Atlanta Hawks: Roster breakdown
Vivlamore reporting from Hawks practice. Here is the roster breakdown story for Tuesday’s print edition of the AJC.
Less than a week remains before NBA rosters must be trimmed to a maximum of 15 players by Monday. The Hawks brought 19 players into training camp and the roster now stands at one over the limit. It is possible the team will go into the regular season with fewer than the maximum, allowing management flexibility to make an early-season trade or signing.
Here is a look at how the roster is shaping up prior to the Nov. 2 regular-season opener.
Roster size
The Hawks will have at least 13 players on their roster. Only 13 will be active for games. They have guaranteed contracts with 11 veterans and first-round draft pick John Jenkins. Second-round pick Mike Scott has a partially guaranteed contract. His contract becomes fully guaranteed if he is still on the roster Jan. 10.
Of keeping all 13 guarantees on the roster head coach Larry Drew said, “That is pretty set.”
Drew said he and general manager Danny Ferry have yet to decide on how many players they will keep.
“For me, and I’ve done it both ways,” Drew said of staying at or below the maximum. “We’ve had 13 and we’ve kept two spots open. I’ve had 14 and we’ve kept one. Or we’ve kept 15 guys. It’s a matter of looking at what we feel is going to be the best for our club. We’ve got some guys in here who are fighting for a roster spot. Guys I really like. After this is all said and done we’ll sit down with management and make a decision.”
Three for one
If the Hawks keep 15 players that leaves Anthony Tolliver, Damion James and James Anderson competing for the two remaining spots. Tolliver (6-foot-8) and James (6-7) give the Hawks options at the forward position. Anderson (6-6) is a guard, a position the Hawks have depth. Defensive ability, and how quickly each learns schemes, may well decide who stays.
Stepping up
James has impressed with his play during exhibition games. He has appeared in five games, including two starts, and has averaged 7.4 points and 7.0 rebounds. He came off the bench in Saturday’s win over Dallas and had 10 points and seven rebounds in less than 17 minutes.
“I think I’ve been doing pretty good the whole preseason,” James said. “I’m going to continue to play the way I play. If you play the way you are supposed to play, good things will happen.”
In six exhibitions, Tolliver has averaged 8.0 points and 3.7 rebounds. Anderson, in five games, has averaged 1.8 points and 0.8 rebounds.
Going small
In the numerous offseason moves made by Ferry, the Hawks became a smaller team than in the recent past. It’s an issue, especially on the defensive end, that the team will have to overcome.
“We might just be a little undersized,” Josh Smith said. “We were undersized before but we are very undersized now. That shouldn’t be an issue. We have a lot of feisty and competitive people on this team who hate to lose. I think that will outweigh the so-called decreases that this team has.”
Guards
The Hawks consider their three speedy guards, all capable of playing the point, an asset. Jeff Teague returns with Devin Harris and Lou Williams added to the mix. Harris and Williams, and perhaps eventually Teague, can also play shooting guard. Each are an option to replace Joe Johnson.
The Hawks added a number of long-range shooters at the position in Kyle Korver, DeShawn Stevenson, Anthony Morrow and Jenkins.
Forwards
Smith will return as the power forward. Ivan Johnson and Scott will be backups. Johnson can play center if pressed into action. Korver and Stevenson may see time at small forward.
“That gives us some flexibility from the standpoint that if we need to adapt and make some minor adjustments with our lineup we have the ability to do that,” Drew said.
Centers
A healthy Al Horford will start at center. He will be backed up by Zaza Pachulia and Johan Petro. There will be times when Drew wants a bigger lineup that Pachulia will play center, Horford power forward and Smith small forward.
Bench
The starting lineup is to be determined at shooting guard and small forward. It appears that Harris and Stevenson will initially fill those positions based on exhibition games. However, Drew stresses no decisions have been made and the lineup likely will change based on matchups.
The coach said he will sit down with each player this week to discuss his role. He wants to avoid any confusion.
“So everybody will be clear,” Drew said. “So there won’t be any guess work about ‘What am I supposed to do? What do you want me to do?’ We’ll eliminate that.”
- Chris Vivlamore
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310 comments Add your comment
Ken Strickland
October 23rd, 2012
5:27 pm
SLIMJR-If James develops a midrange gm to go with his rebounding, DEF and passing ability, he’ll become a potential Allstar. Tell me, why don’t todays young players take a page from the OLD SCHOOL players who didn’t have good shooting touches? We saw so many of them rely on using rely on the backboard, like Tim Duncan has done his entire career.
Why can’t at least one big man have enough sense to develop Kareem’s sky hook? It’s more effective than the jump hook, can be banked in, and doesn’t require you to be as close to the basket to be effective. And the running hook across the lane has also become a thing of the past. If Josh used his head, he’d take better advantage of the backboard.
Instead of getting frustrated when he can’t force his way close enough to the basket to effectively shoot his jump hook, and then settling for all of those illadvised jumpers at the rim, he should consider using the backboard.
If he can’t back his man close enough to get off a quality jump hook, he should just work on getting a good angle, then turn around, face his defender, fake and shoot at the square. It would be nice to see James do the same thing. It would also get them to the FT line more.
Buddy Grizzard
October 23rd, 2012
5:48 pm
Gothic Ginobili’s capsule on Ivan Johnson is pure awesome:
http://repatl.blogspot.com/2012/10/orthodontist-to-toothache-we-call.html
Buddy Grizzard
October 23rd, 2012
5:55 pm
“BK would have resigned Childress and wouldn’t have waited to resign Josh.”
Wow, Ken S., now I’ve really heard everything. You think this would be a good thing considering the fact that Childress got amnestied by Phoenix and is now and end-of-the-bench player in Brooklyn while Josh is an emerging All-Star?
Slimjr
October 23rd, 2012
6:00 pm
KEN S- You are so right! These players want to jump over everybody or step back and shoot 30 footers.. The mid-range game has been neglected as well as the [glass]..That’s what Lebron had to figure out so many years into his professional career..The mid-range post/area is Championship real-estate..
These Fathers and Coaches have done a piss poor job teaching these player the fundamentals in the art of shooting.. If Josh knew how to use angles and the Glass for instance? OMG! SuperStar no doubt! If Josh could dribble drive then stop and pop! OMG!
Rudy Gay has that kind of mid-range game. I enjoy watching him play..This guy is 6′9″ and can dribble drive like a 2 guard, cross his handles and pull up on a dime for a 15 footer all day..
BTW, I have seen Al use the running hook across the lane. He should continue to work on that shot.
terrell
October 23rd, 2012
6:06 pm
Doc, Curry actually looked ok in the preseason. Looks to be in shape for once.
Slimjr
October 23rd, 2012
6:15 pm
FYI, Demarcus Cousins is a BEAST!
He took Gasol 8 ft off the left elbow on a dribble drive toward the Rack and knew if he laid it up with his right hand, the shot gets blocked so he switches hands and shoots a finger roll with his off hand [left]!
Are you kidding me???? He is 6′11″! I am a fan now!
Ken Strickland
October 23rd, 2012
6:15 pm
BUDDY GRIZZARD-You obviously misread my comments. Childress was a definite asset for us during that time and what happened to him after he left, or what his circumstances are now, has nothing to do with that. My point is BK would have resigned them both to extensions rather than letting the market set their value, which cost us 1 of the 2 players.
Childress proved to be an excellent fit and very producive while he was here. He was also in the running a couple of yrs for the SMOY award. He played SF, Point F/PG, and SG with equal skill on both ends of the court. I can’t remember a single Hawks player that ever played without the ball, or without having plays called for him, as effectively accross the board as Childress.
Slimjr
October 23rd, 2012
6:22 pm
Childress game was like [Plastic Man] Stacey Augmon.. Stacey is coaching at UNLV now…
Lisa S.
October 23rd, 2012
6:24 pm
I like the idea of going after Mehemet Okur for 1 season or Greg Oden, if he is still out there. Time to take a gamble, low risk, high reward. I do not understand why there is no love for a brotha like G. Oden on this blog. Come on yall.
Lisa S.
October 23rd, 2012
6:28 pm
at 6″11″ 260 i am telling yall that “size matters” fellas. G. Oden could be our franchise saviour at center.
Slimjr
October 23rd, 2012
6:31 pm
Oden, may never play NBA ball again:
Ken Strickland
October 23rd, 2012
6:32 pm
SLIMJR-Excellent points-Players coming into the NBA today are more talented athletically than players of the past era, but they are far less skilled fundamentally. If I could, I’d take Josh and James to the gym and teach the the up and under move off a fake bank shot. I’d also show them how to shoot FTs.
First, I’d have them extend their elbow and the ball away from their bodies, which forces them to use more wrist than elbow. Then I’d have them aim for the front of the rim and visualize dropping the ball into the basket just like they would do if they were shooting wads of paper into a waste basket.
All of this holding the ball over or behind the head won’t work for them. That’s usually a sign of weak wrists, which forces them to use too much elbow. It’s much better to use your legs and wrist than your elbow when shooting FTs.
Matt the Brave
October 23rd, 2012
6:40 pm
Any time the Hawks play the Heat, they need to play a front three of Pachulia, Smith, and Horford. It’d throw the Heat off balance and give the Hawks a good chance of beating them on a consistent basis. Frankly, the Heat are the only real challenge in this division this year.
Slimjr
October 23rd, 2012
6:41 pm
Hey Lisa S., I heard size only matters in the Horizontal position?? Heh heh heh……
Slimjr
October 23rd, 2012
6:42 pm
Matt Brave, the Celtics are the Truth….
Slimjr
October 23rd, 2012
6:44 pm
“Greg Oden pumps brakes on comeback talk, looks forward to becoming a gym teacher” -Dan Devine, Yahoo Sports, the ball don’t lie-
Ken Strickland
October 23rd, 2012
6:47 pm
LISA S-There’s a good reason Ferry chose to take Petro over Okur, who was also on the NETs roster last yr, and why he isn’t on anyones training camp roster. Injuries and age have obviously taken a toll on him. He started 14 of the 17gms he played with the Nets and averaged 26.7MPG, shot 37.4FG%, 32.93P%, .60FT%, averaged 4.8RPG, and 7.6PPG.
Those are numbers you’d expect form a backup center averaging far fewer than 28MPG.
Lets get an answer
October 23rd, 2012
6:58 pm
Is there any truth to the online rumor that Al Horford is being shopped around the NBA?
I know Al was on the trading block this past summer and 3 publications are now saying he is being shopped again. Al is my favorite player and I would hate to see him traded. How ever it is going to help the team get better then Im OK with it.
Would some one look at all of the publications that are talking Al trade and see which is What?
Ken Strickland
October 23rd, 2012
7:01 pm
LISA S-Here’s a statistical comparison of Okur and Petro, who both played for the Nets last yr.
OKUR(PETRO) Gms started/played 14/17(10/59), MPG 26.7(15.6), FG% 37.4(41.9), FT% 60.0(83.8), RPG 4.8(3.8), PPG 7.6(4.2). I’m not certain about this, but I believe Okur replaced Lopez due to injury, and Petro replaced Okur for the same reason. The reason Okur hasn’t signed with anyone is he might still be recovering from an injury. I believe both Okur and Oden’s NBA careers are over.
Jerry Glanville
October 23rd, 2012
7:07 pm
http://www.bleacherreport.com reporting that the Bulls may be amnestying Carlos Boozer in order to sign Taj Gibson long term. How about a frontline of Boozer-Horford-Smoove?
PF-C. Boozer
C-A. Horford
SF-J. Smith
SG-Lou Williams
PG-J. Teague
deep playoff run with this squad.
Jerry Glanville
October 23rd, 2012
7:17 pm
I think that Josh-Horford-Boozer would be the most talented 3 Bigs together in the eastern conf.?
Troll PSA
October 23rd, 2012
7:44 pm
I am always amazed how many times the trolls fool some of the regulars around here. Troll sets you all up using all kind of names, including female names, and y’all just keep engaging the troll like it is a credible blogger with reasonable intellect and maturity. Not only do the trolls look silly but so do the regulars.
paian
October 23rd, 2012
8:03 pm
@troll psa
ikr, im looking at it now and getting a laugh outta it
Artman
October 23rd, 2012
8:18 pm
I disagree about the comments concerning Billy Knight and Sheldon Williams. If you actually noticed the only year that Billy Knight did not keep his intended draft pick close to his vest was Sheldon William. Every other year was secretive. Yet a month before the draft, not only did he announced Williams as his choice, he refused to discuss options with other general manager. I think the ASG group told Knight to draft the most ready to play big man in the draft, which was Williams. I suspect Knight would have drafted another player if he had the choice. Probably another forward. His announcing the pick rather than keeing it secretive was Knight’s way to thumb his nose at the ASG group.
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
October 23rd, 2012
9:12 pm
Why do we have so many damn 6″3 and 6″8 players?
We are short on bigs EVERY SEASON AND THATS WHY WE END UP USING GUYS LIKE PETRO DAMPIER AND CHEESEBURGER COLLINS
Astro Joe
October 23rd, 2012
9:25 pm
JeJe, are you joining thre fantsay league this season? Did you see the email invite?
And WTF is wrong with cheeseburgers????
Buddy Grizzard
October 23rd, 2012
9:41 pm
“the Celtics are the Truth….”
This is a fact. Possibly the deepest team in the NBA.
Big Ray
October 23rd, 2012
9:47 pm
And if my aunt had (blank), she’d be my uncle.
Love all of this draft remorse discussion. It would truly be amazing if someone actually brought up an angle that hasn’t been mentioned in the past, what, 84 months?
What, did you come here for new and refreshing entertainment? During the offseason of a season that won’t really matter?
Silly Wabbit….
Big Ray
October 23rd, 2012
9:48 pm
I disagree about the comments concerning Billy Knight and Sheldon Williams. If you actually noticed the only year that Billy Knight did not keep his intended draft pick close to his vest was Sheldon William. Every other year was secretive. Yet a month before the draft, not only did he announced Williams as his choice, he refused to discuss options with other general manager. I think the ASG group told Knight to draft the most ready to play big man in the draft, which was Williams. I suspect Knight would have drafted another player if he had the choice. Probably another forward. His announcing the pick rather than keeing it secretive was Knight’s way to thumb his nose at the ASG group.
Yep. And there’s ocean front property available in Arizona. Today.
Astro Joe
October 23rd, 2012
9:51 pm
Yeah, Celtics are definitely built for the playoffs. They have done a great job of infusing young players so grey-beards like Pierce and KG won’t need to play as many minutes this coming regular season as in years past.
Melvin
October 23rd, 2012
9:54 pm
Watching OKC/Chi game, Hawks could have easily played PJ3 at the SF spot. Depending on matchups, PJ3 or Josh could have defended the other team SF…. No knock against Jenkins but I would have took my chances on 6-11 guy that has star potential and skill set then an undersize SG with a good shooting stroke….
waltbellamy
October 23rd, 2012
9:59 pm
Sautee
October 23rd, 2012
3:57 pm
Big Ump,
Glad to see you back. Did you ever get a copy of that book “Sweet Soul Music” I mentioned to you?
——-
A belated strong endorsement of “Sweet Soul Music” or really any of Guralnick’s books for that matter. The two volume Elvis bio is outstanding and the Sam Cooke book is a must read.
Astro Joe
October 23rd, 2012
10:01 pm
Big Ray, the discussion of the 2005 and 2006 drafts are about as dead as Tito Jackson’s singing career.
Astro Joe
October 23rd, 2012
10:04 pm
Melvin, you’re leaving out a knee that many across the league feel is a big question mark. That obviously was a factor in PJ3 slipping out of the first half of the draft.
bama52
October 23rd, 2012
10:22 pm
Help Zaza improve on staying out of foul trouble and getting aggressive on offense, especially when going to the basket. Al, Josh and Zaza must lead this team this year. Make every body focus hard on defense and most of all team defense. I don’t think we will have a problem with scoring, we’re going to be fast on offense. We could be a headache for the rest of the league if we play defense, share the ball and just play hard team ball on both ends.
Melvin
October 23rd, 2012
10:25 pm
Astro,
They said the same thing about DeJaun Blair. It’s all about taking risk. We will probably see Bad Knees PJ3 play more mins on a title contending team than healthy knees Jenkins on a borderline playoff team. Remember, which organization that has rebuilt their roster to a title contender in about a 5yr span (if that)…
doc
October 23rd, 2012
10:38 pm
ken lisa is a boy, dude. you fav, too. you can now feel perfectly comfortable in calling her an anal minded moron without offending the opposite sex. heh heh
brigadierjerry
October 23rd, 2012
10:45 pm
slimjr, this article is for you,
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/kyrie-irving-dad-survived-wife-death-9-11-days-son-reach-nba-dreams-article-1.129663
brigadierjerry
October 23rd, 2012
10:51 pm
Did anyone see this story on ESPN 30 for 30? Was a good story but tragic ending. I vaguely remember this when this happend
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8526554
Slimjr
October 23rd, 2012
11:57 pm
Thank you brigadierjerry for that awesome article on Kyrie and his Father! Man that family has been through heck! Kyrie is the real deal.. Quick off the dribble and has a lightening quick release that is deadly….
Najeh Davenpoop
October 24th, 2012
12:28 am
Potentially good news for Josh (but potentially bad news for Al). The NBA is no longer going to have a center on the All Star ballot. With Dwight out of the Eastern Conference, this means three forwards will likely be voted in, possibly opening up an extra bench spot for a forward (Josh), but on the flip side with no center requirement it makes it harder for Al to get voted in.
doc
October 24th, 2012
12:34 am
geez, nuggets play 17 of first 23 games on the road, that is a biatch.
Ken Strickland
October 24th, 2012
12:39 am
http://www.peachtreehoops.com/2012/10/23/3537430/atlanta-hawks-2012-roster-preview-damion-james
Check this one out about Damion James.
Ken Strickland
October 24th, 2012
12:52 am
http://www.peachtreehoops.com/2012/10/22/3537046/atlanta-hawks-2012-season-preview
Check this out Hawk fans.
Ken Strickland
October 24th, 2012
12:59 am
http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2012/10/22/3536800/atlanta-hawks-offseason-joe-johnson-trade
Here’s another gem Hawks fans.
Ken Strickland
October 24th, 2012
1:08 am
http://www.peachtreehoops.com/2012/9/27/3419334/move-josh-smith-to-small-forward
This is a must read on JSmith.
Najeh Davenpoop
October 24th, 2012
1:08 am
Hey Astro Joe, can we do an auction draft this year?
Najeh Davenpoop
October 24th, 2012
1:12 am
Never mind, just saw your reply.
Buddy Grizzard
October 24th, 2012
1:54 am
“They said the same thing about DeJaun Blair.”
Agree we should have drafted PJ3 but Blair is a bad example seeing as how he has fallen out of the rotation in SA.
Buddy Grizzard
October 24th, 2012
2:18 am
Thanks for the links, Ken. Not sure what the Chinese Zodiac is supposed to tell me about Damion James though.