buckeye242424

I agree with what you're writing, and it's true. Power rankings, future playoff seeds, who I should start on my fantasy football team this Sunday (yes, I'm in the playoffs) and next week...it's all moot. They all mean nothing. But, if the pattern we've seen through 21 games repeats, it's fun to think about the possibilities....and the numbers give it some merit.

Interesting article. Despite our empty seats at the beginning of games....we're the league high increase. http://ken-berger.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/11838893/18850386?source=rss_blogs_NBA The Atlanta Hawks (15-6), long challenged in the attendance department but off to their best start in a decade, have seen a league-high 26.8 percent increase in net gate receipts – to $468,036 per game, up from $369,157 at this point last season. Atlanta is selling an average of 10,573 tickets per game, up from 7,900 at this point last season. The other top gainers in net gate receipts are the Denver Nuggets (up 20.3 percent), Orlando Magic (up 17.7 percent), Portland Trail Blazers (up 12.3 percent), and Cleveland Cavaliers (up 11.8 percent).

I feel that way about every team the Hawks play. Do we have the better team and should we win? I say yes. Will they? That's why they play. 82 games is 82 games, it's long because they want to weed out the bad teams and let the cream rise to the top. You mention losing to mediorce opponents, but that's the nature of the beast. It happens all the time, to the best teams. We don't lose to the four teams (Det, NO, NYK, CHA) and we're suddenly 18-2, which is unheard of.

He would be the Red Auerbach of All-Star game coaches. He wouldn't lose. Every player would love him. All-Star's are players with superior talent and huge ego's....Woody just telling them to go play one-on-one basketball would be right down their alleys!!

Can you really put a guy on an All-Star team, best 12 or 15 in their respected league when his own team is 0-18? I know the All-Star game is a long time away, and the Nets could make a turn around...but this isn't baseball. No player on the Nets should represent the East. Not at this time, at least.

Horford ahead of Smoove. I was a little surprised about that.

Interesting poll. Quite the panel of voters.... http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/The_Baseline/entry/view/46066/nbas_top_50_players_all-star_panel_picks_kobe_bryant_no._1_over_lebron_james

I don't think this is a bad thing. In comparison to what the Hawks have been, having this same group around for a few more years sounds good to me. Now would they continue the moderate success? Who knows? (i'm not convinced on the coach, of course) but early on this season, seeing the same "core" guys with some added pieces here and there have been productive. JJ chooses to sign, after another successful year of winning and improving, we become more attractive to free agents.

The words "at least" should not mislead you. Yes, let's call it what it is, a 14 point win on the road in the NBA. Great teams sweat every win...ask LeBron and the Cavs about Charlotte on the road tonight. Get their take.

You've got to be joking. Let's slide Larry Hughes into Joe's role....haha, where would we be? Comical.

Oh, there are people genuinely mad after the Hawks loss to the Magic. I assure you, they are real fans. Relax, or stop following the team....LOL... calm down....yeah right. Wrong board dude.

He's been more vocal this year, more critical actually, than he has ever been. It's early in the season too. He is letting it be known that this team needs to compete for the Eastern Conference, or he's gone. I don't think he "wants" to leave, but business is business.

I agree that 2 points is inexcusable. He needs to produce more. But how? It would have to be on offensive rebounds, at least last night. I'm not huge on stats...perfect example is our lofty ranking offensively. We have to have the worst half court offense in the league. Those numbers are skewed because we have athletes that can run and rebound. Al Horford can't match up with Dwight Howard. Heck, not many can...especially playing him out of position. Could have he played better, sure, the whole team could have and should have. Orlando is a match up nightmare for us. Our personnel just isn't up to par with Orlando. Our two most embarrassing losses, in my eyes this year were the pre-season loss, and last night's loss, both to Orlando. More so than Charlotte, more so than the Lakers. We lose by 40 in the pre-season, then get embarrassed on our home floor for our first home loss. It's match-ups, nobody being able to check Dwight, and the fact they slow us down and defend our iso offense. It's all a recipe for disaster and it's showing.

He's obviously right. It's a coaching issue. When we're slowed down and FORCED to run an offense we struggle. Why? Because no one has any idea what to do. Give it to our all star, or another chucker and get out of the way. When we lose, the excuse is always "we didn't make shots". I would rather here a player say "we need to find ways to put people in better positions to make shots."

People can ask where our offense went in the second half? It went nowhere. It was the same offense as it was in the first. The difference? Guys were making the extra pass themselves, being unselfish, and looking out for one another in the first half. We were making shots because they were wide open. The second half, it didn't happen...we saw our lead start to shrink, started jacking up shots after panicking, and became selfish = 11 second half FG's. Nothing more than one on one. But it was nothing different from anything we've done all year. Against Championship level teams, like Orlando is and was last year, we'll continue to be exposed as the hacks we are on the offensive end. It's the bottom line. Having more talent offensively can only take you so far, and when you meet up with a team that matches your talent like last night, we will lose, and it won't change.

Woody deserves a lot of credit. He does. We've improved every year, and we may get over 50 wins this year, sure. My beef with Woody is his offensive gameplan. I just don't see us ever getting to the level we all want riding the coattails of guys that score individually. It's overused, plain and simple. Everyone in the league knows what's coming on offense for Atlanta. If we are fortunate enough to get deeper in the playoffs, it will be exposed. Good coaches in May and June will shut the iso game down, when it really matters.

I don't think it was Woody that finally hit the switch to change Smoove's game. Their differences are well documented. He may have been preaching the right things to Smoove over 5 years, but Smoove sure wasn't listening. I mean, you don't go from jacking terrible shots up for 5 years to (through 14 games one three in desperation). Somebody went to Smoove and told him you've been in the league 5 years now....you have the tools to be an all-star...you need to be doing - - - exactly what he's doing in 09-10.

Yes. In an offense were there is no offense, Crawford is perfect. He's doing exactly what he's supposed to do, and brought here to do. Why there is a thread complaining about Crawford leaves me shaking my head....gotta love the Squawk.

Exactly. Follow those dollar signs. I got a a good laugh though. In the article, there's a link to her new twitter account, I gave a brief look for shi*s and giggles... She's following about 20 other pornies, but the first one was Mike Freeman - a key journalist for CBS.com. What the hell? haha...interesting. Maybe she enjoys his articles....

Long layoff, Thanksgiving night, New uniforms....it won't have the "feel" of a typical game, that's for sure. But, the Hawks should embrace it, enjoy it, and get it done!

It just shows our depth. We can't expect Marvin to do this every night. We have too many talented players, offensively, too expect him to consistently do it. What's special about last night is when our stud is struggling, and Smoove is in foul trouble, we have other s capable of leading us - Marv, Craws - to a victory over a quality team. WHo saw that coming? It's a testament to the team as a whole. Our roster is stockpiled full of guys capable of leading us on any given night. It's a luxury most teams don't have.

That pretty much sums it up. You could add to it that the owners didn't want to pony up max dollars...because someone will offer it to him, it's a given. I gotta believe if by the end of the year, we're still tasting success, perhaps the ECF, JJ will be offered max money and 6 years here. If he turns that down, he just wants out of Dodge.

Same old story. We have to stay healthy. Injuries are inevitable, avoiding major injuries is the key. I'm sure we're going to have off nights and stinker games, similar to Charlotte. Overall, if Smoove can continue making wise decisions, we are going to be pretty good....

This is the most excited/happy/enthusiastic I've been since the mid-late 90's. I know something is going right when I'm constantly bothered by people who obviously know I'm a Hawks fan because of my pennants and Hawks stuff in my office (which I'm sure look strange because I'm in a corn field in Columbus)...but so be it. After all that, we all need to take a deep breath, myself included, and understand things even out in life. We need to layoff all the NBA finals talk (albeit fun to dream and enjoy) because you're setting yourself up for more disappointment and "what if's". Not that it couldn't happen, but we're one awkward fall or broken bone away for all of this to be changed. Especially with 70 games to go. This has been an awesome start, couldn't have asked for more. But I'm trying to stay grounded and not talk too much crap to all the Cavs fans at work, because if the past is any indication, it could all come crashing down quickly. In the meantime, keep in rolling guys!!

This is how I feel.