Rookie first round draft pick Acie Earl has beaten out Speedy Claxton as the starting point guard of the Hawks. He did so by playing in 4 pre-season games (1 start) and he averaged 33.3 minutes, 8.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game. He’s a shoot first point guard so it will be interesting to see how well he does with a collection of players that want the basketball in their hands. But the Hawks have no doubt that Earl is a huge upgrade on Claxton. Marvin Williams has held off Al Horford for the starting job at small forward which will move Josh Smith to power forward. Williams had a decent year for the Hawks last season. He played in 64 games (63 starts) and he averaged 13.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game. He needs to improve his shooting a little bit as he only hit 43.3% of his shots from the floor, 24.4% from three point range and 81.5% from the free throw line.