Hawks sign Mo Evans OFFICIAL 3 years, $7.5 million!

[HoopsGuru25]

That's a good deal. This guy was the last unrestricted free agent wing that I thought could possibly replace Chil and we got him. He makes less than similar players like Stvenson,Azubuike,and Pietrus but he is a little older. He's still a much better player than Jeremy Richardson or Mario West(although I like those too).

Please don't waste any money on Lo if that money can go towards Kwame.

[td00]

I like the signing as well. The best part about it was we didn't continue to wait for Smoove to be resolved before something worked for us.
Now, with Evans backing up JJ and Marvin, he does give us some things that Chills did not provide.
He is a better shooter no doubt and I liked that he was stating to take more minutes from Bogans at the SG position.
He may even help JJ start averaging around 35/mpg. If Evans get 20 min/game, that makes this a good transaction.
Does this send a message that we will renounce Chills' status before the start of the season?

[FCNATL85]

If Kwame is too greedy, get Theo or Elson...and Hunter.
Quick question, could the Hawks trade Chil's rights for a future pick.
If so, find a team which he wants to play for and hat really really wants him and trade him for a pick.

[conleyorbust]

If Kwame is too greedy, get Theo or Elson...and Hunter.
Quick question, could the Hawks trade Chil's rights for a future pick.
If so, find a team which he wants to play for and hat really really wants him and trade him for a pick.

The way I understand it is, no, we can't do that. He will come back as an RFA so to trade him we have to sign him to a contract.

[killbuckner]

there is no need to renounce childress until the Hawks want to use actual caproom (as opposed to the MLE or BAE). His caphold doesn't count towards the luxury tax.

[FCNATL85]

Too bad. We are basically forced to either renounce his rights or try our luck next year on the S&T market?
Well, we will survive if we resign Smith and get another vet.

[D21]

The best part about it was we didn't continue to wait for Smoove to be resolved before something worked for us...

It seems they finally decide to start their brain, and doing some maths.
Max for a 4 years player being at 13.758M for 2008/09, Smith can't get more than that for his first year.
Added to the 52M contracts we have, it makes at worst almost 66M$ for 9 players.
So 5M before the luxury tax threshold. If you need 13 players, this means Evans + 3 more players. If these players are signed at the minimum at about 800k, we have 5 - ( 3 x 800) = 2.6M$ to use (part of the MLE) on Evans.

So if I a not wrong, there was no risk at all to sign Evans at this contract.
Now, to use the rest of the MLE (5.585 - 2.6 = almost 3M$) to get another better player than a minimum one (800k), we would need 3 - 0.8 = 2.2M more, so Smith would have to sign for less than 11.558M (13.758 - 2.2) in his first year.

So this time, I would bet that there won't be more signed players (except minimum ones) for ATL until Smith contract is signed and gives exact numbers. Unless they start to take some risks.

[killbuckner]

The ironic thing is that at this point the Hawks could help themselves in the smith negotiations by signing free agents and reducing their space under the luxury tax. At some point they could go to him and say- OK.. you know we aren't paying the tax for a team that was under .500 last season, this is the max contract we can give you with a starting salary that doesn't put us into the tax.

Of course the real problem is that the Hawks are tryign to pay him FAR less than he thinks he is worth. I still say the Hawks would be better off doing a S&T this offseason rather than having him take the QO though.

[evildallas]

Good logic, D21. Using the math and market there is only moderate risk in spending the rest of the MLE.

Mike Bibby 15,818,917
Joe Johnson 14,232,566
Speedy Claxton 5,757,818
Marvin Williams 5,636,142
Maurice Evans 2,500,000
Al Horford 4,026,720
Zaza Pachulia 4,000,000
Acie Law 2,071,680
Solomon Jones 797,581
Total 9 players 54,841,424

Qualifying offer deals (can be withdrawn if not already signed)
Jeremy Richardson 972,581
Mario West 711,517
Total 11 players 56,525,522

Add in a rookie deal:
Othello Hunter 442,114
Total 12 players 56,967,636

Remainder of MLE 3,085,000
Total 13 players 60,052,636

Leaving Josh Smith and these figures:
Space left below luxury tax 11,097,364
Non-guaranteed or unsigned deals 2,923,793 (Solomon, Jeremy, Mario, Othello)

If the Hawks used the rest of the MLE the Grizzlies can swoop in and make things uncomfortable by swooping in with a max offer, but that is truly unlikely because the Hawks could still match and renounce some guys who haven't inked yet or aren't guaranteed. The Hawks would also be able to trade off some salary at the trade deadline to edge below the tax threshold. No one has the cap space to be a thorn. Some starting salary numbers for possible contracts.
5yr/65M (max he can earn with QO involved) same as 10.71M starting for 5yrs with 10% raises.
6yr/72M (rumored salary sought by Smith's camp) same as 9.34M starting for 6yrs with 10% raises.
6yr/67M (size of Ellis deal) same as 8.69M starting for 6yrs with 10% raises.
5yr/60M (rumored salary sought by Smith's camp shorter deal) same as 9.83M starting for 5yrs with 10% raises.
6yr/60M (rumored salary that team was willing to do prior to Childress & Ellis deals) same as 7.78M starting for 6yrs with 10% raises.
6yr/60M (same as above different structure) same as 10M starting without raises.

All these contracts variations fit under the luxury tax with spending the rest of the MLE and filling out the roster with players with existing relationships. You are right that they could play it safe and wait, but with reasonable certainty they can ink that backup C using either the LLE or remainder of the MLE with a reasonable strategy to finish out the rest of the roster. The risk is very low albeit present.

[D21]

There's a thing to note: as I said in the previous post, even if we use the remaining part of the MLE (almost 3M) then sign 2 other guys at minimum contract, there is still 11.5M for the first year of Smith.

So, as you were talking about Ellis contract, if ASG wants to get the best while signing Smith, maybe they have better to sign him exactly like Ellis contract was reported, a flat one with 11M every year.

This kind of contract can give Smith more money now (11M instead of 8.69M like Evildallas said), which is a huge increase.
And depending on what they want to do in the future, ASG avoids the effect of many contracts increasing. There's is also no problem for the 2009/10 season (Smith would be paid 11M instead of 8.69M + 10.5% = 9.6M ) since Bibby, if he stays, would certainly take a pay cut (I am sure he knows he's not worth 15M and could re-sign for far less).
With luck, we could find ourselves next summer with enough space under the tax threshold to use the full MLE on someone.

[evildallas]

Yep, figured there was a deal configuration I missed.

The flat contract vs. the raises is an interesting trade off. If they go with the flat contract it could really help things in the future. However doing so hurts the ability to make a mid-season move this year or sign a fill-in if Speedy gets injured. That couple of million in extra space allows the team to take on a slightly higher contract in a deadline deal. As far as Speedy going down there should be no reason for Woodson to play him outrageous minutes like he did 2 years ago when Lue got hurt. Even if Bibby or Acie gets banged up, he should still keep a cap on Speedy's minutes because of past history (I mean he can't be stupid enough to repeat the same mistake can he).

[raleigh]

Great discussion, guys.

I agree that a flat $11M/year deal makes sense for the Hawks going forward, but only IF he's in the long-term plans.