<span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:100%"><span style="color:#000000"><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></span>The Hawks have been pointing to this day since October. They have made it clear that their top priority this summer was signing restricted free agents Josh Smith and Josh Childress, keeping them in Hawks uniforms. The difficulty of that task becomes known Tuesday, the first day NBA teams can negotiate with free agents. Contract terms can be agreed to at any time but nothing can be made official until July 9, after the league's one-week moratorium is completed. The Hawks will have competition for both players, with Smith vaulting to the top of the list of available free agents in a summer where finances for most teams will be tight. Both Smith and Childress can sign offer sheets with other teams, but the Hawks have the right to match any offer. The Hawks will get first crack at Smith, who is expected to meet Tuesday with his representatives and Hawks management, the first day they are allowed to do so by league rules. Such a meeting with Childress could also occur. "We want to sit down and talk to [the Hawks] first and gauge their interest and see exactly where we are," said Wallace Prather, one of Smith's agents. "I think everybody realizes that Josh loves it here and loves his teammates and loves playing in his hometown. If everything goes well, hopefully, we wont have to talk long. But if they send us off to find another offer, then we'll have to do that as well." Smith is expected to be in Philadelphia for a visit later in the week. And the 76ers, with more than $11 million in projected salary cap space, can offer Smith a lucrative, frontloaded deal greater than the $45 million offer the Hawks made and Smith turned down last summer, when Smith was eligible for a contract extension. Philadelphia president Ed Stefanski hasn't mentioned Smith by name, per league rules, but in his description of what the 76ers are looking to do this summer, the image of the player he's described could easily be Smith. "We're trying to build like Detroit, meaning we're not looking to have that one superstar, but we want to have a lot of good players on the floor together," Stefanski told the New York Daily News. "... but we're really looking for people who are athletic and long and defensive-minded. That's our first priority." Smith, 22, is one of the league's premier shot blockers, finishing second to Denver's Marcus Camby in each of the past two seasons.</span> <span style="font-size:10pt;line-height:100%"><span style="color:#000000"></div> Atlanta Journal Constitution </span></span>
