Mini-camp invitees
Hawks rookie point guard Jeff Teague will make his on-court debut with the Hawks in a mini-camp next week at Philips Arena.
HAWKSVILLE - While most of the rookie/free agent attention is focused on the happenings in Las Vegas, the Hawks don’t have a summer league entry in Sin City.
Therefore, the only chance we’ll get to see rookie point guard Jeff Teague in action this summer is during the Hawks’ mini-camp next week at Philips Arena (it’s not open to the public, sorry, and is barely open to the media – we get to see the last half hour of action everyday, which usually consists of cats shooting free throws and trying half court trick shots).
There is good news, though. Intriguing news, even, when you consider who will accompany Teague on the floor during these mini-camp workouts.
If the (tentative) invite list I glanced at today doesn’t change between now and Monday, recent second-round picks Sergiy Gladyr (last month) and Cenk Akyol (2005) will also be in town for the workouts. I know how much you guys love to examine the web-footage of these guys to determine what you think of their games. But I’m looking forward to seeing them in action and on the floor with guys who could potentially be their teammates some day in the future.
Also joining the party will be blog-fave/road grader Garret Siler, the 6-11, 305-pound big man from Augusta State. We only got a chance to see a glimpse of what he can do when he was in for a pre-draft workout with the Hawks. Now we’ll see what he looks like in game-type action during mini-camp. Then and only then will it be clear if he has any chance at all of coming back for training camp and trying to make the Hawks’ roster (which remains a distinct possibility, from what I’m told).
Other names to chew on the next few days as we get ready for the mini-camp include: G-David Huertas, G- Dionte Christmas, G-Sundiata Gaines, F-Shawn Taggart, G-Corey Williams, G-Anthony Goods, G-John Lucas III, F-Yaroslav Korolev, F-Ivan Harris, F-Frank Robinson (a returnee from last summer and one of my favorite cats), F-Leo Lyons and C-Chris Taft.
I know this is a slight detour from our recent free agent/trade conversations, but this mini-camp should be an interesting study in where youngsters like Teague, Gladyr and Akyol are in terms of when they can be expected to contribute to the Hawks.
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487 comments Add your comment
Officer Dangle
July 16th, 2009
3:01 pm
Anyone heard of the Smyrna Community Center Cafeteria? I’m looking for a few good men (sorry, but I’m kind of afraid of girls) to each lunch with me in the Cafeteria. I am looking for some big eaters and some not-so-big eaters. If anyone is interested in being lunch partners, let me know! Does anyone here eat lunch and live in or around Smyrna? Sincerely, Creepy Guy Trolling Blog For Lunch Friends
miles
July 16th, 2009
3:03 pm
Is Mario West coming back. I really like the defense and energy he brings off of the bench.
Melvin
July 16th, 2009
3:04 pm
” Jeff Teague, Sergiy Gladyr, Cenk Akyol, Randmo, Mario, Garret Siler, Hunter and Gardner ”
Heck, add a few more bodies and the Hawks could have field a team in Vegas. Oh I forgot, that would have require them to spend money.
Ariose
July 16th, 2009
3:08 pm
http://dimemag.com/2009/07/10-best-available-restricted-free-agents/
~Sir Links A Lot~
rainman
July 16th, 2009
3:08 pm
Well, it might be best to keep the Spirit out of Vegas — they might lose what little they have left.
mountain_jim
July 16th, 2009
3:09 pm
Thanks kirkinga for that Andersen link. They can’t fully define the ‘future 2nd round pick’ any further there either (as to year or protection)
cp
July 16th, 2009
3:11 pm
I would take Matt Barnes over Mo. If we sign Barnes maybe we can trade Mo for a second rounder or something. Barnes can play a few positions, rebounds well for his position, and can hit the 3.
Anakin Joe
July 16th, 2009
3:15 pm
cp, should have traded Mo and Andersen for Carl Landry.
Anakin Joe
July 16th, 2009
3:20 pm
Ariose, linking the UFA list since we’re not likely using our MLE for any RFAs. Let’s go get Sean May with a bunch of clauses to protect us. He should be a little more desperate than Wilcox.
http://dimemag.com/2009/07/10-best-available-unrestricted-free-agents/
Cowa
July 16th, 2009
3:33 pm
Sekou, thanks for the listing. I’m still surprised that the Hawks didn’t go hard after Paul Harris. Seems to me, from all the predraft info we read, that he would be the perfect defensive wing to come off the bench with some upside. I know that Mario fills that role, but Harris is supposedly even better at man defense. Price could have worked on his shot to make him serviceable. And every few $’s saved helps! Harris is on Minnesota’s summer league roster, but they have too many young guys for him to have a chance at sticking.
From those players mentioned above (excluding Aykol and Gladyr), the only players that interest me are Christmas, Korolev and Siler, each for different reasons. Christmas may be the sniper we need (he needs a better handle though). Korolev has put on about 40 pounds since his days with the Paper Clips, and he always had great skills/potential, just didn’t have the confidence/maturity to make it as a teenager. Siler is big and would be cheap. Your man Robinson couldn’t beat out Mario or Gardner last year, and a years experience with the Hawks is worth a lot when making these final decisions, so I’m assuming he won’t make the final cut.
Assuming worst case scenario and all we can do from FA is to bring back Solo and Mario (Marvin is assumed to re-up as well), that leaves 3 spots (they will keep one open). Incumbents are Hunter, Morris (who is non guaranteed) and Gardner. The questions then become:
Is Siler better (or has more potential) than RandMo? I say yes.
Is Christmas a better shooter than Gardner? Again, I say yes.
Is Korolev a better forward than Hunter? TBD.
Of course, if we sign another big like we all want (Wilcox/Gooden/Smith/etc.), then you need to add Solo to the mix as well with Korolev, Siler & Hunter. And who knows, maybe one of these other guys (Lyons?) has a good showing and adds to the mix as well. And at $500-750k a pop, they are very enticing to the ASG.
Ariose
July 16th, 2009
3:36 pm
AJ, Flip is #2 on the list…
Anyway, Matt Barnes and Drew Gooden would be nice….
O'Brien
July 16th, 2009
3:49 pm
Matt Barnes as Marvin’s backup would be nice (Mo Evans is too short). Plus if Marvin only takes the 1 year deal then we could have Chills and Matt Barnes to hold down the SF position next year (in case Marvin walks).
Sekou,
Any news on Woody’s coaching staff for next year? Will he have the same assistants? (I hope not. We need a big man coach not named Tyrone Hill, and an offensive coordinator would be nice). I would love to see him add a guy to his staff who has NBA head coaching experience. Someone like Maurice Cheeks…
gram
July 16th, 2009
3:50 pm
Sekou,
Is there a chance to get Sergiy Gladyr and Cenk Akyol (esp. Gladyr) on the team if they impress, i.e. do they have issues with their Euro contracts. Its just so frustrating that we can never get these guys over after we draft them. Can we keep Gladyr on this side of the ocean???
Melvin
July 16th, 2009
3:56 pm
“at the price the Hawks are probably willing to pay and for the time and money that most of the good cats want”
With Sekou making the above statement and the fact that the Hawks will have a mini camp next. We may as well forget about filling out the bench with experience savvy valuable veterans. Hello Siler, Chirstmas and whomever those street ball legends that will be in camp…
Melvin
July 16th, 2009
3:58 pm
* the fact that the Hawks will have a mini camp next week.
Anakin Joe
July 16th, 2009
4:18 pm
I didn’t realize that Horford, Smith and Williams combined to miss 40 games last season. I thought it was closer to 30. Let’s hope that they can play 65-70 games together next season… then we truly might see some of that “organic growth” kick-in.
niremetal
July 16th, 2009
4:24 pm
Gladyr is 19 and hasn’t played highly competitive ball yet…the Ukrainian Superleague is probably the equivalent of D2 college ball in terms of the level of competition. Now granted, he was second in the Superleague in scoring, which ain’t bad for a 19 year old. But I don’t think it’s a good idea to risk a contract on him unless we’re pretty sure he’s ready. If you bring him over too soon, you stunt his growth – it’s better for him to be a rotation player on a team competing in the Euroleague or ULEB than it is for him to ride the pine in Atlanta.
What I hope the Hawks do is get Gladyr set up with a higher-tier European team – one that competes in the top competitions – where he can be a rotation player. That way, he’ll have a chance to develop his skills against a higher level of competition.
Akyol is already on a team that plays in the Euroleague competitions. The problem is that he’s stuck on their bench. Efes Pilsen is a lot like Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel – they’re by far the best team and have by far the most money. In order to maintain their dominance, they get basically all the good players in Turkey under contract for them. It helps ensure that they stay on top of the Turkish League, but it’s bad in terms of the development of the young players who ride their pine. The true standouts (namely Okur and Turkoglu) get PT. But borderline prospects ride the pine behind veteran foreign players who couldn’t make it in their home countries. That’s not to say that Akyol would develop into a stud if he got more PT on another team; just that young guys with Efes Pilsen tend to never get a fair shot.
cp
July 16th, 2009
4:32 pm
Anakin I read that Sean May is still out of shape. He seems to be another Michael Sweetney. May just cant seem to push away from the dinner table. I read that we are interested in Ike Diogu.
Melvin
July 16th, 2009
4:34 pm
Yep, I’m glad we pickup another 2nd round pick from the Rockets. I sure we draft the next best prospect out of China to go with our other up and coming studs from the Euro and Turkey league. The Hawks will be unstoppable in 2020 when these guys develop…
Melvin
July 16th, 2009
4:41 pm
*I’m sure we will draft the next best
jhan
July 16th, 2009
4:52 pm
I’m sure Anderson would have made the Hawks an instant title contender. It’s amazing that all the GM’s in the league have overlooked this guy for the last 10 years. If only they were as smart as some people on this blog!
Anakin Joe
July 16th, 2009
5:01 pm
cp, we’re you thinking about Diogu in the context of short-chubby players? Don’t lie
niremetal
July 16th, 2009
5:07 pm
Melvin,
Let me know what you suggest would be a better use of second round picks. Thanks.
niremetal
July 16th, 2009
5:07 pm
Amen, jhan.
Melvin
July 16th, 2009
5:10 pm
I’m sure there are plenty of teams looking to acquire/sign 2nd rounders, non draftees and journeymen to push them to elite status…
I.MUS WRITE- INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY
July 16th, 2009
5:16 pm
What is this no love fo my boi Rasho Nesterovich………
The Truth
July 16th, 2009
5:18 pm
I had promised to give it a rest regarding any topics related to Chill and Anderson now that they are gone. However, this article about Anderson in Houston Chronicle is disturbing if true:
“The Atlanta Hawks had used a second-round pick on Andersen in 2002, but they apparently never made a real effort to sign him.”
It suggests that Sund dropped the ball again and lost another asset (albeit he did recoup 2M). Perhaps the old-school “hard-ball” style negotiation Sund is conducting isn’t working and is turning-off potential suitors. We were lead to believe by Sekou and others that Anderson didn’t want to play here because of available minutes for him. I’m just wondering; if this idea has merit, how many more players have been turned off by Sund. Maybe we Hawk Fans are so easily impressed by him; we are not really paying attention to what’s really going on. I don’t know…
Melvin
July 16th, 2009
5:25 pm
Nire,
You can spin it anyway you like. I prefer to see that guy in a Hawks uniform first. If he doesn’t pan out, so be it. Don’t try to sell me on the fact that the Hawks pickup an extra pick and 2 mil in cash. Now if the pick/cash turns into a helpful peice in the future, I would applaud the move at that time.
Melvin
July 16th, 2009
5:27 pm
Co-sign your post, The Truth
cp
July 16th, 2009
5:44 pm
I’ll be glad when people get over Andersen. Myself and others posted an article stating that the Hawks offered him a deal but he turned it down and asked the Hawks to trade his rights preferably to the Rockets. And lol Anakin yea that short chubby player Ike.
Ariose
July 16th, 2009
6:03 pm
Nire, We shoulda traded down in the 2nd round, Drafted Danny Green as our 3rd SF and traded Chills to the Bucks for a bag of skittles…
Ariose
July 16th, 2009
6:09 pm
I.Mus, You like that big stiff??? 0_o….
jhan
July 16th, 2009
6:12 pm
Odom turned down 3/$30M & 4/$36M – wonder what he thinks he’s worth?
O'Brien
July 16th, 2009
6:41 pm
jhan,
Odom wants 5 years, $50 mil. And at his age, there is no way I give him that kind of money.
As for the Hawks, I give Sund credit for resigning Bibby and ZaZa (at reasonable prices), getting Crawford for scraps, and drafting Teague. However, the Hawks still have work to do.
If Marvin gets hurt again, we are forced to start 6′ 5″ Mo Evans at SF, with nobody backing him up. And if one of our bigs gets hurt again (Josh and Al missed 28 games combined) we are in trouble.
We could use a guy like Matt Barnes or even Ariose’ guy Gerald Green at SF, and another veteran big, like Drew Gooden/Chris Wilcox/Joe Smith.
The Truth
July 16th, 2009
6:49 pm
It is becoming apparent that Sund is not willing to make a serious financial commitment to the frontline bench players. Since Zaza is the first “Big” off the bench, his annual salary of 4.75M is a “tea leaf” reading as to how much less the Hawk will be shopping to pay for the next “Big”. Since Zaza has set the bar, players like Wilcox, for example, would talk a serious “hair-cut” from his previous salary of nearly 8M annual with the Knicks compared to Zaza 4.75M. As I talked about Anderson, yes the Hawks may have made him a “desperation” offer but using common logic, it most have been a serious “low-baller” if it pissed him off enough to take a Houston offer of only 4M/year. I’m thinking the Hawks offered him in the range of 2-3M/year, insulted him and he walked. I don’t know what 2-3M buys you in today’s market, but you usually get what you pay for.
It is strange that the weakest link of the Hawks last season was the frontline depth, and the financial commitment to address that problem may not be no more then 2-3M. If this is true, Sund may find it difficult to answer the frontline cries.
bob
July 16th, 2009
6:52 pm
Any word on Mario West this summer? I would hate to see him go.
chaz
July 16th, 2009
6:58 pm
once marvin signs we’ll have 11 players under contract for around 63M. next move will be to fill out the roster for a couple of million (solo, ratliff, siler, etc) for a payroll around 65M this year vs. 68M last year for basically the same team minus flip plus crawford.
assuming marvin has signed a long term deal that pays 8M next year, next summer our payroll will be around 50M for the same squad minus JJ. that should leave enough to sign JJ and a couple of extras to fill out the roster, again keeping the core intact without significantly expanding payroll. this appears to be sund’s master plan.
it is a young and talented group and i applaud sund for his success in keeping them together. they will be fun to watch over the next couple of years. but can these hawks really challenge the elite teams and go to the finals in the next couple of years without another top-tier player? wilcox or matt barnes would significantly improve our depth and make us a better team, but i am not convinced these hawks can make it past the second round without a major acquisition.
niremetal
July 16th, 2009
7:04 pm
Well, Melvin and The Truth, I guess y’all would know better than Sekou.
Ariose
July 16th, 2009
7:10 pm
At 26, I think Wilcox can still get better…..he can develop along with our core.
niremetal
July 16th, 2009
7:13 pm
PS – That Chronicle piece was written by their equivalent of Mark Bradley – not a beat writer, but instead a guy whose primary focus is baseball, but who occassionally decides to drop in and write some stuff about basketball that he pulls out of his ass after making two phone calls.
Wabe
July 16th, 2009
7:14 pm
O’Brien, I co-sign w/everything you said.
To reply to what you said about Marvin/Mo, I think if a situation were to pop up like last season w/marvin, I think they’d slide JJ to the 3, with Evans backing him up. Crawford would start at the 2, and HE would actually be without a backup – which is one of the PRIMARY REASONS I continue to say if the Hawks can resign Flip for cheap – it wouldn’t hurt.
More depth shouldn’t be a problem for a coach, it should only be helpful.
AND I SAY THIS KNOWING WOODY’S COACHING PRACTICE.
I UNDERSTAND HE LIKES RUNNING A 7-8 MAN ROTATION. BUT THAT SHOULDN’T MEAN WE LIMIT OUR TALENT TO 7-8 SOLID PLAYERS AND HAVE SCRUBS AT THE END OF THE BENCH.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!MORE TALENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
niremetal
July 16th, 2009
7:17 pm
Actually, that’s not entirely fair to Richard Justice. At least he usually makes a phone call or two first. Mark Bradley usually just goes straight to his ass.
The Truth
July 16th, 2009
7:18 pm
Coorection to my last post regarding Anderson salary:
According to Houston Chronicle:
“Andersen will sign a contract believed to be worth $7.5 million over three years.”
That would make his annual salary to be 2.5/year with Houston not 4M/year. If this was the offer, Anderson should not have been pissed if the Hawks offer was in the range of 2-3M/year. However, if the Hawks offer was 1M/year then he would have been pissed.
Ken
July 16th, 2009
7:20 pm
I say from here on out, if we are going to draft an international guy to develop over seas, go big. There’s a high chance that none of these guys are going to amount to anything anyway, so unless the guy looks like the second coming of Manu Ginobli or Tony Parker, then go big. Big guys aren’t guaranteed to be better or anything, but the way Euro-guys are all well skilled we could end up with a 6′10 ish guard forward (ala Turkoglu) or 7′0 forward (ala Dirk). Even if we are just trying to take the best talent to barter with down the road, big men are always valuable.
vava74
July 16th, 2009
7:24 pm
I only noticed that I was the last guy to post on the previous blog now, as I turned my computer on again. This is post in reply to:
Ken Strickland,
You are trading a “what if” for a tangible reality which is FAR BETTER than what we have experience on the recent past (with teams filled with loaded by questionable talents much alike some which have been thrown around as possible signings by the bloggers around – JR Rider, Glenn Robinson, … spring to mind)
I am very critical of Woody myself but we also need to look at what was accomplished: we went from bottom dwellers to two consecutive playoff berths.
I know that this year’s second round showing was very poor, however, we were crippled by injuries and Lebron was getting all the calls going his way:
JJ was wobbled from the start (tired and tender ankle since mid-season) and then complely worn out and with his ankle (I’m not sure if it was the same) really hurt.
Marvin was crippled: he was present physically but completely unable to perform. He brought in the regular season 3pt shooting and defense as well as many other small things (yes, he sometimes seems to be sleep walking, but that is his style).
Al was terrible hurt and the match up with Ziggy was bad for us due to his size and his hability to knock shots from 15ft.
For the people who bring back the “poor showing” against Miami argument, I say 2 things:
a) The refereeing was killing us;
b) Even so, we won.
This year, hopefully we will repeat or improve the 47win mark of last year BUT with a little less dependability from the same 8 players.
I agree with some people around here that say that Woody does not feel secure enough to take risks and that is why he concentrates on winning and not on developing the bench.
The Truth
July 16th, 2009
7:25 pm
niremetal
Don’t bait us like that. Just using common logic. If A=B, and B=C then A=C
vava74
July 16th, 2009
7:34 pm
The Truth,
The article’s sentence:
“The Atlanta Hawks had used a second-round pick on Andersen in 2002, but they apparently never made a real effort to sign him.”
Makes reference to an historical desinterest in signing Andersen SINCE HE WAS drafted and not specifically to what happened this year. This lack of interest culminated now with the simple fact that, what he was asking now to come to Atlanta ($ wise) was not compatible with the minutes he would be getting, in light of Zaza’s signing back with us.
Get a grip and look at his stats: he is non-physical 4 in Europe BBall which translates into a tall and slow 3 in the NBA: Nothing to cry about.
If you want to cry about something, cry about the fact that all our second round selections have been always a waste.
This means that we traded nothing for nothing PLUS 2 million and future considerations (probably some h**kers and tequilla for Sund during his next time around Houston), which is something that we should look positively on.
Wendall
July 16th, 2009
7:34 pm
Give Sund a break about the Anderson deal. The guy was drafted 7 yrs ago and has done nothing for us. It’d be foolish to think he’s going to turn into an all-star when he was barely gettin 3 mil over there. Perhaps we could’ve used him, but what we really need is a banger. Overall though, I’m happy to get rid of the guy and get something for him. We got him in the second round back then and we got another second rd plus lil extra.
niremetal
July 16th, 2009
7:35 pm
The Truth,
Do you even read Sekou’s articles? Like at all? The issue wasn’t MONEY. It was MINUTES. In Houston, he’ll either start or be the first big man off the bench thanks to the career-ending injury to Mutombo, the season-ending injury to Yao, their failure to sign Gortat, and the fact that all those problems has left Houston with the “options” at center as they had in last year’s playoffs: 6′9 Scola and 6′6 Chuck Hayes. So in Houston, Andersen will have the opportunity to play 25-30 minutes a game because of the beyond-desperate situation they have at center.
We have Zaza and Horford, both of whom are at this point proven young NBA centers. We have Josh Smith who is a proven young PF. Contrary to Clyde’s assertions to the contrary, that makes us among the better-off teams in the NBA in terms of our depth at the “big man” positions. Even if we ran a Doc Rivers type of rotation (where Horford and Josh played just 30 minutes a game and Zaza 18-20), there isn’t room on our team for a big man that plays more than 15-20 minutes a game barring injury. With Woodson, Andersen was facing an inconsistent 8-15 minutes per game. Just do the minutes math and you can figure that out.
But hey, I know you don’t want to. Like Melvin and a bunch of people around here, you are probably living in 2006, convinced that ASG is cheap (their willingness to drastically increase payroll the last two years notwithstanding) and that Sund is a dunce. And if Sekou’s description of things doesn’t do it for you, I’m sure I won’t.
Whatever. Peace.
niremetal
July 16th, 2009
7:37 pm
Heh. *Contrary to Clyde’s assertions. This has been a message from the Department of Redundancy Department…