Lamar Odom signs with the Lakers:
Obviously, this was good for the Hawks because the main competition for Odom's services was in Miami--fortunately the lure of "riding Kobe's coattails" and being an "apostle" in Los Angeles was stronger than the attraction of South Beach and Dwayne Wade and becoming part of what might be an epic sequel to a "memorable" first round playoff series last year.
Too bad.
Hakim Warrick signs with the Bucks:
It's the size of the contract, the 1 year-3 million dollar type, that interests the HHB because such a small deal for a player of Warrick's productivity and youth should positively influence the price range of the Hawks' alleged target, Joe Smith. If the Hawks didn't want to pay Smith the same deal as some of the other players in his price range, then surely a much younger, more productive player getting such a small deal should help the Hawks position.
Warrick signed with Milwaukee despite reportedly being chased by the Cavaliers, who may now turn their attention to the services of former Celtic Leon Powe. Powe has the highest PER of any unrestricted free agent remaining unsigned on the list.
Drew Gooden signs with Dallas
This hurt for a couple of reasons. One is that is was a very affordable deal (1 year 4.5 million plus incentives) for a player that is still young, very productive, and fills the largest Hawks need (rebounding) and the Birds weren't involved (But CLE, SAS, and CHA were). Two is that it's the kind of signing that teams that are serious about going further in the playoffs seem to make (see McDyess/Ratliff to the Spurs, Marion/Gooden to the Mavs, etc.).
While the Hawks are still sitting on their bag of magic MLE beans, the Cavs are racing to sign the last remaining talent on the market that could aid their championship. That the Bobcats were in pursuit of Gooden and not the Hawks tells you what Sekou Smith validated earlier---the Hawks aren't interested in even spending three million dollars on another role player, much less would it would have taken to get Drew Gooden.
As it stands, there are few unrestricted free agents of a productive nature left to sign, fewer still that could help in the frontcourt. Your move, Atlanta.
Time to update the Big Free Agent Board--please remember to follow the color coded maps and signs to recognize the teams that these fine gentlemen have selected. Here is the updated list of free agents for 2009 with their corresponding PER (Hawks players in bold; Attempted to highlight in the team's colors that the free agents choose--and please secure all loose items before reading.)
| David Lee (RFA) | 19.07 |
| Nate Robinson (RFA) | 18.95 |
| Paul Millsap (RFA) | 18.77 |
| Andre Miller | 18.71 |
| Charlie Villanueva | 18.64 |
| Chris Anderson | 18.16 |
| Ramon Sessions (RFA) | 17.65 |
| Marcin Gortat (RFA) Leon Powe Ben Gordon | 17.20 17.20 17.02 |
| Jason Kidd | 16.95 |
| Hakim Warrick | 16.91 |
| Antonio McDyess | 16.63 |
| Lamar Odom | 16.60 |
| Brandon Bass | 16.49 |
| Mike Bibby | 16.38 |
| Drew Gooden | 16.34 |
| Marvin Williams (RFA) | 16.04 |
| Shawn Marion | 16.02 |
| Allen Iverson | 15.89 |
| Ron Artest | 15.64 |
| Trevor Ariza | 15.51 |
| Grant Hill | 15.26 |
| Rasheed Wallace | 14.91 |
| Hedo Turkoglu | 14.82 |
| Von Wafer | 14.79 |
| RFM | 14.79 |
| Anderson Varejao | 14.62 |
| Rasho Nesterovic | 14.15 |
| Zaza Pachulia | 14.14 |
| Joe Smith | 13.85 |
| Raymond Felton (RFA) | 13.80 |
| Shelden Williams | 13.78 |
| Chris Wilcox | 13.37 |
| Jarrett Jack (RFA) Matt Barnes Ben Wallace | 13.10 12.60 12.18 |
| Wally Szczerbiak | 12.18 |
| Anthony Parker | 12.16 |
| Solomon Jones | 12.08 |
| Robert Swift | 11.50 |
| Theo Ratliff | 11.22 |
| Glen Davis (RFA) | 10.77 |
| Raef Lafrentz | 10.40 |
| Channing Frye | 10.09 |
| Mario West (RFA) | 10.00 |
Posts
