DEVELOPING STORY: Suns Picking Up Hedo And Childress...?

The FAN590 in Toronto is reporting that Hedo Turkoglu is almost on his way from the Raptors to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Leandro Barbosa.

But, wait, the Suns aren't done...

Michael Cunningham of the AJC is reporting a sign-and-trade is in the works involving Josh Childress. Childress would be signed, according to Cunningham for a six-year, US$30-million deal ((at least)). The Hawks would get the ever popular second-round draft pick and a "trade exception."

The exception is kind of like an insurance policy against any salary cap overage.

Whatever Childress is signed to on a per-year basis, the Hawks can use half of that number to count toward matching any salary figures if another trade or free agent signing doesn't match up just right...

Got all that...???

Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic has the deals like this:

Barbosa and Dwayne Jones to Toronto for Turkoglu.
The Raptors then send Jones and their trade exception to Charlotte for Boris Diaw.
The Hawks have to have Childress opt out of his Greek contract with Olympiakos before Wednesday to make all of this work.

More when we know more...

Childress Stays In Greece For Another Season

((HT: CBSSports))

Josh Childress said Friday the Atlanta Hawks' "hardball" negotiations forced him to return for a second season in Greece with Olympiakos.

Childress ((pictured, thanks flickr.com)) signed a three-year, $20 million deal with Olympiakos last year after scoring in double figures in each of his four seasons with the Hawks.

The Hawks retained rights to Childress, who as a restricted free agent could negotiate with other NBA teams. Meanwhile, Childress also faced a Wednesday deadline to commit to his return to Greece.

Childress and his agent, Jim Tanner, said in a telephone interview on Friday that they visited Milwaukee and had interest from other teams. They said those teams couldn't reach an agreement with the Hawks.

"I knew I didn't have a ton of time and honestly didn't want a ton of time," Childress said, referring to this week's deadline with Olympiakos. "If [the Hawks] wanted to get something done it would get done early."
The Hawks will again retain the NBA rights to Childress after next season. Childress said "it's not out of the question at all" for him to return to Atlanta.

"I just think there needs to be some kind of agreement where both parties meet in the middle," he said. "This idea of hardball is kind of old. I'm not the type of guy that's gonna bad mouth and do all the other things. I've kind of been the kind of guy who wants to move forward and get something done."

Hawks coach Mike Woodson said on Monday he would welcome the return of Childress.

"I'd accept him with open arms, without a doubt," Woodson said.

Childress said he was open to a return to Atlanta.

"The Hawks were definitely in my scope," he said. "I spent four years there. I'm familiar with the team and the organization. I'm familiar with the city. I still have a home there. I think it just came down to whether or not I felt like negotiations would move forward with them. I really didn't, just being quite honest."

Tanner said his hope was to find Childress a home with another NBA team.

"I would say with a couple of teams in particular we went pretty far down the road, in both cases talking about sign-and-trade transactions," Tanner said.

"We did have a visit to Milwaukee. We had extensive conversations with other teams."

Tanner wouldn't reveal details of any sign-and-trade offer to the Hawks.

Childress averaged 13.3 points and 3.6 rebounds for Olympiakos.

Childress, from Stanford, was the No. 6 overall pick by Atlanta in the 2004 NBA Draft. He started in a career-high 44 games as a rookie and averaged 10.1 points.

He averaged a career-high 13.0 points in the 2006-07 season. He played in 76 games, all in a reserve role, while averaging 11.8 points in the 2007-08 season.

Hawks Lose Childress to Greece

Hawks' fans...you no longer have to worry about the status of free agent forward Josh Childress.

He's decided he wants to eat falafel in the original Athens...Greece, that is...not the home of Sanford Stadium and R.E.M.

Childress confirmed the deal to Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Sekou Smith this morning.

"It's official, I just signed," Childress said by phone Wednesday morning from Athens, where he and agent Jim Tanner will be until Friday. "I think it was . . . a situation where I didn't know who/what to expect coming in, coming over to Athens. But it's a great city and a great organization. They do whatever they can to make you feel at home."

The deal is the most lucrative current contract in European basketball (worth more than $20M reportedly), and is the biggest in Euroleague history. Not bad from a boy from Stanford. Childress will be playing for Olympiakos, as you can see their logo below...

You can read the rest of Smith's AJC article hyah...

I wonder if the Kid-N-Play look will jive in Greece. Who knows...

Good luck, Josh.

It's Greek to me!

Times They are a Changin'

Came across an interesting story on Yahoo.com. Or let me rephrase it, brother Jon did. Apparently Atlanta Hawks Restricted Free Agent Forward Josh Childress (the guy who looks like Kid from Kid-n- Play) has recieved a serious offer for a contract from a Professional Team in Greece. So serious in fact that he's actually considering it.

See the Yahoo story right hyah

Interesting thought process here and a good topic to discuss as the foreign sports leagues try and step up to compete with their American competition. This has been pretty common with Hockey and you hear all the time about the NBA signing guys who played overseas, but like the rest of you, this is the first time we've heard of it going the other way.

What sayeth ya'll?