D-League Digest: Grading Teams' Use of the D-League

Part four of a six-part series grading each NBA team on their use of the D-League, from Matt Hubert of D-League Digest.

Atlanta Hawks: 0.92 GPA
High Grade: D (RU)
Low Grade: F (THN)
Players Assigned: 3 (2 in last two years)
Players Called Up: 15 (1 in last two years)

THN’s Take (by Bret LaGree, Hoopinion): The Hawks get an F. They assigned Thomas Gardner and Othello Hunter to Anaheim for 1 and 3 games respectively in 2008. That’s the sum total of their recent involvement unless you count signing Mario West last season, which had more to do with his previous work with the Hawks than anything he did in his intervening time in the D-League.

Based on their actions I assume the Hawks have no interest in the league as a source of free agents or as a means to develop their own players.

Final Assessment: The Hawks’ usage of the D-League has been trending in the wrong direction. They had four call-ups in the 2002-03 season and three in 2003-04, but after two apiece during the 2004-05, 05-06, and 06-07 seasons, they’ve had just one in the past two seasons and haven’t been particularly active in terms of assignments either. The decision to call-up of Mario West shows the Hawks’ lack of investment in the D-League as most people believe there were better prospects available at the time.

Hey, at least the Hawks didn't get an incomplete.

2009-10 Season Review: End of the Bench

Previously: Joe Smith, Maurice Evans, Mike Bibby, Zaza Pachulia, Marvin Williams, Jamal Crawford, Al Horford, Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, Mike Woodson, Rick Sund

Mario West

West played 142 minutes after his shock return to the team in January. For the second straight year he scored more points than he committed fouls, a task made difficult by him playing 33 more defensive than offensive possessions. His is a fascinating and remarkable career. He's played 156 games in the NBA. In 57 of those games (36.5%), he played less than one minute. Fifteen percent of his career minutes have come in three end-of-season dead rubbers (4/14/09, 4/15/09, and 4/14/10).

Randolph Morris

Morris saw a bit more action (124 minutes over 28 games, the latter a career high) in the second year of his contract with the Hawks. It was far and away the most productive season of his NBA career. He raised his career FG% almost 70 points (up to 42.6%), raised his career FT% by 33 points (up to 54.5%), and doubled his career rate of points/36 minutes. His size could give him future opportunities, but the lack of athleticism which keeps him from grabbing offensive rebounds (27 in 438 career minutes) and constantly fouling (100 in 438 career minutes) will likely preclude him from contributing in any meaningful way.

Jason Collins

115 minutes, 21 fouls, 16 points, 14 rebounds, and 4:49 of useful basketball. It appears I may have overestimated what Collins had left.

Othello Hunter

Hunter played 33 unmemorable minutes in 7 games before the Hawks waived him days prior to his contract becoming guaranteed. He moved on to Ilisiakos in the Greek league and played 9 games for them, averaging 10 points and 7 rebounds in just under 23 minutes a game.

Hawks To Sign Mario West To Second 10-Day Contract

So blogs Michael Cunningham. Barring a Tyronn Lue comeback or the trade of a 2nd-round pick for Royal Ivey, I can't imagine they don't intend to sign West for the remainder of the season once this contract runs out.

I Believe Mario West Could Be a Good Defensive Player and Here's How

West is quick and has good lateral movement but puts himself in untenable positions* as a defender. He defends too close to his man. In doing so he can't take advantage of his lower-body strength and good balance** because the offensive player can make a strong move at a fairly tight angle to either side and get his hips past West's hips. West's positioning restricts the space he can defend. This is why he uses his hands so much. The geometry of his positioning renders his lateral movement mostly useless. He can't beat the offensive player to a spot nor can he push him in the direction of his defensive help.

Were West to play one step further back from his man on the perimeter, I believe he could keep his man in front of him, and, when called upon in an emergency be a positive contributor defensively as long as he remembers to block out.

*As does Mike Woodson, to be completely fair. When I say Mario West could be a good defensive player I specifically mean against perimeter players: wings that work off the dribble and bigger point guards. I don't think he has the size to guard anyone successfully in the post with he possible exception of Flip Murray when he's backing down. Unfortunately, this is essentially the same class of player that Mo Evans defends best and Evans offers offensive contributions of which West can only dream.

**Said good balance refers only to West when in a defensive stance and not when he's attempting to land after jumping.

Hawks 94 Wizards 82

Boxscore

Gameflow

Highlights

Team	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
WASH	83.5	0.982	39.5	25.9	32.0	15.6
ATL	83.5	1.125	47.1	16.5	31.9	9.6

The Hawks may not play a more nondescript game all season. That the Hawks led at the half by 12 points, won the game by 12 points, yet never led by more than 14 points in the second half (and that lead lasted just one possession) arguably defines the game. The Wizards never looked a real threat to win the game and the Hawks never put them away.

There were positives to take away from the Hawks' performance. Jamal Crawford's 14 fourth quarter points went a long way toward assuring the comfortable (if unimpressive) victory. Marvin Williams played excellent basketball for the entire 37:16 he was on the court, scoring 16 points on 13 shots*, grabbing 8 rebounds (3 offensive), blocking 4 shots, getting 2 steals, and credit for 2 assists without turning the ball over once.

*He's been to the line 17 times in the last two games.

Jeff Teague took advantage of his physical advantages against Earl Boykins and flew all over the court generally taking advantage of Washington's second unit tallying two buckets, two assists, a steal, and a block. The Hawks were +18 in 7:41 Teague was on the court in the second quarter.

Josh Smith's 11 rebounds and 8 assists were nice. His 2-8 shooting (0-3 on jump shots), less so. Joe Johnson failed to repeat his outstanding performance in Boston, needing 23 shots to score 24 points, earning just 2 assists, and again failing to get to the free throw line a single time.

Observations from perusing the Hoopdata boxscore...

• Eight of Johnson's ten made field goals came off assists. Score one for ball movement.
• 27 of Atlanta's 85 field goal attempts were long two-point jumpers. Vinny Del Negro thinks that's too many.
• Washington made just 7-20 shots at the rim. Those misses were essentially the difference in the game. Assuming, of course, that the Hawks wouldn't improve their effort and execution if truly threatened.

Al Horford:

"It was an ugly game tonight, but we came out on top."

A clip-and-save Jamal Crawford quote:

"If I miss my first 10 shots, that doesn't faze me. In the fourth quarter, I make my shots."

Hence his long-standing reputation as a winner.

Now, on to Mario West. I recognize that this is driving me crazy and that's it crazy to let this drive me crazy but I believe it's crazy, bordering on delusional, to credit actual value to a talentless player's energy. For a sane man's perspective, read Drew.

Ken Sugiura's recap in the AJC equates (or at least treats as parallel) the contributions derived from Jeff Teague's performance (outlined above) and Mario West's performance in the second quarter. Mario West's "sticky defense" in the second quarter consisted of 12 possessions. On seven of those, he guarded Nick Young, Dominic McGuire, or DeShawn Stevenson and never had an opportunity to play defense on the ball. On one of those seven, he grabbed a defensive rebound. I think anyone would call that a good defensive possession.

Three times he matched up against Randy Foye. The first ended with West challenging an Antawn Jamison layup. Jamison missed and no one called a foul on West so that's another good defensive possession for him. On the second, Marvin Williams stole a pass from Dominic McGuire. On the third, West ran into a screen set for Foye to run a curl to the top of the key. When Foye caught the ball at the top of the key, West wasn't within six feet of him. Foye kindly waited for a ball-screen so West had time to catch up. When the ball screen came, West ran flush into the screener. Foye missed the open 19-footer and Antawn Jamison missed the follow from his offensive rebound. That wasn't a good defensive possession, running into things being a prime example of false hustle.

On the next possession, the Hawks attempt to trap Randy Foye as he passes halfcourt. Foye fins Andray Blatche at the top of the key, 25-feet from the basket, matched up against West, who is helping from the weak side. Blatche beats West off the dribble for a layup, Josh Smith fouls Blatche, Blatche misses the free throw to minimize the damage.

On the next possession, West matches up against Caron Butler for the first time but quickly switches onto Nick Young on an off-the-ball screen and isn't involved in the play.

The next Washington possession is a semi-transition situation. West has his choice of picking up Butler or Stevenson. He chooses Stevenson, which visibly surprises Mike Bibby who is stuck with guarding Butler. Butler immediately goes into the post and gets deep position in the lane against Bibby. For whatever reason Randy Foye doesn't see or ignores Butler and begins an unimpressive set that culminates in a Brendan Haywood jumper, which he misses. The rebound hits West in the hands but he can't control it. Jamison gets the rebound and finds Caron Butler for a short baseline jumper which he makes over Jason Collins.

So, in West's better stint, the defensive specialist played 12 possessions. Two were good, three were bad, and seven were neutral. His positive contributions came on the offensive end, getting a tip-in courtesy of using Antawn Jamison for a piggy-back ride (uncalled) and beating Nick Young* on a nice cut to the basket for an and-one. West had two other offensive rebounds in the second quarter: on the first he missed a tip-in and on the second he sprint-dribbled directly away from the basket, handed the ball to Jeff Teague 28 feet from the basket, then did a victory lap back to half court before running into the corner. Again, if not false, at least useless, showy hustle.

*Not coincidentally, Nick Young played 17:57 before allowing Mario West to score a basket and 3:17 after allowing the basket.

West faced Butler or Jamison on each of the nine second half possessions for which he was on the court. On the first, he switched from Butler to Jamison on a ball-screen, then fouled Jamison in the post as Butler dribbled on the perimeter toward the opposite side of the floor. Both West's phyiscal play and Caron Butler's disinterest in giving the ball to Jamison in the post will be a continuing theme in this section.

On the next possession, Butler catches the ball behind the three-point line on the left wing, beats West off the dribble, and gets fouled by Jamal Crawford at the rim. That makes five bad, two good defensive possessions for West.

On the next possession, West starts on Butler, switches to Jamison on a ball-screen Jamison posts up, Butler gets him the ball, and Jamison makes a jump hook over West. This isn't a bad defensive possession by West so much as he's a victim of the team's rigid defensive system. He shouldn't be expected to guard Jamison in the post.

The next Washington possession again begins with West on Butler, West switching onto Jamison on a ball-screen, and Jamison posting up. For whatever reason, Caron Butler ignores Jamison to test Marvin Williams himself. Williams blocks Butler's jump shot.

On the next possession, West switches from Butler to Jamison back to Butler again (all on ball-screens). DeShawn Stevenson misses a jumper but Marvin Williams gets called for a loose ball foul. On the reset, Butler posts up West, misses his resultant layup but Brendan Haywood tips in the miss. A harsh grader would count that as a bad defensive possession as West surrendered another layup and Washington scored on the possession. It wasn't a good defensive possession but I'm ambivalent about assigning blame for West when forced to guard guys in the post. On the one hand, he shouldn't be expected to be able to guard guys in the post (without fouling). On the other hand, there's a mass delusion that he's a good defensive player. I'll put it in a separate bin and let you decide.

Current tally: 17 possessions, 5 bad, 2 good, 1 you-make-the-call

On his 18th defensive possession, Mario West does really well. Antawn Jamison has to come out of the post to receive the ball (partly due to West's defense, partly due to a poor attempt to feed the post). Unlike Blatche and Butler earlier, Jamison can't beat West off the dribble and West forces a bad pass that Marvin Williams steals.

The next Washington possession is a mystery. SportSouth came back from a replay to show Brendan Haywood turning the ball over.

West isn't involved in either of his last two defensive possessions for the game. He takes Butler both times, switches to Jamison once (Butler doesn't try to feed Jamison in the post.) and Andray Blatche uses both possessions.

Offensively, West manages to turn the ball over twice despite only touching the ball once in the second half courtesy of an illegal screen and falling out of bounds immediately after grabbing his fourth offensive rebound.

21 defensive possessions: 5 bad, 3 good, 1 debatable between bad and neutral, and 12 neutral. Your defensive stopper, Hawks fans, and a man now ahead of Jeff Teague in the rotation.

It's Official: Hawks Re-Sign Mario West To 10-Day Contract

Mike Woodson, on 1/12/10 as reported by Ken Sugiura of the AJC:

"I love everything about Mario West. I've always loved what he's done for our ballclub* from day one. He pushes practice. I'm not scared to throw him in the game and he has to defend the best player on the opposing team. So it's good to have him back in a Hawk uniform."

*In the story this is actually (I assume) a typo and reads "ballcub" which would be a great nickname for West were he not already nicknamed Greasy.

Bret LaGree, 6/8/09 on Hoopinion:

The most specialized* specialist in the NBA, putative energy guy, and offensive rebounder of such abandonment that he might be classified as a health risk Mario West accomplished at least two things in his (baffling in its very existence) second NBA season:

1. He scored more points than he committed fouls.
2. He proved that he cannot contribute at all on the offensive end.

West failed to match even the low offensive standard of his rookie season by shooting far less often, making a lower percentage of his shots, turning the ball over far more often, and making less than half of his free throws.

*Useful for harassing the opposition's best perimeter player while he dribbles down the clock on an end of quarter possession.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Every day that Mario West spends on the Hawks' roster is an indictment of the organization's competence. Certainly seems like a nice guy, though.

I don't retract the good luck I wished West on the occasion of him getting cut in October. Nor do I retract this accompanying sentiment:

...any NBA team that uses a roster spot on him isn't serious about the end of its bench.

As pointless as it is to use a roster spot on West, to play him in games that count (at least for stretches longer than a Mario) actively damages the team's chances of winning. Until Monday's win in Boston Marvin Williams has often been surplus to defensive requirements late in games. Jeff Teague rarely gets the call to try to keep a quick guard in front of him more often than Bibby, Crawford, or Joe Johnson can manage. But Mike Woodson's not scared to throw Mario West, who can't actually stay in front of someone (without fouling) who is trying to play basketball, out there and have him defend the opposing team's best player.

This contradiction doesn't undermine the improvements Woodson has made as a coach over the last two seasons but it doesn't encourage one to speak up on his behalf for an offer of an extension.

Mario West, Professional Basketball Player

This one's for Karibo.

From Hardwood Paroxysm, where Matt Moore scours the D-League transaction wire:

The Maine Red Claws, presented by Quirk Chevrolet, today announced that the team has acquired Mario West. To make room on the roster, the team waived Stanley Thomas. The announcement was made by Red Claws President and General Manager Jon Jennings.

West, 25, appeared in 117 regular season games with the Atlanta Hawks over the last two seasons. He saw action in five preseason contests with the Hawks this season, putting in 2.2 ppg, 3.0 rpg and 1.0 spg. He was waived by Atlanta on October 22. West signed an NBA D-League contract and was claimed by the Red Claws.

The End of an Era: Mario West Cut By the Hawks

Sekou Smith tweets:

Mario West and Courtney Sims are gone. Cut this morning. Othello Hunter and Garrett Siler are the only two free agents left in Hawks camp.

I've had some fun at the Hawks' expense for carrying West on the roster for the last two seasons and I stand by the underlying premise of that fun--that any NBA team that uses a roster spot on him isn't serious about the end of its bench. I hope that belief doesn't obscure how unlikely an achievement it was for West to spend two full seasons with the Hawks after playing less than half of Georgia Tech's minutes in either his junior or senior seasons.

West wasn't a big man. He wasn't project. He was a guard with no offensive skills who stuck around purely on the basis of effort, effort that held little utility but was generally admirable. Good luck to him in whatever comes next in his life.

Thoughts on Real Training Camp

Check back in this space from 10am...

• NBATV is on the ball this morning: Woodson, Bibby, and Josh Smith are mic'd up.
• Promising sing: Rick Sund said, in diplomatic fashion, that Jason Collins was signed to give fouls against Shaq and Dwight Howard.
• Even in drills, Joe Johnson has to guard a point guard.
• Josh Smith would play hard every minute of every game if he got to play against Mike Woodson.
• UCLA cut (video)
• Josh Smith to Horford, mid-drill: "You gotta start doing bets like that, 'Bet it hit rim,' 'Bet it don't hit rim,' 'Bet it swish.'" And some say this team lacks a vocal leader.
• Aaron Miles and Courtney Sims both want a job. They stand at attention directly in front of Woodson as he talks to the team.
• Jason Collins can dunk in an empty gym. I would have lost that bet.
• According to Eric Snow, Larry Brown doesn't believe in line drills and George Karl loves line drills. On that evidence, line drills are clearly useless.
• Mike Wilks and Miles perked up at getting to pressure Mario West full-court.
• If Randolph Morris makes the team, it won't be on the basis of his play in the half-court 5-on-5 portion of this morning's practice.
• While Mo Evans ices his knees, Mario West plays with the second unit.
• Garret Siler is significantly slower than Zaza Pachulia. Almost as soon as anything happens, Siler finds himself out of position.
  
• Pachulia, in general, looks far better than any other reserve big men. Not that that should surprise.
• Othello Hunter gets the power forward spot for the White team in Joe Smith's absence. Hunter gets two early buckets (one on a post-up, one off an offensive rebound) against Josh Smith.
• Bad passes, 1-of-2 from the free throw line, indifferent ball-screens, looking good when he occasionally attacks the basket, complaining about calls he isn't getting...Josh Smith's in mid-season form.
• Siler can get position in the low-post. His weight and free throw stroke appear to limit his effectiveness though.
• Mike Woodson: "Get Mike out of there." Mike Bibby: "No, I'm not coming." Bibby stays in the scrimmage, his breathing disturbingly heavy and high in the mix.
  

Perspective On October Positivity

Ah, training camp, the only time of year when "Jamal Crawford" and "tenacious defender" can share a sentence without their nine-year companion "is not" tagging along.

363 days ago, it was Solomon Jones who was deemed a new man* in the first week of training camp.

Two Octobers ago, Mike Woodson declared Mario West a difference-maker who "every time out" makes "a major impact."

Joe Johnson offers a dose of reality:

"When I'm out there, I don’t want to come out. I just pay the price later. In the heat of the battle, I don't ever want to come out. I can't put a lot of that on coach. You have to put it on me, because even when he asks me if I want a break or if I'm tired, I always say no. Even if I'm tired and I can't breathe, I still tell him no. That's not me being selfish. I'm just a competitor to the point that I feel like I can really do something to help my team win."

Well there's one item to put on the "Why Mike Woodson Hasn't Been Offered a Contract Extension" side of the ledger. Bully for Joe Johnson's desire to help the team. He's not paid to offer perspective. Nor is Mike Woodson employed for the purpose of serving Joe Johnson's ego but rather to get the most (not the most minutes, mind you) out of Johnson and the team. This is where Jamal Crawford's (and to a lesser extent Jeff Teague's) acquisition might do the most good: convincing Mike Woodson to play Joe Johnson 35 instead of 40 minutes a night.

*Bonus bad Flip Murray prediction at the bottom of that link.

Greasy Fun Fact

From Kevin Pelton's breakdown of free agent shooting guards at Basketball Prospectus:

Believe it or not, there is actually a fascinating statistic featuring Mario West. Because he has spent the last two seasons with the Hawks as the most limited of defensive specialists, usually being called upon by Mike Woodson to play the final possession of a quarter/game, he has averaged just 4.6 minutes per game. Amongst players with at least 100 games, that is the lowest career minutes average since Paul Noel, who played for New York and Rochester from 1948 through 1952 in the BAA and the NBA. A couple of guys have come close, but no one else has averaged fewer than five minutes in an appreciable career since the 1950s. While interesting, this does not exactly bode well for West's future.

2008-09 Season Review: The End of the Bench

Mario West

The most specialized* specialist in the NBA, putative energy guy, and offensive rebounder of such abandonment that he might be classified as a health risk Mario West accomplished at least two things in his (baffling in its very existence) second NBA season:

1. He scored more points than he committed fouls.
2. He proved that he cannot contribute at all on the offensive end.

West failed to match even the low offensive standard of his rookie season by shooting far less often, making a lower percentage of his shots, turning the ball over far more often, and making less than half of his free throws.

*Useful for harassing the opposition's best perimeter player while he dribbles down the clock on an end of quarter possession.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Every day that Mario West spends on the Hawks' roster is an indictment of the organization's competence. Certainly seems like a nice guy, though.

Thomas Gardner

Gardner got just 98 minutes to attempt to prove he's becoming something more than the high-volume, low-percentage, high-turnover, non-defending player he was at Missouri. He made 9 of 36 shots, 4 of 23 three-pointers, earned two assists, turned the ball over three times, and never had to play defense. There's little indication why he was on the roster beyond league rules limiting how few players a team can employ.

Othello Hunter

Hunter only played 92 minutes but, because he demonstrated a potentially useful skill set (rebounding, not taking bad shots) at Ohio State, I suspect he's the most likely of the players discussed in this post to carve out an NBA career though his upside is likely as a fifth big man who won't kill a team if he's pressed into duty for a couple of weeks due to injuries to a couple of bigger, better players.

I have no idea why he didn't spend more time in the D-League.

Randolph Morris

Signing Randolph Morris seemed like a risk-free acquisition with potential benefits last summer. Today it seems more like a waste of time than money. The few times he left the bench he looked, understandably, nowhere near game shape. Morris has played just 314 minutes in two-plus NBA seasons, making 35.8% of his field goal attempts, 51.3% of his free throws, and committing a turnover or a foul every three-and-three-quarter minutes he's on the floor.

Speedy Claxton

Claxton's in the final year of the four-year deal he signed in the summer of 2006. The $5.2 million left on that deal now stands as an expiring contract and presents, perhaps, the first and last bit of value the organization will get from that deal.

SI.com: Aschburner: NBA Awards...With a Spin

Mario West is his 11th Man of the Year:

There is a certain status that goes along with being a team's 12th man. After all, M.L. Carr won rings and got famous doing that in Boston, and Jack Haley dominated the balloting for years during his run as Dennis Rodman's chaperone. Besides, those guys rarely break a sweat. The 11th man, however, actually plays -- just not very much. No one in the league this season has appeared in as many games (51) for as few minutes (199) as West, an undrafted free agent from George Tech in 2007 who saw more action last season.

(HT: the indefatigable Ben Q. Rock)

Season Review: The End of the Bench

Previously: Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, Al Horford, Josh Childress, Marvin Williams, Mike Bibby, Acie Law IV, Zaza Pachulia

A quick wrap-up of those who played few minutes last year and should (with one possible exception) play even fewer minutes this season concludes the player-by-player review of the 2007-08 season.

Mario West

West didn't play much; his 270 minutes were spread over 64 games with 20 appearances consisting of less than one minute of playing time. West's effort was always obvious even as he displayed skills useful to winning basketball games less frequently. Part of the problem lay not with West but with Mike Woodson utilizing a player poorly (Shock! Horror!) . Rather than using West's energy to disrupt the opposition's second unit for a couple of minutes every so often, Woodson decided that Mario West was a defensive stopper who should guard the other team's best wing player for one half-court possession at the end of a quarter. West usually responded to this assignment by committing a foul at the first opportunity.*

*Mario West scored 59 points, grabbed 48 rebounds, and committed 61 fouls in his 270 minutes of playing time.

West played fairly well in the two games he started, scoring 11 points and grabbing 7 offensive rebounds in 31 minutes. If you put him on the court with good players the other team may forget about him long enough for him contribute positively. If he hopes to stay in the league as an energy guy for a another season he'll have to learn to defend without fouling. If he hopes to stay in the league for any significant length of time, he'll also need to start knocking down jump shots. He made 2 of 12 jump shots in his rookie year. If he didn't spend the summer working on his lateral movement and shooting thousands of corner three-pointers he'll find Jeremy Richardson or Thomas Gardner holding down his old roster spot.

Solomon Jones

Jones looked every bit the project in his rookie season but there were a few skills (shot selection, free throw shooting, shot blocking) that looked as if they might serve as a foundation for a career coming of the bench and providing useful minutes.

None of those skills were evident in Jones' second season. His field goal percentage fell from 50.8% (128 attempts) to 40% (30 attempts). His free throw shooting dropped from 78.7% (75 attempts) to 55% (20 attempts). He blocked almost half as many shots per minute while committing fouls slightly more frequently. He also managed to turn the ball over on 22% of the offensive possessions he used.

Furthermore, he looked every bit as bad as his numbers would suggest. His lack of basketball awareness or game-readiness rendered his athleticism largely useless. I've no idea why the Hawks have chosen not to send Jones to the D-League so he can get some practice playing basketball. Of course, the bigger question is why they wasted the 33rd pick of the draft of the 2006 Draft on Jones in the first place, other than to demonstrate what can be accomplished when Billy Knight's drafting acumen combines with Mike Woodson's facility for developing young players' skills.

Despite his desperate need for anything approximating game experience, Jones declined to play on the Hawks' summer league team, a decision which should make it more likely that the Hawks trade him for someone, anyone willing to take on his guaranteed contract.

Jeremy Richardson

Over the last two years, Jeremy Richardson has played 152 minutes of NBA basketball across 33 games for 4 different teams. It would be folly to try and derive any meaning from his NBA stats.

He's scored effectively and efficiently in over 1000+ D-league minutes. He deserves a chance not just to make the 2008-09 Hawks roster but to earn some minutes in the rotation (If only due to Josh Childress's massive absence.) as either a shooter or scorer, essentially serving as second-unit insurance for both Maurice Evans' jump shot and Acie Law IV's dribble penetration.

Salim Stoudamire

Salim will be missed by those of us prone to forever believe in his potential to serve as a (likeable) Jannero Pargo type. Rarely used in any way that made sense during his final season in Atlanta, Stoudamire compounded matters by shooting the ball often and with very little success in his rare appearances setting career lows in two-point, three-point, and free throw shooting. Still, I'll root for him wherever he ends up.