Not long after completing a workout in the Hawks' practice facility this week, Shareef Abdur-Rahim stood in front of his locker and boasted about a certain Atlanta team with a bird nickname.

"You see those Falcons Sunday?" Abdur-Rahim said of his hometown football team. "Yeah, we just need Doug Johnson to go 2-1, then he can hand it over to Mike Vick and we'll be all right."

Clearly, Abdur-Rahim has caught Falcons fever. However, even before Jason Terry signed an offer sheet with Utah, it was difficult for Abdur-Rahim or any of his teammates to have anything more than a guarded optimism about another feathered franchise in this city because, as center Theo Ratliff said, "You're in total limbo."

This summer, the Hawks have gone from being in limbo to actually doing the limbo, as in: How Low Can You Go?

Less than three weeks before training camp, they have just nine players under contract --- 10, if you count the Hawks possibly matching Utah's offer for Terry. The biggest (and only) free agent catch this offseason has been backup point guard Jacque Vaughn --- but the Hawks still haven't signed players to fill the holes at small forward or shooting guard. And the sale of the team remains in a holding pattern.

"It's been kind of a funny summer," said Abdur-Rahim, who had back surgery in July and is expected to complete his rehab before the end of the month.

"There's been a lot up in the air. Will ownership change? What players are coming in? Here it is, the middle of September, and we don't know who our starting five is," reserve forward Alan Henderson said. "There are a lot of questions, but that's life in the NBA."