Great News! Joe Johnson will likely be resigned!

[JTB]

I wrote a post earlier stating that we could possibly lose J.J. An if we did we could just use the money on other free agents that we were going to give J.J. to resign but that's not possible cause we will still be over the salary cap and couldn't offer more than just a MLE. So I came to find out I didn't fully understand the NBA Salary cap myself. So I looked it up and did my research.

NBA's Salary Cap

First off I feel many of us dont know how the NBA's salary cap really works. It's not as simple as it sounds, it actually has many loops in it. That's why it's also refered as a NBA SOFT CAP, but I will let you read into that yourself. just click the link below:

wiki explains it the best and it's easy to understand: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Salary_Cap

oh and here's another good website to refer to: http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q1

What I want to point out to you HAWK Fans is that your worrying of J.J. is no longer needed for there is the Larry Bird Exception to thank!

In the NBA salary cap also known as a Soft Cap there is a exception called the Larry Bird exception this is perhaps the most well-known of the NBA's salary cap exceptions, it is so named because the Boston Celtics were the first team permitted to exceed the salary cap to re-sign one of their own players (in that case, Larry Bird). Free agents who qualify for this exception are called "qualifying veteran free agents" or "Bird Free Agents" in the CBA, and this exception falls under the auspices of the Veteran Free Agent exception. In essence, the Larry Bird exception allows teams to exceed the salary cap to re-sign their own free agents, at an amount up to the maximum salary. To qualify as a Bird free agent, a player must have played three seasons without being waived or changing teams as a free agent. This means a player can obtain "Bird rights" by playing under three one-year contracts, a single contract of at least three years, or any combination thereof. It also means that when a player is traded, his Bird rights are traded with him, and his new team can use the Bird exception to re-sign him. Bird-exception contracts can be up to six years in length.

An example of this would be Larry Bird.

So as long as the ASG is willing to give J.J. a deal that a team like the knicks have a chance of offering him we can offer just as much for more years at that. So basically MONEY is no issue, but the ASG would be the issue as far as signing J.J. back cause they may feel that they dont want to give him a contract for that much! (hopefully not) An this same thing goes for all other teams that are over the salary cap and want to resign their star back! In the end it's really up to the OWNERS. In fact now that I think about it, teams like the knicks and nets are taking a huge risk of going after these free agents cause most of the higher free agents including LBJ, Bosh and so on, their teams are over the cap and even though there are some consequences in actually going over it to get your star back I bet MOST TEAMS will take that RISK including our ATL HAWKS themselves.

[DJlaysitup]

...So basically MONEY is no issue...

I'm pretty sure it IS an issue JTB...as a matter of fact it is a really really big issue .

P.S. - I see where you are coming from tho.

Edited February 21, 2010 by DJlaysitup

[JTB]

I'm pretty sure it IS an issue JTB...as a matter of fact it is a really really big issue .

P.S. - I see where you are coming from tho.

I mean yeah its a issue of course but Im saying we can take a risk of consequences just to sign J.J. back! Which I think is worth it in my opinon. I mean if we can go over the cap to get our star back then hell do it at all cost!!!!!

[GameTime]

Joe has all the control here. He isn't worthy of max but will probably get it.

20 mill for 5+ years. I'm sorry I can't do it for Joe.

[DJlaysitup]

I mean yeah its a issue of course but Im saying we can take a risk of consequences just to sign J.J. back! Which I think is worth it in my opinon. I mean if we can go over the cap to get our star back then hell do it at all cost!!!!!

As with most things - it's a risk/reward situation. I understand that JJ is our current "star" and we won't likely luck into getting another one. Still, 6 years at very high dollars is certainly something that has to be discussed a bit. Also, the ASG isn't exactly an "all cost" organization.

At this stage in his career JJ is pretty much a known quantity. It's unrealistic to think JJ will suddenly morph into a Wade-type player.

[DJlaysitup]

Joe has all the control here. He isn't worthy of max but will probably get it.

20 mill for 5+ years. I'm sorry I can't do it for Joe.

Agreed GT...other than JJ/Bibby we actually have a couple of VERY solid youngsters to build around (JS/Horford). I realize Smoove doesn't seem like a youngster to us anymore - but he's still pretty dang young.

[JTB]

As with most things - it's a risk/reward situation. I understand that JJ is our current "star" and we won't likely luck into getting another one. Still, 6 years at very high dollars is certainly something that has to be discussed a bit. Also, the ASG isn't exactly an "all cost" organization.

At this stage in his career JJ is pretty much a known quantity. It's unrealistic to think JJ will suddenly morph into a Wade-type player.

True and Im wit you on the ASG not being a "all cost" organization but I can't see our team being as good without him and I dont want to see us going though another drought as far as reaching the playoffs. plus i mean damn we have no other star to get or go after we would be in a somewhat like rebuilding mode(not really but you know what i mean). i dont want to see this team go through that again. I pray that the ASG looks over this situation closely before making a quick decision on what to do.

[gsuteke]

why even bother?

[TruJerz]

Joe has all the control here. He isn't worthy of max but will probably get it.

20 mill for 5+ years. I'm sorry I can't do it for Joe.

at 29 yrs old..I agree. I wouldnt do it. I think he should get the same offer that Sund gave him this summer. That was a good nice offer IMO. Joe Johnson is good and one of my favorite players but 20 million?? nah.

If anything we start Crawford and find a nice backup SG in the draft or sign someone to the MLE like Raja Bell or Shannon Brown. But I would much rather JJ just take a deal for about 16-17 mil a yr but I think he is gonna go with the team that shows him the most money

[TheTruth]

The point is, if we want Joe back, and Joe wants us back, we WILL have to overpay for him. The ONLY question left at that point will be by how much.

[spotatl]

The only real advantage of bird rights is being able to give a player the 6th year. If the Hawks are willing to do that and no other team is the the Hawks can play hardball and tell Joe to either sign with the hawks, or if he wants a S&T then the other team would have to give up equal value in a trade.

But if the Hawks aren't willing to give him that 6th year then there really isn't much advantage to having Joe's bird rights. He can sign for another team for pretty much exactly what the Hawks can give him. And in that situation the Hawks wouldn't get much at all in a S&T unless Joe had his heart set on a team that didn't have the caproom to sign him outright.

[AHF]

The only real advantage of bird rights is being able to give a player the 6th year.

The other big advantage is being able to offer another 2.5% in raises each year of the contract.

[spotatl]

The other big advantage is being able to offer another 2.5% in raises each year of the contract.

AHF- that only works out to be about 4 million dollars total over the life of a 5 year contract. The slightly bigger raises just don't add up all that much over 5 years. I don't think that Joe is going to make his decision based on less than a million dollars a year. Remember that the raises are not compounded.

Edited February 22, 2010 by spotatl

[AHF]

AHF- that only works out to be about 4 million dollars total over the life of a 5 year contract. The slightly bigger raises just don't add up all that much over 5 years. I don't think that Joe is going to make his decision based on less than a million dollars a year. Remember that the raises are not compounded.

That is fair, although 4M is still 4M and would still be a factor for a guy like Joe - even if it isn't so high that other factors might not be more significant in the end.

[AUhawksfan]

I don't like this thread title......very misleading.

[exodus]

I am so glad we have someone to explain the cap to us.

[coachx]

Well, duhhhhhh............... :wow:

What ? You didn't believe the other 25 post about this ?

[Packfill]

I am so glad we have someone to explain the cap to us.

That is not fair. We have only been discussing this issue for two or three years.

[Packfill]

at 29 yrs old..I agree. I wouldnt do it. I think he should get the same offer that Sund gave him this summer. That was a good nice offer IMO. Joe Johnson is good and one of my favorite players but 20 million?? nah.

If anything we start Crawford and find a nice backup SG in the draft or sign someone to the MLE like Raja Bell or Shannon Brown. But I would much rather JJ just take a deal for about 16-17 mil a yr but I think he is gonna go with the team that shows him the most money

If the Hawks want to be competitive they have to either (a) resign JJ at all costs, (b) do a sign-and-trade for viable assets or © get very lucky and find another star player.

It is highly unlikely at this point that Marvin, Josh or Al is going to morph into a franchise player. They have become nice complementary pieces to be sure, but the Hawks still need an alpha dog. I for one do not trust Crawford to be that guy.

[spotatl]

The difference between a 5 year 92.8 million dollar contract and a 5 year 96.8 million dollar contract is pretty trivial. If Joe decides he would be better off somewhere else I don't see that being a game changer. But the hawks have the ability to add that 6th year to make it a maximum 6 year 121.2 million dollar deal. Ironically I could see this working against the Hawks. The Knicks wouldn't be able to offer the sixth year so Joe can't really ask them to add it. Joe can tell the Hawks "offer me a 6th year or else I'm going to the Knicks" or something like that.

I can't see Joe accepting the 5 year contract if the Hawks are offering the 6th year. If another team wants to give him that 6th year then the Hawks could do a Rashard lewis type S&T where they get back a big trade exception plus something small.

All of this comes down to whether you think Joe is worth the max. If the Hawks are really willing to offer him the max (6 year 121 million dollars) then I don't think there is any chance he would sign someone else. Maybe at that point another team is also willing to give up the 6th year and the Hawks could once again extract some trade value in order to facilitate the deal. Being willing to extend that 6th year gives the team their leverage. Without that I don't think the Hawks have much leverage at all.