Well, now. And we thought things were going to quiet down here in the NBA stateside with the Olympics. I guess we thought wrong. The Commercial Appeal is reporting that the Memphis Grizzlies have extended a $58 million offer to Atlanta Hawks stat-stuffing forward Josh Smith. The length of the contract is not available at this time, but when we have it, you'll have it. The consensus is that it's a 5 year deal for $11.6 a year, average. Some think it's a bit low.
The Hawks have seven days to match the offer.
This puts quite an interesting cap on the end of an already wild free agency. There's been a lot of speculation about Smith this offseason, from Philadelphia's courting of him before signing Elton Brand, to reports that he's unwilling to return to the Hawks as long as Mike Woodson is head coach, to why no one had even taken a shot at him in restricted free agency. We're about to find out just how committed Josh Smith is to Atlanta, and how committed Atlanta is to Josh Smith.
The conceptual lineup of Mike Conley Jr., O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay, Josh Smith, and either Marc Gasol or Darko Milicic is enough to send fans of athletic squads into epilepsy. It might not be a playoff squad, but it's entertaining as all get out. With Javaris Crittenton, Kyle Lowry, Hakim Warrick, and Darrell Arthur, if Memphis pulls this off, they're going to have done exactly what they needed to with their rebuilding project.
