Confirmed....Esteban Batista a Hawk.-

[elyiye]

I think he is probably our better rebounder now and a steal in the next years. I am from Chile and i see this guy and know he is a har worker very talented big man, strong and hustle.

Remember....if he go to the draft he is something like mid first round talent.

Like Nene or Anderson Varejao. Better than Thiago Splitter.

http://www.latinbasket.com/uru/uru.asp

[NvHawksFan]

Nice. Very very nice.

We need some rebounding help, that's for sure.

[Nicholasp27]

better than splitter?

but tiago is projected to be the #1 pick in this year's draft!

[hotboyj]

We might even get a press conference tomorrow.

Then the trade for another big man.

I'm really hoping it is with Seattle, because they have bigs that they don't need.

We could do either the Delk for Evans sign and trade.

or the Delk/Collier/rights to Andersen for a sign and trade with Flip Murray and either Robert Swift or Johan Petro.

The second one is the better, and would be a good deal for both teams, but I would defenitely settle for the first.

[Guest Walter]

Quote:

---

I think he is probably our better rebounder now and a steal in the next years. I am from Chile and i see this guy and know he is a har worker very talented big man, strong and hustle.

Remember....if he go to the draft he is something like mid first round talent.

Like Nene or Anderson Varejao. Better than Thiago Splitter.

http://www.latinbasket.com/uru/uru.asp

---

Both his resume suggests and person who has seen him personally has stated unequivacably Batiste is "like mid-1st rd talent".

W

[Guest Walter]

...although he is 1-2 years younger than Batiste so who knows age-adjusted.

W

[rascurrein]

There's something you have to know. Batista started to play basketball at the age of 16, only because the man who represents him here in Uruguay saw a big kid in the street and invited him to play in a practice. Since then he has been improoved his skills and he is still improoving, so nobody knows how much he can do. I think that he will give to the hawks more than you expect playing as pf/c.

[Guest Walter]

A prospect whose toughness (rebounding), athletic ability (soccer background), size (6'10"), and obvious overall talent (top 5 or 6 in all major categories, 1st team pre-world Americas), and our team need allow him to be an immediate contributor and whose youth (22), inexperience (5 years of basketball, limited international experience, competition within Uruguay), and questionable coaching allow him to improve dramatically.

W

[Hawkzzz21]

Is there another sports website saying this? Is Hector Lopez realiable? I will feel a lot better seeing this on the Hawks Official Website.

I guess if this is true, and when we add Kevin Garnett to our team later in the season for Al and some fillers, we will be set. oooops! Did I say that out loud? Remember where you heard it first! KG a Hawk before the year is out!

[DominiqueWilkins]

I still think ZaZa is our best rebounder, because he has already faced NBA talent, but I'm expecting Batista to get the job done, and I'm very happy about the signing.

[ATL2123]

Here's another link I found on hoopshype, but it's in spanish.

http://www.elpais.com.uy/05/09/10/ultmo_173158.asp