The Hawks made it official today and signed Etan Thomas to a contract to help round out the roster. It wasn't long ago that Thomas was a pretty useful player playing seven seasons for the Washington Wizards and last year with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Thomas missed the entire 2007-2008 season after having open heart surgery. He has played rather sparingly since appearing in only 23 contests last season with the Thunder.
Thomas will compete with other Hawks big men ZaZa Pachulia, Jason Collins, and Josh Powell for playing time behind starters Al Horford and Josh Smith. Larry Drew had this to say about the Thomas signing per Hawks PR Release:
"We’re excited to add a player of Etan’s caliber to our roster," said Hawks head coach Larry Drew. "He provides additional veteran leadership, physicality and toughness to our club, especially on the glass and the defensive side of the ball. We also add another versatile and multi-positional player to our frontcourt."
Hawks beat writer Michael Cunningham asks Thomas why he chose the Hawks:
"This is a great situation," he said. "I was with Larry Drew in D.C. and I have a lot of respect for him. I like what he is doing here."
Bret over at Hoopinion has a nice breakdown of Thomas' advanced stats post surgery.