An End to (Most of) the Class of 2004 Suspense

Emeka Okafor got his deal, and it was longer than Charlotte offered last summer. Luol Deng is going to end up with even more money than the Bulls came with a year ago. Hmmm. So much for my theory that they were stuck in the past.

But wait: Josh Smith and Andre Iguodala, arguably the biggest talents -- and biggest risks -- in the '04 draft class, still don't have deals. Here's Ken Berger on Smith's situation:

There have been some reports about sign-and-trade scenarios for Hawks restricted free agent Josh Smith. There's simply no market for him at the moment, according to a person familiar with the situation. Atlanta officials have received exactly one phone call about Smith, and those talks are old news and didn't last very long. (I checked, and the Knicks have not inquired about him, nor would they have any sane reason to given that they are in serious cost-cutting mode.) The Hawks have a multi-year offer on the table for Smith that is pushing $60 million, according to a source. Smith's camp is hoping to find something better in a sign-and-trade and may very well drag out the impasse all the way through September.

Hey, at least The Philadelphia Inquirer has this: "A source close to the Iguodala negotiations said yesterday that the 76ers and Iguodala's representative were working to reach a deal."

So what's going on here? If you ask me, Smith and Iguodala were the two biggest wild cards in the 2004 deck. Okafor's a known quantity who can anchor the middle. Especially with Derrick Rose on board, Deng's free to just be a very, very good small forward of the most traditional variety. Smith seemed like a great fit for the Sixers, but they decided to go a more orthodox route with Brand. No one knows how good Iguodala really is. The teams holding their rights don't want to over-invest in potential, nor is there any pressure to with all the other teams capped out (except for the Grizzles).

Still, it's hard to imagine the ultra-coveted Smith slinking back to the disgraced Hawks at a discount. Or Iguodala not ending up with a larger deal than Philly had on the table last year, when Gilbert Arenas famously chastised him for expecting too much. It just seems like the status quo is winning out for the Class of 2004, when a few weeks back it looked like they might be in a truly historic bind. Oh well.

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