New Backup center is Lorenzo Wright

[TnDawg]

Center Wright returning to Hawks

By SEKOU SMITH

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 08/05/06

The Hawks have reached an agreement with free agent center and former Hawk Lorenzen Wright on a two-year contract worth an estimated $6 million, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Wright, a 6-11, 250-pound 10-year veteran, played the past five seasons in Memphis, alongside All-Star center Pau Gasol. He started 58 of 78 regular season games for the Grizzlies this past season and averaged 5.8 points and 5.1 rebounds while playing just 21.7 minutes per game.

Wright spent two seasons with the Hawks, 1999-00 and 2000-01, posting a career high scoring average (12.4) during his second season.

Drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers with the seventh pick in the 1996 draft, Wright has career averages of 8.8 points and 6.9 rebounds. He fills a huge need for the Hawks as the backup center to fourth-year pro Zaza Pachulia.

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/sports/haw...0805wright.html

[Diesel]

Well, I'll be doggoned.

I don't know. I think Zaza is better...

That means more trips to Magic City for Lazy Lo!

[TexasPete]

Bernie sucks. He goes on the air and acts like we are getting something decent. Lorenzen Wright? What a waste of money. The entire organization is sub standard from the owners, to Bernie, to BK and on down to Woody. Wow, Bernie what a great pickup.

It is hard to be a Hawks fan.

[Eddielives]

Damn Petey just chill! I'm not thrilled about the deal either but it doesn't suck as much as you make it out to be. It's just an ok deal for me.

[Sothron]

I agree with Pete. Talk about a con job. "He's no Shaq" LOL understatement of the century.

Oh well. Positives for me: I get to yell "GO DOWN LOW WITH LO DOWN!" at games again, something I haven't been able to do in six years.

Lo Down is a good backup but Zaza is really only a backup himself. Do two backups equal one starter?

[TnDawg]

While everyone gripes and moan about Lo, take a minute and look at what occurred during the offseason. We needed to improve our interior defense and add a proven point guard to run the team. BK found a way to do both. We may not like the players he picked up, (hindsight being 20/20 vision), due to other players he passed on but he manage to address both needs. If we had picked up another swing man I and left the holes open I would be alot more upset. Chances are we won't be playing for the championship next year but we will be alot better.

Given the ownership situation, I think BK is doing a good job to help our team, as well as aid the owners. Personally I am glad he is keeping the flexibility to resign our young players when their time comes (providing he is still here), rather than having to let one of them go to avoid the luxury cap. Correct me if I am wrong, I believe we will have to resign Smoove and Chillz after next season to avoid them going into RFA.

[Guest Walter]

It's better than signing Edwards for two years like they did last year, but this is really a half-ass move.

W

[TheDude]

Quote:

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Bernie sucks. He goes on the air and acts like we are getting something decent. Lorenzen Wright? What a waste of money. The entire organization is sub standard from the owners, to Bernie, to BK and on down to Woody. Wow, Bernie what a great pickup.

It is hard to be a Hawks fan.

---

and who exactly did you think he was talking about that was better?

if Bernie had come on the air and said we are getting the best center in decades in the free agent market, you know who is in the free agent market so who cares how good/bad Bernie said he was, YOU KNOW WHO IS AVAILABLE...was he supposed to say he sucked knowing that he's talking about a future Hawks player?..with the shaq statement he didn't want finicky fans to expect us to be trading with Houston or Miami for a center.

[lush23]

What a joke! We are officialy bottom feeders now. I thought we were moving Al and not taking back a player so we could sign a quality free agent. We are going to lose Al and get Lo Wright in return? Does Bernie even watch basketball games or is he really just a hockey guy? Billy will be fired by mid-season. We are one injury away from winning 20 games next season. This team will struggle to score. Our big free agent signing is a backup point guard who is being portrayed as a quality starter. It is almost impossible to be a Hawks fan. True story, I was out of town this week and someone asked me if Atlanta still had an NBA team. I guess I should have said, Not really!

[TheDude]

Quote:

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It's better than signing Edwards for two years like they did last year, but this is really a half-ass move.

W

---

i ask again, who else could they have gotten?

could they force mil to make the trade for Mags? (keep in mind it was wide knowledge that several teams inquired about mags and i'm certain Hawks were one of them). i've yet to ever hear of a team forcing another team to trade.

let me see, Ben Wallace wanted a fortune on the wrong side of his career...umm Shaq and Yao and Brad Miller were going nowhere...Pryz was NOT coming back to ATL, and stated he wanted to stay in Portland (should i go look for those quotes?)..

in free agency for a center, MY hope was for us to go after Mags. and you'd be naive to think we didn't inquire..i wanted pryz also but read above..we knew it was thin pickings before the offseason started...we have our starting center, we needed a backup..lo is a very good BACKUP...

i wish fans didn't expect blood to be squeezed from a rock.

[jezmund]

I don't mind this move at all. $3M is reasonable for a quality backup big. It's funny how a lot of you guys rate the move on how you were led to believe it was something different. Why don't you just look at it as what it is? We signed a backup big that we are all familiar with for $3M per season who is more than capable of playing 20+ minutes when we need him to. He is more capable of starting when we have an injury than many of the other backup Centers out there. He'll occasionally get you a double-double if you play him enough minutes without having to get many touches if any. If the Indiana deal is true than they pretty much paid for Lorenzen for us. We still have cap flexibility to make more moves if we want + we will be a player in the draft again. All of this without creating any future financial problems.

-----------------------------------------------

If only the rumor on Realgm.com was true about Lakers sending Bynum, Parker AND a 1st to Atlanta for Al. That would make some of you guys really have to kiss some serious arse. Obviously that deal doesn't even work cap wise. Just imagine all of those bigs.

[Sothron]

Quote:

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What a joke! We are officialy bottom feeders now. I thought we were moving Al and not taking back a player so we could sign a quality free agent. We are going to lose Al and get Lo Wright in return? Does Bernie even watch basketball games or is he really just a hockey guy? Billy will be fired by mid-season. We are one injury away from winning 20 games next season. This team will struggle to score. Our big free agent signing is a backup point guard who is being portrayed as a quality starter. It is almost impossible to be a Hawks fan. True story, I was out of town this week and someone asked me if Atlanta still had an NBA team. I guess I should have said, Not really!

---

You should have said yep, they renamed the Hawks to the Atlanta 6'9"ers.

[lush23]

All of this and we still have a losing team with the great, unused cap space! How can you not be caple of trading Al Harrington, one of the top 2 or 3 free-agents available this summer, for a starting NBA player???????????????? That plus drafting a player at #5 that no one else rated nearly that high! Billy and Bernie are complete idiots. Chad Ford is correct, Billy Knight is the worst GM in basketball and the least respected. While I don't want Belkin running things, this ownership group needs to change things at the top quickly.

[Guest Walter]

Quote:

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i ask again, who else could they have gotten?

could they force mil to make the trade for Mags?

---

Not force but be a player. We could have also been a player in Butler, Elson, any of the young, cheap potentials.

Quote:

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Pryz was NOT coming back to ATL, and stated he wanted to stay in Portland

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Al even stated he wanted to remain a Hawk. Certainly, what Portland did to rebuild their team in one single offseason helped resign Pryz, but beyond whether we could or couldn't have I heard nothing about our trying and we know how much we blew it not trying 3 years ago!

in free agency for a center, MY hope was for us to go after Mags. and you'd be naive to think we didn't inquire..i wanted pryz also but read above..we knew it was thin pickings before the offseason started...we have our starting center, we needed a backup..lo is a very good BACKUP...

Quote:

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i wish fans didn't expect blood to be squeezed from a rock.

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And I wish it didn't take rocks hitting certain other fans to realize how poorly this team has been put together. Just a miserable, frankenstein team. Talented in some places, yes, but hardly a well-designed team. All the cap space in the world, 4 top picks, other picks, FAs, traded quality players, years of work and we're supposed to be glad about Lo Wright at this point in his career?

W

[Lascar78]

Meh. Not that great a player, but he'll certainly help. Much better then past offseasons when we've filled the roster with scrubs. Now we're filling it with NBA caliber backups. That's a step in the right direction, but nothing too exciting.

[tmac13]

Lazy Lo is better than our recent backup centers, but he is nothing to get excited about..

As far as cutting the crap, the management needs to quit BS-ing about how open their pockets are..I don't think its any giant mystery that LO signs for pretty much the same amount of cash we wanted in the AL deal..

The deal is basically AL and Edwards for a pick and LO..This teams hands are tied and I see no reason for them not to be honest about it,,

[exodus]

Quote:

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Pryz was NOT coming back to ATL, and stated he wanted to stay in Portland (should i go look for those quotes?)..

---

Maybe you'd like me to go back and get his quotes about his team quitting on the season.

JJ said he wanted to stay in Phoenix but he left. Hughes said he wanted to stay in DC but he left. Wallace said he wanted to stay in Detroit but he left. They followed the money. That is what free agents do.

The fact is that we will never know if he would have played in Atlanta because the Hawks couldn't make him an offer thanks to the Al SNT soap opera.

[exodus]

Wright averaged 6/5 last year. His career high is 12 ppg. He is certainly a better defender than Zaza but that isn't saying much.

Lets look at the offseason aquisitions so far:

-Speedy (who I like)....average NBA starter

-Wright..... average/below average starter

-Shelden..... hopefully above average starter but obviously the jury is out

When I look at these aquisitions I don't see a team that is trying to become a contender. i see a team that is on the fast track to .500.

Filling needs is obviously important but if you want to be contenders you can't just fill out your roster with average players.

[deester11]

Just because you NEED a position doesn't mean you have to fill it with a body. Shelden? Dumb. Wright? Blah. If we'd have played our cards right...we'd have smelled like roses all summer. Instead we just smell!

[sinctybldh]

I personally think at this point we will be in a never ending rebuilding cycle. Until we get a GM that has a clue what he is doing we will continue to be mediocre to a bottom feeder team.