Hawks Johnson won't sign extension

[Jamaaliver]

Hawks captain and All-Star Joe Johnson said he will not sign a contract extension with the Hawks and will play out the final year of his contract this season.

Johnson will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.

The Hawks extended a four-year, $60-plus million contract offer to Johnson this summer. But Johnson said he decided not to sign the extension after mulling it over during the offseason.

http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-hawks/hawks-johnson-wont-sign-149644.html

Can't say I blame him. I honestly think this might be in JJ's best interest as well as the team's. Might as well see how good we'll be as a team b4 committing and getting buyer's remorse.

I wonder if Woody's contract situation plays into this at all.

[MaceCase]

I have to admit you brought up a great point with Woody's contract situation. Evidence shows that Joe is a Woody loyalist so I'm sure he would show some solidarity with him or at least wait out to see who steps in as a replacement.
Other than that you are right, it does work out well for both sides. We get to evaluate what we have in Crawful, Teague and the other kids and Joe leaves his options open to see how the 2010 free agent market shapes up for him.

[td00]

That is still a lot of $$ to pass up. JJ must be confident that he will:

1) Get a better offer with more years
2) Perform better than last year's playoffs.

I am sure Sund will up the ante once he sees that JJ gets off to a good start. He wouldn't want to watch him walk for nothing in return at this stage.

[Hawks]

He is sure the Knicks will come blasting his door down to offer him a max. In that case let JJ leave and watch him crumble under the NY pressure. The guy can't even handle the pressure of playoff basketball here in Atlanta.

I don't know what other options we would have. Try to give Wade a look. Other then that not too many options out there to replace JJ. He isn't worth the max. If that what he gets offer then let him walk.

[azuresou1]

Joe isn't even worth 4/60, much less a max.

Let's shoot the max at Wade and LeBron, just for the hell of it. Who knows, maybe LeBron decides to surprise everyone, and then we have the most hyperathletic team in the league and Bibby just chucks the ball up from half court for alley oops.

[raleigh]

The Hawks can offer the max to only one player - Joe Johnson.

Summer 2010 is JJ or bust.

[azuresou1]

What if we trade him before the trade deadline?

[HMFFL]

Very wise move by JJ and his agent. They understand how appealing he's going to be to some of the teams that can afford him and they're going to take advantage of it. Time for our front office to do what they feel is best.

[raleigh]

What if we trade him before the trade deadline?

For what? He's already an expiring contract.

[azuresou1]

Not for an expiring, but for either packages of players with longer contracts, or for... Amare, I guess.

[dms269]

Like was said before, we can only offer JJ the max this offseason. We will be over the cap (I believe, if not then we will be near it), so the only person we can go over with is JJ and his bird rights.

If he leaves, we are back to a lotto team, and not even a bad lotto team hoping for a high pick, but a 12th pick type of team with bibby/crawford/marvin/smith/horford.

[raleigh]

Not for an expiring, but for either packages of players with longer contracts, or for... Amare, I guess.

You'd be selling low. The best bet would be waiting until next summer to offer Joe 5 years, $75M.

[Lakeshow2417]

Thats a good deal to pass up.

Im not sure which teams will want him for that FA since wade and lebron are premium names that com eup aswell as bosh.

Maybe if he accpets less money we can see what Utah or CHI or other teams that "lose" the free agency

[evildallas]

^^^^ As Lebron and Wade resign, Bosh and Joe will bubble to the top of the free agency list.

[thruthefire]

Wow, when I read the headline, I was shocked. I have no idea want makes JJ think he's close to being an elite player, but he has a ways to go before he gets there. 4 years/$60 million is definitely a more than fair offer.

[killbuckner]

If you don't think that Joe is worth 4/60 then you should be wanting to trade him right now. His trade value will be more right now than it would be at any other time. When he is a UFA and so many teams have cleared caproom then its not at all a sure thing that the Hawks could work a S&T for anything they want.

And the fact that Joe is not willing to sign that extension now has to send up huge red flags about whehter he would walk as an UFA. I personally think it would be a disaster to have him leave without compensation- there is no way that the Hawks are getting a Wade or Lebron.

BTW- the Crawford trade makes a ton more sense to me if the Hawks are not sure whether Joe will be coming back.

[Harry10]

THAT SON OF A B!T%#$ ! just kidding

i am disappointed, but it would be awesome if the Hawks made a max offer to Wade and see what happens.

time for Ludacris, Usher, Andre3000, Cierra, TIP, Tyler Perry, Young Jeezey, and Julia Roberts to do their job and get Lebron to ATL.

I think that ATL has an above average shot at getting Bosh or Amare, but can Marvin be an average SG?

Horford... Amare
Josh........ Horford
Bosh....... Josh
Marvin..... Marvin
Bibby...... Bibby

here are some other guys that i wouldn't mind over paying to keep the Hawks competitive:
Tracy McGrady
Manu Ginobili
Roger Mason
Kelenna Azubuike

one creative and bold option that Hawks could take would be to offer max to LaMarcus Aldridge and see if Port matches.

[azuresou1]

We can't offer a max, and even if we could, I would kill myself if we offered a max to LMA.

[Harry10]

don't worry, if Lebron ever agreed to come to ATL, i have no problem in trading away Marvin and/or Crawford.

i agree that giving Aldridge max is thinking out of the box and a gamble, but i think (solely on speculation) if Aldridge was the #1 option on a team, he could become a 25ppg player, and possibly turn into the next Bosh or Jermaine O'Neal.

[HMFFL]

time for Ludacris, Usher, Andre3000, Cierra, TIP, Tyler Perry, Young Jeezey, and Julia Roberts to do their job and get Lebron to ATL.

I think Usher still owns a very small percentage of Cleveland.

I think that ATL has an above average shot at getting Bosh or Amare, but can Marvin be an average SG?

Horford... Amare
Josh........ Horford
Bosh....... Josh
Marvin..... Marvin
Bibby...... Bibby

Marvin at the 2 won't be successful. Obviously just my opinion, but I believe it would be very frustrating to watch, and Jamal Crawford would be the starting 2 guard.

here are some other guys that i wouldn't mind over paying to keep the Hawks competitive:
Tracy McGrady
Manu Ginobili
Roger Mason
Kelenna Azubuike

Tracy and Manu need to stay healthy for me to even consider them. I'd lean towards Manu, but it would be for a role off the bench, and I doubt he would have any desire to leave the Spurs. Roger Mason is a very solid role player, but I think he would crack under pressure, if he had to play for us, and if he had a strong role.