Travis Schlenk wants his Atlanta Hawks to have No Bad Contracts. Those same Hawks must decide whether to agree to a Really Bad Contract. The Knicks -- need we say more? -- are willing to pay Tim Hardaway Jr., sometime starter, $71 million over four years. Hardaway, no fool, accepted the offer.
The Hawks have two days to decide whether to match. I'm guessing they won't need two seconds. That's essentially the same contract as was lavished by the previous Hawks regime on Kent Bazemore, and the Bazemore deal surely is the bane of the new general manager's life.
Put it this way: Jamal Crawford, the 37-year-old sub guard who the Hawks are expected to buy out or trade , would be cheaper than Hardaway. Crawford is due $29.5 million over his remaining two seasons. Here we note that he has also been the NBA's sixth man of the year three times, most recently in 2016.
The Hawks were guessing Hardaway might get $10 million per annum, give or take, as an offer. He got $17.75 million. USA Today's For The Win blog describes this as " the first truly bad contract of the 2017 offseason ." What would it say if Mr. No Bad Contracts said yes to this one?
Moot point, I say. Schlenk won't. Unless he's crazy, which I don't believe is the case.
Oh, and regarding Hardaway: As mentioned last week, he's a useful player but, in the grand NBA scheme, just a guy.
Oh, and there's this from the always entertaining New York Daily News:
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