The Atlanta Hawks have continued the process of bringing the best talent to their training camp roster. They signed the high-energy power forward Chris Silva who played for the Minnesota Timberwolves and then the Miami Heat last season.
Silva is not a player whose numbers are going to wow you. In his three-year career, Silva has only averaged 2.8 points and 2.7 rebounds in 7.7 minutes per game. There is a good chance that if he does not survive the roster cutdown then he will be out of the NBA.
Still, as the old saying goes, you have to be in it to win it. I mean, who would have thought that Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot would have survived last season’s cutdowns to make a whole year on the Hawks squad? If had not been given a training camp deal, TLC would not have been in the league last season.
What the Atlanta Hawks could expect out of Chris Silva?
While Silva is not going to fill up the box score, he is going to do all of the hustle plays which can make a difference on the court. He is going to set screens, box out at both ends of the floor, get rebounds, and set screens. He does not need the ball to make a difference on the court.
The other aspect of this signing is that the Hawks have potentially left themselves short at the power forward position after they traded Danilo Gallinari away. They improved the team but if you see the images of John Collins’ finger, which the Hawks deleted from social media, they may need more troops than they currently have.
While there will be heavy competition for the final two roster spots, one regular and one two-way, Silva has a decent chance of getting signed. He would not command much salary, and this could help later in the season if the Hawks need to trade a player to get under the luxury cap threshold. They would only do this if the Dejounte Murray experiment fails.