Josh Childress

Vital Info
Height: 6'8"
Weight: 210 lbs.
Position: Guard-Forward
Born: 6/20/1983
College: Stanford
Drafted: 2004 - 1st Round, 6th Overall

Player Type: Lanky, versatile 2-way guard-forward
Strengths: Childress is an insanely efficient offensive player -- his offensive ratings over his 4-year NBA career have been: 113.0 in '05, 121.3 in '06, 118.8 in '07, and 126.5 in '08. These numbers are driven by Childress' monster shooting percentages; in 2008 he shot 57.1% from the floor and had a 64.7 TS%, and his career TS% is 59.9%. Basically, Childress is a fantastic finisher inside, a very good offensive rebounder for a wing, he's adept at drawing fouls and making FTs, and he has a talent for getting easy buckets in transition. You can say that his great percentages are the result of taking nothing but easy shots, but he's constantly getting himself into position to take (and make) those easy baskets. Defensively, Childress has long arms and can be disruptive on the wing.
Weaknesses: The flip-side to Childress' great efficiency is that he can't really create shots with any regularity. His handle and floor game aren't very good, his jumper is weak with bad form, and he rarely takes shots from outside the paint, so he's a limited offensive player in that regard. He's also rail-thin and can't defend stronger players, especially inside. Because of these drawbacks, Childress will never be more than a highly-efficient NBA role player.
Favorite shot: Anything inside.

Edit: Childress eventually signed a surprising contract with Olympiakos of the Greek league, spurning the Hawks and the NBA in the process. What does this mean for American basketball? Well, it certainly shows that foreign leagues are willing to shell out major cash to compete with the NBA... but we're not looking at a WHA situation just yet. Restricted free agents like Childress can try to leverage foreign offers into better NBA deals, but I would imagine few U.S.-born players would actually be willing to pull the trigger on a similar move overseas. Childress may be an early pioneer here, but I'm willing to bet he's the exception, not the rule -- the money difference just isn't big enough to convince the typical NBAer to leave the premier league in the world for a little extra cash. Until a foreign club actually offers Kobe or LeBron $50 million/year (and they actually accept), I'm not convinced the exodus is going to involve anyone other than marginal players who would have been lucky to find a roster spot in the United States.