Catching Up: Roster Speculation and About That New Offense

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Should Larry Drew's offense be getting all of the attention? (AP Photo/John Amis)

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While things have been slow around the old blog for the last few weeks there are a few tid bits of information that need to be discussed. One of the first things is the Hawks roster make up heading into training camp. The Hawks currently have twelve players on the roster for next season which is just one short of the league minimum. The team carried the minimum of thirteen for the entire 2009-2010 season. It is unclear at this point but highly likely that they intend to do the same again during the 2010-2011 season although a couple of reports have surfaced that might alter that thinking. 

The first was a Real GM report that the Hawks were reaching out to veteran point guard Earl Boykins. Atlanta Hawks beat writer Michael Cunningham quickly dispels the rumor saying that the Hawks are not looking to add an additional guard to the roster. 

More after the jump

I am not going to give much thought to the Boykins rumor as it really makes very little sense for a Hawks team that says it wants to give Jeff Teague a shot at a bigger role this season. Cunningham goes on to say that the Hawks are still looking to add a big man to the roster. At this point there is very little speculation as to who that may be. I have been of the opinion that unless something significant presents itself that the last roster spot will be won during training camp. I expect someone like Alade Aminu who played on the Hawks Vegas Summer League team might be an option. 

Another candidate for the last roster spot could be second round pick Pape Sy. When the Hawks selected Sy it was widely thought that he would be staying oversees to further add to his game. Sy was a part of the Summer League team and must have impressed Hawks management as there is now talk that he is pursuing a buy out from his French contract. The question I am asking myself now would he be the thirteenth player or would the Hawks go one above the minimum if they added Sy? Sy certainly would benefit more playing than sitting at the end of the Hawks bench. MC speculated that this could be the first Hawks player to see significant time in the D-League which I think would be a great idea. 

The last thing I want to open up for discussion is the Hawks "new" motion offense that Larry Drew is implementing. Now I have been as optimistic as anyone with the new thoughts on offense but I want to caution everyone slightly. At this point I am not really sure that it is a good idea for this offense to be getting the kind of publicity that it is. Basketball coaches for years are always preaching ball movement and player movement. Mike Woodson who in my opinion was not a forward thinking offensive mind, preached ball movement particularly when the Hawks struggled to score.

All of that being said the Hawks certainly are a team that could use some fresh ideas and concepts on the offensive end. Too often over the last couple of years it has been stand around and watch Joe Johnson goto work with Jamal Crawford getting in on some of that action also last year. The point is however, don't necessarily expect a miracle from this new system. How many systems are even that recognizable in the NBA? Phil Jackson's Triangle Offense is one and Mike D'Antoni's Seven Seconds or Less gets a lot of pup. Still at the end of the day it is the coaches job to run a system that puts the players in position to succeed.  

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