TheNorthCydeRises

And don't forget . . . THEY ARE ALL "MUST-WIN" GAMES!!

Trade Zaza Keep Shelden Sign Candace to a free agent contract after the draft to keep Shelden's head on straight. She'd be in ATL anyway, watching her man on the bench. That, or she'd be doing TV or something. Ish, might as well give her a Mario-like contract, jut to see if she can inspire Shelden. Play Candace at point forward when the Hawks go through those horrific scoring slumps, for about 2 - 5 minutes a game. Play zone on defense, and put her at the top of the zone. On offense, get the ball to her at the top of the key, and see if she can hit somebody cuttng to the basket, or pass to a shooter, or shoot the ball herself. G - JJ F - Marvin PTF - Candace F - Smoove F - Shelden ( surely he'd play hard with his baby on the court with him ) She can't be any less of a liability than what Lue is defensively, and she could knock down the 18-foot jumper . . or even post up a waterbug PG like Iverson or a TJ Ford. Most of all, you know she won't play scared, unlike other Hawks. Problem solved.

If you haven't heard about this, it's the new spring football league. The teams basically go by state names. The inagural 6 teams are from Alabama ( play in Birmingham ), Arkansas ( play in Little Rock ), Florida ( play mainly in Gainesville ), Michigan ( play in Detroit ), Tennessee ( play in Knoxville ), and Texas ( play in Houston ). I'm shocked that Georgia doesn't have a team in this, even though the supposed league office is in Atlanta. The interesting thing about this league, is that vast majority of the players on each team, has to come from the state in which the team represents. The goal is to create interest amongst each state's potential fan base, by selecting players that played college ball in that state, that people may already familiar with. For example, Tee Martin will probably be the QB for Team Tennessee and Clint Stoerner will probably bethe QB for Team Arkansas. They ought to call this the Alumni Football League. They can select select a limited number of guys from outside their home state area. I'm not sure if this the league that Mark Cuban was investing in or not. I think it is though. I read somewhere that the salaries of players will run somewhere between $50K and $100K a season. 42-man roster is hella thin though. LOL @ this draft they're having right now. It's cheezy as hell and nothing like the NFL draft. They're announcing their selections from their home cities and not a central location like the NFL does. Interesting though, they have some pretty big names announcing the picks from each state. Braylon Edwards and Tommy "Hitman" Hearns have announced picks from Team Michigan. Craig James for Team Texas. Daivd Keith is announcing all the picks for Team Tennessee. And with the speed that they're picking players, it's obvious that the players were told in advance that they'd be selected. While the football version of this might fail, I'd love to see a basketball version of this as a summer basketball league. Imagine a Team Indiana going up against a Team North Carolina, with former players from those states making up the teams. Of course, that would mean Duke and UNC players would be on the same squad. Don't know how well that would set with their fan bases. As for the football version, they'll need a big time corporate sponsor, attendance of at least 30K a game, and a decent TV contract to survive the first few years.

Marvin took a charge against Durant late in the 4th quarter last night. For some reason, I don't think Outlaw will have nearly the game on Sunday, that he had in ATL. This time, we may have to worry more about Aldridge, Roy, or even a Martell Webster from outside. The best thing about the Portland game, is that neither jet lag nor fatigue should be an issue on Sunday. That should at least help JJ. And thanks Houston, for snapping Portland's home winning streak. They've been feeling invincible at home lately.

Marvin is our Josh Howard.

Quote: Damn, Ridnour looks good in this quarter. If he could shoot and defend, I'd give Acie + Shelden for Ridnour + Petro. Those two would be great for our team Nice turnover by your boy Luke. Marvin with the breakaway jam. Then your boy pops Marvin in the face? WTF!!! Marvin with 33 points. (( sticks up middle finger to Hawksquawk haters ))

LOL @ Woody . . .WTF?

AJ WTF?

Acie needs to start games, to get into a rhythm. He's so much more comfortable starting games,than coming off the bench. LOL . . the Hawks never make it easy. Lead is 10 now, but not enough time for Sonics to make us sweat.

LOL . . as soom as I got home to watch thid game, the Sonice act like they want to make a game of this. Lead is 12 now. If they cut it to 8, I'll turn the TV and not watch the rest of the game.

Quote: Quote: Quit hatin' . . . and STFU !!!! Has a 21 y.o. ever drawn such criticism from a team's fans? What gets me, is just a mere 3 weeks ago, people wanted to run the offense through him. This week, they want to trade him off for a few bad shooting games. Now, after he scores 25 on the Sonics, people will be back on the "trade anybody but Marvin" bandwagon again.

Quit hatin' . . . and STFU !!!!

Did you try to test the entire new site last Saturday or Sunday in an attempt to make the chqnge then? For a time there, I couldn't access this site on my PDA.

No way Webber starts here. He's no more than 15-foot spot up shooter these days. Ad not a very good one at that. What has always intrigued me about him, is his pssing ability. He's an excellent psser in the low and high posts. If BK brought him in, he'd play no more than 15 - 20 minutes a night. He has to be better than Shell, Zaza o Solo though.

LMAO @ "I had to hand draw a Grizzlie" I always appreciate good creative writing. Good stuff D.

Quote: Why shouldn't this team be 22-17? Guys BK deemed unworthy of drafting are LEADING their respective teams to better records than that. And let us not forget BK's wonderful record with coach hires (i.e, two of the worst in NBA history). The reason why this team is barely a .50% team now and won't contend in the future is because of bad drafting and bad coaching. Three seasons ago the teams biggest holes were center and point guard and they are still the teams biggest holes. Why shouldn't Hawks fans be upset about the teams state of affairs? I'm not saying the fans shouldn't be upset. But it's a known fact that the vast majority of the fan base picked this team to be somewhere at, or below .500. So to be 17 - 21 . . 18 - 21, should be expected by most of you. It's the fact that we played so well in December, and so bad this month, that has people bugged about this team. But the Hawks are who we thought they were. What the Hawks have to do, is hold serve at home, and win road games against bad teams. They have to keep themselves as close to the .500 mark as possible going into an easier schedule in March and April. That's when Golden St. mde their run last year. This team plays much, much better at Philips than they do on the road. So when you get games vs a Seattle on the road, or catch an injured team, you need to wn those games. Last night was definitely a blown opportunity with Melo out the lineup. We probably need to win 25 - 28 home games, to compensate for our road woes. Not an impossibe feat, seeing that we've played a lot of the East and West powers @ home already. But if anyone expected this team to be 22 - 17 right now, that projects out to around 46 or 47 wins at the end of the year. The most I said we can win is 45.

Quote: No freaking way. I'd rather watch good basketball for a season and NOT make the playoffs than watch the abomination that is "The Hawks Vs. Any team in the NBA on the road"... It's not like we would sniff a single win against Detroit or Boston in a series So if the Hawks had a 36 - 46 record and got the #8 seed in the playoffs and went up against Boston, you wouldn't buy a ticket to see Game 3 in Atlanta?

If it makes you feel better, Kobe had 9 turnovers tonight.

I don't know about it being the biggest game of the year. But it's definitely the type of game that gets a coach fired. I say it's a very dangerous game, considering that they almost beat the Rockets tonight. Seattle is definitely looking at us as a possible win to break the losing streak. If we win, it probably won't be a cakewalk. Good thing the Seattle game is late on a Friday night.

And JJ has that same "disinterested" look as a teenager, as he does now. I guess he didn't care back then either I guess . . LOL. It's a strange fan base bumpy.

Quote: Are you fu^king kidding me man? He also had a triple double. Geez, you people. I tell ya man. This is a strange fan base. Smoove tried to do it all. But with the way we were shooting, I can't fault him for that. He had a triple double . . plus 5 blocks and 3 steals. And people still point out the negative.

Why do you think the Bucks lose so much, despite having the backcourt of Mo and Redd?

Jack, everybody isn't a rah-rah, driven by emotions type of player. Ray Allen is the exact same way as Joe. So is/was Marvn Harrision, Barry Sanders, Tom Brady, Tim Duncan, Clyde Derxler, etc. Those players never seem to get high or low througout the game, unless it was a key or winning play at the end. Same expression the entire game for the most part. They don't let their emotions get the best of them, nor do they let their emotions get them amped up, like other players do. It's wrong to misinterpret that as "not caring" or being "disinterested". That's just their personna. JJ has had that same personna in the 3 years he's been here. The only difference with him this year, is that he's having more 5 - 17 FG games than he used to. If he were shooting 46% FG, but still exhibited the exact same demeanor throughout the game, thi wouldn't even be an issue. People would be saying that he needs to be more of a vocal leader. They wouldn't be saying that he looks and acts like he doesn't care or that he was disinterested.

Quote: Given the fact that he was asked to do at least as much in the past 2 seasons as he is this year, I don't see how any of that is relevant. As for the poll, I don't see how it's biased poll. I said he was less motivated than the past 2 years, and you responded with a brilliant "LOL @ JJ isn't motivated. JJ plays his azz off just about every game. ", I don't see how the poll could be any more straightforward than "Has Joe seemed significantly less motivated overall this year compared to the past 2 years? ". I put my opinion above because nobody wants empty threads with just a poll and most people come here to discuss what we disagree on. I've never seen so many words typed before any other poll on Hawksquawk. You typed a manifesto before a poll. Quote: FOCUS FOR A MINUTE AND READ THIS SENTENCE REALLY, REALLY SLOWLY: We all know Joe CARES about the hawks. The question is if he has been as MOTIVATED on the court as he was for the last 2 years. I am not questioning Joe's character. He is my favorite hawk. But he has not been himself this year. For whatever reason he is beat down, frustrated with his coach, GM, teammates, whatever ... and he's not giving the same level of effort that he gave over the past 2 years. If I was lied to by my GM, and left to get run into the ground by a complete bozo of a coach, I could probably only take so much until my effort went down too. Of course you're questioning his character when you suggest that he's "significantly disinterested". When you phrase it like that, combined with the other "possible reasons", that translates into "JJ doesn't care about this season, compared to season's past." Phrase it anyway you want. But that's what you're saying. I'll just add this to al of the other conspiracy theories that some of our fan base want to believe. And JJ isn't the first star plyer to go through a shooting sump, and he won't be the last. But even with that, some people even question if he's a star player. Quote: But for the record, he doesn't choose his minutes, great players who care are the ones who want the ball to make the plays (not just give it to their less experienced teammates), and he almost always guards the SG regardless of who the best player is. See, right there tells me that you don't think he cares. And if what you say is true, then Nash would never pass the ball dwn the stretch of games . . Jordan wouldn't hve passed it to Paxson . . Olajuwon would've never kicked it out to a young Cassell or Horry . . and Kobe these days would never pass to a Jordan Farmar. Great players make the CORRECT play . . whether it be to shoot the ball or pass the ball. JJ will not only shoot the ball in the clutch, he'll pass it to open teammates to show them that he trusts them, something that Kobe has constantly been criticized about, until this year. I know. We can trade JJ for Arenas. He'll never pass to Smoove or Marvin in the clutch. He'll win some games and he'll lose some games. He'll have those 50 point games, and those 3 - 20 while going 0 - 10 from three games. And when we get to the playoffs, the other players won't know what to do. The Wiz are so much better without that chucker. But that's the type of player you want here, because he'll always show that competitive fire . . by taking every open shot available.

LMAO . . you think Laz tried to skew the poll a bit? You had to type a "Mitchell Report" just to try to skew the poll? LMAO !!! Nice job. And never ever criticize Diesel or anybody else for creating a biased poll . . if you have done that in the past. It's like I said over the summer, the most underrated player on this team, is Joe friggin Johnson. What this fan base does to him, is the same crap the Boston fans used to pull with Paul Pierce, when it was obvious that he couldn't do it all by himself. Both he and PP had to be the playmaker and the scorer and the top perimeter defender on the damn team. When the team didn't win, they get all the blame for not playing like God on a nightly basis. The majority of this fan base so desperately want Smoove to be the star here, that they'll dog JJ for every little thing. LOL @ him being disinterested. Like Teke says. He looks like he's sleep all the time anyway. But people misjudge that, and his shooting percentage, as him not caring? He sure looked liked he cared on opening night vs Dallas . . and he definitey looked like he cared vs the Blazers on MLK Day. So when did he looked like he didn't care? if he didn't care, he wouldn't play 40+ minutes a night. If he didn't care, he'd make up some nagging injury excuse, to leave his teammates hanging ( see JO, Marbury, and Arenas ). If he didn't care, he wouldn't defer to players on a nightly bsis, and try to make them better. If he didn't care, he'd jack up a ton of shots, just to get his stats. If he didn't care, he wouldn't guard the opposing teams best offensive during crunch time. And if he didn't care, he wouldn't be asking for help, he'd ask to be traded. Sometimes, I think this fan base doesn't even deserve a winner, because they wouldn't know a winner if if slapped them in the face.