Atlanta
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
Our own Eric Pincus has for a long time been reporting on this offseason's free agent commitmentsand Kenny Anderson has for been rumored to be coming to Atlanta virtually the entire summer. At first, it was believed to be on hold while Atlanta sorted out the Erick Dampier situation. What's the holdup now?
Atlanta needs a point guard desperately. For that position now, they have Tony Delk, who would have started in Boston last year under Jim O'Brien before he was traded along with Antoine Walker to Dallas, but in Dallas he was a third-string point guard behind Steve Nash and rookie Marquis Daniels. He is an able backup and perhaps his greatest claim to fame is his career high 53 points against the Sacramento Kings on January 2, 2001 while he was a Phoenix Sun and a teammate of Jason Kidd. Delk is a good three-point shooter but he is more of a Jason Terry type of point guard: in other words, he's more of an off-guard.
Kenny Anderson is more of a pure point guard who can distribute the ball and set up the offense. He is not going to make the Hawks a fast breaking team but he will put the ball in Walker's and Al Harrington's hands in the right places at the right times.
Bringing Anderson together with Walker and Delk would reconstruct 60% of the Celtics team that went to the 2002 Eastern Conference Finals. They're missing Paul Pierce of course, but they do have Al Harrington, Josh Childress, and Boris Diaw.
What are they waiting for?
TEAM NOTES
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Our own Patrick J. Austin ofHoopsworld.comwrites: Jason Terry isn't a point guard, he is a two-guard in a point guards body.I am a big Hawks fan, and I've seen many games where J.T. just looks lost while running the offense. He takes ill-advised shots and forgets to get his teammates involved. With the number of scorers Dallas has, that could cause major problems.
The College Basketball Notebookwrites: The recent trend of the nation's best high school players skipping college for the National Basketball Association hasn't made Indiana University coach Mike Davis shy away. Last season Davis watched highly sought Josh Smith sign with the Hoosiers, then make himself eligible for the NBA draft and become a first-round pick of the Atlanta Hawks.But a look at the early wish lists from the best players in the class of 2006 shows IU is in the hunt. The overwhelming No.1 player in the class, 7-foot Greg Oden of Indianapolis is considered by many to be a lottery draft pick now. If he does go to college, he likely will choose between IU and Wake Forest.
Gerry Fraley ofWFAA.comwrites: The question about Mavericks front-line additions Erick Dampier and Jason Terry is their psyche, not their talent. Both have been exposed to losing throughout their careers. The NBA has a term for that: "Clipper-ized," as in what happens to talented players who spent too much time with the feckless Los Angeles Clippers. Forget about playoff experience. Dampier and Terry have never played for a winning team. In Terry's five seasons with Atlanta, the Hawks were 129-261.Dampier's teams, Indiana and Golden State, have gone 211-413 during his eight seasons. The Mavericks will have to deprogram both players.
Brendan McGovern ofProBasketball.About.Comwrites: The Hawks were predictably rejected by all the major free agents despite their ability to pay top dollar. Thankfully, general manager Billy Knight didn't panic by mortgaging his team's future for a collection of marginal talent. The acquisition of Walker will help the Hawks improve their fortunes next season while maintaining the team's flexibility in the market come next summer. The adherence to the "best player available" draft philosophy yielded Atlanta five players who all play the same position, but the Hawks are in a position to let immediate holes remain unfilled while gambling that one of either Childress or the Smiths turn into a superstar down the road. Atlanta would be wise to continue this philosophy next season when they have four picks (one No. 1, three No. 2s) in next year's Draft... Grade: C+ ... Things aren't pretty now, but Atlanta's salary cap room is the envy of the League. With such flexibility, the Hawks could turn into an overnight contender with a few bold trades aimed at taking hefty contracts off teams looking to rebuild.