Hawks really don't need the pioneer Childress

Atlanta Hawks forward Josh Childress laid down his ace of spades this week — an all expenses paid trip to Greece. All he has to do is agree to play basketball for Olympiakos a Greek team in the Euroleague, and they will pay him $20 million tax free over three years.

Childress would be the biggest American name in to say no to an NBA contract and take one overseas instead. We can call Childress a pioneer if he makes the move. It would give others like him a new magazine of ammo and international teams that play in countries with western cultures will know NBA players can be had. Not just the rejects, but bona the fide stars. David Stern has been obsessed with the globalization of the game. But for the most part it’s been a one-way pipeline. We show them the game is cool and in turn they send us their best players.

That notion is changing. The dollar isn’t the powerhouse it once was and neither is NBA basketball. There are a lot of rich team owners abroad too, rich enough to shell out American dollars, or even better, tax-free Euros.

Right now the NBA still has prestige on its side, the big stars are still going to sell Nikes. But if Childress goes abroad and finds that its not so bad out there, companies won’t be far behind him. Interested in globalization? Well, this is part of it. The United States is just one of many countries in the world, andif there’s going to be globalization, we’re going to be one of the biggest forces behind it. That doesn’t just mean us benefiting from them. They're also going to benefit from us. For Olympiakos that means getting a 25-year-old swingman that has helped turnaround the once decrepit Hawks by averaging 11 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.

Atlanta just has to hope that Childress is not a pioneer. They have to hope that he doesn’t want to go that far away from home, even for nearly $7 million tax-free dollars a year. They have to hope he doesn’t want to etch his name in history.

Even though he’s already been to South Africa with the NBA Without Boarders program, even though he’s been a mentor with the Young Black Scholars and even though he left Stanford early but enrolled in Georgia State upon coming to town, they have to hope they were wrong about him being a leader.

It looks like the NBA is on the verge of a paradigm shift.

But wait…Maybe the truth is Childress is just more valuable to Olympiakos than he would be to the Hawks. Maybe blazing a trail has nothing to do with it. Childress grew up learning about a free-market economy right? Maybe this is nothing but pure economic force. Simple supply and demand. The Hawks are in supply of swingmen, Olympiakos is demanding one. International teams have been giving the NBA big men for years. They’re in short supply over here. Atlanta needs one now.

If they played tomorrow, without Childress, but had Josh Smith, Mike Bibby would be at the point and Joe Johnson at the two. Marvin Williams can play the three. Not bad. Where the real problem comes in is Josh Smith and Al Horford are both power forwards and one of them is going to have to play center. That’s Atlanta’s real problem.

So, good luck in Greece Josh, the pioneer. But remember one thing. Atlanta has your rights if you end up wanting to come back after this year or the next.