Well, we don’t know what has actually been offered. Until next week, all offers are unofficial and the Warriors cannot comment. It’s only if an agent leaks something that we hear about it, and those aren’t particularly reliable.

Generally, I’d rather have the young guy in Smith, who well could wind up being better than Brand.

But it’s a moot point. Smith is a restricted FA; ATL loves him and they’ll match offers. An offer they wouldn’t match would be too much to spend on him. It has nothing to do with Mully not taking him. It’s that he’s not really available. He doesn’t control his destiny. Brand may be available. Giving an offer just to see ATL match doesn’t make much sense because it ties up the cap space while ATL decides to match (a way of them saying ‘frakk you for forcing our hand, now you wait a week to get your cap space back’).

But don’t knock Brand so quickly. Brand, if he’s back from injuries, is surprisingly athletic for a guy his size. Don’t confuse monster jumping dunks with ‘athletic.’ Brand real nice touch with his jumper. Smith is still somewhat erratic and hasn’t learned great shot selection. Brand’s been a better rebounder and a adequate shot blocker and he’s not a lane clogger.

Hollinger has a great article today about all the possiblities available in FA now, specifically with the Warriors and regard to Smith and possibly Childress.

I still doubt whether Philly’s $12 million in cap space is enough to make the Hawks back off matching a deal with Smith, but Golden State’s treasure chest is another story. The Warriors could max out Smith and frontload the deal, and his open-court game would be perfect in Don Nelson’s system.

Of course, if the Hawks do retain Smith, one has to think that Childress will become even more poachable. A good strategy for both Philly and Golden State is to pursue Smith, then switch to Childress if the Hawks match the Smith offer. I greatly doubt they’ll shell out for both.