closing. Here's a link to when he was drafted.

http://www.nbadraft.net/profiles/davidandersen.htm

[Blunt91]

How is David Anderson's game any different from ZaZa's? Looks like Billy & Woody are content with Shelden,AL, & ZaZa manning the 5spot. It would probably be in our best interest and David's that we trade his right's along with someone like AJ to another team.

[Nicholasp27]

there isn't a 'good chance' he signs

he said that if we tell the mgmt that we want him, that there is a good chance...he's overestimating our pull (we don't have any) with the mgmt

david will sign with us if we offer him a few mil/year

i don't see us doing that right now when we have 5 young bigs to rotate and determine their roles/future before we bring in another

[sturt]

I'm just the messenger here, of course. He said "good chance," and I don't consider that a "great chance," but I also don't consider that a "fat chance" -- if only b/c of DA's comments last fall that he's been getting pushed by his friend Andrew Bogut to finally make the move, plus that his CSKA contract is evidently up, and plus that as someone else here has suggested, he's at an age where it's likely "now or never."

My guess is that the webmaster is DA's brother or other relative... his name is Grant Andersen.

In terms of payroll, who knows what it would take, other than that he evidently has been offered and refused the minimum in days gone by... my own guess, and that's all it is, is that, if a deal were to get done, it would have to start at, at least, $1 mil for the sake of DA's pride, and probably no more than that where BK is concerned--after all, $1 mil is approximately the first year salary of a #19 1st round pick, and until he gets in an ATL uni and the whistle blows, BK is going to be his naturally skeptical self.

Upside to Andersen from where I sit:

Chiefly, we'd like to find another big guy who can score, and he's someone who has that reputation, albeit at a level that sometimes predicts NBA success and sometimes doesn't.

From what I've seen, indeed his skills do appear to be in the mold of ZaZa's, but I think he has a thicker torso. And I've seen him show a nice, consistent turnaround jumper from 6-8 feet.

What's more, he costs only money, and nothing in terms of talent assets... he's ours if the paycheck can be negotiated.

I like him, and think something like a one year deal with a second year team option would be make sense for both sides -- with that team option calculated at a significantly higher price tag that balances his perception of what he think's he'd be worth to the Hawks after having a year in the league to prove his value against the possibility that he'd be worth more to other teams than to the Hawks.

[Rick]

Quote:

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Chiefly, we'd like to find another big guy who can score, and he's someone who has that reputation, albeit at a level that sometimes predicts NBA success and sometimes doesn't.

From what I've seen, indeed his skills do appear to be in the mold of ZaZa's, but I think he has a thicker torso. And I've seen him show a nice, consistent turnaround jumper from 6-8 feet.

---

He has much more range on his shot than Zaza too. David can consistently hit the International 3pt. Australia will be playing New Zealand very soon for qualification to the Beijing Olympics. Bogut is not playing, so Andersen will be the starting big. I hope to get opportunities to watch how he plays.

Also playing in that series will be Craig Bradshaw, who is on our Summer League team.

Cheers

Rick

[slap]

I'm pretty sure he signed a 2 year deal last year, and he is making the equivalent of about $4.5M. It would be nice to add him to the mix, but for that price? It just doesn't make sense, particularly with all the big bodies and the legal cap constraints. He was more in play last season, until he signed that deal at that price.

[DrReality]

Trade him to the Spurs. They'll bring him over and he'll be a star.

He reminds me of the European (white guy) that we had a couple years ago. But he's got to be better than Lo. Give me a break. The money we've paid Lo, Este, etc we could have easily brought him over.

[sturt]

Quote:

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I'm pretty sure he signed a 2 year deal last year, and he is making the equivalent of about $4.5M.

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Hmmmm... I missed this, and the stories I've read seemed to indicate that this off-season would be the time for him to move, or not, which I presumed meant that he would be in-between contracts... but, maybe you're correct and he just has an NBA out-clause (???).

Is that 4.5 total or $4.5 per year?

Yeah... the numbers are the numbers... and the court ruling is the court ruling... we've got about $1.6 mil of cap space, and there's not much negotiating that can happen as a result... that's why I suggested a two-year @ about $1 mil, with a team option for something more like $3, $4 or even $5 mil for next season... if he's "all that," we'll have room to reward him and keep him... if he's something less, he's finally freed from the rights we've held, and able to market himself to the other 29 teams.

Win-win.