Undrafted free agents

evildallas · Post #1 » by **evildallas** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 4:07 am

Wish list for signing or at least camp invites:
Alade Aminu 6'10" F-C Georgia Tech
Garret Siler 7'0" C Augusta State
Josh Heytvelt 6'11" PF Gonzaga
Chris Johnson 6'11" C LSU

Not saying they'd all make the roster, but a min. rookie is only $440, where as a min 2nd year player is over 700K. We'll need some keep roster spots to allow filling out the playing rotation and staying under the luxury tax level.

evildallas · Post #2 » by **evildallas** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 4:37 am

Please post who if anyone you think the Hawks should contact about signing (or at least inviting to camp) as an undrafted free agent. I know we've gotten used to the having the 13th man be a guard making almost $6M a year, but this year we should use it to try find a diamond in the rough at a considerably lower price tag.

theatlfan · Post #3 » by **theatlfan** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 5:55 am

There are 15 roster spots now. Of this list, only Aminu and maybe Heytvelt interest me even as a NBDL player at this moment. OTOH, it'd also be nice if we actually utilized the NBDL...

Other names that interest me in a similar vein: John Bryant and Luke Nevill. Maybe one of them can give Aaron Gray type backup minutes @ C in a year or 2.

Jeremy Pargo and Daniel Hackett are prolly worth a look see, but I think both are slated to go overseas.

evildallas · Post #4 » by **evildallas** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 6:31 am

I forgot about Bryant, he's intriguing. 6'11 with great college rebounding numbers.

niffoc4 · Post #5 » by **niffoc4** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 11:38 am

I like Bryant, Aminu and Heytvelt of those already mentioned. I think Sund will prefer Heytvelt b/c of his shooting ability, and that would bring a different element off the bench. Leo Lyons (another shooting big man i believe) and Jeff Adrien are a couple more to consider.

killbuckner · Post #6 » by **killbuckner** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 1:13 pm

I think my wishlist would be Bryant then Leo Lyons.

Jerel McNeal I think could be a good player but I think the Hawks might have enough comboguards.

niffoc4 · Post #7 » by **niffoc4** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 1:21 pm

killbuckner wrote:I think my wishlist would be Bryant then Leo Lyons.

Jerel McNeal I think could be a good player but I think the Hawks might have enough comboguards.

What are you talking about? They only have 2? For our combo guard team we need at least 3 more, so sign Jerel Mcneal, re-sign Flip and...

killbuckner · Post #8 » by **killbuckner** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 1:34 pm

The funny thing is that I am all for combo guards. I think thats the future of the NBA. but to me at this point I'd prefer the Hawks bring in a 3 point specialist or something like htat. Or just a pure defensive PG. Someone who brings something else to the table.

evildallas · Post #9 » by **evildallas** » Fri Jun 26, 2009 4:05 pm

As you can tell by my initial post, my shopping list is about getting in someone with length and who can rebound and bang. I'm not even looking for a contribution this year, just good development for rotation play (10 mpg) the following year. If they provide some minutes in a pinch this year then great.

I'm hopeful that Othello Hunter graduates to providing minutes this year, but I'm not so confident that Randolph Morris ever will. I'm still thinking that we need to pursue Johan Petro or Aaron Gray with minimum contracts. They're totally different players, but we need another big who can get off the bench to play situationally. That's not really appropriate to this thread, but I wanted to clarify my position so it doesn't seem like I want to fill the entire bench with rookies.

rak1974 · Post #10 » by **rak1974** » Sun Jun 28, 2009 11:06 am

I am curious about Antonio Anderson from Memphis. 6'7" SG/SF who can defend the perimeter and has a decent three point shot. so him along with Garret Siler and Josh Heytvelt.

theatlfan · Post #11 » by **theatlfan** » Sun Jun 28, 2009 5:17 pm

A couple of int'l names: Vitor Faverani and Slava Kravtsov.

Honestly, I thought Faverani wasn't in the draft or I would have pushed him for the 2nd round choice - especially once Siler became the people's champion. He's an athletic 6'11" with long arms and still young ('88 birth date).

Kravtsov is more of a true C. A 7-footer on a frame that already holds 260 lbs and it looks like he could carry more. He already shows defensive presence, but his offensive game needs work.

Both have contracts overseas and need some extra development time. But maybe it'd be worth it to get these guys under contract and develop them ourselves. You can't teach 7' height...

evildallas · Post #12 » by **evildallas** » Sun Jun 28, 2009 6:07 pm

You don't sign contracts in both places. You have your NBA rights held because of a draft pick and sign elsewhere. Those International guys that you mentioned would only be signed when brought over.

evildallas · Post #13 » by **evildallas** » Sun Jun 28, 2009 6:29 pm

It dawns on me that without a summer league team this year, we are unlikely to make a splash with any undrafted free agents. They would gravitate first to teams with summer league ball so that they'll be more likely to get seen and increase their chances of landing somewhere. I don't think we'd feel strongly enough about any undrafted free agent to give guaranteed money to them.

niffoc4 · Post #14 » by **niffoc4** » Sun Jun 28, 2009 8:26 pm

Hopefully we'll watch other people's summer league teams and sign some players from there. IIRC merely playing on a summer league team doesn't mean you have been signed with that team. I'm still hoping for Aminu, whose skills may have been masked by the Jackets lack of a PG.