How is Childress soft? Better per minute rebounds (including much better offensive rebounds per minute), same blocks per minutes as Pierce. For a SF, that is not bad at all.
Add to that a true shooting % of 60, and the guy is very effective.
The only problem is that I think that one of the reasons he didnt resign with Atlanta is that he wanted more than the MLE, which means that I think Atlanta would match the MLE, and he wouldnt take it.