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I almost get the feeling that if we can't sign Marvin, Josh maybe option 2. I think with our team now
he may fit better as the starting sf. For shooting, we could alway move Joe to the 3 and crawford or bibby to the 2 and let teagle drvie and kick.

ATLANTA -- Josh Childress said Friday the Atlanta Hawks' "hardball" negotiations forced him to return for a second season in Greece with Olympiakos.

Childress signed a three-year, $20 million deal with Olympiakos last year after scoring in double figures in each of his four seasons with the Hawks.

The Hawks retained rights to Childress, who as a restricted free agent could negotiate with other NBA teams. Meanwhile, Childress also faced a Wednesday deadline to commit to his return to Greece.

Childress and his agent, Jim Tanner, said in a telephone interview on Friday that they visited Milwaukee and had interest from other teams. They said those teams couldn't reach an agreement with the Hawks.


"I knew I didn't have a ton of time and honestly didn't want a ton of time," Childress said, referring to this week's deadline with Olympiakos. "If (the Hawks) wanted to get something done it would get done early."

The Hawks will again retain the NBA rights to Childress after next season. Childress said "it's not out of the question at all" for him to return to Atlanta.

"I just think there needs to be some kind of agreement where both parties meet in the middle," he said. "This idea of hardball is kind of old. I'm not the type of guy that's gonna bad mouth and do all the other things. I've kind of been the kind of guy who wants to move forward and get something done."

Hawks coach Mike Woodson said on Monday he would welcome the return of Childress.

"I'd accept him with open arms, without a doubt," Woodson said.

Childress said he was open to a return to Atlanta.

"The Hawks were definitely in my scope," he said. "I spent four years there. I'm familiar with the team and the organization. I'm familiar with the city. I still have a home there. I think it just came down to whether or not I felt like negotiations would move forward with them. I really didn't, just being quite honest."

Tanner said his hope was to find Childress a home with another NBA team.

"I would say with a couple of teams in particular we went pretty far down the road, in both cases talking about sign-and-trade transactions," Tanner said.

"We did have a visit to Milwaukee. We had extensive conversations with other teams."

Tanner wouldn't reveal details of any sign-and-trade offer to the Hawks.

Childress averaged 13.3 points and 3.6 rebounds for Olympiakos.

Childress, from Stanford, was the No. 6 overall pick by Atlanta in the 2004 NBA draft. He started in a career-high 44 games as a rookie and averaged 10.1 points.

He averaged a career-high 13.0 points in the 2006-07 season. He played in 76 games, all in a reserve role, while averaging 11.8 points in the 2007-08 season.

geeman wrote:I almost get the feeling that if we can't sign Marvin, Josh maybe option 2.

It's too late, his deadline was on June 15th, so he's in contract for at least next summer. I think he could buy it out, but it would certainly cost him a lot.

The Hawks extended the QO to Josh. If he really wanted free of the Hawks, he could've signed that.

First of all, D21 is right, the deadline has passed for this summer. Even if it hadn't a still say that Josh Childress is a HORRIBLE fit with the rest of the lineup. Why am I so adamant? While I admit that Josh Childress does a lot of good things and is an intelligent player there are holes in his skill set that are amplified by the rest of the lineup.

#1) Slow release on his jumper. Josh has an ugly, but effective jumper when he can get it off cleanly. The problem is he has a slow, low release that allows defenders to play of him and close effectively. This aspect of his game means that he can't stretch a defense. We could live without that from a SF if we had great range from at 3 other positions. We don't. Josh Smith, Al, and Zaza aren't going to command a defense's respect on the perimeter.

#2) Doesn't create his own shot of the dribble. If you don't stretch the floor, hopefully you can create off the dribble, but not Josh. He can slash without the ball, but you need an offense designed to exploit that which we don't have. A pass first PG also helps, but that's not our situation either.

#3) Lacks post up game. Without the other 2 skills, you might need to take your opponent down low. When Childress played G for us, he had a definite advantage rebounding. Unfortunately, his size advantage didn't manifest itself in an ability to back down a defender to create offensive opportunities for the team. At SF, he wouldn't have a physical advantage and the lack of moves/technique to create the advantage means this is another area he doesn't contribute.

To sum up offensively, the few things that Josh does well don't fit the team's offensive system or personnel. It would be like planning a 1/2 man down anytime he's on the floor.

You can live with offensive deficiencies if the guy is a defensive stopper. Here Josh may have the will, but I never saw the results. I don't have bullet points for this but rather just 1 key item: Insufficient foot speed. During his time with the Hawks Childress was routinely abused by Luol Deng and Andre Igoudala when he was placed on them in the half court. I understand not being able to keep Tony Parker or Chris Paul in front of you, but to have an opposing SF drive the ball passed you from the perimeter repeatedly is not cool. Josh is a decent defender, but not a stopper. I want a stopper to make up for the offensive shortcomings.

Josh could start for a team with a strong post presence and 3 other shooters or in a high penetration system that allows for him to slash to the basket for effectiveness. Without that he's best suited to match up against backups.

mrhonline wrote:The Hawks extended the QO to Josh. If he really wanted free of the Hawks, he could've signed that.

It can show that he really doesn't want to play here, for any reason. Maybe he doesn't like his role, but on the other side, like Evildallas said, he can't have a very different role with this roster and this coaching because of his skills set.

So the best for everybody would be to find a good sign-&-trade.