Sports Illustrated writer Zach Lowe had some rather enlightening thoughts to share on the Hawks in his column,  The Point Forward, yesterday:

“The Hawks are the Hawks — boring, predictable, effective, somehow making do with Vladimir Radmanovic, Ivan Johnson and (especially) a spry Zaza Pachulia playing Al Horford’s minutes. No one knows what to make of this team, though it will be intriguing if Marvin Williams keeps playing like he is, Jeff Teague finds his game consistently and Horford returns. But a contender? Eh.”

Honestly, not a bad assessment, imho. Taking a step back at this quarter-mark in the season, the Hawks are doing slightly better than expected (13-5, first place in the Southeast Division), although their schedule hasn’t been the most challenging thus far.

The impressive part is that they’ve done so despite major injuries to Al Horford and Kirk Hinrich, not to mention smaller nagging injuries to Marvin Williams and Tracy McGrady. But different players have stepped up at different times, the most recent of which was Joe Johnson’s 28-point performance in last night’s 97-92 victory over the Bucks.

Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against T-Mac, the Hawks’ most recent acquisition.

Nor do I have anything against Al Horford, who was often used as a power forward/center last season. In fact, I think Horford would be much better utilized if he could play just pure forward.

Other options on the current training camp roster include: Zaza Pachulia, Jason Collins, and draft pick Keith Benson. Pachulia’s not a bad option at the position, and he certainly knows how to stay aggressive in the paint. But I still don’t think he has the kind of dominating presence the Hawks need inside. Both Collins and Benson have potential but very limited playing time and experience.

Here’s what Horford had to say on the issue:

“I am still going to keep playing both,” he said. “I think that Josh and myself we can bring a lot of problems to people. At times I am going to have to play the four and I think Josh is OK with playing the three. That way we stay very athletic and we can do different things.

“And I think that’s why we need big bodies here, a couple of solid bigs to come out here and help us out. I know there are quite a few of those out there in free agency and we should try to pursue them.”

Exactly.

Hawks center, Zaza Pachulia, signed a deal to play with Galatasaray in Istanbul according to a report on Friday from the international site, sportando.net. Pachulia has been active internationally and recently played for his home country, Georgia, in the Eurobasket tournament. Over the summer, there were rumors that Pachulia would be playing in Turkey but for a different team– Besiktas, the same team that signed Nets guard Deron Williams. Pachulia later denied reports that he had signed with Besiktas, but it looks like he’ll be spending the lockout in Turkey after all.

Severely hampered by the loss of Hawks center Zaza Pachulia, the Georgia national team fell to Finaland 87-73 today in Round 2 of the Eurobasket tournament. Pachulia went down with a leg injury in the team’s loss to Bulgaria on Monday and may be out for a month.

What this means for the Hawks remains to be seen as NBA representatives and the player’s union continue through talks regarding the lockout. But today marks exactly the one month mark prior to the Hawks’ first preseason game against the Pistons.

Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia led the Dominican Republic and Georgian national teams in the FIBA Americas and Eurobasket tournaments, respectively, as both teams won in their first games.

Horford had 24 points and nine boards in the Dominican Republic’s 90-60 win over Cuba.

“We have played well, with very good defense,” said Horford. “We‘ve worked hard for this and with the rest of the games we’re going to be improving; we won and that’s the important thing.”

In the Eurobasket tournament, Zaza Pachulia contributed 16 points and three rebounds in Georgia’s win against Belgium. Doesn’t sound like he’s too concerned about the NBA lockout at this stage, according to an interview with RealGM:

“I can say that I love European basketball. It’s team basketball. Of course, NBA is NBA, but European basketball is great too… Basketball is loved everywhere because it’s a great sport. I think [fans will] watch EuroBasket because of NBA lockout or maybe because there are a lot of NBA players.”

As the lockout continues on into month number 2, a few Hawks players are keeping busy with their national teams. Al Horford will play for the Dominican Republic’s national team coached by Kentucky’s John Calipari in the upcoming 2011 FIBA Americas championship. The top two teams win bids to the 2012 summer games in London; the third, fourth and fifth place finishers will have the chance to play in an Olympic-qualifying tournament next summer. The Dominican Republic is in Group A along with Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba and Canada. Game 1 is today and can be seen on ESPN 3. Argentina is the favorite to win the tournament.

On the other side of the pond, Zaza Pachulia will represent his native Georgia in the Eurobasket tournament in Lithuania. Similar to FIBA Americas, the top two teams automatically qualify for the Olympic games, with spots three through six playing in a last-chance qualifying tournament next year. Georgia is in Group D along with Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine, Belgium and Slovenia. The team’s first game is tomorrow at 8:30 AM (EST) against Belgium.

Ahh, remember draft days? A time of hope, promise and potential. When young rookies-to-be anxiously awaited their fate to see where they would begin that childhood dream of becoming a professional basketball player.

For the Hawks’ number one pick, Keith Benson, that place apparently won’t be be Atlanta. The center from Oakland University just signed a deal with Sassari in Italy’s top league.

Benson’s mother stated:

“Keith feels that having an opportunity to play professionally during the lockout will enable him to maintain his conditioning and prepare him for the Atlanta Hawks training camp when the lockout ends. He has received numerous offers to play in Europe and Asia. In fact, there were offers that were close to double the offer he accepted. Many of the teams that offered him wanted to build their teams around him as the starting center and would not provide the opt out clause. He agreed to play for Sassari because they were willing to include the opt out clause in his contract.”

And hey, what mama says goes. Over all, it looks like a pretty good deal for all parties involved.

While other Hawks players have considered going abroad– Zaza Pachulia to Turkey and Magnum Rolle to South Korea– Benson is the first one to officially sign.

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.

Starting everything with the standard “When the lockout is over,” “Lockout status pending,” “If there even is a season next year” is starting to get a little old. As are the old highlight reels of previous drafts and slam dunk contest on NBA TV.

But alas…

The status of Hawks guard Jamal Crawford and where he’ll end up playing– if there is a season next year– is up in the air. Crawford will be an unrestricted free agent– when the lockout is over and free agency begins again, of course.

While the Hawks would like to keep their former Sixth Man of the Year, salary cap considerations are also weighing pretty heavily on the front office. Previous reports suggested that it was unlikely the Hawks would be able to put together a package that would satisfy Crawford.

Still, as more and more teams are strapped for cash, whatever the Hawks offer may be the best one on the table for Jamal at the end of the day. According to Hoops World, “It comes down to teams with the resources to spend and Crawford, after looking around extensively, takes the best he can get financially in Atlanta.”

Although Crawford’s numbers were down compared to the 2009-2010 season, as was his performance in the playoffs, the Hawks often relied on him to provide a burst of energy and scoring spark late in games. And with all of the flux and uncertainty regarding Josh Smith, Pachulia in Turkey, etc., it wouldn’t hurt to keep another familiar face on the team for next season.

You know, if there is a “next season” and all of that…

Hilton Armstrong recently signed with French team ASVEL and center Zaza Pachulia may be following suit.

The Turkish sports network, NTV Spor, reported that Besiktas Cola Turka of Istanbul is close to an agreement with Pachulia. Pachulia, a native of Georgia, played in Turkey as a teenager with Ãœlkerspor.

However, even if Pachulia does sign with Besiktas, a potential contract wouldn’t necessarily preclude him from rejoining the Hawks later in the fall. New Jersey guard Deron Williams is also close to striking a deal with Besiktas that would allow him to rejoin the Nets once (if?) the lockout is over.

Besiktas is the same club that briefly signed Allen Iverson. The coach of the Turkish team, Ergin Ataman said:

“We are in talks with Williams. He is a bigger star than Iverson and would be the best player in Europe. We are close to an agreement.”

Reports stated that Williams would be paid $200,000 a month if he gets clearance from FIBA. If it works out, it wouldn’t be a bad deal for both sides: Pachulia and Williams get practice (and hopefully insurance), a salary and are free to return at the end of the lockout; Besiktas gets high-profile NBA players to bump up its current image as a lower level Turkish team. Win-win for everyone.