2011 NBA Free Agent Scoreboard: The Day Before

Follow along throughout the Free Agent season here at Peachtree Hoops, where we'll look at each day of the initial free agent frenzy and track who has signed where (with Color Coding!) as well as provide our own commentary along the way and how it may affect our Atlanta Hawks.

Here is a story stream, courtesy of our own SBNation, that you can also refer to for rumors and such. Enjoy!

Also, here is an excellent breakdown of the Top 79 free agents, courtesy of Tom Ziller. Must read!

UPDATED: Awesome, awesome, awesome team by team free agent breakdown as well from Ziller. Stop here first before even thinking about free agents.

Alright, so maybe you've heard about all the trade talk, and certainly the discussion of a potential Dwight Howard trade (come on, ATL!) and Chris Paul (talk about the ultimate closure for Hawks fans--Marvin in a trade for Chris Paul?), but tomorrow marks the beginning of the free agent signing period, and there will be plenty to talk about there.

Over at Grantland, Bill Simmons is doing a nice (if probably unhealthily possessed) job of breaking down the NBA offseason (including free agency) by tying it in with the 12 days of Christmas.

The Hawks, the team that has no money (about 5 million for 6 players before hitting the tax), is actually the team that made a lot of sound Wednesday, with reported deals by ESPN for Tracy McGrady, and then later in the night Hoopsworld was tweeting that Earl Watson was ATL-bound. Any deal the Hawks will sign a guy for will be for the vet min (like McGrady's was reported to be), you can almost bank on it. By the end of the night, Alex Kennedy at Hoopsworld was walking back the Watson to ATL due to Utah reportedly being willing to offer Watson a second year, which is usually too rich for the Hawks blood when filling out the roster.

Watson is 63rd on Ziller's list and McGrady 74th, neither with real positive observations by Tom attached:

63. Earl Watson: Watson is so allergic to shooting that he has averaged fewer than 10 points per 36 minutes in each of the last three seasons.

74. Tracy McGrady: Last season, McGrady had his most efficient shooting season since 2007. Last season, McGrady was still far less efficient than the average NBA player (50 percent TS%).

UPDATE 812AM: Woj's Free Agent Buzz for Thursday morning is up, with updates on Caron Butler, Shane Battier, and many others. The Hawks break in at the very bottom with interest in.....Jamaal Tinsley. Vet Min Fever, baby!

Where do they rank on the Scoreboard? Where do the top free agents being talked about stack up? Who were they again? They're all right here, on the 2011 NBA Free Agent Scoreboard! (as yet unsponsored)

Players are sorted by their last season's PER (or in Greg Oden's case, career PER).

For more on the Atlanta Hawks be sure to follow Peachtree Hoops on Twitter. Also check out the Peachtree Hoops Facebook Page for daily updates and comments from around the league.