Atlanta Hawks Trade Deadline Moves That Need To Be Made

“Go big or go home.” This traditional competitive surfing idiom should be the Atlanta Hawks' mindset going into this year’s trade deadline.

When I say big, I don’t mean they have to make a huge splash like acquiring Kobe Bryant (complete pipe dream, never going to happen). But they do need to get a legitimate 7-foot big man, and if he brings somewhat of a splash—say, Amare Stoudemire—then so be it.

More reasonable names might include Chris Mihm of the Los Angeles Lakers or Mohammed Sene from Oklahoma City. These two could be acquired on the relative cheap end and could come in and play big minutes.

This could give Zaza Pachulia more depth than necessary, and most importantly give Al Horford and Josh Smith the ability to play their true forward positions.

If the Hawks are willing to give up a little more, there are other names that could pay even bigger dividends, especially come playoff time. I have in mind Marcus Camby and Brad Miller.

Brad Miller would be an interesting deal. The Kings have angled toward the youth movement the last two years, taking very talented big men Jason Thompson and Spencer Hawes in the lottery.

Now that they appear to be headed in the right direction, the Hawks may be able to swoop in and get the wily veteran for cheap.

After about an hour of playing with the four letter network's draft machine, I came to the conclusions that Acie Law is totally expendable, Eddie Curry has a terrible contract, Amare Stoudemire is not worth it, and that it is fiscally possible in some sort of crazy alternate universe for the Hawks to get Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James.

Giving up Acie Law, Speedy Claxton’s contract, and a draft pick are well worth it if you can tell me that the Hawks will advance beyond the first round of the playoffs.

As we saw last year and in two games this year, for whatever reason the Celtics have a problem playing Atlanta. And with a Marcus Camby-like big man it could become more of a toss up.

Even if the Hawks feel content with the direction they are going in and don’t make any moves before the deadline, they can always look forward to this summer when they can hopefully persuade Speedy to retire and are able to recoup about $6 million.

When Josh Childress comes begging to be back in the NBA, then the Hawks could move his contract and pick up a nice free agent.

Then again, the Hawks could wait like 60 percent of the teams in the league for the 2010 class. But for right now if any move is to be made, we need to “Go big or go home.”