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Speedy Contract Signing
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- Jason McDonald
Hawks: Speedy Contract Signing
By: Jason McDonald
The Atlanta Hawks wasted no time in getting Craig 'Speedy' Claxton's signature on a four year deal Wednesday afternoon. Claxton's deal was in limbo since last Thursday's ruling by Montgomery County (MD) Circuit Court Judge Eric Johnson that barred the owners from negotiating multi-year deals with free agents.
Judge Johnson's ruling brought back shades of 2005 when former partner and current plaintiff Steve Belkin began this legal feud with the Atlanta Spirit over the wooing of then free agent Joe Johnson. Johnson's arrival was to signal a positive step in the Hawks rebuilding effort. Instead it brought about a year long legal battle that could possibly result in Belkin purchasing the team.
On Tuesday, Judge Johnson revised the condition attached to the ruling limiting the Atlanta Spirit from signing a free agent to any deal longer than four years without the approval of Belkin.
Claxton, a five year pro out of Hofstra, fills one of the needs Hawks General Manager Billy Knight was looking for after the draft. "We feel it's a good day for us. We are going to add a player that we identified throughout our process of evaluating our team that we think fits in perfectly with our squad" stressed Knight. "We felt we needed a veteran point guard to run our team." The Hawks now have a guard rotation that includes Tyronn Lue, Royal Ivey and Anthony Grundy.
Initially drafted by Philadelphia with the 20th pick in the 2000 NBA Draft, Claxton did not have his pro debut in the league until the 2001-02 season courtesy of a torn left anterior cruciate ligament. The 5'11" point guard has had stops in San Antonio, Golden State, and most recently New Orleans/Oklahoma City.
No one on the Hawks will be happier to see Claxton than shooting guard Joe Johnson. In the 2005-2006 season Johnson averaged an unbelievable 40.7 minutes per game logging time at both the point and shooting guard positions. Claxton's offensive production last season (12.3 points and 4.8 assists) will certainly be welcomed by the Hawks. His 2.57 steals per 48 minutes played will be welcomed even more by the defensive minded Coach Mike Woodson. The pair will rekindle their memories with the Philadelphia 76ers where Woodson was an assistant coach under Larry Brown.
With Claxton safely in the fold, the Hawks can now focus their attention on working a deal for Al Harrington. Harrington has been rumored to have drawn interest from a number of teams most notably the Golden State Warriors. "We really can't say what's going to happen with that exactly because we really don't know what's going to happen" Knight said in his usual clandestine-self in discussing the Al Harrington situation.