Atlanta Hawks New GM Making Player Moves

Rose Scott | WABE

July 4th, 2012

The newly hired general manager of the Atlanta Hawks is busy making moves regarding the team.

Barely a week on the job, Danny Ferry has already traded away two players.

He was brought to the team for his scoring ability.

Over the last seven years as an Atlanta Hawk, Joe Johnson has averaged twenty points a game during the regular season.

But Johnson was also carrying a six-year $119 million dollar contract.

He now heads to the Brooklyn Nets.

Score Atlanta sports writer Robby Kalland says it’s a good move.

“Joe Johnson’s contract was– to put it lightly–he was bit of an overpaid player for his performance. To move his contract is a big deal and he’s opened up a lot of cap room for the Hawks to have a lot of maneuverability next year in free agency.”

That according to Kalland allows the team to offer big money to top name players.

But Kallan says Atlanta Hawks fans will have to wait until the 2013-14 season.

He adds some of the new players will probably not be around after next season.

Jordan Farmar, Anthony Morrow and DeShawn Stevenson are three of the five players coming from the Nets.

“Most of the contracts are expiring deals. I think only one of them is going to be a multi-year deal and that will probably be DeShawn Stevenson who is the one were signing and trading for. So, this is definitely a move looking to rebuild in the future.”

The Hawks also traded Marvin Williams, the team’s former number one pick to the Utah Jazz in exchange for guard Devin Harris.