Sekou on the record!!!!!!!!!!

[DrReality]

If this was posted I missed it. Good to see him be positive. Still nothing about Al.

Hawks make the Wright move

By Sekou Smith | Monday, August 7, 2006, 05:19 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Many of you have weighed in on this prior to my return from a weekend family reunion/theme park trip (that turned out to be 10 times more fun than planned) that was interrupted by the news of the Hawks agreeing to contract terms with Lorenzen Wright, but I’d love to explain why I love this move.

Wright is the type of energetic and active big that this roster lacked last season. He’s also the kind of impact big that wasn’t available in the draft (so stop all the moaning about the ridiculousness of nabbing him after drafting Shelden Williams) and he’s a guy who’s played on a playoff team the past few years, so he’s yet another guy (Joe Johnson, Tyron Lue, etc.) who has experience in a winning environment, which is crucial for a team with so many inexperienced players.

Wright’s price tag (a little over $3 million per season, with incentives) is like one of those are-they-really-serious? Wal-Mart deals people scramble to take advantage of on Sunday morning before they run out of stock. Do you know what the going price these days is for bigs who can’t play? Try $10 million per. So for the Hawks to have both Zaza Pachulia ($4 mil per season) and Wright in a tandem is arguably the league’s best deal for a center rotation.

This is also another important stroke in the ongoing (yes, it’s still going) Al Harrington sign-and-trade saga. The Hawks have filled immediate needs at both point guard and center before getting anything in return for Harrington. That gives them some flexibility in terms of what they pursue now in the sign-and-trade (and I’m praying that this thing wraps up this week so whatever is left of the offseason can be realized before training camp begins).

Now, a couple of housecleaning items:

— Stayed up and watched the national team last Thursday. I love what I saw. They’ve got the right attitude, right temperament, right mix of guys and just the right swagger for a team looking to regain its form on the international stage. And having Joe Johnson on the team makes the entire affair much more interesting since we all see him on a regular basis.

— Who is the stooge impersonating me on the blog? That’s real creative. Hey, if you want to post as me how ‘bout being me all the way around. I’ve got some bills you can pay, some honey-do lists for you to tackle and did I mention that I’m still working (well, sort of) long after the season ended? Come on man, keep this forum clean and intelligent. We’ve been really good about it so far. But I’m with the family Friday morning and I get a call from a friend who says there is somebody posting obscene stuff on the blog and someone else posting as me and saying all sort of ridiculous things. Don’t screw this up for the rest of us while trying to be cute.

— Sorry for the late start today, but I’ve been up and back to sleep about five times. We had a late flight home from the weekend and then we encountered four hours worth of fake delays (I won’t mention the airline since the last time I had a battle with one -– you regulars will remember my O’Hare fiasco with United during the season -– they banned me from future flights). Just remember that whenever the dude on the mic starts talking about “the inbound flight from Phoenix has not left the gate so our new boarding time is …” you’re in for a long $*#!% night.