Who are the hawks final 14?

[Diesel]

Let's assume:

Smith, Williams, Johnson, Bibby, Horf, Law, and Zaza are already on the team... Who are the other 7 that will join them?

[Diesel]

Gardner vs. West?

I think the 14th spot will come down to this...

First Gardner

Draft

Next West

I couldn't find any draft hype on West, but we know him.

Here's the deal.

West represents a defensive player who will play hard.

Gardner represents an offensive player who will play hard.

Gardner led the Big 12 in scoring his Junior and Senior Year.

This is from our signing.

to play for Atlanta Thomas Gardner, a former Jefferson High School star basketball player, has signed a one-year contract with the Atlanta Hawks.

Gardner, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard, played with the Hawks' summer league team, averaging a team-leading 16.3 points in four games.

Gardner, 23, played four games with the Chicago Bulls last season, before playing for teams in Russia and Puerto Rico.

Gardner vs. Law.

Thomas Gardner is a bigger, better shooting option for the final roster spot (if the Hawks keep 14 players).

Gardner is a specialist in his own right – a shooting specialist. No team in the league has enough of those. The Hawks, who have been lacking in that department the past four years, would certainly appear to need another shooter more than a backup defensive stopper. “There’s no question his offensive game is still a work in progress,” Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. “But that’s the case for a lot of these guys; they are works in progress in some form or fashion. There’s value in being a playmaker, though, and you can do that on offense and defense.”

[OGRat]

Gardner vs. West?

I think the 14th spot will come down to this...

First Gardner

Draft

Next West

I couldn't find any draft hype on West, but we know him.

Here's the deal.

West represents a defensive player who will play hard.

Gardner represents an offensive player who will play hard.

Gardner led the Big 12 in scoring his Junior and Senior Year.

This is from our signing.

Gardner vs. Law.

I wanted to vote but I don't know enough about all the players yet. A few of them have yet to see action.

[Watchman]

Aren't we allowed to carry 15? 12 on regular roster, 3 reserves? In that case we need one more option.

[Diesel]

So the final two spots seems to be between:

Gardner, Claxton, and West... in order of first = worst.

My question is this.

Does anybody on the big board think it's possible that Gardner does something or shows something that would make the front office decide to just eat Claxton's contract and cut him?

[DJlaysitup]

I don't know spit about Gardner but I hear he has talent...and I like Mario. Personally - with the seeming advance in game of Solo I think we can pitch Randolph Morris. Othella will be down in the D league and can come up and help us as far as bigs if there is an injury.

Granted that Solo isn't NBA center quality so far - but behind Al and Zaza he's OK as a backup - we don't need 4 centers.

Edited October 9, 2008 by DJlaysitup

[crimedog]

Does anybody on the big board think it's possible that Gardner does something or shows something that would make the front office decide to just eat Claxton's contract and cut him?

No, so I think its a 2 man battle bw Rio and Gardner (if we are assuming that everything else is correct).

I don't know how much to read into preseason minutes but Rio has gotten a little more burn and has had a bit of an impact.

[LongTimeHawksFan]

No, so I think its a 2 man battle bw Rio and Gardner (if we are assuming that everything else is correct).

I don't know how much to read into preseason minutes but Rio has gotten a little more burn and has had a bit of an impact.

Its definately between gardner and west, speedy has the guaranteed contract so that isn't a question. I think that although west is doing more, gardner can score and the hawks really need more scoring, so that might give him the edge over west.

[macdaddy]

I think Gardner played 4 seconds in the phx game? Winning is good and all but you still need to evaluate your players. Seems like woody likes Mario and I do too. As long as he doesn't pull a batman and injure one of the starters in practice.

[Admin]

I think Gardner played 4 seconds in the phx game? Winning is good and all but you still need to evaluate your players. Seems like woody likes Mario and I do too. As long as he doesn't pull a batman and injure one of the starters in practice.

I think that we're likely to get more value out of sending Gardner and/or Hunter to the D-league and letting them work on their games and keeping West since he's not likely to get much better but he can fill a role that nobody else on our team can.

[DrReality]

We haven't had this much talent on the bench since the days of Livingston and the guys he played with.

[frosgrim]

We haven't had this much talent on the bench since the days of Livingston and the guys he played with.

Man we need a Livingston right now. I am still concerned re post scoring. We don't really have a back to the basket guy on the roster. Horf is close, but not proven.

[Swatguy]

Unless Mario is injured, he is on the roster. His enrgy cannot be duplicated. Mo will approach his energy level but not as intense. That alone gets him a jersey.

Speedy unless he is injured, is in.

It is between Othello and Gardner.

Mario and Speedy may force Sund to go with 15 in the roster rather than 14.

I see no other way. Unless injury (to Speedy or 'Rio).

[GameTime]

Speedy unless he is injured, is in.

He is injured.

[AHF]

Man we need a Livingston right now. I am still concerned re post scoring. We don't really have a back to the basket guy on the roster. Horf is close, but not proven.

Morris can do some of that which is why you can't think about getting rid of him. It has to be a guard or wing that gets cut, IMO.

Mario makes a positive contribution when he is not playing so I suspect he will be the last man on the bench since he can also give limited but positive contributions on the floor.

[mrhonline]

This is the easiest question ever!

Who are the Hawks' final 14? The one's with the guaranteed or partially guaranteed contracts!!!

Claxton - guaranteed

Evans - guaranteed

Jones - guaranteed

Murray - guaranteed

Gardner - partially guaranteed

Hunter - partially guaranteed

Morris - partially guaranteed

The only real question is whether the Hawks will offer West a partially guaranteed contract, and I believe they will.