The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Sekou Smith) blogs the following report: “Josh Smith is being targeted by Philadelphia with their $11 million-plus in available cap space. I know there is a small segment of people out there that think the Sixers might be using all this hype as a smokescreen and really be interested in making a sneak attack for Corey Maggette or even Elton Brand (if he does indeed opt out of his deal, we’ll know later today if he does or not). But Smith is the guy. And if the offer to Smith is frontloaded (think of the structure of the Hawks’ offer to Joe Johnson three years ago), things will get really complicated. The worst part is the Hawks had a 6-7, 235-pound cautionary tale on the roster in Johnson the last three years and still ignored it so they could dip their toes into the shark-infested waters this summer. It’s crazy.”

The Hawks, who it’s fun to mention made the playoffs last year and took the eventual-champion Celtics to seven games, have added coaches and front office staff.
The team has signed assistant coaches Larry Drew and Bob Bender to new contracts to continue on Mike Woodson’s staff, and named league veterans David Pendergraft and Steve Rosenberry to the Hawks’ Basketball Operations staff.
Pendergraft becomes Atlanta’s new Assistant General Manager/Director of Player Personnel, while Rosenberry will serve as Director of Pro Personnel/College Scouting.
Drew and Bender, each of whom concluded their fourth seasons on the Hawks staff, will return as assistants to Woodson as the franchise seeks to improve upon a first-round playoff berth which culminated with a seventh game defeat at the hands of the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics.
To learn more about all these guys, read this.
As for the Hawks in general, maybe they should look into taking the route the Celtics did and see about trading a bunch of young guys for a top star that isn’t going anywhere with their current team and can use a change. The bad news is, off the top of my head I can’t really think of anyone they could do this with. Can you? If so, post about it on our board.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Sekou Smith) reports the following via blog: According to my spy the Detroit Pistons have asked for permission to speak with Hawks coach Mike Woodson (that’s his title for at least the next 26 days or so unless something breaks before the end of the month) about their vacant coaching position. Solid reports out of Detroit have Pistons assistant Michael Curry lined up for the job. But the Pistons have apparently covered their bases if that doesn’t work out by contacting the representative of Woodson, who was the lead assistant on Larry Brown’s staff when the Pistons won the NBA title in 2004.