Dominique: Hawks Need Big Man, Leader

The Atlanta Hawks are considered one of the NBA's rising teams, as evidenced by consecutive playoff appearances for the first time in 10 years. The Hawks, however, were easily swept in the Eastern Conference semifinals by the Cleveland Cavaliers, who spent four games exposing Atlanta's numerous flaws and weaknesses. The Hawks are approaching a critical time for their franchise, with Mike Bibby a free agent and third-year forward and former lottery pick Marvin Williams seemingly without a role.

Hawks legend Dominique Wilkins, the team's vice president of basketball, said the Hawks need two key components to challenge, Boston, Orlando and Cleveland for Eastern Conference supremacy.

"First of all, we need some sort of leadership," he said. "The team is still a young team. We need another big guy, particularly somebody who's going to be a banger, do all the dirty work, rebound, play defense, a rugged guy, like a Reggie Evans type of guy. And also we need a solid backup point guard, especially if Mike Bibby is going to be back with the team next year. You need a solid backup who can come in and give them quality minutes."

Joe Johnson is considered Atlanta's leader but there appeared to be times where he and gifted but erratic forward Josh Smith lacked on-court chemistry during the Cleveland series. The Hawks may need another veteran player to stabilize the roster.

The Hawks drafted Acie Law over Rodney Stuckey -- one of former GM Billy Knight's final moves -- in 2007 and the former Texas A&M standout has played in just 111 of a possible 164 games over the past two years, averaging 3.6 points. He may not be the answer at point guard.

Atlanta was badly exposed at center during the series with Cleveland. The Hawks would like to move Al Horford back to his natural power forward position and keep Zaza Pachulia as a reserve. Atlanta picks 19th in next month's draft and Ohio State big man B.J. Mullens could be available. But Mullens, although legitimate NBA size, is extremely raw and would likely serve more as a project in the first couple of seasons. Also, GM Rick Sund has a poor history of taking centers dating back to his days with the Sonics. He drafted Robert Swift, Johan Petro and Mouhamed Sene in consecutive years. Only Swift remains with the franchise, now in Oklahoma City, and he's a free agent.

There could be plenty of point guard available at 19 for Atlanta, such as North Carolina's Ty Lawson, St. Mary's Patrick Mills, Wake Forest's Jeff Teague and UCLA's Darren Collison.