Addition by subtraction

By dumping contracts, Hawks should turn corner in '05

In Thursday's trade of yesterday's stars, the Timberwolves managed to acquire Latrell Sprewell, the 76ers welcomed Glenn Robinson and the Knicks took on Keith Van Horn.

Yet the jackpot winners of this summer's four-team blockbuster could be the Hawks, who received a future first-round pick from Philadelphia as well as Terrell Brandon, who will never play a minute for Atlanta.

The other three clubs seemed to swap problems like peas moving around in a shell game. Sprewell may help Minnesota advance beyond the first round next spring and therefore help convince Kevin Garnett to re-sign as a free agent next summer, but he still enters the season as a notoriously troublesome 33-year-old shooting guard with an exorbitant contract ($28.1 million over two years) his former team was all too happy to dump.

Robinson may prove to be a more reliable scorer for Philadelphia than Van Horn was, but at 30 the Big Dog isn't likely to help Allen Iverson reach the NBA Finals. Van Horn is younger, taller and potentially a better fit for the Knicks than Sprewell was, but the $43.5 million remaining on his contract promises to further extend New York's unbalanced budget through 2005-06.

At first glance, the Hawks appear to be headed nowhere. The truth is that their potential is practically limitless, because former GM Pete Babcock wisely constructed the current roster with the idea of having virtually all his players' contracts expire in the summer of 2005. When that time comes, the Hawks may have enough cap space to recruit two maximum free agents to Atlanta, which is one of the more popular destinations for players on the NBA landscape.

Unless the current group of players suddenly reverses course and proves that it can win, the Hawks are going to be dismantled in two seasons. It's a no-brainer. That's why interim GM Billy Knight was right to move Robinson's remaining two years and $22.8 million in exchange for Brandon's expiring $11.1 million salary, which will disappear from Atlanta's cap in January. Not only does Brandon's vanishing contract guarantee that the Hawks won't pay the luxury tax -- why incur a multimillion dollar penalty on a team you're razing? -- but it also provides the club with room to negotiate a new deal with guard Jason Terry, a restricted free agent who wants to stay in Atlanta.

Amid his complicated negotiations to buy the Hawks (as well as Philips Arena and the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers) from AOL Time Warner, David McDavid signed off on the trade. After he makes news of his own by completing his purchase of the team, this is what McDavid should do next.

Nothing.

Ride out the next two years while retaining Knight, a respected and popular GM who obviously knows what he's doing. Before Jerry West arrived in Memphis, it was Knight who convinced Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley to risk his No. 3 draft pick on mysterious Spanish forward Pau Gasol, the surprise Rookie of the Year in 2000-01. McDavid can count on Knight to manage the draft and the cap as the Hawks try to rebuild from scratch.

McDavid also should offer a contract to interim coach Terry Stotts, the longtime NBA assistant who took over when Lon Kruger was fired early this season. If Stotts isn't offered the head coaching job in Milwaukee -- he interviewed with the Bucks this week -- McDavid should offer him the chance to instill the franchise with a new identity. The next coach of the Hawks will be charged with developing a high-effort, attractive style of play to help lure free agents in 2005. It will be a hard job, and McDavid won't find anyone with a better blend of youth and experience than Stotts.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Ian Thomsen covers the NBA beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com.

 

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