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The Phoenix Suns confirmed that they did inquire about a possible sign and trade with the Hawks for forward Josh Childress before Childress left for Greece, the East Valley Tribune is reporting.

The Suns did have the $8 million trade exception from the Kurt Thomas trade with Seattle to work with (which expired on July 21), but the deal almost certainly would have included either Leandro Barbosa or Boris Diaw in an attempt to balance the contract and keep the Suns from taking a further luxury tax hit.

Childress' asking price was higher than the Suns anticipated, and Atlanta was cold on the idea of a sign and trade, leaving the deal dead before it got off the ground.


That is interesting that the Hawks were cold on the idea of a sign and trade and then letting Childress go for nothing in return..then again nothing is surprising with Hawks management

Barbosa would have been solid, but there is no way I would have traded for Diaw.

I was actually pitching a trade on here involving Chill for Barbosa. I would have done that trade in a heartbeat. I love the energy and scoring Barbosa brings off the bench. Diaw would have been better than nothing too, all around solid guy who is a great passer. I can't believe we passed this up just to see Chill walk!

Barbosa wouldn't have been a good fit with us. We already have Speedy and Acie as backup point guards and Leandro isn't big enough to play the 2.

I would have been cool with Barbosa but I don't see why the Suns do that. Assuming Chil's contract is above the MLE, they wouldn't be saving any money this coming year by swapping Leahdro for Chil and they wouldn't be getting a better player. I guess you could consider it upgrading a position of need but I don't see Childress starting in the same lineup as Shaq and Amare - Shaq is exclusively an inside player, like Chil, and the Nash-Amare PnR needs to have dudes spreading the floor.

I'm sure the Suns offered a package around Diaw though.

uga_dawgs24 wrote:Barbosa would have been solid, but there is no way I would have traded for Diaw.

At that point, if I was sure that Woodson is able to get from Diaw what D'Antoni got playing him at C, I would hesitate between him and Barbosa. Don't forget that what we see first is what Diaw is doing with Stoudemire and Hill. Why only looking at that and not looking at what he can do if is the starter.
Sometimes, I really don't see the point of saying about a bench player "he's only doing that because this player is not here" or something like that. What I also see is that PHX with Diaw and without Stoudemire was one of the best PHX we saw in the past years, and that Diaw played very well in these last playoff, better than Hill or Barbosa, too bad for him there were short on two games and lost against S.A.. If PHX had passed S.A., with the level Diaw was playing, we would have sure hear that he starts to deserves a little bit more his contract.

I don't like this kind of lack of motivation, but it seems that when he gets 30min or is starter, there is not so much of this problem. I admit that without time to give and the knowledge of how to use him, better not trading for him.

D21, that's the difference between D'Antoni and Woody. D'Antoni found a use for him and made him a rich man, and all Woody did was just try to force him at the PG slot.

ANd I would have taken anything for Chills, because that's better than NOTHING ASG!

If there were some offer for Childress and ASG preferred let him walk for nothing, it could mean that they look at bringing him back in the next summers.
Letting him walk this summer allow to add some bench players, a hard thing if Childress was re-signed with Smith. Now, we know that Bibby (if he stays) will have a huge pay cut, leaving room under the tax threshold to get Childress back.
It would mean that instead of paying some tax for one year (OK, only teams thinking of being contender do it), they choose to put Childress for one or two years out of the team, and then bring him back as the final piece. Doubt it turns like that, but that's a possibility.

I could see making a case for Barbosa. Play him along side Acie would have been interesting. Diaw, we won't no part of. Could have got some value in return for Chill and we let him walk. Typical ASG here.

Unless you guys had a frontcourt starting spot open for Boris, he'd be of no use to you.

Childress' asking price was higher than the Suns anticipated

but go ahead blame the ASG

I feel that Losing Childress for nothing >>> Paying Boris Diaw for 4 more years at 9M per. In fact, I'd rather have Childress here at 9M for 4 seasons than Diaw even though that is overpaying.

I am still unsure how these TPE's work. I mean do we S&T Childress for pick and the TPE. Then use the TPE and a pick to acquire Barbosa. Then yes, I would have loved Barbosa for Childress, but the quotes I saw indicate that it never got to the firm offer stage.

I've moved on from the Childress situation without assigning blame. He got a lot more money than I thought he should be paid. These retrospective trade possibilities that were never made or refused is hard for me to fault the team on.

I'd boo Diaw everytime he touched the ball if he were ever a Hawk again. He's one my least fav players in the league. The only good thing about him was the fact we got JJ in that trade, other than that, I want him faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar away from here. I'd consider Barbosa. He'd make us run and that's when we are at our best.