Kirk Hinrich

A non-tax paying team got damn close to becoming one. Atlanta's trade for Kirk Hinrich did not push them into luxury tax territory, but it did push them really, really close to it. Specifically, their tax number now stands at $70,140,069, a mere $166,932 below the luxury tax. They also have little depth on the wings now, and they have only a 14 man roster, one of whom is the unsuitable Pape Sy. So if one or two players get injured, and they need to bring in some reinforcements, they will now struggle to do so. Indeed, if they want to sign someone to a minimum salary contract for the remainder of the season, they must wait until March 12th until they can do so without becoming luxury tax payers. But then, this is the team with the third highest committed salary in the whole league. They are not fiscally responsible. Oh and additionally, how do they justifiy giving up both Crawford AND a pick?

The reason for the presence of all the small forwards on that list becomes obvious when you look at the Wizards current starting lineup. At the moment, they are starting point guard Kirk Hinrich at the small forward spot, Kurt serving as the physical manifestation of Don Nelson's Acie Law-inspired pipe dream of having a 6'3 small forward. This won't work long term, and nor will it work short term - anyone who remembers the results of Scott Skiles trying the same thing with Hinrich back in 2007 will attest to this as being the truth.

Unfortunately, Washington made news earlier in the day as well by agreeing to acquire Kirk Hinrich and the Bulls first rounder (17th overall) in exchange for essentially nothing at all. Washington will have lots of cap space this summer, and an unspoken understanding that no elite free agents will want to use it, so they've decided to use it via trade. It's a decent strategy, but unfortunately, it's not a decent trade. Kirk Hinrich might be worth his money to a competitive team looking for a final piece at guard (and with bad salary to send out in return), but Washington takes only the negatives of his deal with nothing more than a non-lottery first for compensation. Consider for a moment that Miami traded the #18 and Daequan Cook for the #32 only this week, and this trade pales in comparison. Hinrich is a much loved individual, described in more depth here, but he's not good enough to justify this.

It doesn't change the Wall pick, but it does kill the jubilation. When you've got Kirk Hinrich, do you need John Wall any longer? Yes. Yes you do. More than ever, in fact.

Rumours also abound via Greek media that Washington are about to sign Josh Childress to an offer sheet. If true, the Wizards cap room is now largely burned on a backcourt/wing squadron of Wall, Arenas, Hinrich, Childress and Nick Young, with no room left for Mike Miller and no need any more for Randy Foye, Shaun Livingston or Earl Boykins. (NB; I had assumed that Van Gundy would say "the big thing is what will they do with Earl Boykins" after Wall's selection, without a hint of irony. Alas, he did not.) This isn't a bad setup, but it means the majority of their cap room is now gone, and the frontcourt still barely exists. Hinrich can defend and thus fills a need, but he doesn't fill it enough to justify his salary; the guy will be a backup earning over $8 million. Ernie Grunfeld simply just overvalued him.

Most Bulls offseason plans out there involve finding ways to trade Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich. The duo have been with the Bulls for a combined 13 years - it's hard to get your head around that sometimes - and yet part of the reason why they're still here are their contracts. The duo are good players, good citizens and decent young veterans, yet they're also overpaid. Walding's contract, directly negotiated by Jerry Reinsdorf, is a year too long and about $3 million annually too much. He's a fine player, averaging 18/7 with good and versatile defense at the age of only 25 - however, he's paid to be a second option when he's really a third one, a non-athlete without much of a dribble and a tendency to miss games due to injury. So despite his talents and deferred salary, he's still slightly overpaid. We understand that.

Meanwhile, Kurt - pictured above performing the whitest dance in history - is further overpaid. His 5 year, $47.5 million extension that he signed back in October 2006 was always ambitious, but while it initially looked pretty good after a career year in 2006-07, it's only gotten worse after that. Hinrich was paid to be a starting point guard, and now he isn't one. Now, he's a backup point guard pretending to be a shooting guard. And his price does not reflect this.

Here's the thing, though. Due to the passage of time, Kirk Hinrich's contract has only two years left to run. And no two year contract can ever be that bad. If a guy is overpaid, but has only two years remaining, you're only a year away from them being a highly useful expiring contract. There is no such thing as a disastrous two year contract. Some are better than others, obviously, but none are beyond reproach. Even Rashard Lewis will become tolerable once that day comes.

Furthermore, Kirk is more than just a contract; he is useful as a player to boot. We moan about him because of his salary, but we also understand his strengths, as should you. He is being paid $9 million to do $5 million's worth of work, but the defense is legitimately good, and the jumpshot is good too. Kirk's a ball-dominant point guard who has been forced to try to adapt as an off-the-ball scorer with the introduction of Derrick Rose, and it's been difficult for him to do - it's not helped that he's lost about 30% of his athleticism, never could make layups, and is about as useful in the clutch as a chip pan in a forest fire. But he can play. It is not a dead weight contract. And with his "gritty" "tenacious" "hustling" "leadership", it's a contract that won't overly deter teams. It certainly hasn't deterred the Bulls, who have declined trade offers for him on a couple of occasions because of his perceived worth to them on the court.

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In the returning package, Utah gets Kirk Hinrich, an incredibly Jerry Sloan-friendly player. Hinrich rarely makes mistakes, plays tough defense (using all the tricks of the trade in the process), is a good citizen, quiet but authoritative, confident without having embarrassing swag, and tries to kill anyone who pushes him over. He can shoot, defend and run the pick and roll, and he even hit some clutch jumpshots last year, which was unexpected and thoroughly welcome. There are not many better backup point guards in the league.

(They were also pretty determined to shift Kirk Hinrich, but found that there wasn't much of a market for a 29 year old backup calibre guard with no obvious position, earning $9.5 milion to shoot 38% in the worst season of his career. This is perhaps unsurprising. But Kurt is awesome, so we'll be fine with keep him for a bit longer.)