Shaq blames lockout (in part) on Joe Johnson

[Walker]

ihhatetime good post ill reply to it. Kinda multitasking and my full attention is being taken away right now lol



The max teams outside of Atlanta could offered was already set. They cant offer any more than 5yrs $90mil. My point was Atlanta could gave him more money than other teams could have given...but no one told them it had to be the max of all maxes. Atlanta gave JJ the highest amount of money they could under the CBA at the time. Why? Thats my problem is they didnt have to do that. JJ would have got overpaid regardless, I agree. But they went above and beyond which was not needed given they had the advantage to offer him more than other teams. JJ didnt say or hint "I either get the max of all maxes here or I take the 5yrs $90mil with Chi, Nj, NYK or whomever".

I agree these players are getting paid too much. And lower the max, shorter contracts are cool. I just dont like the fact these owners pretty much f*cked up the market either directly or by hiring and giving the approval of GMs to go out and spend wrecklessly.

Ok so the max is 5yrs 90mil, never bothered to find out, fair enough.
Now, the biggest chip a team has in retaining their free agents is the ability to offer 6 years instead of 5.
We can both agree that Atlanta deffinately wanted JJ back, so you would think they'd be silly in not using the biggest carrot they have with the extra year. That extra year I would assume would be a very big deal to the players, especially someone nearing 30.
I haven't done the math but I wouldn't think 5yrs, 90mil and 6yrs, 119mil is overly different in terms of year by year payment considering the exponential growth of these contracts.
I guess you can look at it two ways, either the team is stupid for "overpaying" their star (yes he is their star) or they're smart for doing what was nessicary to ensure they retain him as the face of the franchise, same way Sarver will cling on to Nash come hell or high water cause he sell tickets.
Speaking of Sarver, could be worse Atlanta fans, your team could let stars walk for nothing in return cause they're cheapskates

[Miserio]

JJ is a franchise player and the third best SG in the league.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCbcdPmc4Bg

[hawkfan]

Shaq's 5 years, 100 million contract was really only an extension of 61 million, because he was already due 31 million under his old contract at that time.

Was he worth 61 million? Absolutely. He won a championship and he put people in seats at NBA arenas. And he was one of the few guys in the league who marketing people could use to bring people in, who otherwise wouldn't come.

Does Joe Johnson put people in seats? No. Is he worth a max deal? For 4 years, yes, because he can get his team into the playoffs. But those extra 2 years are killers.

Did the Hawks have to give Joe Johnson 6 years, 119 million? Yes and no. The Hawks lose him and there would be room for a big man, but then the Hawks lose a consistent franchise player.

And the thing is that when he re-signed, the owners told JJ that they were willing to spend and go over the luxury tax if the Hawks were seriously contending for a championship. But last year we only won 44 games.

Playoffs, all of a sudden the Hawks show up, beating the Magic and then losing to the Bulls in a very competitive series. Add another franchise player, and the Hawks might have made the Finals last year.

But the regular season didn't show any indication of the Hawks playoff success. If it had, then maybe we would have a bigger payroll.

[bdreason]

Hawks had no business giving that contract to JJ. He doesn't put them over the top, and he doesn't sell tickets.

This all falls on the owner for making a poor investment.