What were the Hawks thinking this offseason? Their draft was questionable with getting Jordan Crawford, who probably won’t be as good as Jamal Crawford. Jamal will be a free agent after the season, and the Jordan Crawford pick makes it seem like Jamal will be gone. That seems insane because Jamal was the 6th man of the year and is a proven scorer off the bench. Jordan projects as the exact same position but is an unproven player . After the new CBA is signed, money for players like Jamal Crawford should be extremely reduced that what he could have got if he was a free agent this past offseason , which is why it doesn’t make sense to draft Jordan Crawford.
The Hawks gave Joe Johnson a 6-year max contract worth $120 million. The ownership must be hoping by keeping him will add some gross revenue from Hawks Rockets tickets. Atlanta immediately re-signed him, and JJ was the first big name free agent to sign. Why did the Hawks need to sign him so soon? Did another team offer him a max contract Was there another offer on the table? Joe Johnson’s deal will severly limit the Hawks in the future. He’s not a Top 10 player in the league, maybe a top 25 player? The Hawks have great players, JJ, Josh Smith, and Al Horford, but no clear #1. For teams without a clear #1, no one on the team should make #1 max money. By year 3 of the JJ contract, when he is 32, the Hawks will be disappointed, but unable to move him. When he’s 35, he’ll be making $30 million. The Hawks have to hope they are sold out of Hawks Celtics tickets to pay for him. The Hawks obviously felt that they would take a giant step back if he left town but would any team have given him a max contract? The Knicks would have been the only possible team, but they wouldn’t have touched him until after “The Decision”. More NBA teams need to be willing to let go of great players that get preposterously overpaid. The NY Knicks would be in the same situation they were in three years ago if they gave max deals to Amare and JJ, no cap space because they stupidly spent it on non-Superstars. History repeats itself, and stupid teams repeat their mistakes. By wanting to continue their success into the future by keeping Joe Johnson, the Hawks managed to hurt their future success by paying him too much.
