Fri Jul 03, 2009 9:25 am EDT
Milwaukee officials meet with Josh ChildressThe Milwaukee Bucks are in the market for a replacement for traded forward Richard Jefferson(notes). Could Josh Childress(notes), of the Atlanta Hawks, be that man? The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported Childress met with representatives of the Bucks Thursday.
Childress played last season with Olympiakos in Greece and has until July 15 to decide if he wants to opt out and return to the National Basketball Association. The Atlanta Hawks still hold his league rights and could match any offer made by another team.
According to the report, the 26-year-old Childress left Atlanta on difficult terms last summer, however, when he signed a three-year, $20 million deal with Olympiakos. It is possible he could sign an offer sheet with another NBA team, and the Hawks would then match it and work out a sign-and-trade arrangement.
It's unclear what assets the Hawks might be seeking from Milwaukee, but Hammond acquired two expiring contracts from San Antonio (Bruce Bowen(notes) and Kurt Thomas(notes)) in last week's trade that sent Richard Jefferson to the Spurs. The Bucks also have point guard Luke Ridnour's(notes) $6.4 million expiring contract.
According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Childress was in Atlanta on Sunday to speak with Hawks officials. He indicated he would explore his NBA options before deciding whether to return to Greece for a second season.
The 6-foot-8 Childress, the sixth overall pick in the 2004 draft, might fill a Bucks need at small forward, one created with Jefferson's departure.
Childress averaged 11.8 points and 4.9 rebounds in his last NBA season, appearing in 76 regular-season games.
based on all that, im sure he'll be back in the nba soon after his less than successful "im not signing in atlanta for such little pay", im worth more than that" stint in greece...
I can't really see him as a starter on any NBA team.... but nevertheless it would be good seeing him on court again!
IMO he should have stuck around. In another 2-3 seasons in the NBA he could've definately been a starter.
He was doing some great things off the bench, just needed to further develop the jumper and passing skills and he could definately be a good starter in the NBA.
His problem was he was far too impatient.
I mean c'mon, any forward who averages 12 and 5 off the bench while shooting 57% (in his last NBA season) deserves a shot at starting, just have some damn patience boy!
Cavaliers general manager Danny Ferry and head coach Mike Brown flew to Los Angeles on Sunday to begin courting undisclosed free agents.
Agent Dan Fegan, who represents both Anderson Varejao and Shawn Marion, is based in Los Angeles and often conducts negotiating sessions there.
It is also possible that Cleveland is looking to meet with Josh Childress, who makes his offseason home in Los Angeles.
From Cleveland Plain Dealer....
According to most of the greek media, Josh Childress is going to stay for another season with Olympiakos. The american small forward decided not to take up the offer of the Milwaukee Bucks for 5.5 million dollars per season and decided to stay with Olympiakos and the 6.5 million dollars contract of his for next season.
Childress didn't want to Atlanta and since he couldn't get what he wanted in Milwaukee he decided to stay with Olympiakos. The greek team will now be changing their transfer targets and probably acquire an american point guard and power forward now that they can sign one more non-european player.
Josh Childress is going back to Greece.
The former Hawks swingman said he is returning to Olympiakos for the 2009-10 season and will not opt out of his contract and return to the NBA.
“I still have some unfinished business to tend to,†Childress said by phone early Tuesday morning. “I definitely have unfinished business in Greece.â€
Childress had a Wednesday deadline to notify Olympiakos of his intentions to either come back for a second season overseas or return to the NBA.
A restricted free agent this summer, Childress said his representatives spent the past two weeks in discussions with the Hawks and several other teams about potential sign-and-trade deals that would have allowed him to return to the NBA this season, but could never get the Hawks to sign off on any of the proposed deals.
“At the end of the day it’s a business,†Childress said. “I was in basically the same situation last summer. Again, it’s a business and you have to treat it as such.â€
Childress, 26, left for Greece last summer in a groundbreaking move for a restricted free agent of his stature. He signed a three-year, $20 million deal with Olympiakos, a deal that included an opt-out clause at the end of each season that would allow him to return to the NBA.
The sixth pick in the 2004 NBA draft, Childress spent his first four seasons with the Hawks. He averaged 11.1 points and 5.6 rebounds 285 career games with the Hawks, including 67 games as a starter. He finished sixth in the voting for the NBA’s sixth-man award in his final season with the Hawks two years ago, the franchise’s first playoff season in decade.
The Hawks own his NBA rights and will continue to do so, provided they extend him a qualifying offer again next summer. His status as a restricted free agent allows the Hawks to match any offers made to him by other NBA teams.
Milwaukee and Charlotte made strong plays for Childress. He made a visit to Milwaukee the first week of the free agent negotiating period. But in the end, none of the deals worked out.
“When I left Greece to come back [here to the U.S.], I had it in my head that was going back to Greece no mater what,†Childress said. “Then when I got home and had my feet on the ground for a couple of days, I really wanted to explore my options and see what was out there. It was 50-50 from there.â€
Now that he knows he’s going back to Greece, Childress said he can finish what he started. A sports hernia injury sidelined him for a long stretch of Olympiakos’ season. Still, he returned in time to help his team to a spot in the Euroleague Final Four and a spot in the Greek League championship series.
“My team did well, but there’s no question, I didn’t have the year I wanted to have,†Childress said. “And with that being said, I have some serious work left to do in Athens. That was part of my decision to go back, as well.â€
It helped, he said, that Olympiakos made it clear that they wanted him back for another year.
“They let me know as soon as the season was over that they waned me back,†he said. “With me not having the best year I could have, it says a lot about the commitment they made to me that they didn’t hesitate to let me know that. It shows me they have a lot of respect for their players.â€
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