Bleacher Report - Articles by Sutton Shirley

Targets for the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA Draft

Sutton Shirley — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:12:25 -0400

On Thursday night the Hawks will have some tough decisions to make. They have the 19th and the 51st picks in the NBA draft. I am going to list five candidates that Rick Sund should consider choosing at each spot.

1. Ty Lawson

Lawson may be gone when the 19th pick comes around, but if he isn't, Atlanta shouldn't hesitate to draft him. He lacks the superstar potential that other point guards in this draft have, but he is also one of the safest picks in the draft.

Lawson may not be an All-Star, but he will be a good starting point guard in the league for the next 10-12 years. If the Hawks choose Lawson, don't be surprised if Mike Bibby isn't re-signed.

2. Eric Maynor

If Lawson is gone by the 19th pick, then Eric Maynor should be available and he is the next-best thing.

He was a four-year starter at VCU, and has an extremely high basketball IQ. His jump shot is suspect at times, but that can always be improved. He reminds me a lot of Andre Miller.

3. B.J. Mullens

Mullens will more than likely be gone by the time the Hawks pick, but if he is available they definitely have to consider taking him. Legit seven-footers are hard to come by, and this man is every bit of sevenfeet.

He might end up being the next Kwame Brown, but he would be worth the risk if he was available this late.

4. Sam Young

Young should definitely be available at this point in the draft and he would allow the Hawks to go a different route this off season. He is an extremely strong player that plays good defense and has a decent post-up and mid-range game.

He is also extremely mature at the age of 24. If selected, I would assume the Hawks would use Marvin Williams in a sign and trade, and then resign Bibby. Young would either jump into Marvin's starting role, or become the sixth man and let Moe Evans start.

5. Tyler Hansbrough/Taj Gibson

I put both of these candidates on here because Hansbrough has been flying up draft boards the last week or so. Both guys could add much-needed depth at the power forward spot, though. Neither are going to be stars in the league, but both are adequate frontcourt depth.

For the second-round pick, I think the Hawks should pick an upperclassmen from college that should be able to make the team. They should pick one of these five players:

1. Alade Aminu

He is a shade shorter than seven feet, extremely athletic, has high character, and would bring relentless energy to the team. Think Anderson Varejao. He would provide insurance in case Atlanta can't re-sign Zaza Pachulia.

2. Toney Douglas

Douglas is the reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Year. He also led Florida State in scoring and was the team's leader in the locker room. Douglas tore up the ACC this past season and could immediately step in and fill the void that Flip Murray filled last season.

3. Goran Suton

Suton impressed me in the NCAA tournament. He has a nasty side, but also has some finesse to his game. He would be a good rotational big man to have on the bench.

4. Danny Green

Green was highly touted coming out of high school, but was overshadowed by bigger names at UNC. He could fill a vital roll of the bench for the Hawks playing back up shooting guard and small forward.

5. Jeff Adrien

Adrien is full of heart and hustle. He is also an extremely strong player. He would be a great addition to the Hawks bench. Think a combination between Jason Maxiell and Glen Davis.

Ten Bold Predictions for the 2009 College Football Season

Sutton Shirley — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:27:42 -0400

This football season presents a pleasant change from many. Instead of seeing a bunch of unprepared young men try to make the jump to the NFL, several premier underclassmen chose to return to college to try and accomplish more. I can never remember a season in which there were so many top tier players in college football. Whether it be Taylor Mays at USC, Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy in the Big 12, or Tim Tebow at Florida, there are big name players all over the country and all are on the same mission: To win a BCS National Championship. Last year ended with several teams staking claim as the best team in the nation. Florida, Texas and USC all had only one loss and many impressive wins, and Utah had zero blemishes on their record. Look for much of the same craziness this season, as their are more then two teams who will deserve to be competing in Pasadena for the crystal ball in January.

Begin Slideshow

Atlanta Hawks Offseason Moves

Sutton Shirley — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:51:37 -0400

No matter what happens during this playoff series between the Hawks and the Heat, the Atlanta organization has work to do this off season. The Hawks play eight players consistently: Mike Bibby, Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, Josh Smith, Al Horford, Flip Murray, Mo Evans, and Zaza Pachulia.

Half of these players are going to be free agents this off season, and for the Hawks to succeed they have to resign all of them, or fill their role with another similar player. Bibby, Williams, Murray, and Pachulia have expiring contracts adding up to approximately $27 million.

The first player the Hawks need to look at resigning is Marvin Williams. Williams is 24-years-old and has significantly improved his game from last season. He has become a consistent three point threat and is Atlanta’s best on ball defender. He complements Horford and Smith well in the front court and the three have chemistry together.

Since all three are under the age of 25, I think it would be best to keep these three players together and hope for the best. The only problem is Williams is going to be getting a decent sized raise from his rookie contract that just expired.

He was making less then $6 million this past season and will request a deal similar to the one Josh Smith received last season. I say give him a 4-5 year deal worth $40-45 million. I think this would be a fair deal for both parties.

The next big thing to discuss is the point guard situation. For the 2009-2010 season the Hawks have Acie Law as their only point guard on the roster. This isn’t a good thing. I think the Hawks need to address this issue with one of their draft picks, but they will still need a temporary solution for at least the next couple of seasons.

Jason Kidd, Mike Bibby, and Andre Miller are all coming off of contracts that paid them eight figures last season and all three will have to take less money to find a team next season. The question is, should the Hawks attempt to sign one of these three players. In my opinion they should not.

This season, Bibby has been great at times on the offensive end of the court. On the defensive end though he has been terrible. He is just to slow to keep up with most point guards nowadays. The same is a problem for Jason Kidd. Andre Miller isn’t much of a liability on the defensive end, but on the offensive end he is nowhere near as potent as Kidd or Bibby.

All three have their faults. Instead of trying to sign one of these guys I think they should pursue a trade for Kirk Hinrich, Jordan Farmar, or Rafer Alston. All three point guards should be on the trade market this off season. I will address this issue later on.

The third and fourth free agents for the Hawks are Flip Murray and Zaza Pachulia. Both players play crucial roles on the Hawks team, but neither are irreplaceable. Flip only made $1.5 million this past season and will request a lot more money for next season.

I’m not sure he is worth it, so if I was the Hawks I would let him walk. Zaza is coming off a season where he made $4 million a season. Zaza gives full effort night in and night out and he also knows the system and his role in the system. I think if he would resign a similar contract then I would jump on resigning him.

So, as of now the Hawks will have resigned Marvin Williams and Zaza Pachulia and let Bibby and Flip walk away. Now comes the draft. In the first round I think the Hawks should draft a point guard because this draft is full of young ones with loads of potential.

At the Hawks pick in the middle to late 1st round the Hawks should be able to draft one of the following players: Ty Lawson, Johnny Flynn, Jeff Teague, Patrick Mills, or Stephan Curry. This pick would give the Hawks a player that they could develop and eventually become the point guard of the future alongside the young front court they have.

In the second round the Hawks should draft Toney Douglas. Douglas is the reigning defensive player of the year in the ACC and led his team on the offensive end of the court as well. He is a combo guard much like Flip Murray is, except with better defensive abilities. He’d be a favorite of Woodson automatically just because of his defensive abilities.

After the draft the Hawks should reassess their roster. They will have two rookies in the three deep depth chart at point guard and an unproven third year player at the top of that list That is why they would need to seek a trade.

The Hawks have four assets to offer: Acie Law, Mo Evans, the rights to Speedy Claxton and the rights to Josh Childress. I think the Hawks should originally contact Chicago in efforts to acquire Kirk Hinrich. The rights to Josh Childress might be enough to do it. Rumor has it that Childress isn’t happy in Greece and is looking to get back into the United States at all costs.

The Bulls could use a good defensive oriented wing off the bench to complement Luol Deng and John Salmons. His versatility would also be extremely useful to the Bulls.

But, if Hinrich is unattainable, then I would go after Jordan Farmar from the Los Angeles Lakers. The last half of the season Phil Jackson has been using Shannon Brown as his backup point guard almost exclusively, thus leaving Farmar as third string. Farmar is a decent point guard, he just needs a change of scenery.

The Hawks could trade Mo Evans for Farmar straight up, and I think the Lakers would bite on the deal. Evans has played on the Lakers previously and would give them better three point shooting as well as decent wing defense. Atlanta could throw in Acie Law as well if they need to entice the Lakers with a little bit more.

Also if the Hawks end up doing this deal they could bring back over Josh Childress and use him to their own advantage. Before the arrival of Bibby, there were several late game scenarios when Josh Childress was used at point guard to play alongside Johnson, Williams, Smith, and Horford. This lineup could be used again, especially for defensive purposes.

With these moves the Hawks depth chart would be as followed:

Point Guard- Jordan Farmar-1st round pick-Toney Douglas
Shooting Guard-Joe Johnson-Toney Douglas-Mario West
Small Forward-Marvin Williams-Josh Childress
Power Forward-Josh Smith-Zaza Pachulia-Solomon Jones
Center-Al Horford-Zaza Pachulia-Randolph Morris

With this lineup the Hawks would get even younger, but have even more potential to make a run deeper in the playoffs.

Georgia Tech's Football Season Preview

Sutton Shirley — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 10:14:47 -0400

One hundred thirty-five days. Over four months before the first game of the season, and Tech fans couldn’t be more optimistic. I haven’t seen this much buzz about Tech football since 2001.

I’ve seen many Tech supporters predict an undefeated season, but I don’t see the future quite that bright. Here is a game by game breakdown and what I think will happen in each one.

Sept 5 - Jacksonville State

The Jackets are going to be stoked to get back on the field and try and make everyone forget about the LSU game. This game should get ugly early, but I do think Jackonville State will score some points. Final score, 66-21 Tech

Sept 10 - Clemson

Any game against Clemson is scary. Nonetheless Tech has won the past two in the series, and I have little faith in Dabo Swinney. C.J Spiller will have a good game, but not as good a game as his counterpart, Jonathon Dwyer, thus resulting in a Tech win, 31-23.

Sept 17 - @Miami

This game is a trap game for the Jackets. They have to go down to Miami, and Miami will have had 12 days to sit and think about last year’s embarrassment on national TV. Miami is young and will make mistakes in defending the triple option, but they are also athletic, and will be able to make up for some of their mistakes. Miami wins this one, 26-31.

Sept26 - UNC

Coach Paul Johnson’s memory is good. He will remember last year, and the 28-7 debacle. That, along with the extra couple of days for preparation time, means a victory for the Jackets.

Also, UNC lost their top three receivers from last year and will have a pretty vanilla offense this season. I guarantee a Tech win in this game. Call it my lead pipe lock. Final score, 38-20 Tech

Oct 3 - @Miss St

Dan Mullens will do a good job at Mississippi State, eventually. This season though, the cupboard is still pretty bare. Without much to work with, Mullens will struggle.

Tech handled them easily last year and as long as they don’t overlook them the results should be similar. Plus, Coach Johnson is undefeated against Bulldogs. That won’t change this week. 28-17, Tech

Oct 10 - @FSU

Georgia Tech’s offense was giving the Seminoles fits last year until Nesbitt got hurt. This year the Noles will still struggle with the offense. Only problem is the other side of the ball.

I see this game getting high scoring fast, and after last year, when the ball bounced our way, I think it might bounce FSU’s way this season. FSU wins this one, 42-45.

Oct 17 - Va Tech

Paul Johnson’s teams don’t lose two games in a row. Since I’m predicting a loss last week, obviously I’m predicting a win here.

Honestly, I think Tech will split these two games. Hopefully, the win will come against the Hokies, as the winner of the GT-VT game has gone to the ACC Championship game every single year. Virginia Tech lost a lot on defense this past year.

Their offense has plenty of weapons, but the triple option has more. The Jackets win this one 31-28.

Oct 24 - @ UVA

Tech hasn’t won in Charlottesville in almost 20 years. Coach Paul Johnson hasn’t been the coach any of those games though. After breaking the seven year drought against UGA, I expect nothing less then ending this one as well.

The loss of Cedric Pearman for the Cavs is also a big factor in why I see Tech winning this one. 41-24, Tech

Oct 31 - @Vandy

I don’t like this game at all. The team will be on a high after beating both of the Virginia schools, and this game theoretically doesn’t matter in their quest for the Orange Bowl.

A Chan Gailey coached team would lose this game, but I have more faith in Johnson. Tech has the better athletes and more of them. Early on the game should be close, but Tech should pull away in the 4th quarter. 31-17 Tech

Nov 7 - Wake Forest

If it was last season, I’d take the Deacons. But they lost Alfonso Smith and Aaron Curry from their defense. Look for a similar game to the Vandy game, as Wake should hang with Tech early, but the superior athletes will pull out the victory late. 28-17 Tech

Nov 14 - @Duke

Tech beat the heck out of Duke last season, without Nesbitt. I think Cutcliffe will have his team pumped for this game, and they will come out bringing their best shot. But the Jackets will clinch the ACC Coastal division with a win.

That will be enough motivation for this team. Tech rolls, 38-27

Nov 28 - UGA

I have gone back and forth on this game several times, and ultimately I think it’s a coin toss. The lack of quality defensive ends and the bye week before the game will be enough though.

Tech is going to make it two in a row, and reach 10 wins for the first time since Joe Hamilton was on campus. Tech wins 27-21

Dec 5 - FSU

In the ACC Championship Game I see a rematch between an earlier match-up. Tech avenges the early season loss and comes out on fire to earn a spot in the Orange Bowl. 31-28

There you have it folks. Tech’s season laid out for you. 10-2 regular season, and hopefully two more wins after that!