AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2007 > March > 21
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
All or nothing, baby …
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Two months from now is officially D-Day for the Hawks. Forget the final results of the ownership dispute or how they finish the regular season.
The real make or break day for the Hawks is May 22 - draft lottery day.
You know it.
I know it.
The Hawks (no matter how many folks in Hawksville avoid discussing it) know it.
If the ping pong balls bounce right that day, the Hawks could stand to be the biggest player in what is being billed as one of the best drafts in recent years. If they bounce wrong, that funky smell cooking in the Jersey swamplands will find its way all the way to A-Town.
The scenario is rather simple. The Hawks potentially have two picks awaiting them. Or none. (Since people have been asking, it’s time we set the record straight and then move on to the rumormongering about what they might do with said picks.)
The Hawks owe the Suns a pick from the Joe Johnson deal. But if said pick lands in the top three of the lottery, they keep it. If it’s 4 or anything higher, they lose it. As for the pick they’ll receive from Indiana, if it lands anywhere outside of the top 10 the Hawks get it. If not, the Pacers keep it.
So the bottom line is the Hawks could have not only a top three pick but also another somewhere between 11 and 22. (The Hawks could also end up with one or the other of those picks, which is tolerable as well, and you always want the higher pick. But two picks would be nuts.) Or if the Naismith and the rest of the basketball spirits are still angry with the Hawks for past transgressions (and there are many), they could end up with nothing. And I mean zilch-o.
I know where I’d go (hypothetically speaking of course, since we don’t know who’s coming out or where the picks end up) in both instances, were I making the call on draft lottery night. My top three pick would be used on one of only three people (Greg Oden, Kevin Durant and Joakim Noah - and yeah, while everyone else has convinced themselves that Noah’s not a player I’m not buying it). That other pick would be earmarked for the best backcourt player available, preferably a combo guard like Acie Law but if he’s already gone I’d need someone who could swing between both positions or a young PG whose star is on the rise like Ty Lawson from North Carolina or even Scottie Reynolds from Villanova (neither of whom has given any hint as to if they’ll enter this draft).
I also know where I’d go if the Hawks end up with nothing, and I was stuck in that chair at NBA studios in Jersey when the ping pong balls stop bouncing. I’d get a one way ticket to the same place Redd Foxx, Tupac and anyone else that’s needed to escape the wrath (of Hawks fans in this case) has found permanent shelter in the past. Because it’s all or nothing for the Hawks. And there will be no explaining this one away if the Hawks end up with nothing.
Where would you go with the picks? And where would you go if you get nothing?
