Hawks resisting interest in Josh Smith for now

[HMFFL]

Teams have been calling the Atlanta Hawks all week to register trade interest in swingman Josh Smith, according to sources close to the situation.

And one of those teams, sources said, is the Orlando Magic, who know that Smith ranks as one of Dwight Howard's closest friends.

But new Hawks general manager Danny Ferry apparently isn't ready to part with Smith right away.

Boston, Houston and the Los Angeles Lakers -- with Pau Gasol as the prime piece being offered in L.A.'s case -- have joined Orlando this week in making their interest in Smith known.

Yet as Ferry settles into the job, sources say he wants to take stock of things before deciding if he's prepared to go into next season without Smith, who is entering the final year of his contract at $13.2 million and has let it be known for some time that he'd welcome a trade. http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_ ... th-for-now

[GrimeyKidd]

Smart move by ferry, hes thinking keep the core and give them help. Making a whole team. San Antonio like for real.

[Ruhiel]

Hawks need to forget the center and draft Wroten tonight, a guy who doesn't fit any thing the team needs.

On top of that since Horford Joe and Smith asked for a center it could be one last f*** you from management to the core.

Then you can start the rebuild properly. Ship Smith to Houston, LA, Boston and Orlando...

or some other team that likes winning.

[Jamaaliver]

Smart move by ferry, hes thinking keep the core and give them help. Making a whole team. San Antonio like for real.

I know right. I mean this core is so close to winning a title I can taste it. We're just one good late draft pick away.

Sure we've won two 2nd round playoff games in 5 years. And yeah, we've seen all the players in our core grow and develop into very generic, adequate players at best. And, also we are capped out and can't afford real help to fill out the roster.

But, yeah, one more shot with Josh, JJ and AL with Fab Melo. That'll definitely get us to the promised land.

<sigh>

Some people never learn. Some people will still be harping about this core when Josh is 32 and can't jump, dunk or shoot.

But hey, I guess it's better to lose with Josh Smith than win without him, right?

[Jamaaliver]

Another of Ferry's failures...

[parson]

I think you need to take a deep breath and have mercy on this poor, dead horse you've been beating. The closest thing to an offer we've ever had for Josh Smith was Turner and Hawes . . . and many people are saying that we asked PHI, instead of PHI offering them to us.

[Jamaaliver]

I think you need to take a deep breath and have mercy on this poor, dead horse you've been beating. The closest thing to an offer we've ever had for Josh Smith was Turner and Hawes . . . and many people are saying that we asked PHI, instead of PHI offering them to us.

Pau Gasol?
Monta Ellis?
Boston's 2012 1st rounder?
Asik?

We've hd offers for Josh for years. Poor vision and leadership let him walk for nothing...
Under Ferry we lost JJ, Devin and Josh and only received a draft pick in return.

But at least we signed Dermarre Carroll and Paul Milsap...

I got over missing out on Iggy, CP3, Deron, Brandon Roy, Pau Gasol in the draft. It took awhile but I got there. This will take some time to recover from as I advocated trading Josh years ago. Took tons of abuse for it. Now Ferry misplayed this poker chip several times in the last year.

OKC managed to get SOMETHING n return for Harden who was in the exact same place last year. Because their GM actually took action. As opposed to sitting around hoping, praying that Dwight would come make everything better.

[parson]

Pau Gasol - and you wanted him with 2 years left on his contract - would make us good, not great, while taking all our cap. You should be satisfied with the way we are now, if you wanted him.
Monta Ellis is Josh Smith's little brother. If you hated Smith ...
Boston's 2012 turned out to be Fab Melo. Now you say Ezeli. I wanted him, too, but Ferry chose Jenkins. He would have, again.
Asik is someone we've been trying to get. Are you trying to say CHI would have traded him to us but Ferry backed out? Are you saying Ferry refused to trade Smith to HOU?

[Jamaaliver]

My point is that there have been many opportunities to acquire talent for Josh.

Many chances. Ferry knew immediately he wanted to get rid of Marvin and JJ. But not Josh.

He instead offered Josh a Three year extension. When Josh turned it down, he still held on to him as he thought Josh could be a valuable piece going forward.

This was after ASG and Sund had already gotten to the point that THEY were ready to part ways with Smoove and receive some type of compensation.

Ferry went out of his way to keep Smoove, when his stock was at its highest. Despite numerous offers and calls of interest.

By the time he realized Josh would play no part in the team's future, it was too late. We were offered garbage for Josh at the trade deadline.

We considered sign-and-trades this summer, but it was too late by then. Our options were limited, D Ferry let him walk away for nothing. Now we watch him scrape the bottom of the barrel for nobody's and castoffs.

Bad teams have to draft and trade for talent, because top Free Agents won't come here willingly.
He let our top trade chip disappear with nothing n return.

[parson]

Jamaaliver, I really get your point . . . and have for awhile. I just don't remember ever being offered something worthwhile for Josh Smith.

However, I am satisfied with Millsap taking Smith's place - at 2/3's the price (and 1/20th the number of stupid shots).

[Jamaaliver]

I am satisfied with Millsap taking Smith's place - at 2/3's the price (and 1/20th the number of stupid shots).

Fair enough, ut couldn't we have afforded Milsap with the savings from losing JJ and Marvin?

Didn't we agree to terms with Milsap before Smith was renounced?

Milsap Might be replacing Josh on the roster, but his salary his not replacing Smoove's on the books. It's replacing Joe.

[parson]

It's hard to argue with that because the money's complicated. But we were still over the cap after we traded Joe and Marvelous (albeit we traded them for expirings).

Would it make you happier if we said we dumped Smith in order to give Teague a $6 million raise? Don't forget, we got the 16th overall for the 18th because we also took a salary from DAL. Being under the cap allowed us to make that trade. If Nogueira becomes a star, it'll be because we had cap space.

And I think we still have around $11 million in available space.

[Rip2137]

I think you are in for a shock if you think that Milsap takes 1/20th of the stupid shots of Smith.

He will, however, be a more consistant shot maker with 1/20th of the defensive presense.

As of Jamal, its just him whining. It wasn't smart for Ferry to trade smith and he is depending on hindsight to say we should have. Lou/Zaza aren't injured and we are probably in the ECF this year(Yes we beat Indiana and I still don't think much of the Knicks). Hindsight is fun and all, but you have to be realistic and look at what was realistic at the time. Pau Gasol, Brandon Roy and Iggy would have been dumb picks. Trading the marvin pick to Utah or the Hornets would have been smarter than picking there in that draft because THEY would have taken Marvin and we still would have gotten the point that we needed. That's the REALISTIC thing to think coming off last year.

A REAL GM would have seen Smith step up in Horford and Joes absence and say "You know, we should give this kid a chance to be the man because he very well could be" as we were a team without the MAN. OKC didn't have that problem. They had their guy and the second in command to that guy. you have to look at things realistically man.

[Jamaaliver]

I think you are in for a shock if you think that Milsap takes 1/20th of the stupid shots of Smith.

He will, however, be a more consistant shot maker with 1/20th of the defensive presense.

As of Jamal, its just him whining. It wasn't smart for Ferry to trade smith and he is depending on hindsight to say we should have.

Harsh. And wrong. I have literally been advocating trading Josh for years.

YEARS. The archives here go back to 2008. I have been pushing for us to trade him since at least that long.

It ain't hindsight if I say it everyday until it is proven that I was right.

BTW, Ferry tried to trade Josh. But he waited too late. He took three months to see what I already knew, Josh is not the kind of player top teams can build around or depend on long term.

There is a reason so few teams were throwing money at Josh this summer.

Josh sucks, dude. And most GMs have come to realize he can't be depended on as a building block.

[Jamaaliver]

Lou/Zaza aren't injured and we are probably in the ECF this year(Yes we beat Indiana and I still don't think much of the Knicks).

So, wait. We never in our 45 years of existence have made the Conf Finals. Ad we haven't won a single game against NYK since Woody took over...but Lou Williams and Zaza Pachulia are the difference for a team that hasn't sniffed the second round in years?

That seems foolish, shortsighted, and illogical.

[parson]

Rip, Jamaal, one of you loves Josh Smith as much as the other hates him.

You do know what happens when you put matter and anti-matter together, right? .

[Rip2137]

Rip, Jamaal, one of you loves Josh Smith as much as the other hates him.

You do know what happens when you put matter and anti-matter together, right? .

Not even close. I couldn't give 2 craps about Josh Smith now, he isn't a Hawk. I am a Hawks fan. I just watch the game enough to not have this deluded view that Josh Smiths shot selection is the worse in the NBA and he added nothing to the team like SOME people have. I don't care what he does now.

Jamal, advocating trading Josh for years doesn't mean it would have been a good move. You are using hindsight to say it would have been a good move. And most of the trades you have pitched have either been impossible(that ridiculous Harden deal where OKC would have log jammed their front court without receiving a backup guard back) or just BAD trades (you have wanted Monta Ellis for Josh Smith a few times, which is odd as Monta has worse shot selection, and plays no D).

And if you really don't think the difference between that Indiana series I don't know what to tell ya. I mean, of course Sheldon Mack and Johan Petro bring nothing less to the table that Zaza Pachulia and Lou Williams. Nothing at all.

[Jamaaliver]

Rip, Jamaal, one of you loves Josh Smith as much as the other hates him.

You do know what happens when you put matter and anti-matter together, right? .

Jamal, advocating trading Josh for years doesn't mean it would have been a good move. You are using hindsight to say it would have been a good move. And most of the trades you have pitched have either been impossible(that ridiculous Harden deal where OKC would have log jammed their front court without receiving a backup guard back) or just BAD trades (you have wanted Monta Ellis for Josh Smith a few times, which is odd as Monta has worse shot selection, and plays no D).

And if you really don't think the difference between that Indiana series I don't know what to tell ya. I mean, of course Sheldon Mack and Johan Petro bring nothing less to the table that Zaza Pachulia and Lou Williams. Nothing at all.

Ewwww.

Let's just say there is a reason Ferry and most other GMs chose to focus elsewhere than on Josh this summer.

Took me a few years to see it. Took Ferry four months.
Josh is a cancer.
That ain't hindsight. Just sight.

Rip just defends every poor decision our misguided, befuddled management has made over the years.
And questioning or criticizing those moves is just unfair...in hindsight.