Hawks courting Joe Smith?
Joe Smith (32) gave the Hawks all they could handle as he and his Cavaliers swept the birds out of the playoffs in May. The Hawks are in the process of recruiting him to help solidify their frontline rotation.
HAWKSVILLE - Who said the Hawks were done chasing big men this summer?
You didn’t hear it around these parts, at least not officially (from me).
Barring a last minute change of plans, veteran big man Joe Smith is scheduled to visit town on Wednesday, according to two of my best spies. And the Hawks are not out of the running for Ben Wallace, who has yet to agree to terms with Detroit (though, one of my best spies up north insists that it’s just a matter of time before Wallace returns to the Pistons).
A 6-10, 225-pound veteran of 14 NBA seasons, Smith showed he has plenty left in the tank against the Hawks in the Eastern Conference semifinals, averaging 4.8 rebounds, 3.3 points and 1.2 blocks in a little over 21 minutes per game. He’s got that “old man” strength that belies his seemingly slender frame. I watched him push the Hawks’ around in that series whenever he was on the floor.
Smith’s numbers (10.8 points and 5.5 rebounds) in the Cavaliers’ first round sweep of Detroit were even more impressive. He’s capable of that kind of production off the bench for a quality team, which speaks volumes for the type of veteran and pro that he has become since being the No. 1 overall pick in the 1995 draft.
Pair him on the frontline with Zaza Pachulia behind Josh Smith and Al Horford and the Hawks’ paper-thin frontcourt rotation suddenly takes on a different look. While it’s far from the “championship move” many have argued for around here, it’s certainly a move in the right direction (provided the Hawks are able to recruit him and sign him at some point between now and training camp).
The Hawks’ other big man options aren’t exactly ready to fade into the background. I mentioned Randolph Morris the other day and he’s shown well so far. Jeff Schultz caught up with him after Tuesday morning’s mini-camp practice for an interesting update on what he’s been up to this summer.
Another player to keep an eye on for a training camp invite is Othello Hunter. His minutes were sparse as a rookie last season, but the strides he made (physically and in his game) have been stunning to see from a year ago this time. It’s not clear right now what his future is with the Hawks. There are only going to be so many roster spots to go around. And without a guaranteed contract heading into camp, he’ll be gambling a bit if he comes to camp with the Hawks. But I like his game and what he brings in terms of a no-nonsense reserve that’s going to get to it whenever he’s asked.
I spoke with an Eastern Conference executive Tuesday afternoon that wanted to know what the Hawks were going to do with Solomon Jones. Funny, Jones asked me the same thing last week. I answered his question with the same question he asked me. He’s a restricted free agent, so you almost expect his summer to last a bit longer than most. Still, he’ll become an option for not only the Hawks but plenty of other teams looking to fill out the rotation with a long and athletic (even if he’s still a bit undersized) big that can play spot minutes when necessary.
Garret Siler has his chance to make an impression over the next 36 hours or so. He played well enough in summer league to get some looks from several other teams, so the Hawks will have to make a decision about what they want to do with him regarding training camp. One hilarious story that’s already made the mini-camp rounds is that it takes an entire roll of tape to properly tape up one of his ankles. I have to admit he is one of the largest human beings I can remember cutting corners in the hawks’ locker room during my time here. It’s on the floor, though, and particularly against Morris, Hunter and guys like Earl Barron, where we’ll be able to gauge Siler’s readiness for the rigors of the NBA.
There are still a few names left on the free agent radar, the most notable being Johan Petro. He hasn’t signed anywhere yet and could still be an option for the Hawks should things not work out with one of the other guys mentioned above.
Enough about these big men already. It’s time for some actual scrimmage action here shortly (the next time the Hawks have a mini-camp that has more drills than scrimmages in the first two days we should stage a non-violent protest in the name of the game). The blog will be open for business all night. I’ll be dipping back and forth between the blog and Twitter throughout the evening if you want to join the party.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
922 comments Add your comment
Melvin
July 22nd, 2009
7:49 pm
Hoops,
I don’t see Sund offering Diogu(3M) nor Korolev (1.5M). If he was willing to spend that type of money, we would have signed……….
cp
July 22nd, 2009
7:50 pm
From watching those videos Mario might be out of a job if he still cant hit a jumper.
Big Ray
July 22nd, 2009
8:03 pm
Clyde,
Heh heh, what you trying to say?
Well, only thing I can say is that Bibby has done far more for the Hawks than Wallace has for the Bulls or the Cavs.
Steve
July 22nd, 2009
8:29 pm
Really liked Christmas in college – hoping he could fit in somewhere, DLeague or something. We do need some more bigs – Miami just signed their 4th Center. The Cavs just killed us bringing in fresh height off the bench. We were gone physically after the Miami series, so depth is vital – hope Woody gets this.
1st, I’d re-sign Marvin – gettin’nervous!!
cdog
July 22nd, 2009
8:30 pm
you can scratch all of the available free agents off the list. sund wants to save money instead of win a championship. he will have siler guarding howard,garnett and shaq. the hawks will be blown out nightly, the ignorant fans will blame woodson.until we get a gm that is commited to winning championships and not just settling for competing, you fans will suffer as long as you have sund at the controls.
MannyT
July 22nd, 2009
8:34 pm
niremetal, you realize that all future trade suggestions are now valid with eastern Euro players because in Russia salary cap gets under YOU!!
Joe's place Joe speaking
July 22nd, 2009
9:07 pm
Sekou,
Any word on what players you think will make training camp? And did Joe smith visit today?
Melvin
July 22nd, 2009
9:18 pm
Did Joe Smith show up today? If so, did we offer him a contract????
Hoops
July 22nd, 2009
9:25 pm
Sekou,
Where are you? Tell us about Joe Smith!!!
Joe's place Joe speaking
July 22nd, 2009
9:26 pm
Sekou are you done with your nap yet?
KevinA
July 22nd, 2009
9:30 pm
Assuming the 7.4 million left is correct do you think Sund wants to sign Marvin first so he knows exactly what money is left? How much of this 7.4 million will be needed to fund JJ next year. Do these FA signings need to be one year to ensure we have the money for JJ? Then of course we have to look ahead at Al’s salary. If JJ and Al get big raises, how does this effect todays decisions.
Ya’ll have more expertise at this type of thing but little discussion.
Ariose
July 22nd, 2009
9:32 pm
o_0 Oooh!! Manny that was a good one!
I was thinking of some but they were really cheesy: Woody, Mr. Potato, Bald Head, etc. Yeah it wasn’t working out
Joe's place Joe speaking
July 22nd, 2009
9:37 pm
Sekous Twitter:
sekousmith01 Lucas misses a 3 at the buzzer that would have tied the game. Time to get outta here. Ellis did work. Teague did as well. I need a nap. about 4 hours ago
I think he’s still napping………
niremetal
July 22nd, 2009
9:38 pm
MannyT,
Damn, that was a good one! I’m not having luck of thinking good ones. But if we somehow end up signing Korolev, we’ll HAVE to start a “Russian reversal of the day” tradition…
KevinA,
Where are you getting the $7.4M figure from? Is that how far we are under the cap? Or is that how much someone has said the Hawks will spend?
Ariose
July 22nd, 2009
9:44 pm
Cp, I agree hope Rio has his stuff together this year lol.
Lawd!!! IKE “the chubby Tyke” Diogu????? What has he done!!!! I haven’t heard anything positive about that guy since….like….2005!!! uuuuaawwwgghhh!!!!
I’m really glad some of you aren’t GM’s. Just name me ONE THING the guys done since he’s been in the NBA??? I forgot he exited until he was brought up here. Adam morrison and Josh McRoberts are both labled as scrubs and I hear their names mentioned more times in a day than I’ve ever heard Ike Diogus name mentioned in a year……seriously people….come on….Even fraking Sean May!!!! He’s scrubbing BIGTIME right now.
Diogou shouldn’t even be on the radar right now. He’s not even in our solar system man…he’s past Uranus(pun intended), he’s in the toilet!! He’s not even in this galaxy. YUP that’s right he’s past the milky way dammit!!!! He’s at the edge of the Univrese, trillions of parsecs away from here…..poeple…..just stop it.
Steve
July 22nd, 2009
9:49 pm
Really about 6 mill. left after Marvin probably. The big thing is the cap is to decrease 10-15% because of the economy next year. So we have to re-sign JJ and Horford with less cap space. I think this is where Sund is headed with all this. It breaks down like this:
Let’s say we spend 2 mill each on Smith and Solomon. Our roster would probably look like this: Bibby, Teague, JJ, Crawford, Evans, Marvin, Smoove, Solo, Horford, ZaZa, and Smith. If the money is there, maybe Flip is back also.
The three subs to the 12 man roster would be West, Hunter, and RandMo. Maybe Siler to DLeague.
Next year, will have about 7mill. less in cap space. Mo’ would probably be gone – that’s 2.5m. Flip also, if he’s re-signed this year. JJ would probably have to take about 10m a year to stay – and he may with the new economic realities in the NBA. Horford about 8 – that’s about a wash between JJ’s decrease, Horford’s increase. Now your lookin’ at Teague, Bibby, West, Crawford, JJ, Marvin, Hunter, Smith, Solo, Horford, ZaZa, and RandMo or Siler – Smith probably too expensive to keep as well. Maybe our 1st pick in there as well.
Childress by the way is a good option, in case we can’t re-sign JJ…then we have him and Crawford. The economy hurts!
Ariose
July 22nd, 2009
9:49 pm
Even Shleden Willams for goodness sakes!!! He has hundreds of followers on twitter and he’s an uber scrub(Candace Parker??? and he’a SCRUB!!!). If Ike Diogou’s name showed up on a twitter directory people would probably think it was some new Vampire villan out of a comic book novel……
Ariose
July 22nd, 2009
9:51 pm
……..SSCCRRRUUUBBBB!!!!!!!!
niremetal
July 22nd, 2009
9:52 pm
My favorites:
Mr T: “In Soviet Russia, foo’ pities YOU!!”
MC Hammer: “In Soviet Russia, This can’t touch YOU!!”
Ariose
July 22nd, 2009
10:03 pm
Maaaan, even after I told Ray to play nice heheheh…..now i’m contradicting my comments
Nire, How about this
A Few Good men: “In Soviet Russia, Truth can’t handle YOU!!!”
niremetal
July 22nd, 2009
10:30 pm
Ariose,
Ha! We shoulda thought of that one before Game 4 against Boston last year…
http://redsarmy.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/joe-johnson.jpg
Ariose
July 22nd, 2009
10:41 pm
OMG Funniest picture EVER!!!! LOLOLOL!!!!
Defently an angry bandwagon jumping Celtic fan did that one heh!
Melvin
July 22nd, 2009
10:55 pm
Nice article by Sekou on Siler. You gotta like this statement by the Big Fella…
“I saw Zaza in here the other day, and I honestly thought he was taller than that,” Siler said. “When you see him on TV in the playoffs and stuff, they look larger than life. But when I saw him the other day, he didn’t look that big to me. Now I understand I’m not a little guy, but I really thought some of these guys were bigger than this.”
Melvin
July 22nd, 2009
10:57 pm
Sund,
Don’t let Siler leave camp without his signature on a contract…
Steve
July 22nd, 2009
11:07 pm
I agree with the Shelden Williams suggestion – be nice for him to come back “home” and help finish what’s goin’ on here!
niremetal
July 22nd, 2009
11:15 pm
Nice article. Still have little-to-no interest in signing him, unless it’s to send him to the D-League for a year a la Ray’s suggestion. I know he’s the flavor of the week (same as RandMo was last summer, although memories around here are short), but assuming he has the ability to become an NBA contributor, he won’t get there being our 3rd or (more likely) 4th string center. We need a 2nd string PF and (I would argue) another combo forward first.
Also, it never makes sense to get too amped about any of these guys. It’s not for nothing that all of them but Teague, Gladyr, and Akyol don’t have a contract to play anywhere. Teams are sufficiently desperate for “true centers” that I have a tough time believing that all 30 teams would have passed on Siler twice if there was a modicum of a chance that they thought he could be a rotation player.
But I like what I’ve seen/heard about the big fella. I hope he succeeds.
Anakin Joe
July 22nd, 2009
11:32 pm
I assume that Joe Smith won’t sign until Marvin’s deal is done, right? nire, Siler appears to have the size/frame of a true center while Morris does not. Plus, Siler is still relatively new to organized basketball. I say sign him to a 3-year dealcomparable to what 2nd round picks get and sen him to the NBDL with a team-salaried nutritionist.
Sekou Smith
July 22nd, 2009
11:33 pm
Joe Smith’s going scheduled to make the rounds tomorrow afternoon and Friday morning. Zaza was stoked when he found out he was coming. Apparently they played together in Milwaukee. Zaza said he’s “the best guy ever, on and off the floor.”
The media has not been invited to the Joe Smith party. The team plans on doing this thing in private, I’m sure. Plus, Mr. Nap (me) is going dark for the next 10 days. I’ll be updating the Twitter feed while I’m gone, but I wouldn’t expect any major news in the next week unless the Hawks are able to come to an agreement with Joe Smith by then.
Things remain stagnant on the Marvin front (so much for that report last Sunday about Marvin getting his deal, huh?). And we’ll see how things transpire for Solomon Jones with Indiana.
Check Sunday for an interesting Q&A with Woody. And I’ll have my mini-camp wrap up on the blog by the weekend.
Melvin
July 22nd, 2009
11:42 pm
Nire,
So what Siler didn’t get drafted. There are many players who didn’t get drafted and went on to have productive NBA careers. Why can’t Siler? The guy admit that he’s a late bloomer and didn’t play Bball until his senior year in high school. Why not take a chance on a guy like him who has shown tremendous strides in his game? If he turns out to be a player then we got a steal if not then so be it. It’s not like we are going to break the bank to sign him. I rather have a real project like him at the end of our bench/D-League with huge upside than Mario, Gardner and Hunter who wasn’t drafted either….
niremetal
July 22nd, 2009
11:45 pm
Anakin,
Siler appears to have the size/frame of a true center while Morris does not.
Where on earth are you getting that from?? They’re the same height and RandMo has shoulders that are wide enough to use as platforms. The one thing that EVERYONE agreed on about RandMo when he was at Kentucky was that he had an NBA body. It was his focus, effort, and conditioning that were knocks on him. Usually you’re pretty good in your analysis, man, but not having an NBA body is just about the only thing you CAN’T find fault with about RandMo.
Ariose
July 22nd, 2009
11:49 pm
Micah Heart’s Day 3 mini-camp wrap up:
http://hawks.portspaces.com/post/hawksbasketblog/hawks_minicamp_day_3.html
Najeh Davenpoop
July 22nd, 2009
11:51 pm
In Soviet Russia, Soulja Boy cranks YOUUUUU!
niremetal
July 22nd, 2009
11:57 pm
Melvin,
There’s a big difference that I mentioned and you ignored – Garret Siler is 6′11 and has the “frame” of a true NBA center. Look over the whole last 15 years of NBA drafts and name me the American centers his height or taller who went undrafted and ended up having a productive career.
I’ll save you time – Brad Miller (1998) and Mikki Moore (1997). Since then, nobody. Even if you expand it to overseas guys (who are a different story because up until the most recent CBA, they didn’t have to declare themselves for the draft before they could be signed) the list only expands by two (Mbenga and Oberto).
I’ll grant you that gems get overlooked in the draft. But not when they’re Siler’s size. When you’re 6′11 and have an “NBA body,” teams give you second, third, and fourth looks. That’s why BJ Mullens went as high as he did despite being mediocre in his one year of college.
BUT there’s a first time for everything. As I said, I wouldn’t be averse to signing him and stuffing him in the D-League. But I won’t cry if we don’t sign him.
Melvin
July 23rd, 2009
12:05 am
Nire,
Keep in mind that Siler has only been playing organize Bball for around 5 years and lost over 60lbs in doing so. That alone is an major accomplishments. Most of the guys you speak of have been playing organized Ball probably since their childhood before declaring for the draft. Thats a major difference between him and the others you speak of.
Hoops
July 23rd, 2009
12:07 am
niremetal,
If the Hawks don’t sign Siler, so they can monitor his progress in the D-League and bring him up when he is ready, they are fools. It’s the same concept as drafting a Europian player that is not NBA ready, but bringing him over when he is. Big bodies like Siler’s don’t come along often enough to just let them go! Especially when he shows promise. He’s only been playing organized BB for 5 years! Sign him!
niremetal
July 23rd, 2009
12:18 am
If the Hawks don’t sign Siler, so they can monitor his progress in the D-League and bring him up when he is ready, they are fools.
Lol…ok. I’ll leave it. But again – 30 teams passed on him in the draft. I guess they’re ALL fools. Sorry, but I don’t buy into the fact that we know Siler better from a few mini-camp clips and summer league box scores than the guys who do this for a living and who scour the globe looking for guys Siler’s size and tend to draft them if they have even a modicum of potential…
Melvin
July 23rd, 2009
12:23 am
And base on Sund’s draft record for big men, maybe we shouldn’t rely on his judgement as well.
Melvin
July 23rd, 2009
12:27 am
Wow, Pacers are going to waive Tinsley. With them re-signing McRoberts, I wonder if they are still interested in Solo…
http://my.nba.com/thread.jspa?threadID=5800028717
niremetal
July 23rd, 2009
12:31 am
And base on Sund’s draft record for big men, maybe we shouldn’t rely on his judgement as well.
Ok, I CAN’T leave that.
1) Again, not Sund. All 30 NBA GMs. They must all be idiots.
2) Not sure where you’re going with that. Isn’t Sund the one who invited him here in the first place? So by your logic, Siler must suck.
In any case, Sekou can correct me if I’m wrong on this, but it’ll be Woodson – not Sund – who gets the most say on who gets to come to training camp out of the folks who show at mini-camp. These guys all are gonna get signed to minimum salary deals, if at all. As I understand it, that’s the one area of personnel management where the coach usually gets to make the call rather than the GM.
Again, would rather have Hunter than Siler.
And NOW I’m done…
Ariose
July 23rd, 2009
12:32 am
LOL@ POOP!!!
KevinA
July 23rd, 2009
1:11 am
Hoops
July 22nd, 2009
7:46 pm
Right now, assuming Marvin signs for his QO, the Hawks have 7.6M left to spend and still stay under the L. tax.
KevinA
July 22nd, 2009
9:30 pm
Assuming the 7.4 million left is correct do you think Sund wants to sign Marvin first so he knows exactly what money is left? How much of this 7.4 million will be needed to fund JJ next year. Do these FA signings need to be one year to ensure we have the money for JJ? Then of course we have to look ahead at Al’s salary. If JJ and Al get big raises, how does this effect todays decisions.
Ya’ll have more expertise at this type of thing but little discussion.
KevinA
July 23rd, 2009
1:14 am
niremetal
July 22nd, 2009
9:38 pm
KevinA,
Where are you getting the $7.4M figure from? Is that how far we are under the cap? Or is that how much someone has said the Hawks will spend?
I assume that is how far under the cap we are. My questions were about other considerations.
KevinA
July 23rd, 2009
1:15 am
Are Hoops numbers wrong? Even if they are, what are your numbers and how revelant are my questions.
KevinA
July 23rd, 2009
1:23 am
Steve, tks for taking a shot at it. You made an attempt at real world considerations.
niremetal
July 23rd, 2009
1:31 am
KevinA,
I think Hoops is right about the payroll figure and how far under the tax threshold we are. Most teams stay a million or two below the tax threshold in case they need to make a mid-year signing or trade due to injuries, etc.
niremetal
July 23rd, 2009
1:34 am
KevinA,
I think Hoops is right about the payroll figure and how far under the tax threshold we are. Most teams stay a million or two below the tax threshold in case they need to make a mid-year signing or trade due to injuries, etc.
Any extension for JJ or Horford would not affect our cap/tax figures for this year.
If we’re anticipating extending both JJ and Horford, it’s possible we’ll be more circumspect about signing any more long-term free agents. Then again, if JJ’s tack is “I won’t come back unless we contend,” then Sund might risk signing a longer-term player in order to secure JJ back in the fold. I can’t speculate on what JJ’s or Sund’s intentions are, though…
KevinA
July 23rd, 2009
2:29 am
I think JJ wants his 1400 shots and is happy with that. If he does not go down hill he will figure to get a raise. Unless we are bit with the injury bug I think our team is better than last years. Even if we over achieved last year, I would think it safe to assume to at least match last years wins.
I don’t see any big’s that would take us to some holy grail of 60 wins and maybe a 3rd seed that we can afford. That said, any thing beyond 47 wins will mostly come on our organic growth of our young players and maybe an impact of Crawford. Unless Joe has a chance of a ring I can’t see him going anywhere. Being the #1 option and decent money in a tight economy might even over come that.
I think were are stuck with a wining team with no real chance at a championship for at least a couple of years. If we are to have a chance, our improvement will have to come from Josh, Marvin and Al. Maybe a little help from role players.
Of course in two years Teague may be the player to tie it altogether and allow (Bibby/JJ/Crawford/Flip) (one/two/three of them to be let go) the money for an upgrade. Let’s get 50 wins and be happy. My prediction 49-53 wins.
KevinA
July 23rd, 2009
2:58 am
Nothing ever happens the way I would like to see it. My ideal situation would be for Marvin/Josh and Al, (Solo/ZaZa) to have great years and the backcourt to give up 600-800 shots to the young kids (front court). Obviously our kids need to shoot at the same efficiency. If a more diversified offense works I would hope the back court would become efficient in shooting % and make the JJ double teams a thing of the past.
Joe Smith, Siler are not good a good fit for the Hawks. Lets stay quick and run, run, run. Make the other teams defense our style of game.
A lot of things have to go right to make this scerino happen. But then again we won 47 wins with a lot of things going wrong. No gloom and doom for me. I think we have great potential. I also realize this may happen two years from now with incremental gains this year. I am ready for the season to start lol. Lets get it on. PS. Sign Marvin. This is a must. Marvin is one of the building blocks to team play.
Joe's place Joe speaking
July 23rd, 2009
3:14 am
http://bit.ly/jbCvb
scrimmage day 3
Joe's place Joe speaking
July 23rd, 2009
3:22 am
*mini camp blog day 3 ^