Fresh Loaf

In today’s AJC, Hawks beat writer Sekou Smith predicts the team will draft 19-year-old center Yi Jianlian, a 7-footer from China. Under Smith’s scenario, Memphis will then draft Al Horford rather than Ohio State point guard Mike Conley, allowing Conley to still be available at the No. 11 spot, where the Hawks will nab him.

One presumes Smith’s picks are “informed,” since he covers the Hawks. I actually like the way this could shake out. Jianlian has very nice physical skills and Conley has the potential to be an impact player. Plus, the Hawks’ two glaring needs are at center and point guard.

If the Hawks do go in this direction — and most mock drafts have them selecting Horford with the No. 3 pick and Memphis selecting Conley at No. 4 — it could well be the draft that finally turns the team around.

Or am I just being overly optimistic?

Here’s Jianlian at his NBA workout:

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Two days before the NBA draft Thursday, SI.com’s Kelly Dwyr takes the occasion to rank the NBA’s general managers. According to the list, the Hawks’ Billy Knight should be grateful that Michael Jordan and Kevin McHale are in the NBA; otherwise, Knight would have ranked dead last. Writes Dwyr:

Knight is the biggest reason why the Hawks can’t get out of the lottery. For starters, Knight continually suggests that he’s often after the best player available in the draft, which would be an admirable philosophy if he actually selected the best players available. Instead, the Hawks have gone with Josh Childress (instead of Luol Deng, Andre Iguodala or Al Jefferson), Marvin Williams (instead of Chris Paul or Deron Williams), and Shelden Williams (instead of Brandon Roy, Randy Foye or Rudy Gay) in three consecutive drafts. He also sent two first-round picks and Boris Diaw to Phoenix for the right to pay Joe Johnson.

Bottom line: The Hawks are stuck with a swingman-heavy roster of young talent. If they keep their two lottery picks (third and 11th), they’ll be a few million under the salary cap this summer, though we’re not entirely sure if this is a good thing. Knight’s two veteran signings from last summer, Speedy Claxton and Lorenzen Wright, were two of the worst rotation players in the NBA in 2006-07.

And now, without further ado, Fresh Loaf’s look at the possible Hawks to come out of the draft. This is something of a long shot, but today: Florida’s JoaKim Noah.

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We continue with Fresh Loaf’s preview of Thursday’s NBA draft, with the Atlanta Hawks holding two of the first 11 selections. If the Hawks take Al Horford of Florida with the third pick, then they’ll likely take point guard Acie Law with the 11th overall pick. Scouts say Law has a tremendous upside. Here’s a report:

By the way, Bill Simmons of ESPN.com has his own take on Thursday’s NBA draft and what the Hawks should do, with a not-so-subtle dig at Hawks GM Billy Knight’s draft acumen:

Al Horford is the third-best prospect, the most NBA-ready rookie outside of Oden and Durant, a potential All-Star and someone who will demand double-teams by the All-Star break of his second season. Since the Hawks don’t have a similar player on their roster, you’d think they would make room for him. You would think. Of course, from a comedy standpoint, nothing would be funnier than the Hawks finally picking a point guard (in this case, Mike Conley) during the one draft when they clearly should have taken the best player on the board (Horford). If this happens, we need to schedule a three-on-three game every All-Star Weekend — Conley, Marvin Williams and Shelden Williams against Chris Paul, Brandon Roy and Horford — with drunken, bitter Hawks fans announcing the contest with Billy Knight. That could even surpass the Bavetta-Barkley footrace.

The VP’s verdict: Take Horford. Please. Just do it.

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Continuing our look at the Hawks’ prospects in the June 28 NBA Draft with the No. 3 pick, today we feature UNC’s Brandan Wright, a 6-foot-10-inch power forward with a strong inside game. Scouts say that Wright is still raw, but has tremendous potential. See for yourself:

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Today, Fresh Loaf continues with its preview of the June 28 NBA Draft. There is much speculation that the Atlanta Hawks will select power forward Al Horford with its No. 3 pick and that point guard Michael Conley could fall to No. 11, and the Hawks could pick up the point guard they so desperately need there.

Here’s a preview of Horford:

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The NBA Draft is June 28, and today we begin a series of previews of the players who are on the radar of the Atlanta Hawks, who have picks No. 3 and No. 11.

First up, Mike Conley Jr. The Hawks’ point guard of the future?

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The latest from ESPN.com’s Chad Ford on the June 28 NBA draft offers a very intriguing possibility: Maybe the Hawks are bluffing when they hint that they covet Al Horford. From Ford:

The Hawks drafted a power forward with the No. 5 pick in 2006 — Shelden Williams. Recent Atlanta draft picks Marvin Williams (2005, No. 2 overall) and Josh Smith (2004, No. 17) also share time at power forward.

And what we’re hearing this year? Another power forward with the No. 3 pick.

The Hawks do need rebounding and Horford is the No. 3 player on our Top 100, so why am I scratching my head? Because if it’s true that the Hawks are taking Horford, it continues Atlanta’s strange pattern of taking players that duplicate each other.

But many scouts believe Horford is the third-best player in the draft, and he would be a big upgrade over Shelden Williams.

One alternative theory on Horford has to be sprung: Perhaps the Hawks are bluffing in an effort to get Memphis and Milwaukee, both of which love Horford, to try to trade up.

I’m with Ford. Using that pick on Horford makes no sense, even if he’s better than Shelden Williams. Pick Horford, and the Hawks are essentially saying, “Oops, we sure screwed up that No. 5 pick last year, so let’s forget we had a draft that year.”

That would be a No. 3 pick, a No. 2 pick, a No. 17 pick and a No. 5 pick all at the same position.

Is that a “keep doing until you get it right” kind of deal? Or do we simply detect a pattern of mediocrity?

I just hope Billy Knight has taken up poker.

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With the NBA draft just 10 days away, ESPN.com’s Chad Ford has posted a new mock draft (available with membership only) that predicts the Hawks will take Florida’s Al Horford, yet another mid-sized big man.

How many is that now?

If Hawks GM Billy Knight really does plan to waste the No. 3 pick on something he already has on the roster, five-fold, will somebody please fire him before the draft and bring in a general manager who has at least some basketball sense?

As Ford notes:

Since the Hawks drafted a similar, albeit inferior, player last year when they took Shelden Williams, it’s a little surprising that the Hawks would opt for Horford — especially when they really need a player like Conley.

But then again, it’s the kind of thing we’ve come to expect from the Hawks.

If they draft Horford, they’ll probably opt for a point guard at No. 11, but the chances of landing Conley that late in the lottery are slim. Instead, the Hawks will have to settle for a combo guard like Acie Law or a project like Javaris Crittenton.

Knight and his cohorts have already set the franchise back years. And instead of picking Conley — the point guard who can make this puzzle work — the Hawks are instead opting for something they already have?

There’s an outside chance that the Hawks can pick up Horford with the No. 3 pick, and still get Conley with No. 11. In fact, that’s a scenario offered by NBA Draftnet. But it’s a long shot at best.

Maybe Knight will surprise us. Maybe he will, at long last, resuscitate this franchise. But based on the latest speculation, we’re not holding our breath.

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In honor of the NBA Finals, here’s a classic from a one of a kind who once wore an Atlanta Hawks uniform but never won a championship: “Pistol” Pete Maravich.

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More than a week later and we’re still scratching our heads over AJC Hawks beat writer Sekou K. Smith’s loving, warm-fuzzy profile of Hawks GM Billy Knight, who, with the luck of the bounce, went from the doghouse to the penthouse in the June 28 NBA Draft by getting the third pick. It was the best-case scenario, as Knight is now able to keep both first-rounders (from Phoenix and Indiana) and will draft third and 11th.

Maybe Smith was just trying to put out some positive mojo for Knight, who, by most objective observers, is one of the league’s worst GMs. Here’s but another observation from the blog site Can Danny, which placed Knight in the “Bottom of the Barrell [sic]” category with the following observation:

That Marvin Williams pick is looking worse and worse. And while Knight lucked out in getting a #3 pick, that could turn out to be a one year reprieve as the Suns get the Hawks pick next year regardless of where it is and right now, it’s looking like it’ll be in the lottery. Billy’s got the pieces to make some moves this offseason but what he doesn’t have are the pieces to make a playoff team. If Knight doesn’t clean up the mess of a roster he’d made, the Suns will be sitting pretty in ’08.

Amen, blogger!

While I would like to be included in that cynical group that believes this year’s draft crop is vastly overrated, with Brandan Wright, Al Horford and Yi Jianlian, it’s got just the type of “project” and “glass ceiling”-type big men Knight seems to lust over. (See Williamses Marvin and Shelden.)

Billy, we may not love ya, but we still have hope you’ll do the right thing, suck it up and draft Ohio State point guard Mike Conley Jr. at No. 3 (or trade to move down a few slots and get him later). While Boston GM Danny Ainge is creating a South Georgia-sized smoke screen by putting it out there that he covets Jianlian, he’d be a fool not to take Conley, who may only need one year of NBA seasoning before he breaks out.

Currently, NBADraft.net and Draft Express have Atlanta taking Brandan Wright at No. 3 (ugh!).

But if Knight grabs another mediocre big man or small forward (though Corey Brewer, Jeff Green and Julian Wright are intriguing) to add to his not-so-bumper crop, it’ll be a wasted draft.

At least Smith, blogging from Orlando’s draft camp, says the prevailing winds suggest Conley’s the best choice.

Pull the trigger, Billy. Get straight to the point, and out of the barrel.

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In honor of the NBA playoffs (and that the Atlanta Hawks are, once again, not in the post-season), we present this classic “Kiss Cam” clip from a Hawks game. Our favorite part is that two fights almost break out between kissers and kissees.

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If I’m the Atlanta Hawks, I’m day-dreaming. What if I could draft Greg Oden and Michael Conley? Right now, the Hawks are considered the next home for Conley, the point guard who led his Lawrence North high school team to three-straight Indiana championships and then led Ohio State to the NCAA championship game in Atlanta this spring. And make no mistake, Conley was Ohio State’s most valuable player.

Oden, of course, is the best center prospect since Shaq.

But what if the Hawks get both? Oden and Conley — two dominating players who have been on the court together since the sixth grade? As Dick Vitale might say, we’re talking chemistry, baby!

The thing is: It could happen. According to ESPN.com’s intriguing mock draft, the Hawks have an 11.9 percent chance to win the top pick of the draft. That’s where it gets a little complicated. If the pick is one of the top three, then the Hawks have two first-round picks. If it’s below the top three, then Phoenix gets the pick courtesy of the trade that brought Joe Johnson to the team.

They also have the 11th pick of the draft, thanks to the Al Harrington trade to Indiana, which is where they are likely to pick up Conley, the point guard the Hawks so desperately need.

And if they get Oden and Conley? I have five words for you: Boston Celtics of the ’60s.

Yes, I am absolutely serious. Give the Hawks a Bill Russell-like center and a Bob Cousy-like point guard, and they’ll win for years. It’s the two links the team has been missing. Get Conley and Oden, and let the Hawks Dynasty begin.

Just day-dreaming …

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Even though I missed with my prediction that Ohio State’s Greg Oden would stay in school another year, the news that he and teammate Mike Conley will both enter the NBA draft brings interesting possibilities for the Atlanta Hawks.

With his incredible performance in the NCAA tournament, Conley has turned himself into the top point guard in this year’s draft. No NBA team needs a point guard more than the Hawks, someone who can lead a team on the court and distribute the ball and take over a game when he has to.

Mike Conley, meet the Atlanta Hawks.

The Hawks have the 12th pick of the draft and ESPN’s Chad Ford is already projecting that Atlanta will select Conley.

I watched Conley play high school ball with Oden at Lawrence North in Indiana, and the NCAAs were no illusion. He was the same player in high school. He’s the real deal. And if the Hawks draft him, the city should jump for joy because Conley will become the team’s missing link.

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