What are our chances to land Joe Smith?

[FCNATL85]

Now that we have signed Marv, what are our chances to land Smith?
Would we be better off with Petro for the long term?

Bibby- Teague- Craw
JJ - Craw - FA?
Marv- Mo
Smoove - Zaza- Hunter
Al- Petro-Morris

[dms269]

I would say low. If he wanted to come here, I think he would have already signed.

Most would say long term Petro would be better...but I will say Joe would be better.
Joe would bring experience, vet leadership, and great knowledge. He then mentors and teaches (player/coach of a sort) smith and horford. So we get a more experienced and knowledgeable duo.

[HMFFL]

We'll see what happens. The last I read was that Cleveland was pursuing him.

[ACE_reppin_ATL]

Who cares? WE SHOULD GO AFTER POPS MENSAH-BONSU!!!

He'd be the perfect backup to Josh Smith.

[FCNATL85]

Who cares? Mensah-Bonsuh is a RFA...not sure that we could outbid Toronto on this one...
Petro, J. Smith and M. Moore are the only decent big FA left... I will miss Solo considering who is out there.. unless we get Joe. And I tend to agree with uga d24, our chances appear low right now...

[evildallas]

I wouldn't include Mikki Moore in that list based on how much he seemed to have left in the tank last year. I think Joe Smith is the only free agent left (that I can think of) that meets the hard to quantify standards that make Woodson willing to consistently give minutes to.

There are 3 reasons it wouldn't be done already. 1) He could be trying to land a better deal elsewhere. 2) We aren't offering enough money. 3) We aren't offering the length of contract he wants.

It's likely a combination of all 3. I'm unsure what Cleveland can offer. It would depend on whether they still have the BAE. We could clearly offer more, but not sure if we are.

The other option is to think longer term and invest in Leon Powe. He'll miss most of the season, but once he does come back he could be a force off the bench.

[azuresou1]

Pops Mensah Bonsu is to my knowledge an unrestricted FA... and we should definitely nab him.

[raleigh]

Having a cool name and good rebounding rates in an absurdly small sample size doesn't mean he's any good.

[azuresou1]

When I look at Pops, I see a more athletic Leon Powe. I am more than fine with giving that a contract.

[ALL HAIL]

I'd put Marvin Williams at the backup PF spot and give him minutes at his more natural SF spot as well:

PG - Bibby - Teague
SG - Crawford - Evans (spot duty only)
C - Horford - Pachulia
PF - Smith - bigman (spot duty only)
SF - Johnson - Williams (will take minutes from PF, SF, and SG spots)

Marvin Williams would also take Evan's minutes pushing Joe Johnson back to SG at times.

Since we have a bunch of guards we might as well play them and make other teams adjust. Unfortunately, Evans is the odd man out of the rotation as he will probably see alot of garbage duty.

The Hawks still need to sign a big but they need to stick to an eight man rotation with Evans and that other big getting insignificant spot duty.

[InBoobieWeTrust]

Just a tidbit, it's generally believed that Mike Brown is pushing for the Cavs to bring back Joe Smith.

Not sure how serious we are, but word is that he wants a 3 year deal but no one wants to give it to him, but word is also that his preference is staying in Cleveland.

[joeshmoe]

Someone on Hawk's Squawk posted that ESPN News is reporting that Joe Smith is signing with the hawks. I hope it is true. If so, this has been an excellent off-season.