When asked about the Hawks possibly signing Shaq to match up with the Magic, Dwight Howard had this to say to the Atlanta Journal Constitution…

“That’s only four games out of the season. You have to look long term and what’s best for your team. Cleveland got Shaq to match up with the Magic. They also got Antawn Jamison to match up with the Magic. But they didn’t even play the Magic. They played Boston [and lost]. You match up for the league, not just one team.”

The Cavs were eliminated by the Magic in the playoffs the year before, so it’s understandable why they would want to improve their roster with a possible rematch in mind. The Celtics looked like they were getting old very quickly, so they weren’t deemed the threat that the Magic were. That was obviously a big mistake.

I’m interested to find out why the Cavs weren’t able to acquire Amare Stoudemire. He was available for almost two years during the span when the Cavs were retooling their roster and would have seemingly been a very nice fit in the pick-and-roll with LeBron. Hopefully someday Danny Ferry will speak out on the subject because his word is about the only one I trust in this whole mess.

Shaq is a 38-year-old center without a home and he’s holding out for a sign-and-trade hoping to get a deal that starts above the mid-level exception, which starts at around $5.8 million per season. But get this — he only wants to play for a legitimate contender.

That’s a short list of teams.

What follows is an open letter to Mr. O’Neal.

Shaq, you are one of the most dominating players the league has ever seen, and the NBA has been good to you. According to Basketball-Reference, you have made more than $290 million in your career. And that doesn’t even count the money you’ve made from sponsorships.

Don’t embarrass yourself by trying to orchestrate a sign-and-trade. If you want to keep playing, just sign for the veteran minimum and join the best fit of the short list of teams that are after your services. Everyone knows you are not the player that you once were, and haven’t been for the last few years, (when you were making $20+ million a season), so take the pay cut with a smile and put yourself in a position of relevancy to finish off your illustrious career.

Who knows, maybe you’ll be the difference in a playoff series for the Celtics or the Hawks, and people will look back on your final games and say — man, the guy could still play, even at 38-years-old.

You know you’re burned out on NBA news and rumors when you decide to write 10 haiku to summarize the NBA Summer of 2010. Off we go (in the English 5-7-5 syllable format)…

Atlanta spends big
to keep twenty-eight year-old
Here comes the remorse

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After (justifiably) nickel-and-diming Amare Stoudemire, and watching him sign with the Knicks, the Suns are reportedly about to trade for Hedo Turkoglu and Josh Childress in two separate deals.

The Suns, according to the Republic, have agreed to send guard Leandro Barbosa and forward Dwayne Jones to the Raptors for Turkoglu, who badly wants a move after a rough first season with Atlanta.

In the second deal, Phoenix will acquire Childress in a sign-and-trade with the Hawks, who still hold Childress’ rights after the restricted free agent spent the last two seasons in Greece. The Republic reported that Childress has agreed to a five-year, $34 million contract with the Suns, who will use a portion of the trade exception created in Friday’s Stoudemire sign-and-trade with New York to absorb Childress’ contract.

The Suns will save about $7 million per season for the next two years by trading away Barbosa, but they’re committing almost $78 million in new money to Turkoglu and Childress, for a net of $64 million. Stoudemire signed for five years and $100 million.

I like Childress a lot, especially in this offense, but trading for Turkoglu? Really? Wouldn’t it be better to hold on to Stoudemire than to ask a 31-year-old small forward to play power forward?

Granted, the Suns options are pretty slim now that the top free agents have already signed, but Amare signed early, so they had time to make a run at Carlos Boozer or David Lee and were either unable or unwilling to land either player.

There were some rumblings that Johnson might take some time to weigh his options, and possibly take less money to play with a better player, but he has instead decided to take the Hawks’ max offer.

Arn Tellem, Johnson’s agent, said that Johnson was impressed with the team’s commitment to him and agreed to accept the club’s six-year contract offer. He confirmed the post to The Associated Press.

Atlanta offered Johnson, a four-time All-Star, approximately $119 million over six years — nearly $27 million more than any other team could offer.

This reminds me of the Michael Redd signing from a few years back. They knew they were overpaying him at the time, but they still made the deal. A few knee injuries later and the Bucks are biding their time, waiting for the deal to expire.

Johnson is a nice player, but he’s not worth a ‘max’ contract — just look at the way he played against the Magic in the playoffs. He’s 28, so he will be 33 when he enters the final year of this deal. Shooting guards are notorious for aging poorly, so we’ll see how long it takes for the Hawks to regret this contract.

This re-signing is a bit of a surprise. It seemed like Johnson and the Hawks were on the outs, and that the Hawks would be unwilling to overpay him to stay. But that’s exactly what they did in the end.

Joe Johnson gets it. He has a max offer from the Hawks on the table, but hasn’t agreed to sign it just yet. He wants to see which big-name free agents land where, to see if there’s a secondary or tertiary role for him on a championship contender.

Sources said Johnson was still considering whether it would be a better career move to play in New York or Chicago, and his ultimate decision would hinge upon which of the top free agents make commitments to those teams.

Johnson’s decision is this — would he rather be the best player on a good-but-not-great Atlanta team or the second- or third-best player on a Finals-caliber team?

Maybe he’s reading the LeBron/Wade tea leaves and realizes that LeBron’s ego may not accept the perception that he needed Wade to win a title. Johnson is the next-best shooting guard on the market, and would be a decent fit alongside LeBron in New York, New Jersey or Chicago.

Writers like to throw around the phrase “leaving $30 million on the table” when referring to home/away max contracts, but that number is misleading. Through the first five years of the deal, the difference is ‘only’ $4 million. It’s that (extra) sixth year that makes up most of the difference in the total value of the contract, but players would presumably still be able to re-sign for a good amount of money. So really, the difference in the home/away contracts is this:

Diff = $4 million + $25.3 million – E

where:

E = expected value of first year of next contract

For a player like Johnson, who would be 33 after the final year of a five-year contract, the value of E would be quite a bit less than someone like LeBron, who would be 30 after the final year of a five-year deal. Assuming both players stay healthy, Johnson would be leaving more money on the table than LeBron would by signing a max deal with an away team.

…and he’s expected to accept the deal.

The Atlanta Hawks offered Joe Johnson a six-year, $119 million contract Thursday morning, and sources close to the All-Star guard expect him to accept the max deal soon.

The Hawks moved quickly at midnight ET to try to secure their franchise star and offered the contract that Johnson’s agent Arn Tellem sought from the organization. Sources say ownership OK’d the max offer and general manager Rick Sund delivered it in Los Angeles.

The writing seemed to be on the wall for Johnson, but the Hawks stepped up with a big offer that is probably too good for Johnson to pass up. He could sign the deal and stay in Atlanta, but now he has the leverage necessary to force a sign-and-trade to another team.

Johnson isn’t a ‘max’ player, but that doesn’t mean much when there are so many teams with cap space to burn this summer. I suspect the Hawks will be regretting this decision in 2-3 years.

Photo from fOTOGLIF

After a pretty nice show of backbone in Game 6 and Game 7 of Atlanta’s first round series against the less talented but far gritter Bucks, the Hawks were absolutely drilled by the Magic. The Hawks lost the four games by an average of 25 points, including a 43-point loss in Game 1 and a 30-point loss (at home) in Game 3.

Why am I dwelling on the series? Because it’s a good indicator of just how far the Hawks still have to go to be true contenders in the East.

While it’s true that the franchise has increased its win total in each of the last six seasons, it just doesn’t seem like this team is anywhere near contention. Complicating matters, the Hawks’ most steady player, Joe Johnson, is an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Complicating matters further, Johnson has not endeared himself to Hawks fans over the past week or two. After a pretty nice first round (21-5-6) against Milwaukee, Johnson posted just 13-5-4 and shot under 30% against the Magic. That’s not the kind of performance that will convince a team to sign him to a max contract. Moreover, he’ll be 29 at the start of free agency, so one wonders if his best years are already behind him. He was outplayed by a 33-year-old Vince Carter, if that’s any indication.

Johnson is one of those players, not unlike Michael Redd a few years ago with the Bucks, who is not a “max” guy yet will command a maximum contract. I’ve said this over and over — just because a player is the best that a franchise has, it does not make him a franchise player.

The problem the Hawks face is that Johnson will be able to walk this summer with no compensation. He maybe willing to work out a sign-and-trade with his new team, but just like Chris Bosh, why would he agree to lower the talent level of his new team when he can sign with several teams outright?

Either way, between his performance against the Magic and his recently sour relationship with the fans, it does not seem like Johnson is long for Atlanta. Another issue is what to do with Mike Woodson, who has guided the team during its ascension.

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Even when the Magic trailed by eight at halftime, it really didn’t seem like there was a good chance that they were going to lose the game. In the third quarter, they outscored the Hawks 35-26 to take a one-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. In the final period, Orlando outscored Atlanta 28-15. Game over, 112-98.

Dwight Howard posted a 29-18 and hit 13-of-18 free throws. In fact, there were four Magic players with 20+ points: Vince Carter (24), Jameer Nelson (20) and Rashard Lewis (20) rounded out the quartet.

Al Horford had 24-10 for Atlanta, but Joe Johnson and Josh Smith combined for 11-for-31 shooting. That’s not going to get it done. The Hawks did hit 30-of-31 free throws, but it wasn’t enough to overcome their 41.5% shooting, especially when the Magic shot 55.9% from the field.

Atlanta is not going to win this series, folks.


Photo from fOTOGLIF

It was a two-point game at the end of the first quarter, but from that point forward, the Magic outscored the Hawks, 89-48. Dwight Howard posted a 21-12 and blocked five shots, while Vince Carter went for 20-6-3 and Jameer Nelson chipped in with 19 points.

The Hawks shot less than 35% from the field and didn’t have a player score more than 14 points (Josh Smith). The Magic are one of the best defensive teams in the league and they showed it tonight.

I don’t think the Hawks are going to put up much of a fight in this series. They have a lot of talent, but they lose focus, are stagnant on offense for big stretches of the game, and they lack chemistry.

Photo from fOTOGLIF