Hawks match Grizzlies' offer for Josh Smith
Young forward gets $58-million, five-year deal to stay in Atlanta
By SEKOU SMITH
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/08/08
Josh Smith was willingto continue his NBA career wherever he had to, either in his hometown of Atlanta with the
Hawks or in Memphis with the Grizzlies.
The
Hawks made thedecision for him late Friday night by matching the five-year, $58 million offer the Grizzlies made to Smith, a restricted free agent, earlier in theday.
Allen Sullivan/[email protected]
(ENLARGE)
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Josh Smith is sticking around, after the Hawks matched an offer from the Grizzlies Friday.
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"Tonight, the
Hawks organization received an offer sheet from the Memphis Grizzlies for
Josh Smith,"
Hawks general manager Rick Sund said in a statementreleased by the team. "We are happy to announce that we will match their offer sheet. Ownership, management and the team are happy to have Josh return asa member of the
Hawks. We look forward totraining camp in October, and we will continue to look at additional opportunities to improve our roster."
This brings an end to a six-week saga that began July 1 with Smith, a 22-year-old forward, being courted by the Philadelphia 76ers andthe Los Angeles Clippers, among other teams.
The final deal is $13 million more than the only offer made by the
Hawks, a five-year, $45 million deal that Smithturned down in October. But not nearly as lucrative as the deals handed out to other restricted free agents like Luol Deng ($71 million) and Emeka Okafor ($72million).
"It's all about getting it done now," Smith said by phone Friday evening from Houston, where he has been working out allsummer. "Obviously, what happened with [Josh] Childress ... I'm positive that could have been avoided, too. It wasn't like we were trying to hitthe
Hawks over the head for more than what wethought we were worth.
"All we wanted to do was be appreciated for the hard work we've put in the last four years and the strides that were made. Butthis summer, it never seemed like that happened."
Until now.
The
Hawks had sevendays to match the offer made by the Grizzlies or lose Smith without compensation. But they bucked a summer long trend that marked their negotiations with bothSmith and Childress, who bolted two weeks ago for a three-year, $20 million offer from Greek power Olympiakos, and acted immediately.
The
Hawks never waveredfrom their stance to match any offers made to Smith.
But the slow pace of the negotiations certainly made people, and Smith, wonder if they really meant what they said.
"They said, 'here it is. And if you think you're worth more than what we offered go out there and see what's going on.If you find something better we'll just try and match it,' " Smith said of the initial discussion his camp had with Sund and his team.
That led Smith to recruiting trips to Philadelphia and Los Angeles (Clippers) in the first 10 days of the NBA's free-agency period,which began July 1. But neither trip produced an offer sheet like the one the Grizzlies offered Friday.
And none of it spurred the
Hawks to offer anything more than the five-year, $45 million deal Smith turned down last October.
"After I went to Philadelphia and the Clippers, I didn't know what we were going to do. It was a dead end," Smith said."But I think for anybody that's seen me play the last four years, they've seen my talent. They know I work hard. The pressure is not an issue forme, it never was. I'm down here in Houston working hard, same as I did last year. I'm feeling good about myself, and I'm ready to prove toeverybody that I'm worth what Memphis [offered and the
Hawks will pay]."
By keeping Smith the
Hawks retain the services of a 6-foot-9, 240-pound shot-blocking terror, Smith has finished second in the league in each of the past twoseasons in blocks, that averaged 17.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.8 blocks as the No. 2 option on a playoff team.
But they also have a player who has been burned by rampant speculation about his attitude and willingness to remain with the team, rumorsfueled by anonymous sources and bolstered by the long delay between the start of the free-agent process and now.
"Anybody that's been paying attention has seen the highs and lows," Smith said. "They also know I'm a good dude.And as long as the guys I've run across in my path up to this point know about my character, I don't care what everybody else thinks because theydon't know me. But ask my teammates about me. Ask my peers around the league. And they'll tell you the truth about me."
