On Wednesday, July 14 the Phoenix Suns acquired former Atlanta Hawk Josh Childress in a sign-and-trade deal. Childress is 6’8, 210 and has spent the last two seasons playing in Greece after coming to a stalemate with the Hawks over a new contract. Childress played for Olympiakos and led the team in scoring at over 15 points per game last season. As compensation, the Hawks will get the Suns 2012 second round draft pick. Childress signed a five year, 34 million contract.
After signing Joe Johnson to a max contract the Hawks had no room to sign Childress. Childress had an NBA out in his contract with Olympiakos in which he could leave but the deadline was Thursday. He originally signed a three year, 20 million dollar deal with Olympiakos. Childress is 27, the sixth pick in the 2004 draft. With the Hawks, Childress played shooting guard. In Phoenix, he will add even more depth to the best second unit in the league.
This is a really interesting addition. Childress is a exceptional defender, and a career 52 percent shooter. There’s no doubt with his youth and slight build he’ll be a natural in the Suns run-n-shoot offense. The Suns are getting him at a bargain rate since some of the money for his salary comes from the trade exception the Suns got from the sign and trade with Amare Stoudemire going to the Knicks.
Childress will replace Leandro Barbosa as the backup to Jason Richardson at shooting guard. He showed promise in Atlanta which is why they chose him with the sixth pick. The acrimonious split between the Hawks and Childress can either be attributed to 1) Childress overestimating his worth. 2) Management not wanting to open the proverbial wallet. 3) A combination of both. I’m going to go with option three.
Childress graduated from Stanford so i’m giving him credit as a smart man. As a 24-year old kid, however, he probably was a little too cocky for his own good. Hopefully, two seasons in Europe learning the fundamentals of international play has provided some polish to his game. If it has, he could be one of the steals of this free agent season. Aside from the Hawks themselves, who else do we really think had Childress on their watch list? Kudos to the Suns for their forward thinking and here’s hoping Childress lives up to his potential.
Original Story:
http://www.sunszoo.com/2010/07/suns-s...
