Thursday, July 24, 2008

Hawks guard Childress is going to Greece

Hawks guard Josh Childress has signed with a Greek club. Take that David Stern. The global door swings both ways. Childress got a sweet deal. $20M and the team pays his taxes. So its truly $20 million! Much more than he would be offered in the NBA.

Childress is no superstar, but the egress of good players to Europe for a better payday is not a trend the NBA wants to see. NBA rosters are already filled with guys with potential but need "On the Job Training" (OJT). A player like Childress is not a luxury. The game could be gutted of good players and we'd be left with superstars vs the JV team.

And what if the dollars in Europe get just too attractive? Players like D. Wade (who already has a championship ring) or Jason Kidd (who has no shot at one) opts out of the NBA for the money.

To some degree the Childress signing is a symptom of the NBA player bargaining agreement. Childress is a restricted free agent. The Hawks hold the trump card. They can match any offer and let it be known they intended to do so. Why would any other team bother to offer him anything. This is akin to collusion to keep free agent salaries down. Atlanta was not interested in a sign and trade for him. What choice does Childress have ... sign a one year contract for peanuts in order to become a free agent next year or go to Europe and get paid.

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