Atlanta Hawks at the Trade Deadline: Deal or No Deal?

Exactly one year ago today, my hometown Atlanta Hawks made a trade-deadline deal that changed my entire outlook on life. No kidding.

I remember hearing the news from a friend. We had shipped Tyronn Lue and some bench fodder to the Sacramento Kings for Mike Bibby. He was going to be our first solid point guard since Mookie Blaylock and he was going to make sure we didn't trip up down the stretch and lose our tenuous hold on the Eastern Conference's eighth playoff seed.

My mouth was locked in "smile mode" for a week, and I swear I ran my daily six miles at least four minutes faster for a month, just thinking of how much stronger our team was.

Consider Mike's mission accomplished; not only did the Hawks make the Playoffs, they also gave the Celtics a little bit of a first-round scare once they got there.

Fast forward to present day: Atlanta has solidified around Bibby and holds the fourth-best record in the East. The Hawks have fought through injuries (to all their key players), beaten some top teams (the Cavs and the Hornets, to name two), and look to finally be cashing in on all the "potential" that analysts spoke of in years past.

So what to do this trade deadline? Shall we engineer another masterful, out-of-the-blue move to put us in even better postseason position?

I pray with all my might: please, no. "If it ain't broke..."

Besides, who on this roster is expendable?

Joe Johnson is the lynchpin in the ATL, now an All-Star for the third consecutive time. I'm not going to get into his contract (which no one would touch) or the rifts that his acquisition initially caused in the front office, but I think he's proven himself totally worth the trouble.

We just threw everything we had at Josh Smith so he would stay. And his skill set isn't replaceable, anyway. Only Shawn Marion and Andrei Kirilenko compare in terms of five-tool, defensive prowess, and neither one would actually be an improvement.

The bench isn't awfully deep (most nights, Zaza Pachulia, Maurice Evans, and Flip Murray are the contributors), but once again, there are no truly better options available on the market. Each one of those guys has had multiple nights this season where they have stepped up in a big way; how do you toss any of them aside?

And don't even joke about young big man Al Horford. I don't care what comparison you want to make: Karl Malone lite, young Charles Oakley, whichever. Bottom line, the Hawks are a million times better with that fella on the court.

The names on the market right now aren't terribly enticing, anyway.

Yes, we've looked at Amare Stoudemire before, but what would be necessary to get him (namely, Horf) makes it out of the question.

Apparently, every Piston is being shopped, but why would we want age when we have youth and production?

And unless the Bulls will do a straight-up Marvin Williams-for-Luol Deng swap, they can look for another place to dump their baggage.

Actually taking a step forward at any position will cost the Hawks too much at another spot. So maybe Carlos Boozer is statistically superior to Marv—but what hole would we create by going all-out for the Jazz's star?

The main areas of need for Atlanta are off the pine, and that's why Coach Mike Woodson has been increasing the minutes of Acie Law IV and Solomon Jones recently. Both, with greater experience, will be great change-of-pace guys to spell the increasingly cohesive starting five.

Hawks brass has been uncharacteristically solid since the acquisition of Bibby last February, and I really don't see them screwing with the formula right now. Atlanta can (and will) confidently stand pat at the 2009 deadline.