The Hawks would likely raise the five-year, $45 million offer that Smith turned down last summer, but money will not be the only factor in the 22-year-old power forward's returning to Atlanta. As I reported in Sports Illustrated during last season, league sources said Smith would not be interested in returning to the Hawks if the team retained coach Mike Woodson, who recently signed a two-year extension. The two have butted heads frequently in Smith's four seasons, and sources said the relationship is beyond repair. With a dearth of offers, Smith may change his tune, but having a volatile relationship on such a young team may not be in the Hawks' best interests.
DJ Strawberry schrieb:Was anderes: Als ich gelesen habe, dass Josh Smith nicht in ATL bleiben will, solang Woodson dort ist (der erst kürzlich einen Vertragsverlängerung erhielt), hab ich mir spontan folgendes ausgedacht:
Trade:
Josh Smith (S&T~12 Mio.)
Zaza Pachulia (4 Mio.)
gegen
Boris Diaw (9 Mio.)
Leandro Barbosa (6,1 Mio.)
3 Rosterspots wären immernoch frei. Skinner Re-Sign wäre noch eine Option, Dooling für Teile der MLE auch.
Unser neuer Kader:
Shaq/Lopez/Skinner/(Amaré)/(Pachula)
Amaré/Pachulia/(Smith)
Smith/Hill/Tucker
Raja/Straw/(Dragic)/(Tucker)
Nash/Dooling/Dragic/(Straw)
Hawks neuer Kader:
Horford
Diaw/Jones
Williams/Childress(re-signed)
JJ/Barbs
Bibby/Law/Speedy
Lücken haben die so oder so noch zu stopfen, vor allem ein solider Backup-Big Man fehlt denen dann immernoch.
Aber wenn Josh nunmal weg will...
Sekou Smith: schrieb:I saw the story on SI’s website and I’ll say it again for the umpteenth time, neither Smith nor anyone else affiliated with him has ever said (on or off the record) that he doesn’t want to be here or doesn’t want to play for Woodson.
Despite their very public dust ups in the past, Smith and Woodson had a smooth (no pun intended) working relationship this past season. Are they going to be spotted at each other’s houses partying anytime soon? Probably not. But neither are any of his teammates.
But you’d be surprised, his relationship with Woodson is better than Woodson’s relationship with some other guys on the team (lots of guys chafed under Woodson’s gruff style the past four years but didn’t shoot back at him the way Smith did).
What I can tell you for a fact is that when the new general manager sat down with all the players and asked them for their honest opinions on all things, including Woodson (and this was before Woodson received his contract extension), Smith is one of the players that didn’t have a single bad thing to say about Woodson (I know of at least two other guys that didn’t hold back and let Woodson have it). So even if he felt it deep down, Smith never voiced it to Rick Sund or anyone else.
Listen, the kid’s 22 and had some dust ups with his coach. Big deal. I think far too much has been made of all the drama. I’ll aslo point out that those rifts were far from a one-sided deal. Woodson owns just as much of the blame for those dust ups as Smith does.
But they’ve never allowed that stuff to keep them from being able to work together. And Woodson knows better than anyone how important Smith is to the Hawks’ cause now and in the future, so don’t believe all the hype about their frayed relationship.
Those two will work together just fine if (and really when) Smith’s new deal is done.