Explain this GTC08: http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=437408
Josh Childress accepts offer to play in Greece
E-MAIL
PRINT
COMMENTS 23
WATCH THIS TOPIC
Posted: July 23, 2008
Sean Deveney
Sporting News
Just like that, Josh Childress has gotten his big, fat Greek contract. For him: Opa! For the NBA: Oh no!
<table style="margin-left: 5px;" align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td>
If an NBA team with cap space in the future makes a big enough offer, Childress could buy out the rest of his contract and return to the NBA, though the Hawks would still retain the right to match the offer.
Childress, who has averaged 11.1 points and 5.6 rebounds in four seasons with the Hawks, went to Greece on Sunday after finding himself deadlocked in negotiations with the Hawks and unable to get a contract offer from another NBA team. Under the rules of restricted free agency, Childress had the option of signing an offer sheet with another NBA team, but the Hawks would have had the right to match that offer sheet.
With only one team possessing cap space (Memphis, which is not planning on using that space this offseason), and with no team particularly eager to trigger a sign-and-trade, Childress could only negotiate with Atlanta. The Hawks are offering a deal starting at just above the mid-level exception, $5.7 million, and sources said they would not budge off that number. That would mean the Hawks were offering a five-year package for Childress in the range of $35 million.
Childress' NBA choices have been limited. He could take the contract offer from the Hawks. Or, he could accept a one-year qualifying offer from Atlanta (which must be offered in order for the Hawks to maintain the rights to Childress), worth $4.8 million. That way, Childress would be an unrestricted free agent next season.
Childress figures to have a sizable impact on the league. Over the last two years, as battles over restricted free agents have gotten more bruising, agents and players have looked to European offers as possible bargaining tools. But, for the most part, the players who have actually spurned the NBA for Europe have been lower-level, foreign-born free agents who were simply returning closer to home. They've also been unrestricted free agents.
The most recent example was Slovenian-born Bostjan Nachbar, who signed a three-year, $14 million deal with Dynamo Moscow. Spaniards Jorge Garbajosa and Juan Carlos Navarro also left the NBA. Argentine guard Carlos Delfino -- not exactly moving closer to home -- went to Khimiki in Moscow on a three-year, $13.5 million deal.
Childress is different. He is a restricted free agent simply playing out his rookie scale contract. He is only 25, the No. 6 overall pick in the 2004 draft and one of the league's most reliable sixth men, playing for a team that is generally considered to have a bright future. The fact he went to Athens at all to meet with Olympiacos was considered a big step. But it was only a step. The thinking of most NBA front offices has been that until a restricted free agent actually signs with a European team, front offices would look at European offers as empty threats.
That's why Childress' situation could be so groundbreaking. It could finally offer a new dimension to the stalemate of restricted free agency, which weighs so heavily in favor of the team that controls the player's rights. As one agent said yesterday, "Europe is not a panacea for American players, though if it scares my collusive brothers on the other side of the table, then God bless Childress' attorneys."
Sean Deveney is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at sdeveney@Sportingnews.com.
Josh Childress accepts offer to play in Greece
E-MAIL
PRINT COMMENTS 23
WATCH THIS TOPIC
Posted: July 23, 2008
Sean Deveney
Sporting News
Just like that, Josh Childress has gotten his big, fat Greek contract. For him: Opa! For the NBA: Oh no!
<table style="margin-left: 5px;" align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td>
<script type="text/javascript"> DART.init( { "site_key_name":"spn.nba", "zone":"article", "pos":"right1", "tile":"2", "sz":"300x250" }); </script><script style="display: none;" type="text/javascript" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/spn.nba/article;pos=right1;tile=2;sz=300x250;ord=7810271319568407?"></script> <noscript>
</noscript>
</td></tr></tbody></table> In a matter of hours, an NBA source says, Childress will announce in a conference call that he will be saying his goodbyes to the Hawks, and saying goodbye to the NBA in general. For now, at least. Childress has accepted an offer from the Greek team Olympiacos, and will join the team next season, sending a tough message to the rest of the NBA about its stringent rules on restricted free agency. There are still details to be worked out. Childress is expected to have a three-year deal with Olympiacos and if he wants to return to the NBA, his status will not have changed--his rights belong to the Hawks as long as they continue to make him a qualifying offer each year, and he will be a restricted free agent. If an NBA team with cap space in the future makes a big enough offer, Childress could buy out the rest of his contract and return to the NBA, though the Hawks would still retain the right to match the offer.
Childress, who has averaged 11.1 points and 5.6 rebounds in four seasons with the Hawks, went to Greece on Sunday after finding himself deadlocked in negotiations with the Hawks and unable to get a contract offer from another NBA team. Under the rules of restricted free agency, Childress had the option of signing an offer sheet with another NBA team, but the Hawks would have had the right to match that offer sheet.
With only one team possessing cap space (Memphis, which is not planning on using that space this offseason), and with no team particularly eager to trigger a sign-and-trade, Childress could only negotiate with Atlanta. The Hawks are offering a deal starting at just above the mid-level exception, $5.7 million, and sources said they would not budge off that number. That would mean the Hawks were offering a five-year package for Childress in the range of $35 million.
Childress' NBA choices have been limited. He could take the contract offer from the Hawks. Or, he could accept a one-year qualifying offer from Atlanta (which must be offered in order for the Hawks to maintain the rights to Childress), worth $4.8 million. That way, Childress would be an unrestricted free agent next season.
Childress figures to have a sizable impact on the league. Over the last two years, as battles over restricted free agents have gotten more bruising, agents and players have looked to European offers as possible bargaining tools. But, for the most part, the players who have actually spurned the NBA for Europe have been lower-level, foreign-born free agents who were simply returning closer to home. They've also been unrestricted free agents.
The most recent example was Slovenian-born Bostjan Nachbar, who signed a three-year, $14 million deal with Dynamo Moscow. Spaniards Jorge Garbajosa and Juan Carlos Navarro also left the NBA. Argentine guard Carlos Delfino -- not exactly moving closer to home -- went to Khimiki in Moscow on a three-year, $13.5 million deal.
Childress is different. He is a restricted free agent simply playing out his rookie scale contract. He is only 25, the No. 6 overall pick in the 2004 draft and one of the league's most reliable sixth men, playing for a team that is generally considered to have a bright future. The fact he went to Athens at all to meet with Olympiacos was considered a big step. But it was only a step. The thinking of most NBA front offices has been that until a restricted free agent actually signs with a European team, front offices would look at European offers as empty threats.
That's why Childress' situation could be so groundbreaking. It could finally offer a new dimension to the stalemate of restricted free agency, which weighs so heavily in favor of the team that controls the player's rights. As one agent said yesterday, "Europe is not a panacea for American players, though if it scares my collusive brothers on the other side of the table, then God bless Childress' attorneys."
Sean Deveney is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at sdeveney@Sportingnews.com.
