Link <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Josh Smith's increasing reluctance to return to the Atlanta Hawks has little to do with Mike Woodson, despite repeated media suggestions that Smith is eager to play for a new coach. Smith and Woodson have a fine working relationship, one confidante insists. Smith's frustration with the Hawks is the slow-moving state of negotiations, with Smith apparently still waiting for a serious contract proposal nearly three weeks into free agency.</div>
I don't know what they're waiting for. They need to lock this guy up long term. He's turned down a big contract offer in Philly and possibly in LA with the Clippers. Smith is a huge part of our future, and right now Sund is just taking his sweet ass time with this.
Hawks fans should get used to this. This is how Sund operates. He lets the market dictate how much to spend for a free agent instead of initially setting a figure that maybe too low or too high for a pending free agent. He can do this with restricted free agents because their market is dictated by who is willing to give them an offer. He lost Childress partly because he probably didn't factor in that Greece would be able to make an offer to him that would be enticing enough for him to want to leave the NBA. That will give restricted FA's a ton of leverage in the negotiating business because international teams do not have to adhere to any rules of the NBA. They can sign who they want. Sund has egg on his face for Childress and he will have egg on his face if he is not able to either lock up Smith for the long term or sign and trade him for some value. If I were Sund I'd look to trade the rights to Childress as soon as possible because if someone is willing to leave the NBA for Europe most likely he isn't too interested in returning to the same NBA team that he played for prior to going to Europe. Very inauspicious beginning to the Sund era in Atlanta. He has to find a way to get value for both the Josh's if he wants this team to be halfway competitive next season.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Iron Shiek)</div><div class='quotemain'>Hawks fans should get used to this. This is how Sund operates. He lets the market dictate how much to spend for a free agent instead of initially setting a figure that maybe too low or too high for a pending free agent.</div> There's no market anymore. All the teams with big cap space have spent it already. There really is no reason for Sund to be moving so slowly with negotiations.
