Grizzlies Sign Josh Smith To Offer Sheet

[Irish]

http://www1.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/53926/20080808/grizzlies_sign_josh_smith_to_offer_sheet/

Grizzlies Sign Josh Smith To Offer Sheet

Memphis Paper
Aug 08, 2008 10:48 AM EST

You must be registered for see images attach

The Memphis Grizzlies have signed restricted Atlanta free agent Josh Smith to a $58 million offer sheet, the Memphis Commercial-Appeal is reporting.

The Hawks now have seven days to match or let Smith walk, but have said in the past they'll match any offer the high flyer may get from rival teams.

Should the Griz land Smith he is expected to play power forward alongside Rudy Gay at small forward, O.J. Mayo at shooting guard and Mike Conley at point guard.

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/s...h_grizzlies.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

Hawks' Smith signs $58M offer sheet with Grizzlies
Organization has seven days to match the five-year contract

By SEKOU SMITH
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/08/08

The Hawks will officially be on the clock now that Josh Smith has signed an offer sheet with the Memphis Grizzlies.
After receiving the signed offer sheet later today, the Hawks will have seven days to match the Grizzlies' five-year, $58 million offer.

The Hawks maintained that they will match any offers made to Smith, though no one saw the Grizzlies offer coming.
The Grizzlies were the only NBA team with significant cap space left. It was believed the team would hold on to their cap space for the free agent class of 2009.

Even if the Hawks match the offer they'll have some damage control to do with Smith. He made visits to Philadelphia and Los Angeles (Clippers) to be wined and dined this summer.

Both the 76ers and Clippers opted for les risky situations - unrestricted free agent Elton Brand for the 76ers and a trade for Denver's Marcus Camby for the Clippers. The were moves that wouldn't tie up their salary cap space for the seven days the Hawks had to match an offer.

Smith's representatives have spent the summer stuck in slow-paced negotiations with the Hawks over a salary figure. The Hawks offered Smith a five-year, $45 million contract last October that he declined and never increased that offer this summer. The Grizzlies' offer is significantly more than that, an average of $11.6 million per season.

Similar negotiations with Josh Childress led the former Hawks' sixth man to pursue his options and he signed a three-year, $20 million offer from Greek powerhouse Olympiakos two weeks ago.

After losing Childress, the Hawks are not in risk of getting into the LT territory so there seems little chance the Hawks won't match. However, I suspect this is a front loaded deal that will cause the Hawks maximum pain.

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

The hawks have to match it or their franchise will implode.

 

[arwillan]

JJ would probably love for smith to leave. that would certainly make him "the man".

 

[CardinalsFan11]

I think there is a 0% chance Josh Smith will play for the Griz next season

 

[Irish]

I think there is a 0% chance Josh Smith will play for the Griz next season

I'd have to agree. The Hawks owners are already facing a PR nightmare after losing Childress.

 

[mojorizen7]

Leave it to the longtime worst NBA franchise to F this up and take two steps back after taking one step forward in the "08 playoffs.

 

[shazaam6]

Hypothetically

Would you trade to get Joe Johnson back right now, if we gave Atlanta back what we got.

Boris Diaw, Robin Lopez and a conditional first which I forgot what we did with it--sold it for 3 million probably? But we have to give Joe the same 20 million front loaded contract Atlanta gave him?

I don't think I would.

 

[arwillan]

Hypothetically

Would you trade to get Joe Johnson back right now, if we gave Atlanta back what we got.

Boris Diaw, Robin Lopez and a conditional first which I forgot what we did with it--sold it for 3 million probably? But we have to give Joe the same 20 million front loaded contract Atlanta gave him?

I don't think I would.

i would if we could trade raja for something. there would be no point in having jj, raja, and lb all on the same team. maybe trade raja for a point guard. also, the hawks would have to throw in a big of some sort because we'd be losing two of our front court players for a back court player.

 

[mojorizen7]

^We're a different team with a different scheme now.
Having said that our biggest weakness is at the 2 IMO but giving up on a 7 footer like Lopez at this point i'm not in favor of.....in addition to more draft picks.

 

[arwillan]

^We're a different team with a different scheme now.
Having said that our biggest weakness is at the 2 IMO but giving up on a 7 footer like Lopez at this point i'm not in favor of.....in addition to more draft picks.

our biggest weakness is definitely not at the two. we have a great defender and shooter in raja and a terrific scorer in barbosa. our bigger weakness is at the 3 imo. we have hill who is great when healthy, but that isn't all that often it seems. then we have a decent backup in barns, but not great.

 

[HooverDam]

Hypothetically

Would you trade to get Joe Johnson back right now, if we gave Atlanta back what we got.

Boris Diaw, Robin Lopez and a conditional first which I forgot what we did with it--sold it for 3 million probably? But we have to give Joe the same 20 million front loaded contract Atlanta gave him?

I don't think I would.

I would undo the deal in a second if I could. I liked it at the time because Diaw at that one terrific year and I (foolishly) assumed the Suns would do something wise with their picks. Instead they sold one and took a guy w/ very low ceiling with the other (and had bad luck that screwed them out of getting someone like Horford). Joe Johnson is an All Star, and a very good player. He's a good perimeter defender, good rebounder, has good size for his position, is a good ball handler, etc., he'd be a perfect fit for the Suns, now or then.

All that being said, I too think the Hawks would be crazy to let Smith go, but it is the Hawks, so I won't be too surprised no matter what happens. If Smith does land with the Grizz they've got a terrific young core, though they need a center. They'd almost assuredly still be a lottery team this year, so maybe they could land a guy like that BJ Mullens kid or whoever turns out to be the top centers.

 

[mojorizen7]

our biggest weakness is definitely not at the two. we have a great defender and shooter in raja and a terrific scorer in barbosa. our bigger weakness is at the 3 imo. we have hill who is great when healthy, but that isn't all that often it seems. then we have a decent backup in barns, but not great.

Completely disagree. Bell is not a great defender anymore and his shot is erratic and streaky,he can't create which is vital to the position and his nagging injuries are cause for concern.
Then we have Barbs who to this point is very one-dimensional.
Matt Barnes IMO will prove to be a solid starter given consistent minutes along with Hill who's a former all-star that can contribute on both ends. Yes his injuries are a concern too....but Grant Hill >Raja Bell.

 

[Mainstreet]

Hypothetically

Would you trade to get Joe Johnson back right now, if we gave Atlanta back what we got.

Boris Diaw, Robin Lopez and a conditional first which I forgot what we did with it--sold it for 3 million probably? But we have to give Joe the same 20 million front loaded contract Atlanta gave him?

I don't think I would.

I would have kept JJ and traded Marion when he still had some market value. It would have probably saved the Suns from making a lot of blunders into the future.

 

[AceP]

I thought this thread is about Josh Smith, it's funny how it turned out to be about JJ?

I thought we could/should offer Diaw to the Hawks for a sign & trade for Josh Smith. 58M for 5 years, the first year is about 9M, exactly match. Josh Smith is clearly better than Diaw playing at small foward. We'd use him as full-time SF for years. Of course, there is concerns, he is not a shooter, no 3p at all, not exactly the type of SF we prefer, and his personality is questionable.

Reversing JJ deal is a funny idea, there is no way JJ would want to come back. And, in my opinion, JJ is NOT a winner, his losing record in Atlanta is pretty negative, this team is all about to win now.

 

[arwillan]

Completely disagree. Bell is not a great defender anymore and his shot is erratic and streaky,he can't create which is vital to the position and his nagging injuries are cause for concern.
Then we have Barbs who to this point is very one-dimensional.
Matt Barnes IMO will prove to be a solid starter given consistent minutes along with Hill who's a former all-star that can contribute on both ends. Yes his injuries are a concern too....but Grant Hill >Raja Bell.

all good shooters have streaky shots, that's the way it goes. ray allen hit a rough stretch in the playoffs where he went ice cold. the c's won the title and ray allen can't create his own shot, so i wouldn't call it vital by any means. sure barbs is one dimensional, but he's excellent at that one dimension. ray allen is one dimensional, amare is one dimensional, that doesn't make either of them not great players.

 

[Irish]

I think the much more intersting question is what would have happened if the Suns had insisted on Smith or Childress rather than Diaw. I have a strong suspicion that the Suns could have gotten Diaw anyway because Woodson did not like Diaw.

 

[mojorizen7]

all good shooters have streaky shots, that's the way it goes. ray allen hit a rough stretch in the playoffs where he went ice cold. the c's won the title and ray allen can't create his own shot, so i wouldn't call it vital by any means. sure barbs is one dimensional, but he's excellent at that one dimension. ray allen is one dimensional, amare is one dimensional, that doesn't make either of them not great players.

Grant Hill>Raja Bell
Shooting guard is our weakest position which was the original point.
Amare is a top shot blocker so although his man on man defense is suspect,to call him one dimensional is silly.
Barbs brings nothing on the defensive end.

 

[arwillan]

Grant Hill>Raja Bell
Shooting guard is our weakest position which was the original point.
Amare is a top shot blocker so although his man on man defense is suspect,to call him one dimensional is silly.
Barbs brings nothing on the defensive end.

i disagree that sg is our weakest spot, even if grant is better than raja.
leandro is far better than barnes, hill is slightly better than raja.

SG: Raja/Barbs
SF: Hill/Barnes


the best offensive player above? a sg (barbs). the best defensive player? Raja. you could argue that hill is just as good of a defender, but he isn't the one who made the all defensive team. we got by on defense before grant, but if it wouldn't have been for raja we may not have even beaten the lakers the 2 years we did.
i like our sg group much better.

 

[mojorizen7]

leandro is far better than barnes

Wow. Again i completely disagree there. IMO both players will be exposed in the upcoming season. Barbs for what he isn't and Barnes for what he is if you get my meaning.
We'll see.

 

[arwillan]

Wow. Again i completely disagree there. IMO both players will be exposed in the upcoming season. Barbs for what he isn't and Barnes for what he is if you get my meaning.
We'll see.

the stats don't lie (most of the time).

Barbosa career : 13/3/2. 47% fg, 41% for 3.
-last year he did even better and is younger than barnes

Barnes career: 6/2/4. 44% fg. 32% for 3.
-last year was more or less average for him.


barnes is the superior defender, that's about it.

 

[arwillan]

BTW, NBA.com is reporting that the hawks matched the offer sheet. therefore, smith will remain a hawk.

 

[mojorizen7]

the stats don't lie (most of the time).

Barbosa career : 13/3/2. 47% fg, 41% for 3.
-last year he did even better and is younger than barnes

Barnes career: 6/2/4. 44% fg. 32% for 3.
-last year was more or less average for him.


barnes is the superior defender, that's about it.

Stats and scoring are nice(especially if you're LeBron) but Barbs has played heavy consistent minutes for 3 yrs while Barnes hasn't been given that opportunity yet unless you consider the '07 playoffs where he avg
11 points pg/2.4 assist pg/5.7 reb pg/1.5 steal pg in addition to actually guarding somebody.
42% from 3 pt range
45% overall
I would give the slight edge to Barbs because of the premium that NBA people put on guys that can score but Leandro can do little else while Barnes can contribute in multiple ways. They are not that far apart IMO.

 

[arwillan]

Stats and scoring are nice(especially if you're LeBron) but Barbs has played heavy consistent minutes for 3 yrs while Barnes hasn't been given that opportunity yet unless you consider the '07 playoffs where he avg
11 points pg/2.4 assist pg/5.7 reb pg/1.5 steal pg in addition to actually guarding somebody.
42% from 3 pt range
45% overall
I would give the slight edge to Barbs because of the premium that NBA people put on guys that can score but Leandro can do little else while Barnes can contribute in multiple ways. They are not that far apart IMO.

i suppose we value different things in players then.


edit:

barnes played 20 minutes a game last year. barbosa played 9 more minutes and was nearly three times as productive scoring wise. also, when barbosa got more minutes and started he averaged 25 ppg last year. barnes got heavy minutes and averaged 11 points? i'd say that's far apart.

 

[mojorizen7]

i suppose we value different things in players then.


edit:

barnes played 20 minutes a game last year. barbosa played 9 more minutes and was nearly three times as productive scoring wise.

I guess we do but thats cool.
If you dig deeper you'll see that he was given an insanely inconsistant amount of minutes from night to night whereas Barbs was guaranteed to get his 30 per. That makes it very difficult to decide who a player is in terms of statistics alone.
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/matt_barnes/game_by_game_stats.html

 

[arwillan]

I guess we do but thats cool.
If you dig deeper you'll see that he was given an insanely inconsistant amount of minutes from night to night whereas Barbs was guaranteed to get his 30 per. That makes it very difficult to decide who a player is in terms of statistics alone.
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/matt_barnes/game_by_game_stats.html

take a look at december through febuary where he seemed to get a lot of minutes in a lot of games. during that time, he never got more than 20 points even though he was given 20+ minutes most games (as much as 44 minutes in one game).