The Challenge

[thecampster]

In a previous post, JamesDCrockett listed the available guards in an effort to see if we there are any GM's out there in training, pretend you have to improve the Hawks this year.

You have no draft picks, Chillz, Smooth, Al and any 4 players on the roster right now. Assume all players listed here would sign for the right price. (1 mil more than their previous team or an average team would/could offer). You need 5 players, one at each position (can either grab our current players backup or someone to start over them.).

Given our free agents don't sign (ie drob). You'd have about $25 million to spend. Could you with this list of free agents and current talent build a 2nd round competitive playoff team out of the hawks. Say how you're spending the money. 5 players, $25 million from this list. 1 player per position.

Free agent point guards:

1. Marko Jaric (Restricted)

2. Sarunas Jasikevicius

3. Antonio Daniels (Player Option)

4. Gary Payton

5. Brevin Knight

6. Earl Watson

7. Damon Stoudamire

8. Jeff McInnis

9. Chris Duhon (Restricted)

10. Damon Jones (Player Option)

11. Nick Van Exel (Team Option)

12. Dan Dickau (Option Declined)

13. Tyronn Lue

14. Darrell Armstrong

15. Jacque Vaughn (Team Option)

16. Howard Eisley

17. Tony Delk (Player Option)

18. Steve Blake

19. Keith McLeod (Restricted)

20. Milt Palacio

21. Travis Best

22. Frank Williams (Option Declined)

23. Erick Strickland

24. Jannero Pargo (Restricted)

25. Rick Brunson

26. Kenny Anderson

27. Tierre Brown

28. Keyon Dooling (Player Option)

29. Anthony Carter

30. Jamison Brewer

31. Eddie Gill

32. Andre Barrett

33. Luis Flores (Restricted)

34. Lionel Chalmers (Restricted)

35. Junior Harrington

36. Mateen Cleaves

37. Omar Cook

38. Quinton Ross

39. Mike Wilks

40. Anthony Goldwire

Free agent shooting guards:

1. Ray Allen

2. Michael Redd (Player Option)

3. Larry Hughes

4. Joe Johnson (Restricted)

5. Cuttino Mobley (Player Option)

6. Eddie Jones (Player Option)

7. Bobby Jackson (Team Option)

8. Kerry Kittles

9. Latrell Sprewell

10. Do not know what happened to their tenth pick?

11. Willie Green (Restricted/Early Bird Rights)

12. Jon Barry

13. Casey Jacobsen

14. DerMarr Johnson

15. Juan Dixon (Option Declined)

16. Lucius Harris

17. Raja Bell

18. Keith Bogans (Restricted/Early Bird Rights)

19. Maurice Evans (Restricted)

20. Kareem Rush (Option Declined)

21. Shandon Anderson

22. Dajuan Wagner (Option Declined)

23. Anthony Peeler

24. Greg Buckner (Player Option)

25. Matt Carroll

26. Damien Wilkins (Restricted)

27. Richie Frahm (Restricted)

28. Ron Mercer (Player Option)

29. Eddie House

30. Laron Profit

31. Erik Daniels (Restricted)

32. Tamar Slay (Team Option)

33. Romain Sato

34. Steve Smith

35. Wesley Person

36. Horace Jenkins (Restricted)

37. Qyntel Woods

38. Adreian Griffin

39. Kedrick Brown

40. Dion Glover

Small Forwards

1. Grant Hill (Player Option)

2. Bobby Simmons

3. Vladimir Radmanovic (Restricted)

4. Kyle Korver (Restricted/Bird Rights)

5. Bonzi Wells (Team Option)

6. James Jones (Restricted/Early Bird Rights)

7. Luke Walton (Restricted/Early Bird Rights)

8. Eddie Griffin (Restricted)

9. Devin Brown (Restricted)

10. Gerald Wallace (Restricted)

11. Glenn Robinson

12. Bostjan Nachbar (Option Declined)

13. Walter McCarty (Player Option)

14. Jason Kapono (Restricted/Early Bird Rights)

15. Brian Scalabrine

16. Scott Padgett

17. Lee Nailon

18. Chris Crawford

19. Matt Barnes (Restricted)

20. Rodney Rogers 21. Josh Davis (Restricted)

22. Ronald Dupree (Player Option)

23. Matt Bonner (Restricted)

24. Nikoloz Tskitishvili (Option Declined)

25. Calbert Cheaney ... Staying with Golden State

26. Devean George (Player Option)

27. Toni Kukoc

28. Ryan Humphrey (Option Declined)

29. Darvin Ham

30. Rodney Buford

31. Theron Smith

32. Ryan Bowen

33. Pape Sow (Team Option)

34. Jamal Mashburn (Player Option)

35. Donta Smith (Restricted)

36. Stacey Augmon (Player Option)

37. Damone Brown

38. Chris Jefferies

39. Bryon Russell

40. Jerome Beasley

Power Forwards

1. Shareef Abdur-Rahim

2. Antoine Walker

3. Tyson Chandler (Restricted)

4. Stromile Swift

5. Keith Van Horn (Player Option)

6. Udonis Haslem (Restricted/Early Bird Rights)

7. Donyell Marshall

8. Reggie Evans (Restricted)

9. Danny Fortson (Player Option)

10. Kwame Brown (Restricted)

11. Darius Songaila (Player Option)

12. Brian Grant (Player Option)

13. Robert Traylor

14. Chris Andersen

15. Othella Harrington

16. Austin Croshere (Player Option)

17. Tony Battie (Player Option)

18. Mark Madsen

19. Robert Horry (Player Option)

20. Alan Henderson

21. Christian Laettner

22. Malik Allen

23. Michael Ruffin

24. Sean Marks

25. Aaron Williams (Player Option)

26. Tony Massenburg

27. Bo Outlaw

28. Jahidi White

29. Lawrence Funderburke

30. Jackson Vroman (Team Option)

31. Marcus Fizer

32. Brandon Hunter (Restricted)

33. Jabari Smith

34. Samaki Walker

35. Tom Gugliotta

36. Zendon Hamilton

37. James Thomas

38. Jackie Butler (Team Option)

39. Jerome Moiso

40. Ben Handlogten

Centers

1. Shaquille O'Neal (Player Option)

2. Eddy Curry (Restricted)

3. Zydrunas Ilgauskas

4. Samuel Dalembert (Restricted)

5. Dan Gadzuric (Restricted)

6. Jerome James

7. Zaza Pachulia (Restricted/Early Bird Rights)

8. Clifford Robinson (Team Option)

9. Steven Hunter (Player Option)

10. Peja Drobnjak (Team Option)

11. Alonzo Mourning

12. Vitaly Potapenko

13. Dikembe Mutombo

14. Andrew DeClercq

15. DeSagana Diop (Restricted)

16. Zeljko Rebraca

17. Francisco Elson (Team Option)

18. Ervin Johnson

19. Scott Williams

20. Greg Ostertag (Player Option)

21. Mikki Moore

22. Dale Davis

23. Jake Voskuhl (Player Option)

24. Jared Reiner (Restricted)

25. Elden Campbell

26. Obinna Ekezie

27. John Edwards (Restricted)

28. Paul Shirley (Team Option)

29. Daniel Santiago

30. Michael Bradley (Player Option)

31. Kevin Willis

32. Vin Baker (Player Option)

33. Vladimir Stepania

34. Wang Zhizhi

35. Bruno Sundov

36. Ha Seung-Jin (Restricted)

37. Cezary Trybanski

38. Michael Stewart

39. Jelani McCoy

40. Jamal Sampson

Web Site Link:

http://probasketball.about.com/od/newsrumo...reeagents05.htm

[thecampster]

My way of doing this could easily be

PG - Damon Stoudamire -$15 mil/3year $5

SG DerMarr Johnson - $4 mil/2 years $2

SF Toni Kukoc - $6 mil/2 years $3

PF - Kwame Brown $ 20 mil/4 years $5

C - Eddy Curry - $60 mil/6 years $10

I would line up

Stoudamire/Lue/Ivey

Childress/Johnson/diaw

Smith/Kukok

Harrington/Brown

Curry/Drobnak

Not sure if these salaries are even possible under the CBA but you see if you could do better. This team would be competitive. It could most definately score.

[KB21]

I would never give Eddy Curry a 6 year, $60 million contract. The guy barely averaged 5 rebounds per game and presents no defensive presence in the middle.

I also think a 4 year, $20 million deal for Kwame is overpaying him drastically based on what he has done. I wouldn't pay him on his potential. That's not to say I would give Kwame a contract to see if a change of scenery will do him some good, however, that would be a short term deal that gives the Hawks an out if he flops and gives him an opportunity to maybe get that big pay day if he does well for a couple of seasons.

None of the point guards make my toes tingle. I'd rather make a run at Joe Johnson and have him play point guard than sign someone like Damon Stoudamire, who simply doesn't fit what the Hawks want.

[thecampster]

Then submit your $25 million dollar suggestion before you criticize. Give it a shot MR. GM.

It was harder than I thought.

[Yeti]

C Ilgauskas ($17M)

PF Kwame (3M)

SF Donta Smith ($2M)

SG Jon Barry ($2M)

PG Will Conroy ($1M)

Logic (or illogic) - Dalembert looked like the best available C, until I compared his stats with Ilgauskas. My gut still thinks Dalembert might fit in here better. Kwame may turn it around in a hometown atmosphere with less pressure (no MJ) - but not at his old salary. At SF, I first wanted Mashburn - to help teach our rising stars (Josh and Marvin) but realized that $10M is too much - Donta played well enough in reserve. We don't really need another star SF - Josh and Marvin need the playing time. Picked Barry as a backup to Childress because of his 3-point percentage. And Conroy, who will probably be undrafted, but better than most of the guys on that list. (If I have to pick from the list it is Stoudamire - but too expensive.)

yeti

[Diesel]

So, I can not get Al, Chillz, Smoove...

PG - Damon Stoudamire. 3 yr 15 million. 5 Million

SG - Larry Hughes 6 yrs 52.4 million. 8.5 million

SF - Gerald Wallace 5 yrs 22 million 4 million.

PF - Chris Anderson 5 yr 27.5 million 5 Million.

C - Jake Voskhul 3 yr 10 million 3.10 million.

That's a team that can run and score. They will also put fans in the seats...

[Nicholasp27]

no, u get to keep al/chill/smoove + 4 more from our current roster

u get no draft pick tho

[pathway23]

PG - Antonio Daniels 3 year 15 million. 5 million.

SG - Larry Hughes 6 year 52.4 million. 8.5 million.

SF - None

PF - Tyson Chandler 5 year 45 million. 9 million.

C - Jerome James 3 year 10 million. 3.33 million.

So we would line up :

PG - Antonio Daniels/Tyronn Lue/Royal Ivey

SG - Larry Hughes/Josh Childress

SF - Josh Smith/Boris Diaw/Donta Smith

PF - Tyson Chandler/Al Harrington

C - Jerome James/Jason Collier

[Diesel]

Oh...

I thought we were an expansion team or something. So in otherwords, use these FAs to put together the best team?

OK..

[pathway23]

oops I need to subtract Collier and bring over David Andersen :P

[TheDude]

i like Jaric over Stoudamire

[Lascar78]

yeah if we get Marvin I would love for us to make a move at Jaric. I've been on his bandwagon since he's been in the league. I don't understand why he's so undervalued. I would love to see him here

[thecampster]

You see Diesel, we all sit on this board and pontificate over what the team should do, but after seeing that guard list I had a hard time fiquring out what I would do. I started balancing the short vs long term goals of the team. It's harder one might think.

So anyone else. Put together a group of 5 with reasonable salaries and then we'll banter about and see if we can get a group.

Must be 5 (so the guy not choosing a small forward cheated) and rather than resign a hawk, just make him one of you other 4 (so the guy signing Danta, cheated). 5 new guys on the squad.

The reality is that we have 3 picks that will take up about 4-5 million in salary if they sign so we would really be looking at 2 Free agents but lets see what you GM's could come up with.

[Plainview1981]

Quote:

---

I would never give Eddy Curry a 6 year, $60 million contract. The guy barely averaged 5 rebounds per game and presents no defensive presence in the middle.

I also think a 4 year, $20 million deal for Kwame is overpaying him drastically based on what he has done. I wouldn't pay him on his potential. That's not to say I would give Kwame a contract to see if a change of scenery will do him some good, however, that would be a short term deal that gives the Hawks an out if he flops and gives him an opportunity to maybe get that big pay day if he does well for a couple of seasons.

None of the point guards make my toes tingle. I'd rather make a run at Joe Johnson and have him play point guard than sign someone like Damon Stoudamire, who simply doesn't fit what the Hawks want.

---

Agreed. I'd rather have Chandler than Curry. Really 5RPG

for a center is just WEAK WEAK WEAK. I really don't care

if he can score 19PPG and shppt 52% from the field. You

need rebounders at the 4 and 5 spot, but that isnt what

Curry is.

I really doubt that the Hawks have any chance at Joe

Johnson. Really, since they traded Richardson to NY

I doubt that they don't plan on bringing Joe Johnson

back, so I think we can forget about him and move on

and look elsewhere.

Oh, and Mark Madsen would be a good option as a backup

PF.

[Plainview1981]

Joe Johnson/Lue/Erick Strickland

Josh Childress/Dermarr Johnson

Al Harrington/Kukoc/Johnson

Josh Smith/Fizer/Madsen

Dan Gadzuric/Zeljko Rebraca

I don't like Childress at SG as much as SF, but

this is pretty d@mn tough.

[Sage11]

My biggest hurdle is whom do you put in the middle from that list. It is obvious that we dont have the money to pay a "good" center and 4 other good players that can make it to the second round....it is harder than I thought.