Since storming the court doesn't happen regularly enough to contribute sufficient blog posts, you blog readers will have to be the subject of our thoughts and musings on the world of sports in between court stormings. Thankfully, we will spare you Nascar (at least I hope). Anyway, today's thoughts take us to the beloved Atlanta Hawks. These Hawks are an interesting team to follow, with 2 excellent frontcourt players in Al Horford and Josh Smith, an extremely overpaid All Star 2-guard in Joe Johnson, and, until the departure of Mike Bibby, a coaching staff who doesn't think holding veteran players accountable for their deficiencies is a good idea (have you seen Mike Bibby and Jamal Crawford play defense at the same time? And you concluded this was your best path to victory?). It makes you wonder what would happen to the head coach's son if he was held accountable for his play (i.e. turnovers) at a major Division 1 basketball powerhouse...
But anyway, the main topic of the day will focus on the failed roster construction of the Hawks, which most recently reared it ugly head in last Monday's loss to the Nuggets. With Kirk Hinrich out injured and Josh Smith picking one up in the first half, Larry Drew's had these choices for his 3 perimeter positions: Jeff Teague (whom they've refused to develop this year), Joe Johnson, Jamal Crawford, Marvin Williams, and Damien Wilkins (who didn't even have a team at the beginning of the season). To make matters worse, Marvin Williams had to match up at the 4 for long stretches of the 4th quarter. Why is this you might ask? Lets see the roster breakdown:
Point Guards- Kirk Hinrich, Jeff Teague
Shooting Guards-Joe Johnson, Jamal Crawford
Small Forwards-Marvin Williams, Damien Wilkins (Pape Sy hasn't dressed once all year, so he doesn't count in my book)
Power Forwards-Josh Smith, Josh Powell
Center-Al Horford, Zaza Pachulia, Jason Collins, Etan Thomas, Hilton Armstrong
Am I missing something here? How the hell did 5 centers make it onto a roster of 14 players? To make matters worse, 3 of them happen to be useless, and they are all making the veteran's minimum salary this year, which stands at a little bit over $850,000 this year. This is significant because the Hawks are about $100,000 below the luxury tax line, which means that their ownership(the penny pinching Atlanta Spirit Group) will not let them sign another player. If, for example, the Hawks had drafted a young big man in the 2nd round (with, i don't know, the 1st pick of the second round, instead of selling it) and kept him on the roster to play the "Etan Thomas role" (playing 42 minutes total this season), the Hawks could have paid him about $400,000 less than Etan Thomas (i.e. rookie minimum), which, you know, becomes significant when the $400,000 you saved could have been used to a) hire the coach you actually wanted, or b) get yourself far enough below the luxury tax line where you could sign a 15th player and provide extra perimeter depth to a roster that needs it. Plus, a young player or two could conceivably develop into a more valuable asset down the road, which is something that Jason Collins, Etan Thomas, Hilton Armstrong, and Josh Powell do not have any hope of providing.
Now that we have covered the money part of why it makes no sense to have 4 useless veteran frontcourt players on your roster, lets now break down what Rick Sund must have been thinking when he acquired all of these guys. Actually, I won't be able to do that, because I frankly have no idea what he was thinking. Consider Jason Collins' PER breakdown over the 4 prior years(data from John Hollinger) goes like this: 3.02, 3.40, 3.29, .96. With numbers like that, I wish he pitched for the Atlanta Braves! Hilton Armstrong played for 3 teams last year because he couldn't shoot over 40% from the field for any of them, while also providing hands of stone and being allergic to rebounding. Etan Thomas is the only one of the four who was a quality NBA player in his past. Unfortunately, the last time he contributed anything useful was in 2007.
Which now brings us to Josh Powell. NBA analysts everywhere laud how valuable his championship experience is, my favorite of which was Kenny Smith breaking Powell's contributions down during halftime of the Hawks/Celtics game earlier this year. High comedy. However, I'm in the faction of people who think that championship experience is only valuable when, you know, you can actually play. Consider that he shot 36% from the floor last year with the Lakers, while also proving that he can't rebound at all either. His most damning contributions though are just how bad his teams have been when he's on the floor. Have a look at the his on court/off court numbers per 100 possessions from the last 3 years, 2 years with the Lakers and this year with the Hawks (thanks to basketballvalue.com).
Year / On Court numbers / Off Court Numbers
08-09 / -8.45 /+11.85
09-10 /-5.71 /+6.76
10-11 /-11.36 /+3.75
The evidence is there that Josh Powell helped turn 2 championship teams with the Lakers into the Minnesota Timberwolves when he was on the floor, which is not an easy feat. And, quite predictably, he's continued to do the same damage with the Atlanta Hawks. This data was available to Rick Sund if he wanted it, but I guess he saw something in his play that he thought would bring value. Of course, if you watch him play, you would see somebody with no competitive fire who can't finish at the rim, rebound, is clueless defending a pick and roll, and doesn't provide any resistance defensively at the rim. That's a lethal combination for a player who is a current part of your rotation. Of course, if Sund had done his homework before signing Powell by not constructing an extremely flawed roster(which seems to have been completely avoidable by studying tape and looking at stats, both of which prove that all of those guys can't play at all), Josh Powell and his championship experience would be in the perfect role for himself. Which is in a suit, behind the bench, right next to Pape Sy.
The moral of the story is, investing more money into players who you already know will provide nothing is a flawed strategy when you can save money on a younger player who might become something, whether its now or in the future. You'd think an NBA front office could figure this out.
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