The All-Time Drafted By the Hawks But Never Played For the Hawks Team

Inspired by this post at Hardwood Paroxysm:

PG -- Bob Cousy
2G -- John Williamson
SF -- David Thompson
PF --Pau Gasol
C --Bill Russell
6th man -- Wayne Embry

Honorable mention to Hall of Famer Arvydas Sabonis since the Hawks drafted him but did so before Sabonis turned 21. The pick was voided so they never really held his rights.

Leave your corrections, commiserations and caterwauling in the comments.

Hardwood Paroxysm: Trade Winds, Vol. 1: Atlanta Hawks

Over at Hardwood Paroxysm, Sean Highkin takes a look at the the five best and five worst trades in the history of the Hawks franchise. Either I really overrate the value of two first-round draft picks and the averageness of Boris Diaw (freed from Mike Woodson, natch) or the Hawks haven't made very many good trades. Maybe both.

Also, trading Bill Russell certainly puts not drafting Chris Paul into perspective.

Al Horford as a First Offensive Option

I haven't seen a second of the FIBA Americas tournament and doubt that we should take too much away from a competition that's significantly different from NBA basketball but John Schuhmann's report on Canada's 73-72 upset of the Dominican Republic offers little encouragement that Al Horford is ready to be a first offensive option for a successful team:

Al Horford finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, but shot just 5-for-16 from the field. Canada swarmed him whenever he got the ball inside, willing to let his teammates try to beat them.

Basketball's a game of context so, from a Hawks-centric perspective, there's a difference in how teams will defend Horford when he's playing alongside Francisco Garcia and Charlie Villanueva* than when he's playing alongside Joe Johnson and Josh Smith.

*Schuhmann, again:

At this point, it’s no longer newsworthy that both Francisco Garcia and Charlie Villanueva have been awful in this tournament. Garcia scored 12 points, but six of them came in the final four seconds on threes that didn’t affect the outcome. Villanueva had four fouls and four turnovers in eight minutes. Going forward, we’ll note Garcia’s or Villanueva’s play when they actually perform like one of the most talented players on the floor.