28-year old Joe Johnson is one of the best players in the NBA and he seems to be getting better. He played in 79 games for the Hawks last season and he averaged 39.5 minutes, 21.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.1 steals per game. Johnson can take over games on offense as he has a lot of great moves and he can really shoot the rock. 29-year old Jamal Crawford will back up both Johnson at shooting guard and Bibby at the point. He played in 65 games for the Knicks and Warriors last season in which he averaged 38.1 minutes, 19.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. Look for Crawford’s numbers to come down since he doesn’t have a starting job but he won’t be shy about putting up his fair share of shots.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE SHOOTING GUARDS IN 2009-2010: A

The Atlanta Hawks have a lot of talent at the point guard position. It all starts with 31-year old Mike Bibby. Bibby played in 79 games for the Hawks last season and he averaged 34.7 minutes, 14.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.2 steals per game. Despite being a shoot first point guard Bibby gets the ball up the court quickly. 21-year old rookie Jeff Teague will likely be Mike Bibby’s caddy this season. He was the 19th pick of the first round out of Wake Forest. He played in 61 games at Wake Forest and he averaged 16.4 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.9 steals per game. Jamal Crawford will also likely get some playing time at the point for the Hawks.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE POINT GUARDS IN 2009-2010: B

The Hawks liked the taste of success they had last season and they want it to continue. They proved it be re-signing starters Mike Bibby (PG) and Marvin Williams (SF). The Hawks didn’t stop there as they also brought backup center Zaza Pachulia back. The Hawks traded some garbage (Speedy Claxton, Acie Earl) to the Warriors to bring in PG/SG Jamal Crawford who will bring more offensive firepower to the Hawks’ attack. They added veterans Jason Collins (C) and Joe Smith (PF) to the bench to strengthen it even more. Rookies Jeff Teague and Sergiy Gladyr will have hard times getting on the floor much but that’s a good thing for the Hawks as it shows how deep they now are. The Hawks lost backup center Solomon Jones to the Pacers but they won’t miss him.

FRONT OFFICE GRADE SO FAR THIS OFF-SEASON: A

The Hawks have signed 30-year old center Jason Collins to a 1-year deal. Collins played in 31 games (22 starts) with the Timberwolves last season and he averaged 13.6 minutes, 1.8 points, 2.3 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. Collins will need to improve shooting the ball if he wants to earn minutes off the bench for the Hawks this season as he only shot 31.4% from the floor and 46.4% from the free throw line last year. Collins has now played in 572 games (479 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 23.4 minutes, 4.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game. This was a good move for the Hawks as the bench appears really deep now.