Sund wants Salmons if Joe leaves

Space Jam · Post #1 » by **Space Jam** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 7:41 pm

If Milwaukee guard/forward John Salmons opts out of his contract as expected next week, the Atlanta Hawks will be standing in line to greet him as an unrestricted free agent July 1.

The Hawks, according to a source within the organization, have discussed Salmons internally as a top option if they are unable to keep All-Star guard Joe Johnson.

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/06/23/h...ohnson-leaves/

I like the move, what yall think?

azuresou1 · Post #2 » by **azuresou1** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 7:45 pm

John Salmons is comparable to Crawford as a player, and is quite old. I'm going to be pissed if we offer him the MLE.

Space Jam · Post #3 » by **Space Jam** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 8:26 pm

Salmons is 30 so hopefully we don't sign him any longer than to a 3 year deal.

evildallas · Post #4 » by **evildallas** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 8:43 pm

Not crazy about it (almost hate it). It would be a duct tape move to try and sustain the status quo or a little less for less dollars. The probably is that our status quo was a 2nd round sweep, so a little less is just make the playoffs? What Salmons would do is absorb all the shots that Joe took. If Joe leaves I want more balance on offense and more shots by Al and Marvin. If Marvin isn't going to have a bigger role then please deal him for a lower cost SF. John Salmons would be just another vet for Marvin to defer to. It's time for our group of mid-Twentysomethings to step up to greater responsibility.

I'd rather invest in a young SG like Wesley Matthews or even JJ Redick instead. They'd match up better with the rest of the lineup and although we'd take a step back a little further in year 1, I think we'd see bigger dividends down the road than investing in Joe-lite. Matthews or Redick would likely be 12-14 attempts a game rather than the 18-20 that Joe or Salmons would take. Those other 6 shots would go to Marvin and Al. Matthew has already proven as a rookie that he could take on tough defensive assignments and still contribute on the offensive end. I don't suggest that Wesley would replace Joe completely, but I don't want another Joe, I want a better overall team.

Final note - judging by John Salmons playoff game log he has post-season fading in common with Joe as well. Not a good thing.

Space Jam · Post #5 » by **Space Jam** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 8:54 pm

Well I can tell you this, if we just stay pack with our core Marvin/Smith/Horford/Crawford, and don't sign a good free agent or trade for a good player this team will probally not make the playoffs. With the Bulls, Miami, Orlando, Celtics, Cavs, Bucks, all trying to make moves to get better, we will be left in the dust or fighting for a 8th seed.

evildallas · Post #6 » by **evildallas** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 9:03 pm

Space Jam wrote:Well I can tell you this, if we just stay pack with our core Marvin/Smith/Horford/Crawford, and don't sign a good free agent or trade for a good player this team will probally not make the playoffs. With the Bulls, Miami, Orlando, Celtics, Cavs, Bucks, all trying to make moves to get better, we will be left in the dust or fighting for a 8th seed.

Does signing John Salmons keep us in the upper half of the East? With Chicago and Miami poised to add impact free agents and Orlando already up there and Milwaukee healthy I don't think so. If we resign Joe I'm not sure we stay in the top 4. I can see us as a 5th-8th team with either Salmons or Matthews. The big difference to me is do our no longer young core continues to play support roles or move to lead roles. Sure there is risk to going younger at SG, but I'm not interesting in just trending water. I'm willing to slide back a little to move forward in the long run.

Space Jam · Post #7 » by **Space Jam** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 9:15 pm

Adding a guy like Salmons will help this team, no doubt. He avg. 20 pts per game for the Bucks but only avg. 12 for the Bulls. It depends on which John Salmons he really is.

SAUCERY_SWEET · Post #8 » by **SAUCERY_SWEET** » Fri Jun 25, 2010 5:35 am

I can see it happening, anything to keep Jamal as the 6th man and now that his twin(Jordan) is on the team. The Hawks should no doubt scrap the moderate iso play offense and dedicate themselves to full out run n gun. This team would win 55 games.

HoopsGuru25 · Post #9 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Fri Jun 25, 2010 12:06 pm

SAUCERY_SWEET wrote:I can see it happening, anything to keep Jamal as the 6th man and now that his twin(Jordan) is on the team. The Hawks should no doubt scrap the moderate iso play offense and dedicate themselves to full out run n gun. This team would win 55 games.

Maybe they'd be better in the playoffs...but it's going to be extremely difficult to win more than 52 games even if they replaced Joe's production. The Hawks has no major injuries whatsoever(great luck) and had the 2nd best offensive rating in the league. The problem with the Hawks offense is that it looks like crap come playoff time. Apart of that is coaching and apart of that is Joe just under performing as the leader of the team.

td00 · Post #10 » by **td00** » Fri Jun 25, 2010 12:55 pm

I think we are in position to replace Joe should Jamal have a similar season to last year.

He moves into the starting slot, and we build up our 2nd line. IMO, Salmons is good for a 1-2 year deal only. He didn't jell with Chicago and I see the Bucks regretting taking a much more $$ Maggette over a cheaper Salmons.

I have no problem bringing him in, provided he can play some defense.