TheNorthCydeRises

Acie just needs to know who he can beat off the dribble and who he can shoot over. When he has some old man who can barely move ( ie - Sam Cassell ), he should take it right to Cassell on every possession. That's kind of the thing that made Rodney Stuckey so effective last year. When he knew he had a mismatch, he didn't hesitate to try to score on him. Acie needs to develop that mindset, especially when he's out there with most of the 2nd unit.

Totally agree. I know people want to see the team do well, but preseason is more about what individual players can do, and not necessarily what the team does. The fact that Marvin seems to be very comfortable taking and making the 3 pointer ( 4 - 7 ), and Acie is looking like the offensive threat he was at Texas A&M ( 65% FG ), is more important to me, than the actual team's success. But even their 2-game performances have to be taken with a grain of salt. Preseason games are coached much differently than regular season games. The Zaza's and Acie's of the world will have to battle some of the starters from other teams, and not just the bench players.

The "Marvin watch" has begun. Now, when he shoots 7 - 9 in one of these preseason games, let's see who says anything about that. But God forbid if he goes 1 - 8. Armegeddon will be upon us . . . in the preseason no less.

One of the things about Hollinger, is that he's always been extremely high on Chill. Too high in my opinion. He also doesn't expect Acie Law to do much of anything on the NBA level. On top of that, he's never really been that high on JJ or Smoove for that matter either. There is NO WAY that the Hawks finish last in the division and 13th in the EAST. NO WAY IN HELL . . . unless JJ or Smoove gets hurt for an extended period of time. To be that bad, we'd have to consistently drop games against not only the good teams, but the bad teams as well. This team may still be schizophrenic on the road, but at home, we'll still be damn good. One thing Hollinger isn't taking into account, is that Mo Evans is probably our best, or at least our 2nd best perimeter defender right now. This will help JJ out IMMENSELY, when both Mo and JJ are in the game. If Woody chooses to do so, he can match up Mo against either the 2 or the 3, and let JJ guard the weaker guy to give him a "rest" on the defensive end. Plus, there is another team in our division that doesn't have much of a bench, but won 50+ games last year. And their bench even got weaker this year, with the loss of Dooling, Arroyo, and of course Mo Evans. Like last year, all I ask is for both Smith and Williams to shoot close to 48% FG next year. And do it consistently. And God help the East if Marvin becomes an improved defender this year. They'll be chasing us in the Southeast, and we'll be chasing Boston, Detroit and Cleveland for one of those top 4 spots.

Solo at 6-10 . . 250 . . could make a guy like ZaZa expendible next year. Instead of paying 3 yr - 16 mill to retain ZaZa, we could get away with paying 3yr - 7 mill for Solo.

I believe their stat takes into acount the amount of 2-shot shooting fouls drawn, which was 165 for Marvin. I think it doesn't take into account the FTs shot from a technical, or FTs taken when someone fouls him while he's not in the act of shooting. I don't even think they include "and-1s" in the actual drawn foul %, because he made the shot. For a jumpshooter like Marvin, a 15% rate of drawing a foul and getting to the line, is actually pretty high. Here's how they're getting that stat: Marvin's official FGA totaled 918. Add the 165 drawn fouls he got from shooting, but missing the actual FG, and his adjusted FGA is 1083. I think they list 1084 as the total FGA number. That means from those 165 drawn fouls, he got 330 FTA ( 165 x 2 FTs ). He had 23 "and-1s" . . so that 23 FTs + 330 FTs = 353 FTA With him taking 409 FTs total, I guess the other 56 FTs he took ( 409 - 353 = 56 ), came via him being fouled while not being in the act of shooting or from taking a technical foul shot. So by their numbers . . . 165 drawn fouls / 1084 actual FGA = 15.2% If you were to add the "and-1s" to his overall drawn foul total, it'll be 188 drawn fouls / 1084 actual FTA = 17.3% If you did that for Smith, his 232 drawn fouls would increase to 297 drawn fouls, seeing that he had 65 "and-1s". 297 drawn fouls / 1363 total FGA = 21.8% ( instead of the 17% they have listed for him ) This is why people always wanted Smith to take the ball to the hole, and want Marvin to do it, especially when his jumper isn't falling. Both of these guys are much more efficient,when the take the ball to the rim when the opportunity presents itself.

The thing that baffles me, is that people still fail to realize that our young guys are steadily improving as players. You have to factor that in, when talking about the Hawks. Take away Smith's horrible November ( 37% FG ), and he shot 45%, 48%, 48%, 50%, and 46% in the following months. Take away Marvin's horrible February ( 36% FG ), and he shot 49%, 51%, 44%, 49%, and 48% in the other months. Even with JJ, once Bibby came aboard, his shooting increased dramatically, especially from 3-point range. When you look at this roster of our main guys, only Bibby has peaked as a player. The rest of the squad has the capability to become much more consistent as players. So let the haters hate, or be skeptics until the squad proves them wrong.

I am absolutely shocked . . . SHOCKED . . that 58% voted that they wouldn't trade Horford for Duncan. Duncan right now, may be a top 5 player in this league. If he's slipped a little, he's still a top 10 player. Put Smith beside Duncan, and we'd easily have the best defensive frontline in the league for the next 3 - 4 years. I like Horford, but he'll be nowhere near the player that Duncan was/is today. Duncan is an impact player on both ends of the floor and commands your total attention. LOL . . . JJ might shoot 50% FG and 45% 3FG, if he played alongside Duncan. Bibby JJ Marvin Smith Duncan Good lord people. Like someone else said, that may be an NBA title team right there. 2 bonafide all-stars . . . one potential all-star . . . a solid PG . . and a solid SF We could play inside/outside . . uptempo . . any style of b-ball you wanted. Even 4 years from now, Duncan may still be one of the best center in the league, because his style isn't based on explosiveness or overpowering strength. It's based on fundamentals. He won't fall completely off the map like Shaq did, once he started to slow down. Duncan could still be a 15 ppg - 10 reb - 1.5 blk - 3 assist guy 4 years from now. It might take Horford another 3 years to even reach that level.

I think he knows exactly what his game is. It's just that our fan base wants him to do more than he's doing right now. Marvin's game is the midrange jumper, while also slashing to the hole. A lot of players in this league are either/or. They either have the jumper, without the ability to get to the rim . . or they can get to the rim, but don't have a jumper. Marvin can do both. He just doesn't have 3 point range on his shot yet. He may not ever have it. So because of that, he needs to strengthen the 2 elements of his game that he's decent at . . . the midrange shot, and slashing to the hole. He got his shot blocked a lot going to the hole last year. But he also finished at a much higher rate around the rim ( 58% FG . . . in comparison, Smith converted at a 62% rate and Horford 61% ). He was also our #2 guy in getting to the FT line, led this team in FT makes, and shot 82% FT. He knows what his game is. We just need him to get more efficient at what he does best. If his defense and rebounding improves, that'll make him an even more efficient player.

I agree. Defensively, we should be better this year, while not losing much on offense. We might even be better on offense this season. The question is, who will be able to effectively replace the production that Chill gave us? I don't look for one person to do that, rather than multiple players upping their games a little. - Law and Marvin should be more efficient on offense, maximizing their scoring opportunities. - Evans will give us an additional outside threat when he's in the game, along with tough defense on the perimeter. - Flip, depending on how much he plays, can slash to the hole on occasion. - With JJ not having to worry about running the point, I don't expect him to shoot 44% FG next year. He'll be in the mid-high 40% FG range, which will make us an even more potent team on offense. - And both Horford and Smith should be able to develop even more chemistry between each other and become at least a top 10 C/PF combo. Maybe even a top 7 one. I think the big thing next year, is if Evans, along with Marvin at the 3, can take on the role as the defensive stoppers on the perimeter. If they can do that, it'll give JJ even more "rest" on that end of the floor, so that he can do serious damage on the offensive end.

I agree. That was the best part of the video. Great job Chillz.

If Belkin gained control of this team, you'll be looking at the Hakws being killed off, and being reincarnated as the "Seattle Sonics" by 2011. Belkin could have both an East and West coast operation of business. If he gained control, let's say next summer, fan apathy in Atlanta will be at an all-time low, after Bibby and Marvin are basically let go for nothing, with rumors circuling that JJ won't be re-signed either. The final straw will come when Belkin will refuse to pay the 5 yr / 80 - 90 mill deal that JJ will command in the summer of 2010. The 2010 - 2011 year will be a lame duck one in ATL, seeing that Belkin will already have a deal to move the team to Seattle. And because the Commish and the rest of the league view Seattle as a much better NBA city than Atlanta, no one will block the move. And not enough people in Atlanta will care if the Hawks moved anyway. You guys have to get out of this mindset that "change for the sake of change" will always be better. That's what everyone thought ( outside of NJHAWK ) about the GM change, right?

If Acie doesn't make a huge jump this year, they'll find a way to bring Bibby back. And if they do that, they may let Marvin go, if he doesn't become a highly efficient player. 4yrs - 40 million too much for Bibby?

Question is . . . what would Smitty do differently than Woody?

I would personally put us 7th, ahead of Toronto. 2 things about that team. 1) Calderon is definitely ready to take over as the starter. But one of the things that made Toronto so dangerous in the first place, was that there was no dropoff whatsoever at the point, whether Calderon or Ford ran it. As of right now, Roko Ukic and Will Solomon are his projected backups at the point. That's not good. 2) Jermaine O'Neal has been highly injury prone for a good 4 years now. He's almost a lock to be down for at least 15 - 20 games next year. They don't have Nesterovic to man the backup center. They would have to move Bosh to center and someone like Bargnani to PF. LOL . . . that's not good either. Calderon will have to not only be injury-free the entire year, he'll have to play almost all-star caliber basketball, in order for the Raptors to stay ahead of us. Personally, I think Toronto may not even win 37 games next year. The dropoff at the point is just to great.

Same stuff that went on last year. People questioning the kid because he was going back to school and supposedly not working on his game. People forget that Marvin was our 2nd best player for those first two months last year, and easily our most consistent offensive player. He had one horrible month. Other than that, he was consistent as hell last year. Oh well . . . I guess until he averages 23 ppg and grabs 9 rebs, we'll hear this kind of speak every summer.

The whole purpose of the Horford at the 4, Smith at the 3 talk, is to maximize Horford's production at the 4, while keeping Smith on the floor. ( which would kill how effective he is offensively, by the way ). Most of us know this, which is why we dismiss any talk of Smith at the 3. Horford can play center. He's proved that. He may have trouble with the real big guys who are average, but he can still hold his own against them. My thing is that some of his toughness has to rub off on Smith. If it does, Smith will turn into a monster, and this debate won't ever come up. A lot of teams would kill to have a 10 and 10 guy playing center for them. With Bynum out, imagine Horford playing with the Lakers, moving Gasol to the 4. Scary.

Now that we have Smith locked up, the next 2 guys to look at are Acie and Bibby, and how those two may affect the fate of Marvin. If Bibby has a great year, and we happen to make some noise in the playoffs because of his play, it's going to be hard just to dismiss Bibby, and hand the ball to Acie. And Bibby playing well, may impact how much we're willing to pay Marvin, because we'll probably be looking to re-sign Bibby before we deal with Marvin. On the flip side, if Acie starts playing well enough to the point where he and Bibby are basically splitting time at the point, the transition to hand the team over to Acie will be better. ( Think TJ Ford, with Calderon taking over the Raptors this year ). If that's the case, we can just say bye, bye to Bibby, give the ball to Acie, and re-sign Marvin to a reasonable deal of his worth. As of right now, I think Marvin will improve, but I don't expect him to receive no more than a 5 yr/42 - 45 million dollar deal. I wouldn't be surprised if the Hawks offered him a 5 yr / 40 million deal sometime this summer, and see if he bites. I personally wouldn't take it if I were Marvin. But he might, if he and his agent feels like he won't get as many touches as he did last year, with Smith and Bibby getting their share of shots. Horford could possibly take shots away from him as well. If he does improve to the point where he's our 2nd leading scorer, he could get a 10 million per yer deal from somebody. That's when it will get interesting.

I tend to agree with this. Plus, I also think they want to position themselves in 2 years, to possibly be a player in 2010 for all of those unrestricted free agents . . . one of them being our very own Joe Johnson. As for the Hawks without Smith, there is NO DOBUT IN MY MIND that Horford and Marvin will step up, if given a bigger role in the offense. Offensively, the Hawks would be better without Smith, but be worse defensively. The question then becomes, can those scrub centers be productive enough combined, to at least put up the numbers Hoford did last year. And they'd at least have to be decent man defenders, even if they didn't provide the shot blocking of Smith. And they'd definitely have to rebound. This has turned into a mess, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Riiiiiiiight. Just like those stats in baseball, that shows how players hit against certain pitching and in certain situations, mean absoultely nothing. The fact is that IF Chill was playing well in a game, Woody usually opted to go with him over Marvin. Otherwise, Marvin was in the game . . . period. Chill finished quite a few games late in the season, but Marvin got almost all of the time in those last 3 minutes of so in games in those first 2 - 3 months. Interesting relevations about Chill though. I guess Walter was right all along, when he said that Chill would want to be a starter somewhere.

That's true. But if it makes other guys better, or gets them open looks, I'm cool with Lamar playing the complimentary role. For example. Let's say Lamar comes here . . . and pretty much plays like he's played with the Lakers. 14 ppg 9 rebs 4 assists 48% FG 33% 3FG 70% FT With the Hawks, and with the personnel we have, I'd like to see Lamar either get his rebounds to around 10, or his assists around or over 5. He'll get a chance to do both things, considering our lack of big men to battle on the boards, and the shooters we have on the team in JJ, Bibby, and Marvin. Lamar would essentially become our "glue guy", if he averaged: 13.6 ppg 10.3 rebs 5.3 asst 48% FG 33% 3FG ( with less 3-pt attempts . . . he took 113 last year . . I'd like to see that number under 90 ) 70% FT Unlike the majority of Hawksquawk, I truly believe that if you gave Marvin Williams 14 FGA per game ( like Smith did ), he could average 18 ppg or more. Marvin only averaged 11.5 shots per game last year. And I truly believe that if Horford has an increased role in the offense, that he could average at least 14 ppg and shoot 50%+ FG. Horford's dramatic increase throughout the year in his FT%, also makes him a guy that can potentially become a major scorer, if he can draw a ton of fouls down low. The major concern would be on the defensive end of the court. Either Lamar and/or Horford would have to become better post defenders . . . or ZaZa/Randolph/Solo or whomever, have to become rock solid defenders and defensive rebounders when on the court.

Odom in 07 - 08: 44% of shots were jumpers ( eFG% of 40% ) 56% of shots were on the inside ( eFG% of 65.5% ) Smith in 07 - 08: 48% of shots were jumpers ( eFG% of 30.7% ) 52% of shots were on the inside ( eFG of 61.8% ) Odom did sell the Lakers out against the Celtics, with his lack of aggressiveness. Still, he averaged 13.5 ppg - 9 rebs - 3 asst - and shot 52% FG. The big difference I see with adding Odom, especially on the offensive end, is that Odom knows that he's not the go-to-guy or the star player. He's very comfortable playing the complimentary role. If that makes a guy like JJ even more potent, I'm all for that. Smith, I believe, wants to be "the man". He has no fear in failing in trying to reach that goal. Most of your great players had that attribute about them. The difference with Smith though, is that he doesn't have the overall offensive skill or to be "the man". So when he tries to do it, he messes up more than he makes a good play offensively. Smith and Odom, overall, are pretty even in my book. They just bring different things to the table.

I still say that if Smith is going to be moved, my choice is Odom. 2 years ago, Suns announcer and former player, Eddie Johnson, actually compared Smith to Lamar Odom, because of Smith's ability to affect the game in so many ways. If we can actually get some sort of defensive presence from our role playing big guys, Odom is acutally a perfect fit for the Hawks. But those big guys definitely have to step up on defense, in order for Odom to work here. You won't have to worry about Odom taking a lot of ill-advised shots, because he has a pass-first mentality anyway. That mentality actually makes people like JJ, Bibby, and Marvin even more dangerous as shooters. And it makes Horford more dangerous as a post presence, because people have to account for Lamar's ability to get to the hole and/or post up. Odom is definitely not good enough to make us a major contender in the East. But he is good enough to pretty much ensure that we win 45+ games and make the playoffs . . and maybe win a first round matchup. My thing with Smith, Chill, and Marvin, is that if they are/were traded, that we get back a player that's either on their level, or above.

It's funny how most of the board has done a complete 180 degree turn on Sund. That's why I always stated that "change just for the sake of change, isn't always a good thing" At any rate, Horford and Marvin need to get ready to take on a greater role in the offense next year, if we lose Smith. Interesting to see Sekou's report about the Hawks only receiving one S&T offer for Smith. I have no idea what is up with that. Unless the rest of the league really doesn't value him the way the Sixers and Hawks seem to have valued him.

Now that the market has been set for Smith, the ASG needs to go ahead and decide what they want to do with the guy. If they feel that he's not worth the 11 - 12 mill per year that Okafor and Biendrins got, then they need to go ahead and move him. This needs to be done by the end of the week . . . whichever way it goes.