What teams...?

[HoopsGuru25]

The reason you keep Childress even in a Miller trade even if you don't plan on re-signing him is that you can trade him for another player(a shooter)and there's still the chance that you can get something from him in a sign and trade. Another reason is that the pressure is on Philadelphia and not us. Philly HAS to trade Miller in the next month or give up their chance to be the only team with enough cap space to offer a max contract to potential free agents. You also have to taken into account which teams that are fighting for the playoffs have bad enough pg situations to even pursue Miller?

Cleveland and Orlando are the only two I have down for sure...maybe Houston(Alston is playing well and Brooks has been a suprise). Denver could be a wild card. I'm not sure how Cleveland could get Miller given their weak expirings and lack of young talent(besides Gibson who they wouldn't give up). Orlando's bench is just filled with garbage and none of their young prospects have any where close to the value of Shelden(besides Nelson who may be considered a bad contract soon). Houston is another team with weak expirings but I'm not even sure if they want Miller. There fans really like Brooks and Alston and James already make decent money. Denver could get Miller for J.R. Smith(who is a free agent to be like Chils though)and Najera but does Denver even want Miller back with AI dominating the ball now? I still think we should offer Shelden/Lue/Lo and MAYBE a future protected pick depending on what other teams are offering.

This has all the signs of Philly trading Miller for 70 cents on the dollar unless these 3 things happen.

1. Someone is willing to overpay for Miller. In that deal it looks like the Hawks would be. Philly could only dream of getting a deal that good.

2.Someone is going willing to take on Evans/Green with Miller. I think they would actually have to trade that Utah pick if they wanted to do this. With so many teams close to the luxury tax...it's going to be VERY hard for a GM to try to get his owner to sign off on taking a good but not great point guard and 4 million dollars worth of garbage to go along with him.

3.Is Philly content with keeping Miller and just re-signing Iggy, Lou Williams,and a 2nd tier FA like Jamison or Corey Maggette.

[conleyorbust]

So you are suggesting wait another couple weeks and offer Philly a package of expirings + Shel?

[HoopsGuru25]

So you are suggesting wait another couple weeks and offer Philly a package of expirings + Shel?

I've said since pre-season that we should have sent the paper work to Philly for Shelden/Lue/Lo for Miller/Booth on Philly's desk to sign anytime from December 15th to the trade deadline. Since the start of the season Shelden's value has gone down tremendously so I think a future protected pick may have to be involved. Every day that goes by w/o hearing anything about Philly contacting teams for Miller lowers the chance of them trading him at all. I don't think the offers they are going to get from him are going to be that good...if Philly could get Villanueva,a 1st,and unload Evans horrible deal in the process...Miller would have been out of town already.

[JoshB914]

Philly wouldn't trade Miller for that. They will at least try to get a pick for him. Shelden/Lue/Lo is nothing to them.

[HoopsGuru25]

Philly wouldn't trade Miller for that. They will at least try to get a pick for him. Shelden/Lue/Lo is nothing to them.

I said I would probably throw in a future protected pick because of how low Shelden's value has gotten since the start of the season. You have to remember that Philly is not negotiating from a position of strength. They need a decent sized expiring(s)(which rules out alot of players they can ask for)and they aren't going to get anything more than a marginal prospect or a future protected pick for him. Most teams competing for the playoffs are content with their pg situation which limits the teams that would be interested in Miller to only like 5-6. There is a good chance that they are going to get ripped off if they trade Miller in order to get more cap room. Too bad the Knicks don't have any expirings to make a play for Miller. Isiah loves outbidding himself in trades.

[conleyorbust]

I'm fine with starting low and hoping but I really don't want the trade deadline to pass without this team having an upgrade at point guard, or backup big man, or adding a shooter.

I'd also be OK with adding a lesser player a la Earl Watson but there has been some resistance to that type of idea around here. I can't think of a major FA signing I'd like to see us make outside of Calderon so if management thinks that he is gonna be locked up for good by T.O., I'd really like to see us go for Miller because he is the best option available to us (I know Kidd is technically available but he makes a lot of dough).

My concern is that Philly sees our offer and shrugs us off figuring they can get a better offer in the offseason and we are left with the crew we have now.

By the way, I'm not jumping on the "we need a new pg" bandwagon. I've always thought that was an extremely important position for a team like ours.

[evildallas]

Players I think could be acquired:
Ron Artest (plans to opt out)
Mike Miller (owner reducing payroll)
Earl Watson (Seattle would love to deal one PG)
Luke Ridnour (Seattle would love to deal one PG)
Charlie Villaneuva (Soft big, Milwuakee wants to change roster)
Andres Nocioni (Chicago wants to get cap flexibility)
Jamal Tinsley (Indiana has wanted to move him for some time)

Who might want some of our players:
Josh Childress is a good fit for Sacramento, but might also be attractive to San Antonio
Shelden Williams could be attractive to Memphis, Chicago, Orlando, or San Antonio if they believe a change of scenery will help him
Zaza Pachulia could be attractive to Chicago or Orlando because both could use big man help
Expiring deals (Lo Wright, Lue, Salim) could be attractive to Memphis, Sacramento, Philadelphia, Seattle, Indiana, or Milwaukee

My #1 target would be Artest. I think he helps the team the most.
#2 is Mike Miller although you would only acquire 1 or the other not both. Adds a lot of the same things, not as good at D.
After that I look at augmenting PG. Seattle's PGs have 2 more years on their deals. Expiring deals might be pried from Orlando or Chicago for a big.
A change is the backup bigs is might #3 concern because of lack of good available options. Sene might be part of a Seattle deal or we could possibly try to get Elson from San Antonio (although he's not a great option). Strangely, we might talk to Kwame Brown if Memphis waives him. The rumor is he'll sit out 30 days and return to the Lakers, but we could offer him a shot at playing time while playing close to home.

[conleyorbust]

^interesting list, I think Artest would definitely be an upgrade over Marv but I don't really know how much. He would help our defense quite a bit but Marv is far from being the weak point in our D... in fact our perimeter D is probably one of our strongest areas. Marv is already a more efficent scorer than Ron.

Miller probably helps the most, super efficient shooter who can handle himself with the ball too, would be a great addition for our half-court offense. (Actually I think Dre' Miller helps the most but he's a Miller too).

I think the easiest upgrades we can make would be at point guard and backup help in the front-court. Its getting pretty obvious that Shel and Zaza don't want to be productive ball players in Atlanta and our production in the front-court has become a massive liability. As far a point guard goes, you plug in a guy that can push the pace and we automatically become a more dangerous team. Our "small" frontcourt suddenly becomes ultra-dangerous because no one wants to get near a Josh Smith fast break dunk and no center in the league is gonna beat Al down the court.

I'd aim for one of the Millers first.

[HoopsGuru25]

Watson for expirings is the least risky move available I'm not sure how it could possibly backfire. It's also probably the most likely move to be accepted by the other team. He is a good distrubutor and defender and he's been relatively healthy throught out his entire career. I want no part of Tinsley or his effect on the Hawks lockeroom.

Mike Miller for expirings(the least likely move imo) would be too good to be true...but the Hawks are the Hawks..if he goes for an expirings it just seems like it won't be to us. I don't think Nocioni is avaialble for expirings and I wouldn't do that deal anyway.

The Artest for Chil/expiring deal makes too much sense for the Hawks. Marvin would move to the bench(which improves our bench scoring),our perimeter defense would get MUCH better,and this gives the hawks another player besides Joe who can create his own offense off the dribble. If you are going to have a half year rental you might as well use it on the much better player and the player who has a chance to get back something in a sign and trade. We also don't have to worry about our cheap owners not beeing OK with the trade because both Artest and Chils will be free agents. I'm not sure BK is smart enough to realize how good of a trade this is though.

I would like to trade Shelden for Critt but that looks like it's going to be extremely difficult or impossible to do. I want to trade for Andre Miller but our role players' value has gone down so much that Philly might not even want our package. I also haven't heard anything about Phillys shopping Miller in a while and I might believe it. I don't see them getting good enough value from any team in a trade. It seems like almost every team fighting for the playoffs is satisfied with their starting pg besides us and a couple others.

[HMFFL]

Good list Dallas.

I'd also like for Billy to consider Corey Maggette. He does have a player option at the end of the season for 8.4 Million. Corey would fill some holes we need and should be easy to move if he accepts the player option (Said that before).

Ron Artest has a player option for 8.45 Million at seasons end.

Andre Miller does help the most. I just doubt Billy can let go of his precious selections. We should be able to acquire Andre Miller and keep all of our starters. On the other hand Philly doesn't have to be desperate and they may feel Andre's value goes up next season.

Even a small move like acquiring Luther Head from Houston makes sense to me. Good backup for Joe who can really shoot the ball.

[evildallas]

I left Maggette off just because I think he is not going to be moved. The problem being disagreement between coach/gm/owner there. If not he definitely would help. I see Artest as upgrading over Childress in the rotation not Marvin. It is true he'd replace Marvin in the starting lineup, but not on the team.

The key to acquiring Artest or Mike Miller or Maggette is to get a 2nd vet who can create offense in the 4th and can give us something different earlier in the game either shooting the 3 or taking a defender one on one.

I agree with the take on Watson. I will elaborate more later.

[JoshB914]

I really think Memphis might be looking to move Lowry. I don't see how they can go long term with Critt/MCJ/Lowry. One of those guys has to be dealt.

[evildallas]

My elaboration:

Currently, AJ is playing far better than I ever expected. Law is a rookie and often overmatched like any rookie PG would be, but I do see signs of progress. Ty Lue is Ty Lue. It is possible that we can survive without a PG upgrade and make the playoffs, but it's kind of unlikely.

Next season only Law is on the roster. While he should be able to handle more minutes next year I really can't see him running a playoff caliber team until his 3 year at the earliest.

The perfect PG for us is Calderon. Unfortunately, he is just a restricted free agent in the off season meaning that even if we come correct it could be matched. I seriously doubt we actually make the type of offer it would take to woo him because committing that much money is always risky. While there are a couple other interesting PGs in free agency the most likely thing to happen will be the resigning of AJ to continue to man the position for another year or two. That's not going to improve the team.

Given these factors it is best to acquire a PG upgrade to help this season and next. Many players would fall into the category of an upgrade, but the ones that are likely available are Earl Watson and Andre Miller. Earl Watson has 2 more years at 13M total and Miller has 1 year at 9M. Miller would be the better choice if we could get him out of Philadelphia which seems content to keep him. Perhaps they feel that a veteran PG is more helpful in the development of their young talent than any additional talent or cap room they could for him. Looking elsewhere Earl Watson is the best combination of skill and contract. He can shoot it from outside, penetrate, and play D. The only knock really on him is he's a little shot happy.

[conleyorbust]

I'd say Watson is a starting caliber player in the league. Guru, I'm with you 100% on Tinsley... he's like the exact opposite of Calderon. He takes terrible shots and turns the ball over like its his job.

Obviously if I had a choice between Dre' Miller and Watson, I'd take Miller because he'd fit this team so perfectly. After watching us run another team off the floor last night, it would be too perfect to have a pg like Dre' who can run the floor and hit Josh/Marv/Al for massive dunks (probably the highest percentage shot you can take). Still, if he's too hard to get Watson fills quite a few needs would be the ideal "tough guy" to splite time with Acie as he develops.