From Sekou Smith’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution Hawks blog:

According to my sources, the overall interest in Josh Childress’ services this summer exceeds the level of interest from a year ago. But the same hurdles remain for any team trying to pry him away from the Hawks. He’s restricted. And any mid-level type offer from another team is sure to be matched.

The one sign-and-trade deal that has been on a low rumble throughout the past two weeks has been a proposed deal with Milwaukee, where the Hawks move Childress for a package that includes veteran big man Kurt Thomas (although, if I were the Hawks, I’d need a draft pick or something else to even consider this one).

I just can’t see moving a young player like Childress for a player that might not be in the playing rotation. The Bucks would have to add something to sweeten the pot for me. And even then, I still don’t like the idea of moving Childress to another Eastern Conference team.

The bad news came later.  In the form of a comment from Sekou and then on his Twitter feed.

On the phone with Chils, he’s going back.

I’m bummed out about this, but not devastated.  Joe Alexander looked very good last night against the Kings.  I know it was a summer league game, but he didn’t look good in any of them last year, so this must be a step in the right direction.  He has all the physical talent in the world and looks like he’ll fit in nicely with Brandon Jennings.  Also with no Childress, it should result in more minutes for Luc Richard Mbah a Moute at the three, which is a much more natural position for him.  He was forced to play way too many minutes at the four last year and while it probably made him a better defender in the short term, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea for the Bucks over the long haul.

The Bucks will likely thrust all of their focus for the next few days unto Ersan Illyasova.  He has until Wednesday to decide whether or not he’ll be staying in Europe or returning stateside.  His signing is more important than Childress’ was due to the Bucks lack of quality depth in the front court.  Once he’s resigned I’d imagine they’ll get more serious with Ramon Sessions, although they seem to be taking the “wait and see” approach rather  seriously with him.  Are they waiting for an offer sheet?  I sure hope not.  Letting other teams set the market usually goes a long way towards souring relationships between players and teams.  Don’t believe me?  Read about the recent Marcin Gortat fiasco with the Magic.  Does he sound like a happy guy?  We don’t want Sessions getting promised starter minutes somewhere else only to find out he’s coming back here to fight with Brandon Jennings and Luke Ridnour for minutes.

Nevertheless it should be an interesting few days.