emeans

This team the way it is and the possible lose of JT will have major growing pains, which in all likely hood means no playoffs. This is exactly why I say we HAVE to keep Glenn Robinson and Shareef on the squad to get any scoring. Forget about the trades guys, we have to find a diamond in the rough this year. This roster right now looks like an explansion team. This ownerhsip thing is destroying this team right before our eyes. This will probably be the worst offseason in the history of this franchise.

Terry is definitely not worth that kind of money. I think we will miss JT but we can't overspend on players anymore. I am interested in seeing how this team will function without JT. Will the teams assist/turnover ratio improve with another person running the point. Only time will tell!!!

http://espn.go.com/nba/columns/aldridge_david/1576175.html "After almost dying in an automobile accident just before training camp, DerMarr Johnson didn't play for the Hawks last season, and there's no guarantee he'll ever play again. For a team with great depth like the Blazers, he'd be a low-cost project that they could wait a year or two to work on. …" I don't think Demarr will be back with the Hawks next year especially with ownership in flux. Why is it taking so long for new ownership to buy the team? This uncertainty time will ultimately hurt the Hawks. No one wants to come here with cloudy ownership.

I really hope we keep Jason. I think he will be a very important part of the success of next years team. I would like to see what he and Boris can do on the court together. However I do think the Hawks have to have a limit on what they offer. The Hawks are notorious for overpaying its players (i.e. CC, . Koncak, Hendu, Norman). But I would rather overpay JT than any of those scrubs they have overpaid in the past!!! At least he will try to earn that money and try to win!!

Okay maybe Glenn is a little below average in those two categories. I am just reporting that most NBA analysts compare Carmelo's Game with Glenn Robinson. Yes Carmelo is a better passer and dribbler but he is not as good of a shooter as Glenn Robinson. I agree with the comparison to a certain extent. Of course nobody has exactly the same game but if you were to compare him to anyone in the league right now who would you compare Carmelo too?? And again we do not need to get rid of Robinson. We will be the worst scoring team in the league without Robinson.

What you see in Glenn Robinson is what you get. He doesn't have a huge ego, he is just an excellent mid range pure shooter with average handles and average defense. This is just his game..... Now what we need to be concentrating our discussions on is how to use him EFFECTIVELY in the offense and that is a function of the COACH and OFFENSIVE SCHEMES that are run on the floor when he is in. DO NOT run the offense through Glenn like you would a Duncan or Kobe. That is not his game. Get the ball to him only when the offensive play/scheme EXPECTS him to shoot the ball, because that is what he does. He is a specialist and that is shooting the ball. Again a function of Coaching...using your players strengths to maximize the success of your team...that is called coaching. You can't expect everyone to be able to do everything well on the team. That is not realistic. Let us discuss how to use him and not how to get rid of him!!!

I am glad someone is talking some sense around here. We do not need to get rid of Glenn Robinson. You need a spot up shooter/scorer on the roster. That would be a huge mistake to get rid of Robinson without getting something EQUIVALENT in return. If not then we need to stop this "get rid of" discussion right now. [censored] most NBA analysts compare Carmelo Anthony's game to Glenn Robinson, but not as good of a shooter as Glenn yet. Why in the [censored] would we get rid of a more polished Carmelo Anthony??? We better not get rid of Glenn!!!

Atlanta will fall anywhere between 7 and 10 in the East this year. If DJ comes back healthy and this Scottie Pippen clone (Boris) can come in a contribute right away and we get a competent coach, we will have a 10 to 15 game improvement over last year. Plus this is the second year for the big (3) together so chemistry should be much better. Now lets concentrate on getting a competent coach that can help these guys play defense and help them with the turnovers.

Crawford is a joke right now in mind. He is useless to this team and taking a valuable roster spot and getting a tremendous salary. Another dumb move by the Hawks ownership and management. Hendu would probably be the only player I would keep on the bench. That would leave two spots (if they cut Crawford). Fill those thru FA.

I think most of you guys are looking in the wrong places to find fault with the Hawks. It is not necessarily their starters that is the problem. It really is three (3) things: No true Point Guard, Turnovers and the Bench. Do to the lack of a point guard we turned the ball over too much, Hopefully this Boris kid can come and in and help that statistic get better and help solve the first two problems. Secondly, The Hawks had the sorriest Bench in the NBA last year. Statistically they were the WORST bench in the NBA!!! They need to revamp this entire bench. Forget about trading Glenn Robinson. We need him and he is a good player if you use him right. The starting lineup should look like this: PG: Boris/Dickau/BYU kid SG: Terry/DJ SF: Glenn Robinson PF: Shareef C: Ratliff/Nazr That is 9 players. The bench need to be totally revamp with 3 totally new players, preferbly veterans with size that can come in and BANG and be very PHYSICAL. I would get rid of Robinson so quick like most of you guys are suggesting. He can be useful again in the right system. Right now we don't even have a system because we don't have a coach. So keep him until we find out what system we are going to run.

We don't need to trade anymore 1st round draft picks to move up. This strategy is truely hurting the Hawks. We need to make sure we draft good in the spot that we are slated for the next 5 years.

Excellent Post Dejay. Nique never had the surrounding cast that the Bulls, Lakers, Celtics and Detroit had around him. Also, the time they had probably the greatest opportunity to win it all, Lenny and Co. decided to trade Nique when he was having the best all around year he has had in some years. To top that off the refereess cheated for Boston when they allowed Boston to go to 7 games against Nique and Co. The Hawks deserved to win that series and go on to win a championship. Boston always got the benefit of the doubt from the refs during that time. He is a top 50 player, hands down!!

Okay I understand that he has a winning record with all of the teams he has coached, however he has never won the big one and the teams he has left have never gone on to win a championship. Secondly, He only stays an average of 3 to 4 years with anyteam. Again I don't see why he is so coveted. Charles Barkley made a very valid point last night. What if marquee players did the same thing, after they knew they couldn't win a championship or they just didn't like the team. The same player would be looked upon as unstable, unloyal, spoiled player with an attitude. It would be hard for any team to pick him up. Most GMs would run from that player. Why does this apply for players and not coaches?? This is why I wouldn't touch Larry Brown with a ten foot pole. An again he hasn't proven he can win the championship. Why does everyone want this man?

Attendance slumped in 1994 because the Hawks continuously kept getting put out of the playoffs in the 2nd round every year (Similar to the Braves of present). Yes we had the best record in the East but everyone knew we were going to be beaten in the 2nd round. The Braves are going through the exact same thing (as would any franchise). When you win you become spoiled. And when you win fans start expecting more and more (championships). If this doesn't happen over a SUSTAINED period of time you will lose your fan support and base. This is in ANY city, not just Atlanta. The Hawks won consistently during the regular season, but never produced in the playoffs and that spells death to fan support. Now if the Hawks would have won a championship or two (We had the team when Boston and Bird beat us in the 7th game) during that period, it would be a different story today. All of this is human nature 101. Winning championships breeds fans!!

The Omni would always be packed when Dominique played in his prime and the Hawks were competing with the Boston Celtics for supremacy in the East. The Hawks were a very hot ticket. How quick we forget!!! The bottom line is if you win (especially win championships) people will come....even in Atlanta's Phillips Arena. Phillips would be packed every night if they would win. And of course winning usually means you have a superstar that will draw big crowds. Right now we don't have both...We are not winning nor do we have a superstar. That is why Phillips is empty!!!

I said that before the season and now it has become fruition. Jason Terry is not a PG. He is a shooting guard in a point guards body. He frustrates the [censored] out of me because of his turnovers and poor decisions. He makes easy passes hard and he doesn't have very good court awareness. Again he is a shooting guard by nature. The problem he is too small to play SG because he is a defensive liability. Bottom line: We need to look to trade JT and keep the rest of the team in tact. The problem is with the guards people!!! Not the forward or center positions. We are set at those positions. We need a point guard and possibly another shooting guard or let Dion Glover take that starting position. You would see a much better Atlanta Hawk team!!!

I think the problem is with ownership, management, coaching and some on the players. To think that SAR, Terry and Big Dog are not very good players is plain idiotic. Their stats prove that alone. It would be idiotic to get rid of the best talent you have on the team. What sense does that make?? Then what would you be left with?? Answer: Absolutely no talent!! Backcock fell into that same trap with Steve Smith and Dominique Wilkins. People were saying the same thing about Steve Smith and Wilkins...He is not an super-star, he is not a winner, he can't play with this team...blah blah blah. Total nonsense. They were our leading scorers. We have never recovered from those trades to this day. Go ahead an trade SAR/Big Dog and Terry and see what will happen!!! You will be complaining about we have no one that can score...blah blah blah More messs. SAR/Big Dog need to be in an Atlanta uniform. They are our best players and you can never have too many scorers. The only person I would possibly trade would be Terry because he is a shooting guard in a point guards body. But it would have to be a [censored] of a deal before I would pull the trigger on that too!! Listen the problem starts at the top. Start with ownership/management and then down to the players, but for God sake don't trade yout best players. These guys are still young and we have seen what happens when you do that!!!

Exactly it starts from the top...the owner is responsible for everything on down. Yes we can get a new President and GM, but if these guys have taken this long to recognize this then who is to say that they will not go out and hire the wrong replacement. Again the entire structure of this organization need to be totally blown apart starting from the owner on down.

The entire structure of this organization need to be blown apart and redone. The only way to do this is for new ownership to come in with totally new management. New President, New General Manager, New Coach and most of all new players. Everything need to be rebuilt from the seams. I am willing to wait a few years for results with new owners/management. I would rather be an expansion team than put of with this crap every night. Babcock went out and just got talent without looking at an identity for his team. THIS TEAM HAS ABSOLUTELY NO IDENTITY. They don't know if they are a run' gun team, a defensive team (not!!), or a half-court team. They are clueless and it starts from the TOP!!! BLOW THIS *&^&** TEAM UP starting from the ownership!!!

I totally agree with your accessment of this team. You explained it very well. Now how do you fix this problem?? I think you have to do it in stages. First I would deal with the guard situation. I love Jason Terry but he would be traded because like I said before the season (people blasted me on this forum), Jason is a shooting guard in a point guards body playing point guard. It will not work!!!! That is why he turns the ball over too much and why he makes easy passes look so hard to perform. It makes me frustrated looking at him play this position. If Demarr comes back next year and shows he can play at the same level he left off, he is my shooting guard. I would package JT and Nazr or someone else except SAR and Big Dog for one of the forwards and a point guard you talked about. Guys may disagree with me but I am keeping SAR and Big Dog on this team. My philosophy is that you can never have too many scorers.....It just depends on what you put around them and when they play that is important. Jason is a scorer but he is in the wrong body and he is playing out of position. My theory is the problem with this team is with its guards. If we can get a TRUE point guard and a TRUE shooting guard, you will see a big difference. Most importantly your turnovers will go down. The point guard is so important to any team. He is the general and right now we have no general running this team. After I get the guard positions right then I start tinkering with the other pieces, but it starts with the guards.

Exactly...some of these games should have been won easily and they flat out blew the Pheonix game because of some clueless substitutions in the 4th quarter. You have to milk your stars as much as possible. He doesn't do that enough. If they can play the entire game and not hurt the team then they need to play the entire game. Keep you stars in the game during crunch time and even when you need to shut the door on a team far behind. Nail them into the ground. Don't let them back into the game with bench players. I hate when that happens. I will continue to give Lon a chance but if I continue to see us dominate and blow it again...Lon has to go!!!

It is Lon Kruger position to get these guys ready to play in the 2nd half. It is Lon Kruger position to get them playing defense. It is Lon Krugers position to get them to stop turning the ball over every other play. I don't want to say Lon Kruger is a bad coach, not just yet, but I am very close to leaning that way. There are some coaches no matter where they go, you know you will get good defense out of their team or a good effort. I am not seeing this from Lon's team so far. Not to mention I am starting to question some of his substitution patterns. As much as I hate to say it. I think the Hawks problem is coaching and not the players per say. Your thoughts??

Can someone tell me what is the story on this guy? If he is habitually hurt every year, why do we keep a roster spot for him? I know we stupidly signed a huge multi year deal for him, which was crazy. But why not cut your loses and move on. I know he is on the IR list, however if he ever gets healthy, he will cost someones job who plays everyday. Which I really think is unfortunate.

Maybe it is me, but why is everyone except most of us here think the Atlanta Hawks should be in the mix to make the playoffs?? Some of these previews have us 12 or 13 in the east. I think that is flat out wrong. This team is going to surprise some people. Also, my only concern with Atlanta is the 1 and 2 guard. We really don't have a true point guard. Jason can play point but he is really a 2 guard in a 1 guard body. Newble is good defensively but he is not the scorer you want at the 2 guard. Dion can score but he isn't good defensively and he is not a true outside threat. Shooting Guard is our main weakness in my eyes. That was so evident in the Miami game I saw in Pre-season. Everything else seem to be good except the 2 guard. Your thoughts??

Check this out: http://espn.go.com/nba/news/2002/0806/1414865.html I guess everyone is growing thin on his offensive skills. Defensively he is the truth, but he is a liability on offense. I am still surprised they traded him however. Seem to also be about money.