Published news reports are speculating that the Hawks are close to a deal with RFA Marvin Williams on a contract in the neighborhood of 5 years, and between $35-40 million dollars. If that's the case (there is no official word on that as of yet), the Hawks will now have kept at least 3 of the 4 free agents they stood a chance of losing this offseason.

We'll get more in detail if anything becomes official, but for now, what are your thoughts on the prospect of keeping Marvin?

It's been passed around the series of tubes the past couple days, but if you haven't seen it yet, here is Josh Smith throwing it down over Kevin Love at Team USA mini-camp in Las Vegas:

We've posted a lot of video content the past several days covering Hawks mini-camp. In case you missed a couple or haven't had a chance to watch them all, here is a list compiling all the stuff we shot. Enjoy!

-- Rookie Camp Begins

-- Mike Woodson Mic’d Up

-- Highlights from Scrimmage 1

-- Highlights from Scrimmage 2

-- Highlights from Scrimmage 3

-- Highlights from Scrimmage 4

-- Randolph Morris Locker Room Cam

-- Jeff Teague Video Diary

-- End of Camp Feature

Hawks mini-camp came to an end on Thursday with a morning scrimmage session. It's a testament to everyone who participated that the effort was there till the end today; as Jeff Teague said afterwards, the atmosphere on the court felt like a playoff game.

Some thoughts on the 4 day event, which Mike Woodson called "the best camp I've ever coached."

- Take this with a grain of salt if you feel like I'm toeing the company line here too much, but I honestly thought Jeff Teague, Othello Hunter, and Randolph Morris were the three best players over the course of the camp, with John Lucas III and Yaroslav Korolev not far behind. Now I realize the competition at a mini-camp like this isn't quite apples-to-apples with veteran's camp come October, their efforts were impressive nonetheless. Both Hunter and Morris look like they've improved their games since the end of last year, and Teague exhibited a calmness that reminds me a bit of Joe Johnson - he doesn't seem to ever get rattled. That will serve him well as a rookie PG in the NBA, where even the best have struggled early on.

Overall the thing I liked the most about Teague's game was his ability to finish around the basket. He has a terrific floater, he can finish difficult lay-ups in traffic with either hand, and as we saw in college, he can definitely jam.

- Speaking of Korolev, I'd say no other player in camp overshot my expectations more than he did. I don't mean that as a backhand compliment - the only thing I knew about him coming in was that he busted out as a Clippers draft pick a few years back, so I didn't expect to see much, but he showed off an impressive offensive arsenal scoring inside and out and with either hand. I don't think he's the most athletic player on the court, but I'll be interested to see if he gets a training camp invite from the Hawks or perhaps another team.

- Lucas played very well the entire week matched up against Teague, and he too seems like he'd deserve another shot at the League. You feel for a guy like Lucas who clearly has talent, but his height (generously listed at 5-11) will always be something to make teams reticent to sign him. I spoke with him at length after practice yesterday (his younger brother Jai will play for my Texas Longhorns this season after transferring from Florida so I had to get the scoop), and he struck me as a guy who not only is an excellent basketball player but a great teammate as well. Even if he doesn't get back in the NBA for a long stretch, I have no doubt he'll be successful with any team he might play with here or abroad.

- Garret Siler acquitted himself well I thought, though he's still pretty raw. His size is no joke, and if he continues to work on his game (he was a late starter, playing only one year of high school ball) he could definitely be an option because, as the saying goes, you can't teach height.

- Corey "Homicide" Williams was fun to watch, as he showed off the tenacity that won him such acclaim on the hardcourts of New York City. He took it to the hole whenever the opportunity presented itself (and sometimes even when it didn't), and I imagine the punishment he took on his way there was nothing compared to what he's used to on the playground. Homicide is already set to play in the Australian National Basketball League, where he's averaged 19 ppg over the past two seasons.

We've got a few more videos to post from mini-camp that we'll have up over the next few days (including some good stuff from Randolph, who we gave a little mini-cam to play around with over the four days), as well as another photo gallery or two.

Final thought - maybe it's hard to tell much about a few scrimmages bunched so closely together over a few days, but if, as Mike Woodson said after camp ended, part of the point of this camp was to see how Teague, Hunter, and Morris looked heading towards veteran's camp, I have to rate it an unqualified success.

Mike Woodson in the huddle at the end of the scrimmage

- John Lucas III spent parts of the last 4 seasons in the NBA (mostly with the Rockets), and watching him today you can tell that he has the talent to play in the League. He played the point for the White team today and was matched most of the time against Hawks rookie Jeff Teague, and they had some pretty good back-and-forth. Teague is lightning quick, but Lucas is no slouch himself, and he acquitted himself very well in both sessions.

- Chris Ellis, former Wake Forest Demon Deacon, is the son of former NBA long-range bomber Dale Ellis, but other than a facial resemblance, the two couldn't be more different in their games. Dale was a scoring machine from the perimeter, while Chris does his damage inside, and how. He has thrown down some ferocious dunks over the past two days, but has also shown a nice touch out to 15-18 feet as well.

- Othello Hunter continues to show that the work he's been putting in during the offseason so far is paying off. He has done his normal dirty work on the boards, but has had a couple nice drives inside and has also hit a few Js as well.

- Randolph Morris came on strong during the second day of scrimmaging. Morris has a nice repertoire of offensive moves, but he also showed some aggressiveness around the rim with several follow-up baskets.

- Corey "Homicide" Williams is hopefully getting some rest tonight - he is relentless taking it into the paint, and has hit the deck several times after hard fouls. I think I'm sore just from having watched him.

Limbering up before scrimmaging begins

Jeff Teague guarded by Cenk Akyol

Garrett Siler goes up for a basket against Shawn Taggart

John Lucas III initiates the offense against Lewis Clinch

Homicide takes on Teague

The afternoon scrimmage tips

Split up into two teams, the guys played two 20-minute halves, then added another 12-minute scrimmage on top of that.

Some thoughts from the first day:

- Jeff Teague was the truth today. He scored on jumpers, he scored on teardrop floaters, and he got into the lane pretty much any time he wanted. He also used the drive to set up easy baskets for his teammates. It's only mini-camp, but you'd be hardpressed to find anyone who didn't come away with a positive impression of the young fella today.

- If Teague was the star of the show today, Othello Hunter was the runner-up. Hunter's game isn't sexy - that is to say, he doesn't have a sick crossover or a picture perfect 3-point stroke. But what he is good at is hustling and doing the grunt work, and he showed out today with several buckets inside thanks to beating his man downcourt or timely offensive rebounds. After the workout I asked Big O how he'd grade his performance today, and the normally reserved big man gave himself a stellar 9.5.

- Garrett Siler looked good. The gentle giant from Augusta State showed surprising fitness getting up and down the floor, and had no problem clearing out space on the interior when he wanted it. I'm not sure he gets much lift off the ground when he jumps, but his frame allows him to create enough room that a lack of a high vertical doesn't make much difference. If he can perfect the jump hook he's been showcasing, he'd be pretty dangerous on the low post.

- I don't think Yaroslav Korolev, the former LA Clipper draft pick, missed a shot today. He hit at least 3 three's, and had another nice move called off by a bad call from the officials (there were referees on hand to provide a more game-like environment).

- Like anyone, I was excited to see Cenk Akyol in the flesh and in live competition. Akyol's day was fairly uneventful, but he did have a couple of very nice possessions back-to-back where he broke down his man off the dribble then waited for the help to come before firing passes at the perfect moment to find open teammates for easy lay-ins.

My understanding is there will be scrimmages in both morning and afternoon sessions tomorrow, so we'll have reports from both as camp action continues to heat up.

Othello Hunter throws one down

The first day of Hawks summer mini-camp was about establishing comfort and discomfort. Comfort for the guys trying to turn the heads of the coaching staff, discomfort from the coaching staff putting the players through paces at a breakneck speed and seeing who can keep up.

With no full-out scrimmaging until Tuesday afternoon, it's hard to critique anyone's performance so far. Nevertheless, a couple small notes:

- Frank Robinson, who was on the Hawks summer league team a year ago and came to training camp as well, knows the drill. The coaches like to see communication out on the court, and Robinson was one of the most vocal players out there today. In many ways, this is a very cutthroat situation with so many players vying for so few (if any) spots, but you still saw guys shouting positive encouragement to each other to help keep everyone motivated, and Robinson was particularly good at it today.

- Sergiy Gladyr can't work out with the rest of the group because of an issue waiting to be cleared up with FIBA, but he did get in some shooting on his own after the workouts ended. From watching him for only a few minutes, it's obvious the kid can shoot. He has a clean, nearly effortless release, and was nailing jumpers from all over the floor.

- Jeff Teague made a couple of nice defensive plays in 1-on-1 drills. He said afterwards it's the first time he's had to play defense in a few months, and you know Coach Woodson will be keeping a close tab on his work on that end in the coming months. So far so good.

A few pictures from the action after the jump:

We'll have tons of coverage all week, but for now I'll just mention that I plan on being courtside to tweet about the competition starting this afternoon.

Follow me at @atlanta_hawks for all the action!

The Hawks aren't participating in Summer League play this year with the dissolution of the Rocky Mountain Revue, but that doesn't mean there won't be a chance for the Hawks coaching staff to evaluate the team's young talent and other potential free agents players.

Next week at Philips Arena, the Hawks will be conducting a team mini-camp, and several names you may recognize are at this point scheduled to be in attendance.

The marquee name of course is Hawks first-round pick Jeff Teague, who'll be making his debut in front of the staff for the first live drills since being chosen 19th on draft night. Also on hand will be his draft-mate Sergiy Gladyr, the 49th overall selection in 2009 out of Ukraine.

Many people think Gladyr is solely a part of the team's long-term plans, but if he shows enough at camp, who knows?

Another Hawks draft pick will be making his way stateside for the first time as well, as 2005 second-rounder Cenk Akyol of Turkey is scheduled to participate. I know you are all excited to learn more about these guys, so we'll make sure to have plenty of coverage of their efforts as the week progresses.

There are several other names you should recognize from either their local college affiliations (like Georgia's Sundiata Gaines and Augusta State's Garret Siler) or from their previous stops in the NBA (Chris Taft played for Golden State, Yaroslav Korolev was a Clipper draftee).

Here is the release, if you want to read the full list of players.

We'll have much, much more as the camp gets underway next Tuesday at Philips Arena.

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).