Sekou: Mythbusting!

[Hawks]

http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared ... sting.html

Let’s talk about what we do know:

Josh Smith is being targeted by Philadelphia with their $11 million-plus in available cap space. I know there is a small segment of people out there that think the Sixers might be using all this hype as a smokescreen and really be interested in making a sneak attack for Corey Maggette or even Elton Brand (if he does indeed opt out of his deal, we’ll know later today if he does or not). But Smith is the guy. And if the offer to Smith is frontloaded (think of the structure of the Hawks’ offer to Joe Johnson three years ago), things will get really complicated. The worst part is the Hawks had a 6-7, 235-pound cautionary tale on the roster in Johnson the last three years and still ignored it so they could dip their toes into the shark-infested waters this summer. It’s crazy.

Josh Childress is going to be the target of at least three different veteran-stocked playoff teams that are over the salary cap, meaning they’ll use their mid-level exception to try and steal him away while the Hawks are busy figuring out what they’ll do with Smith. The mid-level is expected to be anywhere from $5.8 to $6 million (we won’t know that exact figure until later either), so the chances of the Hawks matching an offer to Childress would appear to be extremely likely. But what seems logical and what actually happens during free agency don’t always match up.

[killbuckner]

Chad Ford was projecting Philly to have 12.5 million in caproom, but likely the difference in the numbers is just trying to guess what the cap will be for next year. I have said for a long time that Smith is the guy that I would target if I were Philly- no one knows what the ASG would do for a max contract with a max signing bonus for Smith. But inorder to get the ASG not to match, Philly would have had to overpay and Smith played well enough this season that its not clear cut that this would be a massive overpayment.

With Childress I also wonder if he might end up getting a max signing bonus on the offersheet just to make it a little more painful for the Hawks to match. We just don't know what the ASG's liquid cash situation is considering Belkin isn't part of the group anymore. But the Hawks beign willing to pay all that money to Bibby to me makes it rather unlikely that they would let Smith walk, I don't think that Childress is a sure thing though. BTW- no one actually believes that the Hawks would match any offer for Childress right? Its free to say that- its different to actually come up with the cash.

[JoshB914]

Sekou is great. I hope he comes through with more good info when all the action starts in the free agent market.

In other news, we have even more proof that the Suns were bluffing on Joe Johnson.

[jmon]

Its ashame that he doesn't take the Hawks financial situation into account whatsoever as Henry Abbott on Truehoop pointed out here... http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-3 ... dress.html