For all of you making silly assumptions...

[jeddelong]

Hawks' GM unafraid to make more moves

By MICHAEL LEE

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer

Hawks director of basketball operations and interim general manager Billy Knight said Thursday that he has shown that he could pull the trigger on a move this offseason. That he wasn't handcuffed by a pending sale. That it was the dreaded luxury tax that kept him from signing free agents -- not prospective owner David McDavid.

Knight spent his first day after making his first major deal for the Hawks talking about all of the above, relishing the fact that he brought the team $2.42 million below the salary cap -- and way out of luxury tax territory. But he also scoffed at the notion that, by dealing leading scorer Glenn Robinson for Terrell Brandon's $11.1 million contract in a four-team trade Wednesday, he sent the Hawks into another rebuilding phase.

"I laugh at the notion that it means we're scrapping the season or starting over," Knight said. "Everyone who didn't win [a championship] is in a rebuilding phase. But we're not in a wholesale fire sale, where we're getting rid of all of our players. But we made a trade and we'll make another trade or two. Three. I don't know. We'll make a move if it makes sense to us."

"It's funny," he said. "People want to look at teams at the middle of the summer and say, 'This is our team.' But if you look around the league, everybody is not ready. No team is set."

Knight said he doubts Brandon will even be around Atlanta much next season, and several media outlets have reported that the guard's bad knees will force him to retire. But with Brandon's money coming off the cap in February, the Hawks have much more leverage than they did with Robinson's $10.37 million contract on the books. "[brandon's] contract was a hot commodity around the league," Knight said. "That's why it took a 20-point scorer to do it."

The question remains, though: How do the Hawks replace 20 points per game?

"That's a big chunk of an NBA game," Knight said. "It's difficult to replace. There are some guys you can lock in the gym all week by themselves and they can't score 20 points. We hope we're going to find some players."

Lamar Odom is the biggest name free agent available at small forward, but the Hawks can offer him no more than the $4.9 million mid-level exception, Knight said. According to the Los Angeles Times, Odom rejected a three-year, $24 million deal with the Los Angeles Clippers. Knight likes Odom, but the only possible way to get him would be through a sign-and-trade deal with the Clippers. The Clippers need a center to replace the departed Michael Olowokandi, but Knight said this week, "We are not trading Theo Ratliff."

Knight said Wednesday night that he expects Ratliff to have a greater offensive role next season. That leaves Stephen Jackson, who appears to be getting squeezed out of San Antonio, where the champion Spurs got Hedo Turkoglu and Ron Mercer in a three-team trade with Sacramento and Indiana. Other options include bringing back veteran Steve Smith or re-signing free agent Dion Glover.

"Dion is included in that list, absolutely," Knight said.

[DJ_Money]

If there's any chance that we could get Odom for Nazr/etc. in a SNT, Knight better be all over it.

[beav]

since Piatkowski is gone, Jackson looks positively outstanding compared to Glover and Steve Smith (don't get me wrong I'd like to see Smith back at a vet minimum contract, but not with the expectation of actually playing too many minutes)...

[HawkTodd]

if we could get lamar odom i would be pumped. i'd almost be worried not to trade for him, b/c we need to loose some salary if we get him and also b/c stearling has been spending more money this off-season. but i guess it looks like trading for him id the only way to obtain him. i really think lamar could be a top 5 player in this league if he could ever put it all together. and un-like Glenn Robinson he has more of an all-around game.

[Playmaker0017]

HawkTodd,

I think the problem with getting Lamar Odom would be that Reef and Lamar are both similar players. They would defer to each other and neither have a killer attitude.

Maybe that would be beneficial, because neither player is selfish? Maybe they would spark each other and learn to play together...

Hmmmmm....

As for Steven Jackson... I was completely unimpressed by him. He played like Dion Glover, spinning wildly and basically putting his head down.

Unimpressive.

Play.