Though I am a huge college basketball fan, I didn't really see most of the guys projected to be available to us enough times to comment on them at length.

Fortunately, one of the beautiful things about this here Internet is there are many blogs out there that follow these guys all year long and can give insight into what kinds of players they are and what they are capable of becoming.

When you draft at #19, it can be tough to gauge which players will still be available. Therefore, we'll be previewing some players that could be intriguing to the team, even if in the end they end up going much higher or much lower than where the Hawks make their selection.

We continue the series with a guard predicted to go late in the first round, Florida State senior Toney Douglas.

Our guest expert today is Mark from the Florida State Blog Tomahawk Nation:

Toney Douglas:
Draft Express profile
photo by http://www.daylife.com/

How He Got Here: Outside of ACC country, Toney Douglas is not a household name and until recently he wasn't getting significant recognition in pre-draft discussions and mock draft boards. However, the morning after the NBA Draft Lottery, Chad Ford from ESPN.com predicted Toney to be drafted by the Chicago Bulls with the 26th pick in the first round. I'm sure this raised a few eyebrows that were associated with a "Who?" comment.

Toney, originally a member of the 2004 recruiting class, was a Rivals.com and Scout.com 4-Star recruit out of Jonesboro High School in Jonesboro, Georgia. He was the 66th ranked player overall and the 14th shooting guard overall by Rivals.com and the 20th Point guard overall by Scout.com. He played for the Atlanta Prep Stars AAU team. During his junior year of high school, he scored 29.3 points per game with 7.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists. He signed with Auburn in October of his senior year. During his senior year, he averaged 34 points per game, 7.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists. He had 6 triple-doubles and shot 52% from the 3-point line during that year. Toney's high school resume was impressive. He was named to 1st team All State honors from the Atlanta Journal Constitution from 2002-2004. He was the AJC Player of the Year in 2003 and 2004. He led his team back to back state post-season play, including the State Championship game in 2002. According to Rivals.com, Toney only received offers from Clemson and Auburn. Keep in mind, however,  that the 2004 recruiting class included Dwight Howard, Al Jefferson, Rudy Gay, Glenn Davis, Josh Smith and LaMarcus Aldridge, to name a few.

Despite a short stint at Auburn, Toney made an impact. During his only season with the Tigers, he started all 31 games and averaged 16.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.4 steals. Toney's success earned him a spot on the Freshman All-American Third Team and All-SEC Third Team. He scored the team's season high with 38 points against Nicholls State. Toney was fourth in scoring in the conference that year and the nation's second highest scoring freshman. Looking to make a quick move to the next level, Toney tried his luck in the NBA draft after his freshman year. However, he withdrew before the draft occurred. Upset with Toney's actions and decision, Auburn released Toney. Leonard Hamilton, Florida State's Basketball Coach, recognized Toney's potential and started recruiting him heavily. Hamilton is known for identifying raw talent and recruiting better talent than expected at what is not currently considered an elite basketball school in the ACC.

After sitting out the 2005-2006 season, Toney's career developed nicely in his three years with the Seminoles. As a senior, Toney was named a Third Team All-American by the AP and Sporting News, and was First Team All-ACC. He was also the ACC Defensive player of the year and runner up for the ACC Player of the Year. He finished his career as a 37.6% 3-point shooter and an 80.6% FT shooter.

Strengths: With the exception of his first year at FSU, Toney essentially played every minute of every game in his college career, taking limited breaks. He is an absolute warrior and has the toughness to endure though fatigue and wear and tear of playing a lot of minutes on a regular basis. This bodes well with Toney as he looks toward the NBA. So often you hear the NBA analysts talking about how rookies tend to slump or wear down late in the season as they are not used to playing so many games and so many minutes. Toney has proved that he can endure lots of minutes.

He also had a huge jump in his offensive rating this year, which is likely due to our entire offense being based on Toney. He is also one of the best FT shooters in FSU history.

The other feature that sets Toney apart is his defensive ability and this will be his key to success in the NBA. For his entire career, he faced some of the best guards in the country night in and night out. For the past two years, he has been named ACC Defensive Team and was the ACC Defensive Player of the year in 2009. He was also named to the Fox Sports All-American Defensive team. This cannot be stressed enough, Toney loves to play defense. He puts as much, if not more, energy into his defense as his offense. He is accustomed to playing man to man defense and enjoys it: "The main reason I think I play good defense is because in this league, there's a lot of good guards. If you don't play good defense, you get exposed real quick. It's a pride thing."

After a battling with Duke this season, Coach Mike Krzyzewski had this to say about Toney: "He's as good as there is in college."  He even labeled Toney as his favorite non-Duke player and would love to have him on his team, quite a complement from a Hall of Fame coach who is accustomed to having some of the best talent in the country on his team. 

NBA teams that are drafting late in the first round are not looking for players to take over a team and lead them to a championship. They are looking for the key role-players, the kids to develop behind their superstars. They are not looking for, nor expecting to find, a Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin or Michael Beasley.

Toney will contribute at the NBA level. It is exciting to see that he is finally getting national press as the draft approaches. Toney has made a huge impact on the Seminoles, leading them to their first ACC Championship game ever and their first appearance in the NCAA tournament in 11 years. He is a leader. He has outstanding basketball knowledge and he is an absolute competitor.

Weaknesses: The major knock that he has against him is his ability to distribute the ball.

Florida State's offense is not designed to highlight the passing abilities of a guard. It's not based on a dribble-drive motion offense or a classic pick and roll style. Hamilton primarily used a motion offense as his base set this year. However, due to the youth our our team, it took a long team for the offense to gel and for players to move well with out the ball, limiting Toney's opportunities to distribute the ball. I do not think that this should be a knock against Toney. Put him in the right system and he will do fine. Toney is not going to be the next Steve Nash of the NBA. I don't think I surprised anyone with that statement.

In his Draft Express profile, they listed his weaknesses as decision making, shot selection, stuck between 1-2, older than class peers, poor passes, is undersized and an inability to finish around the basket.

Toney can finish around the rim; it's not the focus of his game. You could argue that he forced up some poor shots this year, but he didn't have many options to distribute the ball instead of shooting, particularly at the beginning of the season. The Seminoles were one of the youngest college teams in the country and it was up to Toney to lead the way.

Many argue that Toney doesn't have a defined position, like a Ben Gordon of the Chicago Bulls. Here is Toney's response to such comments: "I call myself a guard. I'm not a natural point. I'm not a natural two. I'm just a guard. I can do both. Me being versatile, I think I'm more of a threat out there on the court." You can find that quote and many others from this nice Sporting News article.

Here is a nice interview with Toney during the past season. Here is a nice video of Toney Douglas highlights from the 2008-2009 season. Here is the Seminoles.com interview with Toney.

Toney will be able to play night in and night out in the NBA. He will not likely be on the cover of NBA Live but I really think he can be a contributor and help an elite club. Toney has the character, courage, ability and desire to play at the next level.

Why Hawks Fans Should Want Him: Toney is a fierce competitor who will provide significant minutes of solid defense. He is a natural leader and is accustomed to playing in pressure situations and embraces that challenge.

What might give Hawks fans pause: How many guards can a team have? Toney is not the tallest player in the world, but has a few inches on Speedy Claxton.

What (if any) current player he reminds you of: He has Ben Gordon's build and shooting ability, but has better leadership, ball handling, defensive skills and decision making. The other player to whom he has some similarities is Chauncey Billups, but with better defense and less assists. This was difficult trying to find a comparison.