Hawks Roundup: Hawks Dodge a Dampier

[jaywalker72]

http://hawks.realgm.com/showarticle.php?artid=471

Dampier’s Deal with the Mavericks Could have Cap-Killed the Hawks

The Roundup is suffering through a lack of informational nutrition, as the offseason’s long glide towards the start of camp has begun. In the meantime, the long awaited deal between the Mavs and the Warriors went down, with some surprising inclusions and a better than could have been expected ending for Dampier.

Also, who might be up next for the team to sign/pursue and a quick look at the new coaching staff.

Damp Deal is Done

It took longer than he probably would have liked, but in the end, you have to know that Erick Dampier is one happy fellow right now.

In a period of a month or so, Damp saw his value rise high while the New York Knicks were interested to the low of being hardballed by the Hawks. But finally, Golden State saw what they wanted (we guess) in Dallas, giving the Mavs Dampier and his big contract desires.

Dampier’s deal was ridiculous, at 7 years and 73.3 million, so you have to think that there would be some sort of option in the middle of the deal, but nope…HFO is being told that the only “help me” clause in the deal for the Mavs is that the final year is non guaranteed. Ick. It’s possible that Dallas fans will wear out their throat screaming at Damp, who will be more closely watched than any of their previous center projects like Shawn Bradley or Calvin Booth. Mavs fans lose Steve Nash, get Damp AND Alan Henderson. Nuff said.

While It might be worth it to the Mavs if Dampier is able to help them in the middle, where they have lost some key games in the playoffs, it certainly wouldn’t have been worth it to the Hawks to sign the now 30 year old center to that kind of deal.

Seeing as how the seventh year is not guaranteed, it works out to the 6 year, 60 million dollar deal in guaranteed money that the Hawks allegedly offered Dampier. HFO has been told that the Hawks never significantly altered the offer to Dampier from the beginning, which was believed to be a 3 or 4 year deal for similar per year dollars.

Anyhow, Hawks fans might throw up on themselves imagining Dampier lumbering around Philips Arena, earning a little over 12 million at age 36. As RealGM Senior Writer Kevin Broom pointed to HFO, the centers that age well typically are more lithe/slender than Dampier. Put that together with his mediocre track record on the court, and you have the makings of a bad deal, though the Mavs won’t care if it means more success right away.

An interesting sidebar to this trade is the inclusion of the draft rights to former Cincinnati Bearcat point guard Steve Logan, who was never signed to a contract by the Warriors after they made him the first pick of the second round of the 2002 draft.

Logan missed out on a guaranteed three year deal by one pick, and reportedly wanted to be treated as such, rather than a throw away just because he was picked one spot later.

The Hawks could have made this a moot point by selecting Logan with the last pick of the first round, instead the Hawks used that pick to take Dan Dickau.

Dickau, who was dealt to the Portland Trail Blazers by the Hawks last season, now goes with Logan to Dallas in this deal, which is the fourth team in sixth months for Dan.

Small World…

Is Kenny Coming?

Speaking of point guards…

As we hinted at in previous Roundups, Kenny Anderson remains the popular player to watch for becoming a Hawk. That the Hawks need a PG, Anderson’s interest and affordable price tag, and KA’s previous relationship with Antoine Walker (which was a good one), all add up, but with Billy Knight, nothing is golden until he says it is.

So until the Hawks have completely exhausted their potential suitors for their remaning cap space, Anderson remains a free agent. The Hawks are not eligible for cap exceptions because they are under the cap, but at the same time they can’t sign anyone to minimum contracts until that space is used, else they count as used cap space, which would prevent an offer to someone that might take the remaining dough like, say, Stromile Swift.

The New Phone Book is Here! The New Phone Book is Here!

During these down times, HFO looks forward to any bit of news or information, so we felt as Navin Johnson did in “The Jerk” when we got this item from the team.

Mike Woodson and Billy Knight made official what was unofficial for weeks, the new coaching staff is in place for the team effective immediately. They are Larry Drew, Herb Brown, Bob Bender, Greg Ballard and David Fizdale.

And now, a little background on the guys:

Drew worked the past season for the New Jersey Nets after spending the previous three years with the Washington Wizards in a similar capacity (2000-03). Prior to that, the former NBA player re-joined one of the teams he previously played for, the Detroit Pistons, as an assistant coach in 1999-2000.

Drew returned to Detroit for the first time since playing with the team as a NBA rookie with the Pistons in 1980-81. His coaching career began in 1992-93 when he broke into the ranks with another of his former teams, the Los Angeles Lakers, whom he played for from 1989-91. A 10-year pro, Drew averaged 11.4 points and 5.2 assists in 714 career games for four NBA teams.

After one season in Detroit, he played the next five years with the Kings, in Kansas City and Sacramento (1981-86), and his final four in Los Angeles (1986-91), for the Clippers and the Lakers. He was a teammate of Woodson and Knight in Kansas City (1983-84). Drew averaged 16.4 ppg, Woodson totaled 14.5 ppg and Knight added 12.8. In addition, Drew was a member of Scavolini of the Italian League in 1988-89.

A first round pick in the 1980 NBA Draft (17th overall selection), Drew participated in the playoffs four times in his career, scoring 3.1 points and dishing out 0.5 assists in 31 games. His most productive season as a player came during the 1982-83 campaign, when he averaged 20.1 ppg, 8.1 apg and 1.7 spg for Kansas City.

Brown and Woodson are reunited again after helping Herb's younger brother Larry Brown in coaching the Detroit Pistons to the NBA world championship in a surprising upset of the heavily-favored Los Angeles Lakers. He brings 40-plus years of basketball experience.

A former head coach himself, Brown served as the head man of the Pistons from 1976-78 and led them to two playoff appearances in 1976 and 1977, the only back-to-back playoff showing for Detroit prior to the Chuck Daly era that began in 1983.

Brown's 1976 squad was the only Pistons team to advance past the first round of the playoffs before Daly's arrival. He also coached against his brother's Denver Nuggets team on nine occasions (Larry has the edge, 6-3).

In addition to his stay in Detroit, his assistant coaching stops have taken him to six other teams - the Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls and the 2001 Eastern Conference Champion Philadelphia 76ers.

He also served as a scout with the Milwaukee Bucks, Pacers, 76ers and Bulls, earning championship rings in 1982 and 1983.

Brown also coached in the International Basketball League (IBL), World Basketball Association (WBA) and Continental Basketball Association (CBA), where he won two division titles, made four trips to the playoffs and was named Coach of the Year in the WBA and in the CBA with Puerto Rico in 1984.

Bender comes to the Hawks following two seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers. Promoted to assistant bench coach prior to last season, he started as an assistant coach/player development in 2002-03.

The 1996 Pac-10 Coach of the Year, Bender guided the University of Washington to a 116-142 record during his nine-year tenure (1994-2001), a mark that ranks fourth all-time among UW coaches for career victories.

Bender directed the Huskies to four consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament from 1996 to 1999, a feat no other Washington head coach previously accomplished.

Bender began his head coaching career with a four-year tenure at Illinois State (1990-93) after spending six seasons as an assistant under Mike Krzyzewski at Duke (1983-89).

The former Blue Devil has the distinction of being the only individual to play on two different teams in an NCAA Championship game.

He was a freshman on Bob Knight's undefeated 1976 Indiana team and played point guard at Duke from 1977-80, including an appearance in the 1978 title game against Kentucky.

Ballard is a former NBA big man who won a league title in 1978 with the Washington Bullets.

The former forward brings ten years of assistant coaching experience to the bench with the Hawks, joining Woodson's staff after nine seasons in Minnesota. He came to the Timberwolves from the Dallas Mavericks, where he also served as an assistant coach.

Ballard had worked as an assistant scout for Burghy Roma of the Italian League before returning to the NBA to serve on Quinn Buckner's staff in Dallas. Ballard will serve in an assistant coach/player development position.

The fourth overall pick in the 1977 NBA Draft out of the University of Oregon, Ballard played eight seasons with the Bullets before he was traded to Golden State in June 1985. He spent two years with the Warriors before heading to Italy to serve as an assistant scout on the 1989-90 Il Messagero Roma team, which featured former NBA players Danny Ferry and Brian Shaw.

He recorded a career high average of 18.8 points a game in the 1981-82 season with the Bullets, and totaled career numbers of 12.4 ppg and 6.1 rpg in 802 games. Ballard enjoyed seven years of playoff competition, six seasons with Washington, averaging 7.4 points and 5.0 rebounds.

Fizdale rounds out the group as the second assistant coach/player development member on Woodson's staff.

He comes to Atlanta from the Golden State Warriors, where he worked in a similar role. Prior to joining the Warriors, Fizdale was a college assistant for five seasons.

In 2002-03, Fizdale worked as an assistant coach at Fresno State University, where his responsibilities included working with coaching and player development and serving as the team's recruiting coordinator.

Prior to joining the Bulldogs staff, he spent the previous four years as an assistant coach at his alma mater, the University of San Diego.

Knight has done an excellent job in making sure that the team has many good basketball guys around the team, and Coach Woody surrounding himself in vast NBA experience in his first year as a coach is smart and impressive.

[Plainview1981]

I keep hearing about how Walker and QAnderson played

well together. Guess what.... Paul Pierce was on that

team and he was better player then than he is now.....

With that being the case.... Walker/Anderson doesn't

mean wins.

[pathway23]

Pierce was a better player because of Walker and Kenny A. That Boston team a couple years ago had great chemistry. Tony Delk was a big part of it as well. There are several reasons for PP's struggles the last couple seasons, and a big part of it is the absence of Walker and Kenny Anderson as well as Tony Delk.

[Plainview1981]

Pierce was a better player because of Walker and Kenny A. That Boston team a couple years ago had great chemistry. Tony Delk was a big part of it as well. There are several reasons for PP's struggles the last couple seasons, and a big part of it is the absence of Walker and Kenny Anderson as well as Tony Delk."

The biggest chances in Boston are coaching staff and the

overall lack of a second option. Boston had a sorry roster

this year. But they still only won about 8 games less than

they did a few years ago.

[Lascar78]

who said anderson + walker would give you wins? People are saying that walker and anderson like playing with each other so given the fact that we need a veteran point guard, anderson makes sense.

[Packfill]

Absolutely correct.

[Plainview1981]

Well Anderson isn't going to hurt your team.... but he isn't

good enough to help a team anymore. But he is a true PG and

that's good enough for now I guess. Hey, it's either him or

a rookie Ivey.....

[pathway23]

I don't think it is fair to say he's not good enough to do anything anymore. I personally think the reason he didn't play more last year was simply due to the fact that he couldn't get along with Carlyle.He got along fine with O' Brien in Boston. I say why not, he will get a vet min deal and he played for Tech and with Walker and Delk. He is definitely a serviceable PG.

[Sage11]

Thanks Jay, I am glad the "dance" with Damp is officially over.

[AHF]

We definitely dodged a bullet with Dampier. What an aweful contract. That would hinder the Hawks for years to come. I don't even trust him to be a top 5 center next year, let alone 6 years down the line. Ugh.