Hawk Str8Talk is back - Offseason/Season Musings

Let's start with the subtractions - Hilton Armstrong, Josh Powell, and Etan Thomas will not be missed one iota. Damien Wilkins was replaceable while providing some negligible value last year. This leaves us with Pape Sy and Jamal Crawford. It's unfortunate that we have to use a seemingly average to below average player to prove a point, but Pape Sy is just another example of either the Hawks inability to develop talent or their inability to scout players. In either (or both), the waiving of a player that you bought out of his contract just last year should be a significant demerit against the Rick Sund regime. For me, it's both. A team with the limited budget that the Hawks have can't invest in a player that you don't get a chance to validate one way or the other. This more than a concern that we're missing out on hidden gems is the problem with our management and the coaching team's synergy in selecting players that will aid in our pursuit of a title. The franchise that doesn't give a reasonable chance to Jordan Crawford, Keith Benson, and now Pape Sy. Not to mention past casualties Acie Law IV, Salim Stoudamire, Solomon Jones, Sergiy Gladyr, and Cenk Aykol, Oh, and did I forget to mention Jeff Teague (we'll come back to him later). The point is simply that a team with razor thin margins for adding talent (via draft and veterans signed at the minimum) cannot be cavalier about the process of adding talent nor acquiring assets (draft picks, trade exceptions) that will move the franchise forward. After saying all that, Pape Sy and Keith Benson weren't good, never were, so let's move on.

This brings us to Jamal Crawford. There was a lot of chatter about whether or not to bring back Jamal Crawford and so that I don't spend a lot of time on this - here's a truth that many people still haven't grasped and that's that - Jamal Crawford was never a great acquisition for this franchise. For $18M over 2 years, getting highlights and scoring is not enough. You can compare him to Acie Law IV and Craig (can't call him Speedy) Claxton, but I'd prefer to compare him to what else other teams would have attempted to get for $9M a year in their place. So, instead of trading for a luxury piece vs. a true need, I've said this since the trade and I maintain that Jamal Crawford (much like Kirk Hinrich) are not players you can retain at the price tag we are paying when you have other glaring needs. It was tolerable during his 6th Man of the Year season, but last year - a $9M price tag for a backup shooting guard who doesn't do anything other than score (esp. at less than an elite level) - Jamal Crawford should have been on the trading block from offseason through the trading deadline. Unfortunately, our management and coaching staff looked at him as a core component instead of the enhanced Eddie House luxury piece to a puzzle that any other championship level team would view Jamal as. To be clear, I like Jamal Crawford as a person, but I've maintained for 2 years that he's a flashy guy who exhibits traits that belie why his previous teams have never made the playoffs. Additionally, there are players for a cheaper price that could put up similar numbers if all you asked him to do was come in and score the ball. The whole thing was always illogical to have $30M invested in the shooting guard position for a combo that doesn't include Jordan, Wade, etc. So, in true Hawks fashion, we never looked to get an asset back from a player we certainly weren't going to be able to resign from the moment we re-signed Joe Johnson. Like Mike Woodson, I suspect that we'll look back and say - hmmm, why isn't he setting the world on fire the way we thought he was (for those who believe that) in his post-Hawks career? (Note: I'm still waiting for the first article blasting the Hawks for letting Jamal Crawford go.)

Enough of looking backward, let's go forward and say that we added some players...Tracy McGrady, Jannero Pargo, Donald Sloan, Willie Green, Jerry Stackhouse, Ivan Johnson, and Vladimir Radmanovic. We know that all of these guys are coming in for the absolute minimum you can pay a player, so let's separate the gold from the fool's version. Here's what you hope happens - Tracy McGrady and Vladimir Radmanovic are good additions that you hope don't fall victim to the insane schedule this year. Whether they have anything left in the tank by the (spoiler alert) playoffs will determine what round this team bows out of. Jannero Pargo and Willie Green probably shouldn't be on the team (not at the expense of Pape Sy or Wanamaker in my mind), but we know that developing talent is ..oh, see my rant above - so let's just hope that their veteran-ness provides some value or their terrible-ness keeps Teague and Hinrich on the court more often that not. Jerry Stackhouse is what we hoped Josh Powell would be last year..a veteran leader who provides locker room leadership. Anyone who watched the Hawks last year, there was not much leadership, so let's hope that Stackhouse can be that guy - or else he needs to be cut. Finally, Ivan Johnson and Donald Sloan are this season's sit on the bench guys and they may deserve to be, but let's hope that when the schedule is insane and players are in foul trouble or injured that opportunities to prove their worth are offered to these guys (or in Pargo's case - simply letting Sloan play could just be the best thing to do no matter what).

Overall, the additions are a net positive over last year's group at first glance (Jamal Crawford included), but we'll see if that lasts since we know that one or two of these guys will be waived during the season to keep the team under the tax and who knows how the injury front will impact us. So, I congratulate Rick Sund on signing players who can contribute this year while I continue to give him the side eye for not being able to make the hard decisions to carve out cap room and draft picks for use this year and in anticipation of next season's free agent pool.