ATL-SA Game Review: Forgetting the Alamo

Who can tell?

Who can tell why, throughout the course of an (82) game season, some teams can't play at a high level every night?

That's probably why all championship teams don't win (70) games every year--why the greatest of all time are--the--greatest--of--all--time.

It takes special mental toughness, great talent, and a whole lot of luck.

In the matter of the Atlanta Hawks 105-90 loss in San Antonio Wednesday night, the Hawks had the talent, but not much else.

The Spurs came out with reckless abandon, using Tony Parker and company to attack the Hawks in the heart of the defense. The Hawks seemed shocked at the affront their hosts portrayed---how dare they treat their guests so rudely? Alas, the home team shot and scored quite often from the "painted area", scoring a majority of their (36) first quarter points, the quarter that would serve as the buffer zone from which they would play from for the remainder of the game, from there.

The apex of such perpetration was, with just a few seconds left to go in the quarter, when the Hawks witnessed Parker go coast to coast to score a bucket with .8 seconds left to go. Oh, and he got fouled, too.

Usually we use this opportunity to cascade blame across the Hawks offensive approach and deride their misuse of Al Horford. But not this time.

The Hawks actually seemed interested in going into the post, at least early on, but couldn't generate any positive effects. Horford was particularly bad, as he fell into his habit of wilting against longer opponents, something he needs to resolve before facing Kendrick Perkins and Dwight Howard over the next couple of games.

The whole offense and defense seemed off, as if they had raised the curtains on the troupe and they were still getting dressed. Nobody moved on offense, the Spurs consistently beat them on the glass at both ends---the whole beginning of the game was a disaster.

Still, the Hawks kept plugging as Joe Johnson (31 points), Josh Smith (14/16/7), and Jamal Crawford (25 points) had their boogie shoes ready to go. The Hawks wasted productive, in control, volume shooting nights from both Johnson and Crawford (both shot greater than 50 percent), which kept them in the game even until the fourth quarter.

The Spurs led by as many as (28), but the Hawks had the lead down to (9) with around nine minutes left, but Crawford missed a three, Zaza turned the ball over, and the Hawks botched a fast break op and the Spurs pulled away again.

Wait Til Next Year

Guess the Hawks can't rid themselves of all of their road demons in one season---selfish of us to want them to, come to think of it---so the SA streak, which has lasted all of Tim Duncan's lengthy career, rolls on---until, as the subtitle suggests, next year.

If the AS game doesn't come knocking, Al Horford can't blame anyone but himself---well, and the coaching staff and teammates for not using him more this season. We already mentioned Horford's weakness when it comes to taller men, and it's something that bears repeating. Horford didn't want anything to do with getting close to the basket, attempting only (2) of his (10) shots around the rim. Horford was a miserable 1-8 from outside that comfort zone and was way too quick to settle for the outside jumper. He did have a nice block on a Duncan finger-roll, however---just sayin'.

Mike Bibby, in (27) minutes, posted one of the most empty lines he has authored as a member of the Hawks. Bibby missed all (7) of his shots and had a single assist and rebound. With the post hanging an "Out of Order" sign on it, the Hawks needed every bit of firepower to overcome their first quarter defensive malaise---and Bibby couldn't muster it.

Tim Duncan, especially after Parker turned his ankle in the third quarter and couldn't return, got all nostalgic on the Hawks and posted a career high in rebounds with an eye-popping (27) rebounds. We missed when the Finals began on Wednesday night because Duncan was locked in like it was Game 7, dishing out (6) assists as well and hitting all (11) of his free throws. True, the Hawks held him to a wacky 5-20 from the field, but his (10) offensive rebounds and those assists definitely helped teammates like Antonio McDyess (8-9, 17 points) have good nights from the field in his stead.

DeJuan Blair was 2-4 with (4) points and had (9) rebounds in a mere (16) minutes. In those minutes, the Spurs were +9. The lesson---we don't like the Spurs or their fancy luck.

Oh, by the way, Jamal Crawford did the 4-Ball again, giving him (23) for his career, one shy of the all time mark held by noted Hawk Hater, Reggie Miller. It's payback time, Reggie. Payback time.

Taking Care of Business--Weekend Style

There was a time not too long ago when a Friday and a Sunday game would mean that Hawks fans would have to find something fun to do on Saturday to compensate.

But these (17-6) Hawks are not the same weekend killers as their aughts sharing brethren. These Hawks took two undermanned, underdefensive teams (Raptors, Nets) and disassembled them with aggressive play on both ends, solid rebounding, and depth.

The latter part is amazing to those who have seen the Hawks pinch a penny over the last two decades when it came to quality minutes off the bench. As long time Hawk Mike Fratello marveled from the Nets broadcast booth Sunday night, "This team is deep and talented!" We know, we can't believe that Mr. Fratello was talking about the hometeam either.

Yet, there they were, doing as top reserve Jamal Crawford said a few games ago---wearing teams out. The Nets came out Sunday shooting far above their 41 percent standard for their woeful season and had the lead by two points with a little more than (5) minutes to play in the half. Then the Nets turned their head and were down by (12) when the half ended.

Yup, the Hawks are that kind of team. The team that kills you for settling for jump shots all night. A team that makes you pay when you go 1-7 over a stretch when your hot hand cools. You know, a strong playoff caliber team.

The Hawks showed poise and patience over the weekend and have (2) wins over lesser teams and have given the starters some extra Gatorade time as a reward. In previous seasons, these were games that might have had to use Joe Johnson and company 34+ minutes each to put away, but on both occasions the only players to log major minutes were off the bench, something that has to be better come April/May than in seasons past.


You Know They Call Him The Streak

Mo Evans hit seven of nine threes over the weekend and displayed some seriously quick hops on a pair of finishes. Just saying. When he is going like he was against TOR and NJ, he is mighty fine luxury to have bombing away out of that corner he loves so much.

Teams are gameplanning for Josh Smith's game inside. That's a major development for the Hawks this season and is a result of the change and maintaining of a "I'm better on the inside" in hardwood attitude for Smith. It's the reason his assist rate (8 more assists over the weekend) and many other numbers are at career highs this season. Hoopinion has done a great bit on monitoring on his site around just how much of a difference it's making on his productivity---and is answering a great deal of folks who hypothesized that the Hawks would be much better off if Smith dropped the Reggie Miller act and used his size and length to get easier hoops. Now--on to making free throws.

(Sidenote: The play of the weekend for THHB was the run-out 3 on 1 against the Nets when Josh could have tried to force a drive to the hoop and would likely have been fouled but missed a shot, but instead threaded a perfect bounce pass to Mike Bibby who quickly offered up a return to Smoove for the jam. To say it was picture perfect is saying too little--hopefully a snapshot of even more growth from Smith.)

We wholeheartedly agree again with Mike Fratello that the culture and execution of this team improved significantly when the Hawks made the move to get Bibby. Yes, he's a thorn in the defensive flesh, but wow--having a real point guard on the floor has made everything go. We all know this, which is why few were surprised that the Hawks re-upped with the vet, but it bears a reminder that his introduction to the team is when the franchise turned the corner.

Speaking of point guards---Jeff Teague continues to impress in his minutes off the bench. His quick hands are lethal (his steal from Rafer Alston and subsequent throw down was a close second to the Smith/Bibby play on the THHB corkboard) and his confidence is growing. He got a little loose late in the game against the Nets and made a rare careless pass, but he is getting better with every game out there. He reminds us of Jason Terry---as quick as Jet, a lesser shooter, but a more convincing distributor/decision maker/point guard than #31. How much of an impact he will make ultimately (meaning career) will probably be based on how dependable his shot becomes, but he is making us less morose about missing out on Ty Lawson every game.

The Nets had some success early getting inside and scoring on the Hawks until they lapsed (translation: forgot to keep doing it) and the Hawks took advantage. Atlanta was below their seasonal shot blocking average over the weekend games and in particular against the Nets, both Al Horford and Smith shied away from contesting aggressive drives to the hoop due to foul trouble. Not having Joe Smith off the bench to thwart shots didn't help as the Hawks elected to go small (three guards) without Smith and Marvin Williams (upset stomach) to go to.Something to keep an eye on against better teams with size.

Horford plays the bigger guys fine defensively, but still rushes his shot or takes awkward angles when against a big--though he made an adjustment against Brook Lopez (who has game) and started to use his nice face up jump shot to lure the big out and then go around him and get contact. Yet another piece that's improving for the Hawks and is making for difficult matchups for the opposition. And credit the Hawks backcourt for being very good in these games in recognizing mismatches and going right to them to exploit. And yes, once again, it's odd to watch a game and hear the opposing announcers lauding the Hawks as the example of a fundamentally sound team doing those "little things" to win.

Odd in this case = good. As in a really good weekend that made Saturday seem to drag. THHB calls that another nice development.

We Celebrate

Here at THHB, there is much to celebrate--let us count the ways.

We Celebrate....

First, obviously, a massive ball sharing experiment that left the Toronto Raptors lying in a pathetic mess on the Philips Arena floor. This ball sharing episode led to (37) assists and put (9) players in double figures, something that hasn't happened to the Hawks since 1987--leading to a 146-115 blowout Wednesday night.

The absolute dominance of Al Horford. Chris Bosh is going to get a lot of money next summer when he becomes a free agent--and rightfully so. Horford made Bosh disappear by backing him down relentlessly and scoring and then smothering him on the defensive end as well, holding the all-star to (2) points for the entire game. Horford did what All-Star big men are supposed to do, dominate the game physically and get the other team's bigs into foul trouble. He also turned on the jets in transition and blistered Toronto repeatedly on his way to (24) points on (12) shots.

The presence of a competent NBA bench. Joe Smith may not get more minutes than Solomon Jones did last season, and we can debate the relevance of such a role on the team, but there is no arguing that Smith provides what we in the technical labs of THHB call "oodles" more than Jones may ever hope to acheive on a basketball floor. Yes, the Raptors were lost defensively---but Smith unleashed a variety of offensive scores and used his length very well in his (12) point, (5) rebound showing. Toss in the play of Jamal Crawford (16) and Zaza Pachulia (11) and you have quite the talent stew brewing off the bench.

We celebrate Jeff Teague seperately because he is what the Hawks haven't had at the point since Mookie Blaylock played golf in the ATL---a fast, quick handed point who can distribute efficiently and score. Teague is what old time scouts would call "sudden" on the floor. He looks calm and still and then---wham---he bursts with quickness to the basket or steals the ball and away we go. Where his ceiling is in unclear at this point, but one of the silver linings in a very golden cloud last night was that Teague had (22) minutes to do his thing and it was good.

The outside shooting of Mike Bibby. Who would guess that Bibby would have been perfect last night, if not for a dead ball free throw miss (4-4, 4-4, 0-1, 12 points, 5 assists, 22 minutes)? Among the Raptors many boo-boos defensively last night was leaving the Hawks point guard wide open with little attempt to deter.

The return this season of the shot blocking Josh Smith. We noted often last season that something was amiss from Smith in terms of shot deterrence and seeing him in full throttle shot denial this season underscores that even more. When he is active on that end, it wreaks havoc inside for teams--and good things follow for the Hawks.

The wonderfulness that is team rebounding. Here is where the Hawks have to look every game as a key to victory. If they protect the boards, with their offensive talent, they will end up winning. The Hawks failed to do this against Detroit and paid a heavy price at both ends. In their losses in general this is the case. Failure to stop defensively has led to stale offensive possessions and the cycle feeds itself constantly until the final buzzer. In this game, the Hawks outrebounded Toronto 51-29 and displayed a dedication to crashing the boards---from Marvin Williams all the way down to Randolph Morris.

The embracing of ball movement in this game was wonderful. Penetration, pass, pass again, drive, pass, score was in full effect in this blowout. Since this is not the first game that Hawks have had success not dribbling a hole in the floor every time down THHB asks why the team fails to make this their own personal basketball theme in every game?

Some of it is leadership--in that the biggest culprit is Joe Johnson--the supposed leader of this club. It was Johnson who in this game ground the team to a halt once again in the first quarter when he inexplicably took a quick 3pt shot (defended, mind you) when the team was killing the Raptors early inside. For someone who decries selfish play, this move by a leader of the team was perplexing. Taking a cue from Johnson, the team temporarily suspended ball movement for the jump shot fever. It was the only time that Toronto was in the game.

At the same time we celebrate all the positives of Johnson's game--of which there is much to shout about. (12) points, (6) rebounds and (11) assists in a mere (26) minutes shows that his temporary lapse of reason offensively was just that--for this night.  Joe doesn't need to do this all by himself--even if at times he may want to.

Finally, we celebrate what this team can be when it's all going the right way--and it most certainly was Wednesday night. We hope they internalize how easy games are when you apply to knockout punch early (when it presents itself) and can get needed playoff rest late in the game. This team has all the talent to go far into the playoffs---only its own boundaries presented by their defensive rebounding and offensive ball movement prevent them from realizing their full potential on given nights.

Mike Bibby, Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, Josh Smith, Al Horford, Jamal Crawford, Zaza Pachulia, Joe Smith, Jeff Teague, Maurice Evans, Randolph Morris--take a bow--we celebrate you today.


THHB appreciates that the Raptors and Hawks joined us in celebrating the birthday week of this blog's founder (December 4th). A finer present could not have been offered. Fruit cakes and gag gifts can be left gift-wrapped in the Comments Area.

Bursting Bubbles

Funny thing about winning streaks, especially one like the Atlanta Hawks have been on lately,  is that you can never see them coming to an end.

Logically, THHB could never see any scenario where the club would finish 80-2, but we were well into the streak enough to lose track of how they can lose a game. After all, it hasn't exactly been precision playmaking at every part of every game that had gotten the Hawks to that point--so what kind of combination could?

Well, as the New Orleans Hornets showed (rather rudely we'll add--play like you want to win---harrumph to that) if you play with a lot of hunger and hit all your outside shots while the Hawks can't even finish a layup--hey, you may be in the business of a regular season upset.

The Hawks started the game 10-2 and then stopped doing anything consistently enough to stop the Three Train from the Hornets. New Orleans hit a ghastly 12-17 of their longer range attempts--some of them wide open/some not---while the Hawks hit only 4 of 22.

When the shots stopped falling from the outside, the Birds headed inside--and found little relief. Layups, missed runners, nothing was going in. Soon the Hawks started standing around wondering if anyone was going to be able to make a basket.

From there on the Hornets had the Good Night mojo and the Hawks were never able to wrestle that away from at any point the rest of the way. The Hawks would make an aggressive move on the offensive boards (where they scored 20 of those jobbies) but would miss the shot somehow only to see the Hornets whizzing by on the way to the hoop for a score of their own. Nice.

Hoopinion favorite Darren Collison had himself a tasty night and Marcus Thornton did the same as they attacked the Hawks all night. It was not a good night to compare the Hawks draft selection to those two, as Jeff Teague barely got off the bench and was invisible in comparison to the Hornets productive duo.

So the seven game win streak (remarkable in itself that the fact that it was a seven game win streak barely registered here) is over, as a 96-88 loss concludes, but we're willing to chalk it up as one of those nights---as if we could remember what those were.


What We Liked

When someone is dropping (4) 3pt anvils on your squad in the first quarter, there isn't much to smile about. (Hey, by the way, a big thank you to Tim Floyd for "advising" to get Peja Stojakovic off the floor when he couldn't have missed from the street.) But we have to say that despite Peja killing the Hawks with those bombs, the sight of the three Pejas-on-a-stick (shown after every three) across the bottom of the screen were worth noting for its entertainment value.

When are we going to see Peachtree Hoops fire up a picture of Marvin Williams in his "bench wear" collection? Maybe we've just been missing the boat (plenty of those missed in our careers) before tonight but the shots of  Marvin in full "sealed for freshness" mode on the bench made us say "Nerd Alert!" Come on, PH, there's humor in that thar get-up, eh?

We liked that Josh Smith stayed active to the hoop, and continues to draw fouls (leads the team in draw foul rate). We saw in this game, however, that he was teetering a bit--couldn't resist launching  more bad shots--yelping at the officials--more out of control than in the first dozen or so games. Stay in the light, Josh, stay in the light.

We like that it's clear Mike Bibby still has value---as his departure after landing on Collison's foot (5) minutes into the game showed that, while Jamal Crawford can score, score, score, Bibby is the point guard for this team and his presence was missed as the Hawks attempted to get back in front.

Most of all, we like that we are off until Thanksgiving Day, when we will gather together and break bread for the traditional Turkey Day game on TNT featuring the Hawks. Wait, what? Orlando v. Atlanta at 8pm EST on TNT to cap off a day of feasting for THHB team?

Oh yes--we like.

THHB wishes everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Cooking ideas and broken streaks can be left in the Comments Area.

Opening Night Victors

We love Opening Night.

We especially love Opening Night at home.

The Atlanta Hawks gave us plenty to love about Opening Night at Philips Arena Wednesday night by kicking off the 2009-2010 season the same way they did it last season, by winning--this time casting aside the Indiana Pacers 120-109.

The Hawks started slow, picked up steam by halftime, and then battled the Pacers into the fourth quarter where, as they have made it a pattern of doing so against lesser comp (especially at home), they put the guests away behind strong interior play and clutch shooting.

The Pacers started the game shooting hot, and it helped them to a 53/56/84 night against the Hawks. They likely would have assumed a win if they had known before the game how they would shoot, as they also had the Hawks playing their tempo and their game, but the great equalizer was a massive (25) turnovers to the Hawks (10), allowing the Hawks to close the early gap and eventually overtake the game.

The Preseason is the Land of Illusions and Game One Reveals All

Game One of the season puts some of the fluff of the off-season aside and begins to paint the mural that will become the regular season. In the beginning of a mural, anything is possible, and as the first game concluded THHB saw plenty for Bird watchers to smile about.

Al Horford answered the bell by being very beastly all around against the slower Roy Hibbert and the less talented Jeff Foster. Horford scored (24) points by playing a very confident, powerful game. He shot without hesitation, he took the ball to the hoop without doubt, and finished with plenty of authority. He corralled (3) offensive rebounds, all of which seemed to lead to putback or tip dunks and owned the glass overall, finishing with a game high (16) rebounds. Defensively, in addition to collecting the boards, he contested shots without drawing fouls, blocking a pair to go with (4) assists on the offensive end, thereby filling out the stat sheet. Saying Al Horford set the tone might be stretching it too much, but in his game we saw the bigger picture of how the Hawks won; a consistent effort which, when the game concluded, showed its full value.

Hawks fans also got to see the tuned-in Josh Smith in Game One. Smith was extremely aggressive on both ends against the Pacers, contesting shots, going after steals, and taking the ball to the hoop with extreme prejudice. Smith is becoming one of the best in the entire league at finishing around the hoop. No, not just on the dunks, of which there were some fantastic throw downs by Smith, but anytime he went to the basket, even when fouled, you felt confident it would go in---and it usually did. Smith took only (1) Ty Corbin Three all night long, and there were times where he was definitely tempted. For his efforts to delay gratification, he was rewarded with a 7-10 shooting night (0-0 on real threes) and drew enough attention with his interior scoring that he was able to distribute (8) assists on the night as well. This is what Smith can be when he is dialed into playing the game the right way---and is faced with a less than average defense.

Joe Johnson took the game high scoring (25), but truth be known he captured the mark by launching a space shuttle shot to beat the shot clock with (6.5) seconds remaining in the game. Johnson definitely mirrored the early game struggles the Hawks had getting things flowing correctly, but once Joe was locked in, he lost the half court discomfort and had the typical ho-hum 25 points, 6 assist, 4 steal game we come to expect and dismiss from him.

Game One also showed some of how Woodson may plan to deploy his bench and not use Mike Bibby so much. In what was not a settled game until the fourth quarter wound down, Bibby still logged just (30) minutes. He used that rest to make three big fourth quarter shots that gave the Hawks the lead and then put it out of reach. Two of the buckets were bombs that were standard issue open Bibby looks, but the 2-pointer sandwiched in between was a runner in the lane in which Bibby seemed to lose the handle on, but was able to sneak it by the taller players inside and get the bucket. That basket gave the Hawks a (4) point lead with 7 1/2 minutes left and the Hawks never trailed again.

To be able to give that kind of rest meant that Woodson was already comfortable letting rookie Jeff Teague get his feet wet in his first official NBA game. Teague looked good in his debut, modeling a new take on the Josh Childress Memorial Jump Shot in going 2-7, but he seemed very comfortable at the point and was able to penetrate, dish, and get into the open floor enough to score (4) assists against (ZERO) turnovers. That his first game ended in a win and his first basket an impressive dunk were pretty tasty cherries on the winning sundae.

Nice Guys Finish With Eleven Minutes

For all the build up regarding Jamal Crawford as a Hawk and what it all means, he ended up playing a meager (11) minutes off the bench and his best shot of the night didn't even count. Crawford had (3) assists and a steal to go with his (3) points in such limited action, but his best action came when he missed a jump shot with about (4) seconds left in the first quarter and then, as the Pacers tried to throw the ball down the court to get a last second shot off, he leaped high to deflect the pass, collected the ball, and then turned against his body from about mid-court to try and beat the buzzer. The shot went in, but it was overturned in replay.

For what it's worth, it looked like there was .2 seconds left when the lights came on, but it could have been un-synced on the telecast.Great shot anyway. Welcome to ATL, Jamal.

Good Thing He Wasn't Healthy

Danny Granger was questionable health-wise before the game, but he was able to suit up and play (22) minutes for Indiana. This was probably helpful to the Hawks because when Granger was in the game he must have been wearing his Cloak of Invisibility, because he found himself wide open a bit too much for someone of his considerable talents. Granger cashed in (5) of (10) three point attempts in his short amount of time on the floor--scoring (31) points in all.If he had been able to go more tonight we might have had a more somber story to relate.

Elsewhere, unlike in March where TJ Ford obliterated the Hawks guards for (29) points, Ford was unable to accomplish anything positive against the Hawks in this new season. Ford was 1-9 from the field and didn't find the job of scoring as easy as he did about (7) months ago. The reason? Quite a few times it was Joe Johnson handling the action on Ford. Case closed.


Speaking of Clock Problems and Things Remaining the Same



It took exactly (3) seconds into the season for the Philips Arena clocks to go haywire. That in itself isn't funny, especially considering the the reputation the official scorers and the electronics have in the arena. What was funny was that, after the Hawks had won the tip and the game underway, the game had to stop--which frustrated the fans, most of whom we're guessing have seen this a time or two. Clearly annoyed, the ATL faithful booed lustily.


Ahhh--good to be back, isn't it?


THHB believes that winning is better than losing. Arguments to the contrary can be laughed at inside the Comments Area.

Hawks Free Agency, Take One

UPDATE: According to Sekou Smith (you da man!), Zaza Pachulia will be back and richer than ever:

Pachulia, 25, spent the last four years with the Hawks on a $16 million deal. His new deal is believed to be for the same amount of years but with a significant raise, according to one of the sources familiar with the situation.

Considering Marcin Gortat is slated to pull a full MLE deal (approx 5yr/33mil), one might think a deal that is four years for Zaza, might be in the 20-22 million dollar range.

UPDATE 2: The article now says it's 4 years, 18 million---not really all that significant an increase, though the HHB would take 2 million and ask no questions.

(We now resume our previous post---already in progress)

Aaand--action!

Today's the day.

It's the day when rumor become reality, when verbals go written, and a player's word become their bond, legally. For the Hawks it means the official beginning to one of their busier free agency seasons in recent years.

The Hawks have already reached an "oral agreement" for a 3 year, 18 million dollar deal for Mike Bibby. (Thank you, Sekou!)

The HHB signs off on this move as we discussed in an eye-popping table yesterday. For this offense, flawed as we may believe it is, Bibby is a really good fit. His ability to run the team, determine tempo, and understand where the ball should go meshes well with his ability to hit the long ball. His defense is not good, that's for sure, but given the alternative of not having anybody else who can do the things that Mike does, we're sure glad to have him back.

Bibby's signing might mean the end of the RFM era in Atlanta, but we don't know for sure. Murray was on his way to Russia when obtained for one million dollars last summer, and while we were sure his consistent, productive season (a near 15 PER) was going to land him a multi year deal somewhere, if not ATL, we haven't heard his name mentioned in many discussions around the league and in the media corners. Would or should the Hawks crowd the backcourt even more should Murray be availble for the same bargain basement price? His own history suggests last season was a needle in his career haystack--if there are fewer minutes would he go back to being wildly inconsistent? We would bet that Coach Woodson would welcome the veteran back, even with Jamal Crawford on board with a returning Bibby and Joe Johnson, but it would mean a season of non-playing for first round pick Jeff Teague, unless injury reared its head in front of him. After the non-playing of Acie Law, we're not pro on keeping more first rounders on the bench for long.

The only solution we could get behind that would potentially keep Teague on the bench would be the return of Josh Childress to the Hawks. Would Childress risk staying in ATL if the Hawks match an offer sheet? We would really hope so, considering his productivity level was better every season as a Hawk and he was a good rebounder, especially offensively for a guard. But considering all the ill will of the past year, we're not going to hold our breath on this one---well, not for long anyway.

We have written about Zaza and the Hawks need to address the serious rebounding void there is on the team even with Pachulia and Al Horford on the roster. Not being able to resign Zaza means the Hawks have to bring (2) more big men in, not only replace the big fella. Zaza does two things really well statistically, as best we can tell---he gets to the free throw line and he can offensively rebound. He is a terrific backup center, capable of filling in on those nights when Horford is down or in foul trouble.

For the Hawks to be serious about moving forward next year while doing the same things they did last year, another big man must be procured using the MLE. We have already espoused the virtues of our two top targets, Antonio McDyess and Drew Gooden, as they would certainly address the rebounding woes from the power forward position, a place where the starter, Josh Smith, is below average for his position in rebounding rates. Those veterans could do a lot of good to mentor Smith on hustle and determination, especially McDyess, who by all accounts in Detroit is a consummate professional and whose attitude would continue to do good in the changing locker room. That could be a reason the Pistons are determined to get McDyess back and let Rasheed Wallace go to Boston. It would likely take a bold offer by the Hawks to bring him into the ATL.

Gooden seems like he's been around forever but is actually just entering his Age 28 season and has habitually been among the consistent rebounders in the league. It may not take as big a package to land him as it would McDyess because Gooden may be undervalued due to playing on many teams, having weird facial (and neckal) hair, and because rebounding simply isn't as valued an attribute as it should be.

Marvin Williams likely won't get much attention in the restricted market because teams figure the Hawks will match any reasonable offer for the forward. Folks have benchmarked Charlie Villanueva's rumored 5 year, 35-40 million deal as a ruler for a Marvin contract. Marvin has improved every season and has shown scoring ability, especially when Joe Johnson was sidelined, and he was second on the team in foul drawing rate (Pachulia). His good nature, hard work ethic, and abilities make the case that the Hawks would likely match an offer stand up. The qualifying offer is over 7 million dollars anyway--Marvin could sign it and take his chances next season as an unrestricted free agent.

All of which is to say that tomorrow officially gets the boat launched and away from the dock. We will see who is truly targeting whom and what the Hawks will do. Resigning Bibby is a good start, but not addressing the obvious rebounding deficits would be a costly mistake, especially should Pachulia be allowed to leave.

The HHB has the party favors and the Official Travelling Low Def Viewing Center ready for action--hopefully the good guys will oblige. Free agent thoughts, chips, and dip can be brought into the Comments Area.

A (Statistical) Truth About Mike Bibby

As we have looked closer at the potential of a Mike Bibby resigning, we have become more sure that Bibby services need to be retained. Not only was Bibby extremely helpful in bringing it all together for the Hawks the past two seasons, but he fits an increasingly hard to find talent set in the market right now, a true facilitator who can shoot. Reports on Monday out of Portland were that the Blazers may be down on Andre Miller due to his lack of killer J, the skill of which Mr. Bibby excels.

Also, though we not the most statistical here at the HHB, we have brought in a team of summer interns that have helped us crunch the numbers and revealed a very interesting statistic about Mike Bibby's season last year--consider:

We ran certain numbers from Bibby's 2008-2009 season (Stats Courtesy of Basketball Reference-go sponsor a page today!), PER, Minutes Played, Assist Rate, and Effective FG percentage. We also filtered by Position, Age, and Years in the League. What we found is that only (12) times since the 1989-90 season a player has done what Mike Bibby did in those (4) categories.

Totals																	Shooting
Rk	Player	Season	Age	Tm	Lg	G	MP	FG	FGA	3P	3PA	FT	FTA	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS	FG%	3P%	FT%	PER	eFG%	AST%
1	Magic Johnson	1989-90	30	LAL	NBA	79	2937	546	1138	106	276	567	637	128	394	522	907	132	34	289	167	1765	.480	.384	.890	26.6	.526	45.5
2	Magic Johnson	1990-91	31	LAL	NBA	79	2933	466	976	80	250	519	573	105	446	551	989	102	17	314	150	1531	.477	.320	.906	25.1	.518	49.3
3	Steve Nash	2006-07	32	PHO	NBA	76	2682	517	971	156	343	222	247	30	239	269	884	57	6	287	117	1412	.532	.455	.899	23.8	.613	50.1
4	Chauncey Billups	2007-08	31	DET	NBA	78	2522	393	877	137	342	401	437	42	170	212	529	101	17	160	130	1324	.448	.401	.918	23.6	.526	34.7
5	John Stockton	1994-95	32	UTA	NBA	82	2867	429	791	102	227	246	306	57	194	251	1011	194	22	267	215	1206	.542	.449	.804	23.3	.607	52.6
6	John Stockton	1996-97	34	UTA	NBA	82	2896	416	759	76	180	275	325	45	183	228	860	166	15	248	194	1183	.548	.422	.846	22.1	.598	46.0
7	John Stockton	1995-96	33	UTA	NBA	82	2915	440	818	95	225	234	282	54	172	226	916	140	15	246	207	1209	.538	.422	.830	21.9	.596	49.1
8	John Stockton	2001-02	39	UTA	NBA	82	2566	401	775	25	78	275	321	59	204	263	674	152	24	208	209	1102	.517	.321	.857	21.9	.534	46.3
9	Steve Nash	2007-08	33	PHO	NBA	81	2780	485	962	179	381	222	245	28	254	282	898	53	5	295	113	1371	.504	.470	.906	21.1	.597	47.3
10	Steve Nash	2008-09	34	PHO	NBA	74	2484	428	851	108	246	196	210	19	204	223	717	55	10	248	108	1160	.503	.439	.933	19.5	.566	42.4
11	Jason Kidd	2008-09	35	DAL	NBA	81	2886	257	618	131	323	86	105	85	415	500	702	160	39	185	168	731	.416	.406	.819	16.9	.522	34.7
12	Mike Bibby	2008-09	30	ATL	NBA	79	2740	437	1005	167	428	135	171	38	240	278	392	98	11	128	145	1176	.435	.390	.789	16.3	.518	24.2

The goal of this exercise was to see the following:

1. Was there anything unique about the season Bibby had last year?
2. Is it easily repeatable?
3. Was this an outlier season for Bibby?

We chose PER, Assist Rate, Minutes Played and Effective Field Goal percentage because we felt it best captured what the point guard position on the Hawks was looking for: A facilitator who can shoot, play a lot of minutes (though we only used 30MPG * 82 as the measure here, Bibby played over 36 MPG last season--Billips was the only player who wouldn't have made the cut @ 36 MPG), and overall offensive effectiveness.

We chose the age (30) and years in the league (11) to gauge how common it is to do this later in one's career, effecting repeatability.

You're talking the likes of Steve Nash, John Stockton, and Magic Johnson here. There's Jason Kidd with last season like Bibby and two seasons ago Chauncey Billups.

We wanted to check if this was an outlier season, so we stretched the criteria to include any age of season and we found that this is Bibby's only season realizing all of these statistical thresholds at once. Being that the .518 EFG was a career high, we dialed it back slightly to .500 and found three other seasons. Bibby had a total of (4) out of the 142 occurrences (at the .500 eFG) since the 1981-1982 season. Not too shabby.

So, it seems that Bibby's season is somewhat unique in that it occurs less than an average of (5) times a season in the NBA among guards. We also saw that the season was not an aberration for Bibby, as he has dotted his (11) seasons with (4) of his own entries.

Looking at this and understanding his offensive value to the team, and given there are no true facilitators on the roster or elsewhere in free agency that can help spread the floor when the other isolators are doing their thing in the Hawks "offense", it seems a good thing to do to bring Bibby back. And consider, as we've written before, that Kidd's speculated 3 year, 25 million dollar deal is the high watermark for any Bibby deal--most believe it will come in below Kidd and above the MLE, which would put it in the 3 year, 20 million range.

We just wanted to attempt to put some statistical context around what Bibby provided last season and we feel that was accomplished by this exercise. Whether Bibby can continue that level of output over the next three years is debatable, but the HHB feels as though what Bibby does provide is unique in the NBA and needed for what the Hawks do and we welcome the resigning.

Now go make it happen.

Link for the search: http://www.basketball-reference.com/fc/ ... der_by=per

UPDATE: According to Sekou Smith, they did make it happen! A reported 3 years and 18 million according to Smith and two sources familiar with the situation.

What Hawks Fans Should Watch For

As the actual Free Agency Week (you know, when people can actually sign and teams can finally relax) comes into being, let's quickly review what Hawks fans should be watching for, according to the last few days of reports:

Jason Kidd, who was being sought after by, in large part, the Knicks and Mavericks, has apparently decided to take more of Mark Cuban's money and remain in Dallas. In addition to being the best offer, it also allows Kidd to perform in an offense and with teammates that best suit him at this time in his career. The terms of Kidd's contract are widely reported to being in the 3 year, 25 million+ range.

This impacts Hawks free agent PG Mike Bibby, who the Philadelphia Inquirer noted was intent on staying a Hawk over the weekend. Kidd's contract (terms and length) should serve as a high-end benchmark for the 31 year old PG, slated for his 12th season in the league. Though, as Sekou Smith reported over the weekend, a deal is not finalized, it makes sense that Bibby should stay where he likely will be the best paid, has had good success, and fits in well.

Also being reported is that this is finally the year that David Andersen realizes his dream of playing in the NBA. Sekou reported this as a probability last week, and over the weekend reports like this started finding its way into Bird Watchers' view. (We first saw it referenced over at Peachtree Hoops) . The highlight (for those who don't want to translate):

The Atlanta Hawks, who chose the number 37 in the 2002 draft, require players inside as they are about to lose Zaza patchouli, which has become a free agent.

"David is an option, as has every summer, to break his contract if it receives an offer from the NBA before July 15. I can not say anything more," said his agent, Kenny Grant, a "World Sports" .The Australian pivot Hawks will leave if the offer at least a contract similar to that charged in the Regal Barcelona: 2 million euros per season.

That's about 2.8 million dollars to match what Andersen currently earns over there. The July 15th deadline should mean that we may find out this week if Andersen is truly on his way over to play for the Hawks.

BTW, it's interesting (at least to the basketball nerds here at the HHB) that at the bottom of the article it talks about replacing Andersen there with Terrence Morris, who is done with his team in Russia. Morris was a selected by the Hawks in the 2nd round in 2001, and then was traded on draft night to the Houston Rockets for a future 1st rounder (which the Hawks in turn traded to SAC for the draft rights to Dan Dickau in 2002).

As was reported last week, Andersen was thought to be a fallback in case Zaza Pachulia was set to depart the Nest. Though no reports have contained the details of deals like Rasheed Wallace or Marcin Gortat, there is no question that Pachulia has suitors. Being unrestricted, Zaza can go wherever there is money and, given teams that were jilted by Gortat and Wallace still have their exceptions, Zaza may be finding the greener pastures in cities like Houston or Orlando, for starters.

That July 15th deadline is also in place for Josh Childress, who had a well publicized meeting in Milwaukee, but little other public detail. Over the course of this free agent week, we'll likely know if Childress has indeed opted out of his deal in Greece to come back to the NBA, and he won't opt out of that deal without something concrete here in the States.

It remains to be seen if the re-signing of Bibby does indeed mean the end of the short, but productive, RFM era in the ATL. Long thought that the Hawks would keep one or the other after the arrival of Jamal Crawford and the first round selection of Jeff Teague, keeping Bibby could Flip the switch off for the Hawks. It's important to remember, however, that the then 6-yr vet guard was headed to Russia with no better offers last season before believer-Rick Sund gave him a million dollar deal to come aboard the Hawks. One would think Murray's solid, even performance this season as the Hawks top reserve would open some other doors, but teams may still be wary of his past inconsistency.

Alas, this only contains folks we currently have---the natural reaction is to ask, "what about the Hawks getting in on some of these other names floating around?" For starters, the names right now out there are the higher dollar names, and those the Hawks would have to renounce the right to their own free agents to be able to sign, which the Hawks obviously haven't been interested in doing (it would include Bibby and Marvin, as well as Chill, Zaza, or some combination of any or all). So it really leaves the Hawks with their full mid-level exception and there are still some names that would good to use that on---they're just not the names that are out there in full force at this time. It does makes sense to wait for the smoke to clear and money to be spent before you start showing your hand.

Our bet? When the signings start and some of the names we've seen come off the free agent board, the Hawks will be in the mix for one of the second or third tier free agents. We would love to see Antonio McDyess or Drew Gooden get serious consideration from the Hawks given that they address a major weakness for the team last season---rebounding.

The HHB takes its show on the road to the ATL this week, so buckle up Atlanta! Complaints and traffic violations can be mailed directly to the Comments Area.

2009 Free Agent Outlook

As free agency approaches, the natural inclination is that everybody else's refuse is our treasure. We look at the warts on the players on our roster and wonder how great it would be if some team would make a deal with us?

The HHB wanted to take as honest a look with what limited statistical knowledge we have (thanks to Basketball Reference) and see if the grass was truly greener on the other teams via the free agency route.

From what we could gather from ESPN, here is the list of free agents for 2009 with their corresponding PER (Hawks players in bold) and will be updated with latest news:

Free Agents (restricted)	PER
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 Zydrunas Ilgauskus	18.16 18.03
Ramon Sessions (RFA)	17.65
Carlos Boozer	17.28
Marcin Gartat (RFA) Ben Gordon	17.20 17.02
Jason Kidd	16.95
Hakim Warrick (RFA)	16.91
Antonio McDyess	16.63
Lamar Odom	16.60
Brandon Bass	16.49
Mike Bibby	16.38
Drew Gooden	16.34
Marvin Williams	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 Varajao	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)	13.10
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 (RFA)	10.09
Ime Udoka	9.57
Stromile Swift	6.80
Malik Rose	5.28

We know that PER isn't the perfect tool, but this gives a general idea of what's out there and by a little more advanced statistical look, how our current free agents stack up.

Some thoughts:

Some of these players need to be looked at not how they did last year specifically, but how they are trending, their age, etc. For example, Andre Miller still looks like a productive PG, but how will he look at the end of a three year contract, if he accepts that? Same goes for our own Mike Bibby.

Also, one year aberrations should be noted as well, as in the case of RFM, who had his second best season out of the (7) seasons in the league.

Drew Gooden is in his Age 28 season in the league. Seems like he's been in the league for a long time. He is likely entering the "underrated productive forward" stage of his career and then end up in "used to be underrated but then everyone realized he was underrated and now he overrated/overpaid" part of his career. Bottom line---he's always been productive (he always seems to kill the Hawks) and will likely be underrated going into this offseason--could be a bargain.

Robert Swift was as productive as Solomon Jones, though both played in limited minutes---but it's interesting to note in case Rick Sund decides to bring Swift aboard.

Trevor Ariza is poised to get wildly overpaid (thanks to his Finals run) for somebody with his track record of league average play.

It will be interesting to see how Allen Iverson performs next season. 2008-09 was obviously his worst season, but has been a terrific producer (if you can handle what he does/doesn't do offensively) statistically. He is prime for a 1-year, prove it, contract--but from whom? You would think that Atlanta would suit him perfect--the town would love him, his defense would look superb compared to what currently passes, and he (ahem) knows the Hawks offense.

Speaking of shorter deals, Jason Kidd has settled into the next tier down from his excellent run in New Jersey. He is going into his Age 36 year, so one has to wonder what he has left--likely looking at a Sam Cassell circa 2005 contract (2 years). His fit on the Hawks would be questionable, given the Hawks anxiety about pushing the ball (unless a forward has the ball) and the propensity towards isolation sets.

Borrowing from Hoopinion's great cap status post here, we can look at the Hawks financial outlook for 2009 as it stands today. It looks as if we can almost rule out a RFA signing, as even with tendering Marvin and renouncing everyone else (Zaza, Childress, et al) the Hawks could only start @ around 6 million for free agents. With the RFA list including Sessions, Lee, Nate, Charlie V, you would think that a contract starting there would be matched immediately.

Hakim Warrick has improved every season and last year came close to equaling Josh Smith's totals, though Smith's were his lowest since his second season. Warrick, however, doesn't come close to touching Smoove in the block/steal categories.

The HHB wishes that they could bring Zydrunas Ilgauskus in, given that he has consistently produced for CLE, can run a pick and pop, and rebounds so well. Shaq is more productive, even @ 3 years older than Z--but not by that much statistically and not in the same way. If Z gets away, then he'll be the top center out there for someone to grab.

Ben Gordon might wish that he already had that 6 year, 54 million dollar deal in hand--especially considering he had provided slightly above average numbers for the Bulls in his five seasons there. The Hawks can hope that Jeff Teague gives them that level of production with the 19th pick.

Admit it, you're surprised that Ron Artest is less productive than Marvin Williams. Look at his career, and you'll see he's been overrated compared to what his perceived value has been, not even measuring in the insanity factor.

(Sidenote: When he was a rookie in the 1999-2000 season, we mentioned to the late, great Jeffrey Denberg that we loved Artest's defensive intensity and wished he was on the Hawks, to which Denberg quickly responded, "You don't want him, he's psycho." In his rookie season. Well done, Mr. Denberg.)

You can see why Brandon Bass is getting some attention out there. Teams are probably thinking they can get the guy on the cheap, but his production since coming to Dallas has been obvious and it looks like people noticed, making him a candidate to get overpaid. When Bass worked out for the Hawks in 2004 when he first put his name in the draft--he looks like he is now, a tough competitor who doesn't look pretty, but gets the job done.

Shawn Marion used to be considered elite when he was @ Phoenix, but whether it's malaise or the effects of not being with an all-star PG, his production numbers have dropped across the board. A west coast team might be able to coax better seasons, especially those with a good point guard (let's rule out the Hawks then), considering he is entering his Age 31 season, but he may just be falling fast.

Hedo Turkoglu wants 50 million dollars over 5 years like Corey Maggette got last season, trying to revive the ol' "one bad contract deserves another" philosophy to negotiation. Turkoglu was a piece in the Magic's success, but it is saying something that the Magic would turn him loose so quick. They basically got an upgrade on the one trick pony by bringing in Vince Carter. This would be a player that the old Hawks might have signed, pre-Billy Knight. Thankfully, those days are gone--we hope.

Raymond Felton doesn't score well on the PER either, so it's good to look at why, considering Felton is touted as a good, young PG. His turnovers are high and his shooting percentage is awful, especially in the EFG, TS%, and his raw 3pt shooting, you understand why. When you have to envy Josh Smith's 3-pt prowess, you are struggling.

When you look at the crop of free agents, Marvin Williams comes out looking pretty good. Zaza Pachulia plays up to his backup center status and as one of the league's best offensive rebounders. Mike Bibby is as effective as his shot makes him--no big surprise there--last year being very good to him and lifting him above the league average. RFM produced at league average for minimum pay--he likely won't have to settle for that, but any team that signs him (especially the Hawks) have to understand his inconsistency and history. Solomon Jones may not get another look if the Hawks cut him loose, and while we have been down on Jones here, there are obviously worse players collecting a check. Doesn't mean the Hawks have to have him though, right?

UPDATE: As we said, we knew we'd miss someone, and Sekou has the name first on his free agents entry---his name and PER has been inserted--and yes, we should be interested--greatly.

UPDATE 2: Electric Boogaloo: Milwaukee has decided NOT to offer Charlie V a qualifier, making him unrestricted.

The HHB are not sabermagicians and understand that PER has limitations and this list may not be completely complete (hey, if airlines can have a last final call, we can have completely complete)---All conversation will be held inside the think tank that is the Comments Area.

Bah, Humbug!

The worst part of any draft, be it NFL, NBA, or even your run of the mill fantasy sports draft, is seeing the player you most desperately want taken right in front of you. It seems to happen endlessly and while you should expect it, it still never fails to deflate your spirits.

So it's with great apathy that the HHB welcomes Jeff Teague, Wake Forest to the Hawks Nation.

Teague, who was only forecasted by hundreds of draft mockers to go to the Hawks, seems like a good enough pick, but the prospects of a Ty Lawson selection (officially endorsed by the HHB, if you didn't know) was so close (he was snapped up by the Nuggets by way of one of the TimberWolves 99 picks in the draft a single pick before the Hawks slot) that no amount of goodness can seem to wash it away.

Still, many draft observers raved about the new Hawks guard--so much so that we had to ask ourselves--other than sour grapes---why be disappointed about Teague? After all he put up these numbers (32.7 Pts/100 possessions, 50.1 2PTFG%, 44.1 3PTFG% (102 attempts), 81.7 FT%, 48.2 FT Rate--thanks, Hoopinion!) in one of the toughest conferences in the nation. He hung 30 on North Carolina and 28 on Duke. He was repeatedly lauded for his skill of getting into the lane offensively. He is an exceptional leaper, can get to the rim, and has great range on his shot.

So what's the problem?

Well stop us if you have heard this before--His listed (supposed, we will allow) weaknesses include a lack of defense, no real point guard acumen, turnover prone, and is a bit of a tweener.

In other words, the Hawks selected another combo guard who doesn't handle the ball well, looks to shoot, and doesn't have a real position.

If you missed it, the Hawks just traded for Jamal Crawford, who exhibits the exact same portfolio but has at least three inches of height on Teague. Ronald "Flip" Murray is also cut from this cloth, thought he is an unrestricted free agent. Joe Johnson also likes to dribble and shoot.

Heck, no wonder Josh Smith took so many outside shots and raced the ball upcourt himself last year--he must have felt that this would eventually be the only way to get the ball--after all if you can't beat them, join them. What a seer!

Also, most folks believe that there is no way that the Hawks will invest the money they are in Crawford and Teague and still bring back Mike Bibby (especially if the cheaper Murray is retained)--in fact, Crawford himself was rumored to have said in an interview that he was to be the Hawks starting PG. This would leave the Hawks with no actual point guard, again---a sickness that has haunted this franchise forever and hindered them from getting to the playoffs prior to Bibby's arrival late in the '07-'08 season.

The point guard position is a quarterback role on a basketball team and can often be the vocal leader. The Hawks lack both on the court and the missed opportunity to address it through the draft and the financial barriers around doing it through free agency exacerbate the frustration we feel when the Hawks continue to go down a path they've well taken by adding Teague.

We hope that Teague emerges as a Ben Gordon type scoring juggernaut for the Hawks, but to us, right now, he smacks of an unproven NBA project who has no position and simply duplicates what exists currently on the roster and, possibly, eliminates some skill sets (by losing Bibby) that aren't replaced by the young guard.

Still, Hawks GM Rick Sund believes they took the best athlete available, which is close to saying the best player available, but not quite--but really, taking who they felt was the best, regardless of need or what we already have is all you can ask for a team--heck, it's almost all we asked just prior to the draft.

There are still some trade pieces left to play for the Hawks (Childress, Marvin, etc.) so we won't surrender to our initial negativity as yet, but selecting a player who continues to enable a failed, flawed offensive "philosophy" of isolation, dribble, and shoot does not excite us.


Why Can't You Be More Like Your Brother?

We have to ask---why is it that, no matter who the regime is or who owns the Hawks, that they:

1. Don't trade up strategically to select anyone that has ridiculously slipped (No, Dan Dickau does not count).

2. Draft a second round pick who will "stay overseas" (Read: won't cost anything)

Now, we understand that the Hawks selected a shooter (surprise!) Sergiy Gladyr who has good game, but so does David Andersen, but that hasn't brought the big fella over to help out the team in the States yet, eh? Alain Digbeu and Antonis Fotsis (who did play in the NBA, but only after the Hawks dealt him to PHL) are also part of this famed club. Heck, even Josh Childress can get in on his restricted free agent pass.

The Hawks had some pieces to deal, and some talent to acquire on draft night, but the Hawks seemed content to stand pat and in other cases, punt. Seeing Blair drop into San Antonio when the Hawks desperately needed size/rebounding and everybody, so it seemed, was dealing picks above the Hawks, smells an awful lot like a missed opportunity. In fact, there seemed to be so much movement by other teams desperate to improve through the draft process that the Hawks, even with the trade for Crawford, seemed sedentary by comparison.

In fact, soon after the Teague pick, Hawks.com draft room spy, Micah Hart, tweeted that Sund made the statement that "I'm definitely happy with what we've done today." That Sund seemed content doesn't necessarily mean they were ready to hang up the phones and stop working, but it doesn't exactly engender the feeling that it (trading for more talent) was on their minds either.


Party Time!

We thank The Bill Shanks Show for having us on all day yesterday. We talked a lot of hoops, Hawks, and even chatted with Bob Rathbun. We watched as Vince Carter rumors rose and then graduated to honest to goodness trade status. Good times---

We also had a great time on the night long (and it was long) draft chat, hosted by the HHB and Hoopinion. Thanks to all who stopped by and commented and most of all, to Bret, who set the whole thing up. It wasn't all we wanted the evening to be (would it have killed the Hawks to move up for Bret's DeJuan Blair pick?) but it was good to have company as it all unfolded.


The HHB is pleased to have the NBA Christmas over for 2009, but enjoyed it greatly--further thoughts about the Hawks pick or anecdotes regarding draft night can be shared in the temperature controlled Comments Area.

Blessed Insurance

On the first pass, the trade of Acie Law and Speedy Claxton to Oakland for Jamal Crawford seems a simple equation:

Nothing for Something = Good!

But the trade, while inspiring some "Hey, we're active!" from those of us who watched as the Magic went to the Finals and the Wizards look ready to Flip their record (ah? ah? Clever!), has brought up perhaps more questions and angles than it answered.

To wit, there are variables that have yet to be resolved which obscure what the organ-i-zation may intend with this deal---assuming it's more than the parsimonious just give me your something for my nothing .


Mike Bibby:

With Crawford on board, does he get resigned? One might think that, with Crawford perpetuating the Hawks' stand-around-and-dribble-then-shoot-a-jumper offense, that having Bibby on board would nicely augment the new addition, given that he would be drawing the defense toward him and giving Crawford the same kind of "protection" that Joe Johnson received the day Bibby was able to healthily don Hawks gear officially.

Others could consider that doing so would make Crawford an expensive Hawk ornament and an expensive upgrade to RFM.


RFM:

Does the arrival of Crawford mean that, assuming a re-signed Bibby and incumbent Joe Johnson, that the terrific season that RFM had would be a one-season show?

With the noted--ummm--deficiencies---on defense with Crawford and the already well documented defensive weaknesses of Mike Bibby, letting RFM go would leave Johnson as the only guard currently on the roster who looks like they were taking notes when Professor Defense was teaching his class.


The Draft:

The HHB is satisfied that the team upgraded the roster (assuming all else remains) without sweetening the deal with the valued asset that is an NBA first round draft pick.

But does the trade for Crawford mean anything related to what the Hawks will do with the #19 pick in the draft? Will it mean that they will now pass on any younger option in the backcourt with now another guard (who will actually play) on the roster?

Will they feel enabled to select a big man---and yes, we're all wincing about the prospects of another ACC big man "gracing" the roster---on a roster that sorely needs more talent and size, especially with the unknown of Zaza Pachulia's free agency?


Anyone Who Isn't A Guard:

One wonders, again--assuming the roster remains intact, if the Hawks frontcourt will either bother to practice thier shooting in the offseason?

Can you imagine a roster with Bibby, Johnson, RFM, and now the quick draw of Jamal Crawford? If Al Horford can get (5) shots a game, it will be because he is killing it on the offensive glass.


Sayyyyy--What, Say What, Say What?

So how does it all compute in the Official HHB Thought-O-Meter?

First of all, let's state a fact that this trade obviously brought out---that Acie Law was not trusted or being counted by the team to be the point guard of the future for the Hawks. Law now joins Sheldon Williams as former lottery picks that were quickly shipped off for a veteran guard near the end of his expensive contract when it was obvious that they weren't going to make a positive impact in the NBA.

That the Hawks Nation of Bloggers (HNB) had this nailed by the end of the season--so much so in fact that it was obvious to everyone that Point Guard was still a present and future need--speaks to the obviousness of this fact.

The HHB must have had the ol' ears burning when we decided to reach out (via Twitter) to our Tweet-buddy and now former Hawk Speedy Claxton to get some info about if he had been given any direction about where he would be next year. Within an hour, though not be a Claxton response, we had our answer.

Bottom line---Bringing in Crawford not only gives the Hawks a useful player for two players the team had no use for, but also provides insurance in case either Bibby or RFM won't be back. At this point it's unknown what Bibby or RFM will receive as offers for their services. If the Hawks were simply going to sit back and expect that one or both of them would be back, it would leave them in a weaker position should both of them get offers that were financially prohibitive to match and at that point scrambling for any talent life raft that may not be available at that point.

It's a proactive move that gives the Hawks options--a nice bit of decision making that could be considered unusual to longtime Bird Watchers, but certainly welcome.

Get to the Point

ATL fans, since Jeff Denberg lost his life to cancer the city did not have a finer beat writer (no offense, Michael Lee) than today's Sekou Smith.

He is everything you want a beat writer to be; informative, timely, and candid. Smith delicately balances keeping-it-real with the fact that his livelihood comes from gaining access/information from the very people he might be straight with the readers about.

His blog is a good read, it's located on our Bird Feeds and today features some takes on Josh Smith, offseason patience (like we don't know how that is), and the thorn in the flesh of the Atlanta Hawks franchise, the point guard position.

His take is one part defense of Bibby and one part calling out the franchise for a lack of a long term plan at the position.

Our take on Bibby is well known: The Hawks are better off for having stolen him from SAC and a large part of why they are (10) games better comes from having his shotmaking ability and competency at playmaking. Just having those two things brought the Hawks from an almost decade long exile at the position to stability.

However, Bibby is miscast (common theme) as a 35-40 minute a game player at this stage in his career. Yes, he is only (31), but there are eleven NBA years on those legs, ankles, hips, etc--and it shows on the defensive end. We don't advocate letting Bibby walk, especially given the extreme negligence in developing a younger alternative/supplement over the years by the franchise. But to bring him back and continuing to run him in any longer than a 25-30 minute game; to maximize his effectiveness, is misguided and sure to show the same sorts of problems defensively next season.

The Hawks have to present some alternative next year that will be a compliment to Bibby's skills at the point guard position as well as give Bibby some strategic games off, should he be back next year. The fact that the Hawks are no closer to understanding what Acie Law might provide at that position after (2) seasons is a failure.

If the Hawks don't believe that Law can provide what we are suggesting for next season then they need to get on it quick, and by it we mean bring in that slasher type who can make plays, understands distributing the ball, and also get after it defensively. There are a few options out there that fit our description, and Sekou does a nice job in listing them out on that blog entry, and Mark Bradley lets us know what his pet project would be through the draft channel (VCU's Eric Maynor).

Sekou absolutely sticks it with this quote:

Either you have a veteran hand capable of orchestrating almost any situation, a guy that can make everything run smoothly (Kurt Warner anyone) or you have the young phenom (the Falcons’ Matt Ryan comes to mind) that simply will not be denied. If you get caught between those two extremes, you’re gambling with your team’s future.

Whatever the Hawks do with this critical decision, it must be with both next year and the future in mind. Otherwise, as Sekou says, it's a gamble---and it's a wager with immediate consequences.

The HHB wrote a post about the horrors of the past when it comes to this position---so we're extra sensitive when this subject is at hand. Thoughts and Ideas can be offered in the safety of the Comments Area.

Home Court 'Stache

To celebrate the pending home court clinching in the first round of the playoff, the Atlanta Hawks took the wrapper off of Marvin Williams, who had missed a surprising (16) games with his injured back.

That he only scored (5) points or played a mere (12) minutes in the Hawks fourth-place clinching 122-118 win over the Indiana Pacers was almost irrelevant--the Mustache and its mystical healing powers was back.

To gauge the impact that Marvin has made on the people that watch and surround the team, one need only note that the crowd gave Marvin a standing ovation (no, they weren't shooting t-shirts into the crowd at that time) when he entered the game for the first time. That, combined with the anticipation built up from the blogs and newspapers (ok, just the AJC) and it's clear many were eager for the 'Stache's return.

All of which is a testament not only to the improvement Marvin has made from last season to this one, but also the obvious good guy label everyone has noticed and begun to embrace--he is dependable, productive, and from all forms that we have to check this sort of thing, a good teammate. The Mustache also has the power to solve a Rubik's cube in (2) minutes---don't underestimate, appreciate.

He's gone from the guy who isn't someone else to a player that the ATL appreciates for his own skills and contributions. They won't give a Most Improved Award to him this year, but this season marks a massive step forward in our books.

On the court, the Hawks did one thing a little better than in recent games in that they seemed to go at the paint a little more regularly, which allowed for a more efficient (though we will wait for the official breakdown of that when Hoopinion rolls out the statistical barrel later to know for sure) offensive night.

The Hawks attacked and went to the line for a staggering (45) free throws, of which they made (34), led by the high scorer of the night, Josh Smith. Smoove didn't completely rid himself of the many on the court demons that can sabotage his overall effectiveness, but he did have a strong night across the board, even attacking the glass on both ends. His offensive rebound late in the game helped seal the game---he hit the floor a couple of times----Josh was genuinely using his massive powers for good, and the box score filled up accordingly.

Also on the attack was Al Horford, who spent his night, as he does on most nights, sprinting up and down the court---Against the Pacers, the Hawks actually rewarded his efforts on a number of occasions, as he relentlessly raced slower matchups like Roy Hibbert and Jeff Foster and was able to cash in from a very generous Mike Bibby (9 assists) and Joe Johnson as well. Horford owned the glass, grabbing (13) of his (15) rebounds on the defensive end. In all, a stellar 22/15/5 game from Al, who proved he can--if you let him.

Someone in the Hawks blogging nation mentioned it, and since the HHB working crew is short due to the Holiday (celebrate!) weekend, we aren't staffed appropriately to figure out who (we guess Peachtree Hoops), it's fun when Joe Johnson is hitting his threes as he was against IND (5-8), including one off of a Horford pick that was so sweet we wish we had the sound on a hot key---beautiful music. Joe was so good last night that it speaks volumes that Smith and Horford seemed to overshadow the Backcourt. 24/4/4 on a mere (15) shots--he's good, he's good.

For all of the goodness that the Hawks were displaying offensively, the defense didn't seem to coincide. For every terrific shot (like the aforementioned 3 from Joe) the Pacers raced the ball back up the court and caught the flatfooted Hawks scrambling to get in transition position. There were too many open Danny Granger and Troy Murphy looks from long range---and they made the Hawks pay.

In fact, if not for an abnormally bad night from the free throw line by Granger (7-11 is awful for the 89 percent shooter), the endgame would have been different. He did, though, and the Hawks did enough to win and clinch that first round home court, which means that the ATL can now make plans to be there and be loud for Games 1 and 2.

Agate Type:

Between Acie Law and Mo Evans inactivity (Sidenote: they mentioned Evans' Family Matters so much it sounded like a TBS promo for the old sitcom), Marvin being limited minutes to his (12) minutes, and an in game injury for Zaza Pachulia---it meant seeing a starting assignment for Flubber West and more minutes for Solomon Jones.

As for West---though he made a couple of plays out there---his output does not match his energy. To play (14) minutes, including a lot with the other (4) starters and put up the line that he did seems to be Exhibit A to Hawks GM Rick Sund on building the deeper bench next year. (5) fouls, (3) turnovers, and a whopping (-8) when he was playing with the starting lineup that all had positive +/- should tell Woody not to do that anymore, or at least send Hawks fans lining up to hope that Mo Evans' Family Matters are a short term issue.

As for Jones, he gives up so much to the other team when he is on the floor, but the difference tonight is that he was able to give some of it back for the Hawks with (7) points, rather than just being a liability all night.

That the Hawks played West and Jones together for portions of the game--like towards the end of the first quarter when the Hawks original lead melted away quickly---and came away with the win further spotlights, highlights, and demonstrates just how really good Johnson, Bibby, Smith, and Horford were.

The HHB wants to hear the ATL from its comfortable Orlando HQ---just like last year---However, if you want you can leave Game 1 tickets for us in the Comments Area.