Pachulia’s days with Hawks could be numbered

Zaza Pachulia’s days with the Hawks could be numbered.

He has 24 days left before he becomes an unrestricted free agent, ending his four-year run with the team.

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Allen Sullivan/aesullivan@ajc.com

Free agent center Zaza Pachulia wants to remain in Atlanta. ‘I really feel like this is home,’ he says.

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Granted, he could start another one, if he and the Hawks come to terms on a new contract, but there’s a level of uncertainty that comes with free agency that’s undeniable for a player in Pachulia’s situation — there will be a scramble for quality big men at a reasonable price on the free-agent market.

Pachulia spoke about free agency with Journal-Constitution Hawks beat writer Sekou Smith.

Q: With July 1 and the start of free agency around the corner, has it hit home just how important this summer is for you?

A: Absolutely. When the season was going I wasn’t really worrying about it. I thought I was going to have all this time to enjoy my family. And this is the first summer with my son, especially at this age, he’s so much fun to be around. I was hoping the time would go slow. But as we get closer to July 1, I’m getting more excited. I realize after July 1, I’m going to get more busy, working out and whatever. If I stay with the Hawks, that would be great. But if I go to another team, I’d have to move and everything. So on one hand I wanted this time to go slow and the other I’m really excited. I just want to know where I’m going to be.

Q: What’s the biggest factor for you in terms of where you play next?

A: It’s very hard to say on those kinds of things. You have to have an offer in front of you, and I’m not talking about money, I’m talking about the whole package, from who is on the team to the organization. It’s hard. Obviously, everything is important. You have to weigh everything. And when you have family, you have to make the right move for them as well. We’ll see who is interested.

Q: With the tightened global economy impacting everything that goes into free agency, are you conscious of where you fit into this whole puzzle as a player?

A: I started looking at those things just now. I knew I was going to be a free agent, but I was trying not to practice or play with that on my mind. I wasn’t going to practice every day thinking about the fact that I was going to be a free agent in the summer. I was more riding the wave of the good feelings we had with the playoffs against Boston last year and then again this year. It wasn’t until I met with my agent last week and we sat down and talked about these things. Once the meeting with my agent came, I had a chance to lock down on this. There are good things about free agency and bad things about it. You just have to wait and see what’s going to happen. Whatever God gives and whatever you deserve, that’s what you get.

Q: You’ve spoken publicly in the past about your desire to remain with the Hawks. Has anything changed in that regard?

A: Obviously, the Atlanta Hawks mean a lot to me, I’ve been here four years. I really feel like this is home. Even if I had to go somewhere else, this is my home. Relationships with people make life so much easier, when they show you love on and off the court, that makes it all better. … I definitely would love to stay here and be in Atlanta for the rest of my career. Why not? When I was in Turkey I played in one city, same team for six years. So I’m not the kind of guy that likes to move around.

Q: Has the bitter way this season ended become any easier to swallow now that a little time has passed?

A: I think we felt like we set a goal and reached it by making it out of the first round. And once we did that, we were kind of lost in terms of what was next. It was like we wondered if we could beat Cleveland instead of believing it. Maybe that was on our minds in that series and that had something to do with the results. But when I was watching Orlando and Cleveland [in the Eastern Conference finals], if we played a little bit harder, we could have given ourselves a chance to win the games.

Q: At 25 and six years into your NBA career, people would assume you’d want to chase a starting job. How satisfied are you with the your role on this team?

A: Satisfied is not a good way to describe it. I don’t know any player that’s ever satisfied. We always want to do more, play better and all that comes with it. … Game 4 in the Miami series was basically our game of the playoffs and really our game of the season. We knew we couldn’t get down 3-1, so we knew that if we wanted to save our season, we had to win that game. I played what I think was my best game [12 points and 18 rebounds off the bench in the Hawks’ season-saving 81-71 win] of the season. And that’s what’s most important to me.