roundhouse wrote:
Great, great point.

I honestly can't imagine what other teams were offering. Were the Knicks also offering a max deal? That would have been the same as Amare, right? So like $100 million for JJ from the Knicks?

Yeah the Garnett comparison was better, for sure. Love doesn't apply as much. But as many have said we might be in a similar position before long to have overpay to keep him.

As for the "why" question... Either NY or someone else offered him less than max or the Hawks offered the max to ensure he wouldn't bolt or even visit with another team. Hawks GM says "here is your max offer, but if you visit with another team you lose it." This is what happened when Phoenix signed Nssh away from Dallas. Phoenix made him the huge offer but only gave him 24 hours to accept, as detailed out in the Don Nelson court trial transcript. Cuban then didn't raise it.

There is equal pressure put on the player, it isn't a loosy goosy negotiation with unicorns and cotton candy involved. If an owner were to make an offer like that he would expect good faith and loyalty in return.

Sort of like Rudy Gay cancelling his visit here and elsewhere b/c Memphis bidded high to retain him before he could even visit with anyone.

This seems as accurate as we can guess.

Good points WW. That sounds about right to me.