With summer league play over (job well done Shelden and Acie, nabbing All-RMR honors - and Al Horford might have if he hadn't hurt his ankle), and nothing else really going on until the start of training camp in October, I thought this would be a good time to take a look at the Hawks roster and check out everyone's status on the team. It should be a good way to kill some time over the next few weeks and help bridge the gap until the season starts!

Today we continue the series with veteran point guard Tyronn Lue. How do you think these players will do? Leave your answers in the comments!

Tyronn Lue

2007 Stats: 11.4 ppg, 3.6 apg, 35% 3-pt FG, 88% FT

2007 Highlights: T-Lue's most memorable performance from 2006-07 has to be his game-winner in OT over New Jersey on Feb. 4. That wasn't the only instance of last-second heroics for the player they call "The Show" last season though, as he also nailed a game-tying runner at the buzzer against Cleveland on Nov. 7, forcing overtime in a game the Hawks eventually won to move to 4-1 on the season.

What he needs to work on this summer: Getting healthy. T-Lue has had injury issues throughout his career, and unfortunately had what started out as a great year derailed early on last season by groin issues and a knee problem that led to arthroscopic surgery earlier this summer. Lue is off the court for a few more weeks, but expects to be ready to go in time for the start of training camp.

Lue has always been a reliable perimeter shooter and (in my opinion) an underrated distributor. Defensively, his best days may be behind him, so the more he can work on using his experience to overcome speed/height disadvantages, the better.

Outlook for 2007-08: Tyronn Lue is well respected in the Hawks locker room and around the league (word on the street is his advice to his boy Kevin Garnett is what led KG to approve the trade to Boston). He is a veteran presence, a clutch perimeter shooter, and is generally the guy who keeps the team loose with his nonstop chatter and story-telling. While incoming PG Acie Law learns the ropes of the NBA, the Hawks will be counting heavily on Lue and Speedy Claxton to lead the team. But with Lue also going into the final year of his contract, he also figures to be a target of other teams looking to upgrade at the one for the short-term.

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This may be straying a bit from the basketball landscape, but I, like some of you, couldn't help but tune in Saturday night to catch David Beckham's debut with the LA Galaxy, as the MLS team took on Chelsea in perhaps the most-hyped soccer match on American soil since the World Cup in 1994 (thought perhaps that's not saying much).

As it turns out, the Hawks were represented at the game, as PG Tyronn Lue took in the action from a luxury box with his good friend Kevin Garnett.

We caught up to T-Lue for a few minutes yesterday to talk about the event:

Hawks.com: How was the atmosphere in LA?

Tyronn Lue: It was a scene. The crowd was crazy, it was a great atmosphere.

Hawks.com: Have you always been a soccer fan?

T-Lue: I had a girlfriend in college who played soccer, so I used to go to a lot of games. I never played it or anything growing up though.

Hawks.com: So you went to the game with KG?

T-Lue: Yeah, he loves (Chelsea player) Didier Drogba, and we are both fans of Beckham.

Hawks.com: I saw KG on TV, but I never saw you, where were you sitting?

AP Photos

T-Lue: I was just kicking it in the background. I was behind Arnold.

Hawks.com: Schwarchenegger?

T-Lue: Yeah, he and his wife sat in the box with us. He was really nice, he remembered me from when I played with the Lakers. Jimmy Jam was in there too, and Posh came in there for a little while as well.

Hawks.com: Have you ever met either of the Beckhams?

T-Lue: I've met Victoria a couple of times, she was very nice. I've never met David.

Hawks.com: How do you think he did in his first game?

T-Lue: Well, it was tough obviously because he was injured. I felt for him, I know what it's like to want to be out there playing even if you shouldn't be. As an athlete, you are a competitor, you want to be out there as much as possible. It was funny though - every time he stretched, or put on his socks, the fans would start to go crazy. The place erupted when he finally got in there.

Hawks.com: Do you think his arrival will make a huge difference for soccer in America?

T-Lue: I don't know. I hope so though. I've always liked him, so hopefully this move will work out for everyone.

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The 2006-07 season has come to a close. It's crazy - it feels like it just started. I can't believe it's over.

We went out on a positive note, beating down the Pacers 118-102 to finish the season with an even 30 wins against 52 losses.

I will get more in depth in the coming weeks, breaking down the players and everything, but for now I will just say that I think that everyone is disappointed in how the season ended (despite last night's victory), but that every player I talked to is determined to do what it takes over the summer to do better in 07-08.

Today was the day they cleared out the lockers for the summer and had their exit interviews with Coach Woodson.

It was personally sad for me, as it may have been the last time I see Royal Ivey, who I have watched since he was a freshman at Texas, and who is an unrestricted free agent going into the off-season.

I spoke to Marvin Williams and Josh Childress about the season and their summer plans. Marvin is headed back to Chapel Hill for summer school, while Childress is heading to South Africa to participate in Basketball Without Borders for the second straight summer.

I also did one final episode of The Show With The Show with Tyronn Lue. T-Lue is a huge NBA fan, so he will be in the audience at several playoff games over the next few weeks. His picks for the finals? Dallas and Detroit.

As I said, I will have more recap of the season in the coming weeks, but for now, here are some pics from the morning:

Solo and Video Coordinator John Beckett on the phone. They may have been talking to each other

Zaza Pachulia gets interviewed by a member of the Georgian media (the Republic, not the state)

Sekou Smith talks to Josh Childress about his summer plans

Chills and Solo clean out their lockers

 

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I may be trying to amuse myself just a little with the title of this post...

So, a pretty disappointing weekend, I don't think anyone is going to dispute that. We had our chances to win both games, and came away with zilch. Obviously, the dim playoffs chances we have are even dimmer as we head to Miami tonight to play the defending champs, a team that has beaten us nine-straight times at home. The prognosis doesn't look good.

And yet, I think we will win. Why? Just seems like something this team would do. How else to explain beating Phoenix on the road, Houston at home, but also get blown out by the Bobcats on two straight nights.

Just when you think this team is going to zig, they zag. And, to quote one of my favorite sitcoms (Newsradio), when you think they are going to zag, that's when they zog (ok, it's funny to me - shut up).

Logic would dictate that this team is pretty much out of it at this point, and perhaps they are. But every time they seem like they are about to pack it in for a stretch, they seem to reach down and pull out big wins like they did against the Clippers and Pistons back in January.

Speedy Claxton is out for tonight's game with soreness in his knee, which isn't too much of a surprise - I think you'll see less of him and T-Lue when they aren't feeling up to it now that we have Anthony Johnson - and Lorenzen Wright may be out (he is listed as probable) as he still deals with a facial contusion he suffered on Friday that has caused a few concussion-like symptoms.

The Heat have played better than most (read: me) thought they would after losing Dwyane Wade to a shoulder injury, going 3-2 in five games. Shaq appears to be turning back the clock, putting up some pretty impressive numbers in the last few games.

Still, I think they can be had. The most frustrating thing about this losing streak is that I don't feel like we are playing that...bad. Ok, blowing a 16-point lead to the Knicks could qualify as bad, but we have been in every game until the end during this entire losing skid (I don't count Dallas - they are on another planet right now). Some of these breaks are going to start going our way, and before you know it, we may be a few games towards the better.

Should we win tonight? Maybe not. But in keeping with the consistently inconsistent season so far, I say we pull it out.

Tune in to SportSouth at 7:30 ET to catch all the action.

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Well, this is a big weekend, kiddos. Let no one tell you differently. I have been saying for a couple weeks that I felt like we could still get ourselves back into this thing, and I still believe that. But at some point, we are going to sorta need to win a few games here and there to make that a possibility.

I know we are 1-5 since the All-Star break, but I have to be honest, I am not surprised. We have faced just an absolute beast of a schedule, and the Dallas game aside, I think we've acquitted ourselves pretty well (ok, Chicago too). I expected February to be brutal on us, and it was in some ways - we finished the month 5-9, but given the schedule (and the five-game road trip) I think it could have been worse.

Now the calendar has turned, and March is looking much more favorable. And, as an added bonus, tonight we will field our entire roster for the first time this season. Tyronn Lue, who has been out for the last 10 games and was heavily limited before that, will be returning to the court. He is still not 100%, but with the addition of Anthony Johnson to the mix, hopefully between him, AJ, and Speedy, we will finally be able to get the production from the 1 spot that we've been lacking on a consistent basis.

Washington will be getting healthy tonight as well, as apparently both Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison will be making their returns from injuries. The Wizards have been struggling of late, so they too will be gunning to get back on the right track. Fortunately for us, no one on our team appears to have any beef with Agent Zero, so Gilbert Arenas doesn't have any particular vengeance planned for the evening.

The Wiz have given us fits over the last few years with their ability to score in bunches. To beat them tonight on their home court, we are going to have to keep them from going on those kinds of runs. We have been impressive in the last few weeks in our ability to come back from deficits, and that is commendable, but we need to keep those to a minimum if we want to get back in the playoff race.

I said I'd be happy getting one of three from our home slate of San Antonio, Houston, and Phoenix, and we got that. Then I said we needed to get at least one of this three-game road trip. Well, we couldn't get it done in Dallas or OK City, which leaves tonight. A big road win would give the team confidence before they return home tomorrow night for a home date vs. the Knicks, another team trying to make headway towards the 8 spot in the East.

We are healthy now, and we are playing well if not winning. Tonight's the night to start the move if we are going to make it.

Tune in to SportSouth at 7:00 ET to see how it plays out.

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Tonight is going to be a big night at Philips (as I may have just written in the title to this post). Not only are the Mamba-led Lakers in town, but tonight is our first-ever Blog Night as well. Over a dozen Atlanta-area bloggers are signed up to come down, laptops in tow, to provide you with their thoughts and analysis of the game as it happens (or soon thereafter, it's entirely up to them).

The Hawks will be looking for their second win in two days, thanks to yesterday's 101-99 win at New Jersey courtesy of your favorite braided Hawk and mine, Tyronn Lue. Lue downplayed his efforts slightly when I spoke to him about his game-winning buzzer-beater this morning, but if you watch the highlight of the play (which I have done several times already this morning), you can see just how excited the team (and Lue himself) was to come out of the Meadowlands with such an important victory.

Joe Johnson once again was spectacular, continuing his All-Star retribution tour by dropping 37 points on the Nets and their two All-Stars Vince Carter and Jason Kidd, but this game was a team effort. Everyone who played chipped in, including Speedy Claxton, who continues to show a little rust from his layoff. His offense may not be where he'd like it to be yet, but defensively, Claxton made two plays yesterday that were complete difference makers - the charge he drew late in regulation against a streaking Kidd, and then his pilfering of Carter with 33 ticks left in overtime and the Hawks clinging to a one-point lead.

Neither of the Hawks floor-generals are even close to 100% right now, but yesterday gave a tantalizing preview once again of some of the things they are capable of when they are up and running.

Tonight's game is going to be a tough one, no doubt, as any game is against a team with Kobe Bryant on the roster. Hawks assistant coach Greg Ballard said in breaking down the Lakers this morning that Bryant isn't the only one to focus on - Lamar Odom and company will be every bit as important to focus on tonight in order for the Hawks to win.

We have seen the Hawks play much improved basketball over the last couple weeks, winning five of their last seven. Still, this is the kind of game they need to win to show they have really put the slump of late December-early January to rest.

Can they get it done? Join us and a chunk of the Atlanta blogging community tonight at Philips and find out!

See you there!

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