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Atlanta Hawks officially acquire Thabo Sefolosha via sign-and-trade

Why make a trade? Options.

By Jason Walker
De-fense.
De-fense.
Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

Thabo Sefolosha was signed and traded by the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Atlanta Hawks, the team officially announced early Tuesday evening.

That Thabo was going to be a Hawk was not surprising, and the fact that he came to the Hawks via sign and trade was one of the scenarios that HawksFanatic spelled out in his definitive cap discussion over the weekend.

The Hawks could have signed Sefolosha outright as HawksFanatic laid out, but they didn't and a question arising from the fanbase is, "why?"

Well, first, the Hawks got some moolah for their trouble, so that's nice. We're hoping it's enough to fund Peachtree Hoops Night 2: The Reckoning. Secondly, aside from the cash, there is benefit to providing an exception for others. You don't get favors in the league unless you give them. Create a reputation for being hard to deal with and you'll find less people dealing with you. Who knows, maybe the Hawks will want to make a deal at the trade deadline and they might need the Thunder and their trade exception to chime in for them. It's good business.

Also part of the trade were the two international players (taken from the team's press release)

Atlanta acquired the draft rights to Schortsanitis from the Los Angeles Clippers on July 30, 2012 in a sign-and-trade transaction for Willie Green, after he was originally selected by the Clippers in the second round (34th overall) of the 2003 NBA Draft. He currently plays for Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel.

Alright, here's a photo of Schortsanitis:

482330843_medium_medium

via cdn2.vox-cdn.com

(Hint: he's not #54)

Here's who the Hawks got the rights to (again, from Hawks press release):

Printezis was originally selected by the San Antonio Spurs in the second round (58th overall) of the 2007 NBA Draft. He currently plays for Olympiacos Piraeus in Greece.

So he was drafted by the Spurs, which is nice and as our own Patrick Laney (the RedRev) notes, hey!, he knows someone on the team already!

As Laney noted in another Tweet, he is also under contract until 2017, so, yeah. Oh, and he played with Acie Law. Synergy!

Sefolosha should come in and provide the needed boost to the threes and defense style the Hawks want their wings to play, and shores up the depth in that area sorely lacking from last year.

Last thing, Peachtree Hoops alumnus and current Hawks.com writer Robby Kalland put a couple of Sefoloshy posts out there that neatly summarizes how Thabo fits the team and what they like about him. Check them out. Now.

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