Atlanta
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
The Hawks have landed Peja! Drobnjak, of course. Who did you think we were talking about? The Hawks pick up insurance against the increasingly indecisive Erick Dampier while simultaneously putting some slight pressure on him to give his yea-or-nay to Atlanta's offer. And it only cost them a second round draft pick next season.
Drobnjak is on his third team in as many months. He spent last year a Clipper (only one year there for the journeyman, who had come from two years at Seattle). The Clippers moved him to Charlotte as part of the deal that switched the second and fourth draft picks. Now, he goes to Atlanta.
Does Antoine Walker think that Drobnjak, Walker, and Al Harrington could be the league's best frontcourt? Complete radio silence on that front.
Still, the addition of the 6-11 Serbian center puts some slight pressure on Dampier and gives the Hawks at least one player in the pivot.
Drobnjak of course is a "European" big man in the most telling sense of the phrase: he likes to hoist three-pointers. Between him and Walker, those two could have more missed three-pointers than rebounds. Hopefully head coach Mike Woodson will put the clamp down and get those guys to play closer to the basket.
Drobnjak was a member of the championship Yugoslavian basketball team in the 2002 World Basketball Championships in Indiana and is now competing for gold in the Olympics. So far, his Serbia-Montenegro team has lost to Argentina on a heroic Manu Ginobili shot. Drobnjak played nine minutes in the one-point loss, scoring five points, pulling down one rebound, and nabbing one steal.
TEAM NOTES
Angry at the Hawks owners? Pleased with how they've handled the offseason? Got an idea for how they can make more money? Send email to owners@hawks.com.
Our own Eric Pincus ofBasketbalL News Serviceshas a wonderfully thorough list of free agent signings. He writes: Atlanta Hawks Jason Collier – - $3.15 million over two years. Collier put up some big number late last season in Atlanta. Why not?Kenny Anderson – Kenny has reportedly come to terms with the Hawks, but it’s still pending.Draft Picks: Josh Childress and Josh Smith
The Associated Press writes inAccess North Georgia: The Charlotte Bobcats traded center Predrag Drobnjak to the Atlanta Hawks on Monday for a second round pick in the 2005 NBA draft.The Bobcats agreed to select Drobnjak from the Los Angeles Clippers in the expansion draft as part of the deal for the Clippers' No. 2 overall pick in the NBA draft. The Bobcats used that pick to draft Emeka Okafor. The Bobcats never had an immense interest in Drobnjak, and after sending their 2005 second-round pick to the Clippers in July for Melvin Ely and Eddie House, they were looking to get another draft selection.