Atlanta Hawks: Crawford, cash and a mysterious Frenchman
Crawford to Hawks.
When the night was over the Hawks had made a trade, saved some cash, earned some additional cash and drafted Xavier guard Jordan Crawford and Pape Sy, a mysterious prospect from France.
First, the deal on Crawford and the cash. He was one of a handful of players the Hawks liked who were still on the board. They weren’t sure he would be there if they traded down but had three other players in mind if he wasn’t (one of them was Dominique Jones, who was picked at No. 25).
Rick Sund said Atlanta had the “luxury” of deciding on a shooter, wing, guard or a big project center.
“We decided to go with the best available player,” he said.
Moving down three spots in the first round saves the Hawks about $190,000 for the two guaranteed years of Crawford’s contract. They also sold the rights to German center Tibor Pleiss to Oklahoma City for close to $3 million, the maximum amount allowable under salary-cap rules.
While the Hawks could have selected a project center or wing with that pick, Sund suggested the money earned from selling the pick would be used to add proven players to the roster.
“I think we need more veterans,” he said. “We are one of the youngest teams in the league still. I think we need to fill out the rest of the roster with veterans.”
Atlanta selected Texas forward Damion James with the No. 24 pick and traded him to the Nets for the second of their first-round picks (No. 27 overall) and their second-round pick (No. 31). The Nets selected Crawford for the Hawks at No. 27 and Pleiss at No. 31.
Sund said Crawford is a shooter and scorer. He said the Hawks didn’t make the pick with the thought of losing J.J. but acknowledged he could provide a bit of insurance
“The [27th pick] is not going to replace Joe,” Sund said. “[Crawford] does give us some options. But that didn’t enter into our analysis at all.”
Crawford led the Atlantic 10 in scoring but might have gained his most fame for dunking on LeBron James.
“People always bring it up, but I don’t really like talking about it because I don’t like living in the past,” Crawford said by phone.
And now about this Pape Sy dude. When he came in for a Hawks workout, so little info was available about him that no one could come up with a bio or detailed statistics. Not only was he not included in any of the mock drafts, there didn’t seem to be any evaluations of the guy out there. I saw him listed as 6-7 in one place, 6-10 in another.
But Atlanta’s European scouts saw Sy playing for Le Havre in France’s Pro A League. So Sy came in for a workout–paying his own way, according to L.D.
“I’d never heard of him,” Drew said.
Sy was in a workout session with Darington Hobson and Stanley Robinson.
“I thought those guys would eat him up,” Drew said. “But this guy challenged those guys. He didn’t back down.”
Drew liked Sy so much that he was nervous other teams would figure out his potential. The Hawks weren’t sure if Sy had worked out for any other teams.
“I was very impressed with him,” L.D. said.
Drew said he thinks Sy is long enough to play center as well as power forward can play both the wing and power forward.
– Couple Chills notes: The reports about Washington negotiating with him are false because, as I said, he can’t talk to another team without permission from the Hawks. Also, the Hawks officially extended the qualifying offer of $4.8 million to retain Josh’s rights and the ability to match any offers he receives as a restricted free agent.
MC
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
215 comments Add your comment
SEC4Life
June 25th, 2010
4:39 pm
Sooooooooo, basically we’re in the same position we were in before the draft: a team full of guards and swingmen with no LEGITIMATE big man?
Geez.
Sooooooooo, when can we buy the Joe Johnson Bulls jerseys?
O'Brien
June 25th, 2010
4:42 pm
Bigdave,
I think the chances are good that horford will be an all star next couple years, especially if JJ comes back
I think our defense will improve with teague getting minutes, and less switching. And I think al will improve both his rebounding and scoring.
Hypothetically speaking though, Its still hard to look 2 years ahead.
Pepsi for ROY
June 25th, 2010
4:59 pm
AND THE DRAMA BEGINS….
Joe Johnson spotted in Chicago having dinner with Bulls affiliates.
http://tinyurl.com/yonrvc
NBA Hawk Day
June 25th, 2010
5:18 pm
Jordan Crawford is a true baller with no fear, he put on an outstanding display of shooting in the NCAA tournament. Xavier vs Baylor ws an instant classic and Crawford put Xavier on his shoulders through two overtimes. His scorin ability was insane.he was what Iwould call the sleeper in this draft. I feel like we were lucky to get him . We have to find a center as soon as free agency starts and we will be ok. I like Joe Johnson as a player, but he is not a max contract type player. Let him get that contract elsewhere, use the money saved to get the pieces this team needs, the Hawks will be better off with a sign and trade, but ASG can’t afford to keep him and keep the team in the mix.
Tibor Pleiss: from the Circus-Tent to the NBA – EuropeanProspects.com
June 25th, 2010
5:25 pm
[...] traded him to the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks then sold his rights to the Oklahoma City Thunder for close to 3,000,000 USD. Sam Presti and his team got what they wanted and for what they even were as high as using their [...]
Ramon
June 25th, 2010
5:28 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XejLyk3kJZg
RickRolled
June 25th, 2010
5:29 pm
I wuz rickrolled, and I likes it.
WalterEgo
June 25th, 2010
6:43 pm
The Hawks may not have the lowest payroll, but they are the cheapest ownership in the NBA. I wonder why the AJC doesn’t call them on selling a non-guaranteed pick, that was more valuable than any of the mid to late 20-something picks in this draft, for cash. You don’t owe anything to a 2nd rd pick. Sign him to a one year deal, team option 2 year deal and see if he can ball? Hassan Whiteside maybe instead of Pleiss, but either are center prospects and are better than an out of shape Jason Collins IMO, “experience or not”. Perhaps even more importantly, with JJ likely gone, we need a diamond in the rough which can be had at 31. We won’t have the talent without JJ (it’s likely we don’t with him) to contend. Without him we need LUCK. You don’t have luck when you sell the 31st pick project center for petty cash. Shame on the AJC for not bashing ownership.
Big Ray
June 25th, 2010
8:53 pm
Jordan Crawford is indeed a baller, and he loves to play the game. That’s where “heart” comes from. I’m glad he’s a Hawk, now if we can teach him to “D” it up and keep the turnovers down, we’ll be good to go with him coming off the bench as a scorer.
I still am having the worst time getting any solid info on this Pape Sy fellow. Hope he’s got Boris Diaw-like skills or something. I’ll take Larry Drew’s word that he can play. Apparently he has some heart as well, going hard against credible college prospects. I also hope he comes over and plays in the summer league, where somebody can get a look at him and report back on him.
$3 million should help us fill out the roster the right way. We have to do better than last year. I’m still stuck wondering whether we simply got Joe Smith too late in his career, or if he simply didn’t get enough PT last year.
Looking forward to the Teague/Crawford combo in summer league. I hope Teague lights that a$$ up in every game…
JSS
June 25th, 2010
9:12 pm
Well Big Ray and others, here are a few brief clips of Sy actually playing and kidding around in France. Thanks to my uncle, pretty good for 85 year old man to find this stuff for me…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vPlcrCDKK4
Salvador Gonzalez
June 25th, 2010
9:16 pm
ACCORDING TO THE SITE OF THE FRENCH LNB(Ligue Nationale de Basket) SY PAPE IS 1.90,WICH IS A LITTLE UNDER 6′ 3″ .
IF HE CAN PLAY CENTER AND POWER FORWARD IN THE NBA,I CAN PLAY SMALL FORWARD AT 5′ 9″!!!!!
D21
June 26th, 2010
3:23 am
“Looking back at some posts on Real;GM from April there was talk of the Hawks trying to sell their first round pick for 3Million to save cash for Joe. Also, it says they were looking to hire a coach for cheaper to also save money for Joe”
If the only goal is to get some cash everywhere to sign Joe to the highest contract they can, then it means a lot.
They don’t want to spend to improve the team, they just want to be sure to keep this All-Star but not more, and Joe by asking for more than he already gets will kill this team.
Joe Johnson doesn’t deserve more than what he gets : 15M is enough.
If he prefers getting this extra money himself, than staying at his 15M and see the money goes to extra help or use it to make trades and getting more than you send, then is a selfish man, only wanting to be that team “Star”, and don’t care to win title.
I prefer him sign-&-traded than keeping him at Max contract.
I know he can goes for nothing if he wants, but seriously, look at the man in the eyes and tell him that because is not a true Star in this league, there’s not enough people in the arena, and so not enough money, and if he wants to win, he can’t get Max contract here.
Anybody who is not dumb should understand that.
If he still want his Max contract and his ego is obsessed by that, then work on sign-&-trade: he will have a better contract with ATL in sign-&-trade that what he can get with another team.
@Salvador Gonzalez : it’s the only one saying 1m90
I will stay on 1m95 or 6′4.75″ without shoes, and 1m99 or 6′6″ with shoes. It will be something like that, not much less or more.
And if he was the next Boris Diaw like some are thinking, you can be sure than it would have been easy to hera that from French league, which is not the case, so I seriously doubt that he has the feeling of Diaw for this game.
Even if Diaw look to lazy, he knows the game and this is the first things that everybody was talking about in French league way before he was drafted. This is not the case of Sy.
Salvador Gonzalez
June 26th, 2010
8:15 am
D21 IS RIGHT.
I CHECKED THE ROSTER OF LE HAVRE BAKETBALL TEAM AND THERE SY PAPE IS LISTED
AS A 1.97m(6′5.50″)GUARD.
DOES NOT HAVE THE SIZE TO PLAY CENTER OR POWER FORWARD AND HIS NUMBERS WERE:
Minutes 14.2
Points 5.2
Rebounds 1.7
Assists 1.3
Saabotager
June 26th, 2010
3:56 pm
Rick Sund is and will always be a failure.
dwayne
June 27th, 2010
3:41 pm
The Hawks need a big man. No proven center on the roster. I say cut or trade Marvin Williams and Mike Bibby and go sign your draft pick you should drafted a couple years ago in the name of Chris Paul. The go sign the center the Cav’s cut but resigned for the playoffs. Let Al play at the 4 Josh the 3 Crawford the 2 and Paul the 1. Guaranteed Eastern Finals. if not go sign Ray Allen he’s a consistent 2 instead of JJ