Hawks Invite former Seton Hall Standout SG Jeremy Hazell to Next Weeks Free Agent Mini-Camp

[hawkman]

I'd take Hazell, Lighty, McCarney, and of course Benson Out of that group. McCarney was a nice PG for Illinois last season. Lighty and Hazell are intriguing as backup SG prospects. The player I'm most curious about is Benson. I want to hear what LD has to say about him after he watches him play some. I hope he pleasantly suprises us next season. Too bad there won't be a Summer League this season.

[KB21]

Omar Samhan is the guy I want to see make it. He brings size, work ethic, and efficiency to the table. The guy was a tremendous offensive center at St. Mary's in college. Very good low post offensive player with a mid range jumper. Also, he was a fairly solid rebounder as well. Big guy. Worked really hard to get down to 265 lbs. He played in Lithuania last season after going to camp with Dallas. I'd take him over Jason Collins right now.

[Admin]

Omar Samhan is the guy I want to see make it. He brings size, work ethic, and efficiency to the table. The guy was a tremendous offensive center at St. Mary's in college. Very good low post offensive player with a mid range jumper. Also, he was a fairly solid rebounder as well. Big guy. Worked really hard to get down to 265 lbs. He played in Lithuania last season after going to camp with Dallas. I'd take him over Jason Collins right now.

Jason Collins has earned a permanent spot on the Hawks roster as the go to Dwight defender!

[Guest]

You're right. I read the article last night and didnt realize MC only mentioned a few players. Hazell may very well still be among the camp invitees. At least I hope so. What the heck is Sund thinking bringing in Qyntel Woods? :scratchhead:

Ever since Vick left town this city has been clamoring for a good dog fighter that this city can really get behind. Qyntel can provide this fan base with what has been missing these past few years.

[MaceCase]

That roster looks like a BK wet dream. Most of the guys are 6'6"-6'9". Very little size outside of a couple of 6'11" guys. Even then the heaviest guy is like 265 (and is probably a stiff).

Thanks for posting Dol

Well we do need wing help pretty badly, we are pretty much two deep at every position except of SF and SG.

[Admin]

Well we do need wing help pretty badly, we are pretty much two deep at every position except of SF and SG.

The way I see it we need 4 things:

1. A starting SF
2. A backup SG unless we re-sign JC
3. A banger at PF to back up Josh Smith. Someone that will come in and do the dirty work rebounding and defending.
4. If we decide to make Josh a SF permanently then finding a starting C becomes priority #1

[DrReality]

Thought Rolle and Sy could not attend since they are under contract Some good talent for how many positions? One?

[lethalweapon3]

The Hawks have the full list of invitees up on Hawks.com ... http://www.nba.com/h...1_MiniCamp.html

Hope that "McCarney" kid is related to McCamey!

~lw3

[gurpilo]

I would sign McCamey and Lightly, both fills need on the roster, 3rd PG and a defensive specialist on the wing.

Some more information on them, McCamey has good assist to TO ratio and provides three point shooting, something we really need

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Lightly can do a little bit of everithing, best A/TO ratio of all wing prospects, best steal avg and a defensive specialist, he also shoots with acceptable percentages and has good PER, I would love to see him on Hawks roster.

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[suiluap]

Q. Woods has been out of the league since 2006. I wonder where he has been ?

Last 3 seasons he played in Poland and for two months in Russia. Last season he played in Poland together with Mike Wilks.

Even then the heaviest guy is like 265 (and is probably a stiff).

Stiff ? What are you talking about ? Samhan at 265 lbs is pretty fast. Last season he played in Lithuania (I'm from Lithuania) and he played for my favourite team. He played total 38 games and I've seen ~24 of 38 his games. Last season he was tremendous at defensive end, he has very good defensive awareness. Believe me. He's better than Twin.

Jason Collins are better than Samhan at doing one thing: taking charges.

Here is how he describes himself:

[KB21]

If we had a coach that could evaluate talent and went into the season with Collins, Samhan, and Pachulia as our center trio, Samhan would ultimately get most of the playing time. With those three, there should be no excuse for Jason Collins getting more than 5-7 minutes of playing time a game.

[gurpilo]

Seems that Greg Smith will attend Heat camp, it's a shame we would be also a great fit here.

[GameTime]

I would sign McCamey and Lightly, both fills need on the roster, 3rd PG and a defensive specialist on the wing.

Some more information on them, McCamey has good assist to TO ratio and provides three point shooting, something we really need

Name of external link

Lightly can do a little bit of everithing, best A/TO ratio of all wing prospects, best steal avg and a defensive specialist, he also shoots with acceptable percentages and has good PER, I would love to see him on Hawks roster.

Name of external link

I agree with you. Damian Saunders is also an athletic beast on Defense. Reminds me of a Shawn Marion.

[KB21]

I haven't seen any of these guys enough to really tell whether I think they can make it in the NBA or not. So, I've done a little bit of reading on them, and this is what I've found.

1. Damian Saunders is apparently a terrific perimeter defender that was the Atlantic 10 player of the year as a junior. His offensive numbers took a dip during his senior season as he fell back and let a fellow senior be the go to guy on offense, but he maintained his strong defensive performances. He also apparently improved his ability as a jump shooter, going from 0.480 points per jump shot last year to 1.08 points per jump shot this year. The rate at which he hit those jumpers also increased. Bottom line though is that this guy is a limited offensive player at this time that doesn't look for his shot very much. Now, in my humble opinion, this is exactly what the Hawks need. They need a guy on the perimeter who is an in your face defender that isn't going to take shots away from his teammates. Based on that alone, he should have a great chance at getting an opportunity to come to camp and make the team. However, with Larry Drew's philosophy of favoring shot makers over anything else, it leaves him very little chance of actually contributing if he makes the team.

2. David Lighty is very similar to Damian Saunders based on what I've read. He's more of a jack of all trades type of player, but he's a great on the ball defender. Much like Saunders, he doesn't look for his shot and isn't much of a jump shooter, though he has improved with that aspect. Again, this is a player who can help the Hawks with their porous perimeter defense, at least as a 5th guard on the roster who gives nothing but a defensive match up. Like I said about Saunders though, based on what I've read this guy isn't a shot maker. That won't endear him to Larry Drew.

3. Demetri McCamey is a shot maker, at least from behind the arc. He's a terrific three point shooter. The problem with him is that he does very little else on the floor. He doesn't have a high assists rate, and he isn't very athletic. His dribble penetrate game is below average. However, he is a three point specialists, so he stands a better chance of impressing the all jump shooting, cares less about defense Larry Drew.

4. Brad Wanamaker is very similar to McCamey. He's a shot maker that can hit jumpers from the perimeter whether he has a hand in his face or not. Also like McCamey, he's not very athletic and doesn't have much of a dribble penetrate game. What makes him different than McCamey is his assists rate. He does a good job of finding the open man, even if he doesn't do it much from an isolation set up. He's a little better defender than McCamey, but his lack of athleticism and explosion will hurt him in the NBA.

5. Jeremy Hazell is a guy Larry Drew will love. He pays very little attention to defense at all, but he can hit just about any shot he throws up. He's a high volume shooter and a high volume scorer. Of course, so was "he who's name shall not be mentioned", and Larry found a way to not play him. Unlike "he who's name shall not be mentioned" though, Hazell brings little to the table other than his scoring based on what I've read.

[hawkman]

^^^^Actually McCamey is a pretty good assist guy as well as a good shooter.

[GameTime]

^^^^Actually McCamey is a pretty good assist guy as well as a good shooter.

And David Lighty is definitely a shot maker. Shot 43% from 3 last year. He is a guy we need at the 3. A fantastic defender who can shoot the 3.

[Admin]

And David Lighty is definitely a shot maker. Shot 43% from 3 last year. He is a guy we need at the 3. A fantastic defender who can shoot the 3.

Bottom line on Lighty is that the Spurs want him and that's enough for me.

[DrReality]

Thinking back a few years we would have invited one or two guys who had any talent and the rest were rejects. We've rounded up a lot more talent and hopefully we will find one or two more guys that

can play. One of the stiffs that comes to mind from the past is Pig Miller. Think we'll do better than him!