To Extend Or Not To Extend « NBA.com | Hang Time Blog Page 1 of 3

To Extend Or Not To Extend October 4, 2010 · 10:36AM

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Please forgive the headline writers for going all Billy Shakespeare on us this morning (hey, it was staring right at ‘em, they couldn’t resist). But the Hawks are facing a classic quandary regarding two of their most important players. Do they extend one player at the expense of further agitating another? That is the question. Larry Drew ‘s first training camp as head coach of the is entering the frisky stages for reasons that have nothing to do with the game of basketball. The facts: Jamal Crawford wants a contract extension or a trade . Al Horford is going to get a lucrative extension worked out sometime in the next couple of weeks, well deserved by the way, which will no doubt infuriate the Crawford camp (since they haven’t been able to engage in serious talks about either of his requests with Hawks management since asking about it in July). The reigning Sixth-Man of the Year award winner, Crawford isn’t the only player coming off of a stellar season that is unhappy with his contract situation. Houston The reigning Most Improved Award winner, Rockets point guard Aaron Brooks , like Crawford a Seattle native, isn’t pleased that the Rockets aren’t interested in negotiating a new deal . Both sides make understandable cases. Crawford and Brooks want security in advance of a new collective bargaining agreement that might not be favorable to the players. Both the Hawks and Rockets have to be cautious in how much they spend for the very same reasons, the uncertainty of the next CBA. They could end up overpaying wildly for players (Horford does not qualify, he’s a 24-year-old All-Star and arguably the second best player in his draft class behind Kevin Durant ) that wouldn’t command the same dollars on free agent market with a different set of parameters designed to benefit the teams. While Hawks Rick Sund has remained silent on his process with both Crawford and Horford, Rockets GM Daryl Morey has provided some wonderfully plain language that should be easy for anyone to follow : “We’re not doing extensions,” Morey said. “Quite a few guys on the team are up for extensions. Just policy-wise, we’re not doing it. “Obviously, every player would want an extension. I don’t blame them for that. All we can do is the best for the Rockets. They’re doing the best for themselves. Make sure they know the reason we’re doing it has nothing to do with how you value the player or anything like that. It’s just we’re trying to keep ourselves as flexible as possible going forward.” What would you do?

To extend or not to extend, that is the question. What would you do?

Extend Al Horford. It's a no-brainer for the Hawks to make sure they keep him in the fold for as long as they possibly can.

Extend Jamal Crawford. The reigning Sixth Man of the Year needs to be rewarded for helping the Hawks join the Eastern Conference elite.

Extend Aaron Brooks. The Rockets need Brooks at the helm if they are to return to the playoff ranks in the Western Conference.

All of the above.

Extend Horford but Crawford and Brooks will just have to wait.

Vote

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Like 0 Share Category: Uncategorized / Tags: , Aaron Brooks , Al Horford , Daryl Morey , Jamal Crawford , Kevin Durant , Larry Drew , Rick Sund , Shakespeare / 3 Comments / You can leave a response , or trackback from your own site. 3 Comments bigmike902 says: October 4, 2010 at 8:17 pm

http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2010/10/04/to-extend-or-not-to-extend/ 10/5/2010 To Extend Or Not To Extend « NBA.com | Hang Time Blog Page 2 of 3

hawks are gonna make stupid desicion and not re-up crawford. with out crawford they dont have a chance at making it past first round of playoffs. he was the spark that pushed them to 50 wins and their best season in years. he is their jason terry to dallas. u dont re-up this guy his production is going down im predicting Reply Jadm14 says: October 4, 2010 at 8:50 pm I don’t know if Jamal Crawford nor Aaron Brooks need an extension or that their extension would secure their teams that is going to be a succes (either with CBA or their performances) but i do know that the Hawks should secure Al Horford because he’s the main rising star in Atlanta. He’s already an All-Star and has excellent work ethic so it’s a secure investment. In the Jamal Crawford and Aaron Brooks cases, Hawks and Rockets GM’s should work out something with them (extend, trade or cut) before it’s too late and they damage their respective teams chemistry. Reply will says: October 5, 2010 at 3:58 am The funny thing is i dont think the hawks should extend crawford, because you will guarantee to overpay him, However, the stupid thing is if you do not extend him you weaken your team and make the signing of joe johnson even more miserable, because now you take yourself out of contension and make yourself a little weaker both in the short term and long run. I see it as a lose lose for hawks. They ruined it with the joe johnson signing, and really put themselves in a very tight situation for the next 5 years. Reply

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