Crawford has just one-year remaining on his current contract and will make $10.8 million next season.

He won last year’s Sixth Man award and is the type of player who can come off the bench and put points up in a hurry.

That said, other than being a streaky shooter and scorer, Crawford doesn’t bring anything else to the table.

Every team needs its share of scorers, but $10 million a year for a one-dimensional player seems like an awful lot of money.

For the newest member of the Atlanta Hawks, signing with the team is a chance to earn more playing time. It’s an opportunity to take the lessons that come with two NBA championship rings and apply them in a new place.

And yes, for Josh Powell, it’s a homecoming.

A prep star with suburban Riverdale High School a decade ago, the 6-foot-9 Powell signed with the Hawks on Monday, a deal that first came to the surface of the rumor mill last week.

Powell averaged 3.4 points and 2.4 rebounds per game the past two seasons, spent playing sparingly for the Los Angeles Lakers. While Powell doesn’t bring the boost from a marketing perspective of, say, a Shaquille O’Neal, he is a wide body who can give the Hawks minutes and depth in the frontcourt.

He also brings back home two NBA championship rings won with the Lakers the past two seasons.

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The Atlanta Hawks have come a long way from a 13-win season just a few short years ago. And now, they’re coming to stereo.

Monday, Cumulus Media and Dickey Broadcasting Company announced the Hawks will move to 97.9 FM starting this season, the first time in the team’s 42 years in Atlanta it will be beamed on the FM side of the dial.

The Hawks, coming off a 53-win season and their second consecutive trip to the NBA’s Eastern Conference semifinals, also will have pregame and postgame broadcasting on Sports Radio 680 The Fan, which currently serves as the flagship station for the Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Thrashers.

Hawks’ fans have long complained about not being able to listen to games outside of downtown Atlanta. All of that will change starting this October.

Moving to FM also gives the Hawks a chance to grow its radio network, as well as expose a wider audience to longtime play-by-play man Steve Holman, one of the more underappreciated broadcasters in sports.

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The Atlanta Hawks handed the keys to Larry Drew last month, naming the longtime assistant coach as Mike Woodson’s successor.

Now, Drew’s lieutenants have been determined. The Hawks have hired Lester Conner to join returners Bob Bender and Tyrone Hill on the bench.

Conner served as assistant coach in Indiana the past three seasons. Conner started his coaching career in 1998 in Boston, and has worked in Milwaukee and Philadelphia, as well as scouted for Miami.

Bender, a sixth-year veteran of the Atlanta bench, returns to the staff. He also coached in Philadelphia, and was head coach at the University of Washington for nine seasons.

Hill, a former first-round draft pick who played 14 seasons in the NBA, has spent the past three seasons with the Hawks as an assistant. His first two years with Atlanta was spent as a volunteer coach working with the team’s big men.

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He turns 39 years old in March. He’s not exactly the swiftest player in the world. He’s been known to slow teams down in the clubhouse with injuries and drama.

So if you are the Atlanta Hawks, why exactly are you interested in Shaquille O’Neal?

This isn’t the Shaq Daddy who led the Lakers to three NBA titles and captured a fourth ring with the Heat, the dominant big man who could be counted on for 20 points, 12 rebounds and a few “ah-ha” moments each night.

No, this O’Neal is a guy who played just 53 games last season for Cleveland, averaging 12 points and 6.7 boards while shooting 56.6 percent from the floor (third-lowest percentage of his career).

I just don’t see the Hawks – a team that thrives on pushing the tempo; a team that needs chemistry after coming apart at the seams in the playoffs – benefiting from signing Shaq. With Joe Johnson already garnering max money, there isn’t much financial wiggle room left for Atlanta.

What cash is left for 2010-11 would be better spent on somebody other than the relic once known as the Big Diesel.

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Six years ago, the Atlanta Hawks drafted Josh Childress with the sixth overall pick, tabbing the Stanford swingman as a cornerstone of the massive rebuilding process the franchise was undergoing at the time.

Fast forward to Monday, when it appeared Childress – who hasn’t played a minute for the Hawks the past two seasons – will be heading west.

Published reports indicate Childress, who has played the past two seasons in Greece while Atlanta held its NBA rights, will be dealt from the Hawks to the Phoenix Suns. In return, Atlanta will receive a second-round draft pick and a credit toward the salary cap.

It seems a small return for a player taken so high in the draft, and one the Hawks had plenty of expectations for, expectations that faded as players such as Joe Johnson, Josh Smith and Al Horford solidified themselves as team leaders. Childress signed with Olympiakos in 2008, after the Hawks reached the playoffs and pushed eventual world champion Boston to seven games in the opening round.

Childress has played the past two seasons in Greece. He has one more year left on his deal with Olympiakos, but can opt out before Thursday and return to the NBA. It appears that return will be with the Suns and not the Hawks.

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He has led the Atlanta Hawks in scoring the past five years, helping to transform a 13-win franchise into a team that reached the NBA’s Elite Eight each of the past two seasons.

Now, after dipping his toe into the free-agent pool, Joe Johnson is back. The shooting guard signed a contract that will keep him in an Atlanta uniform for the next six seasons, a deal that ensures No. 2 will man the 2-spot well into the decade.

The Hawks and Johnson drew heavy fire for the way their 2009-10 season ended: a four-game flameout in the Eastern Conference semifinals to Orlando, during which Johnson criticized fans for booing the team’s lackluster effort. But Johnson backed off of those comments days later, and now both the player and the franchise look to build on last season’s 53-win effort under new head coach Larry Drew.

Johnson landed his fourth-consecutive All-Star game appearance last season, leading the Hawks in scoring at 21.3 points per game. He added 4.9 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 38 minutes per game in 2009-10, leading the Hawks in scoring 34 times and in assists 28 times.

Johnson shot 45.8 percent from the floor and teamed with NBA sixth-man of the year Jamal Crawford to give Atlanta a robust 1-2 scoring punch in the backcourt. Now comes the task of trying to push the Hawks even higher in 2010-11.

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With the Mike Woodson era over following one of the more embarrassing playoff performances in recent memory, the Atlanta Hawks are wasting little time in trying to turn the page.

According to published reports Monday, the Hawks are set to interview former Dallas head coach Avery Johnson and current Dallas assistant Dwane Casey. This comes three days after Woodson was told he would not be brought back following a four-game sweep of the Hawks by Orlando in the second round of the NBA playoffs, three of the four defeats coming by lopsided margins.

Johnson already has interviewed with New Orleans and Philadelphia. He led the Mavs to the 2006 NBA Finals, where Dallas won the first two games before losing the championship to Miami.

Casey has no previous NBA head coaching experience, but worked under Atlanta GM Rick Sund in Seattle.

Woodson, let go after six seasons at the helm, directed the Hawks to a better record in each season, raising the franchise from the stench of a 13-69 campaign to a 53-29 mark and the third seed in the Eastern Conference this season. But the Hawks were swept in the second round of the playoffs for the second consecutive season, after nearly losing to undermatched Milwaukee in the first round.

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Wrapping up their most successful regular season in years, the Atlanta Hawks didn’t need to trot out their A-list lineup Wednesday night.

No, the guys on the bench drew the vast majority of the playing time in the regular-season finale at Philips Arena. But that’s OK. The stars of the Eastern Conference’s No. 3 seed already were preparing to tip off the second season.

Atlanta downed Cleveland 99-83 to conclude a regular season where the Hawks won 53 games, earned the No. 3 seed in the East and feel like they have what it takes to break through to the conference finals for the first time since the team was based in St. Louis.

This one was all about who wasn’t on the hardwood. The Hawks rested Joe Johnson, Al Horford, Josh Smith, Mike Bibby and Jamal Crawford. Cleveland didn’t bother playing LeBron James or Shaquille O’Neal.

One thing to note from this one: Atlanta’s top draft pick last summer, point guard Jeff Teague, showed a season getting minutes here and there might be the foundation for a really good NBA career. Playing all 48 minutes, Teague finished with 24 points on 11-for-19 shooting and 15 assists.

He had help on this night. Seven Hawks scored in double figures: Joe Smith, Marvin Williams, Zaza Pachulia, Mario West, Jason Collins, Mo Evans and Teague.

Atlanta plays host to Milwaukee in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Philips Arena.

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It would be unfair to say the Atlanta Hawks were reeling out of control as they arrived in Salt Lake City Monday night. But after blowing a 17-point fourth-quarter lead to lowly Golden State the night before, a win definitely was needed.

That’s what the Hawks got, leaving Utah with a victory for the first time since 1993. Down six points with under nine minutes to play, Atlanta finished strong in a 105-100 victory.

With the win, the Hawks wrap up their four-game Western Conference road swing at 2-2. The win pulls the Hawks within two games of Orlando in the Southeast Division standings. Sitting fourth in the Eastern Conference, Atlanta moves to within ½ game of Boston for the third seed.

Joe Johnson scored 28 points on 12-for-19 shooting. Josh Smith added 18 points and led the Hawks with nine rebounds. Jamal Crawford scored 17 points off the bench, hitting four 3-pointers. Al Horford added 13 points and Marvin Williams scored 11.

Atlanta returns home to play Minnesota on Wednesday at Philips Arena.

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