Editor's note: The Atlanta Hawks fired Pete Babcock on Wednesday, cutting ties with their longtime general manager after suffering a fourth straight losing season. Did Babcock do anything right during the team's slide? ESPN's Fred Carter lists Babcock's smooth and not-so-smooth moves.

What Babcock did RIGHT in Atlanta

	Shareef Abdur-Rahim's versatility is one of the good things Babcock brought to Atlanta.

1. Drafting J.T.. Jason Terry is not the true point guard Atlanta hoped he would be, but Terry has proved he can be a scorer from the two-guard position. He averaged better than 19 points per game in each of the previous two seasons and is dropping in almost 17 per game this year, despite being undersized at 6-foot-2.

2. Trading for Shareef. They gave up Pau Gasol, who became the 2001-02 Rookie of the Year, but Shareef Abdur-Rahim is a proven player who gives the Hawks versatility in the frontcourt. He has been an All-Star and he's averaged close to 20 and 10 for the last four seasons, giving them minutes at both small forward and power forward.

3. Bolstering the interior defense. Sure, the Hawks gave up Dikembe Mutombo to get Theo Ratliff, but Ratliff was coming off a 2000-01 season in which he would've been the Defensive Player of the Year had he not gotten hurt. He has had his injury problems in Atlanta, too, but he'll block better than three shots per game when healthy and give Atlanta an intimidator in the lane. Ratliff won't score a ton of points, but neither did Dikembe.

What Babcock did WRONG in Atlanta
1. The Lon Kruger hiring. Babcock handed the reins of of a young, talented team to a guy who did not know the NBA and had no idea what it would take to win consistently. Kruger had squads that were good enough to be playoff teams, but he didn't seem to understand all the things that would be necessary to have NBA success. That includes defense and discipline, and how to coach and teach this blend of youngsters and veterans.

2. Letting Tinsley get away. The Hawks knew going into the 2001 draft that they needed a true point guard to run the team, yet they selected Jamaal Tinsley and then shipped him off for what will end up being a late first-round pick. Indiana, meanwhile, is near the top of the Eastern Conference with Tinsley running the show.

3. Bringing on baggage. The J.R. Rider trade blew up in Atlanta's face big-time. The Hawks gave up Steve Smith, who averaged at least 18 points in his four full seasons with the team, for a guy with all kinds of issues. Rider had so much baggage in tow that when he came to Atlanta he pulled up in a Mayflower truck. This deal was a total disaster.

Fred Carter is an NBA analyst for ESPN.