Gene Wang: Thabo and Greg Monroe at Verizon Center

[mhd]

Per the trade board, reports are that Thabo signs with Atlanta, at 3 years, 12 million.

[NbdyBeatsTheWiz]

Given Ernie's history of overpaying mediocre guys and how the market is behaving right now, I'd very worried we do something insane like give Thabo 3/$13M.

Leave the insanity to the Hawks at 3/$12M.
I'll take it, as I didn't see why we were pursuing him (if Ariza leaves sure, but I'd be just as inclined to save the money and play Webster/Porter) and it ties up Atlanta's cap (ATL should stay on the come up next year- Thabo won't help much).

[miller31time]

A near MLE-sized deal for Thabo Freaking Sefolosha? Can't believe Ernie wasn't the one to hand that one out.

[fishercob]

Given Ernie's history of overpaying mediocre guys and how the market is behaving right now, I'd very worried we do something insane like give Thabo 3/$13M.

Leave the insanity to the Hawks at 3/$12M.
I'll take it, as I didn't see why we were pursuing him (if Ariza leaves sure, but I'd be just as inclined to save the money and play Webster/Porter) and it ties up Atlanta's cap (ATL should stay on the come up next year- Thabo won't help much).

I don't know that we were "pursuing him," as much as we were "interested." I don't think there have been any reports that we actually offered him a contract.

By the way, not a bad effort by the old Fish man. Might need to go on Price is RIght.

[verbal8]

A near MLE-sized deal for Thabo Freaking Sefolosha? Can't believe Ernie wasn't the one to hand that one out.

The Hawks have been doing well in Free Agency recently, but this one looks questionable. Especially for a team that isn't "one piece away".

[nate33]

EG "pursuing" Thabo was a message to Ariza's agent. EG was saying two things. First, Ariza isn't irreplaceable. Other guys are out there. And second, we might not be willing to leave our offer out on the table indefinitely and allow Ariza to patiently sift through all the options. If Ariza wants our offer (which I'm assuming is somewhere in the $8M per year range) he better sign soon.

[fishercob]

EG "pursuing" Thabo was a message to Ariza's agent. EG was saying two things. First, Ariza isn't irreplaceable. Other guys are out there. And second, we might not be willing to leave our offer out on the table indefinitely and allow Ariza to patiently sift through all the options. If Ariza wants our offer (which I'm assuming is somewhere in the $8M per year range) he better sign soon.

Could be. And it could also have been honest tire-kicking given the possibility Ariza leaves. This all started with a tweet from a post reporter who doesn't cover the Wizards beat. Someone likely saw Thabo and Monroe (maybe Wang himself) and tweeted it. It feels very different to me than "Sources say the Wizards have expressed interest in Thabo Sefolosha and are meeting with him as we speak." But what do I know.

My guess is that they never even talked money much and that the Wiz said "we're interested but not ready yet," and ATL said "here's twelve million dollars!"

By the way, while I would have hated that deal for us, I actually don't hate it for Atlanta. They don't have Bradley Beal and they needed a wing defender. They should be pretty good again this year if they can keep Horford on the floor. They still have $11M in cap space. That could be Luol Deng money.

[TGW]

Man we dodged a bullet.

[BruceO]

here's to hoping he sucks

[thricethefun]

Sefolosha sucks I'm glad we weren't the one to give him this.

[Hidden Eye]

I'd take Thabo over back issues Websters anyday who gets roasted on Defense