The Atlanta Hawks were finally able to beat the Orlando Magic, and they also have their future at point guard figured out with the emergence of Jeff Teague in the playoffs. Larry Drew did a poor job of coaching during the regular season, but he actually made some good decisions in the playoffs. They were never going to beat the Bulls but taking the best team in the NBA to six games is certainly something to be proud of. The future looks bright in Atlanta, and this team could challenge for the Conference Title with another big man.

Jamal Crawford was huge for them in the playoffs, and he's a very important piece for the Hawks. They might lose him because they didn't give him an extension last year. He is set to become a free agent, and it doesn't seem as if he wants to re-sign with the Hawks. That would be a huge loss for them because Crawford is their second best scorer and second best shooter. That's because there's this guy named Joe Johnson on the Hawks.

Al Horford is the Hawks' only proven big man, and they don't really have a pure center who is capable of starting every game in a season. Jason Collins and Zaza Pachuila are backups. The Hawks may not even be able to sign that kind of a player because they don't really have much money right now.

So let's pretend that Crawford was not re-signed, and the Hawks were able to keep everyone else. Let's also say that they didn't get a good rookie- they traded their first rounder for Kirk Hinrich- and they didn't sign a free agent or make a trade. I think they would still be able to make the playoffs with his hypothetical roster. They would be a one-and-done team, so this highlights the importance of Crawford. The Hawks really need to sign Crawford and/or a solid true center. Below are my rankings of the players on the Hawks.

1. SG Joe Johnson
2. C Al Horford
3. SF Josh Smith
4. SG Jamal Crawford
5. PG Kirk Hinrich
6. SF Marvin Williams
7. PG Jeff Teague (He needs some more seasoning, but he'll develop enough to get into the top five on the team)
8. C Zaza Pachuila
9. C Jason Collins
10. SG/SF Damien Wilkins

Will He Re-Sign?

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Posted By: Joe Soriano - Category: NBA, Bulls, Hawks, Kirk Hinrich, Jeff Teague, Joe Johnson, Jamal Crawford, Marvin Williams, Zaza Pachuila, Josh Smith, Al Horford, Jason Collins, Larry Drew, Damien Wilkins, Magic

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2010 PSW NBA Defensive POY

April 20th 2011 14:44

I am going to take a break from the NHL awards and give out my award for the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year. This award was easily given out to Dwight Howard (his 3rd straight). I have no disagreements with this, and I will show you my statistical reasoning for picking Howard.
Defensive Player of the Year

Orlando Magic C Dwight Howard

Dwight Howard is an incredible defender; we all know that. The defenders around him are poor, so he has to make up for a lack of defensive talent. Hedo Turkoglu, Gilbert Arenas, and Quentin Richardson are three of the worst players in the league. Reserve point guard Chris Duhon is another horrible defender. Howard has dominated the middle, and that has been all they have needed to have the third highest defensive efficiency in the league as well as the second best rebounding rate. That's all Howard.

Howard put an exclamation point on his latest trophy by packing Kirk Hinrich in the Magic's playoff win. In total, Superman had 33 points while shoring up 17 boards. He had the 4th best total rebounding rate, but more importantly, the best defensive plays average. This is the average number of blocks, steals, and charges drawn per game. Basically everything from Howard was blocks, but it definitely shouldn't draw any complaints.

Ryan Anderson was 31st in the league in total rebounding rate of all forwards, which is a decent mark but nothing special. I mean, it took a lot from Dwight Howard to even be the 2nd best rebounding team in the NBA with only Anderson posting solid numbers. By the way, Hedo Turkoglu was among the worst rebounders in the NBA last year. We can all agree that Howard was the best defensive player in the 2010-2011 season. It's remarkable that Howard alone made his team one of the best rebounding and defensive teams in the league. His season was the equivalent to a 25-7-7 season for a defensive player.

2010 PSW DPOY

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Posted By: Joe Soriano - Category: NBA, Hawks, Kirk Hinrich, Magic, Dwight Howard, Jason Richardson, Hedo Turkoglu, Ryan Anderson, Chris Duhon, Quentin Richardson, Gilbert Arenas

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4/11 Game Preview: Heat and Hawks

April 11th 2011 14:35

The Heat are currently in a vicious battle with the Celtics for the East's number two seed. They may have the upper hand now after finally beating the Celtics in a 100-77 statement win that featured an insane block from Dwayne Wade and an even more impressive performance from LeBron James. The Hawks are going to be the 5th seed in the East, and they will pose a challenge for the Heat who are looking to distance themselves from the Celtics in the standings.

The Hawks have been playing poor defense of late, and they have to get back on track against a team that will rip them apart if they do not defend well. Offensively, the Hawks have to be able to spread the ball around. They can do that with guys like Kirk Hinrich, Al Horford, and Joe Johnson. Hinrich is the X-Factor in this game. He is Bibby's replacement, and he can burn up the former Hawk as Bibby is one of the worst defensive point guards in the game.

The Heat's bench is far worse than the Hawks' solid bench. Jamal Crawford is the best scoring sixth man in the NBA, Marvin Williams is a solid bench player, and Zaza Pachuila is much better than James Jones and Joel Anthony. Mike Miller is the only worthwhile bench player for the Heat.

Josh Smith needs to be able to key in on LeBron James. Now is not the time for him to risk everything for a chase-down block. Jeff Teague is another interesting player in this game. If Teague gets to play against Bibby, I could see him hassling the veteran point guard from time to time. Teague is a solid defensive player, and he is very quick.

The Hawks are the better team on the interior and have more depth, but the Heat's big three is extremely athletic. They're on a mission, and they have the main intangible coming into this game; hunger. I don't like to use the saying "They want it more" as a key factor in deciding a game, but I do use it as a minor intangible factor because this mentality does exist in games. The Hawks aren't playing for anything. They already know their seed. I see this being a tight game, but LeBron's star power gets the Heat by a difficult test.

Pushing for 2 in East

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Posted By: Joe Soriano - Category: NBA, NBA Predictions, Celtics, Hawks, Kirk Hinrich, Jeff Teague, Joe Johnson, Jamal Crawford, Marvin Williams, Zaza Pachuila, Josh Smith, Al Horford, Heat, LeBron James, Mike Bibby, Dwayne Wade, James Jones NBA, Joel Anthony, Mike Miller

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3/8 Game Preview: Lakers and Hawks

March 8th 2011 14:19

The Los Angeles Lakers are coming off of a remarkable 99-82 shredding of the San Antonio Spurs, while the Hawks are coming off of a 92-79 loss against the Knicks. They were horrible offensively in that game, and they cannot afford to do that poorly against a far better Lakers team. The Lakers won the last meeting between these two teams, and they are the favorites heading into this game- for good reason. So let's kick back and preview the biggest matchup of tonight in the NBA.

Kirk Hinrich really gives this team a point guard that isn't a liability in defense. He is much quicker than Mike Bibby, and thus doesn't get burned by the quicker point guards out there. Derek Fisher isn't a quick PG at all, so I think Hinrich matches up pretty well against him. Hinrich is a great passer that is average in everything else. Defensively, I think Fisher doesn't really do much against him. He can hit some shots if he gets open, but that's the furthest impact I think he can have offensively in this one. Maybe Steve Blake is the man that shows up today at the point for LA. Hinrich is better than all the point guards that Los Angeles has.

Joe Johnson will either have a great game, or his shot will struggle. However, he is one of the best players in the game and is underrated because many people don't think of him of the superstar that he really is. Johnson is a solid defender, but his main asset is his offense. Backup shooting guard Jamal Crawford is arguably the best sixth man in the NBA, and he is a great scorer. I expect Kobe to get the best of him as Crawford is a poor defensive player.

Marvin Williams is a decent player that was supposed to be the next big thing, but he never ended up being that. I don't think he's bad, but Ron Artest will switch off of him and start guarding Joe Johnson and Crawford during the game and let the big guys take care of things in the interior. Josh Smith has become a good inside presence instead of just a walking highlight reel chase down blocker that got burned. Smith is solid offensively, but he will get killed on the boards by Pau.

Andrew Bynum will have a lot of fun against Al Horford. It's not that Horford isn't a good player, it's just that he isn't a true center, and he gets exposed by guys like Bynum. Bynum is a rugged defensive player that powers you down and rips you on the boards, especially when you're a soft center. Luke Walton and Zaza Pachuila won't make much of an impact on the game, but I think Jeff Teague's speed can stretch Fisher a little bit. I really don't think the bench is much of a factor in this game. Lamar Odom probably won't be better than average in this game. I think the Hawks lock him down.

The Lakers match up really well in this game. Their frontcourt is going to be too tough to stop. The Hawks might be able to frustrate Kobe, Odom, and easily handle Fisher; but I just don't see them being able to cope with Gasol and Bynum off the boards and in the paint. Ron Artest is also going to cause some problems for the Hawks offensively. I think the Lakers are able to take this game with a 99-90 score with Andrew Bynum as MVP.