Hawks’ Marvin Williams joins Tracy McGrady in calls for more playing time

There appears to be some unrest within the Atlanta Hawks’ locker room, as the team is heading in the wrong direction since the return of Kirk Hinrich. Atlanta started the season 13-5, but has gone just 6-8 since getting Hinrich back from shoulder surgery, ESPN.com notes. Worse, the Hawks have won just three of their last 10 games.

Marvin Williams, who has seen his minutes reduced this season, wants to be traded to a team on which he can have a more prominent offensive role, according to ESPN.com. Williams is playing 24.2 minutes per game, the lowest of his seven years in the NBA, and is scoring 9.6 points per game, his lowest average since his rookie season.

Williams isn’t the only one who’s complaining. Following Sunday night’s 20-point loss in Portland, Tracy McGrady, who played only five minutes that night, vented, “I’m tired of this (bleep). You can put that in the paper, I don’t give a (bleep).”

The “feeling among some in Atlanta is that the Hawks' rotation was thrown out of whack" by Hinrich's return, according to ESPN's Chris Broussard.

Meanwhile, the Hawks will be without All-Star guard Joe Johnson for their two games remaining before the All-Star break—Wednesday at New York and Thursday at home against Orlando. Johnson sat out the fourth quarter of Atlanta’s loss to the Chicago Bulls on Monday because of tendinitis in his left knee. Johnson was selected as a reserve for Sunday’s All-Star Game, but it would not be surprising to see him sit that out to rest his knee.