Worried About Signings?

by: Michael Steffes

In many different places, some by email, some in comments, people have expressed concern about the top two picks remaining unsigned. I just thought it would be worth passing along a compilation of info from some of the Hawk writers today.

Danny O'Neil points out that only 7 of the first round picks have been signed. 4 of those are at the top of the draft, two are at the bottom. The two at the bottom lead me to believe that Lo Jack is close to signing. It is all about slotting, and there are picks closer to Jackson who have set the bar.

Clare Farnsworth talked to the team, and the agents, and neither are concerned about the top two guys missing any time. He mentions the ruling recently settled by the special master as holding things up. Both picks need to be signed before Fridays practice at 9:45am.

My take is that this is much ado about nothing, as I have expressed to many of you. Some teams like to play hardball with rookies, Seattle has never shown this. They are happy to pay what their slot determines. If I recall last year picks signed the day before camp. In 06', the last time the Hawks had a first rounder to deal with it was something similar. These guys want to be in camp because they want to play. The deals will get done. I wouldn't lose an minute of sleep over it. The only reason I will be losing sleep is because Le Tour is heading up Alpe D'Huez tomorrow. If you are down with that...coverage starts at 3:30am PDT. This is almost as exciting for me as the start of camp. I will be up, so if anything breaks I may be posting early!!!!~END~