Hawks Sign French Swingman Pape Sy

Filed under: Hawks, NBA Draft, NBA Transactions, ULEBThe Hawks took completely unknown French wing Pape Sy late in the second round of the 2010 NBA Draft. How anonymous was Sy? DraftExpress didn't have a profile on him, and ESPN.com's Chad Ford had ranked Sy, who was born in Senegal, as the No. 84 draft prospect, a perilous position in a 60-pick draft.

Compounding the shock of the Sy pick was the fact that more potential NBA prospects than usual went undrafted. In other words, Atlanta passed up some decent players (Sherron Collins, Jerome Randle, Scottie Reynolds, Jeremy Lin, Samardo Samuels) to take one few knew anything about, a 22-year-old playing few minutes on a bad team in the French league. He isn't a 7-footer. He can't jump over buildings. There have been no indications he's a skilled wizard.

Yet the Hawks today announced the team has signed Sy to a contract, bringing Atlanta's roster to 14. Clearly, the Hawks see something in Mr. Sy, and given that so few others in NBA circles have seen anything, it's of great interest to this observer to see just what lies ahead. At the wing positions, the Hawks currently have Marvin Williams, Joe Johnson, Jordan Crawford, Maurice Evans and, should new coach Larry Drew opt for a bigger lineup, Josh Smith. As such, minutes may be in short supply this year.

When (or if) Sy gets on the court, he'd become the eighth Senegalese-born NBA player. DeSagana Diop of the Bobcats is the only other Senegalese-born player with a current NBA contract; the incredibly similarly named Pape Sow last played for Raptors in 2007. Current Hawks GM Rick Sund, who drafted Sy, made Senegal's Mouhamed Sene the 10th pick of of the 2007 NBA Draft while running the Sonics. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

ParksBonifay PeterMel PeterMendia PhillipSoven Pierre-LucGagnon