Josh Childress

[GrimeyKidd]

Just found this writeup from a Hawks fan in J-Chill's last season here. It's a pretty spot on description from what I recall. It's kinda fun searching the boards archives to see what us Hawks fans felt about stuff at a particular time.

Chil is a great player who does some things very well and some things... not at all. He is great at getting out on the break, great at working the baseline and things that come from that (getting O boards, getting easy looks off of doubles) however he is a pretty weak man defender, isn't much of a playmaker, and rarely shoots the ball.

On the whole he's a great addition to literally any team in the league because he does certain things better than anyone else. He just can't be shoehorned into certain roles ie. go-to scorer or lockdown defender.

http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=777558

well that was wrong on alot of levels

Chill was an above average man defender and above average to good shooter, as well as a great rebounder for a small forward

but Chill was horrible at dribbling and creating for himself

the thing about Chill is that he didn't do much for 99% of the game, he would hit every open shot he got, but wasn't a guy who could bail you out. Chill was forgettable throughout most of the games except for occasionally getting some sort of critical offensive rebound in the last minute or two at the end of the game, that ultimately helped the Hawks win the game.

*cough cough* anthony tolliver

[dms269]

I gotta agree with Mace & RIP on this one.

Childress was the victim of questionable negotiating tactics from our skin-flint owners and our stubborn, boneheaded ex-GM (Billy Knight).

He was NOT under contract with us, but we wouldn't renounce his rights so he could sign elsewhere. And we wouldn't offer him a long-term contract.

We tried to force him to play another year here when he was NOT under contract. He didn't want to play without a long term deal or the chance to start.

Two years later, we STILL hadn't renounced his rights and then traded him to PHX for a trade exception we NEVER used and a 2nd rounder that became Mike Scott. We basically went out of our way to screw him over for very little gain. It actually was to the detriment of the team since we had a salary cap hold for multiple years on a guy who wasn't even in the NBA.

But...I do like the 10-day contract suggestion. But only if we option Mike Scott back to the D-League since he seems to be tied to the bench currently.

I have no problem with us not giving him an offer and allowing the market to set his price. That option is out there for teams so expect them to take advantage of it. Of course we aren't going to give up his rights, we felt he still had value to someone out there. Give up the rights to a decent player and allow rival team to get him? No way.

I am also on the "No chill" bandwagon and I have been for years. I don't like his exit (he did jump to Greece fairly early) and doubt he would be willing to come back anyway.

[Jamaaliver]

I have no problem with us not giving him an offer and allowing the market to set his price. That option is out there for teams so expect them to take advantage of it.

Fair enough. But consider:

1) This was the first draft class of the rebuild era.
2)We didn't make an offer to either of the Joshes.
3)We still hadn't had a winning season in the 21st century, but were coming off the impressive 7-game series against Boston.
Not extending offers kind of took some of the momentum away from that progress. Those tactics, combined with BK's brusque manner with fans, media and agents was a huge issue that entire summer.

And the fact that we subsequently offered AL a new deal before he hit the market 2 years later was telling.

It's just a bad business practice and is part of the reason BK isn't a GM anywhere. If Chill had gone to Greece AND Smooth had received a huge offer we couldn't afford to match, it would have set the franchise back years.

And I imagine it's also going to be on Smoove's mind next summer.

I don't know too many 1st rate franchises that don't even make an effort to extend their core players before they hit the market. Just another example of our inept (ex)GM and our tight-fisted ownership group.

[Jamaaliver]

I am also on the "No chill" bandwagon and I have been for years. I don't like his exit (he did jump to Greece fairly early) and doubt he would be willing to come back anyway.

I agree, I doubt he'd want to comeback.

In his defense, that summer he only received one contract offer. It was from Olympiakos and their season began earlier than the NBA season. With no contract offers from ATL or elsewhere, he didn't have much choice.

We let the market set his price. And he signed the only contract he was offered.

[reazun]

Childress can't shoot or dribble and can't handle the ball either. He's very limited in many aspects of the game for the positions he play (2 and 3). I don't think we need someone that offers what he brings to the table. His deal in Greece might have been great financially for him but he missed on a great opportunity to stay and learn the game the right away. I believe he'll never be able to achieve what he was once capable of.

Childress cant shoot? His shot looked ugly, but I remember him consistently being the top in FG% when he was in Atlanta. He shot over 50% every year he was with us, except his rookie year. Its true that he wasnt a great dribbler and he could not create shots. However, he always had heart . When we were down by a lot and the rest of the team was lagging, Childress was always the one that seemed to still play his hardest. Id at least give him a 10 day contract. He did nothing wrong by going to Greece. He was a FA, he had his options and he picked the best one for him. Athletes dont even pay taxes there.