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How many guys stick from summer league?

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evildallas
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How many guys stick from summer league? 

Post#1 » by evildallas » Sat Jul 26, 2008 5:08 am

Posing the question in this post:

Now that summer league is over and we've added Maurice Evans to the fold, I've decided to take stock of the roster pre-camp. First, we obviously need to get Josh Smith resigned. 2nd, we need to add another big* and there should be enough of the MLE (over 3M) available to get this done. Regardless of whether this is Kwame Brown, Theo Ratliff, Dikembe Mutombo, or god forbid Lo Wright one has to assume someone will sign. There still may be trades, but those are hard to project.

Looking at the roster:
Bibby/Law/Speedy
JJ/Evans
Marvin
Josh
Al/Zaza/MLE Big*

That's 10 spots right there. It's logical that the Hawks leave a spot open at the start of the season for flexibility in responding to injuries. That leaves 4 spots for guys from summer league, Solomon (I don't believe his salary in guaranteed, so I chose not to guarantee him a spot), and any minimum salary acquisitions (or in theory a LLE player). It's clear that we aren't deep at F, but with JJ, Al, and Zaza able to play minutes at the spot the lineup flexibility covers up some. Solomon, Mario, and Jeremy have the most experience with the club. Othello Hunter showed the most consistent impact throughout Summer League, but Luke Jackson, Thomas Gardner, and Demetric Bennett all had flashes. Some other guys made some noise in the summer like Elton Brown, Charles Rhodes, and Anthony Morrow. And there are still some free agents of note out there. Also remember that Summer League success isn't always an indicator of NBA success.

Who do you think make that final four roster spots?

That's the setup, I'll post my opinion separately, but I'm interested in the thoughts of other Hawk fans.
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Re: How many guys stick from summer league? 

Post#2 » by evildallas » Sat Jul 26, 2008 5:48 am

My personal response.

First, I think we cut bait on Solomon Jones. While he has shot blocking potential I don't think he's able to keep himself on the court. The decision to skip summer league rather than use it to showcase himself has me doubting him as well. If we can sign Kwame Brown to that 10th spot then I'm hopeful that a thicker backup PF can be brought in to give us lineup flexibility. Not sure who it would be, but Elton Brown or Rod Benson might be reasonable choices based on their years of plugging away in lesser leagues looking for a shot and their strong rebounding numbers. Another possibility would be using the LLE and bringing in both Kwame Brown and maybe a Theo Ratliff. It wouldn't be the same as adding a wide body PF, but it would make sure we had lane protection and give more veteran experience. I seriously hope it isn't Lo Wright since we saw how little he had left during his last stint with us.

Jeremy Richardson and Othello Hunter seem likely candidates to stick in my eyes. Othello seems like he would have the flexibility to see minutes at either F position in spite of being a rookie. He also seems to show an efficiency that could remind the coaches of Childress. I am giving Jeremy the edge over Thomas Gardner and Luke Jackson because he is more of a SF while they are more SGs. Prior to the signing of Evans I thought that Mario was a good bet, but now I'm having my doubts. While he can be a lock down defender his offense is so raw that it might cost him a spot. It's kind of the opposite of my theory on what dogged Salim. He had offensive explosiveness, but was so weak defensively that it made it hard for the coach to play him. If the 14th roster spot is going to be used for long term development then Demetric Bennett might be the choice. In the end I'm predicting that Mario gets the spot because it appeals to Woodson's defensive mantra.

My predictions.
A free agent PF/C not on our Summer league team. For now, I'll go the vet route and say Theo Ratliff although I think that Elton Brown might be a steal.
Othello Hunter
Jeremy Richardson
Mario West
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Re: How many guys stick from summer league? 

Post#3 » by ATLfan » Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:22 pm

I think that Othello, Jermey, and Mario will be the guys that stick around.
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Re: How many guys stick from summer league? 

Post#4 » by FCNATL85 » Sat Jul 26, 2008 2:50 pm

I Will bring back Solomon, add either Theo or Kwame (probably he 1st) and get Rich and Othello.
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Re: How many guys stick from summer league? 

Post#5 » by LHughes/JSmooth » Sat Jul 26, 2008 5:54 pm

Solomon, Mario, and Othello. That gives us 13 guys. 12 to play, and 1 for back-up, so we don't have to sign 10+ day deals with people who haven't been playing with the team.
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Re: How many guys stick from summer league? 

Post#6 » by tontoz » Sat Jul 26, 2008 6:02 pm

I only watched one game but....

I might take a flier on Gardner. He shot 3s very well and was a prolific 3 pt shooter in college. I don't know how good the rest of his game is but he is 6'5" and solidly built.
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Re: How many guys stick from summer league? 

Post#7 » by Master8492 » Sat Jul 26, 2008 6:52 pm

I think they can have 15 players on the roster? So need 10 bench players... Acie/Speedy/Evans/Zaza/Solo/Mario/FA spot/J-rich/Gardner/Bennett
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Re: How many guys stick from summer league? 

Post#8 » by gurpilo » Sat Jul 26, 2008 11:50 pm

I definately would say that seems that the most impresive players on the summer league were Othello Hunter and Thomas Gardner, when given the minutes they have produced quite well. All of them provide some good things to the team that we don't have right now, 3pt shooting, good FG%... I would sign both.

I really don't know about Bennet but he only made one good game and seems that is a 6'4" SG, does not sound well. I don't know if he could play PG. I has been not impressed with Richardson at all, his numbers were unimpressive same as Jackson. I haven't seen a SF on the summer league we can sign.

I really think we should go after Walter Hermann, he is still young can play both F positions, rebounds well, scores, has good 3pt shooting, he would be a great addition to the team. If given the minutes he always produce, he was one of my sleepers candidates last year. He would be 100 times better than Richardson or Jackson and I think we can sign him cheap.

My roster proposal would be

Bibby/Law/Claxton.
JJ/Evans/Gardner
Marvin/Hermann
Smith/Zaza/O. Hunter
Horford/K Brown

This is a better team than last years team. We can signa productive SG and SF with half the price we would have pay for Childress while adding more veratility to the team's game as 3pt shooting.

It would allow you also to sign a big K.Brown hopefully so longer needed this years. We would also add to up and coming young players that we could try to develop with time. Is in fact a 12 man rotation as Claxton will probably be injured.
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Re: How many guys stick from summer league? 

Post#9 » by evildallas » Sun Jul 27, 2008 6:58 am

2 years ago Fabio (Walter Hermann) was looking like the real deal, but the wheels came off last year. 1st Sam Vincent didn't seem to want to play him and then he never really got up to speed in Detroit. I think he can be productive offensively if used correctly, not sure about his defense though.
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Re: How many guys stick from summer league? 

Post#10 » by Mumbles » Sun Jul 27, 2008 6:43 pm

The thing about Hunter is that he just began to play organized ball in his junior year of hs! He played two years of junior college ball in North Carolina then flourished with 2 quick years of division one college coaching at Ohio State. So he's not even close to a complete product. Even if it takes a couple years of polish in Europe, I would not be suprised to see Hunter contributing on an NBA squad in a couple years. His length and athleticism, and work ethic make up for his lack of size. And as he displayed in Utah, he runs the floor very well for easy transition buckets, and has a very much improved mid range face up J.

That was very cool of Coach Woodson and Larry Drew to give him that oppurtunity with the Hawks SL team, he got hella run @ the RMR. I'm just a biased OSU fan, but I think there is a spot on the Atlanta roster for Hunter..classic diamond in the rough situation here..shoulda been drafted imo..

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