TheNorthCydeRises

Yes, he does look awkward at times in the post, but he's still an effective scorer around the basket, whether it be from post moves, the face-up jumper, or offensive rebound putbacks. He'll probably end up with the face-up jumper being his most effective scoring weapon. As far as talking about Conley/Stuckey, neither of those guys would've gotten extensive playing time at the point in their rookie year, because our coach would've still opted to go with Lue and A.J . . until the Hawks possibly made a trade. In fact, one of those guys may have not even played much in their rookie year, because Woody still wouldn't rest JJ 12 - 16 minutes a game, in order to develop a Stuckey at the 2. So it'll come down to who performed better. . . Conley or Stuckey . . to see who would be the #3 PG.

Gotta love the apples and oranges comparisons. Because it's unfair to both Law and especially Horford, to compare their offensive output to guys who are at least the 3rd scoring option on their respective teams. As far as Conley goes, he's playing very good ball for the Griz since they decided to trade Lowry. They've made a full commitment to have him run the show in Memphis. And from the recent Grizzlies games I've seen, he's taking a larger role offensively, because it seems as if Mayo has hit the "rookie wall" recently. To me, the most impressive thing about him, is not the 40%+ 3-point shooting . . it's the 80%+ free throw shooting. He was a guy who was streaky at best at the line while he was in college. Now, he's one of the better FT shooters in the league.

(( Here are highlights from Rick Sund's interview on 680: 1) He kept Woody for continuity and believe he made the right choice (ugh) I agree 2) He still believes the team has a lot of growing within (Horford, Smith and Marvin still improving) I agree. Acie has to improve as well, for this team to reach its maximum potential. 3) Joe said this is the happiest he's ever been playing basketball That's great. He needs to go ahead and sign him to an extension next year, before he hits the FA market 4) Bibby/Flip/Mo coming to Hawks have been good for Hawks...also, it's been good for their career Unfortunately, I think one of either Bibby or Flip is gone next year. Safe money is on Bibby, move Acie into the starting lineup, but play Flip most of the minutes at the point. Bibby's performance in the playoffs will determine if we retain him. If Flip plays well, he may be this summer's version of James Posey, with the money he may be able to command. 5) Josh/Woody deal blown out of proportion. He said blow ups happen, but they have to learn to keep it in house I agree. And Josh must learn that he is the player. Players will always lose in a battle like that, unless he's the star player. Even Iverson lost his battles with Larry Brown 6) His projection for the team at this stage was to have a winning record at home and win 15-17 games on the road. He's happy where we are, but wants to reach the 17 game goal. He said the elite teams win 20+ on the road. Solid playoff teams win 15-17. He believes we are in that playoff bracket. My projection before the season was to try to win 30+ home games, and at least 16 - 20 road games. Pretty much on schedule 7) Said tough decisions in Free Agency are ahead. He said due to the economy, the salary cap will be down and the luxury tax will too. He said he can't go into specifics, but they have to "slice the pie" in a way where they can have depth. He also said (in general terms) you may be better off letting talent go to get a superstar. He said this team has good chemistry. In other words . . . Bibby is definitely gone, and we'll try to re-sign Flip for what ( 5 mill a year? ) 8) Said he shouldn't get the bulk of the credit for what the Hawks are doing. He said the pieces were in place. However the Hawks specifically got him, so he could "connect the dots" on the team. He also acknowledged he was not the first choice of the Hawks. Yes and no. The fact that it was he that brought us both Flip and Mo, to replace Chill, is probably one of the best moves made by a GM this season. 9) Talked about understanding opposing teams will get calls on their home court. However, he is concerned when refs gives calls to opposing players in Phillips Arena (mentioned Lebron's game at Phillip's where we lost by a point for an example.) LOL . . no ish. Fans need to put more pressure on the refs, and let them know exactly when they make a bad call. 10) He didn't know if our magic number is 1 or 2 games. He says you have to take into consideration tie breakers, etc. He said it wasn't an exact science. We'll be in the playoffs by this time next week, so it's all good. Just gotta make sure we don't drop all 3 of these games, with Miami having to play Indy and Chicago on the road, and Milwaukee at home. A 3-loss by us, and a 3-win scenario by Miami, would put them right back in the mix to get that #4 spot

I guess they're just a whole lot more comfortable at home, than they are on the road. It also has to do with them being relatively a young team as well. Young teams tend to struggle mightily on the road. My hope for them this year, was to at least get to 16 road wins, because I thought we could come close to winning 30 home games. When we start winning 1/2 of our road games, is the time when people can really expect this team to make major noise in the playoffs. But until that time comes, we're a 2nd round playoff exit team at best. And jus to drive the Utah Jazz point home even further. The Jazz haven't had a winning record on the road since the 2000 - 2001 season. They are truly a night and day team at home vs on the road.

LOL . . I agree. And that's what's so ironic about the Woody/Smith "feud". It's like Smith ( and the Smith supporters/Woody haters ) actually believe that Smith should be allowed to do whatever he wants out on the court, regardless if it kills the team or not. Hmmm @ the Philly game. Is that the game in which a play was called for Smith, and instead of taking the smaller man to the hole, he settled for a jumper that he missed badly, and Woody got mad at him? Then the next trip down, Smith calls for the ball, but never got it, prompting the outburst? I think it may have been the Philly game 2 years ago. I'm not sure. Like Smith is this great offensive scorer or something, that he has the authority to dictate who should be taking key shots or not . . lol. Even today, he came down on one of his "grab the rebound and run my own fastbreak", tried to go 2 on 5, and ends up losing the ball. Nique said . . "what was that?". LOL. Smith is a wild player that has to be reigned in at all times. If coach eases up on him, he'd kill us every game. Woody has to stay in his ear, to constantly let him know what he should be doing . . not what he WANTS to be doing.

Gotta love how reactionary this board is. I guess the Jazz don't need Carlos Boozer either, seeing how well Milsap played in his place, and how successful the Jazz were in Boozer's absence. The 7 game home win streak had more to do with JJ playing like an upper echilon player, than it did with Marvin being out of the lineup. This team is going to need Marvin come playoff time. We may can get past Miami without him, but we sure in the hell won't get past Cleveland, Boston, or Orlando without him. The fact is that this team is a pretty good home team. They play with much more energy and emotion at home, than they do on the road. On the road, they're the carbon copy of the Utah Jazz . . a team that almost never beats a good team on the road, and will occasionally drop a game against a bad team. The Jazz and the Hawks are mirror images of each other. I'm just glad we only got 5 road games left. Home win per season progression of the Hawks, during Woody's tenure as coach: 9 . . . 18 . . . 18 . . . 25 . . . 27 ( projected - 31 by me ) Road win per season progression of the Hawks, during Woody's tenure as coach: 4 . . . 8 . . . 12 . . . 12 . . . 14 ( projected - 16 by me )

LOL . . . Diesel couldn't wait for Marvin to get hurt, to see how this team plays without him. We're winning lately, because JJ has been playing like a MVP candidate lately, and has been red hot in the first half of games. His stats the last 3 games: 30.3 ppg 3.7 rebs 5.7 asst 33 - 64 FG ( 52% ) 10 - 19 3FG ( 53% ) 15 - 15 FT ( 1000% ) He had that horrific January, but has started to come back around ever since the All-Star break.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/trainingcamp...wksForecast0809 That's what he gets for thinking that Chill was a mini Scottie Pippen, and we couldn't overcome his absence.

Indiana - W Portland - W Kings - W Dallas - L @Cleveland - L Minnesota - W San Antonio - L Boston - W Lakers - L @Philadelphia - L @Boston - L Orlando - W @Toronto - L @Milwaukee - W Indiana - W Miami - W @Memphis - W 10 - 7 record for this stretch: 47 - 35 overall

LOL . . . Amen brotha. I wonder how many Hawks fans predicted a UTAH win last night? Before the season started ( or at the beginning . . I can't remember which ), I said that if this team could win 30 home games, that we'll be just fine going into the playoffs. Last night was home win #23, with 11 more home games to go. Win 7 of those, and we'll have 44 wins. With the way Miami is playing lately, we may need 45 wins to secure that 4th place spot in the East. I think we can get there, as long as we take care of business at home.

I agree with you about the JJ at SF point. At SF, he can really use his quickness, especially if a PF switches onto him. As for Smoove, his play has elevated since Woody lit into that azz. Woody had to do that with Zaza too, and he's been OK since he did that. The absence of Marvin does kind of force Smoove to really crash the boards, instead of hang out on the perimeter like he's prone to do. But JJ hasn't had back to back 50% shooting games in a while. I think it has more to do with JJ just making his jumpers, than Marvin being out. Smoove just needs to play hard all the time, even when he doesn't touch the ball. Gotta love what Mario did last night. If Acie would play like Mario plays, and try to make an impact in the limited minutes he sees on the court, he'd be OK too.

What makes me mad about him sometimes, is that he has the athletic ability to do exactly what Shawn Marion does. In my mind, there is no reason why this kid shouldn't be averaging 10 rebounds a game, even with Horford here. Rebounding is about positioning and effort. And lately, he's not doing any of that. He ought to be scoring 6 ppg, just off of getting offensive rebounds and either putting them back in the hole, or getting fouled while trying to put it back. By the way, I KNEW he was going to hit that 3 last night, when JJ did all of that dribbling, and passed it to Smith with 2 seconds on the shot clock. As the ball was in the air, I mumbled to myself . . "watch he hits this ish". Sure enough . . all net.

Anti-Woody: definitely Smoove and Bibby ( because Woody has opted to give Flip a lot more minutes as the season wore on ) . . . . Acie is probably anti-Woody as well, because Woody will pull him as soon as he makes a mistake. Pro-Woody: JJ, Marvin, Horford, Flip, Zaza ( none of these guys should have no problem with Woody . . . I think if Smith and Bibby didn't make so much money, he'd roll with this group as his starting lineup ) On the fence: Solo . . . because Woody will put Solo in from time to time. Solo probably wants to play more, but understands why he doesn't. He still will give maximum effort when he gets in the game, so Woody, from time to time, will go to him for short stretches. Don't care: Gardner, Morris, Mario, Hunter ( are all happy to be on the team ) . . . and I'll add Mo Evans to this group, because he knows his role as a back-up player, and knows he'll play a little every night. Maybe not as much as he think he should, but he's going to get some PT.

If he doesn't, I want to see Solo for about 15 minutes tonight and Acie for about 6 minutes. Horford will get a few extra minutes at PF. Zaza may get a few more minutes at center. Marvin may even get some time at PF, if Woody goes with a Horford - Marvin frontline.

So what's the excuse for Josh Smith averaging 4.3 rebs since the beginning of February? Woody is definitely not a "mastermind" coach by any stretch of the imagination. But when your "energy player" plays lifeless, when he's not able to have free reign offensively, you have to blame a little more than the coach. Matter of fact, the two guys that seem to be killing this team lately, on a nightly basis, are Smith and Bibby, especially on the defensive end.

No doubt. They actually talked about that during the telecasts. Funny thing is . . when Flip is in the game . . those switches are a little more effective. Bibby's weak azz can't ( or won't ) fight hard enough to either body up on a guy, or try to steal the entry pass to the big. When Bibby isn't scoring, he's a liability, because of his poor play on the defensive end. I was at the Cleveland game last Sunday, and noticed the same thing. That's why Woody opted to go with Flip down the stretch, instead of Bibby.

My only thing about last night is this . . . . why not play Solo, if the decision was made to bench Smoove for the entire 2nd half? I would've defintiely have played Solo in those 5 minutes he gave Acie last night. LOL . . you can tell that Woody is a Larry Brown disciple. Brown would've probably done the same thing to Smoove, just to show him who is in control. The people that constantly back Smith, doesn't watch that kid on the bench when he is out of the game. If he's out longer than what he thinks he should be out, he's constantly sulking. He's almost T.O., and I hate to say it . . Chad Johnson like, in his behavior ( because I'm a Bengal fan, and love watching Chad play ). They all might be passionate about playing the game, and passionate about winning. But all three of those guys think they are above criticism, and their antics make people believe that they aren't team players at all. Vince Young is another guy, who I would compare Smoove too, except Vince doesn't pop off at the mouth. He just sulks. When Woody opts to sit Marvin or Horford for extended minutes, you don't see them sulking, like you see Josh doing. They're cheering on folks. They're standing up in the huddle, listening to coach, even if they know they're not going back into the game. When Smith is out, he's always at the back of the huddle, if he knows he's not going back in. Smith's dropoff in the last 15 games or so, has been pretty dramatic. Especially from an energy player standpoint. He's 18 - 51 from the FT line ( 35% ) But worst of all, he's only grabbed 4.3 rebounds a game in February and March. 4.3 folks . . . our PF. Diesel already mentioned earlier this year, about how he's not blocking shots anymore ( like how he used to ). It's sad to see too, because this is kind of the Andrei Kirilenko effect that I talked about last season with Josh, if he was moved to SF, or if Horford started emerging as a better scoring option. The same thing happened to AK47, when Boozer started to emerge as the better scoring option. More plays and shots started being run for Boozer, and AK47 started to sulk. Smith better be VERY CAREFUL with this. He might be the most popular player on the Hawks, but that ish will change QUICKLY, if the fans think he is dogging it out on the floor, and not giving maximum effort. He'll end up exactly like Chad Johnson in Cincinnati. Totally beloved in 2007 . . . totally hated by 2009.

I'm not quite sure about the "booing", but there were definitely a lot of people moaning and groaning whe he jacked up a few of those shots in the Cleveland game. I was sitting beside a woman for that game, and even she commented about the outside shots. Then, when Smoove went to the hole and had that monster dunk, she said . . "I wish he would do that all the time". She even was calling him "soft" . . . a contention that I somewhat agree with. Like I've always said about him . . . If he'd just play like Shawn Kemp used to play, he'd be an all-star. But if he wants to be Rasheed Wallace, he'll never reach his potential.

I tell you what NJ. People can say what they want, but you're looking like a genius right now. Because your description of Oden from 2 years ago is exactly on point right now, even when he is healthy. Most of your great big men, were great right from their rookie seasons. There was no "learning curve" when they came into the league. They immeadiately stepped in and dominated. The injuries are definitely limiting what he can do. But like Horford, it wasn't like Oden was a dominant offensive force to begin with. NBA centers aren't going to let you get point blank at the rim all the time . . unless you're as powerful as Shaq, and can move them out of your way. Oden might have to put on 30 - 40 lbs, to be a truly dominant force on the inside. But you seem to be right NJ. Oden is looking more like Mutumbo-lite, than anything else.

I think Woody will personally challenge Acie tonight to step his game up. If he doesn't . . . can't blame that on the coach. Like I started to say with Salim in year 2 and 3 . . . at some point, the PLAYER has to step up and play consistently. In the NBA, you have to be ready, no matter what. Notice that when Solo is called upon to play, he's done a decent job. The same has to go for Acie. I'm a huge Acie supporter, but it's time for the kid to step up . . in a BIG way.

I see that Memphis team play a lot. The difference is that Conley is getting major playing time now, especially with Lowry hurt. But they decided to bench Lowry anyway, in the middle of that losing streak. They're content with letting Conley develop, and it's paying off lately. We just won't be able to see what Law can truly do, until he starts to get major minutes. And there's just not many minutes for Law these days, unless you want to reduce JJ, Bibby, and/or Flip's minutes. That's why he always needs to be in attack mode, as soon as he enters a game. He has to get the mindset that he needs to impact the game IMMEADIATELY. Woody is very content with riding or dying with his "core 8" though. And as long as we're winning, I can't have much problem with that.

But we would still need a big man in the middle. Horford isn't the greatest big man in the middle, but he's a drastic upgrade over Zaza. Seeing that there are really no other big men available, Horford fills his role pretty well for us. As for Law, it's all in how you look at the situation. If Law were in Memphis, he'd be splitting time with Kyle Lowry, just like Conley is. If he were in Detroit, he would've been the back up to Chauncey, and probably playing every night. When Woody decided to give into AJ's whining, and made a commitment to play him in a 3-man rotation at the point, that effectively stunted Acie's learning curve. And it didn't help that as soon as Woody decided to start Acie, he gets hurt and is out for a significant amount of time. Then AJ has the "great" December ( for him ), which limits Acie's time on the court even more. In Woody's offense, a Stuckey - Conley combo at the point may have been decent. But it'll all depend on how many minutes Conley and Stuckey would've seen on the court. On last year's team, there's no way in the world that Conley plays more than AJ or Lue. Stuckey may not have seen much time either, playing behind JJ, and almost strictly playing the 2 here. It wouldn't have been until this year, that a guy like Stuckey would've gotten a chance to play major minutes. And even that would've depended on if Chill was retained or not. Conley would still be behind Bibby. And if we still acquire Flip, he'd see Flip cut into his time as well. So when you really look at it . . . FOR US . . . just having Horford is > than having both Conley and Stuckey, mainly because JJ handles the ball so much anyway. Horford's presence enables us to have an undersized, but one of the most athletic and fastest frontcourts in the NBA. And JJ has always been our defacto PG ever since he stepped foot in ATL. He's the main facilitator. To see what Law can do with this squad, we'll probably need Bibby to go down for a few weeks. Acie has to change his mindset though. He needs to be on the attack as soon as he steps on the court. He's the fastest guy on the team with the ball, so he needs to start playing like it.

Because the coaches pick the all-star reserves, more than likely, the more popular names will be on that list. But I do think that both Boston and Orlando will get 2 guys, possibly 3 for Boston. That means to not expect Devin Harris or Danny Granger to be on that list, even if they are deserving. Iverson definitely DOES NOT deserve to be there, but he will, because the fans love him. Bibby will NOT make it in, even though he's having a stellar year with us. I think Ray Allen makes it in, along with Pierce, and possibly Jameer Nelson. JJ, because most of the coaches know he's the heart and soul of our team, will make it in. Otherwise, he could be snubbed just like Granger and Harris are going to be. Prediction: If Yi makes it in, it will force the NBA to completely change the voting rules for this game. They will go to the NFL set up for the Pro Bowl, in which the fan vote, coaches vote, and players vote each count for 1/3. It probably should already be like this anyway, because the fans prove that they are not objective when it comes to these votes. It's strictly a popularity contests. LOL @ both Luke Ridnhour and Gilbert Arenas having more votes than JJ, on that 4th ballot count. Ridiculous. If we could see Woody's reserves ballot, it may look like this. Forwards: Bosh, Pierce, Carter Guards: JJ, Allen, Nelson, Harris

LOL . . . JJ shot 4 - 21 last night. JJ is my boy and all, but even I can blame him for a loss, when he shoots like that. He had a horrible shooting night, plus he only dished out 3 assists. Now I understand what you're saying about Josh, seeing that he hit one jumper all night outside the paint. But he did get to the line 9 times, and he and Marvin finally got off their azzes, and grabbed some rebounds. But this loss drops squarely on JJ. It was one of the more pizz poor games I've seen him play this year.

LMAO . . . now we're a bad basketball team. OK man. As long as the team is losing, you have a voice on here. Gloom and doom is what you do best. If we beat Phoenix on the road, you might say one . . two things at the most. But if the Clippers beat us, like they did last year in that debacle of a game, you can talk for a little bit. Like GrayMule said, this team has to get back to what Woody preaches constantly to them . . . defend and rebound. Smith and Marvin need to get into battle mode, and stop all of that finesse ish. If they quit playing like soft players, things will change.