Has your front office gone insane?

[Airness]

That's the only explanation I can think of for offering a playoff loser, hated by the fans, a 6 year Bird rights max contract that pays the guy 30 million when he's 35.

Not only are you guys messing with other teams' plans, your crippling your own team for the foreseeable future. You will have no financial flexibility. You will have little upcoming talent in the draft. Essentially, you're paying Joe Johnson the bank to ensure that you will get swept out of the 2nd round for the next 6 years.

I mean, please tell me this offer is just an elaborate ruse to put pressure on the Knicks. Please.

[Space Jam]

We know we will be overpaying him but "Not only are you guys messing with other teams' plans"--Why the hell do we care about other teams plans?

[Space Jam]

I sure hope this is a poker move to get some sign-and-trade talk going. Not giving Joe Johnson big money is in the best interest of our team long term

[ATLballer]

Yeah we don't give a hoot what other teams plans are. If we lose Joe we have no replacment for him and will probably barely make the playoffs. He still has a solid 4-5 years of good ball in him and could be a nice trade chip down the road if we need to. This also could spark S/T offers if Joe really wants to leave. We have no choice but to offer him the max at this point hoping he either stays or we can get some decent pieces in return if he doesn't want to stay here. What are you smoking boy?

[SAUCERY_SWEET]

That's the only explanation I can think of for offering a playoff loser, hated by the fans, a 6 year Bird rights max contract that pays the guy 30 million when he's 35.

Not only are you guys messing with other teams' plans, your crippling your own team for the foreseeable future. You will have no financial flexibility. You will have little upcoming talent in the draft. Essentially, you're paying Joe Johnson the bank to ensure that you will get swept out of the 2nd round for the next 6 years.

I mean, please tell me this offer is just an elaborate ruse to put pressure on the Knicks. Please.

Messing with other teams plans?? Who's the one insane here again?? hated by fans?? which ones the ohh so highly regarded Real GM fans that don't know squat about whats really going down, spare me little boy and go outside and play.

[dms269]

Oh no we are messing with other teams who want JJ for the max. Cursed us for wanting to better our team and bring back our 20 ppg scorer.

[Harry10]

i agree, the Hawks shouldn't resign Joe (unless it is for 10M), Crawford is just as good as Joe and is paid appropriately

[evildallas]

My new rule of thumb is that you should only offer a full max contract to someone that the majority of your fans think it is a no brainer to do so.

Lebron - no brainer.
Kobe - no brainer.
Dwayne Wade - no brainer.
Kevin Durant - no brainer.

I don't believe half of the Hawks fans consider offering Joe Johnson the full max a no brainer.

If the contract offer is for real and accepted then I expect by year 3 of 6 for it to join such moves as matching the offer to Joe Konchak, trading Dominique, trading for Isiah Rider, passing on Chris Paul or Deron Williams, and drafting Shelden Williams as some of the worst moves by the Hawks in the last 25 years.

[evildallas]

Another thought is that if you can be reasonably replaced by John Salmons then you aren't worth 20M a year.

[Airness]

It's almost like the Hawks are content to be in NBA purgatory. Not good enough to contend for a title, not bad enough to rebuild through the draft.

I can't believe some of you guys actually think this is a good move.

[SAUCERY_SWEET]

I understand that but some of us actually think John Salmons and guys like that are on the same playing field as Joe Johnson and will be in for a big sh it stick when they realize this is far from accurate. The Bulls board are actually talking like Anthony Morrow can do the same things Joe can throughout the course of a season, i mean for goodness stakes.

[HMFFL]

I understand that but some of us actually think John Salmons is on the same playing field as Joe Johnson and will be in for a big sh it stick when they realize this is far from accurate.

I agree.

John Salmons won't fill his shoes and won't be double teamed like Joe Johnson. On the Mavericks board one poster swears Jason Terry is better, but the last time Jason Terry saw a double team was when he played with us, and even still it's not like he's on the same level as Joe. Joe is underrated by some fans but still not worth $119 million.

[MaceCase]

Well I don't see why Wade is such a slam dunk (no pun) over Joe to be getting a 6 year max. He's the same age, has had major injuries before, plays a higher impact game that is entirely reliant on his athleticism, can't shoot and his size may work against him as he gets older. I would bet that his contract is actually more of an albatross come year 4-5 than Joe's.

[MikeRice]

Well I don't see why Wade is such a slam dunk (no pun) over Joe to be getting a 6 year max. He's the same age, has had major injuries before, plays a higher impact game that is entirely reliant on his athleticism, can't shoot and his size may work against him as he gets older. I would bet that his contract is actually more of an albatross come year 4-5 than Joe's.

Thank God someone said it... Wade is all about his quick first step and getting to the basket with his athleticism. Unless the refs bail him out 'til his mid 30s I don't see this working out well in the long term for Miami.

I still wouldn't give Joe a max deal now but I'd be willing to bet JJ is the better player at 34. It's not like he plays much above the rim as is; Joe's game might actually age fairly well.

[HoopsGuru25]

I probably shouldn't respond but I will.

Wade is so much better than Joe right now that projecting who the better player will be in 6 years is laughable & pointless. Al Horford and Josh Smith may be better than Wade in 6 years-infact both could have been better than Joe this year going by PER. That doesn't mean either of them will ever be worth 120 million.

[evildallas]

I want no part of Salmons, but reports came out he was plan B. I'm just saying that if they think can replace most of Joe's production with Salmons that Joe isn't producing 20M per year worth.

[MaceCase]

I probably shouldn't respond but I will.

Wade is so much better than Joe right now that projecting who the better player will be in 6 years is laughable & pointless. Al Horford and Josh Smith may be better than Wade in 6 years-infact both could have been better than Joe this year going by PER. That doesn't mean either of them will ever be worth 120 million.

How pointless is it mentioning that a guy signing a 6 year 120 million dollar contract might be Steve Francis in just under 3 years? That means at 32 he's not even a serviceable starter yet alone worthy of making 20 million. Yea I agree completely Wade is better than Joe now but with all things being equal, seeing as they are only 6 months apart in age and are looking for the exact same contract, can you say Wade will still maintain his dominance over his peers throughout the length of his contract? Not the end, the length.
I'm not coming up with some nonsense talking about whatever young guy gets drafted in 2014 will be better than Wade, I'm talking about will Wade be 20 million better than every other 33 year old in the league? I can see Joe spotting up in a corner shooting 3s or methodically backing down some young'n effectively to the age of 38. What I don't see is Wade slithering past defenders, dunking on 7 footers and exploding from the arc to block a layup attempt at 32. I look at Kobe at 31, he is not the athletic freak that he was but has always had range and accuracy on his jumper. He developed a mature post game and despite not being the heaviest 2guard out there his prototypical height helps him when shooting over other wings. I don't see Wade having any physical advantage over an average 2guard at 33 and he has not shown the skills, not athleticism but skills to be much of a threat.
I'm not starting a Wade V Joe argument, all I'm asking is why is it questionable to give Joe, Amar'e, Boozer and some even say Bosh the max due to a variety of reasons stemming from injuries, not being #1 options or not having enough charisma yet it's a "no brainer" to offer a 29 year old who's game is reliant on his athleticism one?

[HoopsGuru25]

It's pointless because you're speculating what you think he might be in 6 years. The current version of Wade is one of the 3-4 best guards the NBA has seen in the last 25-30 years. Having a hunch that Wade will have a tremendous decline doesn't mean it makes sense to give Joe 120 million.

Is your argument that Wade shouldn't get a full max or is that you think it wouldn't be a terrible move to max out Joe? I find your argument irrelevant if it's the 1st one.

[MaceCase]

My argument is simply why is it a no brainer to give Wade a 6 year max whereas you can argue against most everyone else based on their age, talent or injury history. I stated my case clearly in regards to Wade specifically. It's not a hunch, I'm simply following the natural assumption that Wade is human and as such will age accordingly and I haven't seen anything out of his game to proclaim him more of a skilled player than a talented athlete in addition to him being undersized at his position with a history of ailments. He will be 33 within year 4 of his contract and I don't see him having half of his athleticism doing half of the things that has made him successful, that's nothing to say of how effective he will be by year 6 at the age of 35. Whatever, you feel he will be dunking on centers and being the fastest player on the court in his 30s and I think otherwise, won't be the first clash of opinions on RealGM.

[boyboy142]

Wade's midrange game slipped a little this season, probably because of not as much time in the gym due to that ridiculous divorce process and the lawsuits he had to deal with. But before that Wade always had a killer midrange game. Plus the guy just has that killer instinct that very few players have, he'll adapt.

If I were the Hawks GM I'd give Joe and offer of max for 4 years or 6 years starting at 12-13 million. Either way it's not the end of the world. The key for Atlanta is developing a dominant team defense. Without that they won't ever win a championship with Joe as their best player. They need a defense first coach and then make small moves bringing in savvy vets and lockdown defensive players.