Info on Acie Law and Summer League,Speedy playing lol

[td00]

Here is a link to the schedule, but I have not seen any roster news for the Hawks.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/stor ... ueschedule

It would be nice to know who the Hawks are bringing to Utah to see what the options are.
Game 1 is 11 days away.

[CWell]

http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/hawks/entries/2008/07/07/in_the_meantime.html

In the meantime …
By Sekou K Smith | Monday, July 7, 2008, 03:19 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

SMYRNA - While we’ve all been locked in on the free agent situation regarding both Josh Smith and Josh Childress the Hawks other players have been busy with the business that is every offseason.

That’s not to say the other players aren’t interested in the futures of their teammates, because they are. In fact, the one question I get most from Hawks players is “what’s up with Josh and Josh?” - as if I know any better than they do.

(There is nothing new to mention regarding the Joshes. The salary cap number will be released to teams Tuesday afternoon/evening, convenient huh, just in time for Wednesday’s official start of the free agent signing period. Once everyone around the league has that official cap number in hand they can go about consummating deals that have been on the table since last week.)

The better question is what’s up with you?

So I poked my head in at Philips Arena this morning in an effort to find an answer to that question. The first two faces I see, shortly before 10 a.m. the morning after the extended 4th of July weekend, belong to Acie Law IV and Hawks coach Mike Woodson.

They were on the practice floor bright and early (Law was working out with Hawks assistant video coordinator John “Beans” Beckett and Woodson stumbled upon them on his way to his office and an impromptu brainstorming session began about the nuances of playing point guard for the Hawks) playing out a scene we all might see on the regular over the next few years.

Save for a two week break, Law’s been working out relentlessly since the Hawks’ playoff run ended. He said he’s hungry as ever and will not let up come mini-camp and summer league (next week in Atlanta for mini-camp and the following week and a half in Salt Lake City for mini-camp).

Woodson was all smiles seeing Law on the floor so early and already having worked up a ferocious sweat while working on his shot and an assortment of other things during his early morning workout.

Law retired to the weight room (allowing me a few minutes to trade questions and answers with Woodson for an upcoming piece on Law) and when he finished with that part of his routine he headed out the door for a therapy session for his injured wrist that caused him problems during his rookie season (he said the wrist feels fine and that the therapy three days a week has done wonders).

He admitted to being wired up for the upcoming season and even more fired about his chance to compete in mini-camp and summer league.

“I can’t wait,” he said, uttering a phrase rarely heard from the lips of a scone-year guy in the middle of his first NBA summer.

While I was in the midst of wrapping up with Law and Woodson Zaza Pachulia breezes into the room with his bag over his shoulder, having already completed his weight room work while I was snooping around downstairs.

ZP seems just as eager as Acie to get back out there and get after someone - he’ll have to do his work with the rest of the Georgian national team when they convene for training camp in a few weeks for some competitions on the other side of the globe.

With all the attention on the NBA Finals and then free agency, it’s easy to overlook just how much work goes on outside of the limelight in this league (the Hawks, like every other team in the league, have guys stretched all over the place doing individual work of their own).

And speaking of work, I put my snooping skills to good use this morning. I pilfered the Hawks’ mini-camp roster/summer league roster (not everyone on the mini-camp roster is going to make the cut for Salt Lake City and some guys will join the Hawks’ summer league crew in Salt Lake City without going through mini-camp) and was surprised by a few of the names on the list. You might be surprised as well (I can’t imagine it’ll take long for the surprise to kick in):

G - Acie Law IV

G - Speedy Claxton

G - Dominique Kirk

G - Brian Chase

G - Jeremy Richardson

G - Demetric Bennett

G - Thomas Gardner

G/F - Mario West

G/F - Luke Jackson

F - Brian Randle

F - Kevin Pinckney

F - Marcus Hubbard

F - Othella Hunter

F - Brian Butch

C - Solomon Jones

C - Jamal Sampson

C - Olumide Oyedeji

I’m still doing homework on some of these cats (since I’d never heard of them), so I’ll reserve comment on most. But I have to say I was stunned to see Speedy Claxton’s name on the list.

Someone mentioned to me a while back that they thought he was going to be on the summer league roster. I thought it was a joke. But with all the injury problems he’s had the past two years it makes sense to see how he’s holding up in July before getting to training camp in a couple months and finding out.

Naturally, you want to see how he fares in what should be some heated competition (if Law has his way). But you also want to see how Solomon Jones, Jeremy Richardson and Mario West look against a group of hungry free agents.

Some of the other names are intriguing - Luke Jackson was a lottery pick, Gardner was a standout college player at Missouri, Randle was the same at Illinois and Butch the same at Wisconsin. Sampson and Oyedeji have the kind of size and experience (both have been on NBA rosters at one time or another).

And as receptive as the Hawks have been to free agent invitees in the past (West, Richardson, Ced Bozeman, Dijon Thompson, Obinna Ekezie and a host of others) these guys need to be watched.

These guys won’t get going until this time next week, just a couple days before departing for Salt Lake City. The free agent drama should play out before then. But in the meantime, we can chew on this list and see if there isn’t a player or two in this group (not already under contract) that could impact the Hawks in the near future …

[CWell]

G - Acie Law IV

G - Speedy Claxton

G - Dominique Kirk

G - Brian Chase

G - Jeremy Richardson

G - Demetric Bennett

G - Thomas Gardner

G/F - Mario West

G/F - Luke Jackson

F - Brian Randle

F - Kevin Pinckney

F - Marcus Hubbard

F - Othella Hunter

F - Brian Butch

C - Solomon Jones

C - Jamal Sampson

C - Olumide Oyedeji

Not the final official roster yet

[HoopsGuru25]

nd speaking of work, I put my snooping skills to good use this morning. I pilfered the Hawks’ mini-camp roster/summer league roster (not everyone on the mini-camp roster is going to make the cut for Salt Lake City and some guys will join the Hawks’ summer league crew in Salt Lake City without going through mini-camp) and was surprised by a few of the names on the list. You might be surprised as well (I can’t imagine it’ll take long for the surprise to kick in):

G - Acie Law IV

G - Speedy Claxton

G - Dominique Kirk

G - Brian Chase

G - Jeremy Richardson

G - Demetric Bennett

G - Thomas Gardner

G/F - Mario West

G/F - Luke Jackson

F - Brian Randle

F - Kevin Pinckney

F - Marcus Hubbard

F - Othella Hunter

F - Brian Butch

C - Solomon Jones

C - Jamal Sampson

C - Olumide Oyedeji

http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared ... ntime.html

WTF is Speedy doing there? That's a pretty good team for summer league BTW. I think Brian Randle or Thomas Gardner could make the team.

[Hawks]

I see no Al Horford on the team. No surprise there since he has no business being there. Chance for Acie to get some much needed playing time. If Speedy make it through this SL I will be surprise.

[MikeRice]

As an avid Missouri fan, don't hold your breath on Thomas Gardner doing anything. He's got a great outside shot when its on but he's very inconsistent and other than that doesn't bring much to the table. I'd put Rickey Paulding and Kareem Rush miles ahead of him as far as Missouri guard flameouts are considered. I'm much more interested in seeing what we can get out of Brian Butch.

[lunarblues]

more than likely only west and richardson will make the team. this team doesn't look so hot. our bigs suck but the rocky revue is more of a guard league anyway.

[MikeRice]

on a side note i'm incredibly bored watching the summer league game between the heat and bulls. you can watch the games on the nba website on the magics page there is a link. michael beasley just got rejected on a driving layup by tyrus thomas... he looks decent so far though

[MikeRice]

also mario chalmers has been playing head and shoulders better than derrick rose... could change but just an observation so far

[HoopsGuru25]

also mario chalmers has been playing head and shoulders better than derrick rose... could change but just an observation so far

It's summer league....Marcus Banks scored 50 last year....Shelden dropped 20 and 10 and Durant and Oden struggled big time. I think Rose is overhyped but I'm going to assume that this game means more to Chalmers(who dropped a ton in the draft and doesn't have a guaranteed contract)than the first pick in the draft.

[MikeRice]

i know... i said it could change for those of you who have better things to do im just letting you know whats going on. Rose had 5 first half turnovers, he probably just has early jitter, but his assist/turnover ratio in college was a big concern leading up to the draft. Beasley has been unstoppable in the second half so far knocking down tough inside shots, solid offensive rebounding and hitting a pretty 3, didnt play in the second quarter already has 18 points

[BMF Jet Jaguar]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOO KIRK!!!! hes good friends with Acie from their Texas Atm days, a GREAT defender that can STROKE the 3. he's like mario and jeremy combined.

[ATLfan]

Our SL roster doesn't look bad but the only people that I can see making the team are Mario, Jeremy, Demetric Bennett and Luke Jackson.

[HMFFL]

When watching these games remember to look out for how smart the player is and not just how athletic they are. Solomon Jones may prove to be a beast with his athletic ability during the summer league but he's probably going to be the least brightest player on the court.

[evildallas]

I'm glad to see Speedy on the roster because it might mean he tests his knee early and can arrive at the most logical conclusion.

Other notes: Jamal Sampson has bounced around. This is a friends invite as his wikipedia page indicates that Josh Childress is his best friend.

Olumide Oyedeji was a 2nd round pick in Seattle back in 2000, but I don't think Sund was in charge back then.

Brian Randle is a rookie from Illinois. Much like everyone else on that team can't shoot a lick.
Othella Hunter is a rookie out of Ohio St. Was a support PF type on the team.
Brian Butch is a rookie out of Wisconsin. was a McDonald's All-American but missed an entire season due to injury at the start of his college career. Has some range on his shot and evidently abused Patrick O'Bryant in a workout for the Celtics.

Dominique Kirk is a rookie who played college ball with Acie Law IV at Texas A&M.
Demetric Bennett is a rookie guard from South Alabama with good shooting range and size.
Brian Chase is a small 26 year old PG from VA Tech.

Marcus Hubbard is a lanky 6'9" Rookie F from Division II Angelo St. He's got solid shooting range and scored close to 22 ppg his last year in college. He is quite intriguing.

Luke Jackson was the 10th pick by Cleveland back in 2004 and has never amounted to much.
Thomas Gardner is out of Missouri. He made the Bulls roster out of camp last year, but was cut to make room for a different project after clocking very little court time.

And Kevin Pinkney is a thick body out of Reno who has bounced around. The rest you should know from the Hawks.

[td00]

To followup on everyone's reviews of the roster, I think Claxton to just see how his knees hold up for 1/2 a game to see if he can get into some kind of shape for upcoming camps.
Now with the management stating that youth is no longer wanted, you would have to think that the only ones who have a shot at making the roster this fall are Law and Claxton of course, followed by West, Richardson & Jones. That gives you projecting the return of J*2:

Bibby/JJ/Marvin/Smoove/Horford
Chills/Zaza/Law/Claxton/Jones
West/Richardson/??

That gives you a 12 man roster and you would think a veteran might be brought in to take away one of the younger guy's mintes. This roster is looking eerily similar to the 07 team, minus Salim.