RedDawg#8

Its up to the coach to use good judgment on a game to game basis, if a player is hot, play him, if not, then go to another option. With JJ, or anybody else who may be that hot, leave them in the game and keep the pressure on the other team, dont give them a break by taking him out while he is far from being gased. (JJ wasnt gonna stay hot forever, and when he stopped, he could have still been rested for significant time. I think Woody assumed JJ was gonna be able o turn it rite back on when he brought him back but thats not the case with Joe, he has to shoot when he's hot cuz he not able to turn it on or off his self.) With that said, Teague's and any other bench player's minutes should be the givin the same way. If a starter hasnt been producing and Craw or Mo or Teague are doing well, leave them in until they cool off. If Teague gives 25 mins of lights out play while Bibby sits, so be it, if he isnt doing anything let Bibby get his time in, its that simple to me.

The Lakers were a lottery team after Shaq left town, it took what 5-6 seasons to climb back to a championship level, that with them being the Yankees of basketball so yes, they had to wak first too. Bos bought a championshi teamp, we are trying to grow one but yeah, I jus saw how we got dominated in the 3rd but atleast we fought back.... a little. Heck, I had a good day so its hard for me to upset about this loss right now, sorry guys.

I know this is random but I go to school in Nashville and was at the Titans game today and even tho they were 0-6, their stadium seemed packed at least 85-90 %, much more than the Dome or Phillips would be if the Hawks/Falcons started their sesons winless, and the fans were great. My point being, why are we acting like the sky is falling??? Why are we giving up on our team because they got beat by a better team??? I want us to be world-champs just as bad as the next guy, and the thing is, I can still see that potential in this team. Its too early to jump-ship on these guys. They went winless against Boston in the reg. season before pushing them to 7 in the playoffs. We cant let ourselves over react during roller coaster ride of this 82 game reg season. We ultimately are waiting for the playoffs to judge whether we improved or not, and this team still looks strong enough to compete for a top spot and compete in the 2nd round so why are we buggin so hard so SOON???

You can tell this team has come a long way when we are arguing about an 8 point Road loss against the World Champs and the greatest player in the NBA post-Jordan era. Unfortunately I didnt get to watch the game so I cant comment on effort and heart and things like that, but after the way the Lakers lost their previous game at home, I figured we'd be a long shot to win this no matter what, they are the better team on any day but they were esp motivated coming in to this game, had they not lost the other day, I coulda saw us pull this one out but they simply were not gonna let themselves lose back to back games at home, Im just glad they didnt get blown out, and it actually looks like a close game (on paper).

I was thinking he coulda put Marv back in, i wasnt sure if he was already in at PF tho, in which case bring Joe Smith in to slide Marv down to the SF. Im not saying we couldnt have brought in a starter, but that I'd rather that starter be Marv, Josh or Al, instead of Joe to close out the 3rd. Preferably Marv since he was having a quietly productive night. The whole point being lets not use Joe during the moments when we dont absolutely need him and there are other optins to go with. Like I said its nit-picking but seconds add up to minutes which also add up. If players dont get the time now to try to hold their own w/o Joe then they will never build up the confidence to. Woody really has to push himself to pay attention to Joe and the other starters minutes this season. It will be uncomfortable at first but hes got to just sit through the frustrations and let the TEAM grow now not just the starting unit.

Or he is just a man with nothing else to lose, has already been convicted so why not just tell the whole story since he doesnt have to worry about protecting his own reputation anymore. Sort of like Mike Vick and dogfighting, and how now he helps the cops stop dogfighting and told who he was working with etc... Before they get caught, you never hear a peep because even if they know its wrong, they cant do anything about it without going down too, but once they are caught, its liberating because now everything comes out.

It all seems very possible. Of course to us on the outside, we are not going to notice things like this, esp since it has been going on so long that we expect to see a few questionable calls every night. This is how they got away with it for so long, the whole "Its not easy being a ref, theres so much going on that they cant see everything, they are doing a good job". I mean seriously, we could tell that calls would go against us so often during our poor years, they probably had huge money against us most nights. Either way, since there really isnt a system of checks and balances in place between teams and refs, they can get away with missed or phantom calls. I think that not only should refs get evaluated by comitee's, players, coaches, and owners should evaluate them too. They shouldnt be exempt from accountability where-as players are treated like elementary school kids. I think twice during the season, teams should be able to give input on how the refs carry themselves, explain their calls, and show unbiased treatment during games, and if they dont get good feedback, then some disciplinary action is in order. after the all star break, low scores get a warning and probationary (close watch) period until the end of the regular season. Shadey refs shouldnt be allowed to call playoff games

Lol thats funny and true. I think he could have ran the risk of playing Craw or at least bringing in Mo, or if Mo was in the game already, put in a forward to let Mo slide over to the 2. Since we dont have Rio, Mo needs to be our utility swingman in that situation, we werent forced to use JJ then, it just seems like an old habit for Woody to look at his bench and if JJ is on it then find a way to put him back in the game. Woody has to learn to not depend on Joe, trust the bench to close out the quarter and start up the 4th. Sure, he can handle it now but its the very beggining of the season with 81 more games left. I know it all worked out but in the future I would love to have a fresh Joe come in after the first break of the 4th and go full steam ahead from that point on.

Yeah and also I think it was either the end of the 1st or 3rd quarter and it was under 2 minutes left and there was a stopage of play and he put Joe back in the game, it may seem like nit-picking but minutes add up over time, its the difference of him playing 39 mins tonite when it coulda been 36 and sum change. I know that the game was close but joe doesnt need to be in the game to finish 1st and 3rd quarters, just 2nd and 4th's (only in a close game). When he pulled Bibby and Horford, I was curious why he couldnt just take Joe out too, it almost makes me think he wanted JJ to take that 3 to pad his stats a little (to make the all-star game of course)

I think we have the ability to drive....but what about being able to establish a post presence. We will be able to go to the post and expect to come away with points, or will we simply pass back out to an open 3-point shooter even if we are ice-cold. In the past we have done just that, not jus against ORL. Can we feed Al and Josh and Zaza the ball down low and EXPECT to score?

Do we have the ability and presence of mind to drive, bang and score inside when our shots arent falling? When we have a lead we seem to score anyway we want but when we get down and are FORCED to score inside because our shots arent falling, will we be able to do it, or will we simply keep shooting until something hits? The best teams work inside out, we seem to work the opposite way, most of our "inside" points come on fast breaks or put backs, but not from designed plays. Our post game doesnt seem very effective.... but will this hold us back or not? can it be improved THIS Season as our roster currently stands?

sad but true, and it rubs off on the other players, outside of Zaza and sometimes Horf, we arent very scrappy as a whole. We lack desire, hunger, emotion and drive. Its like the more we improve, the less our players have the will to do the little things, we have become full of ourselves and forget that if we dont push for every minute in the game we arent any better than any other team in the league. Potential is one thing we have tons of, but it takes effort and commitment to capitolize on it.... thats were you look at a Coach or Captain to point the finger, somebody has to be a leader and bring it out of the team. In my eyes, Joe= Carmelo, an all-star, super talented, but not a superstar or true team leader. We need the equivalent of a Chauncey Billups to impact this roster and make this talent play together to their true potential.

Thought Id bump just for the sake of hopefully adding more positivity around here, despite everybody's recent frustrations we still have this to look forward to, plus the paint the town event looks like it will really be a blast, check out the video from the hawks homepage. I wonder what color they will be, probably red but Im prepared to be surprised.

It bothers me that Woodson doesnt hold Joe more accountable. Joe isnt "elite" but because for so long, he was the best player on the roster, he gets a pass on night when his presence isnt even felt on the court. Woody has to get on him the same way he would Smith, Williams and Horford if they werent doing their job. Joe's job is to score and lift the players around him. Now if you feel he cant do this consistently, then find a new role for him, let him just be another peg in the offense and not the center of it, but if you want to have him do this and be your teams leader, HOLD HIM ACCOUNTABLE for this. Kobe Bryant is diving for loose balls against the Nuggets and playing with intensity. He isnt too good to play hard in the pre-season so neither is Joe. Champions make their presence felt whenever they are in competition, they dont allow themselves to get outworked by anybody on the court with them. If you get beat, its because they were better, not because they wanted it more or outworked you.

I really underestimated Ryan Anderson (or Kevin Anderson accourding to the game announcer). He looks like he can be their next Turkaglu over time, maybe not as a ball handler, but dude can shoot and score in the post, plus he's tall....and white, (lol j/k.) Seriously, how painful was it to see this cat killing us and we couldnt get any of our starters to slow him down. What I do not like about our team is that there is such a sense of entitlement with the starters, but they tend to come out flat alot of nights. And when this happens Woody is slow to replace them. This year, our bench is deep and talented and in a game like this where Joe was flat, and Bibby was getting abused, why did it take for us to be down big before they got replaced. Woody has to pull the trigger sooner this year, if Bib and Joe aint cuttin it, either give Marv and Horf the ball or take them out the game and put Teague and Craw in. Even tonite with Teague shooting poorly, at least he could get into the paint, Bibby wont do that.

im only hoping he played Joe that much because he hasnt touched 30 mins all-preseason and wants him to feel where he is at conditioning wise. If we handle our business early in games, Joe shouldnt avg more than 34 mpg all year, esp with Craw, Mo and Teague contributing.

I guess you're right...but I think we might need to put that line-up back on the shelves for a while.

OMG, the small lineup is getting crushed. they almost handed the game to the Heats 2nd unit. why did Woody leave them in so long, forget that Miami was playing small position wise, they still had 3 guys 6'8 or taller on the court. C-Smoove vs. Magloire (6-11) C PF-Joe vs Wright (6-9) G-F [according to nba.com] SF-Evans vs Jones (6-8) SF SG-Crawford vs Cook (6-5) SG PG-Bibby vs Arroyo (6-2) PG The fact that it wasnt working since we lost the lead, im really confused why he stuck with it. AL wasnt in foul trouble, I hope nothing happened to him injury wise, Joe Smith had 4 fouls and coulda played. I hope this wasnt a pre-view of his "offensive" or "shooting" line-up, cuz they definately didnt fit the bill tonite.

looks like they decided to become male models this season, probably figured they had a better shot of being succesful doing something other than basketball lol j/k James Jones Chris Quinn is the funniest lol D-Wade Dorell Wright Beasley Jermaine O'Neal Magloire there are many others,jus see for yourself lol edit: Gotta add Arroyo

we are 50% from FT and up a not so safe 12 pts on the road. I know its jus the preason but if Smith hit jus 7-10 we would be up big heading into the fourth, and shooting 75% as a team from ft. im nit-picking tho, but a team with our potential has to focus on improving all the little things to make it far this year.

Man,.......im speechless. As all rec-coaches would say "Make the d--- free throws son, they're FREE!!!" this is gonna be another long year for him at the stripe....its very dissapointing and frustrating that he hasnt improved the most glaring weakness in his game a year ago :brick wall: :

When we first got Crawford I wasnt as happy because I thought it meant we wouldnt be drafting a pg in a pg rich draft. Then when we drafted Teague, I felt ok but figured it meant the end to Bibby in ATL. THEN when we resigned Bibby I felt really great about the entire situation as it now meant we were VERY deep in the backcourt, and probably have the most talented guard unit in the league. I must admit, it takes patience when dealing with Sund, but so far he is working out. Crawford is in a good situation with the Hawks, and the Hawks are in a good situation with him. Works well for both parties, and that only increases the chances of sustained on-court success this season.

So far it seems as if hes has been doing that. he has shot poorly but has kept his teamates involved. If his 2 outing are examples of what the fans of his former teams meant by him going awfully cold most nights then I can live with it. we all keep saying that if his shot isnt falling he needs to defer and he has been doing just that. Hate to be an opponent when he has a hot night.

He has better individual talent than Ginobali, but he has never been on playoff team where his skills were of actual importance other than stat stuffing. I think ppl are goinged to be shocked by us this year, to the point that by the end of the season, they will ask themselves "what were we thinking before the season started by sleeping on Atlanta, how did we miss all that talent?" lol

That was pretty bad, I never read so many compliments that were immediately taken back right after. "So and so is good this and can do that, but not likely or not enough." By the sounds of it, we are the worst good team in the NBA. It as if he is afraid to fully commit to us being a legit contender, as if our team has more liabilities than the Senior Citizen Celts, The new and UNproved Orlando Magic, or the H1N1 Scitzo-gaurd Cavalebrons. What really let me know that this guy was reaching to make us appear worse than we are was when he posted the excerpts to the different blogs and what they said about us, and when I clicked the [more] link on the one from DIME, that entire section was from the part of their article on us that said BASEMENT, they had an entire article saying some pretty good things about us and he chose the section that described our worst potential outlook, not how they realistically expect us to finish. Some ppl gotta let go of the Early 2000's Hawks and realize it is safe to cheer for this team again, we are in better shape than alot of franchises and we are still on the up-slope. theres no way a team whose core of players are in their mid 20's has peaked, we havent even seen their prime yet.