Insider Special: Camp Battles ~ Hawks

[Weez]

Hawks' starters have nothing to lose

By Terry Brown

NBA Insider

Tuesday, October 7

Updated: October 7

2:15 PM ET

Shareef Abdur-Rahim should score another 20 points per game this year for the Hawks. If he isn't traded. Theo Ratliff should block another three shots per game for Atlanta. If he isn't injured. Stephen Jackson should shake those rumors about his sulking in the locker room while the Spurs won 60 games and an NBA title. If he isn't sulking in the locker room while having to play for the Hawks while winning half as many games.

There isn't enough talent on this roster to mount any decent position battles to speak of.

Jason Terry, Boris Diaw, Jackson, Reef and Ratliff should be starting simply by showing up. If they remember that there are new owners in Atlanta and do show up in the first place.

Atlanta Hawks

Point guard Exp Ht '02-03 Stats Notes

Jason Terry 4 6-2 17.2 ppg,

7.4 apg After years and years of haggling over the point guard and shooting guard slots, this is not only his position, but very well could be his team. By matching the Jazz's offer to retain Terry, they've committed to a player during the offseason after failing to so in the previous four regular seasons. Nonetheless, he totaled career-high numbers in assists while still scoring in the high double-digits last year with nary a peep. It's his team now. It's a bad team. But it's his team.

Jacque Vaughn 6 6-1 5.9 ppg,

2.9 apg Has capably played for three teams in four seasons. It would have been four in four except that this is a return trip to Atlanta, where he had the best year of his NBA career two seasons ago.

Dan Dickau 1 6-0 3.7 ppg,

1.7 apg He was drafted by the Kings last year and traded to the Hawks for a player to be named later. Has anyone caught the name of that player yet?

Terrell Brandon 11 5-11 -- Will earn his $10 million gold watch for expending as much energy as you did in reading this piece.

Shooting guard Exp Ht '02-03 Stats Notes

Boris Diaw R 6-8 -- It took Kobe Bryant three years to get his starting position. It took Tracy McGrady four. Because of circumstances beyond his control, Boris Diaw gets his on day one. And that could be just as bad for Diaw as it is for the Hawks.

Travis Hansen R 6-6 -- The only thing possibly worse than starting at shooting guard for this year's Hawks as a rookie is being the back-up shooting guard for this year's Hawks as a rookie. At least Diaw is going to hear his name over the loudspeakers before each game.

Small forward Exp Ht '02-03 Stats Notes

Stephen Jackson 3 6-8 11.8 ppg,

3.6 rpg Rumor has it that this guy actually played alongside Tim Duncan last year and won an NBA title with him. But unless he puts up some decent numbers on a team that sorely needs them, he'll have a hard time convincing anyone of the previous sentence, especially after having to sell that championship ring to compensate for the money he lost in the offseason.

Dion Glover 4 6-5 9.7 ppg,

3.7 rpg Has steadily progressed in his four-year tenure with the Hawks and was a trusty backup to the high-scoring Glenn Robinson last year. The problem, though, is that Robinson is gone and Dion Glover is still a backup.

Lee Nailon 3 6-9 5.5 ppg,

1.8 rpg Drafted in 1999. In Italy by 2000. Charlotte in 2001, New York in 2002 and, now, Atlanta in 2003. Keep your bags packed.

Power forward Exp Ht '02-03 Stats Notes

Shareef Abdur-Rahim 7 6-9 19.9 ppg,

8.4 rpg Is he overrated? Is he underrated? How can a guy who's averaged more than 20 points and eight rebounds over his career be either? But, then again, how can a guy who's totaled more than 11,000 points and 4,400 rebounds in 533 games have yet to participate in a single playoff game? There is little doubt that Reef would be a starting power forward for almost any team in the league. But he very well could be playing for this third team before this season ends and we're beginning to question almost any team in the league that would have him.

Alan Henderson 8 6-9 4.8 ppg,

4.9 rpg The good news is that he played all 82 games last season. The bad news is that he was the only Hawk to do so and posted a career-low average of 4.8 points per game in the process. His game is in decline but so are the Hawks and they may converge at some point his season.

Chris Crawford 6 6-9 4.8 ppg,

1.4 rpg Has played in 12 games over the last two seasons and no one's even bothered to ask him how his knees are doing this year.

Center Exp Ht '02-03 Stats Notes

Theo Ratliff 8 6-10 8.7 ppg,

3.2 bpg Went from three games in 2002 to 81 games in 2003 and, as a result, blocked more than a shot per quarter played. This more than compensated for his 8.7 points per game average on a team with both Glen Robinson and Shareef Abdur-Rahim on either side of him but now the Hawks need him to score more. But, as you might have guessed, the Hawks need a lot of things this year.

Nazr Mohammed 5 6-10 4.6 ppg,

3.7 bpg Three years ago, Nazr was traded to the Hawks midway through the season and went on to average 12 points and nine rebounds per game. Three years ago, Nazr was peaking. Busting the same foot twice will do that to you. But now come reports that he's 20 pounds lighter but a whole bunch stronger. Let's hope he's three years younger, too.

[capstone21]

I love when people who know nothing about the team has to do the team analysis.

Hansen will not be the primary backup of the SG. Glover will be the starter and Diaw will back him up.

[Gray Mule]

Great analisis!!

Oh! Not the insider report. I'm talking about Capstone21!

But, that is the way that the rest of the N.B.A. world

sees this year's Hawk team.

We may not win many games this season, but every one

of them will be sweet and the more Hawks win, the

sweeter they wil get. Why?

Because of this "Glowing" insider report.

Are the Hawks really THAT bad??? Someone thinks they are.

[Weez]

I was waiting for these to start pouring in...Ford obviously just looked to see where Dion was listed at under ESPN's player rater (sf), not where he played mostly last year and will START this year...

[chickenhawk]

Yeah, Ford and Brown have already written us off this year. They want Cleveland to make the playoffs so bad it isn't funny.