Hawks looking pretty smart

The Hawks have apparently signed G/F Maurice Evans to a 3-year/$7.5M deal. That's basically what Josh Childress wanted in one year. Yes, Childress is a little younger and a little longer, but I think the Hawks get most of Childress brought at a steep discount. When comparing resumes, Childress' numbers look better, but it's also indicative of the larger minutes Childress got on bad teams (2007 excepted).

I also think that this signing bears out Hawks owner Michael Gearon, Jr.'s comments in Friday's Atlanta Journal Constitution:

"I disagree completely," Michael Gearon Jr. said when asked about negative perceptions. "You're saying it doesn't look good that we weren't willing to pay Josh Childress $10 million a year. But if we did that, I'd expect you to write, 'What the hell are those guys doing?' If you give out bad contracts, you can't compete. Are pieces needed to make the team better? Yes. But [general manager] Rick [Sund] is working right now to make us a better team.

"What's frustrating to me is the perception that we didn't offer more money than every NBA team to keep him. There's never been a European offer like this. Now there has been. Was Josh Childress worth $10 million to the Atlanta Hawks?"

And then this: "No matter what we do, I think some people will look at us as the glass being half-empty."

FIBA is not a threat to the NBA

The latest over-reaction by NBA writers has been the impending collapse as a result of a devalued dollar and tax-free contracts in Europe sap the NBA of talent. What crap. First of all look who's leaving to Europe -- Juan Carlos Navarro and Bostjan Nachbar. Chicken Little, the sky is really falling! Both are eminently replaceable talents who don't merit the pay they're getting from the European clubs. JCN couldn't be a star on perhaps the worst team in the NBA and Nachbar was a 6th man on a bad Nets team. Put him on a team in the West or on the Celtics or Pistons and the guy doesn't get off the bench unless it's 'garbage time'. In fact they should take the money because they have no chance of being a star in the NBA. Two years from now and people will forget they were even in the league. And don't discount the fact that neither are American-born players.

Now Adrian Wojnarowski, a normally respectable writer for Yahoo Sports writes that Josh Childress may flee to Europe too and this could spell the end for the NBA. Yes, this would be a move by an American, but come on Wojo, you're better than this. Childress is a nice player, but he'll never be a great player. With tax and euro implications 3 years/$20M is like 3/$40M. Put in NBA terms, this is like Max Contract money. And no one in their right mind -- even if Billy King was still calling the shots in Atlanta -- would ever fork over that kind of money for a player of Childress' stature...or lack thereof.

So maybe Europe becomes a place where mediocre talent cashes big checks, but it's not where the best America players go, and it won't be. If LeBron signs with Belgrade instead of Brooklyn, call me. Otherwise, this is a complete non-story.