The Hawks have signed 27-year old power forward Josh Powell to a 1-year deal. Powell played in 63 games (0 starts) for the Lakers last season and he averaged 9.2 minutes, 2.7 points, 1.8 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game. He has now played in 261 games (28 starts) in his 5 years in the NBA and he has averaged 12.6 minutes, 3.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game. The Hawks have a lot of depth in the frontcourt so I don’t see Powell getting much P.T. unless there’s some injuries. Still, it doesn’t hurt to have a guy like Powell sitting at the end of the bench just in case.

The Atlanta Hawks have traded 27-year old SG/SF Josh Childress to the Phoenix Suns for a second round pick in 2012. Childress has played the last two seasons in Greece. Childress played in 285 games (67 starts) in his 4 years with the Hawks and he averaged 31.3 minutes, 11.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.0 steal per game while shooting 52.2% from the floor. The Hawks probably should have shopped around a little big more before moving Childress.

The Atlanta Hawks have two needs heading into this summer. They need to find a starting shooting guard as they should just let Joe Johnson leave after his performance and mouth against the Magic in the playoffs. I would think that John Salmons, Ray Allen or Mike Miller would be solid fits on the Hawks. They also need a backup small forward to push Marvin Williams. Josh Howard, Quentin Richardson, Travis Outlaw and Hakim Warrick should be considered for the job as they all have decent upsides. The Hawks have started to ante’ up for players so expect them to bring in some help this summer.

UPDATE: (7/8/2010) – The Hawks have signed Joe Johnson to a six year, $123.7 million dollar deal today.

The Hawks have picked 22-year old forward Pape Sy with the 53rd overall pick of the NBA Draft. Sy played in 30 games in France last season and he averaged 14.2 minutes, 5.2 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. This is a major project for the Hawks as Sy appears to be a very raw basketball player right now.

The Hawks picked 22-year old small forward Damion James with the #24 overall pick and then they shipped him to the Nets for 22-year old shooting guard Jordan Crawford (#27 overall) and the #31 overall pick (center Tibor Pleiss). The Hawks then sold the rights to Tibor Pleiss to the Thunder pocketing some cash on the deal. SG/PG Jordan Crawford played in 35 games (34 starts) at Xavier last season and he averaged 20.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He played in 65 games (42 starts) in his two years in college and he averaged 15.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.2 steals per game. The Hawks really like Crawford and he will be a safety net for the Hawks if Joe Johnson leaves as a free agent.

The Hawks have hired 52-year old Larry Drew to be the new head coach of the Atlanta Hawks. He has been a assistant coach for the Hawks, Lakers, Pistons, Wizards and Nets. Drew also played 10 years in the NBA appearing in 714 games in which he averaged 25.7 minutes, 11.4 points, 1.8 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.1 steals per game. Drew got a two year guaranteed contract with a option for a 3rd year at a average of $1.2 million bucks per year making him one of the lowest paid head coaches in the NBA. Time will tell if this was a good hire for the Hawks or not as he doesn’t have head coaching experience but he has been in the game most of his adult life.

31-year old SG/SF Maurice Evans has picked up his option for the 2010-11 season valued at $2.5 million bucks. Evans played in 79 games (5 starts) for the Hawks last season and he averaged 16.7 minutes, 5.7 points, 1.9 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game. Evans has now played two years with the Hawks appearing in 159 games (30 starts) in which he has averaged 19.9 minutes, 6.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game. The Hawks probably would have rather spent the $2.5 million bucks that Evans will make on another free agent but he has been a solid player off the bench for them.

The Hawks have five unrestricted free agents and two restricted free agents heading into this summer. I have a feeling that Joe Johnson is going to want league max money and he doesn’t strike me as worth that kind of cash. I think the Knicks are going to make a huge play for him because of his past in which he played for head coach Mike D’Antoni. With the way Johnson talked about the fans of Atlanta in the playoffs I just don’t see the Hawks putting a legit effort into bringing him back. Backup SG/SF Maurice Evans will likely be back for the Hawks in 2010-11 as he has a player option. He might get lost in all of the glitz this summer if he opts out so I see him picking up his option and coming back to Atlanta. Backup forward Joe Smith is a good guy to have on the end of the bench so the Hawks might try to bring him back at around the league minimum if he will play for that. Center Jason Collins and forward Randolph Morris are the last of the unrestricted free agents on the Hawks and I would be surprised if they brought either of them back. Josh Childress is a restricted free agent and he is considering a return to the NBA. The Hawks would likely want to keep him around if he wants to come back to the NBA as Childress is a solid player. Mario West is the other restricted free agent on the Hawks and they would likely match a small deal for him.

After the Atlanta Hawks recent 4-0 series loss to the Orlando Magic, speculation has been growing that head coach Mike Woodson will likely not return next season.  The Hawks weren’t just swept by the Magic, they were embarrassed by losing the four games by a total of 101 points for an average loss of 25 points per game.  Woodson’s contract expires this Monday (5/17) and it doesn’t look very likely that the Hawks will re-sign him.  In six seasons with the Hawks, Woodson has a regular season record of 206-286 (.419) and a postseason record of 11-18 (.379).  He had a lot of success the past two regular seasons with a record of 100-64 (.609), but the Hawks haven’t come close to making it out of the second round of the playoffs and have been swept in the Conference Semifinals two years in a row.  Woodson has proven he can be a solid coach in the NBA, but he can’t get the Hawks to even compete with the elite teams deep in the playoffs.  Hawks’ co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. has expressed publicly some of the things he did not like about the way Woodson chose to run the team, particularly Woodsons’ reluctance to play the young and talented point guard Jeff Teague.  Gearon has a point there, since the 32-year-old Mike Bibby had the worse season of his career and Teague only played 6.6 minutes per game.  The decision on whether to keep Woodson will ultimately be up to GM Rick Sund though, who hasn’t commented either way yet.  It does sound like the Hawks are ready to go in a new direction, so Mike Woodson should be ready to pack his bags.

SG/PG Jamal Crawford of the Hawks has won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award. He played in 79 games (0 starts) for the Hawks this season and he averaged 31.1 minutes, 18.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game as he provided instant offense off the bench all year long. He shot pretty well from everywhere on the court this year as he hit 44.9% from the floor, 38.2% from three point range and he nailed 85.7% of his free throws. Crawford might not get a chance to win this award next season as I could see scenarios in which he could start at either guard spot next year for the Hawks.