Roland Lazenby of HoopsHype.com: “Faced with a “weird” situation with center Andrew Bynum, the Los Angeles Lakers are toying with the thought of bringing back Kwame Brown, a free agent. No, this is not a joke. Yes, this is the same Kwame Brown who rode out of town to a chorus of fan boos in a trade last February that brought Pau Gasol to the franchise. Brown is the former No. 1 overall pick that many consider the biggest bust in league history. Why would the Lakers want him back?”
Micah Hart of Basket Blog: “Look, I’m a Hawks employee, but I’m just as big a Hawks fan as anyone. I’ve followed the team since I was a little boy growing up in Mississippi, and I’ve been through the highs and lows over the past 20 years like everyone else. That Childress is gone, and we have no compensation in return (other than the cap space previously reserved for him), is a tough blow, no doubt. And while there are many who want to blame Hawks management and ownership for what happened, I just don’t know if that is really fair in this case. The NBA is a business. The teams that are most successful (in the NBA and in all of sports) are the ones that spend their money wisely and don’t let emotions get in the way of what makes the most business sense. How many times have we seen teams overpay for players and then end up with albatross salaries they regretted almost immediately thereafter?”
Henry Abbott of TrueHoop: “In all those cases and many others, the NBA gets to handle things essentially however they want, because when it comes to elite professional basketball, they are the only game in town. That all changes when top talent starts going to other leagues. Josh Childress himself doesn’t scare the League as a business. He’s a potential starter on an OK team. But if it makes sense for Childress, it’s hard to promise that you’d never see a Carmelo Anthony or Chris Paul give it a whirl. Josh Childress has opened some doors.”
Lang Whitaker of SLAMonline: “It is very important to understand that this contract is loaded with perks, from a car and a house to the team actually picking up the taxes on the contract. So, in terms of value, it might be worth a little more than $20 million, total. With NBA guys having to pay tax on their salaries, a three-year, $20 million contract is actually more like a three-year, $12-14 million deal. From what I’ve heard, the offers Josh was getting were around the range of the mid-level exception ($5.5 mil). For the sake of argument, let’s say Josh signed a three-year, $20 million deal with a NBA team. After taxes, that’s not even close to what he’ll be making in Greece. To match what he’ll clear each year in Greece, Josh would have to get a contract from an NBA team worth about $12 million a year, more than double the mid-level.”
Tom Ziller of FanHouse: “Here’s what matters for Atlanta: Childress carries a cap hold of $14.5 million. Assuming the Hawks can manage to retain Josh Smith for about $10 million a year, Atlanta figures to be about $20 million under the salary cap next summer. (Mike Bibby and Zaza Pachulia are coming off the books.) That can buy a mighty fine free agent. But unless Atlanta renounces its rights to Childress — meaning Chills would no longer be a restricted free agent, he could sign with any NBA team and the Hawks wouldn’t have matching rights — $14.5 million of that cap space will be locked up in that cap hold. That means Atlanta would have only roughly $5.5 million of space, and that’s less than the mid-level exception. The Hawks would then have no cap space, and would be in the same boat as 85% of the NBA.”
Scoop Jackson of ESPN.com’s Page 2: “I can’t even put that into words. That feeling. That would be the best thing that ever happened to me. The best thing ever, period. Winning that gold medal … [takes a deep breath] … look, I won in high school, I won a national championship in college, I want to win one in the NBA. But winning a gold medal, I don’t think anything can top that. I know people say that they want to win a world championship in basketball and in football and things like that, but nothing compares to winning a gold medal. See, like right now, I’m anxious. Anytime you put on that USA uniform, any time you get the chance to play for a gold medal, you get anxious. I’m pretty sure everybody on the team feels the same way — anxious to just go over there and get to playing. You know, all of the hype and excitement of us going over there, we just actually want to get it going.” – Interview with Carmelo Anthony
Ball in Europe: “If you are an expert of European lifestyle – I repeat lifestyle and not a basketball expert, you can be almost certain that Panathinaikos needs a signing like that too (BIG rivalry between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos). Too bad they [Panathiniakos] needs a SF. What was that guy’s name from Chicago again, who is looking for a deal? Wasn’t that Luol Deng? Don’t be surprised, if that is the next thing on US web sites..”
