Archive for July, 2010

Jeff Shultz at the AJC took time out to interview Dwight Howard while he was in Atlanta this weekend.  First of all, Dwight let it out that Josh Smith is getting married this weekend.  Congratulations Josh Smith!  Marriage is a wonderful thing and settling down has a way of taming the wild.  I wish Josh all the best in his new family life and a renewed focus on his basketball game.  Dwight will be Josh’s best man.  Seeing how close these two are just makes it sting a little more than Atlanta missed out on getting the hometown star back [...]

Neil Paine over at Basketball Reference has some good information on Josh Smith’s improvement offensively in the 2009-2010 season.  Per this blog entry, Josh Smith improved from being a player with a 103.5 offensive rating to a player with a 109.4 offensive rating simply by cutting down his three point shooting.  Josh Smith shot 87 total three point shots in 2008-2009 and cut that to only 7 attempts in 2009-2010.  That’s a remarkable decline in his shooting attempts and it was needed.   As the article stated, Josh shoots roughly 9% lower on three point shots than the league average.  He [...]

While Michael Cunningham is still out at the AJC and there is no report in the local paper at this point, several media outlets are reporting that the Hawks have indeed resigned center Jason Collins.  The word coming out of the Hawks offices is that Jason has worked very hard this offseason to get his body into playing shape and is a good presence in the locker room.  The Hawks roster stands at 12 right now, with the last two players on the roster being little more than locker room presences at this point.  To me, this is yet another [...]

Here is some interesting stuff from basketball reference’s blog on offensive players vs the league’s top and bottom defenses.  This link is to part two of the series.  Part one can be found on their site.  The good news is that data shows Joe Johnson is a very good offensive player who does well against both top ranked and bottom ranked defenses.  He’s not a player that feasts on the league’s lower tier defenses.  It’s a good sign, because unlike some others, I don’t think his game will suffer the drastic decline that some others think.  He just doesn’t have [...]

All the talk about Chris Paul possibly demanding a trade and the possibility that the Hawks might consider the move has got me thinking about something else.  I have been thinking about what my central theme for this blog would be since I was allowed to take over for Kris, and I think those who have followed my posts on other websites such as Hawksquawk, you will know that I am a big proponent of building through the draft.  So that would probably be my central theme.  I feel that championship teams are built largely through the draft, and free [...]

The AP is reporting that Chris Paul has notified Del Demps, the New Orleans Hornets new GM, that he wants to be traded.  Could this be the opportunity the Atlanta Hawks have been looking for in their attempts to field a championship caliber basketball team in 2010-2011?  According to the report, Chris Paul has apparently given the Hornets a list of teams that he wants to be traded to, and the Atlanta Hawks reportedly isn’t one of them.  This brings me to Kelly Dwyer’s scathing blog entry on this subject.  That’s a good system, mind you, but it should also preclude [...]

Source: Yardbarker.com While there is no Michael Cunningham or Sekou Smith confirmation on this, it appears that the Atlanta Hawks will sign free agent journeyman Josh Powell.  I’m a little indifferent on this move.  On the one hand, Josh Powell has really contributed nothing to winning during the past two seasons.  On the other hand, he hasn’t had much of a chance to play and is still young enough to have an upside.  There have been some good things said about him from his time with the LA Lakers.  Josh was one of the few players that Kobe Bryant allowed [...]

There is a fanhouse report that says Jason Collins is expected to resign with the Hawks for the 9 year veteran minimum.  I will give this scouting department credit for how they evaluate college talent and run their draft, with the exception of giving away a high second round pick for nothing.  However, when it comes to making free agent decisions, their reliance on veteran free agents can be maddening.  Let me put this disclaimer out first.  Michael Cunningham is currently on vacation, so he isn’t available to report whether there is any truth to this rumor or not.  However, [...]

The Atlanta Hawks concluded their summer league play with an 89-83 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves summer league team.  The Hawks ended with a record of 3-2.  As I stated during the first summer league game, winning isn’t what is important in these games.  What is important is the players and the evaluation of those players in this small sample size.  Overall, it’s difficult to get a good gauge on what a player can do.  Summer league games are conducive to players that can get up and down the court, and sometimes, guys who are shooters have a little trouble [...]

I’ve been an Atlanta Hawks fans since the mid 1980s.  During that time, the Hawks have really only had four general managers.  Early on, Stan Kasten ran everything.  Pete Babcock ultimately succeeded Stan Kasten and was able to maintain a 45-50 win team for the most part through the Bob Wiess and Lenny Wilkens years.  Things fell apart at the end for him.  Billy Knight succeeded Pete Babcock and started the Hawks on a long road to recovery.  Now, Rick Sund has come in and has stabilized what Billy Knight put together while adding a few pieces to the mix.  [...]