Paul Millsap signs with Hawks

Sources: Paul Millsap, Hawks agree
Updated: July 5, 2013, 11:14 PM ET
By Brian Windhorst | ESPN.com

The Atlanta Hawks have reached an agreement on a two-year, $19 million contract with free-agent forward Paul Millsap, sources told ESPN.com.

The Utah Jazz renounced their rights to Millsap earlier Friday to clear space for a trade with the Golden State Warriors.

Millsap averaged 14.6 points and seven rebounds for the Jazz last season.

Forward DeMarre Carroll, Millsap's teammate in Utah, will follow him to Atlanta. Carroll and the Hawks agreed to a deal Friday, Carroll's agent, Mark Bartelstein, told ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard.

My Take: Two of Boston's prospective targets have signed with other teams. The only thin I can gather from this is that Boston preferred to employ big men on the cheap instead of committing significant contracts. I can't say that it is necessarily a bad course of action but time will tell if this decision pays off in the long run. I hope it does.

KJ

I don't think the Celtics intended to be significant players in the free-agent market. That's the quick-fix route, and they've established that they're taking the 3-5 year development route. There may be a big signing or trade eventually, but I don't think that was ever in the cards for this year.

Next year there will be some quality free agents. Perhaps they'll make a play then.

KJ

The Hawks have 4 players capable of playing center now:  Horford, 2013 2nd rounder Muscala out of Bucknell, 2013 #16 pick (ours, by way of Dallas) Lucas Nogueira, Zaza and Johan Petro.  Add Millsap to that and that is a bruising frontcourt.

As far as Boston's unwillingness to pick up expensive big men, we are at the hard cap.  We cannot sign, pretty much anybody, without some cap relief.  We also have too many players under contract.  Danny needs to trade 2+ players for fewer players and have the other team pick up more $ in the process. We can't even trade players, and end up adding even a few more bucks to salary, to do it.


bob


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