The Atlanta Hawks took a big step backwards Wednesday. Sekou Smith at AJC.com reported that Hawks small forward and valuable sixth man Josh Childress has signed a 3 year, 32.5 million dollar deal to play for Greece in the Euro league.
It is the beginning of what will ultimately be the undoing of the Atlanta Hawks.
Childress averaged 
11.8 ppg in 2008, 11.1 ppg in his all too brief career in Atlanta. He was the first of a series of widely ridiculed draft picks for former Hawks GM Billy Knight. Childress never really lived up to whatever expectations Knight had, but he had developed into an overworked and undervalued sixth man, basically sharing the SF position in ‘08 with starter Marvin Williams.
The Greeks almost certainly overpayed Childress, he would never have been offered 10 million+ per year in the NBA. I can’t even to begin to speculate what kind of offer the Hawks countered with, or if they countered at all.
But whether the Europeans overpaid or not is no excuse. Losing Childress after publicly vowing to retain him (at any cost!) is only the latest blow to this ownership “group” and it’s vanishing credibility. Why, after making the playoffs for the first time in EIGHT years would the Hawks be willing to LOSE critical players and refuse to replace them?
Are they even going to try to sign Josh Smith to a long term deal?
It’s almost August. Summer League is already underway. If the Hawks brass plan on saving any face, they’ll need to get Smith signed soon. Even if they do, at this point a return to the playoffs, eight seed or not, is looking less and less likely.
