http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4284512 Sources: Hawks to deal two to Warriors Comment Email Print Share By Marc Stein ESPN.com Archive The Atlanta Hawks and Golden State Warriors are closing in on a trade that would find a new home for Jamal Crawford. NBA front-office sources say that the Warriors and Hawks will soon complete a deal sending Crawford to Atlanta for Acie Law and Speedy Claxton. Warriors coach Don Nelson made no secret of the fact that Crawford wasn't in his future plans. By shedding Crawford's longer contract and by virtue of insurance payments that will cover some of the costs of Claxton, Golden State would secure a decent measure of payroll relief with the trade. Less clear is what impact the move will have on Atlanta's forthcoming negotiations with free agent-to-be Mike Bibby. Although Crawford is not a pure point guard, he's a prolific scorer whose arrival could affect the sort of contract offer Bibby expected to command from the Hawks. Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com.
I think this is a good move for the Hawks, its not like they gave away anything important. Acie Law seems like a backup.
Last time I checked Artest and Wafer are free agents. 2 spaces available. James White contract is non guaranteed so he can easily be cut.
Who is going to offer more than the MLE for Bibby? I would guess no one. Question, if the Rockets end up trading Brooks, can Bibby be brought in w/the MLE?
Yeah I can't remember a better market for buyers. Players are being sold off the shelves 75% off, just offer them an expiring contract to match the salary and it doesn't matter how good those players are. Bosh still won't likely get dealt bc Toronto doesn't want to shoot itself in the face PR-wise, but Vince Carter, Tyson Chandler, Corey Maggette, Michael Redd, Marcus Camby, Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton, Amare Stoudemire, Shaq, maybe even Josh Smith, Elton Brand, Luol Deng will be out there for the taking if you can just find the right expirings. It may even be harder at this point to get draft picks than it is to get proven guys. Which is stupid since the draft is relatively weak, but you know, rookies make less than vets.
Rockets already have $64 million in salaries for next year. Can't sing any free agents without using mid-level exception, which sounds like less than what Bibby wants. Acquisition would require a sing and trade of Artest...which actually might be beneficial to both teams...IF the Rockets are packaging Brooks with T-Mac to improve otherwise. This seems like a good deal for the Hawks. If they could re-sign Bibby, then it really improves their team, imo. I understand their reluctance to overpay for an aging pg, and they shouldn't, but the guy also happens to have been at the helm of the only Hawks team to be even remotely close to decent of the last 15 years...and teh Hawks have room to re-sign him, anyway. Still, good trade for Atlanta.
