After looking at the different angles the Hawks could take during the NBA Trade Season, who are the potential targets about whom teams would call Danny Ferry?
Head over to the fantastical Sham Sports if you'd like to be witness to the cap-friendly contracts I have been typing about previously.
Here are some potential targets other teams could be calling the Hawks about:
Al Horford (2 years remaining, 24 million dollars owed):
Hmmm....a highly productive center-type player with an amazing attitude and little ego for a price that one would have to pay a player a rung or two down from him?
You can bet most teams are asking Danny if Al is part of their long term plans.
Paul Millsap (1 year remaining, 9.5 million owed):
Millsap has proven to be all that he seemed to be in Utah, and more for Atlanta. He has been the aggressive player that Hawks fans have hoped Horford would be on a more consistent basis.
He has done so while showing an offensively diverse game -- he and Horford have proven to be a tough frontcourt combination.
Still, what's the endgame with Paul? He's a year older (age 28 season) than Horford and only signed through next season. He signed the type of deal that makes him an automatic target of contending teams wishing to add while not taking on a ton of additional cap space.
Or, he could be a David West type find for the Hawks and they could make him part of the core moving through the next few seasons.
Jeff Teague (3 years remaining, 24 million owed):
Throw dove into the lake that is Jeff Teague earlier this month and made some excellent points about his value and perhaps selling high on the emerging point guard.
The Hawks drafted Dennis Schröder in the first round this past season, and wouldn't have done so if Ferry didn't see Dennis as a potential floor general down the road.
If Horford is off limits, then Teague is second only to Millsap as potentially holding the most value as a trade chip.
Louis Williams (1 year remaining, 5.45 million owed):
Hard to believe we're already looking at next season being Lou's last in the ATL, potentially. Williams is coming off his ACL tear from last season and is having his least efficient season since his rookie season.
Lou is taking more threes this season than he ever has and his free throw rate the lowest ever. This could be due to the knee injury or Coach Bud's system, hard to say. But the result is a less efficient Lou, who drove a considerable amount of his value by getting to the free throw line, which he's doing almost three times less than he did in Philadelphia.
Another team could find Lou's offensive previous proficiency and inexpensive and short contract as a nice target for them to move themselves forward in the playoffs.
Everyone else:
Kyle Korver is signed for little more than 17 million for the next three seasons in decreasing annual increments and has proven his worth time and again with his long range prowess.
DeMarre Carroll has proven to been quite excellent for his low price (one more season @ 2.4M) and would be an as excellent a rotational piece as he has been for the Hawks this season.
Schröder and his draft pick kin (John Jenkins, Mike Scott, Lucas Nogueira) aren't likely to go anywhere as they are the kind of young, controllable, cap-friendly rosterees that GMs like Ferry find quite valuable). Still, there's a price on anyone, should someone be very motivated, but that's not the likely in-season trade shopper.
Elton Brand is only signed through this season and could be wanted, but the yield cannot be expected to be high.