Content not just to punch Atlanta's fans in the groin area by letting Josh Childress get away, Hawks boss Rick Sund delivered what has to be one of the worst explanations in recent memory. (Kevin McHale's postscript on the Dwane Casey firing can't be beat, though.) From Hoopsworld:

"We were informed this morning by Josh Childress' representatives that he has signed with Olympiakos in Greece, and we want to wish him the absolute best with his future career in FIBA." [...]

The fact is Atlanta's offer was the best Childress could get - in the NBA. Atlanta chose not to compete with the offer from Olympiacos Piraeus. "I can only compete in the league I play in," justified Sund.

First: FIBA is the governing body of international basketball competition, not the European league or clubs. Childress and Olympiakos have nothing to do with FIBA. Team USA and Herr Kaman and Grover impersonators ... that's FIBA.

The "I can only compete in the league I play in" line is pure horse manure. Atlanta was in a better position than any other team in the world -- NBA or Euroleague -- to retain Childress's services. Basically, as long as you don't insult him, you'll keep him. The situation never gets this far if the Hawks had been willing to pay Childress real market value. (There are reports circulating that Childress received offers better than what Atlanta offered from contenders seeking sign-and-trade deals. Those offers become the market value. Atlanta dismissed them and did not increase their offer to that level. There's the insult.)

The only thing worse than Sund's lazy, laughable argument is watching the Hoopsworld writer (Jason Fleming) carry water for the Hawks. "Kudos to the Hawks for not bowing to pressure," he writes. Is that a joke?

That Atlanta retains the domestic rights to new Euroleague star Josh Childress has been discussed. Basically, if Chills comes back to the States next summer, he is still a restricted free agent of the Hawks. If he signs an offer sheet with another NBA team, Atlanta can match. The situation remains the same for two seasons.

This is a boon to Atlanta, right? Maybe not. Carrying the rights to a restricted free agent comes with a burden: the associated cap hold. The cap hold is a mechanism of the NBA's collective bargaining agreement which prevents a team from subverting the salary cap by signing outside free agents before re-signing their own. It's pretty complicated, and Larry Coon explains it with more clarity than you'll ever find under my byline. If you need the details, read them there.

Here's what matters for Atlanta: Childress carries a cap hold of $14.5 million. Assuming the Hawks can manage to retain Josh Smith for about $10 million a year, Atlanta figures to be about $20 million under the salary cap next summer. (Mike Bibby and Zaza Pachulia are coming off the books.) That can buy a mighty fine free agent. But unless Atlanta renounces its rights to Childress -- meaning Chills would no longer be a restricted free agent, he could sign with any NBA team and the Hawks wouldn't have matching rights -- $14.5 million of that cap space will be locked up in that cap hold. That means Atlanta would have only roughly $5.5 million of space, and that's less than the mid-level exception. The Hawks would then have no cap space, and would be in the same boat as 85% of the NBA.

If the Hawks had overpaid Childress with, say, an $8 million annual contract, they would be able to go get a $12 million player in free agency next year ... and they'd have Childress's production! Instead, nothing and nothing. Good work, Sund.

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 reason Billy 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.

Was new Hawks boss Rick Sund impressed with Mike Woodson? If you look only at the fact Sund offered a two-year extension (which Woodson has said he'll accept), then sure. He likes him.

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.

Previously on FanHouse:
Could Detroit Poach ... ATL's Mike Woodson?
Billy Knight Tried to Fire Mike Woodson Three Times Recently

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.

... and just like that, the AJ-C's Sekou Smith reports Atlanta finds its replacement for Billy Knight, one Rick Sund. (Via BallHype.) Local authorities suspected the Hawks would hire Cleveland assistant GM Chris Grant, but Grant decided to stay put. Sund spent a year off the grid after Clay Bennett's Seattle bloodletting last year.

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.

Previously on FanHouse:
No One Wants to Fill Billy Knight's Shoes

The Bucks are wasting no time in finding a new general manager, unless you consider the last two weeks "wasted time" as Milwaukee's owner Sen. Herb Kohl waited on Donnie Walsh's rejection and Doug Collins's eventual thanks-but-no-thanks. Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times says Phoenix senior VP David Griffin -- the guy Memphis tried to hire last summer -- was in Milwaukee Monday to chat with the Bucks. Woelfel also reports Milwaukee has talked to former Seattle GM Rick Sund.

Tom Enlund of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel says Detroit has rejected the Bucks' request to interview Joe Dumars's top assistant, well-respected John Hammond.

Meanwhile, ESPN columnist Bill Simmons still awaits a reply to his unrequited desire to take the job. OnMilwaukee.com columnist Jeff Sherman begs the franchise to at least interview The Sports Guy (via the improbable BS4GM). Me? I'd endorse Frank of Brew Hoop, who seriously knows his stuff.

A few New York tabs are reporting this morning that TV analyst Doug Collins has rejected Milwaukee's efforts to hire him as their new general manager. Via Hoopshype, both Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News and Peter Vescey of the New York Post cite sources close to Collins saying he'd prefer staying in TV (or waiting for a better opportunity) than take the Bucks job.

Vescey says Milwaukee offered Collins $5 million a year to take on both the GM and coach roles, or $4 million a year to do either. The columnist cites Rick Sund (who drafted Robert Swift, Johan Petro, and Saer Sene in successive seasons) as a top possibility; a few promising assistant GMs also make Vescey's list.

One name which has been bandied about a bit is Phoenix assistant GM David Griffin. You might remember that Memphis tried to hire him as a package deal along with coach Marc Iavaroni last season; Phoenix convinced him to stay, and promptly hired Steve Kerr to (basically) take over control of the personnel department. You wonder if he might be more receptive to outside offers this time around.