No Subject

"Meanwhile, the team is privately disturbed at the
slow development of rookie point guard Jason
Terry. The coaches are particularly disappointed
that Terry makes the same mistakes over and
over. And they are not thrilled that he has aligned
himself with Rider."
http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/teams/hawks/index.html

Likewise, Henderson (27 yrs) seems to be somewhat a disappointment at PF
("Alan Henderson actually had an assist against the Warriors. But he’s
playing with less fire than two years ago, his best season. GRADE: B-") and
is inked for big bucks for a long time. 35 mpg, 13.5 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 45% fg

JJ (29 yrs) has been playing well ("They don’t want to, but the Hawks could
move their most consistent player, swingman Jimmy Jackson for the right
deal."), but plays the same spot as headcase (and hence untradeable) JR
Rider. From what I can gather JJ has been playing out of position at SF. 37
mpg, 17.8 ppg, 43% fg, 43% 3ptr 2.9 apg, 2.4 topg

If Atlanta is hot for Fortson then they would seem to have less use for
Henderson (and especially his contract). The Cs could offer the following
players and - if my contract #'s are approximately right - be within 100K
of the three salaries of the Hawk players: Fort ($1.7 mil), Eric Williams
($4.4 mil) and Dana Barros ($4.1 mil) total $10.2 mil for JJ ($2 mil),
Terry ($1.6 mil) and Henderson ($6.5 mil) total 10.1 mil.

Why? In swapping PGs Pitino gets a young quick defensive PG who requires
tutoring, Wilkens gets a good citizen who can drill the 3 and who will far
less a defensive liability with Mutombo behind him - plus his large salary
comes off the board after next season. 

In swapping contracts (Williams for Henderson) both teams balance out their
relative rosters - SF is already overstocked for the Cs, especially with
Pierce presumably moving back there, and Fortson's presence in Atlanta
would render Henderson an expensive back-up. He'll be one in Boston too,
but unlike Williams he can fill in at the PF spot and would still have some
value to be shopped. From Atlanta's perspective Williams has a less
burdensome contract and actually could fill a void at SF if he ever
rediscovers his slashing, post-up game again. Wilkens will still have FA
signees Lorenzen Wright, LaPhonso Ellis and rook Cal Bowdler to help out at
the 4 and/or 5.

In swapping the two valuable commodities (JJ and Fort) both teams
accommodate their respective coaches' wishes: Pitino gets a smaller,
quicker and better shooting (esp from 3pt) team, Wilkens gets a tougher,
aggressive rebounding team that could be hell in the half court. Both are
coaches who have reputations and whose reputations are coming in for
uncharacteristic amount of questioning. Hence they may be ready to opt for
change in the hope that new faces may get some chemistry flowing and as a
means of temporarily deflecting pressure away from their team's losing
efforts.

My only comments at this time are that JJ would a sight better than any of
the previous rumors (the Utah and Seattle rumors stink IMHO). I'm not happy
with getting any softer than we already are, but at least this deal would
return some value for value.

-TomM