Quickie Hawks Free Agent Update

With the latest in non-Hawks signings this past week, let's take a look at how those moves might impact the Hawks.

Lamar Odom signs with the Lakers:

Obviously, this was good for the Hawks because the main competition for Odom's services was in Miami--fortunately the lure of "riding Kobe's coattails" and being an "apostle" in Los Angeles was stronger than the attraction of South Beach and Dwayne Wade and becoming part of what might be an epic sequel to a "memorable" first round playoff series last year.

Too bad.

Hakim Warrick signs with the Bucks:

It's the size of the contract, the 1 year-3 million dollar type, that interests the HHB because such a small deal for a player of Warrick's productivity and youth should positively influence the price range of the Hawks' alleged target, Joe Smith. If the Hawks didn't want to pay Smith the same deal as some of the other players in his price range, then surely a much younger, more productive player getting such a small deal should help the Hawks position.

Warrick signed with Milwaukee despite reportedly being chased by the Cavaliers, who may now turn their attention to the services of former Celtic Leon Powe. Powe has the highest PER of any unrestricted free agent remaining unsigned on the list.

Drew Gooden signs with Dallas

This hurt for a couple of reasons. One is that is was a very affordable deal (1 year 4.5 million plus incentives) for a player that is still young, very productive, and fills the largest Hawks need (rebounding) and the Birds weren't involved (But CLE, SAS, and CHA were). Two is that it's the kind of signing that teams that are serious about going further in the playoffs seem to make (see McDyess/Ratliff to the Spurs, Marion/Gooden to the Mavs, etc.).

While the Hawks are still sitting on their bag of magic MLE beans, the Cavs are racing to sign the last remaining talent on the market that could aid their championship. That the Bobcats were in pursuit of Gooden and not the Hawks tells you what Sekou Smith validated earlier---the Hawks aren't interested in even spending three million dollars on another role player, much less would it would have taken to get Drew Gooden.

As it stands, there are few unrestricted free agents of a productive nature left to sign, fewer still that could help in the frontcourt. Your move, Atlanta.


Time to update the Big Free Agent Board--please remember to follow the color coded maps and signs to recognize the teams that these fine gentlemen have selected. Here is the updated list of free agents for 2009 with their corresponding PER (Hawks players in bold; Attempted to highlight in the team's colors that the free agents choose--and please secure all loose items before reading.)

David Lee (RFA)	19.07
Nate Robinson (RFA)	18.95
Paul Millsap (RFA)	18.77
Andre Miller	18.71
Charlie Villanueva	18.64
Chris Anderson	18.16
Ramon Sessions (RFA)	17.65
Marcin Gortat (RFA) Leon Powe Ben Gordon	17.20 17.20 17.02
Jason Kidd	16.95
Hakim Warrick	16.91
Antonio McDyess	16.63
Lamar Odom	16.60
Brandon Bass	16.49
Mike Bibby	16.38
Drew Gooden	16.34
Marvin Williams (RFA)	16.04
Shawn Marion	16.02
Allen Iverson	15.89
Ron Artest	15.64
Trevor Ariza	15.51
Grant Hill	15.26
Rasheed Wallace	14.91
Hedo Turkoglu	14.82
Von Wafer	14.79
RFM	14.79
Anderson Varejao	14.62
Rasho Nesterovic	14.15
Zaza Pachulia	14.14
Joe Smith	13.85
Raymond Felton (RFA)	13.80
Shelden Williams	13.78
Chris Wilcox	13.37
Jarrett Jack (RFA) Matt Barnes Ben Wallace	13.10 12.60 12.18
Wally Szczerbiak	12.18
Anthony Parker	12.16
Solomon Jones	12.08
Robert Swift	11.50
Theo Ratliff	11.22
Glen Davis (RFA)	10.77
Raef Lafrentz	10.40
Channing Frye	10.09
Mario West (RFA)	10.00

Raining on Parades

When Sekou Smith revealed that the Hawks were in pursuit of Joe Smith on Tuesday, it registered just above "dang" but below "yahoo" inside the walls of the HHB.

It's not that Joe Smith isn't a good player or even someone who wouldn't help the Hawks--it's just that with better options still available, it's settling a bit to get Smith now.

Younger, more productive players such as Drew Gooden and Leon Powe (yes, we know he's hurt) are still out there for the Hawks to bring in to address their rebounding and overall front court effectiveness.

Gooden provides some nice creativity in the post (though it's unclear whether that matters in Atlanta's offense) and Powe gives the energy and hustle that Woodson seems to enjoy in his frontcourt players (assumed again because they don't get to play much offense unless it's coming from 20+ feet from the basket).

Their stats, especially compared with Smith's, prove this out---Gooden and Powe's rebounding rates are higher, as is their PER. Both also get to the line considerably more than Smith, with Gooden getting 16.2% draw foul rate and Powe a staggering 27.8% to Joe Smith's comparitively pedestrian 9.4%.

Gooden is entering his Age 28 year; Powe his Age 26th. Smith is on his Age 34 season and has seen some slippage in his numbers, though his career has always been a bit of a roller coaster. We're sure we'll hear someone talk about Smith's veteran leadership and being a Proven Winner (trademark pending), but the HHB believes that there is no winning formula like production and finding the pieces that fit what your team lacks--and asking a 34 year old big man who has been in the L since he was 20 years old to be that might not be the best bang for the buck at this point.

Bottom line, while it's an improvement in outlook that the Hawks are looking at a player like Smith, and that he is interested in return, we would prefer that the team seek out Gooden and Powe first--younger, more long term and potentially still improving or able to maintain level better options that fill in some of the skills white space more completely than Smith does.