Darren Collison is available?

[DeShaunRed]

Rival executives will continue to try to convince the Hornets to make Chris Paul available in trades, pointing to the fact that Williams can simply slide the promising Darren Collison and his modest $1.4 million salary into that spot. When those teams get shot down, look for the Hornets -- based on the hints we've received from more than one exec -- to make Collison available as long as the interested party is willing to take back the cap-clogging contract of Emeka Okafor, James Posey or Peja Stojakovic with Paul's backup.

Man oh man. I'd like to see the Hawks make their move to acquire Collison and take Emeka as well to fill both PG and C spots that ATL has been missing for years.

http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/page/dime-freeagency-100612/coaching-carousel

[evildallas]

Personally, I don't see Okafor as an improvement on Hortford at C. I see them as very similar and wouldn't expect him to fair better banging against Dwight Howard. Of the players named Okafor has by far the worst contract at 4 yrs/$53M. That's an awfully big commitment unless ownership has the deep pockets to absorb it while spending elsewhere. I've also noticed that his production has dropped off even though he's been healthier the last 3 years than earlier in his career. Peja is already an expiring contract so I assume that bit is only to a team with cap room for immediate relief. Posey's 2 year/$13.4M deal is a lot to pay for some horrible shooting (36.5%). Our only expiring deal to work with is Jamal Crawford, and I don't think the financial savings would be great enough for them to do a Posey/Collison for Crawford.

I was really keen on the idea of Collison during the season until I consider that he was operating in a system tailored for the PG. It gives him the greatest opportunity to shine and thrive. Would he be as good here in our Joe first system? What would Jeff Teague do with the an opportunity and a similar PG first system? I had have trouble overpaying or taking on too paid of a contract without seeing Teague actually get to play in a real offense first. Collison is proven, but Teague is unproven, not proven as a failure yet. Of course if Okafor was a couple inches taller, I would at least ask what it would take to get both because then he would be more of a true C.

[Harry10]

Collison and Posey for a 2nd round pick?

C: Horford
PF: Smith
SF: Marvin
SG: Posey
PG: Collison
6th: Crawford

Posey could maybe give you 20 min with above average defense and 3pt shooting. Crawford would still come off the bench but give you 35 min.

coming out of college, i liked Collison just as much as Rondo, both guys remind me of Mookie. hopefully Collison can develop and give you something similar to Rondo, defense, quickness ,energy and high HQ

not that much better than Joe/Bibby, but would could still get you 40 wins and maybe top 4 in the east.

[HoopsGuru25]

Harry...you wanted Patrick Mills at 19.

[HoopsGuru25]

I also admit that I wasn't high on Collison at all, but it appears that UCLA's system held back Holiday,Westbrook,and Collison from an invidual perspective.

[Harry10]

Harry...you wanted Patrick Mills at 19.

and i still do.... and you wanted Eric Maynor. what does that have to do with liking Collison in the draft?

[HoopsGuru25]

Maynor wasn't my 1st choice.

I just think it's weird that you liked Collison as much as Rondo but compared the Hawks passing on Mills to passing on Chris Paul and Brandon Roy.

Rondo and Collison are also pretty different players. Rondo relies much more on his atletisicm/wingspan while Collison(6'3 wingspan 33 inch vertical)is a great shooter.

[HoopsGuru25]

The Hawks look like bad trading partners with NO. Could the Hawks get a top 10 pick for anyone on the roster besides Smith or Horford? I think a team like Indiana or Sacramento(depending on if they view Evans as a longterm pg)would strongly consider offering their pick for Collison if he's available.

[Harry10]

^^ those are dumb assumptions. you are talking about different draft classes, and different players available.

at the time i had 1.LMA, 2.Roy, 3.Rondo, and 4.Marcus Williams on my draft board for the Hawks. Rondo and Marcus Williams would have been a stretch at #5, but the Hawks major need at the time was at the PG spot and that draft was extremely weak in depth for PGs.

Mills, Maynor, Flynn, Teague all just had one year, who knows who will develop into what. Utah for what ever reason decided not to keep Maynor on a cheap rookie contract and traded him away for nothing, but had one or two okay games, and Mills has shown flashes of brilliance but is stuck in the Portland system, just how like Bayless was a few years ago.

btw, you are dead wrong about Collison, both guys are known first and for most for their defense and quickness, if you don't think that Collison is athletic and fast, something is really wrong with you.

[Harry10]

The Hawks look like bad trading partners with NO. Could the Hawks get a top 10 pick for anyone on the roster besides Smith or Horford? I think a team like Indiana or Sacramento(depending on if they view Evans as a longterm pg)would strongly consider offering their pick for Collison if he's available.

depends if Indy or Sac (small market teams who are known for staying within budget) are willing to take on a bad contract, like what the article is suggesting.

[HoopsGuru25]

Not to get off topic...but I didn't say Collison wasn't athletic and fast. The fact is that he has short arms in comparison to someone like Rondo. You're also comparing someone who shot 85 percent from the free throw line and 40 percent from 3(in college and as a rookie)to a guy who would struggle to beat Josh Smith in a shooting contest.

[HoopsGuru25]

Sac is a small market but the Hawks are one of the few teams in the league that have yet to go into the luxury tax. The Hawks operate like a small market team when you consider that they never use the MLE & they just hired a coach for 1.2 million a year. They didn't even field a summer league team last year.

Edit:Just checked the Hornets salary and a potential trade makes even less sense. The Hornets would gain nothing by trading Posey+Collison for an expiring because they have 20 million coming off the books in the summer of 2011.

[Harry10]

^ if Joe walks, the Hawks could pull off the trade and still be under luxury, so i don't know why it would make them bad trading partners.

[HoopsGuru25]

The Hawks are bad trading partners because they don't have caproom(assuming they don't renounce Chill) or a lottery pick to offer NO while there are other teams who could potentially offer both. Trading Collison just to get rid of Posey for an expiring doesn't really do much considering they have Peja,Peterson,and Songaila coming off the cap that year.

[D21]

The only one trade I see NOH would want to do is something built on Collison-Okafor for Crawford-Zaza.
They get nearly 10M expiring in Crawford, but can use him, and even if Zaza has 3 years left, they would need a big to replace Okafor. Unless they see Zaza as really overpaid.