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Speedy Claxton might not have had the biggest smile in the room when he was introduced Wednesday as the Hawks' new point guard.
"I may be the happiest guy in the bunch," said Claxton's new backcourt partner, Joe Johnson. "Having Speedy will definitely free me up to score a lot more."
Claxton, 28, signed a four-year deal worth about $25.5 million with Atlanta.
Claxton started only three games for the New Orleans Hornets last season after he was pushed out of the starting lineup by rookie point guard Chris Paul — the player many expected the Hawks to pick in the 2005 draft.
Claxton averaged 28.4 minutes, 12.3 points and 4.8 assists and was the runner-up in voting for the league's Sixth Man Award.
The Hawks took versatile forward Marvin Williams in the first round last year and selected power forward Shelden Williams in the first round this year as general manager Billy Knight waited to sign a veteran point guard.
"I think everyone can see we're a young group of guys and we're deep at the wing positions," Knight said. "We feel we need a veteran point guard to run our team."
The average age on the Hawks' team at the end of last season was 23.
"No disrespect to the point guards who came out of the draft this year, but I felt we needed a veteran point guard who can be an extension of me and my staff," said coach Mike Woodson, who as an assistant coach worked with Claxton in Philadelphia in the 2001-02 season.
"The fans in Atlanta are going to be excited about his style of play and how he pushes the ball," Woodson said.
The 5-foot-11 Claxton played behind or alongside Paul with New Orleans, but he will start for the Hawks. That will allow Johnson, who averaged 20.2 points last season, to play shooting guard full-time.
Though the Hawks are happy with the play of Tyronn Lue in a backup role, point guard has been a position of concern. There was some brief hope that Johnson would play point guard, but instead he led the team with 6.5 assists while spending most of his time at shooting guard.
"Now I can spend my time playing off the ball and I think I'm going to be more effective," Johnson said.
Johnson called Claxton "a guy who makes his team better."
Claxton played on San Antonio's 2003 NBA championship team before spending two years with Golden State before a trade to the Hornets two years ago. He helped the Hornets win 20 more games last season than in 2004-05, the biggest jump in wins in the league.
"Now I think we can have one of those big improvements," Johnson said.
Claxton said the Hawks "are not far at all" from being a playoff team.
"I think they've got better pieces that we did last year," Claxton said, comparing the Hawks and Hornets rosters. "We've got some talented guys here. Hopefully, we can make a playoff push this year."
The Hawks are expected to make a sign-and-deal trade involving free-agent forward Al Harrington.
There had been concern that the trade efforts could be foiled by the ongoing ownership feud. Those worries were relieved Tuesday when a Maryland judge ruled the current ownership group could add contracts for up to four years, instead of a one-year limit, without the approval of former co-owner Steve Belkin, who is attempting to take over the teams.
The Hawks initiated talks with Claxton before the brief one-year limitation on free-agent contracts was imposed by the judge.
The Hawks normally started Royal Ivey at point guard last season, though Lue saw most of the playing time at the position. Ivey started 66 games but averaged only 13.4 minutes.
Salim Stoudamire, a natural shooting guard, is playing point guard on the Hawks' summer league team.
Hawks sign Speedy and Solomon
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