http://blogs.ajc.com/hawks/2009/08/05/extension-talks-for-joe/ Joe Johnson and the Hawks have been talking extension for a little while. Apparently no agreement is reached yet. If I were JJ, I'd sign an extension considering the economh, his age (not old, but will be by the end of the likely extension term) and what he could lose if he gets injured next season. I think the realistic implication is that the 2010 Free Agent class may not be as big a deal as people think it would be because the reasonable thing for many of the free agents to do is to get a contract extension while they still can.
This is good news for any Hawks fan. JJ is kind of a second banana type player but he's been the backbone of that team. Keeping him is essential. Better to do it now then wait until the Summer 2010 FA Sweepstakes starts.
I actually think if they waited until next year the Hawks could get Johnson for less. Who can and will actually throw their big money at him? He'd find his value to be lower than expected IMO.
I wish all big free agents would re-up with their current teams now. I'd like to see all the teams who compile expirings and just clear cap space at all costs to be punished. Not to mention it's a dumb strategy.
Now you are starting to see what I and other clutchfans were saying!! The main free agents are not going to move; LeBron, D Wade, Bosh, Dirk, J Johnson,etc. This is why I said from the beginning that if T-Mac come back and play like he did in 06' and 07', you resign him after this year. Yao can not win without another star player along side of him. With the roster we have now and we add another player in next years draft and a mid - level free agent next year (Travis Outlaw or Rudy Gay), we instantly become a contender
I agree, they should be wary of overpaying for Johnson. He is great to have, but not exactly a max player. I think, if they let Johson go free, they'll have other teams competing, particularly those who have cap room but lose out on the Lebron/Wade sweeps. However, he will be close to 30 years old and has a lot of miles on him. Johnson's been generally durable, but has played a lot of minutes and it's alway a danger as a guy ages. A fair price for him is probably something similar to Hedo money, $12 million a year..
As much as people dont want this to be true but I think we may be looking at resigning Tmac in 2010 to a lesser contract. Of course some us would want that anyways but i am just saying be prepared for that if no free agents appear eminent to sign with us. The only other way I see is through a trade. Yao? Might be stuck with that guy regardless as well unless by trade if we wanted to explore that option. I think we could be also just as well served I think by offering significantly lower contracts to them both for injuries sake. Nothing too low but within the rhelm that no ther team may offer them. Just slightly less what they may be worth had they not been injury questions and then have extra money to go after a third player who is real good to balance their skills out as having to carry the entire load.
How would Tmac at almost half his salary of 23 million sound and a Yao making less than his 14- 17 million a season? Wouldnt that be doable considering the wear and tear and devaluation of their abilities? Then we could get a third player while making those two contracts more moveable if we did want to trade them after.
As long as there is another injury prone player being counted on as a top 3 player on the team it's a bad move no matter how much he is re-signed for.
