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I'm sure you guys saw it on the front page but it's supposed to be an eastern conference "bid dog" and a western conference "power" who are trying to get josh. I'm pretty sure the east team is detroit but who would the team in the west be. I know it's not San Antonio or New Orleans, I don't see Utah having anyone who ATL would want so I'm trying to think of who it could be. What do you guys think?

My bet is that it's Dallas and they are offering Howard.

It could also be the Suns. Isn't Shaq's deal expiring? Smith would be a perfect fit for that team.

Does Portland count as a "power"?

ShaY wrote:My bet is that it's Dallas and they are offering Howard.

Yea i thought that to but I don't really consider dallas a wcf power. I'm sure the media will though so I wouldn't doubt it. If so I really don't see atl doing that, they can put smith @ the 4 sometimes and get marvin williams more playing time but they can't do that with howard.

jove9 wrote:It could also be the Suns. Isn't Shaq's deal expiring? Smith would be a perfect fit for that team.

Does Portland count as a "power"?

jove9 wrote:It could also be the Suns. Isn't Shaq's deal expiring? Smith would be a perfect fit for that team.

Does Portland count as a "power"?

Yea Phoenix came to mind to. Smith would be marion pt. 2, and they'd probably get him for less(granted he's not as good of a perimeter defender as marion but he's a better athlete and shot blocker). But that all depends on whether the hawks want to have cap space for the big free agents to come or want to win now. Shaq has two years and 40 mil left if I remember correctly.

The article says the ball is in ATL's court, but I'm sure they'll find a way to F' it up. The hawks are a horrible organization. It's run by good business men in the corporate world, but basketball business is a little different. Nobody wants to play there unless they don't have a choice. They probably tried to lo-ball smith and childress this summer and hence the want to leave by both players. J.Johnson must be feeling very stupid now. =/ They never really had a chance in the near future, but now, they definitely don't have a chance at winning jack in a long time.

PocketRockets wrote:The article says the ball is in ATL's court, but I'm sure they'll find a way to F' it up. The hawks are a horrible organization. It's run by good business men in the corporate world, but basketball business is a little different. Nobody wants to play there unless they don't have a choice. They probably tried to lo-ball smith and childress this summer and hence the want to leave by both players. J.Johnson must be feeling very stupid now. =/ They never really had a chance in the near future, but now, they definitely don't have a chance at winning jack in a long time.

Not to get this thread too off-topic but I agree completely and it really speaks volumes to the idiocy of the Hawks management because if you polled NBA players about what there favorite cities are, I'll take a substantial wager to say that Atlanta would be in a lot of players' top 5.

I hope it is us!!!!

wadero wrote:I hope it is us!!!!

Why?

It wont matter, we would have to give up a lot to get him.

^ I hope its us too...

Battier, Head, Novak, Future 1st pick? haha i wish

I hope I get appointed CEO of Texaco tomorrow. I've got all sorts of skills with software development that I can provide them to fulfill the position. Oh, and I know Larry, so the whole "connections" thing is taken care of too. Make it happen Mr. Kinnear!!!

Edit: I wouldn't be surprised if it was Dallas, Detroit, or Sacramento. Why Sacto? I dunno. Why not? It won't be Golden State or LAC, they're both too busy slapping each other in the face. Shaq doesn't expire until next year and I don't see any deals getting put together with those numbers anyway. Portland could easily work, and that could be scary to outright terrifying.

Jove,
Shaq makes too much money for a Sign-n-Trade(max contract is just less than $15mil starting out.) Boris Diaw does have a salary in the right range,but I just don't see Atl doing Diaw Part 2.

If there even is an offer,my guess Utah for AK-47 or Dallas for Howard. For various reasons-mostly financial-we can rule out LA,SA,NO,Hou and Denver.

Let's just pretend it could be us. What defense leaves with battier, we get back at the 3-4 position. Smith is a pretty good defender and he gets lots of blocks. We'd then just have to worry about the kobe's and lebrons going off on us. =/ I think smith is about as inept as battier on the offensive end, just maybe not as inept as battier. The only problem is he wants money that we don't have (or don't wanna give), which is fine with me b/c I don't think he puts us over the top. He'll put us in the 2nd or 3rd round in the next couple of years, but no ship so who cares.