'J-Smoove' king of rumor mill

[HMFFL]

It should be noted that the Hawks have stated repeatedly that their top priority this summer is to take care of contracts for both Smith and Josh Childress, the franchise’s first two draft picks that will have to be taken care of since the Atlanta Spirit group took over and began their painstaking rehabilitation of the franchise.

Talking about doing that and actually doing it are two very different issues.

The worst part of this whole affair is that the Hawks never had to get to this point. They could have cooked up an extension for Smith last October (it would have taken probably $55 million over five years) and avoided the nervous drama that will ensue between now and the deadline for the Hawks to match (or not) a deal thrown at Smith by another team.

The debate will rage on during that time about whether or not Smith is “worth” the money that will be tossed around. I think that’s a useless debate.

You are worth whatever someone is willing to pay for your services. In the NBA, like every other endeavor, the market decides what you’re worth. And the teams in the NBA determine the market (the Hawks could have determined Smith’s worth on their own last October and now they’ll have to react to the market).

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[Harry10]

The worst part of this whole affair is that the Hawks never had to get to this point. They could have cooked up an extension for Smith last October (it would have taken probably $55 million over five years) and avoided the nervous drama that will ensue between now and the deadline for the Hawks to match (or not) a deal thrown at Smith by another team.

nope, this totally wasn't true. before last year started, Smith was talking about getting a max deal, and he knew he could if he got 20/10/2... but didn't but got really close and had a great playoff

[HoopsGuru25]

Actually he's kind of right. It's unknown whether Smith would have accepted 5/55 but the fact is that the Hawks offered significantly less than what Deng/Iguoda/Martin/Okafor/Jefferson were offered by their teams. Smith's agent said the Hawks basically put their low ball offer on the table in July and didn't brother to negotiate from that point until the season started.

[D21]

Will need to find it, but I think there were some news with Smith agent saying the difference between offer ($45M/5yrs) and what they were hoping to get was not so huge, about $10M to $15M to add, so would mean between $55M and $60M for 5 years.

Now, the other teams can set Smith value and it can go higher, and that's the problem. Matching any offer is not a problem by itself, but it will sure eat some money we could have use for future improvement or extension.

Come on Josh, be smart and help to build a championship contender

[Harry10]

Actually he's kind of right. It's unknown whether Smith would have accepted 5/55 but the fact is that the Hawks offered significantly less than what Deng/Iguoda/Martin/Okafor/Jefferson were offered by their teams. Smith's agent said the Hawks basically put their low ball offer on the table in July and didn't brother to negotiate from that point until the season started.

Iguodala was offered 57M and was rejected

Deng was offered 50M and was rejected

Martin was offered 55M and was accepted

Okafor was offered 60M and was rejected

Jefferson was offered 65M and was accepted


just like alot of the guys above, Smith is looking for more than 55M.

[conleyorbust]

Actually he's kind of right. It's unknown whether Smith would have accepted 5/55 but the fact is that the Hawks offered significantly less than what Deng/Iguoda/Martin/Okafor/Jefferson were offered by their teams. Smith's agent said the Hawks basically put their low ball offer on the table in July and didn't brother to negotiate from that point until the season started.

Iguodala was offered 57M and was rejected

Deng was offered 50M and was rejected

Martin was offered 55M and was accepted

Okafor was offered 60M and was rejected

Jefferson was offered 65M and was accepted


just like alot of the guys above, Smith is looking for more than 55M.

He certainly is now but he was offered an average of $12.4m less than those guys last season and we didn't bother negotiating when he turned it down. Why would he sign for $20m less than Jefferson? To be nice? Or $10m less than Martin. He would have been absolutely stupid to accept $45M/5yrs, you are assuming he would have turned down a much bigger contract than those guys but no way of knowing without trying.

[evildallas]

I agree with conleyorbust, the 5yr/45M offer was low ball and unrealistic to get a long term deal done early. Once Martin signed for 55M, it set expectations and opened a window to get something done at 60M-65M range. It wouldn't have been max dollars, but it would have alleviated the risk of a bad season or injury. Josh experienced that risk and survived, now any discounts are moot.

The MLE is rumored to mean a starting salary close to 6M
5/45 = starting salary of 7.4M with 10% increases
5/55 = starting salary of 9M with 10% increases
5/60 = starting salary of 9.85M with 10% increases
5/65 = starting salary of 10.65M with 10% increases
Max = starting salary of 13M with 10% increases

Marvin's qualifying offer for the season after next is the neighborhood of 7.4M. Maybe that played into it.

[Hood President]

Actually he's kind of right. It's unknown whether Smith would have accepted 5/55 but the fact is that the Hawks offered significantly less than what Deng/Iguoda/Martin/Okafor/Jefferson were offered by their teams. Smith's agent said the Hawks basically put their low ball offer on the table in July and didn't brother to negotiate from that point until the season started.

Iguodala was offered 57M and was rejected

Deng was offered 50M and was rejected

Martin was offered 55M and was accepted

Okafor was offered 60M and was rejected

Jefferson was offered 65M and was accepted


just like alot of the guys above, Smith is looking for more than 55M.

some(if not all) of those guys didnt get rejected, the players rejected the offer for whatever reasons.

[td00]

Throw Ben Gordon in there as well, as he rejected an offer similar to Deng.

Interesting to see how many original teams that will keep their players.
Jefferson and Martin made smart moves IMO and now are closer to their next contracts.

[killbuckner]

td00- Martin and Jefferson aren't closer at all to their next contracts since the new contracts don't come into play until this year. Both of them likely cost themselves money by signing early actually. Really the only way that signing early would have been to their benefit is if they either regressed or got injured. Otherwise hitting FA beneficial.

[Harry10]

Actually he's kind of right. It's unknown whether Smith would have accepted 5/55 but the fact is that the Hawks offered significantly less than what Deng/Iguoda/Martin/Okafor/Jefferson were offered by their teams. Smith's agent said the Hawks basically put their low ball offer on the table in July and didn't brother to negotiate from that point until the season started.

Iguodala was offered 57M and was rejected

Deng was offered 50M and was rejected

Martin was offered 55M and was accepted

Okafor was offered 60M and was rejected

Jefferson was offered 65M and was accepted


just like alot of the guys above, Smith is looking for more than 55M.

some(if not all) of those guys didnt get rejected, the players rejected the offer for whatever reasons.

i don't think people where confused in the first place.