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Hawks sign F/C Dexter Pittman.

The Hawks are toast in the frontcourt tonight with Paul Millsap, Pero Antic and Gustavo Ayon, so the team waived Jared Cunningham to get another big man for tonight. If Pittman does get on the court, it should be interesting to see what kind of shape he's in. It's only a 10-day deal and it's worth noting he's played just 17.5 minutes per game in the D-League this year

Chances are you don't know much about Pittman. Just because he was a teammate of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade down in South Beach doesn't make him famous.

After playing college ball at the University of Texas, he was selected by the Heat with the 32nd overall pick in 2010. He has played just 48 career games with the Heat and Memphis Grizzlies combined, averaging 2.4 points and 1.8 rebounds per contest and shooting 45.4 percent from the field.

Pittman also had a couple stints in the D-League, playing for the Sioux Falls Skyforce. In addition, he played for the San Antonio Spurs during this year's NBA Summer League.

[YouTube]http://youtu.be/sVjCT123cOU[/YouTube]

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Good find. Thanks.

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about time!

For those of us who care about such things, Pittman is 6' 9.5" barefooted, 6' 11.5" with shoes, weighing 300+lbs, with a (great) wingspan of 7' 6" and a very good vertical reach of 9' 3".

I remember watching the kid when he was Texas. For every game I saw, it was always a case of, "If only he lost weight..."

He's always had a weight problem. In HS, he was listed at 388 (but he said he really got up to 402) and was very proud that he lost 45lbs between his freshman and sophomore years at Texas, but they had to make him wear a heart monitor when he practiced. If anyone cares about my opinion of his game, he's talented with the ball in his hands, although you can find scouts saying he's too slow and UNtalented.

Hard to believe he's only 25.

Apparently, Pittman played Summer League ball with SAS and was a late cut by CHI in TC. He went to China before coming back and getting back into the D-League. Pittman spent his first 10 (or so) games working his way back into playing shape - starting at 10 mins, then 17, and in the high 20's over the last 4 games. But the reason he was signed by us is his line over the last 3 games:
Min: 84
FG: 25-35
FT: 15-21
Reb: 36

This equates to 22/12 and throw in 1.3 blocks for good measure.

Hate to think this is anything more than an opportunity to develop him into cheap depth, but the talent to be more is obvious. I guess we'll know more about how much we think of this experiment in 10-20 days.

He has impressive shoe thickness.

There won’t be much of a learning curve for Dexter Pittman upon joining the Hawks.
The center signed a 10-day contract Saturday to help the team’s depleted big-man ranks. He most recently played in the NBA Development League for...the affiliate owned by the Spurs.
So, you could say Pittman is familiar with the system used by first-year Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer after the coach’s 19 years in the Spurs organization.
“I know all the plays and sets,” said Pittman, who was a second-round draft pick of the Heat in 2010. “It’s a lot of the stuff we ran in Miami also. I’m kind of ahead of it a little bit if you want to call it that.”
Pittman (6-foot-11, 285 pounds) arrived from Sioux Falls, South Dakota Saturday.

http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/newest-hawk-pittman-familar-with-teams-system/ndZKR/

With Pittman and Muscala on board, our frontcourt is somewhat normalized.

You guys still think we're tanking?

Pittman will prob be released to make room for Muscala

Why doesn't your team just sign an experienced pf/c? After watching the game against boston (i was dumb enough to bet on atl, didn't know about millsap... ) it seems pretty obvious that that's what the hawks need. Among other things of course, shelvin mack and louis williams were pretty painful to watch as well.

Anyway, i'm sure one of these guys (strong defensive/rebounding types) can make themselves useful for 10-15 min a game:
- louis amundson (maybe not that strong, but he hustles hard)
- chris wilcox (don't know what he has left, should be alright in limited minutes)
- kwame brown (good post defender, decent rebounder)
- melvin ely (same as wilcox)
- i'm sure i'm forgetting some

Those were the somewhat "proven" players, so i'd get one of them. But you could also get a riskier choice:
- tyrus thomas (i'd say he's worth a couple of ten-days, who knows maybe he'll finally learn how to play)
- kyrylo fesenko (BIG presence in the paint, showed some promise in utah)
- ike diogu (solid backup)
- dewayne dedmon (skilled 7-footer), dallas lauderdale (quincy acy type), tiny gallon (deserves a chance), and a bunch of other young lesser known bigs (which i guess they did with pittman and muscala, there's better options imo but ok).

^Glad to see it's as obvious to outsiders as it is to most of us.

A center is indeed greatly needed in ATL> Has been for some time. Not sure what our GM is doing.

Among other things of course, shelvin mack and louis williams were pretty painful to watch as well.

Agree as well.

H just listed bigs. Guys like Thomas or admuson are PF's too. I agree though. Playing a shooting guard at the 4 is not optimal.

As for the Center, you do realize we drafted 2 Centers, added 3 more through free agency to go with the one we already had in the off season right. What part of acquiring 5 bigs means we aren't trying to address the Center position?

Well, Ayon had season ending surgery so now we just have Brand and Moose in the middle.