TheNorthCydeRises

Quote: I have always said that the best Point Guard was Stockton. The best player that also played pg would be Magic. Magic played more than just PG and that makes him a better player, Stockton was just amazing at the point. John Wooden said he was the only player he would pay to watch, now that tells you something. I agree with this. There were virtually no holes in Stockton's game. He seemed to always make the correct play. And he was very good defensively. If Stockton in his prime played in today's NBA, there would be no question that he would be over Nash. Nash is great though.

Quote: Before checking out the list see if you can guess the Atlanta Hawk who came close to quadruple-double. QD info My guess would be Mookie . . in pts, rebs, asst, and stls.

Not to totally discount what Duhon did last night, but people tend to have huge games against Golden St.

Once again, this is the type of game in which Lue could potentially see decent minutes over Acie. Lebron is essentially Cleveland's PG. A guy like Daniel Gibson plays the role of spot up shooter, although he can take you off the dribble. Damon Jones is another spot shooter. It's the type of game that Lue hs to worry more about his defensive rotations to the shooters, than people taking him off the dribble. This is about Woody playing the people that will BEST help us win tonight, not about playing everyone's "favorite player of the week". If Acie or Mario play, and make nice contributions, then good. If they don't play, and we still win, that's also good.

Good post by Trace. Marvin seemed to be the only consistent player out on that road trip, while everyone else were erratic. I think Marvin missed 9 of his first 10 shots, but made 4 of his last 7 shots in the Laker game.

Those were 2 easy questions to answer Ex. And you sidestepped the questions. Interesting. Your complaint is that he doesn't do certan things to increase his scoring output. So once again, I'll ask again: 1) What should Horford's numbers look like for the rest of the year, to satisfy you? 2) On a grade from 1 - 10, rate his play at center for the Hawks. Those are 2 direct questions. I mean, unless you choose to not answer them for some strange reason. This isn't the SAT.

Interesting to see what was said back in October, about a possible coaching change.

So what should Horford's numbers be at for the rest of the year, to meet your satisfaction? And on a scale of 1 - 10, how would you rate his play @ center this year? To me, considering the personnel on this team, he's pretty much doing exactly what I thought he'd be doing.

Quote: The Lakers went on a run with Smoove out the game not to challenge shots and defend which led to an 8 pt deficit. Smith only picked up 1 foul in the 2nd half. That could have cost us after the great 1st qtr he had. Smoove picked up his 2nd foul with 9:48 to go in the 2nd qtr. Lakers were up 35 - 30 when he was subbed for 8 seconds later. The Hawks actually cut into that decifit with Smoove out of the game, until Fisher hit those back to back 3s. That's what sparked the late run they went on to close the 2nd qtr. Quote: Lue played alright but he hit some lucky shots at the end. And if he would have missed them then yall would be all on him as well with 100 "I hate Lue" threads. Now that all but guarantees that he will be gettin the bulk of the backup mins from now on for his play tonight. Enjoy it while it lasts. Lue is a shotmaker. That's his only worth, hitting shots. When he has it going, he might be the best shooter on the team. If Lue is helping the team win, I have no problem seeing him getting playing time over Law. I want Law to be the guy at PG like everybody else. But I root for the T-E-A-M before anything else. Maybe some of you guys should try that, instead of crying about every personnel move.

I know we haven't beat some of those bad teams on the road, which is why I said we needed to start doing it. But even if we can't, they haven't get it back at home, just like they're doing now. It's not going to be the end of the world, if Charlotte beats us when we go back to Charlotte. It's crazy though. Most of you guys thought we were a 36 - 42 win team. This is how those types of teams play. Golden St. played just like this last year, except they were worse. But they caught fire in March and April, and made the playoffs.

Quote: Quote: If we DO make the playoffs, hopefully people will stop whining and complaining like little 7 year old girls and be happy that we finally got back to the post season. Agreed. Hope that day comes sometime soon. Unfortunately if you calculate our record, taking into account the discrepancies between home games played and road games played, we are on pace for 34-35 wins. Current Home winning%: 58 ... .58 X 41 = 23 home wins Current Road winning%: 29... .29 x 41 = 12 road wins. I'm not too happy with our performance this year, and to call people like me a little girl because I voice my displeasure about being a team on pace for 34 wins is pretty unreasonable IMO. I think BK and Woody have done a terrible job since being here. Northcyde says we can't dog Woody when we loose, because we don't give him props when he wins... I don't think this is a valid argument because most of the complaints I see don't have anything to do with W/L but the fact that we don't have a half-court offense, and we play without a sense of purpose on the road, etc. etc. Nobody can know if these things are the players or the coaches fault, but since Bk is the reason we have the players we have and Woody is the reason for how they prepare I think it's pretty reasonable to have the opinion that these two men have not done a good job since coming here. Why can't you blame both the player and the coach? I mean, while some of you were complaining about Lue, people couldn't even see that this is the exact type of game he should play in. You know why? Because Lue wasn't going to be matched up against some quick PG that could take him off the dribble. He would be less of a defensive liability this game. If I know that, I'm sure our head coach and his staff definitely knew it. Yet, Woody won't get any credit for that move. By the way, your math is off. We have 15 home wins out of 24 games. That's a .625 winning percentage, not .580 And that puts us on pace for 26 wins at home, not 23. Also consider that the vast majority of our March and April schedule will be vs the East. So even if we slip up during our last West road trip, we'll have a chance to gain it right back in March.

Quote: Quote: LOL...Good post Dolfan...These people need to quit freaking out and just relax. This team should make the playoffs...Be happy that we are going to get there for the first time in almost 10 years. Unless we find a way to play at least competitively on the road, then we might not make the playoffs. What we have to do on the road, is beat the bad teams, and the teams close to us in the East. If we can't win on the road, I'd love for us to become damn good @ home. We have 6 road wins right now. I'd like to be somewhere between 12 - 16 wins by the end of the year. But we need at least 25 home wins. We're on pace to do just that.

Quote: dolfan and northcyde, when either of you want to base your position on facts rather than assumptions get back to me. And what have you presented that were facts? Crying about 1st half substitutions is some of the slliest things I've ever seen. It's like you guys want Woody to turn Al and Smoove's fouls and fatigue level off, and just keep the in the entire game. Woody is an average coach. He knows that if he doesn't protect both of those guys, that we're up ish creek once crunch time hits.

Quote: I disagree with you. I have seen Smoove and Al pick up fouls in bunches because they are both aggressive emotional players and especially Al because of him being a rookie. Besides, 9 times out of 10 when he brings Smoove back in the game he seems to play a lot better, the Philly game being a perfect example. He was playing awful when Woody took him out and then when he brought him back in he was much more focused and took over the game. You might not agree with Woody's strategy with certain players but I would say he knows the limitations of his individual players a lot better than anyone on here. Dol, it's like these guys have never watched the Hawks before. Ish, we cry all the time about how the refs will call ticky-tack fouls on us, but nothing on them. People were crying about that very thing tonight. And both of them will get at least 2 BS foul calls a game called on them. But people want them to stay in a ballgame with 2 fouls in the 1st half, when the refs are calling touch fouls against us? Like I said, I rather have Zaza or whomever playing during that time, than to HAVE to play Zaza during crunch time in the 4th, because one of them have fouled out. Dol, they talk like they're playing NBA Live or something.

Quote: Quote: I also loved his brilliant tactic of benching players ONE foul before they are in foul trouble. According to Northcyde this is common practice, and good coaching. If you actually watched or played basketball, you would know that it is, instead of whining and crying all the time about every single move that Woody makes. Dolfan explained it perfectly. The last thing we want to happen, i for either Smoove or Horford to be in foul trouble late in a game. Both guys routinely pick up 4 or 5 fouls a night. So if one or the other has to sit a while after picking up his 2nd foul in the 2nd quarter, then that's what needs to be done. I'd rather have Zaza play spot minutes in the 1st half, than to HAVE to play him in the 4th, because of Al or Smoove fouling out. LOL . . and you guys think that Woody is the idiot? You guys prove on a nightly basis who the true idiots are.

LOL !!!

Quote: I know you didnt direct this to me, but I will say this since I am a general critic of both Woody and Lue: As you probably witnessed during our last game, I gave Lue his props for having a good game. At the same time, I acknowledged that such a game is the exception, and not the rule, with Lue. I further cautioned that this would likely give Woodson enough license to play Lue insane minutes the next several games at the expense of Law. Guess what? So far I am right. Did Lue play well? Yep. Was he a large part in why we won? Damn right he was. But was it okay for Law to not even see ONE second on the floor? No way in hell. As for Woodson...it is great that we got the win over an elite team like the new-look Lakers. However, he still made some mistakes. He left a cold as ice Marvin in there too long, I could say the same for Pachulia, Acie Law got no burn...etc My biggest problem with him now seems to be his mismanagement of the bench--and his substitutions more specifically. In summation, Woodson was able to help guide his players to a great win over a great team. Even the staunchest Woodson haters can't dispute that. However, he is just one half of the equation. Coaches coach, but players play. And well, I think we can all agree that our young talent played AWESOME basketball and made Kobe look human and humbled those highly-favored Lakers. LOL @ coaches coach and players play. You're exactly right. But as soon as we lose, it's solely the coache's fault. LOL . . poor Woody. Damned if he do, damned if he don't. At least you did give him some credit.

Quote: Quote: I'm glad I'm not the only one, who notices this crap.... It's absolutely freaking wacko... No other coach in the NBA does this LMAO . . so Woody is the inventor of "keep your best players out of foul trouble?" Woody is the GODFATHER of preserving your players for the 4th qtr run, and timed substitutions . . . LMAO !!! Next, you guys will be saying that Woody created the defensive 3 seconds rule. LMAO !!! But let Smoove or somebody foul out with 4 minutes to go, and Woody goes with Zaza. People would be crying . . "Woody is an idiot!!! He shouldn't have let Smoove stay in the game with 4 fouls in the 3rd quarter!!" (( Chanting like the little kids @ philips )) LET'S GO HAWKS . . . LET'S GO HAWKS !!

So you'd trade Horford for Big Ben straight up, if it were possible? Of course Amare is a much better player than Horford. I'm just saying that having a legit PG makes things a hell of a lot easier for a guy like Horford. Amare is a great mid-range shooter, but he probably gets 10 - 14 ppg from running pick & roll with Nash. Ex, you know it's a domino effect with our roster. Moving Al to PF means that Smith goes to SF. One player gets better, while the other may have less of an impact on a game. I want Smoove around the basket on both ends of the floor, not out on the perimeter. So we do what we have to do here. Play Al at center, and Smith at PF. And we do have a big body on the team. He's just sucks on the defensive end and shoots 40% on the offensive end. I agree that we need another big, preferably who is either very good offensively or defensively. I think everyone knows that. That player is more than likely still not going to play more than Horford @ the 5. I have to asK, what is it about Horford that causes you to kind of go at him as much as you do. No other person on this site remotely does this, but you. It's almost Diesel-like with Marvin, when you talk about Horford. Always critical . . hardly ever any praise. So what is it . . really?

Horford is a better defender than both Ben and Amare, so it's no wonder why people are making excuses for them. I have absolutely no problem with Al Horford. If Horford was in Phoenix, he'd probably be playing center. And a PG like Nash could get Al 2 - 4 easy baskets a game. How many assisted FGs does he get from our PGs? He'd easily be a 13 and 10 guy, if he played with a decent PG. Defensively, Al routinely holds his man to under 50% shooting, an attribute that most people playing the 5 can't say. If a center gets Al right under the rim, that's where Al's size comes into play. He's not stopping them at that point. But if his man posts him up 5 - 8 feet away from the basket, Al is a sound enough defensive player to not give up an easy score. Ish, not many people can stop the guys you named. It's the Melvin Ely, Steven Hunter types, that would routinely kill us down low. That happens less ans less, with Al in the mix.

- Black Screech is a good one. - The courtside seats will probably look like the guest list at the Soul Train Awards tonight. They'll be there to watch Kobe, but might cheer for the Hawks if it's tight at the end. - LOL @ the matador and bull pic. That's one of those "WTF are you thinking about" type jobs. It's like running with the bulls. That might be cool to see, but I be damn if I'm going to be running in the path of thoe bulls. - And I'm sorry . . give me Whitney.

One of my teammates in college dislocated his pinky once in practice. Pinky looked like a Z when he held his hand up. Coach just told him to look away, and he yanked the pinky real hard back into place. He said that it was only a little sore, and didn't really hurt. But for precautionary reasons, he did have te pinky in a little brace for about a week. Having said that, Kobe probably is a go tonight, and will hang 30 on us. X-factor tonight may be Marvin. It'll be nice to have a highly efficient offensive game from him tonight.

. . someone who still can't see why Memphis took the Laker deal iver any other deal, and is still worried about this ish.

Quote: The question everyone in Memphis wants to know: Will the ASG match a MAX offer to Josh Smith? The real question is . . will the Griz offer a MAX deal to anyone? The fact that they basically gave Gasol away, is a clear indication that they're not willing to add significant payroll at this time. As of right now, the Griz will have over 44 million worth of contracts on the books. Unless they get rid of Miller for some expirings, don't expect the Griz to do anything major in free agency, until the summer of 2009. They'll use the 2 first round picks next year, to address the frontline and maybe add a shooter.

Quote: Unless someone in Phoenix has discovered the fountain of youth this is a horrible deal for them. Phoenix knows that as currently constructed, that they cannot beat the Spurs in a playoff series. That's ultimately who have been their nemesis over the past 4 years. If the Shaq deal is a foregone concluson, he is being brought in SPECIFICALLY to help beat the Spurs. This is also a move to try to counter what the Lakers did by acquiring Gasol. The way the Suns lost the other weekend when they lost to the Spurs, who were without Tony Parker, was the damning piece of evidence toward that. Expect Shaq, when he does come back, to play Eddy Curry-like minutes. They won't wear Shaq out. Here's the big question though: Can they replace collectively as a team, everything that Shawn brought to the table? Shawn was their best rebounder, finisher, and defender. Who will step up and fill some of those roles? This is either a genius move, or a move that will spell the beginning of the end of the Suns.