[QUOTE]K-hmmm... pa dobro, ovaj... jel moram opet ja gnjavit s tim da je to jedna najnormalnija stvar na svijetu? Pa nije prošlo valjda ni tjedan dana od zadnji put

[QUOTE]a nama otezavaju potpisivanje amarea nagodinu

[QUOTE] John Gambadoro
Special for azcentral.com
Jul. 15, 2005 09:30 AM


Joe Johnson has told people close to him that he wants to part ways with the Phoenix Suns and play for the Atlanta Hawks. Johnson is convinced that he cannot be an All-Star playing behind Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion and Steve Nash and that he if goes to Atlanta he can be the focal point of a young team on the rise. Johnson is expected to sign a five-year, $70 million dollar offer sheet from Atlanta next week and hopes that the Suns don''t match. That way he could team with Josh Smith, Josh Childress and Marvin Williams on a team that would feature four good young players under the age of 24. And being from the South, he would be playing closer to home. Johnson is apparently furious that the Suns did not take care of his contract status last year, opting instead to sign Quentin Richardson and then offering him less than a maximum deal this month.

Johnson should take a close look at Stephon Marbury, who seemed to have the perfect situation playing besides Kevin Garnett in Minnesota but because of jealousy and wanting to be "the man" left a great opportunity to branch out on his own only to have his career go nowhere. The Suns will likely match the offer to Johnson, but could be facing some tough decisions in the second year of that contract when they most likely would be above the tax threshold and face a luxury tax. The contracts of Stoudemire, Marion, Nash, Johnson, Kurt Thomas and Raja Bell will total about $60 million in 2006. The tax threshold will come in right around that level, meaning the Suns will either have to trade one of those players or risk paying the dollar-for-dollar tax on the remaining seven players'' salaries. Thus, matching the offer, while it seems like a no-brainer, will actually take some thought and could have additional ramifications...