29-year old Joe Johnson was re-signed to a max deal over the summer despite what he said about the fans during the playoffs which surprised me. He played in 76 games (all starts) for the Hawks last year and he averaged 38.0 minutes, 21.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.1 steals per game. He has now played in 699 games (629 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 36.9 minutes, 17.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.0 steal per game. Johnson is the best offensive player on the Hawks who hope he’s still motivated despite already getting paid.

30-year old Jamal Crawford is a very good weapon off the bench for the Hawks. He played in 79 games (0 starts) for the Hawks last year and he averaged 31.1 minutes, 18.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. Crawford has now played in 676 games (393 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 32.4 minutes, 15.5 points, 2.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.0 steal per game. Crawford can handle either the point or shooting guard spots giving him even more value to the Hawks. I look for him to have another solid year for the Hawks.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE HAWKS SHOOTING GUARDS IN 2010-11: A

32-year old Mike Bibby looks like he will be the Hawks’ starting point guard when the 2010-11 NBA season starts but he’s clearly slipping. Bibby played in 80 games (all starts) for the Hawks last year and he averaged 27.4 minutes, 9.1 points, 2.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game. He also only shot 41.6% from the floor as his whole game appears to be fading at the same time. He has played in 882 games (878 starts) in his NBA career and he has averged 35.3 minutes, 15.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game. Bibby was at his best when he was a shoot-first point guard but his shot just isn’t going down much anymore.

22-year old Jeff Teague will push Bibby for his starting job in 2010-11. He played in 71 games (3 starts) for the Hawks as a rookie last season and he averaged 10.1 minutes, 3.2 points, 0.9 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. He will need to improve his shooting to get more minutes as he only shot 39.6% from the floor and 21.9% from three point range as a rookie. Teague did play a couple of very impressive games late during the regular season in 2010-11 so he might be ready to push Bibby to the bench at some point in 2010-11.

21-year old first round pick Jordan Crawford is more of a shooting guard but he won’t have much of a chance getting minutes behind Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford there. Jordan Crawford played in 35 games at Xavier last season and he averaged 32.8 minutes, 20.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. Unlike Bibby and Teague, Crawford is a good shooter as he hit 46.2% of his shots from the floor and 39.1% from three point range.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE HAWKS POINT GUARDS IN 2010-11: C

The Hawks have signed 32-year old center Etan Thomas to a 1-year deal. Thomas played in 23 games (1 start) for the Thunder last season and he averaged 14.0 minutes, 3.3 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. He has now played in 396 games (74 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 17.7 minutes, 5.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 0.4 assists and 1.1 blocked shots per game. The Hawks are starting to collect a lot of big men who aren’t that good.