Should the Hawks have tried harder to keep him? Does this impact the Josh Smith negotiations?

GM Rick Sund had some very insightful things to say in a conference call Wednesday...

 I think the Hawks made a good offer to Childress. Battier is getting around 6.3m next season and Childress is similar to him but not as good so a 5.7 deal is not a bad one. He just got a great offer that he cant refuse out in the Euro league. I think this is good for the players though. Not so good for the teams or the league if this is a growing trend though.

I don't think there is much of a debate here. Childress got a deal worth US$7M/yr. That is way too much.

The Hawks offer was overpaying him, this is way overpaying him. 

Hawks sign Mo Evans for 3 years 7.5 M or less than 1/3 what Chuldress wanted.

Great signing. Evans is solid defensively and better offensively. Not as young as Childress but possibly a better overall player.

Just proves how replaceable Childress is. 

Josh Childress is being severely underated IMO.  The guy was 6th in the league in FG% last year, he is a decent ball handler and a good defender.  The guy was in many ways a victim of playing on a team with far too many swingmen and being the most unselfish of the group.  In the right situation I could easily see him being well worth $7M/year in the NBA but playing in Atlanta he hasn't been given much of an opportunity to show that worth. 

Did not realize how strong Childress was offensively. You are right, playing on a squad with Joe Johnson and Josh Smith, you tend to be overlooked.

But the fact that Atlanta is so loaded is why he just is not worth $7M/yr to this squad. Good signing in Evans, he may not be as good as Childress but he will give you a solid output for your 6th man. 

Adelman:

Did not realize how strong Childress was offensively. You are right, playing on a squad with Joe Johnson and Josh Smith, you tend to be overlooked.

 

But the fact that Atlanta is so loaded is why he just is not worth $7M/yr to this squad. Good signing in Evans, he may not be as good as Childress but he will give you a solid output for your 6th man. 

You're probably right, he isn't worth $7M to Atlanta and that is the problem with the way restricted free agency has evolved.  I do think restricted free agency has a place but unfortunately teams have gotten to the point where they simply don't negotiate with the RFAs and you end up with the mess the league has right now.  If the league shortened the window a team has to match an offer to 48 hours it would likely work a lot better because then teams wouldn't be so affraid to make an offer to another team's RFA.

Hi! I'm fan of Olympiakos. 

Mo Evans was the last choice for Olympiakos, if we couldn't find someone better this year.Finally we signed Childress. For the fans of Olympiakos, Mo wasn't a bad choice, because he has improved and he knows how  to play in Europe. He had played for us again 6 years ago and he had a very good season in Europe. We are very happy with Childress' coming though! From what I've read about him is exactly the player who fits in coach Yannakis' philoshophy. A player who plays for the team. The only concern is that we need a sharp shooter and the only reliable guy is Lynn Greer. Josh is not. I have the impression that offensively he  relies on his physical skills to make drives and dunks. That it's ok in the NBA, but in Europe is very difficult to find the way into the paint! We'll see...
  

Olympiakos will no doubt go down as the team that really started something that changed the face of basketball globally. They were determined to get a "name" free agent and they finally got one . . .now other teams are scrambling to match their effort. Panathinaikos has already been trying to lure someone over, and their efforts will double now. Childress put up nice numbers during the regular season . . .but I think Mo Evans can evolve into a similar player.