Worst case scenario and a reality check.

[HawkItus]

Let's say the Sixers go loopy and offer something the Hawks are unwilling to match. We lose Smoove. Boo hoo.....I'm still a Hawks fan, dyed and dried......100%. I suggest we take the lesson to heart and sign Chills. Move Horford to PF and lock him up after next year. Take the savings and sign a Kwame or Randolph with an eye on holding the money for resigning JJ and making our own power play next off season. But, this Smoove issue will not make or break this team. I think we have allowed circumstances to cloud our view and Sund being an outsider is more likely to see the reality. Smooth is not a championship player in his current state. For all his ability and skill, if you put him on a bad team they will continue to be bad. He isn't Kevin Garnett or Dwight Howard, Chris Paurl, or Lebron. He can't lead a team by himself. At some point by giving him an outrageous contract you would be saying that he is that type of player. I like'n him to Kenyon Martin. The Nets lost Kenyon do to a stupid choice to let him reach free agency. But, it didn't destroy the franchise, and Denver never got their money's worth.

[frosgrim]

The Nets haven't returned to the finals since the summer they let Kenyon go.

Kenyon maybe a nut case in Denver, but he and Kidd had chemestry.

Its not that Smith is a complete player today, but what he will be at 25-30. On top of that, by not resigning Smith the ASG is putting its collective foot in its collective mouth again. All the proclomations from Gearon et al are borderline worthless right now. Think about what the Hawks fan will think after the ASG let Smith walk for NOTHING. An SnT is only slightly better, but if we get back Dally and a couple of picks, we have gained nothing and lost a lot.

Then there is the reaction on the team. No one on the team will believe anything coming out of the FO. That is a bad place to be in any company. Management and employees have to be on the same table to be successful. The further away each side gets, the less productive the entire organization.

Signing Smith to an extension is a critical borameter of the health of the franchise. Letting him go is a significant sign that the ASG is without a clue or broke or both.

[TheTrueSiete]

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The Nets haven't returned to the finals since the summer they let Kenyon go.

Kenyon maybe a nut case in Denver, but he and Kidd had chemestry.

Its not that Smith is a complete player today, but what he will be at 25-30. On top of that, by not resigning Smith the ASG is putting its collective foot in its collective mouth again. All the proclomations from Gearon et al are borderline worthless right now. Think about what the Hawks fan will think after the ASG let Smith walk for NOTHING. An SnT is only slightly better, but if we get back Dally and a couple of picks, we have gained nothing and lost a lot.

Then there is the reaction on the team. No one on the team will believe anything coming out of the FO. That is a bad place to be in any company. Management and employees have to be on the same table to be successful. The further away each side gets, the less productive the entire organization.

Signing Smith to an extension is a critical borameter of the health of the franchise. Letting him go is a significant sign that the ASG is without a clue or broke or both.

7

[HawkItus]

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The Nets haven't returned to the finals since the summer they let Kenyon go.

Kenyon maybe a nut case in Denver, but he and Kidd had chemestry.

Its not that Smith is a complete player today, but what he will be at 25-30. On top of that, by not resigning Smith the ASG is putting its collective foot in its collective mouth again. All the proclomations from Gearon et al are borderline worthless right now. Think about what the Hawks fan will think after the ASG let Smith walk for NOTHING. An SnT is only slightly better, but if we get back Dally and a couple of picks, we have gained nothing and lost a lot.

Then there is the reaction on the team. No one on the team will believe anything coming out of the FO. That is a bad place to be in any company. Management and employees have to be on the same table to be successful. The further away each side gets, the less productive the entire organization.

Signing Smith to an extension is a critical borameter of the health of the franchise. Letting him go is a significant sign that the ASG is without a clue or broke or both.

Here's the thing, Billy played a bad hand. I'm assuming he told ASG to stand pat with the 45 million offer and that no one would go above 50 million in the summer. He was wrong. I still say if you can get Josh at 10 or 10.5 a year do it. But, I wouldn't pay him 12 mill a year. Fans be damned. Fans will root for a good product. I remember when the Patriots(I know different sport) started letting free agent players walk. The fans thought it was crazy. They aren't complaining now. Sometimes you have to admit you played a bad hand. Except your loss and move on. Throwing money in to salvage a loss is never good business. I'd take the PR hit if it meant that we could field a better team in the very near future.

[crimedog]

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Let's say the Sixers go loopy and offer something the Hawks are unwilling to match. We lose Smoove. Boo hoo.....I'm still a Hawks fan, dyed and dried......100%. I suggest we take the lesson to heart and sign Chills. Move Horford to PF and lock him up after next year. Take the savings and sign a Kwame or Randolph with an eye on holding the money for resigning JJ and making our own power play next off season. But, this Smoove issue will not make or break this team. I think we have allowed circumstances to cloud our view and Sund being an outsider is more likely to see the reality. Smooth is not a championship player in his current state. For all his ability and skill, if you put him on a bad team they will continue to be bad. He isn't Kevin Garnett or Dwight Howard, Chris Paurl, or Lebron. He can't lead a team by himself. At some point by giving him an outrageous contract you would be saying that he is that type of player. I like'n him to Kenyon Martin. The Nets lost Kenyon do to a stupid choice to let him reach free agency. But, it didn't destroy the franchise, and Denver never got their money's worth.

Well for one, he's better than KMart ever was even though KMart was older when he came into the league than Josh is now. Second, their winningest season with KMart was 52 wins and a trip to the finals, since its been 49 (with the addition of VC) and a second round stomping. Third, what power play do you have in mind to land a franchise changing player? We had a chance with Paul and we blew it. Fourth, as of now he has the potential to be the best player we could get in the next few years unless something unexpected happens and gambling that he achieves his potential is probably less risky than letting him walk and hoping that Lebron James/DWade/Bosh decide to opt out of their contracts and come to a team with ownership that won't shell out for their star players.

All that said, I'll probably still be a Hawks fan. Its where I grew up and even though I live in NYC, there is very little chance that I cheer for the Knicks or Nets any time soon. We will just be worse for it.

[AHF]

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The Nets haven't returned to the finals since the summer they let Kenyon go.

Kenyon maybe a nut case in Denver, but he and Kidd had chemestry.

Its not that Smith is a complete player today, but what he will be at 25-30. On top of that, by not resigning Smith the ASG is putting its collective foot in its collective mouth again. All the proclomations from Gearon et al are borderline worthless right now. Think about what the Hawks fan will think after the ASG let Smith walk for NOTHING. An SnT is only slightly better, but if we get back Dally and a couple of picks, we have gained nothing and lost a lot.

Then there is the reaction on the team. No one on the team will believe anything coming out of the FO. That is a bad place to be in any company. Management and employees have to be on the same table to be successful. The further away each side gets, the less productive the entire organization.

Signing Smith to an extension is a critical borameter of the health of the franchise. Letting him go is a significant sign that the ASG is without a clue or broke or both.

7

Yep. Well said, frosgrim.

[DrReality]

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The Nets haven't returned to the finals since the summer they let Kenyon go.

Kenyon maybe a nut case in Denver, but he and Kidd had chemestry.

Its not that Smith is a complete player today, but what he will be at 25-30. On top of that, by not resigning Smith the ASG is putting its collective foot in its collective mouth again. All the proclomations from Gearon et al are borderline worthless right now. Think about what the Hawks fan will think after the ASG let Smith walk for NOTHING. An SnT is only slightly better, but if we get back Dally and a couple of picks, we have gained nothing and lost a lot.

Then there is the reaction on the team. No one on the team will believe anything coming out of the FO. That is a bad place to be in any company. Management and employees have to be on the same table to be successful. The further away each side gets, the less productive the entire organization.

Signing Smith to an extension is a critical borameter of the health of the franchise. Letting him go is a significant sign that the ASG is without a clue or broke or both.

7

They may not be able to match Smoove's offer, but even more they cannot afford to let him go. As a poster from another team said, it will be the death of the franchise in its present form. They can't let that happen.

Yep. Well said, frosgrim.

[Dejay]

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The Nets haven't returned to the finals since the summer they let Kenyon go.

Kenyon maybe a nut case in Denver, but he and Kidd had chemestry.

Its not that Smith is a complete player today, but what he will be at 25-30. On top of that, by not resigning Smith the ASG is putting its collective foot in its collective mouth again. All the proclomations from Gearon et al are borderline worthless right now. Think about what the Hawks fan will think after the ASG let Smith walk for NOTHING. An SnT is only slightly better, but if we get back Dally and a couple of picks, we have gained nothing and lost a lot.

Then there is the reaction on the team. No one on the team will believe anything coming out of the FO. That is a bad place to be in any company. Management and employees have to be on the same table to be successful. The further away each side gets, the less productive the entire organization.

Signing Smith to an extension is a critical borameter of the health of the franchise. Letting him go is a significant sign that the ASG is without a clue or broke or both.

Great point, Fros. If they end up with nothing for Smith, what kind of morale builder will that be for the folks who's free agency period will soon be coming up? The entire front office loses credibility with the fanbase, let alone the locker room. And last I checked JJ and Horford didn't sign lifetime deals and will be very interested parties in what eventually goes down.

Its one thing for Gearon and Co. to spout off to everyone who would hear them and say that the Joshes will be resigned; its another for them to turn around in a couple of weeks and say 'well, we WANTED to resign the Joshes, but'....

[khaos7]

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The Nets haven't returned to the finals since the summer they let Kenyon go.

Kenyon maybe a nut case in Denver, but he and Kidd had chemestry.

Its not that Smith is a complete player today, but what he will be at 25-30. On top of that, by not resigning Smith the ASG is putting its collective foot in its collective mouth again. All the proclomations from Gearon et al are borderline worthless right now. Think about what the Hawks fan will think after the ASG let Smith walk for NOTHING. An SnT is only slightly better, but if we get back Dally and a couple of picks, we have gained nothing and lost a lot.

Then there is the reaction on the team. No one on the team will believe anything coming out of the FO. That is a bad place to be in any company. Management and employees have to be on the same table to be successful. The further away each side gets, the less productive the entire organization.

Signing Smith to an extension is a critical borameter of the health of the franchise. Letting him go is a significant sign that the ASG is without a clue or broke or both.

Well said. With a fanbase that experienced what it did during the playoffs and whispers of the ASG being broke, the ASG either needs to resign Smith or get an All Star back in return. It's that simple.

[jhay610]

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With a fanbase that experienced what it did during the playoffs and whispers of the ASG being broke, the ASG either needs to resign Smith or get an All Star back in return. It's that simple.

or get out of town. They are already building ill-will because of what they have done with the Thrashers. If they can't afford to keep both franchises competitive, they should sell one or both (not sure how that would work with the Hawks and the legal issues). They have the Hawks held hostage (with the legal stuff) and the Thrashers in purgatory (no coach, casting off franchise players for peanuts, etc)

It would be a cruel reality if the Hawks became the Thrashers. Make the playoffs after years of drought, then become irrelevant by the All-Star break of the following year.

[HawkItus]

So if the Hawks decide they don't want to overpay for a player the ownership group is broke? wow. I mean the owners payed for JJ. They took on Bibby's salary. They spent on Speedy. Unfortunately BK put them in a bind with this JS issue. The speedy mistake, the drafting redundancy, it's all haunting us now. I heard a guy from the Sporting News put it best, if we had Paul he would be under a rookie contract still, we wouldn't have Speedy or Bibby on the books, and re-upping both Joshes would be a simple affair. Mistakes were made, and now we are facing the chance of losing Smoove to a ridiculous offer. But, giving Smith a contract that binds us from becoming anything more than a "good" to "average" team is not the answer.

[jhay610]

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But, giving Smith a contract that binds us from becoming anything more than a "good" to "average" team is not the answer.

Not signing him ensures that we will be no where near "good" or average" for at least several more years.

[Traceman]

And BK didn't put them in a bind on this issue. The owners KNEW that Smoove and Chillz were FAs when they agreed to do the Bibby trade and they knew the potential salary ramifications of doing the deal. How could they NOT know? Everyone on this board discussed it at length and BK discussed it at a season ticket holder event. If money to resign Smoove was even a POSSIBLE issue, then the Bibby trade should never have been made.

The point made about Paul has SOME merit but it is nowhere near as simple as that. Paul is about to get a max deal, Smoove might be about to get a max deal and we wouldn't have Horford. At any rate, that is all water under the bridge and we are dealing with the situation as it stands today.

[crimedog]

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But, giving Smith a contract that binds us from becoming anything more than a "good" to "average" team is not the answer.

Not signing him ensures that we will be no where near "good" or average" for at least several more years.

Exactly. If we don't resign Smith, none of the premier FAs that can help pull a 'chise into the playoffs are going to want to come here anyway because they will assume the ownership group isn't committed to winning (might just be true).

We will be stuck with a below average team, but not below average enough to get a top 3 pick. Fans that started coming last season (about 1,000 new ones per game) will stop coming and we will start seeing the same slide in attendance we saw during lost years at the begging of the millenium. You do realize that the increase in attendance has a perfect correlation w/ Smith's development? Not so say he is the only reason but the rebuilding started with him.

[HawkItus]

So let me get this right, you guys think this team as it stands can compete for a championship? Because that is what your saying if you want Smoove back at any cost. This 37 win squad will be what we have for the future to come. Yes Horford will get better, and yes Smith will get better. Bibby will definitely move on and Acie will become our starter, but JJ, Horford, and Acie will all be coming up when Bibby comes off the books. If thats what you guys feel, we agree to disagree. I don't think this team with or without Smith is capable of winning a title. I also think we could win just as many games with a lineup of that has Horford, Williams, Childress, JJ, and Bibby playing the bulk of the minutes. Maybe I'm wrong, and I hope we don't find out.

[frosgrim]

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So let me get this right, you guys think this team as it stands can compete for a championship? Because that is what your saying if you want Smoove back at any cost. This 37 win squad will be what we have for the future to come. Yes Horford will get better, and yes Smith will get better. Bibby will definitely move on and Acie will become our starter, but JJ, Horford, and Acie will all be coming up when Bibby comes off the books. If thats what you guys feel, we agree to disagree. I don't think this team with or without Smith is capable of winning a title. I also think we could win just as many games with a lineup of that has Horford, Williams, Childress, JJ, and Bibby playing the bulk of the minutes. Maybe I'm wrong, and I hope we don't find out.

It is very hard to replace all the stuff that Smith brings to the table, esp. his defense. He gives 17.5 a game as well. As bad as the Hawks were defensively once we acquired Bibby, it would be significantly worse without Smith. There were numerous games where in the 4th quarter opposing players would alter their shots as they drove to the basket knowing that Smith was there to block the shot. Those altered shots probably won the Hawks several games down the stretch.

The only real problem with Smith is his lack of judgement. But the guy is 22 and has a burning desire to win. Does he get petulant at times? Yes, but even JJ, Mr. Cool does as well. I am willing to risk "overpaying" by 2-3 million for a guy that is a critical cog in the Hawks game plan.

The real question is, if Smith walks, what do you replace him with? Seriously, that has to be the proper question to ask. The Hawks don't get 14 million in cap space by not signing Smith; instead, the get his cap hold, which is a few million.

The psychological damage of letting Smith go is something that must be factored in as well. Guys on the Hawks roster will never believe anything that management says from here on out. That is very bad.

Sulton, I understand your logic, but you are not including all the factors in your weighing of the situation.

[Traceman]

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The real question is, if Smith walks, what do you replace him with? Seriously, that has to be the proper question to ask. The Hawks don't get 14 million in cap space by not signing Smith; instead, the get his cap hold, which is a few million.

That is the situation in a nutshell. If Smoove is gone, what do you replace him with? Future draft picks and scrubs are not going to get you anywhere and we don't gain any cap room by letting Smoove walk.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

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Let's say the Sixers go loopy and offer something the Hawks are unwilling to match. We lose Smoove. Boo hoo.....I'm still a Hawks fan, dyed and dried......100%. I suggest we take the lesson to heart and sign Chills. Move Horford to PF and lock him up after next year. Take the savings and sign a Kwame or Randolph with an eye on holding the money for resigning JJ and making our own power play next off season. But, this Smoove issue will not make or break this team. I think we have allowed circumstances to cloud our view and Sund being an outsider is more likely to see the reality. Smooth is not a championship player in his current state. For all his ability and skill, if you put him on a bad team they will continue to be bad. He isn't Kevin Garnett or Dwight Howard, Chris Paurl, or Lebron. He can't lead a team by himself. At some point by giving him an outrageous contract you would be saying that he is that type of player. I like'n him to Kenyon Martin. The Nets lost Kenyon do to a stupid choice to let him reach free agency. But, it didn't destroy the franchise, and Denver never got their money's worth.

Excellent point.

And the ASG's "ace in the hole" in all of this, is AL HORFORD . . . the player that most Hawk fans would choose to have over Smith anyway.

Losing Smith means that Horford gets to play the 4 almost full time, and may very well be a better fit there than Smith, and better for the team overall.

Smith's performance in the playoffs spoke volumes to me, both good and bad. It showed the potential he has if he puts it all together, but it also showed just how far he has to go to even reach star player status, let alone all-star status.

I was in Philips for both Games 3 and 6. The Smith that played in Game 3, was a player who played under control, played hard, and seemed to make all of the right plays. The Smith that played in Game 6, was reckless and totally out of control. Yet, we made our run in that game when Smith was on the bench, and Horford, Marvin, and Chill were leading the charge.

Letting Smith go means that they definitely have to address the center issue from a defensive standpoint. If they have to do it by committee, then so be it.

As I've said before, Smith embodies everything that is great and everything that is wrong with this team. I still say trade him for an all-star caliber player, if the ASG feels they can't afford to max him out. If they want to keep him, then match whatever comes their way.

But if they match, they need to understand that Smith will be expected to be an offensive star, to justify this deal. And because of that, you're going to take shots away from better offensive players in the form of Horford and Williams, which in turn, may hurt the team.

Smith's biggest value is defensively. His shot blocking ability is undeniable. At times he can also be a dominant rebounder. And his overall energy is fantastic. If the ASG feels that they can't do without, or replace Smith's defense, then they'll keep him.

The funny thing to me in all of this, is that people believe that as currently constructed, we might not even be good enough to make the playoffs next year. They also believe that if Smith went to Philly, that Philly isn't a championship contender either.

Yet, they're willing to keep Smith at all costs right here in ATL.

[skyhawk]

[quote

Here's the thing, Billy played a bad hand. I'm assuming he told ASG to stand pat with the 45 million offer and that no one would go above 50 million in the summer. He was wrong.

I still don't understand why people blame the front office for not extending Smith. They made a fair offer and if I'm his agent no way would I let him sign without testing the market - regardless of how much was offered. No matter what, that 45 million (or whatever the $$s were) would still be on the table fom the Hawks.