Paul Osmond  

is the GM for the Atlanta Hawks.  The Hawks have the option of
sending this Pick to the Miami Heat in the Grant Long, Steve
Smith for Kevin Willis trade (Gee, think that Miami would
want to take that one back?).  However, given the depth of this
years draft it is likely that Atlanta will keep this pick.  Therefore,
with the 16th pick, the Atlanta Hawks select:

   Bob Sura, SG, 6-5.  Florida State.

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TEAM NEEDS
----------
Atlanta is in the nasty position of being not good enough
to win it all, but not bad enough to get the draft picks
it needs to get  much better. This pick isn't going to
help too much, unless a real  sleeper literally falls
into their lap. The team needs a starting center, a
backup for both power forward and center, a third guard
and a  healthy Stacey Augmon 

CENTER:  Andrew Lang (ugh), and Jon Koncak (Ugh). Lang can
be suprising, and has been more suprising at certain
times last year than ever before. Koncak is trying to
make a career for himself by being the next Greg Kite.
Enourmous upgrade needed here really - Lang would be a
great backup, but the more he has to play against front
line centers, the worse he'll look. Koncak is a free
agent - but will probably be resigned for a reasonably
small amount - unlike his last contract.

POWER FORWARD:  Grant Long is an exceptional player -
undersized for the  position he works hard, and is
consistantly good every night. You couldnt ask for any
more from this guy - just a great player. He has no
backup who is willing to put in the hard work involved in
playing the power forward in the NBA - and it can be a
hard, thankless, unspectacular job. Ken Norman, though
also undersized could possibly play the position, but he
doesn't want  to. Doug Edwards will spend another
off-season pulling splinters from his butt, having sat on
the pine ALL year. Is he hoping to play for a Canadian
team next  year or what!

SMALL FORWARD:  Everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) wants to
play small forward for Atlanta. With the exception of
Lang, Koncak and Mookie, everyone on this team seems to
be a small forward type player. The best of them is
Stacey Augman, who had a woeful end of the season, being
outscored by Tyrone Corbin in the playoffs. Atlanta also
found out why Ken Norman came so cheap.

Augmon has all the tools, and will hopefully be back to
his best next year. Corbin might be tripping on his
teeth, he is so long in the tooth, but he is an excellent
backup.

SHOOTING GUARD:  Dream Teamer Steve Smith, who, lets face
it, was stolen, along with Grant Long from the Miami Heat
for problem child, Kevin Willis (who will ask for more
money AGAIN for the xth season in a row, despite not 
knowing his new teams defensive schemes or turning up for
practices on a regular basis). Smith could do with a
little more range, but is a heady young player, who is
getting better. A good camp should see him work well with
this team next year - hopefully much like Hornacek
beniftted this year with a full year with Utah.

POINT GUARD:  Blaylock is awesome - he rebounds, he
steals, he defends, he shoots well, and he passes - well,
he passes adequately. Again stands to gain by having all
his teammates at preseason camps, as he will have a
better idea of who to get the ball to, and when to do it.
Blaylock is great - one of  the best guards in the
league. Jim Les, the perrenial backup, is an adequate
backup, with excellent range.

MY SELECTION: 
-------------
Bob Sura. He is an excellent guard, who will be able to
play either guard position, and get in decent minutes.
For Florida State, if Sura touched the ball on a
possesion, good things happened - if he didn't, then FSU
had problems. He might not start, but there is plenty of
minutes available to him on this team. His senior year
convinced me that he had become a maturer, better player.
And hey, he has some height on him as well. A player who
can play both guard positions is a real assett, and I
think that Sura fits this nicely. Oh, and for those who
compare him to Rex Chapman - Rex hasn't passed the ball
since grade school.


OTHERS CONSIDERED: 
------------------
Well, I considered Griffith of course, but decided that he
just isn't worth all the trouble. And Atlanta runs on
guard production from Mookie, who needs help - and if
Augman doesn't return to form, then Steve Smith is the
obvious starter at small forward with Corbin being a
backup. 

I may have taken Parks if he was available, but he wasn't
and I think I still would have taken Sura.


WHO THEY'LL PROBABLY TAKE: 
--------------------------
Well, I think it does come down to a Griffith or
Parks/Sura choice. I can't see Parks going as high as he
did in this draft, but I can see some team taking
Griffith, on the chance he might develop, and wont have
any problems such as the "Mommy says I should go pro
because my coach wont let me touch the ball every
possession" whine before last season. Michael Finley was
a better player (and still is). Parks on the other hand,
would be a nice Center/Power Forward for this team who
really could do with some muscle. 


OTHER MOVES: 
------------ 
Possibly they could trade this pick, possibly
including one of their small forward wannabees, primarily
Norman. Especially if they covert one of Parks/Griffith
and feel noth will not be available with this pick.
However, Sura *SHOULD* be avilable in this position. Some
backup muscle and height are needed, so maybe they make a
move on some free agent muscle. Maybe they should go out
and get 'Sascha' (Alexander Volkov) back - they let him
go for no reason - he was turning into a very solid NBA
player.

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