NY Times: A Conversation With Josh Childress

Augmenting the story Ben linked to in this FanShot, Pete Thamel conducts the lengthiest interview with Childress I've yet seen published.

A taste...

WHAT’S YOUR CONTRACTUAL SITUATION WITH THE HAWKS?

The interesting thing is that I’m on their books for like $10 million. It makes it tough on them to keep my rights. Even though they’re not paying me, I’m on their cap.

If I stay all three years, I don’t think I’d be Hawks property. But by then, they would probably have to waive me or trade my rights. They have a lot of guys that they have to sign. They have to sign Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, Al Horford, Acie Law. They’re going to need that money; they’re going to have to trade me or waive me. And once that happens, it makes the process so much easier.

DO YOU FEEL YOU OUTSMARTED THE SYSTEM?

[Laughs.] I wouldn’t say I outsmarted the system, but I found a little loophole. I can’t take all the credit. Olympiacos made the initial contact. I think it’s something that’s going to force a change in the collective bargaining agreement. It’s going to be difficult for some teams to match teams in Europe.