Here's a fun game for a Wednesday. Courtesy of USA Today's Pop Candy blog (via my friends at deep chrome canyons) comes this fun link to a random slogan generator. Here's how it works - you plug in any word or name, and it spits out a slogan for you. I thought I'd give it a shot with the Hawks starting five, and here is what I came up with:

Have some fun with it on your own, and share your slogans in the comments!

It's been an eventful offseason for Hawks C Zaza Pachulia. Obviously, the biggest event of the summer for him was re-signing with the Hawks for a new four-year deal. But he's been quite busy otherwise, as he's been taking classes at Georgia State to fortify his knowledge and interest in business (Pachulia, if you recall, participated in last summer's business seminar for NBA players at Northwestern's prestigious Kellogg School of Management).

Well, it appears he is ready to put that knowledge into action, as Global Atlanta reported yesterday that Pachulia has purchased Eno, a restaurant and wine bar in Midtown. Pachulia verified that to me over email last night, and seems very excited about the opportunity. Zaza is currently playing for his national team in his homeland as Georgia tries to qualify for the European Championships, but we'll have to get him to give us a tour of the place when he gets back in town.

And speaking of Hawks putting in work outside of Philips Arena, I saw this at the Pep Boys on Piedmont Rd. this morning. I wonder if this is what the Hawks' other big man does with his free time as well?

Maybe he had to change his name a bit to protect his anonymity?

The Hawks busy offseason continued on Friday, as the team announced the long-rumored deal to re-sign restricted free-agent F Marvin Williams.

I can't tell you how happy I am with this deal. Marvin has improved his game every single year he's been in the NBA, and at 23 there is no reason to think that trend won't continue. Everyone always talks about his offensive improvement, but his defensive efforts have also developed to the point where he is considered one of the premier defensive players at his position in the NBA. And in a league where small forwards seem to dominate more and more (LeBron James, Paul Pierce, and others), it's incredibly important to have a guy you can trust battling out there against them.

Congrats are due once again to Rick Sund and his staff for keeping together the core of a team that has improved every season over the past 5 years. I've said it before and I'll say it again: continuity is a big, big factor in achieving success in the NBA, and the Hawks have as much of it if not more than almost any team in the league.

But enough of my blathering - let's hear from the man himself.

Note the celebratory fro-Hawk.

Feel free to welcome Marvin back in the comments!

On the heels of the release of the regular season schedule on Tuesday, the Hawks released their preseason slate today as well. The highlights? 7 games, 3 at Philips Arena, and 1 nationally televised performance on Oct. 23 at Orlando. Here it is, in all it's glory:

The two games that probably holds the most interest for me are the opener against Chris Paul and the Hornets on Oct. 7 and the game against the Wizards on Oct. 19, mostly because we'll see both teams very early on in the regular season. Atlanta and New Orleans play twice within the first 14 games of the season (the Hawks host the Hornets on Nov. 14, then play at New Orleans on Nov. 21), while Washington comes to town for the second game of the season on Oct. 30.

Anything stand out to you?

The 2009-10 schedule is out. Hooray! I don't know about you, but I am starting to get a little antsy for the start of the action.

A few opening thoughts about the Hawks' slate:

- The Hawks open the schedule against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, Oct. 28, then host Washington on Friday October 30. It's the first time the Hawks have opened with two straight home games since the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season, when they opened with home wins over Cleveland and New Jersey.

- After last year's bizarre home schedule highlighted by a 7-game homestand and an 8-game stretch as well, this year's schedule is much more traditional. There are no ridiculous swings one way or the other; there are three 4-game road trips, one 5-game homestand and one 4-game homestand. Otherwise it's pretty normal - a couple games here, a few games there - I remember Hawks GM Rick Sund saying last year that this kind of layout is much more preferable (no extremes one way or the other), so I expect he'll be relatively pleased with how it turned out.

- I think the biggest news about the upcoming season is that for the first time in a long time, people around the country will have several chances to see what's going on down here in the ATL. 7 nationally-televised dates are on the calendar (with 6 more slated for NBATV), more than the franchise has seen in 12 years. Six will be on televised on ESPN, while one is set for TNT - a Thanksgiving night tilt against the defending Eastern Conference champion Orlando Magic. More TV time = more respect - gotta love it!

- The biggest anomaly on the schedule is probably the home-and-home with Cleveland on back-to-back nights. The Hawks will host the Cavs at Philips Arena on Tuesday, Dec. 29, after which the teams will fly to Cleveland and do it again on Wednesday, Dec. 30.

- For those looking for rematches against last year's playoff opponents, the Hawks first game against Miami will be Wednesday Nov. 18 at Philips Arena, while their first match-ups with the Cavs are during the aforementioned back-to-back.

- For Hawks fans still feeling the Hawks-Celtics rivalry, January is the month for you - 3 dates with the C's within a span of 21 days. Atlanta hosts Boston on Friday, Jan. 8 (an ESPN broadcast), then do battle again in Boston the following Tuesday (Jan. 11 on NBATV), and finally they return to Philips for another Friday night collision on Jan. 29.

- The schedule, on paper at least, opens pretty favorably. Last year the Hawks kickstarted their run to the 4th seed in the East by winning their first 6 contests. That may be a tough task to repeat with 4 of the first 6 on the road this year, but of those six only the Lakers and Blazers were playoff teams a year ago.

- The toughest stretch? A case could be made for the last half of November, when Atlanta will play 8 straight against 2008 playoff teams.

I'll be breaking down the schedule even further in a podcast with Bob Rathbun in the next day or so, but in the meantime - what do you think?