emeans

Has Ira even played in the preseason? I can't find where he is even any preseason games for Cleveland. Is he hurt? Well anyway I agree with you, Ira is not worth overpaying. We can't continue to overpay players like you said. Thank you for your services, good bye Ira!! We need to start doing that more often. If Crawford doesn't play this year, he need to be shown the door too. What a waste of millions of dollars on a chronically hurt player.

Losing becomes mental after a while. You want to build confidence early in the year. Losing becomes cancer for a professional team in any sport. Team problems start arising and they become the Atlanta Falcons. A team with no passion or clue how to turn things around even though they have talent. It is important to build confidence with a new young team with a lot of new guys. I hate this schedule!!!

Have you guys looked at the regular season schedule? The NBA need to take notes from the NFL on scheduling. The NFL based their schedules and strength of schedule on last years record. This helps the sorrier teams build some confidence and it helps with parity in the league. It is a shame they don't use this model in the NBA. The Hawks play almost all of their 1st 10 to 15 games on the road with the exception of maybe 2 to 4 games. And most of those road teams seem to be in the West. That is ridiculus for a struggling team. They will start off bad again this year and have no confidence going into the middle of the season. I have noticed this for the past 4 years. They always start off with a brutal 1st half schedule. The NBA doesn't believe in parity like the NFL which is a shame. According to their scheduling they reward the good teams only.

Like I said earlier.....SJax was a very good pickup for the hawks. He add athleticism to this lineup and if you guys remember he was a high school star ranked very high with Kobe Bryant's high school class. He just wasn't mature as Kobe (this is proven wrong) in handling the NBA and all of the pressures of the NBA. He has grown up a lot and he is now finally coming into his own like was suppose to as a top tier high school prospect. That was a good pickup!! Also Ekezie has to make this team. He is a stud and physical player we never had. We need this banger!!!

Game is tied 80 - 80 with 6 seconds left. What low post player other than Shaq and Duncan would you go to in the low post to shoot the winning clutch shot? Is this typical? The reason I ask this is because it seems that most clutch shots are set up to be taken by their best shooter unless you have a dominant low post scorer (i.e. Garnett, Webber). Both of these guys can shoot it from the outside also. You have to have someone that can consistently be a threat from outside. That is what makes the Lakers so great. The Lakers are so much better when Kobe and Shaq play together. They aren't as good if Kobe is not playing. Actually they would be an average team without both of them playing. We need that same kind of threat from the outside.

You analysis is excellent. I totally agree with you assessment of the team and the future lineups barring any trade.

That is the funniest thing to me with all sports teams. Teammates always rag on ex-teammates after they leave. Why not bring these things up while they are there? Why is everything so good when they are teammates but they are always the problem when they leave? This happens on all levels in all sports (football, baseball, and basketball) and it is funny to me. I am not saying Glenn was not a problem, I just don't understand why these things are not dealt with while they are teammates.

I wouldn't consider Glover, Jackson nor Lee as good outside shooters. Yes they can hit the mid-range jumper but that is not their 'natural skill'. In other words they have to work hard at it. We need a player that shooting and making the jumper is almost second nature. Someone like Person, Steve Smith, or even Hubert. Glover is terrible behind the 3 point line. Jackson is inconsistent behind the 3 and Nailand hasn't shown me that he is a legitimate threat from long range.

I would take Steve or Hubert, however I am leaning more toward Steve Smith because of his experience. Lets see what this new ownership is made of and see if they can get us that shooter we desperately need.

Exactly that is my biggest concern. We have a lot of slashers and post players that are good at what they do. But we have absolutely no pure shooters from the 3 point line and outside shooters period. JT is the only outside shooter and he is your PG. That is not good people. Maybe we can trade and get that outside threat that will open up the middle.

Guys lets not fool outselves in thinking this team is a playoff team. As much as I wish it was.......this is not a playoff team. At best, and I am stretching it, they will make the 8 spot....AT BEST. Realistically they will be the 10 or 11th team in the east. People keep forgetting that this team has been through the mud this offseason. This was by NBA standards a terrible terrible offseason for the Hawks. We have unproven rookie talent. We have questionable outside shooters other than JT. Who can truly stroke it from the outside other than JT??? You can't win everything in the post with Shareef. That is my biggest concern. Who will be able to take that OUTSIDE shot and make it in the clutch???

Stephan Jackson brings clutch championship experience to a team with no one that has any championship experience. That in itself is big!!!! I know he wasn't the man in SA but he did start and he did contribute. He actually contributed majorly in several playoff games. We are still several players away from anything special but at least we are trying to add some depth. It is funny....he was actually highly touted along with Kobe Bryant out of High School. Now we need to cut Crawford....He is taking an unused roster spot.

If I am correct (I maybe wrong) but I think the NBA and all the owners have to sign off on these guys which will and should happen soon. But officially (correct me if I am wrong)....they don't have the keys right now, because they haven't been officially given the Title to the Hawks yet. You will not see what these owners are truely about until next years offseason. This will be a feeling out year for these guys.

Now you guys see what a little stability with ownership does to a franchise, players and city. That is why I would never get into any of the fantasy league trade talk. This ownership thing had to take place 1st before any player talk. Now we can start talking about players and I am so glad to see we pretty much have last years team with the exception of Glenn Robinson. Even though this core is still a losing team....Maybe they will change some things. Only time will tell. I thought Dion Glover's signing was important, not big, but important. I wonder who we will sign next (Jackson, Smith, ????), who knows but I think we will at least sign one more free agent and that is it. You go into the season with a team that has played together for a while. Hopefully they can create better chemistry and play better. Time will tell!!! Thank God we have some stability with ownership!!

I would pull this deal in heartbeat!! Like one poster said earlier Nazr is a backup center and Battier is good defensive player that plays smart on the court. I hope that deal gets done!!!

I am glad someone (more like some people) stepped up to the plate and we are finally going to put some stability into this organization. I knew there were major problems with the purchase from McDavid because it took too long and any owner in their right mind wouldn't put his potential organization through so much limbo and uncertainty in the offseason. We are finally stabilizing for the future and now we can legitimately make moves with the notion that we have permanent owners. Also, I am glad McDavid didn't win the purchase. He just didn't impress me at all. These guys will be impressive and they have some local ties which is very important. FINALLY!!!

Now I am mad as H*&^. We have wasted an entire off-season dealing with this mess and now they decide to nix the deal. AOL has screwed this team up big time. However on the bright side, I personally didn't get a good feeling about ownership going to McDavid. I can't quite put my finger on it but he just didn't seem to be the right person for ownership. Plus I would like to have an exclusive NBA team ownership, not NHL also. Arthur Blank set a standard and I want someone to come in a set that same standard with the Hawks. Do you really think McDavid was that man???? In my eyes I didn't think so. So basically what I am saying was we were screwed anyway it went. Darn if you do...darn if you dont.

From a purely objective standpoint: I have watched Dan very very closely when he gets into the game and I can definitely say Dan is (on NBA standards) an average PG. Nothing more, nothing less. He doesn't have good handles. He has hard times getting the ball up against good defensive players. And when he gets it up he immediately gets the ball out of his hands. The kid can shoot only if he squares up and has time to plant his feet and shoot. He doesn't create shots well off the dribble which is very very very important in the NBA, way more so than in college. To me that is his greatest weakness at this level. Body control and body adjustments as you drive and shoot are very important in the NBA and this is really not his game. I am not saying he is a bad player, but he is no more than a role player in this league. He is not an impact player.

You took the words right out of my mouth!!! That post is as real as it gets and unfortunately all of it is true.

Congrats to you and your family!!

Smitty has always been a favorite of mine. I was angry when they traded him in the first place. Again a dumb move by Hawks management...trading their leading scorer away for a convict that had an attitude. Just a dumb move similar to trading Nique for Manning. Now here we are 4 years removed and now we want him back. Wow this management is clueless!! We never should have gotten rid of him!!! Steve was excellent when he played here and I would open my arms to get him back. Now the only down side to this is that he has 4 more years of wear and tear on his body and knees. Will he hold up because we are going to have to play him heavy minutes because no one else. I have always like Smitty's game and hope the Hawks REACQUIRE him. I would also try to get Leonard too. That gives the hawks some scoring they lost with the departure of Glenn.

I would pull that deal in a second!!

Sorry to here that KB. Hang in there, everything will work out. My wife gave birth to a little boy 5 months ago and we had all kinds of complications with placenta previa and was told we might have to deliver pre-term at 18 weeks. We lasted full term actually (37 weeks) which is considered full term and our son is doing very well. Just pray and stay confident and your sister and baby will do just fine.

That would be one helluva board meeting. Can you image 100,000 people trying to make decisions for the Hawks? It would be worst than the Presidential Election. Serious if 20 to 30 people here could raise about 400 million dollars then we should. That is almost impossible unless someone knows where Sadaam is? That would be 30 million, which is a good start.

I really don't care who buys the team as long as AOL doesn't own them I will be happy. Jordan's group would be very nice. Actually any group would be nice. Hey guys....How much money do you guys have? Maybe we can get a group here to purchase the team.