Thanks to Teague, Paul curse no longer looms over Hawks
Hawks passed on All-Star caliber point guard Chris Paul in 2005
POSTED: Feb 5, 2015 9:54 AM ET
Point guard
Jeff Teague is an All-Star, which means the Hawks' painful, expensive, decade-long wait is mercifully over. It's not that Teague took 10 years to develop. It took 10 years for the Hawks to finally shed the Curse of
Chris Paul.
We should explain. In the summer of 2005, the Hawks, still bloody from a 13-win season, passed on Paul in the draft, even though they needed a point guard and a star in the worst way. And, taking it a step further, they also ignored
Deron Williams in that same draft. That's two point guards who would eventually make 11 All-Star teams combined and sign a pair of max contracts and represent Team USA in two Olympics.
The Hawks spent their first-round pick, the second overall, on forward
Marvin Williams instead. And regretted it almost instantly. Williams never became a star, or even a borderline case, and at his best he was the Hawks' third option.
Meanwhile, the Hawks either suffered or were so-so at point guard for years.
Until now.
2015 All-Star Reserves: Jeff Teague
Check out the plays that made Hawks guard Jeff Teague a 2015 East All-Star Reserve.
This is an anatomy of a big mistake and how it can set a franchise back three or four years or even longer in extreme cases. It happens often; no need to single out the Hawks specifically. Yet, the cost of that oversight involving Paul (and to slightly a lesser extent, Deron Williams) was staggering in so many ways. The exact tab can't be accurately measured, because how can you put a price on how much Paul would've meant to the Hawks in terms of merchandise sales, ticket sales, respect, visibility and franchise value? What about the massive goodwill Paul would've generated for the Hawks among their fan base, a neglected group only now warming up to a team that has Teague and leads the Eastern Conference?
But in terms of pure manpower and contracts, that's a bit easier to pin down. The Hawks spent plenty trying to cover for their blunder and also their quest to find a quality point guard. Passing up Paul cost $80 million-plus in salaries along with a pair of first-round picks until Teague, here in the midst of a breakout season, finally made Hawks fans forgive if not forget 2005.
Atlanta isn't haunted by the decision anymore.
In 2004-05 the Hawks were in the second year of a development project and it went terribly. The year before, they won 28 games. In 2004-05 they actually took a step backward. They lost 32 of their final 35 games. They ranked either near or at the bottom in every important statistical category. They were historically awful. Philips Arena was a cemetery. Dominique Wilkins, Mike Fratello, Spud Webb, Mookie Blaylock and Steve Smith were a distant memory.
Billy Knight was the general manager and, armed with the No. 2 pick (the Bucks leapfrogged five teams in the lottery to get No. 1), was on the spot. Along with other NBA people, Knight was infatuated by Marvin Williams, who worked his way up the draft boards with strong pre-draft workouts. Williams didn't even start for North Carolina but quickly had some NBA scouts comparing him to James Worthy, the former Tar Heel who had a Hall of Fame career. Yes, seems strange now, doesn't it?
The Hawks didn't have a pressing need for a front line scorer; Al Harrington was young and intriguing. What they lacked was a point guard and leadership. Tyronn Lue and Royal Ivey split the minutes and neither was starting material. Knight was also nervous about Paul's height, generously listed at 6-feet. So he took Marvin Williams. Paul went next to the Hornets and Deron Williams went No. 4 to Utah.
It's great when you have a group of guys who believe in you, and trust you with the ball. I can't tell you how much that has helped me.
– Jeff Teague
Knight used his second-round pick on a point guard and took Salim Stoudemire at No. 30. That was also a mistake in hindsight.
Monta Ellis went 10 spots later, and that second round in '05 was one of the better ones:
Brandon Bass, C.J. Miles,
Ersan Ilyasova, Ronny Turiaf, Lou Williams (who played high school ball 15 minutes from Philips Arena), Andre Blatche,
Amir Johnson and
Marcin Gortat. All but Blatche is still in the NBA, and after playing overseas this season, Blatche could be signed in the next few weeks. Stoudemire was out of basketball in three years.
In the summer of 2006, Knight spent $24 million on free agent point guard Speedy Claxton, a surprise because Claxton was listed two inches smaller than Paul. Claxton played only 44 games in three years with the Hawks, partly because of injuries, and when healthy, he was largely ineffective.
The Hawks endured another season with the two-headed Lue-Ivey point guard, then spent their ottery pick in 2007 on forward Sheldon Williams. Another first-rounder, the No. 11 pick, was used for point guard Acie Law. He was taken ahead of
Rajon Rondo and
Kyle Lowry; both made All-Star teams. Law averaged 2 assists as a rookie and shot 20 percent from deep. He was gone in two years. Williams was a bust.
Desperate now, at the 2008 trade deadline Knight traded for Mike Bibby, who was 30 and past his prime. That was Knight's final move; he resigned under fire three months later. The Hawks later gave Bibby a three-year, $18 million extension and Bibby helped a team that hadn't been winners in nine years to the playoffs. But Bibby then fell off a cliff rapidly. Never a good athlete, he rarely broke down a defense and left a fair share of the ball-handling to
Joe Johnson. Meanwhile, Paul and Deron Williams were making All-Star and Olympic teams.
Inside Stuff: Jeff Teague
Kristen Ledlow and All-Star point guard Jeff Teague of the streaking Atlanta Hawks take a trip to the Georgia Aquarium.
Finally, new GM Rick Sund drafted Teague in 2009, but coach Mike Woodson played him little behind Bibby. Then in 2011 the Hawks sent Bibby and a No. 1 pick to the Wizards for
Kirk Hinrich at the trade deadline, showing little faith in Teague's readiness to assume the job full-time. After playing behind Bibby, Teague had to play behind Hinrich. That irritated Teague.
"It was a little difficult for me, I'm not going to lie," Teague said. "I didn't understand it. I wanted to play. But I did learn from Kirk, and as it turned out, we ended up playing a number of games together."
Sund said: "He took that experience under Bibby and Kirk, learned from it and turned himself into an All-Star player."
The Hawks also extended Marvin Williams for five years and $37 million -- if only to justify taking him No. 2 overall in a draft that haunted them a decade -- then traded him later to Utah. And so, the money paid to Claxton, Bibby, Stoudemire, Law, Hinrich and by extension Marvin Williams could've been avoided had the Hawks simply done the right thing in 2005.
As for the arrival of their new All-Star point guard: Better late than never, right? Teague was good last season. He's very good this season, his sixth, and made himself into possibly a top-10 point guard. He beat
John Wall,
Damian Lillard and
Mike Conley among others during a scorching Hawks winning stretch. And get this: Teague and the Hawks have beaten Paul twice.
"It kind of all came together, not only for me, but for our team," Teague said. "Things have fallen the right way for us. And it's great when you have a group of guys who believe in you, and trust you with the ball. I can't tell you how much that has helped me."
He's averaging career highs in points (16.8), assists (7.5) and steals (1.7) and showing plenty of necessary chill in pressure situations. He's quick enough to push the ball on the break, and can reach the rim in the half-court. Teague is rarely flustered, either by the situation or the challenge of playing against point guards with bolder resumes. The Hawks should thank the Bucks for extending Teague a free agent offer sheet two summers ago that was matched. He's making a very team-friendly $9 million a season and signed for two more years.
Teague is important to the Hawks in another respect: It's tough to win in the NBA without a quality point guard. Almost all title contenders have one. In the East, there's Lowry, Wall,
Kyrie Irving and yes, even
Derrick Rose. In the West? Paul, Lillard, Conley,
Tony Parker,
Stephen Curry,
Russell Westbrook. Tough matchups await, maybe in every round, for all of the above, Teague included.
"He's been a pretty quick study and just looks like he belongs with the better point guards in the league," Sund said. "That's a credit to how hard he's worked and the belief he has in himself."
It's been a long and mostly harsh journey to this point for the Hawks to finally feel comfortable and blessed at that position. Point guard has haunted them for the better part of a decade. But now, when Paul is across the floor, casting a large and gloomy shadow over the team that didn't think he was good enough, the Hawks no longer have reason to wince. At least not as hard as before.
Veteran NBA writer Shaun Powell has worked for newspapers and other publications for more than 25 years. You can e-mail him here or follow him on Twitter.
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Beal should've just got out the way
my inner hustler is messing with my emotions
like you said were running out of wknd home games unless were just waiting for the playoffs
We'd never get there early.