The Hawks’ 2007 first-round draft pick, Acie Law, is headed overseas. Yesterday, it was reported that Law signed a one-year deal with the Serbian team Partizan for $500,000.

Unlike decisions to play abroad by many NBA stars, Law’s recent deal is less a consequence of the pending lockout situation. Despite an impressive college career with Texas A&M, the point guard struggled to find his place in the NBA. Law played for 5 teams (Hawks, Warriors, Bobcats, Bulls, Grizzlies) in 4 years and never averaged more than 16 minutes-per-game or 7 points-per-game in any season. His agreement does not include a clause that would allow him to return to the NBA if the lockout were to end before his contract was up.

Sound risky? It might not be. Despite a brief surge of earnest negotiating at the onset, the NBA lockout has since been “weirdly quiet” according to Derek Fisher, president of the NBPA. A real sense of urgency appears to be lacking. But tomorrow represents the one-month mark of the lockout, and players and owners will officially resume negotiations in New York this week. So let’s just hope the current air of indifference is really just the quiet before the storm…

In yet another casualty of the NBA lockout, the league recently announced the postponement of its rookie transition program. The program gives first-year players information prior to the season to facilitate the transition and was originally scheduled for Aug. 9-11. The event is jointly run by the players’ association and the NBA, and these two groups aren’t exactly exchanging warm and fuzzies or in a any position of collaboration at the moment.

However, Deputy commissioner Adam Silver stated that the program would be rescheduled once the two sides agree on a new CBA. If there’s anything planned like Herm Edwards’s speech at the NFL’s rookie symposium, that’s reason enough to hope the program is indeed rescheduled. Hell, I’d take Herm Edwards over a graduation or public event speaker any day:

Despite earlier reports that Hawks center Zaza Pachulia would be playing for Besiktas in Turkey, it looks like he´s changed his mind. Via Twitter:

“There was lot of talking me going to play for Besiktas during lockout. We couldn’t agree on the terms and I’m not going to play for them.”

The Turkish team appears to be recruiting NBA stars pretty heavily with varying degress of success. Earlier this month, Nets guard Deron Williams agreed to play with Besiktas, and the team has also been pursuing Kobe Bryant.

With the basketball world abuzz wondering who will be next to head to Europe, there is at least one player who is adamant about staying in the good ol’ USA. Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Terry commented on the lockout and where he stands on the situation. And as usual, he got his point across in typical “every sentence out of my mouth is worth of being a headline”  fashion:

“I don’t see us not having a season next year. [A] potential delay is out there, but we have to train as if there’s going to be a season. We know what we are now. We are champions. Everybody already was gunning for the Mavericks and they will be again.”

When asked about the possibility of following some of his comrades overseas, Terry staunchly refuted any such option:

“I’m not even looking. My season next year’s going to be with the Mavericks. All the money in the world couldn’t amount to being a champion and being able to defend that title next year.”

Terry is a player representative with the NBPA. The 11-year veteran was drafted in the first round by the Hawks in 1999 and played with the team through the 2003-2004 season.

Hawks news tidbits and updates to end the week!

• Pistons Select Lawrence Frank Over Mike Woodson - Despite earlier reports that former Hawks coach Mike Woodson was the front runner for the Pistons’ head coaching position, Detroit instead went with Celtics assistant Lawrence Frank, ESPN

• NBA 2011-2012 Schedule - The NBA released its schedule for the 2011-2012 season. If the lockout situation does get resolved in time for Opening Day, the Hawks would face the Timberwolves on Nov. 2, NBA

And finally,

• Negotiations for Sale of Hawks Intensify - Talks between the Atlanta Spirit Group and a potential majority buyer have picked up. The name of other party has not been released, AJC

NBA players are fleeing to international clubs, and the lockout continues to have ramifications that extend beyond the US’ borders. The Hawks’ Joe Johnson has gotten quite a few nods for consideration to make the US 2012 Olympic team of late. But if he does make the team, he’ll likely face a lower level of international competition thanks to a steep increase in insurance costs caused by the lockout.

While the US qualified for the games when it won the World Championship in Istanbul last summer, a ticket to the games for most other countries will depend on performance in international competitions that have yet to be played.

But the lockout has now drastically increased the price of putting a top-notch team on the court for these tournaments. Typically, an agreement between FIBA and the NBA helps manage the cost of insurance if a player is injured in an international competition. With the lockout in place, this agreement is no longer valid, and some national teams may not have the resources to foot the bill on their own. Already, a number of countries are struggling to deal with this issue. According to ESPN:

“The Australian federation already has announced that it will not have Andrew Bogut on the roster for the FIBA-Oceania tournament, and the Spanish federation has said it will cost as much as $5,670,000 to insure the contracts of players including Pau and Marc Gasol, Rudy Fernandez, Jose Calderon and Ricky Rubio.”

The US’ final team, whether it includes Joe or not, will face a very different level of competition as the ripple effects of the lockout continue to be felt in multiple aspects of the sport.

What happens when you put one of the NBA’s greatest entertainers with a sometimes insightful, often inappropriate but always outspoken commentator? We’ll find out soon enough when Shaq joins Charles Barkley and the rest of TNT’s “Inside the NBA” team. The “Big Analytical,” as he has already been deemed, turned down multiple offers including one with ABC/ESPN to sign a deal with Turner Sports.

No more Goliaths left

The Detroit Pistons fired head coach, John Kuester in early June and have been in the process of interviewing potential replacements. Former Atlanta Hawks head coach Mike Woodson was among the first interviewees and remains in the running. According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, Woodson and current Celtics assistant Lawrence Frank are the remaining options the team is considering, though Woodson is considered the frontrunner:

“…sources say that former Pistons assistant Mike Woodson is still the closest thing to a favorite, thanks largely to Woodson’s good working relationship with Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars and the fact that Detroit would know exactly what it’s getting after Woodson’s work under Larry Brown during the Pistons’ 2004 title run.”

Woodson was also considered for the Rockets’ head coaching position earlier in the year. He compiled a 206-286 (.419) record while with the Hawks.

Mike Woodson

According to a recent study conducted by On Numbers, the Hawks are the 4th most difficult team in the NBA for fans to get behind. Only the Kings, Bucks and Clippers were behind Atlanta. None of those teams had winning records, and none of those teams made the playoffs this past season.

Somehow though, the findings didn’t surprise me that much. Hawks fans boo their own players on a consistent basis, hockey supporters were so few and far between that the team was shipped off to Canada, and you can usually buy playoff tickets to Braves games the day of. So what makes Atlanta such a tough place for sports fans to get really riled up?

In the Hawks’ case, taking a look at the study’s methodology sheds some light on the findings. There’s a lot in here on standard deviations, consistent terminology across the four sports evaluated, different weighting of categories, etc. But it basically looks at a team’s record over the past 10 years, number of playoff wins/appearances (with more points for championships), and time elapsed since the most recent “landmarks,” i.e., chamionships and appearances in title games/playoffs.

While the Hawks’ 13-win season in 2004-2005 surely didn’t help, the team has at least made the playoffs pretty consistently over the past ten years. What really killed them was likely the “time elapsed since the most recent landmark” part. The last time Atlanta won an NBA championship? 1958.

I’m not sure if this is good news or bad news: justification for going to support your pro team and feeling like you’re at a high school basketball game?; or just the sad realization that your team hasn’t given you much of a reason to cheer over the past decade…

Joe Johnson’s arrival to Atlanta has been marred with controversy from the start. In fact, the trade that brought Joe to the Hawks resulted in the ejection of Steve Belkin, formerly a member of the Atlanta Spirit from the ownership group. As a maximum contract player, Joe has received criticism from Hawks fans (umm, including yours truly) for not making the kind of contributions worth the $100 million plus that he is owed over the next 5 years with the team.

In a rather long-winded article that is so characteristic of Bill Simmons, he actually leaves out Johnson among his list of max-salary players that don’t merit the dollars they are being paid:

“a. Twenty-two players are scheduled to make more than $15 million for the 2011-12 season: Kobe Bryant ($25.5m), Tim Duncan ($21.4m), Rashard Lewis ($21.4m), Kevin Garnett ($21.2m), Gilbert Arenas ($19.1m), Dirk Nowitzki ($19.1m), Pau Gasol ($18.7m), Dwight Howard ($18.1m), Carmelo Anthony ($18.4m), Amar’e Stoudemire ($18.2m), Joe Johnson ($18m), Elton Brand ($17.1m), Chris Paul ($16.4m), Deron Williams ($16.3m), LeBron James ($16.0m), Chris Bosh ($16.0m), Dwyane Wade (15.7m), Paul Pierce ($15.3m), Zach Randolph ($15.2m), Antawn Jamison ($15.1m), Brandon Roy ($15m), Rudy Gay ($15m). Only Lewis, Arenas, Brand, Jamison and Roy don’t belong on that list … and if our “four-year max” rule was in place, Lewis’ deal would be done; Arenas, Brand and Jamison would be in their final year, and Roy would have two years left. Either way, we’re batting 78 percent on big-ass deals. Not bad.”

Good job, Joe. At least you’ve earned the approval of Bill Simmons. Now if you could just manged to break the 20-point mark for ppg next season, that would be great. Oh, and get off the isolation game. Thanks.