Squawkers Hawksquawk Posted January 25, 2010 Squawkers Report Share Posted January 25, 2010 As always, we invite you to check out our other End of the Hawks Decade articles:A Decade of Hawks Aughts (and Aught-Nots),Top Hawks by Statistical CategoryTHHB's Top 10 (and more) Hawks of the Decade, #10Now we look at a player (yes, only one this time) that became one of the most interesting situation/stories of the Hawks decade---a player that was also productive enough to warrant inclusion here as well. But he is/was a player that drew mixed reviews among Hawks fans, in fact, we think some will have issue with his inclusion on our list.The Number Nine Hawk of the Decade is:Josh ChildressFrom the get-go, the drafting of Childress was an interesting inclusion in a decade worth of interesting roster moves. Leading up to the 2004 draft, the Hawks worked out many players due to their various draft positions (4 of the top 37 picks). Looking at their place with the 6th pick, the Hawks potentially had the choice of a diverse group of talents (Ben Gordon, Jameer Nelson, Al Jefferson, Andre Iguodala) but still managed to genuinely surprise by taking Childress on draft night.Coming from Stanford, he had the look and sound of a good guy, hard working, athletic talent--and fit into Billy Knight's long, athletic wingman approach to roster building. Since the Hawks passed on Luol Deng and Iguodala to take him (which more fans were comfortable with), his unorthodox shooting style and play was ripe for criticism.But whatever could be said about Childress' odd form in shooting, from the first season he proved to be a solid, productive player. Childress was the 4th most productive player as it corresponds to PER for the rookie season. He trailed #1 pick Dwight Howard, #2 pick Emeka Okafor, and #17 pick Josh Smith. Good job, Billy Knight, eh?Childress did improve every season over his (4) with the Hawks and led the team for the decade in Effective FG% and Offensive Rating and was 7th in PER for the decade for the ATL. In the meantime, however, he got classified by Mike Woodson as a 6th man and hustle guy off the bench, a designation that saw him relegated to a reserve (highly used, sure), going as far as not starting a single game in '07-'08 even when injuries saw Marvin Williams and even Flubber West gain starting assignments instead of Childress and he saw his minutes shrink as well.The issue of being pigeonholed by the staff into this role left the talented swingman longing for a different situation or more money to accept it. When the restricted free agency period arose and the Hawks (with new GM Rick Sund) playing hardball, Childress challenged the Hawks to pay up or watch Josh go overseas to Greece. Nobody blinked and Childress, while remaining Hawks property to this day, has been enjoying the European high-life for the last two seasons.Childress gave it up entirely on the court, was good on the defensive end, and aggressive all over the place. He above the rim play was exciting and useful and the Hawks have yet to adequately replace his value to the team. He would be a wonderful starting small forward today with Marvin Williams coming off the bench. Instead they lost Childress and gave Marvin the money that could have kept Chill in the ATL. We love Mustache Marvin too, but Childress was/is more productive than Marvin at similar points in their careers.Below is a highlight package of what we're missing out on losing our #9 player of the Decade.We miss J-Chill and wish he were a part of all of the success the last two seasons and beyond.(Audio on this clip is Ludacris so, you know, it's not suitable for Work or Children. In other words, if you don't like profanity, mute before listening. That is all.)" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344">View the full article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATLNY7 Posted January 26, 2010 Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 Nice video. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators AHF Posted January 26, 2010 Moderators Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 Remember to click the link for the THHB! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaywalker72 Posted January 26, 2010 Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 Nice video. Yeah--it's a good one--- I miss the guy--- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Wretch Posted January 26, 2010 Premium Member Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 I miss Chill. He was one of my favorites and I always thought he'd leave us and make big noise in the right system in the NBA. Chill starting at SF instead of Marvin... Hmmm... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Sothron Posted January 26, 2010 Premium Member Report Share Posted January 26, 2010 Never was a fan of his. Horrible, horrible shooting motion was one of the slowest players in the league and was only ever going to be a sixth man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaywalker72 Posted January 27, 2010 Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 Sothron, what's up man?! Childress as one of our slowest people? No way! Maybe you have him confused with Cal Bowdler---quirky shooting or not, he was effective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member hawkman Posted January 27, 2010 Premium Member Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 I miss Afroman. He was a good Hawk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Sothron Posted January 27, 2010 Premium Member Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 Sothron, what's up man?! Childress as one of our slowest people? No way! Maybe you have him confused with Cal Bowdler---quirky shooting or not, he was effective. He was slooooow, had to be the slowest guard/forward combo in the NBA. You know I never liked that pick Jay! And hello to you too, been way too long since we last had a pow wow . Hope your team did well this year in fantasy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Diesel Posted January 27, 2010 Premium Member Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 I miss Chill. He was one of my favorites and I always thought he'd leave us and make big noise in the right system in the NBA. Chill starting at SF instead of Marvin... Hmmm... Another wasted player on the Marvin train ot glory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member NineOhTheRino Posted January 27, 2010 Premium Member Report Share Posted January 27, 2010 Another wasted player on the Marvin train ot glory. lol I saw that coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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