Ziller has already covered the fact that Josh Smith's visit to Philadelphia was very impressive. They rolled out the red carpet, they wooed him with limos and they introduced him to the Mayor. Fortunately for us, the media is quite nosy when it comes to things like this, so Comcast got a camera all up in J-Smoove's face to find out what he thought about the Iladelph.
If I were in charge of the Hawks, or were the lone remaining fan that held onto the 07-08 playoffs bandwagon, I would be freaking out right now. Smith did, after all, seem pretty impressed with Philly's spread. And it's not like Atlanta is known for making really great front office decisions.
With the Pacific Coast continues to deal with its arms race, Philadelphia has loudly addressed its desire for a top-drawer power forward of the future. As expected, the 76ers charged vigorously into a wooing of Atlanta's Josh Smith, a restricted free agent. The early indications look pretty good, according to Sekou Smith of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"We had a great meeting and a great time visiting with everyone here [Wednesday], and we'll continue to talk tomorrow," Brian Dyke, one of Smith's agents, said late Wednesday night. "What I can tell you is that we're very impressed with 76ers organization and the city of the Philadelphia."
The AJ-C's Smith also reveals the offer Atlanta made last summer: $45 million over five years. That's a painfully small offer when you consider it will likely take at least $67 million to keep him this year. The Hawks could probably have locked him up for $50 or $55 million. Billy Knight, still haunting the Hawks in exile!
Meanwhile, on the Sixer side, Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Phil Anastastia gets a few NBA scouts to agree Smith would be a good match for the team. Yep. He sure would be.
Crystal Ballin'takes a team-by-team look at what should, could, and probably will happen in the June 26th NBA Draft.
You want to know the real reasonBilly Knight quit his job as Atlanta's GM earlier this summer? Because the Hawks have no draft picks! Billy Knight without draft picks is like an orca without kelp or Eddy Curry with birthday cake. He'd be on suicide watch if he didn't quit.
Picks: ... None! This is the saddest day of my life. Needs: The team most certainly needs at least another decent big body -- beyond Josh Smith and Al Horford, there's nothing. Unless the team a) wants to extend a 31-year-old Mike Bibby next summer, or b) still thinks Acie Law is an awesome prospect, another point guard would be desirable.
Best case scenario: Rival GM: "Why yes, I do think Mario West is worth my lottery pick!"
When Rick Sund took over the Hawks, he told the press he'd do whatever it takes to keep his two restricted free agents, Josh Smith and Josh Childress. If he had only referred to Smith, you could take him seriously. When he indicates he'll give whatever is necessary to keep a guy the Hawks think is not as good as Marvin Williams, a guy who started only one game last season despite being one of the most improved players in the league and far superior to the guy in front of him ... yeah, I'm not believing Sund on that. So why should we believe him about Josh?
ESPN's Chris Broussard is spitting lava this weekend. Following his Carmelo Anthony story, he offers up word Atlanta will go no higher than $11 million a year to keep Josh in town. That's a $55 million contract (same as Kevin Martin, less than Al Jefferson) -- the max is $80 million. Broussard says Philadelphia could and would offer Smith a contract starting at $11 million, which would tease out to a $60 million deal.
The Hawks aren't insane enough to let the Sixers poach Josh for that spread, so the smart move for Atlanta -- if a deal with Josh's camp for these type of dollars can't be reached early in July -- would be to watch Smith sign the offer from Philly and simply match it. The Sixers could only go higher if the begin renouncing rights on their own restricted FAs (Andre Iguodala, Louis Williams), but giving up 'Dala would be silly and Darko'ing Lou wouldn't be of much financial help. (Of course, Atlanta could have locked Smith up for less last summer.)
Also, it would be awesome if Memphis decided to get mixed up in this, just to really confuse things.
But Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Mark Bradley sees the offering instead as a move of caution -- not endorsement -- from Sund.
Offering an incumbent two more contractual years isn't so much an endorsement as a deferral. (Three years would have been a validation; one year would have been tantamount to repudiation.) The length of the extension suggests Rick Sund isn't sold on Woodson but isn't entrenched enough to defy the owners who rebuffed his predecessor's attempts to depose this coach.
What Bradley writes makes sense, but it's not realistic in today's NBA. Coaches have never had a shorter leash. Byron Scott -- Coach of the Year, took the defending champs to seven games, lottery-to-#2 seed in one year -- got a two-year extension this summer. Avery Johnson and Flip Saunders both got fired despite having recent 60-win seasons. No one is safe.
So to expect Sund to offer up three years or more guaranteed in this climate for a guy who led his talented squad to all of 37 wins? That's madness. Two years is about the strongest endorsement a coach not named Popovich, Sloan or Jackson is bound to get these days.
Atlanta coach Mike Woodson just had his week turn around. There's the distinct possibility new boss Rick Sund has designs on firing him at some point in the near future. That might not be so bad, according to a left-field rumor from trusted Atlanta Journal-Constitution beatman Sekou Smith.
According to my spy the Detroit Pistons have asked for permission to speak with Hawks coach Mike Woodson ... about their vacant coaching position. Solid reports out of Detroit have Pistons assistant Michael Curry lined up for the job. But the Pistons have apparently covered their bases if that doesn't work out by contacting the representative of Woodson, who was the lead assistant on Larry Brown's staff when the Pistons won the NBA title in 2004.
Even if Woodson doesn't get the call from Joe Dumars, this rumor finding legs would infinitely boost Woody's rep around the league. If Dumars wants something, your team should want it. Worst case scenario: Woodson gets fired, Curry gets the Pistons job (as Stephen A. Smith has insisted will occur). In that case, knowing he was a finalist for one of the best jobs in the league, doesn't Woody feel pretty good about his job prospects next summer?
Smith also offers that Brown has filled his Charlotte staff, save one position: lead assistant. Woodson isn't going to be out of work long, if at all.
There's nothing worse than getting a new boss -- heads have the potential to roll, you might not mesh with his/her philosophy; you know the drill. So you go out and create some self-promotional PR ahead of time. It's what any good natured American employee would do. And it's exactly what Mike Woodson, coach of the Atlanta Hawks, did yesterday.
He and Sund had a late dinner scheduled Thursday, the first real chance for a face-to-face sit down where they could try to forge some sort of working relationship.
'He's going to have to take a moment to sit back and talk with individuals and get a feel for who is who and start making some decisions,' Woodson said between repeated congratulations and well-wishes from various NBA personnel at Disney's Wild World of Sports complex.
'That's how it works, man. It's the first time I've been in a position like this as a head coach. But I'll sit down with him again next week. And we'll just start building a relationship.'
I totally respect Woodson taking the bull by the horns and flipping the relationship status around so suddenly it's like he's not the new guy or something. Or maybe that is not exactly what happened, but he managed to confuse me quickly enough, so I venture to think he is doing a good job with management.
Whether he should actually come back or not is relatively debatable. Sure, he made the playoffs, but if the expectations around Atlanta were not already so lowered, people would have been pretty upset with an eight seed given how much talent they had on that roster. I think he'll be back on the strength of his playoff run, but I don't know that he deserves it.
We'll remember Sund for his drafts of Robert Swift, Johan Petro, and Saer Sene in successive years. But in total, his stay with the Sonics was fairly productive. He landed Ray Allen for an angry, aging Gary Payton, signing some smart deals (Rashard Lewis, Chris Wilcox) and hired Nate McMillan. Every GM has its thorns, and Sund is no exception (Earl Watson? the aforementioned Gang of Three?). But his roses smell pretty nice, in retrospect.
Besides, even if you think Sund's the worst hire in the world, it's not like the Atlanta pot was brimming with exceptional candidates. They shot for the stars (reportedly asking Sacramento's Geoff Petrie to stop in for a chat, which was quickly refused), and ended up with someone as effective as Knight or better.
The Hawks are officially back to square one in their search for a general manager to replace the outgoing Billy Knight. ESPN's Marc Stein reports that the team had offered the position to current Cavs front-office exec Chris Grant late last week, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Sekou Smith even went so far as to say "The only thing missing is the official announcement," but after thinking things over this weekend, Grant has apparently passed on the deal.
Maybe this wouldn't be so embarrassing for the Hawks if Grant weren't the only candidate to pull his hat out of the ring: Stein reports Spurs assistant GM Dennis Lindsey pulled his hat out of the ring before talks heated up with Grant.
Ordinarily a team would probably prefer to get their front office affairs settled before the NBA draft, but in that respect the Hawks are somewhat "blessed" -- they don't have a single pick, giving up their first-rounder to the Suns as part of the 2005 deal for Joe Johnson and their second-rounder to the Kings as part of this year's Mike Bibby trade.
That said, there is a lot of unfinished business this team needs to attend, namely contract extensions for restricted free agents Josh Smith and Josh Childress, addressing coach Mike Woodson's job security and dealing with the redundancy in the front court. I don't know if the Hawks' ownership group is doing something to scare off would-be candidates, but this should be a semi-attractive job considered the Hawks' young core.
Actually, it was Al Horford, who finished with 29 first-place votes. Durant finished with 28. It's too bad the ballots aren't open -- I'd love to see which NBA coach actually thought Durant was no better than the sixth-best rookie this year. (Remember, coaches can't vote for their own players but aren't limited by position.) Luis Scola (26 first place votes), Al Thornton (20) and Jeff Green (15) rounded out the first team.
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