Shaq not in Hawks plans!

[JTB]

The Atlanta Hawks are ruling out the possibility of signing free-agent center Shaquille O'Neal.

A source close to the situation said Thursday that Atlanta's ownership doesn't want to exceed the luxury-tax threshold of $70.307 million. The Hawks are about $4 million shy right now.

With that in mind, the Hawks still need to fill their roster with three players. So unless the legendary O'Neal, who made $20 million last season, suddenly wants to play for the minimum or barring some unexpected sign-and-trade offer from Cleveland, he's out of Atlanta's picture.

There was a report of a possible sign-and-trade with O'Neal, who played for the Cavaliers last season, going from the Cavaliers to the Hawks for forward Marvin Williams. But that was shot down by the source, saying the Hawks expressed no desire to trade one of their starters.

The Hawks are pleased with their lineup of center Al Horford, forwards Josh Smith and Williams and guards Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby, believing they have one of the better starting units in the NBA.

FanHouse had first reported last week there was mutual interest between the Hawks and O'Neal, and there was. But the directive from ownership to not exceed the luxury tax has altered that situation.

FanHouse also had reported last week that O'Neal's top choice was San Antonio, followed by Atlanta. The source said the Spurs are not out of the picture, but they have a limited amount of money to offer.

Share The Spurs have about $2.4 million left on their mid-level exception and $2.08 million on their biannual exception. San Antonio, as first reported earlier this week by FanHouse, is targeting forward James Jones using one of those options.

As FanHouse reported last week, O'Neal, 38, wants to play two more seasons and have a farewell tour during the 2011-12 season. However, teams with money to spend that might be interested in O'Neal are rapidly declining and there appears little chance he can get a deal near the mid-level of $5.765 million, which is what he wants.

Chris Tomasson can be reached at tomasson@fanhouse.com or on Twitter@christomasson

link:

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/07/16/shaquille-oneal-not-in-atlantas-plans/

-So much for that fantasy!.....Well on to the next BIG..........RING!RING......hello Brad Miller!

Edited July 16, 2010 by JTB

[pimp]

they won't pay for Brad Miller either.

3 player - 4 million dollar

welcome back Collins , Morris and Joe Smith 

We are stuck with A non championship team because they can't sign any

free agents and the don't wanna trade anybody . Not even Marvin

[TheTruth]

Can another owner buy the Hawks already, PLEASE? Geez, this whole "not exceeding the luxury cap" thing will likely preclude us from ever fielding a championship level (heck, a serious deep-playoff running) team.

Here's to more of Mario Wests, Jason Collins, and way over-the-hill types (Joe Smith) to fill out our bench!

Edited July 16, 2010 by TheTruth

[Plainview1981]

Can another owner buy the Hawks already, PLEASE? Geez, this whole "not exceeding the luxury cap" thing will likely preclude us from ever fielding a championship level (heck, a serious deep-playoff running) team.

Here's to more of Mario Wests, Jason Collins, and way over-the-hill types (Joe Smith) to fill out our bench!

Nearly everything that could have went wrong has went wrong this offseason.. Yes, they kept JJ... But it;s obvious the only reason they were able to keep him was by paying him the most money they could. I firmly believe that he LEAVES otherwise. Since they've failed to improve the team otherwise, keeping JJ is pointless. I've always believe the idea is to try and compete for a championship. If your not trying to do that, you're an irrelevant franchise. A roster full of role players will only get you so far.

If Horford is smart, he will bolt for greener pastures if he gets the chance to do so.

[Joker]

Passing on Shaq is much better than bringing him in for a SnT unless the SnT is for Bibby. Do you guys realize Shaq is no longer a good player, just average. He's Shaq in name only.

[Joker]

Nearly everything that could have went wrong has went wrong this offseason.. Yes, they kept JJ... But it;s obvious the only reason they were able to keep him was by paying him the most money they could. I firmly believe that he LEAVES otherwise. Since they've failed to improve the team otherwise, keeping JJ is pointless. I've always believe the idea is to try and compete for a championship. If your not trying to do that, you're an irrelevant franchise. A roster full of role players will only get you so far.

If Horford is smart, he will bolt for greener pastures if he gets the chance to do so.

Smart business is better than dumb business and say what you want but Shaq is not a smart move even for the MLE. Now I would do the MLE for tickets and energy among some of the fanbase but this guy is only at value v. Dwight Howard. If every team had a Dwight I wouldn't mind but they don't. Shaq struggled defensively badly with shooting true centers as they gave him fits. Guys like Frye, Brook Lopez, and some non shooters like Perkins gave Shaq fits. Most centers do not even double team Shaq anymore sans the PF's ones like David Lee and Al Horford. Those are keys issues that Atlanta has to do deal with.

As for this roster, I agree, they need to get a commitment and take on a bad contract for an exceptional player but ASG refuses to do that.

[Diesel]

The Atlanta Hawks are ruling out the possibility of signing free-agent center Shaquille O'Neal.

A source close to the situation said Thursday that Atlanta's ownership doesn't want to exceed the luxury-tax threshold of $70.307 million. The Hawks are about $4 million shy right now.

With that in mind, the Hawks still need to fill their roster with three players. So unless the legendary O'Neal, who made $20 million last season, suddenly wants to play for the minimum or barring some unexpected sign-and-trade offer from Cleveland, he's out of Atlanta's picture.

-So much for that fantasy!.....Well on to the next BIG..........RING!RING......hello Brad Miller!

Not so fast my friend.

If the Marvin for Shaq SNT goes through, we can actually sign Shaq (this year) for less than what Marvin Makes. That's not moving toward the luxury tax, that's moving away from the luxury tax. Obviously the people at fanhouse did not consider trade when they were conjuring up this story. We can sign Shaq to a 2 year 13 Million dollar deal (More than MLE) and still save about .6 Million than had we just stayed pat.

Bring on Shaq and 2 2nd rounders for Marvin!!

[Diesel]

Passing on Shaq is much better than bringing him in for a SnT unless the SnT is for Bibby. Do you guys realize Shaq is no longer a good player, just average. He's Shaq in name only.

Uhm, we're a franchise that needs a name.

I see the Marvin Protection Force (MPF) is still at work. Why trade for Bibby and not Marvin? Marvin is a non-impact player. He's overpaid. He's on the hook for 4 more years. For ASG to pull the trigger on a shaq trade could not only save them money this year but also gets them out of the Maroczy bind that Marvin will have on us for the next 4 years. Plus we get a player who is a skilled 7 footer... weather or not he can still score 30 is irrelevant. Shaq is skilled, he can still play defense. He's better than the chumps who we have been bringing in by a mile. Let's get this trade done!!

[DrReality]

Uhm, we're a franchise that needs a name.

I see the Marvin Protection Force (MPF) is still at work. Why trade for Bibby and not Marvin? Marvin is a non-impact player. He's overpaid. He's on the hook for 4 more years. For ASG to pull the trigger on a shaq trade could not only save them money this year but also gets them out of the Maroczy bind that Marvin will have on us for the next 4 years. Plus we get a player who is a skilled 7 footer... weather or not he can still score 30 is irrelevant. Shaq is skilled, he can still play defense. He's better than the chumps who we have been bringing in by a mile. Let's get this trade done!!

MW for a box of jelly donuts.

[spotatl]

There aren't many owners who would pay the luxury tax for the third best team in the division. That means that you can't even get a top 4 seed.

[stephen]

How much luxury tax would the Hawks have to pay if they signed Shaq to the MLE?

[thescout5]

I really do think ASG wants the Hawks just to be good enough to be competitive and make it to the first round of the playoffs. Teams that are serious contenders go after and sign the players they think will be good matchups vs other top level teams players.

I don't like JJ's contract and ASG did bring him back but come on ASG isn't showing they want to win a championship.Sell the team then I'm tired of this crap ! :help wanted3:

[spotatl]

none...i think that's the point of using the MLE

No... thats wrong. If the Hawks used the MLE on Shaq they would have to pay an extra 2 million for the luxury tax and they would also fail to get their cut of the escrow account (3.7 million dollars last season for being below the tax). So basically signing shaq to the MLE would cost the ASG 11 million dollars next season.

[Sothron]

Nearly everything that could have went wrong has went wrong this offseason.. Yes, they kept JJ... But it;s obvious the only reason they were able to keep him was by paying him the most money they could. I firmly believe that he LEAVES otherwise. Since they've failed to improve the team otherwise, keeping JJ is pointless. I've always believe the idea is to try and compete for a championship. If your not trying to do that, you're an irrelevant franchise. A roster full of role players will only get you so far.

If Horford is smart, he will bolt for greener pastures if he gets the chance to do so.

This might be the only time ever I've agreed with you. If you pay JJ the max deal then you just made a commitment to paying the tax in order to field a team with a chance to win rings. Now? All you've shown is that you foolishly overpaid Joe and now the rest of the roster is frozen in place for years.

If I was Al Horford I'd take their qualifying offer as a RFA and tell them in no uncertain terms I'm leaving Atlanta as a UFA the next offseason.

[coachx]

Passing on Shaq is much better than bringing him in for a SnT unless the SnT is for Bibby. Do you guys realize Shaq is no longer a good player, just average. He's Shaq in name only.

Shaq

12 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 1.2 bpg, 56.6 FG%, in 23 mpg would be great to have off the bench in ZaZa's old role.

Beyond the stats Shaq gives this roster a physicality they have not had since Mutumbo.

ZaZa

4.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 0.4 bpg, 48% FG, 14 mpg

[Dragitoff]

Like Diesel said, all this luxury tax talk is useless because in this scenario, the Hawks would be sending out Marvin's salary. Even if they paid Shaq the same amount they were going to pay Marvin, the salaries wash! We gain NOTHING in salary in this proposed deal. Regardless of whether this is a good deal or not, the argument that the deal is not happening due to Atlanta not willing to pay the luxury tax is complete garbage. Unless I'm missing something here, this is just lazy journalism or a big smokescreen by ASG/Sund.

[spotatl]

I'd actually expect Horford to sign a contract extension this offseason. He can lock in good value without having to worry about what the terms of the new CBA will be. Though Sund has shown that he doesn't at all mind playing hardball with RFA's so that does complicate matters. But who knows what the new cba will be like as far as restricted free agency is concerned.

Edited July 16, 2010 by spotatl

[Plainview1981]

Smart business is better than dumb business and say what you want but Shaq is not a smart move even for the MLE. Now I would do the MLE for tickets and energy among some of the fanbase but this guy is only at value v. Dwight Howard. If every team had a Dwight I wouldn't mind but they don't. Shaq struggled defensively badly with shooting true centers as they gave him fits. Guys like Frye, Brook Lopez, and some non shooters like Perkins gave Shaq fits. Most centers do not even double team Shaq anymore sans the PF's ones like David Lee and Al Horford. Those are keys issues that Atlanta has to do deal with.

As for this roster, I agree, they need to get a commitment and take on a bad contract for an exceptional player but ASG refuses to do that.

What is a smart move? Getting killed in the playoffs again? How does that contribute to anything good?

Why is it going to be different this year? Because they promoted the players good buddy??? Do people think this is going to solve all the chemistry issues? No, the players are going to expect Drew to pick sides, and now Drew is a head coach and no longer the friends that whispers good friendly advice into the players ear.

In all likely hood Shaq will increase attendance. God knows the team needs it. Despite winning 53 games they're not even close to having really good crowds.

Playing ZaZa "Pachula" another season surely is not a good idea.

Edited July 16, 2010 by Hotlanta1981

[NineOhTheRino]

would be a helluva easier decision if the Hawks were getting a 35 yo Shaq vs 38.

[NJHAWK]

What a bunch of LOSERS. Mike Gearons gm philosphy:

Keep our core together so they can get massacred in the 2nd round :write a letter: check

Trade any asset we have like Chills, David Anderson, 1st pick in the 2nd round, etc

for either cash or 2nd round picks for Euros BECAUSE WE NEVERE HAVE TO PAY THOSE A DIME :write a letter: check

Find scapegoats like Billy, then Woody, then when all else fails BLAME THE HAWKS FANS :write a letter: check

Hire puppet gm to take the heat when you really run the team :write a letter: check

:shake_puter: