Admin capstone21 Posted September 24, 2008 Admin Report Share Posted September 24, 2008 The biggest story of the summer may have been the decision Josh Childress made to spurn the Atlanta Hawks' offer to head for the cooler climate of Greece. Olympiakos has already begun their season, and three games in fans in Greece are already asking the question that Hawks VP Dominique Wilkins said would be his biggest issue in Europe. "I think at his age it's a risky decision for Josh to make," said Wilkins. "Especially because his game isn't conditioned to the way they play over there. It's a jump-shooting league and a transition league, but the Greek league is very physical, too. Hopefully he can adjust and adapt to the style of play." In his first game with Olympiakos Childress was given the game-winner . . .and missed it. It was a wide open jumper that Childress bricked, which won't surprise many Hawks fans. After all, shooting was never Childress' strong suit. "I played in Greece, I know the system and how things work," Wilkins continued in our interview. "They throw a lot of money at you, but if you don't play well or the team starts losing they start looking for ways to get rid of you and they don't pay you. The contract may say guaranteed, but it's not always guaranteed. I wish him luck because I love Josh Childress, but if it were me at his stage of life and career, I wouldn't make that kind of move." It's still early, of course, but according to a Greek journalist I correspond with regularly fans are already beginning to question Childress. In his second game he managed just nine points and in his third he recorded 14 points and five rebounds. He's not exactly off to a thrilling start. HOOPSWORLD will be checking in on Josh's progress from time to time, so stay tuned. http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=10049 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Posted September 24, 2008 Report Share Posted September 24, 2008 While I certainly hate to hear that he's struggling, it's not a huge surprise given the style of his game. While I'd like to hear him do well, it would be interesting to see what would happen if they refused to pay him. Maybe he'd come back over here and accept that contract we offered him originally. I haven't checked on this in a while but we should have enough under the luxury tax to sign him, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crimedog Posted September 24, 2008 Report Share Posted September 24, 2008 If I'm not mistaken, individual scoring averages are lower in Euro-league play. here is a list of the top 20 scorers from last season (name, team, games, total, average) 1 SALYERS, MARC Chorale Roanne 14 305 21.79 2 SPENCER, DEWARICK Virtus Vidivici 10 181 18.10 3 PEKOVIC, NIKOLA Partizan Igokea 14 251 17.93 4 SOLOMON, WILLIE Fenerbahce Ulker 13 231 17.77 5 PRICE, HOLLIS Lietuvos Rytas 14 236 16.86 6 RAKOCEVIC, IGOR Tau Ceramica 13 219 16.85 7 GREER, LYNN Olympiacos 10 160 16.00 8 JACKSON, MARC Olympiacos 14 222 15.86 9 NICHOLAS, DREW Efes Pilsen 12 190 15.83 10 MASSEY, JEREMIAH Aris BSA 2003 14 220 15.71 11 MILIC, MARKO Union Olimpija 14 219 15.64 12 WARREN, CHRIS Cibona 14 219 15.64 13 RUSH, BRION Chorale Roanne 14 216 15.43 14 GUROVIC, MILAN Asseco Prokom 12 184 15.33 15 WRIGHT, BRACEY Aris BSA 2003 14 209 14.93 16 GALLINARI, DANILO Armani Jeans Milano 11 164 14.91 17 ANDERSEN, DAVID CSKA Moscow 14 202 14.43 18 LORBEK, ERAZEM Lottomatica 14 201 14.36 19 BROWN, MARCUS Zalgiris 14 200 14.29 20 CLANCY, SAM Le Mans 13 185 14.23 So if Josh can play just a little better over the course of the season he can certainly be a top 20 scorer. Kinda cool to see some of the names on there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Posted September 24, 2008 Report Share Posted September 24, 2008 If I'm not mistaken, individual scoring averages are lower in Euro-league play. So if Josh can play just a little better over the course of the season he can certainly be a top 20 scorer. The question is whether or not being a top 20 scorer is worthy of the largest contract in league history. I think that for the amount they are paying him they would want a lot more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmac13 Posted September 24, 2008 Report Share Posted September 24, 2008 The question is whether or not being a top 20 scorer is worthy of the largest contract in league history. I think that for the amount they are paying him they would want a lot more. The honeymoon won't last long with his current play. I hope the money was worth the pounding he is going to take if he doesn't improve quickly. Chillz game just doesn't fit the euro style of play. I really can't understand how they ever thought it was going to be a good fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member mrhonline Posted September 24, 2008 Premium Member Report Share Posted September 24, 2008 He'll get better as time goes along, and I think the idea all along was for him to stay over there for one season only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txsting Posted September 24, 2008 Report Share Posted September 24, 2008 For that money I imagine they are expecting him to lead the team in scoring. At least the fans and media will. It seemed their owners had done their homework and knew that Childress was a complementary player. If he goes over there trying to force his own offense it's not going to end well. If he plays his game, he'll be fine - not great - but fine. He's definitely not a shooter....take away all the stuff he gets at the bucket and he shoots just 25% inside the arc (NBA hotspots). He shoots 38% outside the arc but he can't create that shot so he doesn't get to take it very much. I don't see how he fits well in a league that tends to favor intermediate jumpshooters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDirty Posted September 24, 2008 Report Share Posted September 24, 2008 Sorry but that article has to be at least half wrong. Olympiacos played 4 pre-season games so far. They won the first one 79-66 so how could Childress have missed the game winner??? He did have 19 points in that game and was the top scorer. The 2nd game they won 72-71 and as far as I can tell by the google translation Childress didn't play. The third game they lost 80-85, Childress had 9 points. In the fourth game they won 88-82 and Childress had 14 points (top scorer had 16). Seems to me that the article was written just to hate on Childress a little bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exodus Posted September 24, 2008 Report Share Posted September 24, 2008 If Childress struggles in Greece i am sure someone on this board who shall remain nameless will find a way to blame it on Marvin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Hawk #21 Posted September 24, 2008 Report Share Posted September 24, 2008 If Childress struggles in Greece i am sure someone on this board who shall remain nameless will find a way to blame it on Marvin. Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Hawk #21 Posted September 24, 2008 Report Share Posted September 24, 2008 Chillz will be fine imo, he'll need to work harder and just try to adapt and he should be ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsuteke Posted September 24, 2008 Report Share Posted September 24, 2008 Many will disagree but I believe the Hawks will be better this year w/o Childress by replacing him with a legit shooter as a 6th man that can stretch the defense on the perimeter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swatguy Posted September 24, 2008 Report Share Posted September 24, 2008 Many will disagree but I believe the Hawks will be better this year w/o Childress by replacing him with a legit shooter as a 6th man that can stretch the defense on the perimeter. There is no bigger Chillz fan on this board than me. And I agree with you. The big difference is if Marvin plays as a legit SF NBA Starter. Marvin's develop makes Mo and Flip's signings look awesome. I will miss Chillz but look forward to either a lottery pick for him or his return. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators AHF Posted September 24, 2008 Moderators Report Share Posted September 24, 2008 I will miss Chillz but look forward to either a lottery pick for him or his return. Why would anyone give us a lottery pick for him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrReality Posted September 25, 2008 Report Share Posted September 25, 2008 In addition to the different style of play he has to deal with the language barrier, cities he doesn't know etc. Seems that would make his adjustment difficult. I think we can be better without him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member hawkman Posted September 25, 2008 Premium Member Report Share Posted September 25, 2008 In addition to the different style of play he has to deal with the language barrier, cities he doesn't know etc. Seems that would make his adjustment difficult. I think we can be better without him. I don't agree. He was a major guy for us off the bench last season. True, we have some nice additions now, but that still doesn't drop Chill's value to this team in my eyes. He was a versatile energy player that made few mistakes. He wasn't afraid to attack the glass or bring the ball up on offense. His shooting was suspect but he brought so many other things to the table that he was able to compensate. He'll be fine overseas even though some people want to see him fail to prove some sort of point. He's a good all-around player with a great understanding of the game. I agree with Big Dirty on this one. That article seems a tad biased. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swatguy Posted September 25, 2008 Report Share Posted September 25, 2008 Why would anyone give us a lottery pick for him? Were there 14 players better than Chillz in the last draft? How about the last 5 drafts? How about the next two? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonethugz Posted September 25, 2008 Report Share Posted September 25, 2008 what position did he play so far? or what position will he play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators AHF Posted September 25, 2008 Moderators Report Share Posted September 25, 2008 Were there 14 players better than Chillz in the last draft? How about the last 5 drafts? How about the next two? Chillz is a role player who will want a contract starting at least at 7M per year. Players that are better than Chillz or it is arguable which is a better prospect at this point from recent drafts (with 3 years in the league) include: 2003 Lebron James Carmello Anthony Dwayne Wade Chris Bosh Chris Kaman Kirk Heinrich TJ Ford David West Travis Outlaw Leandro Barbosa Josh Howard Similar prospects: Darko Milicic, Nick Collison, Boris Diaw 2004 Dwight Howard Emeka Okafor Devin Harris Luol Deng Andre Iguodala Andris Biedrins Al Jefferson Josh Smith Kevin Martin Similar prospects: Ben Gordon, Jameer Nelson 2005 Andrew Bogut Marvin Williams Deron Williams Chris Paul Raymond Felton Andrew Bynum Danny Granger Monta Ellis Similar prospects: Martell Webster, Charlie Villanueva, Fransisco Garcia, Luther Head, Jason Maxiel, Lina Kleiza, David Lee, Louis Williams * * * * In short, Childress is not that high a demand of a player. In a redraft of his own draft, I think he goes 10-13th. However, comparing him against a new draft is different because you have to sign Childress for a lot more $$ and know that he will be an unrestricted FA after that contract is done. You also know who Childress is - for good and bad. You know he won't bust like numerous lottery picks every year but you also know that he will never be a star and might not ever be a full-time starter. I would not trade a lottery pick for Childress unless my team had room capwise for his salary and was a vet team needing someone to plug in and I was not enamored by any prospects likely to be available in the draft. Also, I would not deal that pick without significant protection to avoid scenario when I give the pick up and it gets lucky in the lottery. In sum, I would not look to deal a lottery pick for Childress if I was a GM and I certainly don't expect any other team to give us one. If we get a lottery pick for him I will praise Sund up and down and consider it a huge windfall trade for the Hawks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exodus Posted September 25, 2008 Report Share Posted September 25, 2008 AHF, did you ever collect on the bets you made last season? I certainly don't remember anyone sporting that Judd avatar you posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now