May 18th – NBA Draft Lottery
While the Hawks have no ping-pong balls in this year’s lottery, the outcome of next week’s event still demands your attention. The outcome of the lottery has a domino effect that influences team needs, free agent signings, and players under contract who suddenly become expendable.

May 19th-23rd – NBA Draft Combine in Chicago

June 1st or 3rd – Start of the NBA Finals

June 17th – Latest possible date for Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals

June 24th – NBA Draft

July – Summer League Action
Last summer the Hawks did not field a summer league team but instead opted to hold a “rookie camp” in-house. There were rumors that the Rocky Mountain Revue would return this summer, but the Deseret News reported earlier today that it would not.  That leaves the NBA Summer League in Vegas, a league in Orlando run by the Magic, and a possible third league in Chicago as options should the Hawks put together a team.

July 1st – Teams can negotiate with free agents (must wait until the July Moratorium ends on July 8 to sign)

First place halfway through, three potential all stars, a great home record and still half a season to go. What did you expect from the Hawks? Did you expect them to be in first place, be one of the highest scoring teams in the league or having one of the best home records?  Did you expect them to beat the Celtics three consecutive times and get two wins in Boston? Did you expect the national media to pick up additional Hawks games throughout the year?

The players, coaching staff and ownership are not shocked one bit. The team has worked hard, learned to play well together, and is progressing nicely in the 2009-2010 campaign.

The Hawks started off hot and with the exception of a four game slide, have been a consistent team in the win column. It seems the team has learned not to let bad habits linger for long, and has figured out how to not one bad game snowball into a bad week or month. While there are times where the starts are slow and shot selection could be better, the good far exceeds the bad and this team has earned the top spot in the division. Can they hold it?  Here are some quotes on the first 41.

COACH MIKE WOODSON

“I like the direction that we are going, losses are tougher to swallow because expectations are high.”

JOSH SMITH

“Feels good, we just have to stay focused and not look at the standings and come out and play.”

MO EVANS

“We feel like we are right where we want to be and we still gave away few games that we felt like we should have had.  If we learn and put this chemistry together we can go really far.”

MARVIN WILLIAMS

“We’ve gotten off to a pretty good start, our goal was to get 50-plus wins and get home court advantage throughout the playoffs. We can’t have too many let downs.” 

ZAZA

“We had a good first half and we are looking forward to a better second half.”

JOE JOHNSON

“Our effort has to pickup in the first quarter, we can’t have mishaps in games we are supposed to win so we need to come out and handle business.”

OWNER BRUCE LEVENSON

“We couldn’t have asked for anymore than what we got this first half … I like this team I like this locker room.”

OWNER ED PESKOWITZ

“The team has just come together and is much better.  Jamal has made a great difference you can see a lot of chemistry, it’s really exciting. This team is really really competitive.”

THE GOOD TIMES OF THE FIRST HALF

The Hawks have had some memorable moments in the first 41 games this year here are a few:

Beating the Celtics three straight times, Jamal Crawford’s buzzer beater against the Suns, Smooth’s buzzer beater against the Rockets, the red jerseys, winning in Dallas, the largest crowd in Philips Arena History against the Cavs , the return of Mario West (Feel free to fill in the blanks).

THE BAD

Some things did not go the Hawks’ way in the first 41, but the sting of the not so good should be used to motivate the guys to not let them happen again.  I’m sure we all remember these:

The entire game against the Magic in Orlando in Orlando, The first half in Miami, the fourth quarter against Cleveland (10 points), two home losses against the Knicks, and who could forget Nate Robinson in overtime!

WHAT TO WATCH FOR IN SECOND HALF

Trade deadline- Is the team fine as currently constructed or will Gm Rick Sund pull the trigger on a move to make the team more devastating?  What do you think?

Mesmerizing  the Magic-The Hawks are in first place against the Magic, but Orlando owns the tie breaker. Figuring out how to beat this team will be huge for the standings and for a mental standpoint.

Beating Beatable and Bad Teams-With the Cavs, Celtics, Magic and Hawks close together not giving games away will be crucial in the second half.  If a team has a losing record they should be beaten. You can’t win them all, but imagine if the loses to the Knicks, Pistons, the Hornets without Chris Paul, had gone in favor of the Hawks.

“BOB-HAWKS”

Five former Hawks will be in the house on Friday as Acie Law, Stephen Jackson, Boris Diaw ,Nazr Mohammed and Flip Murray all return to the highlight factory as the enemy.  Charlotte is a very dangerous team and this will be a highly competitive game.  Great plays, three pointers, and blocked shots will be coming from both teams. Flip Murray was replaced by Jamal Crawford so that will be a production battle to watch. Flip was a fan favorite…but Jamal is better.

We know frontcourt depth is a priority, and yet we also know that with Al Horford, Josh Smith, and Zaza Pachulia in the fold, there aren’t a ton of leftover minutes laying around. That being the case, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find someone willing to take on a back-up role who brings all the things to the table that Joe Smith does. Namely:

- He can shoot. Joe Smith is a reliable perimeter shooter, which is something the Hawks have been missing in the frontcourt for awhile now. That’s not meant as a slight against the returning players, but I think we can all agree that Al, Josh, and Zaza all do their best work close to the basket. Joe can do work down low as well, but I think Coach Woodson will enjoy having him at his disposal for his pick-and-pop capabilities.

- He knows his role. One thing Rick Sund talks about in discussing the success of last year was the Hawks’ roster being more accepting of their roles than in the past. With minutes scarce, you want to know that anyone you bring in isn’t going to start chafing about playing time and potentially cause chemistry issues in the locker room. Joe Smith knows that at this stage in his career he is not going to be asked to log 30+ minutes every night, and at the risk of speaking for him, I daresay I think he’s ok with that.

- He’s versatile. Hey, you can’t be a Hawk if you can’t play multiple positions, right? At 6-10, Smith is capable of filling in at both the center and power forward spots, and I imagine he’ll end up having to play some of both as the season progresses. You’d love to think that everyone on the team will be available for 82 games, but it’s unlikely. Injuries aside, Joe will fit right in with the Hawks big men and allow Coach Woodson to consider a multitude of frontcourt combinations.

- He’s a veteran. Though the Hawks have been to the postseason the past two years, they still have a bit of the reputation of youth – that is to say, their confidence seems to wax and wane at times during the season and they struggle to maintain intensity. Joe Smith has been in the league 14 years, and he’s played on some pretty good teams in that span. I feel confident that his presence in the locker room will come in handy several times over the course of the 82 games (and more?) to come.

If there is any downside to this signing, it’s that the similarity of names (Joe Johnson, Joe Smith, Josh Smith) on the Hawks roster will potentially make discussing them very confusing. I’m sure we’ll manage though – at least until this guy decides to take up hoops.

Let us know what you think about the newest member of the squad in the comments!

UPDATE: Joe Smith talks about joining the Hawks

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!

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?

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).