Atlanta Hawks
Patrick J. Austin
Draft Picks: #2, #31, #59
Background: To say this was a bad year would be an understatement. It was, by far, the worst season in franchise history. We finished in dead last, and lost more games than the expansion Charlotte Bobcats. I was embarrassed to tell people I was a Hawks fan. There were some bright spots, though. Josh Smith's amazing performance at the dunk contest gave all Hawk fans hope. The improvement of Josh Childress after the all-star break was a pleasant surprise. Al Harrington's production, after moving exclusively to power forward, skyrocketed. This trio could be our foundation for the future.
Team Needs: It's obvious the Hawks need a true point guard and a legit center. Fortunately, Atlanta has a high first round pick in a draft that's loaded with promising point guards, and we'll be armed with over twenty million dollars of cap space in a free agent market featuring a plethora of talented big men. I believe we'll see both of these holes filled.
GM's Draft Strategy: Billy Knight's draft strategy seems to be taking players who are long, versatile, and athletic. In 2003, he drafted Boris Diaw, a 6'9 point guard/shooting guard/small forward. Last year, he selected the aforementioned Josh Childress and Josh Smith, along with Royal Ivey, Donta Smith, and Victor Sanidkzie(later traded to San Antonio for this year's fifty-ninth selection). Childress and Josh Smith are both very long, agile talents who can play multiple positions. Royal and Donta Smith are in the same mold (i.e. providing good size for their position and versatility).
Personal Analysis: With the second overall pick, I believe we'll take Chris Paul. As stated earlier, we need a top-flight point guard and Paul is the best of the bunch. He's not very big(listed at 5'10) but he's lightning quick and can shoot the ball well from outside.
With our second round picks, I'd like for us to use the old adage--best player available. Forget about positions and just take the best talent on the board. I believe we'll take one of the more mature college players with our top second round pick (maybe Ronny Turiaf or John Gilchrist) and then go foreign with our low second round pick (maybe Uros Slokar or Marcelo Huertas).
Other Considerations: We have a future first round pick coming from Boston via the Los Angeles Lakers either in 2006 or 2007(at the latest). I could see us using this in a trade to acquire a mid-first round pick in this draft. You could also see us try and use our high second round pick to move up into the lower portion of the first round. There are some teams who'd like to avoid paying a guaranteed rookie contract for four years and would prefer to move down to the second round. We could be there to take advantage.