Some news on the Hawks front - after re-signing Mike Bibby and Zaza Pachulia yesterday to new contracts, the team today traded the rights to Australian big man David Andersen (Atlanta's 2nd round pick in 2002) to Houston for a future second and cash considerations.

Hawks GM Rick Sund had this to say about the move: “It’s unlikely David was going to play for us, so this deal gives us the opportunity to re-capture the second round draft choice that the organization used on him in 2002, plus cash considerations. It also allows David the chance to come over and play in the NBA.”

Here is my read on the deal - with the Hawks re-signing Zaza, minutes for Andersen would probably be hard to come by in an Atlanta uniform.

By all accounts Andersen appears to be a decent player, but you still never know how a Euro player's game will translate to the NBA, and to be potentially spending a decent chunk of money on the unknown, it sounds like a risk that probably doesn't have enough of a pay-off to see it through.

In the meantime, the team gets something in return for his services, and will presumably continue to search for frontcourt help from players who are maybe a little more established in the League already.

We wish Andersen well in Houston, and hopefully he'll have a chance to get the minutes there that he probably wouldn't have seen here in Atlanta.

UPDATE: Here is the official release.

The Hawks made it official today, as we said earlier, bringing Zaza Pachulia and Mike Bibby back into the fold. After the presser at Philips Arena, we caught up to all three parties to talk about the signings:

Interview With Rick Sund

Interview With Zaza Pachulia

UPDATE: And here is the whole presser.

Zaza Pachulia and Mike Bibby will re-join Joe Johnson for 2009-10

The rumors have been out there for a week or so now, but today the Hawks made it official, inking free agents Mike Bibby and Zaza Pachulia to deals that will keep them in Atlanta threads for the foreseeable future.

These moves are incredibly important for the franchise and help keep momentum going this offseason (along with the trade for Jamal Crawford and the drafting of Jeff Teague) after reaching the second round of the playoffs in 2008-09. Let's take a look at them one-by-one:

Mike Bibby - Bibby is the perfect fit for the offense Mike Woodson runs - he is a terrific outside shooter, and is the perfect antidote to make opponents think twice about doubling Joe Johnson. One of the biggest reasons for the Hawks' success (last year in particular) was an improvement in 3-point marksmanship, and with Bibby back in the fold, there is no reason to think that will drop off.

Bibby will also be a great mentor for Teague to learn under, since neither is your prototypical pass-first point guard.

There is another reason I like this signing, and I haven't really seen it talked about anywhere, so here is as good a place as any.

Bibby came to the Hawks with a chance to serve potentially two purposes - one, to make them better on the court (mission accomplished there), and two, if it didn't work out, to provide the team with an incredibly valuable expiring contract.

As it turned out, Bibby did play well for Atlanta, making it very unlikely that the team would think about trading him before his contract expired. And while it is fortunate that he excelled, it also meant that the Hawks would risk losing him in free agency for nothing. Taking that risk was well worth it - as two playoff appearances would attest - but re-signing him afterwards makes the original deal all that much sweeter.

Zaza Pachulia - Skilled big men don't just grow on trees (no matter how many times I try), and with the market for available frontcourt players dwindling, it was pretty important that the Hawks bring back a guy who is not only a legit center but one of the best offensive rebounders in the league. After the injuries to the frontcourt during the playoffs, we all saw how valuable post-depth can be, and losing Pachulia would have stung.

Fortunately that didn't happen, and Zaza now returns to be not only a valuable contributor but also a fan favorite at Philips Arena.

One of the biggest contributing factors to success in the NBA is continuity, and by keeping two players who've been a part of the team's nucleus for a combined 5 1/2 years, the Hawks have saved themselves a lot of time and effort that might have been spent trying to acclimate new (and potentially unknown) players into the departed roles.

Congrats to the Rick Sund and company for getting these deals done, and welcome back to the Highlight Factory guys!

P.S. Feel free to welcome Zaza back via his Twitter feed.

The Hawks have called a 3 pm press conference for Monday afternoon to make an announcement regarding Mike Bibby and Zaza Pachulia.

With all the reports that have been out there the past week, I think we'll have the answers we've been waiting for after the weekend...

It's been quiet on the blog front for the last week, now that the NBA Draft is over and things have settled down a bit from the trade for Jamal Crawford.

I've been getting a lot of questions in the comments and on the ole' twitter feed about where the Hawks stand in regards to free agency, in terms of re-signing their own guys and perhaps going after any new players as well.

Just to let you know, I'm not ignoring any of the news that's out there - we just can't comment on anything until it's official. So, as soon as any potential deals get all the i's dotted and the t's crossed, I'll be sure to let you know.

Today is the first day we can make anything official, so hopefully we'll have news to share in the very near future.

One other note - the official salary cap numbers came in last night, and the official cap for the coming season is $57.7 million, with the luxury tax set at $69.92 million. That's down about a million from last year, when the cap came in at $58.68 ( with the luxury tax at $71.15).

The second round provides a lot of opportunities to take a player with some long-range potential, and the Hawks think they have their guy in Sergiy Gladyr from MBC Mykolaiv (Ukraine). Gladyr averaged 15.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.4 apg, & 1.5 spg in 29 minutes a game last year - pretty nice for a kid his age.

I just spoke with Hawks international scout Mark Crow, who scouted Gladyr in Europe, and he had this to say:

"Gladyr is a 6'5", 19-year old kid with tremendous shooting ability. I saw him hit 11 3's in a game against Lithuania for the Ukranian National Team last year. He's got great form, and he's a very good athlete as well."

The Painted Area has a good scouting report on Gladyr that you should check out for more information.

And with that, barring something unforeseen, I think our work here is done tonight. I know people think it's cliche to say this after each pick, but in both rounds tonight the Hawks got a player that was right at the top of their draft board for the pick they had.

Congrats to the Hawks front office on a job well done. They've been working long, long hours ever since the end of the season to get prepared for tonight, and for what it's worth, they had every scenario covered. It's actually really impressive to take in, watching them discuss multiple trades, players, and draft picks in real time all while the clock is ticking.

After the final pick, Rick Sund congratulated his staff on their efforts tonight, then exhorted them to re-channel their focus and energy towards free agency. 

We'll have more tomorrow as Jeff Teague makes his way to Atlanta for the first time.

Goodnight from the draft room!

At #19, the Hawks select Jeff Teague out of Wake Forest. This is a tremendous coup for Atlanta, as not only do they get a player right at the top of their draft board, but they also get one who plays the point and can potentially be groomed as the future of the position now that Acie Law is off to Golden State.

There were some tense moments in the draft room as we watched teams pick in front of them without calling his name, but when the time came to make the pick it was a very easy call.

Teague impressed the front office and coaching staff with his lightning quickness and scoring ability in college. As Hawks GM Rick Sund said, "He is a great player. He is quick, can get to the rim and finish, and is maybe the best athlete at the PG position in this draft."

Hawks asst. GM Dave Pendergraft said you hope to take a player who is the best you have on your board and can fill a need, and I'd say from the start that's exactly what this pick looks like.

The first domino for what promises to be a busy offseason for the Hawks has fallen, as the team has officially traded Acie Law and Speedy Claxton to Golden State for Jamal Crawford.

My first reaction - I'm a fan. It reminds me a bit of the trade for Bibby in February, 2008, in that you are giving up very little to get a rotation-caliber NBA player. Whatever you may think about Acie, Speedy, and Crawford for that matter, it's hard for me to oppose any deal where you trade two guys who rarely play for a guy who will definitely play.

Here are a couple more reasons I like it:

- Crawford can score. Much like Flip was a great addition last year because of the scoring punch he brought off the bench, I think Crawford brings the same kind of game. He can fill it up, as evidenced by his two career 50+ point games. He has the reputation as a volume scorer in the same way Flip does, but if the Hawks coaching staff can play to his strengths in the same way they did Murray then he can be a very valuable resource.

A couple interesting nuggets on Crawford by the way, courtesy of 82games.com: He was the 13th leading scorer in crunch-time minutes (defined as 4th quarter or overtime, less than 5 minutes left, neither team ahead by more than 5 points) last season, averaging 36.7 points per 48 minutes. In addition, he was the 7th-best fourth quarter scorer in the league last season, averaging 6.4 points in the final stanza. With as many close games as the Hawks tend to find themselves in, that is certainly good to know.

- It gives the Hawks some flexibility in free agency. Most people's first question when hearing of this trade is "What does this mean for Mike Bibby?" This is solely my opinion, but I don't think the addition of Crawford means we won't be bringing Bibby and/or Flip (for that matter) back. It simply brings additional leverage. With Crawford in the fold, it seems to me the Hawks also have some insurance in case they aren’t able to reach agreement with one or both of those players.

With Crawford around and capable of playing both guard positions, you hopefully can then have a pretty solid guard rotation of guys who are capable of carrying the scoring load on a given night. And, if it ends up that Bibby doesn't return, you still have a proven NBA guard to plug in instead of having to rely on potential question marks.

Crawford will make around the same money in 2009-10 as Law and Claxton combined. The following year, Crawford becomes at the very least a very attractive expiring contract (in the same way that Speedy is now).

Draft-wise, I don't think this changes the game too much. I said Tuesday I felt like the team is leaning towards taking best available (whoever that might be), and I still think they'll do that.

All things considered, I think you have to tip your hat to Rick Sund and company for this one.

More to come as the day unfolds...

UPDATE: Here is the official release on the trade.

UPDATE: Just got off the phone with Crawford - here's the audio interview

Workouts appeared to be done after Sunday, but at the last minute the Hawks brought in UNC point guard Ty Lawson for a workout at Philips Arena this morning. Unlike the other workouts we've seen so far, this one was a solo run for Lawson, so it's hard to really come away with any real impressions that differ from what we already thought about the guy - namely, that he was a great PG in college and the reason he is potentially going to be available at #19 is because of his height.

Lawson showed a nice shooting touch during drills, hitting shots in the lane, off the bounce and off the catch, and from deep. But as Hawks asst. GM Dave Pendergraft told us yesterday, these workouts are more for the coaches and the chance to get to know a player, so hopefully it was worth it for that reason if nothing else.

A couple more notes about tomorrow's draft:

- We've seen some moves around the league the last few days, and with all the moving pieces on the Hawks front, it's certainly possible we could see a trade develop in the next day or so. But if it's going to happen before the draft it will have to happen before tomorrow at noon, which is the deadline to make pre-draft maneuvers. After 12:00 pm tomorrow, any trade that gets made won't go through until after the 1st round of the draft is over, which means if draft picks are exchanged the teams will have to choose the playerse first and then swap them afterwards. I have literally zero information that tells me anything is in the pipe; just letting you know the rules.

- Should anything happen, I'll be hanging around the Hawks front office for most of the rest of today and all of tomorrow, so I'll get the word out as quickly as I can so Hawks fans are up to speed on what's going down. I'll be doing a hybrid live-blog/tweet thing tomorrow night from the Hawks draft room, so if you aren't following me yet on Twitter I suggest you do so post-haste!

Just posted a Q&A with Hawks assistant GM Dave Pendergraft in advance of the 2009 NBA draft. It was an interesting conversation to say the least, and I came away from it feeling pretty good about things going into Thursday night.

I took away a few things from the conversation that I'd like to share:

1. The Hawks draft won't be a one-man show. Hawks GM Rick Sund trusts Pendergraft and his scouting department implicitly, and they will have a large say in recommending who the Hawks should take in both rounds. Sund of course has the ultimate vote, but you can bet there will be a consensus built in the draft room before the pick is made.

2. Hit or miss, it won't be for a lack of information. Pendergraft and his staff have seen just about every prospect in this draft in person (including most of the top international players), and they have detailed objective analysis of those players as well. While Sund may be old school in many ways, he's not making these picks based simply on what his gut tells him.

3. If you read between the lines, I think you can figure out which direction the Hawks are leaning. Thought I was about to give away a big secret there, didn't you? Sorry, not going to happen. There are waaaaay too many variables going into Thursday night to be able to accurately guess who the team will select, but I will say this: no matter where you draft, there will always be some camps that advocate for drafting the best player available while others will want to draft to fill a need. Sometimes you’re fortunate enough to achieve both, bu based on what I've seen and heard so far, I think we're leaning towards the former. Who that will end up being though is still anybody's guess.