Atlanta Hawks: Damien Wilkins asked to provide defense, toughness
The Hawks declined to sign a defensive-minded wing player over the summer or after Marvin Williams and Mo Evans went down with injuries last month.
They quickly added that type of free agent in the wake of Joe Johnson’s surgery, signing veteran swingman Damien Wilkins to a prorated veteran’s minimum contract today.
“I think we’ll get a hard-nosed player, a guy who plays hard,” coach Larry Drew said. “A good defensive player who gives us a guy with size that can defend the [shooting guard] and the [small forward] spot. I’m more focused on his energy and the toughness that he brings and he’s a solid defensive player. That’s something you can never have enough of. We are very pleased to have him on board.”
Drew said Wilkins would get a “crash course” in the team’s schemes today but he wasn’t sure if Wilkins would dress for tonight’s game against Philadelphia.
Wilkins, 30, is a six-year NBA veteran who played last season with Minnesota and appeared in two preseason games with Memphis in October before being waived. He played two collegiate seasons at Georgia after transferring from North Carolina State.
Wilkins, the son of former NBA player Gerald Wilkins and the nephew of former Hawks star Dominique Wilkins, said he had conversations with the Hawks over the summer. The Hawks called again when Evans and Williams were out.
“But that’s all it was, [just] conversations,” he said.
Wilkins said he had recently contemplated signing with a D-League team so he could stay visible to NBA teams. He finished a workout Thursday and noticed he had multiple missed calls from his agent, who was trying to reach him with the news of Atlanta’s interest.
“I feel like a rookie all over again,” Wilkins said. “This is like a dream come true to play for a team that has been my favorite team pretty much my entire life watching my uncle play here. I still can’t believe it. It hasn’t hit me yet. I am sure it will when I suit up.”
Johnson is expected to miss at least a month after he had surgery to his right elbow Thursday. Under collective bargaining rules, Wilkins’ contract would become fully guaranteed for the rest of the season on Jan. 15.
In the meantime, Wilkins said he’s ready to play the role Drew has for him.
“He told me to provide a whole lot of energy and toughness off the bench at both ends of the floor,” Wilkins said. “He told me to mainly come and have a defensive impact on the game because that’s what this team needs to get to the next level. Those are things I can do.
“Offensively, I think we have a team that is certainly capable of scoring, so I am not assuming they are looking at me to come in and be Joe Johnson and replace what he can do offensively. That being said, the offense is catered to everyone. The opportunities will eventually come. But where I want to make my impact is defensively, toughness and energy off the bench.”
MC
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90 comments Add your comment
JayD
December 3rd, 2010
3:47 pm
Good pick up – They don’t need to dump anyone. Pape needs to go to the D-League when he is able – Not doing him much good sitting around in a suite every night.
GStateBen
December 3rd, 2010
3:54 pm
Great pick up. Low rish, high reward.
Any more people down on Rick Sund? Another brilliant move. Crawford trade, Mo Evans signing, Josh Childress hard line and trade and dumping every peice of garbage from the Billy Knight era.
Kudos Rick! I got your back!
Joey
December 3rd, 2010
4:01 pm
“I would trade Joe and Teague for Chris Paul.”
_______________________
Ramon, have you seen Paul’s knee brace?
Melvin
December 3rd, 2010
4:02 pm
“dumping every peice of garbage from the Billy Knight era.” GStateBen
You do realize our starting 5 (and 7th man ZaZa) for the past 3.5 years are the same guys that BK brought in….
JeJe
December 3rd, 2010
4:08 pm
LOL @ Teague, Evans and a draft pick for Bogut. Some of you people really do not know this game well.
And I was the one person here most prominently compaigning for us to get Damien. Thank me if you must
Joe’s performance vs. Orlando + Cleveland the last 2 years in the playoffs was pretty much like LBJ’s quit games in the playoffs – horrendous.
Joe’s best effort vs. them is the equivalent of LBJ’s worst effort
SUPERSTAR!
DAChef
December 3rd, 2010
4:19 pm
Now that Mr. Sund has had a sample of my menu for success as i posted earlier this week to sign Damien Wilkins,…But i understand he got a lil full and skipped over the menu whereby cutting ties with Etan Thomas and go to Phoenix and bring in another defensive minded, a rebounding machine and very skilled offensively none other than Earl Clark for a 2nd round pick or whatever it takes..well just a thought while i’m still in da kitchen…
JeJe
December 3rd, 2010
4:27 pm
Sund only signed Damien because he played on Seattle.
Time to get Delonte, Nick Collison, Gary Payton, and Flip Murray
JeJe
December 3rd, 2010
4:35 pm
“Any more people down on Rick Sund? Another brilliant move. Crawford trade, Mo Evans signing, Josh Childress hard line and trade and dumping every peice of garbage from the Billy Knight era.”
Marvin Williams
Mike Bibby
ZaZa (most of the time)
O'Brien
December 3rd, 2010
4:46 pm
Good signing. And if he plays well, Maybe we can trade mo Evans at the trade deadline (assuming we are keeping Jamal).
honest_abe
December 3rd, 2010
4:58 pm
Wheres the like button? Now if only he could be used in a dual role and take over his uncles duties too!
Bailey
December 3rd, 2010
5:07 pm
Wow, I’m in shock by this news. I never would have expected a move like this from the ASG. Even if this did only happen due to the Joe Johnson injury, I still have to take my hat off to the ASG for making a good move. Something I’ve been harping on for years now is for the Hawks to improve their perimeter defense and get some real depth at the SF position. Luckily, Wilkins brings both of these things, and his contract doesn’t put a dent in the owner’s pockets. Nice move. I’m very pleased with this.
JeJe
December 3rd, 2010
5:35 pm
While i’ve wanted Damien on the team for years, I still don’t understand why we didn’t sign him the last 2 years. He would’ve come here for the vet min the last 2 years. I was at the game 3 years ago he dropped 41 on [Joe Johnson]. The guy can play basketball and is a legit 6″6 I believe. Mo definitely is not a true 6″5 with shoes on.
We could’ve had those guy over one-dimensional Mario.
If I am ASG, I keep Damien for the future and offer Mo and ZaZa for the BEST backup center possible. We need a backup who REBOUNDS and plays DEFENSE. It’s unfortunate ZaZa plays so horrendously most of the time
jason
December 3rd, 2010
6:25 pm
when ryan cameron screams “DEFENSE!!!” we’ll kno what he’s talking about
Not Magic or Wilt
December 3rd, 2010
6:55 pm
Over the hill and overpaid. The Hawks are beyond hope.
Raptors to trade Jack for Stojakovic in multi-player deal – Toronto Star | Bet 2 Fat
December 3rd, 2010
7:00 pm
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) [...]
O'Brien
December 3rd, 2010
7:07 pm
Let the record show that when Damien scored his career high 41 points against the Hawks, marvin was guarding him
JeJe
December 3rd, 2010
7:22 pm
O’Brien, but I thought Marvin was a great defender according to people here. jeje
I think Joe was on him too in the latter part of the game. Joe had 39
SWAT Native
December 3rd, 2010
7:25 pm
Niiiiccceee signing!
northcyde
December 3rd, 2010
7:27 pm
This move pretty much indicates that Jamal will not be traded anytime soon. If his offensve replacement of the future is supposed to be Jordan, then he’d be playing more.
If Damien proves to be a decent defensive player on the perimeter, then Drew would be a fool not to play him. And that would mean no minutes for Jordan.
Might as well send him to the D-League.
Blast
December 3rd, 2010
7:28 pm
I love this signing. Kudos to those bloggers who called for this to happen long ago.
I hear some folks asking why Damien wasn’t signed by any other team until now. Those people need to realise that there are a lot of decent players out there without a contract. Where is Flip Murray? Stackhouse still looking for a job. Allen Iverson is playing in freaking Turkey, is it? So players out there. Teams just have to snap them up as needed.
I hope Damien gets some burn tonite. He is not a superstar, but he is tough as hell and can ball. I hope he brings much needed toughness to an otherwise soft Hawks team.
Go Hawks. Got to beat Philly tonite!
Sautee
December 3rd, 2010
7:33 pm
northcyde,
I see it more as SF insurance, since JJ was playing a few minutes there every game.
STEEL
December 3rd, 2010
7:36 pm
lets do it
northcyde
December 3rd, 2010
7:47 pm
SF insurance? I guess. It still spells doom for Jordan, unless the Hawks are in a blowout, or Damien just isn’t that good anymore.
Since Damien had the game of his life 3 yrs ago against us, he’s played in 187 games.
He’s scored 20 pts or more in a game in only 1 of those games.
So I guess he’s here strictly for defensive purposes. Let’s hope he can still defend. If he can’t, Drew needs to quickly recognize that, and not give him minutes.
Sautee
December 3rd, 2010
7:48 pm
nc,
agreed
Najeh Davenpoop
December 3rd, 2010
7:49 pm
“Any more people down on Rick Sund? Another brilliant move. Crawford trade, Mo Evans signing, Josh Childress hard line and trade and dumping every peice of garbage from the Billy Knight era.”
Uh… as David after Dentist might say… is this real life?
Blast
December 3rd, 2010
7:50 pm
All Hawks misses have been short, just clipping the rim.
Hawks are losers
December 3rd, 2010
7:55 pm
So is Rick Sund
So is this boring Blog
So are the hawks players
Except Josh Smith and JJ
The rest are scrubs
Blast
December 3rd, 2010
7:56 pm
2 quick turns by Jamal.
Hawks not moving man or body.
Blast
December 3rd, 2010
7:57 pm
Not moving man or ball….
Ditto
December 3rd, 2010
7:57 pm
Hawks are losers
The Hawks are beyond hope.
northcyde
December 3rd, 2010
8:12 pm
Rebounding:
Hawes and Brand: 12
Smith and Horford: 4
Blast
December 3rd, 2010
8:18 pm
Glad to see Drew give Teague another chance after all those turnovers.
northcyde
December 3rd, 2010
8:23 pm
The bench is 7 – 11 FGs, with Powell having another good shooting game. But he decifit increases because of untimely turnovers, lack of defensive rebounding, and the fact that we just can’t stop them.
Najeh Davenpoop
December 3rd, 2010
8:27 pm
New blog is up by the way: http://blogs.ajc.com/hawks/2010/12/03/philadelphia-76ers-at-atlanta-hawks-life-after-joe/
Ditto
December 3rd, 2010
8:39 pm
Josh Smith pts rbs ast fouls
#5 15:54 9 5 2 0
Ditto
December 3rd, 2010
8:40 pm
not bad for 15-16 minute of work
RED
December 3rd, 2010
9:33 pm
We should’ve just signed stackhouse.
N.D.T.K.A.
December 3rd, 2010
10:32 pm
Bravo, ASG for the D. Wilkins move. Marvin looked pretty good tonight. Maybe he saved himself from being traded for one night. Horford is really looking like the unquestioned leader for the Hawks. Josh Smith on the bench? Hmm? Very interesting?
Good home win for the Hawks!
Hawks Fan In New Orleans
December 4th, 2010
2:35 am
Great signing and great come back victory – trying to earn the “Highlight Factory” moniker back – 5 straight solid/good game by Marvin, kudos.
Mantis
December 4th, 2010
12:55 pm
It’s cool to have another Wilkins back on the Hawks floor.
However, Larry Drew needs to seriously improve his rotation. He is just as bad as Mike Woodson. Jordan Crawford has so much potential and Drew is destroying it by denying Jordan the experience needed to maximize his potential. If the Hawks are not going to give Jordan the opportunity to prosper, then they need to trade him to somewhere that will give him some playing time.