AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2008 > January > 09
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Spinnin’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Hey, Big Mouth, you’re off the hook.
I’m done blasting the know-it-alls around here. And you should be, too.
Because they are only doing what apparently comes natural to the rest of the free world.
They’re yapping about things they know nothing about, spinnin’ a story the way they want it to go without the benefit of any legitimate facts to back up what they’re saying.
And it’s not just the NBA trade rumor mill, which is chugging along at record speeds as the Feb. 21 deadline approaches.
It’s everything.
It’s everyone.
And it’s everywhere.
I’ve been watching and reading everything I can from the political campaigns to the BCS mess to the NBA playoff chase to the Roger Clemens saga to the ongoing foolishness that is our own daily soap opera, As The Hawks Turn!
And never have I seen so many, so uninformed, so ready to run off at the mouth without any intimate knowledge of what they speak.
Since I don’t want to start any political arguments and Mr. College Football has already tackled the ongoing BCS mess - playoffs? Who’s talking about the playoffs? - I’ll dive into one particular item from the NBA trade rumor mill (the playoff chase will take care of itself) that caught my attention:
“And the award for the zaniest trade idea floated this year is …” Listen, anyone suggesting a trade package that includes swapping Josh Smith for Pau Gasol is clearly not well versed in the science of boneheadedness.
One guy is heading to the prime of his career, which has no ceiling, with a salary figure yet to be determined. The other guy is heading down the other side of that mountain, banging his head on his ceiling the entire way down, with a salary figure ($13.7 mil for you monopoly players out there) that rises in the three seasons following this one.
It’s just a bad idea, however you break it down. Keep these facts in mind, Josh Smith is a RESTRICTED free agent, meaning the worst case scenario is that you don’t agree to terms on a new contract this summer and he plays out his rookie deal on a qualifying offer and then becomes an unrestricted free agent the following summer.
Best case, you agree to sign him to a fat deal and he continues ascent up the ladder of the league’s most dynamic talents (he’s 22 freakin’ years old people). There are several other options, too.
Since he’s going to be one of the hottest names on the free agent radar this summer, if you simply cannot agree that his future is here in Atlanta, what better player could the Hawks have in sign-and-trade discussions?
I can’t imagine too many teams would pass up an opportunity to get their hands on a player with his talent. Whatever happens, you don’t give him up for Pau Gasol.
My man John Hollinger from ESPN.com penned a rather compelling argument for Smith’s inclusion on the Eastern Conference All-Star team; a case that I think has quite a bit of merit if you’re looking at Smith’s body of work with this season with a critical eye.
We see him every night, so we see him as an enigma, dating back to his rookie season. But what others see is an otherworldly talent, a guy that makes plays a handful of cats in the league can make, and realize that if the eyes don’t deceive, it’s up to the team he plays for to make sure they get the very best out of him every night (think New Jersey and the way they use Sean Williams as a rookie).
And I’ve got some news for you that might be breaking, the Hawks are going to have spend some serious cash on the payroll at some point if they want to win and win big (that means the playoffs and anything beyond that). It’s just a fact of financial life for a professional sports franchise.
The Hawks won’t be able to survive forever with a salary structure that includes nine guys playing on rookie contracts. It’s just not going to happen.
