It's still pending:The Atlanta Hawks and Golden State Warriors are closing in on a trade that would find a new home for Jamal Crawford.
NBA front-office sources say that the Warriors and Hawks will soon complete a deal sending Crawford to Atlanta for Acie Law and Speedy Claxton.
Warriors coach Don Nelson made no secret of the fact that Crawford wasn't in his future plans. By shedding Crawford's longer contract and by virtue of insurance payments that will cover some of the costs of Claxton, Golden State would secure a decent measure of payroll relief with the trade.
Less clear is what impact the move will have on Atlanta's forthcoming negotiations with free agent-to-be Mike Bibby. Although Crawford is not a pure point guard, he's a prolific scorer whose arrival could affect the sort of contract offer Bibby expected to command from the Hawks.
Crawford would provide a definite upgrade for 2009-10 at a cost of an additional $1.9 million over Law and Claxton. The player, not the money, leads me to believe that Mike Bibby is far less likely than Flip Murray to be re-signed. In fact, a Crawford/Johnson/Murray backcourt rotation would be something approaching Mike Woodson's platonic ideal. Hypothetical free agent signings aside, Crawford's arrival would likely continue to, if not further, limit Al Horford's role in the offense. Marvin Williams' role too if he's still here.Crawford is owed an additional $10.08 million in 2010-11 to add to the $17 million owed Josh Smith and Al Horford, plus Mo Evans $2.5 million player option.
EDIT: David Aldridge calls it a done deal. (6:26pm)
Mario WestThe 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:- He scored more points than he committed fouls.
- 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 GardnerGardner 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 HunterHunter 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 MorrisSigning 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 ClaxtonClaxton'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.
"That is a confident team. They've got a lot of players with a lot of energy."
A preview of the 1st round coming up on Tuesday in Atlanta. However, with both teams locked into their respective seed’s, it will be interesting to see how much they use their star players. The last thing anybody wants is a meaningless injury…but with the Heat already a bit banged up, they don’t have a ton of options to come off the bench with.
Speedy Claxton's Twitter feed, @speeddemon:these dudes had only 11 people dress out n didnt wanna suit me up.... some fishy shit going on w the hawks about 16 hours ago from web
Even if it's not real, it'll join @Carl_Peterson on the short list of Twitter performance pieces I follow.
Thanks to jrauch for heads up.
UPDATE: Per comment #1 below, it's real.
You (or at least I) learn something every day. For example, Speedy Claxton never had microfracture surgery last year. He opted for arthroscopy and rehab. I don't know if that makes him more or less likely to be healthy enough to contribute this year though I'm sure that if he can walk, Mike Woodson will run him out there in lieu of a younger, better player.Sekou Smith also provides more coverage of Kwame Brown and Randolph Morris working out for the Hawks. Either would be a welcome addition to the frontcourt rotation. I expect Randolph Morris is far more likely to be deemed affordable by the organization but maybe Kwame Brown's willing to take a short, relatively cheap contract in exchange for playing time. On the other hand, the chances of Kwame Brown suddenly learning how to play basketball under the tutelage of members of the Atlanta Hawks organization are approximately nil.In the same piece, Smith reports that Jim Todd and Tyrone Hill have been added to the coaching staff. Tyrone Hill would also be a welcome addition to the frontcourt rotation.UPDATE: I jumped the gun. Micah Hart's Day 2 report from summer camp is now up.
