The Nets have made plenty of moves since free agency began July 1, but they still needed a backup small forward.
It took them a while but the Nets filled that need yesterday, when sources confirmed they had agreed to a one-year, non-guaranteed deal with free agent Josh Childress.
The Nets had been on the verge of signing free agent Donte Greene late last month before Greene injured an ankle in a pickup game in Charlotte. That opened the door for Childress, who, assuming both he and power forward Andray Blatche sign with the Nets in the near future as expected, will bring the team’s roster to 15 players.
Childress is coming off a dismal season in Phoenix, where he averaged just 2.9 points in 34 games.After signing a five-year deal with the Suns for $33.5 million in 2010, the Suns amnestied the 6-foot-8 forward in July to clear cap space to successfully claim power forward Luis Scola off waivers.
The Nets will hope that reuniting Childress with his former teammate in Atlanta, Joe Johnson, will help Childress approach the level of success he had with the Hawks. After averaging at least 10 points in each of his four seasons with the Hawks, Childress chose to sign with Greek club Olympiacos in 2008.
But Childress wasn’t the same player when he returned to the NBA and signed with the Suns in 2010, averaging 5.0 points and 2.9 rebounds in 2010-11 before falling out of Phoenix’s rotation last season.