Can Hawks resign JT & not pay the luxury tax ?

[coachx]

Who will the last 3 players be to complete the 2003-2004 squad and is there a way to do it without paying the luxury tax ?

With signing of the Hawk's 2 draft picks (Diaw-Rifford and Hansen) the Hawks have 9 players under contract for next season with room for 3 more.

Who will the next 3 players be ?

A question with no answer b/c there is no owner to tell the GM AND president how much they can spend or who to trade.

I think 99% of us hope JT will be resigned but can the Hawks do it with their dwindling monetary resources.

The salary cap is at $42 m. With signing of the draft picks the Hawks have arounf $54 m tied up in 9 players. ARE THE HAWKS ALREADY IN LUXURY TAX LAND ?

If so how do they afford JT ? The Hawks must have a veteran guard since the 3 guards currently signed only have 1/2 of an NBA season of expierence under their collective belts.

Steve Smith and Kenny Anderson will cost too much for the Hawks even at the veteran's minimum of $1.5 m/year. Newbel's demand of $1.5 to 2 m for multiple years is too much for the budget too unless the Hawks want to be in the luxury tax even more.

I forget the qualifying offer to JT, I think its around $2.93 m.

In a perfect world the Hawks resign JT (1 year 3m to prove worth and allow him to be a unrestricted fa next year)and pay a little luxury tax. Then bring in the 2 most impressive guys off the summer league team to make the league minimum of around $550 k. Maybe they are Alvin Jone JR. (6'11'', C) and Corey Benjamin 6'7'', G,SF. I think both of these guys can give us more than Darvin Ham did.

That leaves the Hawks with a competitve squad of :

J.T. / Dickua

? / Diaw/ Hansen/Benjamin

Dog /Crawford

Reef /Hendu

Theo /Nazr/ Jones Jr.

For the 1st 3 games that Dog will miss Hawks can start

JT

Hansen or Benjamin

Diaw

Reef

Theo

The best thing about the team is that the nucleus of JT, Dog, Reef, and Theo have played a full year together. While many teams with personal changes are finding their groove or chemistry the Hawks will hopefully already have theirs. Plus Diaw ia a chemistry guy who is a passer so he should not rock the boat at all he will only make it ride smoother.

On a side note: if no one takes an interest in Glover what is the minimum he can be signed for ? 600k ? If so he should be brought back b/c he has no learning curve. He know the players and the present coach.

[Diesel]

We will hit Luxury tax land regaurdless of what we do. That's not even a valid question anymore. The tax is predicted as 55 million.

I mean, we don't even have a full roster and we're at the Luxury tax.

But for the economist... this yr is already lost. The problem is Next year. The Hawks need a trade. Preferably for a guy in the last year of his contract. For Example:

Grob/Nazr/Dickau for Rasheed Wallace would be the type of trade that we should look for.

Or Grob/Hendu for McDyess/Weatherspoon.

or Nazr for B. Barry.

Something that brings in a player we can use but also get rid of.

However, for the fan, Salary cap makes no difference. We want the best team that can get on the floor on the floor. So trading allstars for Gimps is not attractive to the fans..

[coachx]

Under that scenerio Dog is as good as gone for a player like Rice if the Hawks have a poor 1/2 of the season so we will only pay the tax one year rather than 2.

[Diesel]

I would never trade Dog for Rice. Makes no sense to do that.

But Hendu/CC for Rice... Makes all the sense in the world for us.

[TheDude]

yeah, what's with the rob for rice stuff.. i saw that before.. at least let's get some talent for grob..

i hate to lose the potential in dickau but i like that trade for rasheed diesel...

[Traceman]

and CC for Rice.

[cyman3]

for real! lol... houston would never take hendo/cc for rice when rice is in his last year. they rather just have the cap space...