Atlanta Hawks

[lunateec22]

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Kita na jud ko ug link. Hehehe.

Joe Smith signs with Hawks

Joe Smith has agreed to a one-year deal with the Atlanta Hawks for the veteran's minimum, a source told ESPN's Ric Bucher on Friday.

Smith, a 6-foot-10, 225-pound center, is a 14-year veteran. He was picked No.1 overall by the Golden State Warriors in 1995 and has played for nine teams.

Smith picked Atlanta over Cleveland Cavaliers, where here played last season and which was offering the same deal.

Smith averaged 10.8 points and 5.5 rebounds with the Cavs in their first round sweep of the Detroit Pistons. He has career averages of 11.6 points and 6.7 rebounds a game.

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A look at the lineup:

PG - Bibby/Teague
SG - JJ/Crawford/
SF - Marv/Evans
PF - Smoove/JoeSmith
C - Horford/Zaza/Morris

Two more nalang. Maybe a PG and another big. It could've been sweeter if Flip Murray is still here but no regrets here.

The Atlanta Hawks are having a splendid offseason. Thanks GM Rick Sund!

[lunateec22]

Can Hawks evolve into contender?

The problem with evolution as a way to build something is that it takes so darn much time. If the general manager of an NBA team could move his club in just two or three seasons from the league's primordial slime stage to Homo erectus, everyone would subscribe to the theory. Typically, though, it takes more direct intervention -- divine, you might say, when it leads to a championship -- than just sitting back and waiting. Identifying needs, plugging roster holes, imposing a pecking order by who stays and who goes, all of that is straight out of a GM's creationism playbook.

Look, even Noah made sure he was two-deep at every position, flexing a bit of Old Testament intelligent design that some fans of the Atlanta Hawks are getting antsy for.

The Hawks, for the most part, have had a "stay-cation" summer. With Rick Sund passing his one-year anniversary as GM this offseason, Atlanta diligently has kept intact the nucleus assembled by predecessor Billy Knight. Marvin Williams ($37 million contract), Zaza Pachulia ($19 million) and Mike Bibby ($18 million) all have been locked in this summer for what in the NBA qualifies as the long term. (Another mainstay, Josh Smith, received a $58 million deal last offseason.) And Sekou Smith, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's stellar beat writer, has been reporting that the Hawks are getting closer to an extension for leading scorer Joe Johnson that might add another $64 million to the mortgage.


Joe Johnson's postseason struggles have prompted some to question his ability to lead the Hawks deep into the playoffs.


It seems only right. The Hawks dutifully gathered a bunch of talented players in the early years of this decade, the way teams are supposed to when they reel off eight consecutive lottery finishes and go 220 games under .500 for four different coaches. That crew has developed nicely, taking baby steps first from 13 to 26 to 30 victories as the principals came aboard, to toddling full throttle through the league more recently. The Hawks won 37 games and reached the playoffs in 2008, pushing eventual-champion Boston to a surprising seven games in the first round. Last spring, Atlanta jumped up to 47-35, good for the No. 4 seed in the East, and beat Miami in seven before getting swept from the second round by Cleveland.

Sund talked after that elimination about injuries, notably to Williams (wrist) and Al Horford (ankle), that stymied the Hawks against the Cavs. He was encouraged by their modest success against the four conference finalists (4-8 vs. Cleveland, Orlando, Denver and the Lakers). And he felt the team was poised to take another big step. "Yeah, I like our club," Sund told the AJC. "The only reason I say that is there's still growth from within. ... I think you still need to tweak if you can."

That's where the apprehension comes in. Taking a team from 13 to 47 victories, from lottery oblivion to the league's final eight, is one sort of task. Getting it from there to serious championship contention, to the point where excellence is expected, is a wholly different one. And doing it without a significant acquisition, the plucking of a proven difference-maker off someone else's roster, is one of sports' loftiest ambitions. At that point, you're relying on natural selection, genetic synthesis and the hope that you're already fit enough to survive.

Remember, while the Hawks were taking care of their own this summer, the league's elite teams were escalating the arms race, adding potential game-changers such as Rasheed Wallace (Boston), Shaquille O'Neal (Cleveland), Vince Carter (Orlando), Ron Artest (Lakers) and Richard Jefferson (San Antonio). Hawks coach Mike Woodson marveled recently at the moves made by the competition, while believing that his club could keep up with the Joneses. "Hell, I'd love to do the same things," he told the AJC, "but we're committed to what we're doing and it's worked for us, so I don't see any reason to change now."

Fans and critics do, at least in a couple of spots. The Hawks need a reliable big man, either to start ahead of Pachulia or at least share the center spot with him. That would allow Horford to shift to his natural position of power forward, where his size and strength would be in surplus rather than deficit. The other way to achieve that is equally shaky at the moment, dependent on third-year center Randolph Morris or some late-summer signee (Joe Smith, another shifted power forward?) to back up Pachulia.

Atlanta's other obvious need is for an alpha dog. Johnson is a scorer -- he has averaged 20.2, 25.0, 21.7 and 21.4 points since joining the Hawks in 2005-06 -- but that doesn't make him a leader. His 16.4 scoring average on 41.7 shooting in the playoffs had skeptics wondering if Atlanta had gone as far as it could with Johnson as its best player. Josh Smith, at 23, remains more of a raw talent than a polished pro. And guard Jamal Crawford, the best-known addition this summer, is another scorer with, after nine years in the league, an ominous "No Data" on his bio page where playoff experience is supposed to go.

"I think they're a middle-tier team again," an NBA scout said. "Still have a lot of talent but if you're counting on [Josh] Smith and Williams, you're only going so far. I like the Florida kid [Horford], but how many of those other guys have done anything with a team? Bibby played in good systems in Sacramento and [in college] at Arizona, but most of them spent a year or two in college. Or none [Smith]. When most of your experience is from AAU teams, it doesn't matter whether you win or lose."

It's more than just college rings, too (for the record, Horford won two NCAA titles with the Gators, Williams was a part-timer on North Carolina's 2005 winner and Bibby's Wildcats won in 1997). Personalities, pro accomplishments and age factor into a team's pecking order, too, and the Hawks look challenged in those areas as well. Horford, also 23, seems mature beyond his years. Bibby, 31, has been around several blocks. But Atlanta's core is clustered between 23 and 28, and they have taken these promising but modest steps together. They would benefit immensely from a still-lively veteran with Finals know-how.

Detroit, when it won the title in 2004 and reached the conference finals six years in a row, has been cited by Sund as a deep-but-starless team that got it right. But the danger always is getting stuck in the middle, dragging your feet as your core ages. The list of NBA champions, even when no players' names are attached, otherwise screams out future Hall of Famers. Working backward: Bryant in '09, Garnett, Pierce and Allen in '08, Wade in '06, Duncan, Parker and Ginobili three times this decade, Bryant and O'Neal three times before that, then back to Jordan, Pippen and Olajuwon. Waiting for someone like that to emerge from the ooze, stand up tall, grab a ball and take it strong to the rim can be a long, and futile, wait.

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I agree with some points, I don't agree with most. Although, overall, I really think the Hawks can use someone than Joe Johnson's capabilities as a player but I'm hoping they can surpass what the feat they did last year, or at least avoid elimination courtesy of a sweep.

Last year naman sad ron ni Woodson sa iya contract, so I hope GM Rick Sund is eyeing a candidate for the coaching position.

Still, GO HAWKS!

[choyan]

With the starting five (plus a few more) back and under contract for the foreseeable future, the Hawks have at least given themselves a fighting chance to compete with the big boys.

HAWKSVILLE - If continuity means anything in the NBA these days, the Hawks have done right by their own this summer.

Marvin Williams touched on it last week during a conversation we had the day before he signed his new contract, and again this afternoon in a teleconference with the media to discuss his new deal. A day after my initial talk with Williams, Al Horford and I discussed continuity briefly while he took a break from his work with the Basketball Without Borders program.

Dating back to last summer and extending all the way through training camp this year, the Hawks (if they can come to terms with captain and All-Star Joe Johnson on an extension) will have spent millions to keep their core in place for the foreseeable future.

“I think management is making the commitment to keep us together,” Williams said Tuesday. “And each year we’ve gotten better.”

Josh Smith’s $58 million deal was the first domino, albeit an offer sheet from Memphis to the restricted free agent power forward last summer that the Hawks matched before the ink was dry on the offer sheet. That swift move was followed up this summer with deals for Mike Bibby (3-years, $18 million), Zaza Pachulia (4-years, $19 million) and Williams (5-years, $37.5 million-base). Johnson’s 4-year extension, if signed, would be in the $64 million-range.

Full disclosure, math was never my strongest subject in school. But that’s a lot of cash spent, rightfully, on the heart, soul and guts of your team. Any team dreaming of winning big at the NBA level has to invest in its core or risk vanishing into the ether.

What the Hawks have done is neither groundbreaking nor extraordinary in the world of professional sports. But for a franchise mired in a malaise of mediocrity for the better part of a decade prior to the last 13 months, it’s a pretty impressive feat. ”Obviously, I think it’s pretty important to build on to what we’ve started,” Horford said during our phone conversation last week. And he would know, having played on successful teams every year of his college and professional career to date. “I’m glad Marv got his deal done, because we’re going to need all our guys back and ready to go this season.”

By no means does this excuse the Hawks from the responsibility of filling out the roster with quality players capable of supporting that core group. But it certainly helps that the core is in place right now - a nucleus with three wildly talented youngsters in Horford, Williams and Smith. That would be a heck of a core group by itself. So to have JJ, Bibby, Zaza, rookie Jeff Teague and even Jamal Crawford to add to the list makes the list that much more impressive. It’ll look even better with the addition of a name like Joe Smith, still in the works according to some well-placed sources that insist the Hawks won’t give up until someone pries Smith from their dead claws.

Will it win a championship in a league where the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers have stockpiled elite talent to go around Kobe Bryant and the Boston Celtics have assembled a star-studded army to battle the Lakers, Cleveland and Orlando for supremacy? No way. But the same can be said for solid young teams in places like Portland and Chicago as well. That’s just the reality of the situation.

What a rock-solid core does is give the Hawks a fighting chance to be relevant now and into the future. And despite cries for titles (things, mind you, that Hawks fans have never experienced) relevancy is the tangible goal that all teams must focus on before moving into championship mode.

Having witnessed my favorite team’s lone championship season of my lifetime (scroll down to the bottom, it’s there, I swear), I can sympathize with the desire to shed the middle ground for the higher ground. Having witnessed that championship season also made it painfully clear to me just how rare those occasions are, even when you have seemingly all the resources in the world at your disposal, that your squad actually cashes in on the big prize.

Would I trade 40 years of rooting for a a competitive or even upper-tier team for one title? Absolutely. But if I can get both, even if the titles only come once every 50 years, I’m not turning that down either. Back to my original point, and I apologize for swerving off course a bit but it is football season (and I smell a comeback season cooking in Ann Arbor), it all comes down to perspective for me.

Is it more important to be relevant and potentially a true player or not? I say stay relevant (given whatever constraints might be in place, and it’s no secret the Hawks have many) as long as you can. We’ve all seen the flip side and it’s ugly, real ugly.

Where the Hawks fit in the grand scheme of things depends on your perspective, as well. If being the fourth team in a three-team Eastern Conference race doesn’t strike you, that’s understandable. And they will have challenger for that fourth spot. But they certainly seems sure of themselves.

“I feel like people are obviously starting to respect our ball club,” Williams said during his teleconference. “People realize they are not going to come into Atlanta and get an easy win. I don’t think anybody in the league is doing that anymore. We’ve shown the last few years we can compete with anybody in the league. We certainly feel like we can compete with anybody in the league.”

Source: Same cast in place for Hawks | Hawks Blog

GO HAWKS!!!

Where Bibby is, Im a fan!!!

[lunateec22]

Where Bibby is, Im a fan!!!

Well then, you're very welcome here.

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True or False in Hawksville!

HAWKSVILLE - While we wait for this week’s transaction(s) to be completed, why don’t we dive into a quick game of True or False-Hawksville style.

True or False, Joe Smith is going to sign with the Hawks?

True. And it could happen any day (if you haven’t leaned by now how critical that phrase is around here, I can’t help you). So what’s the hold up? Well, these contracts don’t work themselves out magically. They have to be negotiated and fine-toothed by agents and attorneys and whoever else has a stake in them. It’s not rocket science on this one, a one-year deal at the veteran’s minimum (of $1.3 million). I’d tell you to be patient and that things will work out but you’ve been doing that for weeks now. Again, the deal could be finalized any day now, so stay tuned.

True or False, the Hawks are interested in adding Jason Hart to their point guard mix?

False. It was reported somewhere that the Hawks were one of three teams in the running to add the veteran to their mix. I’ve since found out that someone got it twisted. The Hawks were never in the market for Hart (or any other point guard they were interested in adding). They’ve got Mike Bibby, Jeff Teague and veteran safety net in Jamal Crawford. If the Hawks were going to add another 6-3 point or combo guard to their mix they could have retained Flip Murray rather than hitting the free agent market for someone else. And before you ask, no, they do not have designs on bringing Flip back (that’s right, no more FlipMo Squad references around here).

True or False, the Hawks will add another veteran big man or two in addition to Joe Smith?

True. And we’ve already discussed two guys in particular, Johan Petro and Jason Collins, that could be in that mix. And that doesn’t include rookie behemoth Garret Siler, who will be on the Hawks’ training camp roster. But all of those reasonable fears about this team’s size and depth on the frontline could be wiped away with the addition of any two of these aforementioned larger humans.

True or False, the Hawks’ ownership feud is officially over?

Not exactly true or false. But things took a decisive turn with Monday’s court ruling in favor of the seven-man Atlanta/Washington, D.C., contingent. The options for the other partner, Boston-based Steve Belkin, were mapped out in today’s paper. One more option Belkin has that wasn’t listed: he can just walk away from his initial investment in the teams. He wouldn’t have to pay the $25.8 million in cash calls he’s missed during the litigation but he would also have to forfeit his 30 percent ownership stake. It will be interesting to see where things go from here.

True or False, the Hawks will sign Joe Smith before Joe Johnson agrees to a contract extension?

True. Barring a sudden change in the tone I’m hearing from folks in the know, Mr. Smith will definitely beat JJ to the punch on this one. In fact, no one seems to know which way JJ is leaning since the Hawks extended their offer for an extension. We’ve already talked about the figures (4-years, $62-$64 million range). It’s a huge decision and JJ has time, it’s not like he has to decide this minute. So I didn’t expect his process to be sped up just for our sake. If nothing shakes (one way or the other) by the start of training camp … then it might be time to start wondering what the heck is going on.

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[lunateec22]

PRAISE FOR GM RICK SUND

In this edition of the NBA PM: Give the Hawks credit…Some international signings…A Michael Jordan retrospective…Scrolling through the contracts…HOOPSWORLD chats.

Rick Sund Being Crafty: It's time to give out some general manager credit to Atlanta Hawks negotiator Rick Sund. With three key pieces of the fourth-best team in the Eastern Conference last season as free agents (point guard Mike Bibby, forward Marvin Williams, and center Zaza Pachulia), Sund was able to lock all three of them up at relatively modest amounts.

Bibby cost them $18 million for three years – not bad at all for a starting point guard. Williams cost them up to $40 million over five years, with the team banking on the fact he continues to blossom and become more consistent. Pachulia cost them about $21 million over four years, solid money for a big man even if he isn't starting.

But, it's not just that Sund was able to get all three of them for less than $80 million; he also got them to agree to sign contracts that DECREASE in value in 2010-11. All three of these players will make the same amount in years one and three of their deals, but in year two is scales downward. For Williams and Pachulia, it scales upward again in year four.

Why is this significant? Because not only does it mean the trio will cost the Hawks about $2 million less in 2010-11 than in 2009-10, it also allows them to have a little bit of flexibility next summer if they want or need it.

The Hawks also reportedly have a four-year, $60 million contract extension offer on the table to All-Star guard Joe Johnson, who will be an unrestricted free agent next summer. The Hawks would love to lock him up as soon as possible, but Johnson is considering hitting the market. (tsk, tsk, tsk)

It takes quite a bit of convincing for a player to sign a contract that will decrease. Even if all three players go out and have the best seasons of their lives, they will end up making less money the next year – it's easy to see how uninspiring that might be. However, it also takes a lot of trust on the part of Hawks management to believe they can convince the players to sign that kind of deal and still bring 100% every night, knowing they will get a pay decrease.

If Sund gets Johnson to sign an extension (which given likely structure of a four-year, $60 million contract would probably mean Johnson would make less than this year's $14.98 million in 2010-11 as well) and the Hawks continue to improve as they have over the last two years, he has to be in the discussion for Executive of the Year with Toronto's Bryan Colangelo (if everything works out there as well). Sund also was able to trade Speedy Claxton and Acie Law for Jamal Crawford to strengthen the bench and bring in a big rookie point guard in Jeff Teague.

Discount the Hawks in 2009-10 at your own risk – they are quietly making themselves even better.

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With the core intact, I'm hoping these Hawks will be able to make another run for the status of "championship contender".

[tackielarla]

Hawks sign 14-year veteran power forward Joe Smith - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

Good pickup. Solid big man.

[lunateec22]

Hawks sign 14-year veteran power forward Joe Smith - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

Good pickup. Solid big man.

One more big and, I think the Hawks are set. I'm hoping it's the rookie kid Garret Siler. A 7'0 behemoth. Still raw but comes for cheap.

The Hawks are looking at Johan Petro and Jason Collins also.

[tackielarla]

Jeff Foster is also a solid big man. I'd pick him over Petro or Collins any day. If I'm not mistaken, he's a free agent...

[lunateec22]

Jeff Foster is also a solid big man. I'd pick him over Petro or Collins any day. If I'm not mistaken, he's a free agent...

I'd take him in a heartbeat also but he's still got a year left on his contract with the Pacers.

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Hawks: Are they still only fourth best in NBA’s East?


Jeff Schultz
Hawks: Are they still only fourth best in NBA’s East?

11:00 am August 26, 2009, by Jeff Schultz
Maybe you've heard: These two guys are now teammates in Cleveland.

Maybe you've heard: These two guys are now teammates in Cleveland.

In engineering one of the busiest and most successful summers in Hawks’ history, general manager Rick Sund strengthened the bench (Jamal Crawford and Joe Smith), drafted a talented guard (Jeff Teague) and retained the team’s top three free agents (Mike Bibby, Marvin Williams and Zaza Pachulia).

Only one problem: Atlanta might still be only the fourth best team in the Eastern Conference.

This week’s signing of Smith concluded the Hawks’ significant moves this off-season. Here’s my question for you: What should the expectation be?

Everybody ahead of them in the East (Cleveland, Boston, Orlando) also got better. So did some teams behind them, though probably not enough to crack the top four. Should we expect coach Mike Woodson, who will be entering the final year of his contract, to win more than one playoff series next season?

Here’s a quick recap of the top four teams in the East, with last year’s record and playoff results in parenthesis).

♦ CLEVELAND (66-16, lost to Orlando in conference finals): After being stunned by the Magic, they’ve surrounded LeBron James with significant help: Shaquille O’Neal, whose minutes presumably will be limited during the regular season so he’s stronger for the playoffs; forward Jamario Moon (from Miami) and forward Leon Powe (from Boston). They also re-signed Anderson Varajao.

♦ BOSTON (62-20, lost to Orlando in conference semis): The good news for Hawks fans is the Celtics signed Shelden Williams. But they’ve added Rasheed Wallace and re-signed Glen “Big Baby” Davis to a team that still might have been the NBA’s best last season, if not for the late-season knee injury to Kevin Garnett.

♦ ORLANDO (59-23, lost to Los Angeles in NBA finals): Atlanta’s Dwight Howard and the Magic were a blast to watch in the playoffs, particularly against the overhyped Cavaliers. Now they’ve added power forward Brandon Bass from Dallas, matched Dallas’s offer sheet to keep center Marcin Gortat and then there’s the big move – adding guard Vince Carter to play alongside Jameer Nelson. Carter hasn’t been a part of a lot of team success in his career so that will be interesting to watch. But if it works, it’ll be huge. Orlando also added a solid power forward off the bench, Ryan Anderson from New Jersey.

♦ ATLANTA (47-35): In addition to adding Crawford, Smith and Teague, and keeping Bibby, Williams and Pachulia, the Hawks traded away Speedy Claxton and Acie Law. There might be some addition by subtraction there.

So do you see the Hawks cracking the top three? There’s also a poll to the left.

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I can see the Wizards overtaking that fourth spot but I still think the Hawks can duplicate that feat this coming season.

[lunateec22]

Joe Smith: A perfect fit for Hawks

After 14 years in the NBA, Joe Smith is prepared to play the role of wise sage.

“That’s just a part of the equation when you’ve been around as long as I have,” Smith said and then laughed.

That’s in addition, of course, to playing his role in the Hawks’ playing rotation, which should stretch 10 players deep.

Smith, who signed a one-year deal for the veteran’s minimum last week, gives the Hawks an experienced two-deep rotation at all five positions.

Earlier this summer Hawks coach Mike Woodson said the team had a hole behind Josh Smith at power forward. Smith closes that hole and lends some depth at small forward in certain situations, while also being able to guard some centers in the league.

Still, one of the more valuable aspects of having him around is the influence he can have on young big men such as Smith and Al Horford in the locker room and in games.

“There isn’t much I haven’t seen during my time in the league,” said Joe Smith, the No. 1 overall pick in the 1995 NBA draft out of Maryland. “Honestly, the time has gone so fast that it’s hard to believe draft night was so long ago, but that’s why you have to take the things you’ve learned along the way and be ready to pass them on. I’m ready to do that on this team.”

Smith served in a similar capacity last season, both in Oklahoma City and Cleveland. He began the season with the Thunder, playing 36 games before being bought out and released. He played in 21 regular-season games after being picked up by the Cavaliers and saw action in 13 playoff games with the league’s best regular-season team.

He said his time with the Thunder and Cavaliers gave him plenty of training time with young teams, insight that should serve him well with a maturing Hawks team.

“I’m excited,” said Smith, 33, who will wear No. 32 with the Hawks. “I can’t wait to get started.”

More beef on the way?

Adding Joe Smith wasn’t the Hawks’ last frontcourt move of the summer. The Hawks are close to completing a deal to add veteran center Jason Collins.

Collins was in town for a workout with the Hawks two weeks ago and made a favorable impression. A 7-foot, 255-pound eight-year veteran, Collins would also sign a one-year deal at the veteran’s minimum, as Smith did.

A quality defender with a physical presence, Collins also would provide depth and insurance in the frontcourt. He spent the first six and half years of his career in New Jersey, starting 404 games at center time there. Collins was a starter on the Nets’ 2003 NBA Finals team.

Hunter coming to camp

Second-year forward Othello Hunter has committed to attend the Hawks’ training camp, which kicks off late next month.

He’ll join a growing list of camp invitees that already includes rookie free agent Garrett Siler, Frank Robinson and Courtney Sims.

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