Larry Drew discusses final roster, Damion James

Early on in training camp, Damion James looked like a lock to make the Atlanta Hawks' final roster. According to Larry Drew, the decision was not an easy one as he discussed following Sunday's practice.

"Going into our preseason we were looking at both (Anderson and James) very closely," Drew said. "Damion James was a guy I was looking at extra close. I love his size. I love his length. I love his athleticism. He's mindset is to defend.

"We thought it was more important to give ourselves a little flexibility by leaving one (roster) spot open. I thought Damion played extremely, extremely well. Probably should have made our club. But again, our mindset was we wanted to allow ourselves flexibility in the event there is something else out there, there is something else that might pop open."

By leaving a spot open, Atlanta is free to see what other players become available after other teams make their final decisions.

After seeing the way James performed during the preseason it is tough to see him get cut from the roster. However, with the way that the team is constructed there were going to be very few minutes available at the small forward position.