AJC: The 2011-12 schedule, just in case

[Hawksquawk]

There is no league business because of the lockout but there is a schedule. There have been no bargaining session between owners and players since last month but let’s be optimistic and assume the schedule will go off as planned and the Hawks will open Nov. 2 at Minnesota.

Usually there would be some major free-agent signings by now and there would be a better sense of how teams might stack up. As it stands now, the Hawks have just seven players with guaranteed contracts for next season. By comparison, Miami has nine players with guaranteed deals (assuming no one is going to make a run at restricted-free agent Mario Chalmers), Chicago has nine players, Boston has seven (assuming Jeff Green stays put) and Orlando has 10.

But all five of the East’s top teams can pretty much return with their cores intact (with perhaps Orlando as an exception since J-Rich will be a free agent). So here’s a quick look at some schedule highlights for the Hawks:

• Last season Atlanta’s early schedule …

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