Devin Harris cannot wait to see the new look Hawks!

[Admin]

Will he be a member of them??

http://network.yardbarker.com/nba/article_external/new_hawks_guard_harris_likes_teams_makeover/11201440

ATLANTA (AP) -- Devin Harris said Wednesday he can't wait to see the new-look Atlanta Hawks.

After a busy offseason with new general manager Danny Ferry, the new-look began to take shape on Wednesday.

The Hawks announced their trades of Joe Johnson to the Nets and Marvin Williams to the Jazz for Harris were official.

The signing of guard Lou Williams was apparently still awaiting league approval.

Harris, the veteran point guard, told The Associated Press he likes Ferry's "big moves."

The biggest move was trading Johnson, the six-time All-Star with four years and $90 million left on his contract, for guards Anthony Morrow, Jordan Farmar and DeShawn Stevenson, forwards Jordan Williams and Johan Petro, and the Nets' second-round pick in 2017.

The only remaining holdovers from the squad that lost to Boston in the first round of the playoffs are center Al Horford, forward Josh Smith, point guard Jeff Teague and backup center Zaza Pachulia. Other backups may be re-signed.

In a statement released by the team, Ferry thanked Johnson and Marvin Williams for their contributions to the Hawks.

"We felt with the team that we had, we were probably going to maintain the status quo and not be able to reach a championship level," Ferry said. "We now have the opportunity to work within the new CBA in a better way that will allow us to move forward and be opportunistic in the future as we work to build a sustainable championship level team."

Ferry selected Vanderbilt shooting guard John Jenkins and Virginia forward Mike Scott in the draft.

"I'm excited to see how we all fit together," Harris said in a telephone interview.

Harris, 29, is scheduled to make $8.5 million in 2012-13, the final year of his current contract. He said he has not talked with any Hawks official about the possibility of an extension.

Harris played with Dallas and New Jersey before spending one season with Utah. He averaged 11.3 points with Jazz, his low mark since 2006-07, but ranked 17th in the league with his career-best 2.59 assists per turnover ratio.

Harris said the trade to the Hawks "is a great opportunity."

"Obviously, I'm coming to a team with a lot of great young talent," he said. "Obviously we've got some great pieces."

Atlanta also has some small pieces in its backcourt. Harris is 6-3, Teague is 6-2 and Williams is 6-foot-1.

Williams played both guard spots with Philadelphia and is seen as a possible bridge to Jenkins at shooting guard. Any combination of Harris, Teague and Williams on the floor together will give coach Larry Drew a much smaller look than with the 6-foot-8 Johnson at shooting guard.

Drew couldn't talk about his new players at the media availability, which was before the deals became official. However, he did say he's prepared to emphasize speed and quickness in his backcourt instead of size advantages with Johnson.

"I've always said we certainly look at positions and we try to take advantage of certain matchups we feel are to our advantage," Drew said. "Sometimes it's size, sometimes it's speed, sometimes it's quickness.

"We have to look at every position and we have to try to exploit what we perceive to be the advantage. Moving forward, that won't change as far as what we do. We will still look at matchups. If we have a size advantage, we will try to take advantage of it. In other areas where we feel speed and quickness may be an advantage, we will try to put them in a position where they can utilize their speed and quickness."

Harris set a career high with his average of 21.3 points per game with the Nets in the 2008-09 season. His career average is 13.1.

Harris said he expects the Hawks to play an up-tempo pace, especially with a smaller backcourt.

"I've been with a lot of teams where we played two small guards together," Harris said. "Obviously, they're a team that likes to get up and down and that fits with what we do well."

Williams set a career high with his 14.9 points per game with the Sixers last season. He opted out of the final year of his contract with Philadelphia after he was runner-up to Oklahoma City's James Harden for NBA's Sixth Man of the Year Award.

Williams, who played at South Gwinnett High in the Atlanta area, announced his return to his hometown on his Twitter account on Tuesday.

Tags: Hawks, Danny Ferry, nba free agency, Devin Harris

[GameTime]

Drew is unbelievable. Unless we get Dwight, we are not gonna have a size advantage at all this year. Forget looking at matchups all the time Drew; give the team an identity upfront and have other teams try to adapt to us.

This year Drew is coaching for his job.

Glad to see Harris excited though.

[Admin]

Drew is unbelievable. Unless we get Dwight, we are not gonna have a size advantage at all this year. Forget looking at matchups all the time Drew; give the team an identity upfront and have other teams try to adapt to us.

This year Drew is coaching for his job.

Glad to see Harris excited though.

I just skimmed through but didn't Drew say that he's going to use the size and speed of the guards to push the tempo? Or something like that?

"I've always said we certainly look at positions and we try to take advantage of certain matchups we feel are to our advantage," Drew said. "Sometimes it's size, sometimes it's speed, sometimes it's quickness.

"We have to look at every position and we have to try to exploit what we perceive to be the advantage. Moving forward, that won't change as far as what we do. We will still look at matchups. If we have a size advantage, we will try to take advantage of it. In other areas where we feel speed and quickness may be an advantage, we will try to put them in a position where they can utilize their speed and quickness."

[GameTime]

I just skimmed through but didn't Drew say that he's going to use the size and speed of the guards to push the tempo? Or something like that?

Harris mentioned to expect this team to be uptempo.

But LD has been saying these comments for years:

"I've always said we certainly look at positions and we try to take advantage of certain matchups we feel are to our advantage," Drew said. "Sometimes it's size, sometimes it's speed, sometimes it's quickness.

"We have to look at every position and we have to try to exploit what we perceive to be the advantage. Moving forward, that won't change as far as what we do. We will still look at matchups. If we have a size advantage, we will try to take advantage of it. In other areas where we feel speed and quickness may be an advantage, we will try to put them in a position where they can utilize their speed and quickness.

Hopefully Drew gives us some kind of identity this year though. I hope I am wrong about Drew this year.

Edited July 12, 2012 by GameTime

[Admin]

Harris mentioned to expect this team to be uptempo.

But LD has been saying these comments for years:

"I've always said we certainly look at positions and we try to take advantage of certain matchups we feel are to our advantage," Drew said. "Sometimes it's size, sometimes it's speed, sometimes it's quickness.

"We have to look at every position and we have to try to exploit what we perceive to be the advantage. Moving forward, that won't change as far as what we do. We will still look at matchups. If we have a size advantage, we will try to take advantage of it. In other areas where we feel speed and quickness may be an advantage, we will try to put them in a position where they can utilize their speed and quickness.

Hopefully Drew gives us some kind of identity this year though. I hope I am wrong about Drew this year.

One thing that had to happen was that our core had to be shaken up in order for us to change. Now we only have 2 remaining starters from the Woody years of isolation and hopefully Teague and the new cats will adopt the LD philosophy of sharing the ball and I pray to God pushing the tempo!

[Dakin]

"Atlanta also has some small pieces in its backcourt...."HAHA. Good one, Associated Press. Classic AP.

[Peoriabird]

Anyone else interested in Anthony Randolph?

[Guest]

Drew has never been proactive with lineup, always reactive. I don't have much faith in him, but at least we have a lot of fresh new faces. The new faces aren't all buddy-buddy with Drew like some of our team was/is.

[warcore]

I think this team could be similar to the 8th seed Golden State team that upset the Mavs a few years ago. Play at an extremely high tempo with a lot of good shooters... except instead of Beidrins and nothing you have Josh and Al running the floor.

[macdaddy]

We're being seriously underrated. Lou Williams average 15 points a game in 10 less minutes than it took Joe to average 18 points.Last year we had 3 or 4 guard/wings that really were quality nba players teague/joe/hinrich/marvin. Hinrich and Marvin in my opinion were not very effective offensive players. As it stands now we have teague/harris/williams plus morrow/stevenson with our front court rotation being relatively the same. I'm not seeing the huge drop off that many are worried about and we will benefit from a lot of increased depth. And I"m a huge Joe Johnson fan so i'm not trying to belittle his talent but this team has some game.

[coachx]

I'm looking forward to team basketball. No more iso joe. Also hoping for Harris to influence Teagues game since their styles are so similar. Sure Teage had Bibby as a Veteran influence but their styles are polar opposites. Excuse typos please. On da phone 2nite

[Robdawg]

what i'm really curious too see is how Smoove and Horford play together now that JJ and Duck are gone. That along with the play of Lou and Jenkins will determine the outcome of this team.

[frosgrim]

The big issue with being a running team is that you have to rebound. So far, we haven't fixed that problem...

[Dnice]

Can't wait either.So when do we get to see the new guys in or holding up Hawk jerseys? Do we have to wait all the way for media day, or are they waiting for someone else and have them all together?