| Hawks Rise And Fall Short Once Again Authored by Patrick Austin - May 22, 2007 - 10:17 pm
| Current Featured Columns | | The First Three Weeks of 2008-09 Now that we’ve had a little time to watch free agency unfold, along with the usual accompaniment of trades, let’s look at some of the key moves and how they impact the teams involved.
Grading The Deal: W's Sign Maggette And TuriafThe Boom Dizzle era is over, and the Warriors quickly recovered by signing two nice pieces to complement their young core.
| |
I don’t want to sound ungrateful. Having the third pick certainly isn’t a bad thing and there look to be a myriad of very talented players available at that spot. But let’s be honest, this is a two-man draft; Oden and Durant are the real prizes and the Hawks were so close to having the chance to land one of them. It reminds me of that George Clooney movie “The Perfect Storm.” After Clooney’s boat gets beaten down by wave after wave for a majority of the film, a brief moment of calm takes over the seas and the sky opens up. Blue skies and sunlight strike the tattered vessel and hope returns to Clooney and his crew. But just as quickly as the sky turned blue, darkness returned and engulfed the scene. Hope was snatched away once again.
Okay, okay; I’ve had my time to gripe about missing out on Oden and Durant. Now’s the time to look forward and maximize our position at number thre.
Once the aforementioned Oden and Durant are selected with the top two picks, the Hawks will probably be choosing from this pool of prospects:
Brandan Wright—6’10 power forward from the University of North Carolina
Al Horford—6’9 power forward from the University of Florida
Yi Jianlian—7’0 power forward from China
Roy Hibbert—7’2 center from Georgetown
Mike Conley, Jr.—6’0 point guard from Ohio State University
Out of this group, only Hibbert and Conley fill specific holes glaring on the Hawks roster (i.e. point guard and center). Wright, Horford and Jianlian all have amazing talent and athletic ability but selecting any of them would just be redundant. The Hawks already possess a plethora of athletic, versatile forwards.
Another factor is the Hawks holding the eleventh lottery spot. I believe this pick could seriously influence who we take with the third selection. It wouldn’t shock me to see Billy Knight take a chance on a high-risk, high-reward project like Jianlian with the third pick and then select a more established college player like Joakim Noah or Acie Law at the eleventh spot. B.K. could then proclaim the “best player available” philosophy to justify such a selection at the top-end of the lottery and cover his bases with a better-known rookie at the bottom-end.
Yet another possibility is trading the third and/or eleventh pick(s) to acquire more immediate help. This scenario would make sense considering the team’s seemingly never-ending rebuilding process and the likelihood that B.K. and Woodson’s jobs will be on the line this year. Of course, with the Belkin case still stuck in court and the contractual restrictions still in effect (i.e. Hawks cannot take on contracts that are more than three years in length) it makes any trade difficult to consummate.
So, the chances are good the Hawks will be making two lottery selections this summer. Neither will change the franchise like Oden or Durant could have, but on the positive side, the Hawks are most definitely going to be a deeper, more talented team next season. |
