Peachtree Hoops: AJC: Michael Cunningham Puts The Josh Smith Trade Rumors to Bed

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1 day ago: ATLANTA - NOVEMBER 03: Josh Smith #5 of the Atlanta Hawks grabs a rebound against Tracy McGrady #1 of the Detroit Pistons at Philips Arena on November 3 2010 in Atlanta Georgia. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that by downloading and/or using this Photograph User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

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More after the Jump

MC addresses the Josh Smith trade rumors by stating that Josh Smith is not on the trading block. The rumors were first started in this Chad Ford story. 

That 

led to more speculation

 but still not much in the way of hard news. And as these things tend to go, the secondhand speculation aspect of the original "story" gets lost and suddenly the rumor is the

Hawks

are looking to move Smoove. (Rule of thumb in these cases: Beware the question mark headline.)

So Ford didn't even talk to Hawks General Manager Rick Sund about the story. The best part of the whole article is where MC lays out the plan for this group:

The Hawks have built their core and now will wait and see what happens. If they are struggling in January, then maybe all this speculation would make more sense, but right now the Hawks want to see how far they can go with this group. And if they make the East finals or otherwise show real progress, then they would have to decide just how much they are willing to spend to add more pieces to the core next season (and, again, the CBA is going to play into that).

I'm encouraging everyone that thought there was a chance of Smoove going anywhere to go read this whole article. 

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