THE SPORT COUNT

It’s official: under-rated Atlanta swingman Josh Childress will be playing in Greece next year:

Josh Childress is leaving the Atlanta Hawks for Greek club Olympiakos [...] Agent Jim Tanner said Wednesday the three-year deal was worth about $20 million after taxes. The money is guaranteed, and Childress can opt out of the contract after each year.

You’ve got to like the move from Tanner and Childress; the Hawks let the market dictate the value of both Childress and Josh Smith, and with few teams under the cap that market wasn’t looking strong.

Indeed, it was likely that should Childress opt to stay stateside, he’d be looking at a couple of years at the mid-level exception — clearly not enough for a guy ranked 55th on John Hollinger’s PER system.

The Players Association presumably approves of the move as well, with Childress sending a strong message that if a team won’t cough up reasonable cash, Europe is always an option.

The only person who won’t approve of Childress’ decision (apart from the Hawks’ front office, of course)? Stephon Marbury. Josh totally stole his ‘going to Europe’ thunder.

Posted By: Anton