TheNorthCydeRises

The next question is . . . does this kid have to register as a sex offender? If he does, all is definitely not well in this case.

Let's look at this from the outside looking in. The problem that most "experts" have with picking the Hawks higher, is that most "experts" will have 8 of these 9 teams in the playoffs: - Cleveland ( because they went to the Finals and because they might have the league MVP on the team in Lebron ) - Chicago ( nice young nucleus of good players who made noise in the playoffs last year ) - Boston ( because of the trade that brought Ray Allen and KG to Beantown ) - New Jersey ( because they still have Kidd, Carter, and Jefferson ) - Toronto ( made the leap last year that we're expecting to make this year, with Bosh possibly developing into a top 5 post player ) - Detroit ( the old stand-by, that still has a very talented starting lineup, for the most part ) - Miami ( a healthy Wade and Shaq will always get the benefit of the doubt ) - Orlando ( D-Howard is the next big thing, and people think by adding Rashard Lewis to the mix will push Orlando to the playoffs ) - Washington ( they were the East leader, until Arenas got hurt ) So out of these 9 teams, which team do you drop out, and put the Hawks in? For me, it's either between Orlando, Washigton, or Toronto. And I totally agree with Hollinger by picking Washington as the team to fall out. Toronto could fall out too, depending on how good Boston and Jersey really are.

Quote: and it's not like they had full squad all preseason against injured teams...jj sat out one for rest...we played one game without any of our pgs...law only played in 3, lue in 1, speedy in none...zaza out last 1.5 games...chill out a game or two...etc LOL . . I know it seemed as if Speedy didn't play this preseason, but he actually played in the first two games. I believe he started the first 2 games. Speedy needs to change his name to "Invisible" Invisible Claxton with the ball . . driving to the hole and scores. Wait a minute . . the ref says that they didn't see the ball go in the hole. No basket

They haven't updated the totals and averages yet. All they've updated so far, are the games played for the starters.

Hits his last 4 shots, to finish 6 - 14 and score 20 points.

Quote: ESPN boxscore shows Lue having played. Also shows Solo with 4 points buy not having played any minutes. That's tricky. Good to Salim back in the saddle. I have the ESPN boxscore, ESPN gamecast, and the boxscore from NBA.com up. NBA.com is probably the most accurate and up to date. With Gamecast, you can at least see where each player is shooting. The regular ESPN boxscore I use, strictly to refresh the Gamecast.

Quote: Quote: 4 - 11 FG, but 9 - 10 FTs for Smoove now. Good job akeem fyp It was Calvin that was working with him on the FT shooting.

And Smoove KEEPS attacking !! This is how he should always play. Make them stop you going to the hole, or dunk on their azzes, or they foul you and you get your points there. 4 - 11 FG, but 9 - 10 FTs for Smoove now. Good job Calvin.

Quote: Quote: JOE WTF is wrong with you 2/8 ??????????????????????????? Maybe he should stop taking all of those freaking jumpers! JJ is 2 - 8 Smoove is 3 - 10 Chill is 1 - 6 And we're winning by 18 points??? Here's why. JJ is 6 - 7 from the line Smoove is 7 - 8 from the line Chill is 5 - 6 from the line They're doing what ALL great offensive players do, when they can't get it going from the field . . they get their points from the FT line. It's a total change in mindset from last year.

LMAO . . please quit fouling HILTON !! He's going to shoot 30 FTs tonight. I bet Woody is PIZZED !! This is the type of game, if this were the regular season, that Lorenzen might get some PT in. He might be our best "position" defender, out of all of our frontline guys.

Armstrong draws ANOTHER FOUL? Good lord. He's shot 18 free throws !!

(( clapping ))

Heat up Salim. Last time he was in this building, he went off in that 4th quarter.

He can't hit anything!! Trade him while he still has value.

Quote: It seems that, Craig and Blo, our two celebrated free agent pick ups last year, are the only players who will miss the season opener. I know Acie is "hurt" with the wrist, but it seemed to be a coincidence to me that as soon as AJ started complaining about his PT in the preseason, Woodson became extremely cautious with Acie, put him on the shelf, and started playing AJ major minutes. It's almost as Woody was saying to AJ . . "OK . . show us what you got then." Like with the Johnny Bravo thread yesterday, I think AJ has basically played himself to the end of the bench, if Speedy, Lue, and Law are all healthy, or even somewhat healthy. He'll need a solid performance tonight against Chris Paul, to justify Woody even considering starting him against Dallas, if Speedy can't go. Once Law cracks the starting lineup, those other PGs can forget it. They'll never start again, unless Acie is hurt.

Once everybody post their ideas, put this in a poll form. I like a lot of the ones given so far.

"The Young Gunners" "T-Lue and the Boyz" "The 2nd Wave"

Hawks have done the right thing. Let the kid and the marketplace set the price for Smoove . . and Childress. I would love to know what the Spirit offered him though. Here's a scenario that none of you have thought about though. And I think someone posted an article about this the other day. But the vast majority of guys in the 2004 draft class, have NOT signed extentions. If Smoove wants too much money, but Emeka Okafor is available for a similar asking price, I wonder how many people would be mad at acquiring a player like Emeka in exchange for Smoove? A move like that would give us more of the center that we want, and pretty much have this team set defensively on the frontline. Law JJ Marvin Horford Okafor How about this scenario. A certain perennial all-star forward in the Western Conference, who is reported to be unhappy these days, can opt out of his contract after next season. Would Hawk fans be unhappy, if our management chose to not retain BOTH Smoove and Chill, and instead, immeadiately throw a big money deal after this guy? Law JJ ( All-Star Player . . not hard to guess who this is ) Horford ZaZa Or this. How about the Hawks going after the center that plays in the Bay Area ( who I personally think is way overrated on this board ). We'd retain Chill, but acquire the center instead of keeping Smoove. Law JJ Marvin Horford ( Bay Area center . . not hard to guess who this is either ) The point is this. If Smoove has a monster year, and we make the playoffs, the Hawks will definitely retain him, no matter what the cost. If he struggles, still butt heads with the coaches, and still exhibits very poor shot selection, the price to retain him will go down, or stay right where it is now. If he still wants too much, the Hawks will rightfully explore other options. This team is playing this exactly right.

Quote: Just the THREAT of JJ's 3 point shooting opens up the lane for Marvin, Smoove and Chillz to make plays slashing to the basket and it allows Horford to get one on one situations in the post. If JJ stops taking that shot, the lane is going to be clogged, making it more difficult for our athletic guys to go to work. Very good point. I didn't even think of it in that regard. When Coach Woodson said that we're going to look to take more three's, maybe he was talking specifically about JJ taking more three's in order to stretch defenses and give guys like Marvin, Smoove, Chill, an opportunity to work one on one against people. 42% of JJ's shots in the preseason, have been three pointers. During last season, he only took a three pointer 27% of the time. Maybe him jacking up all these threes in the preseason, is by design. If it works, then we may really have something here. If it doesn't, then we can just always go back to giving the ball to him, to make sure we have him make the play in the half court offense. Let him either shoot or pass. And Peoria, before last night's game, JJ was shooting 45% from 3 in the preseason. After last night's 2 - 9 performance, he's at 39%

Yep . . because we own all of those players Bird Rights. We'll probably be well over the cap, and in luxury tax land though. We can definitely keep that core together for the next 3 years at least.

Quote: Quote: I am not the least bit worried about JJ. I don't think the preseason is a big deal for a proven player like him. I can remember so many games last year when JJ started off shooting like crap only to light it up in the second half. If he shoots 3-14 in a real game then i will start worrying. Who cares whether anybody is in a slump except when they don't recognize that they are in a slump and stop shooting. We have enough alternatives and shouldn't be concerned about one player scoring 20 points per game just because. Those boys were balling tonight with 29 assist and shooting over 50% from the field without joe's numbers. They we also taking the ball to the hole and the interior passing was great! This aint no one man show anymore so get use to it! Peoria, had JJ stayed in the game for the usual 30 minutes that he's been getting this preseason, he would've had a triple-double. Jason Kidd has had plenty of nights that JJ had tonight. LMAO @ this ain't no one-man show. Come on now Peoria. Do you honestly think that we can get solid performances out of the Joshes and Marvin every single night? If you truly believe that, then people need to start talking about how the Hawks are going to win 50+ games this year, not barely be over .500 I don't think Smoove, Chill, and Marvin have EVER had a game in which they ALL scored over 20 points in the same game. But if you truly think that this isn't a "one-man" show anymore, this team is going to win 50 games easily. The complimentary players to JJ are definitely better, but we'll still need JJ to score anywhere from 20 - 24 ppg every night, in order for us to win. I hope we can get away with him scoring 19 - 20 ppg, with him shooting a very high percentage from the field and from 3. On most nights, this team is still going to live and die by how well JJ shoots, until multiple people on this team can prove that they can be a viable scoring option. If he was missing wide open shots tonight, I can live with that. He usually knocks those down.

Quote: I am not the least bit worried about JJ. I don't think the preseason is a big deal for a proven player like him. I can remember so many games last year when JJ started off shooting like crap only to light it up in the second half. If he shoots 3-14 in a real game then i will start worrying. I agree.

Star players tend to cruise during preseason. I think JJ is taking every open shot he has, without worrying about working on other aspects of his game. Even tonight, he takes 14 total shots, but 9 of them are threes. Even that kind of percentage of threes taken, isn't like JJ. But if he hits just two of those threes, it makes him 4 - 9 from three point range, and 5 - 14 overall. But it gives him 15 points . . 8 rebounds . . and 8 assists, a pretty dang good game, by most accounts. Keep this in mind guys. JJ put up 9 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists . . . in 22 minutes of PT. His shooting percentage is down, only because he's not looking to take the ball to the hole and hit the 7 - 10 foot floater in the lane. Every shot he took tonight, was from 15 feet and out. His main problem, is that he's not hitting that 16 - 21 foot jumpshot with the accuracy we're used to seeing from him.

20 points 10 rebounds 5 assists. "You know how I get down. 20 - 10 and 5" - KG a few years back on his And-1 commercial.

Quote: Quote: Smith in the post with the jump hook Then Smith with the reverse layup with his off hand. Sounds like a nice start for him Off hand ? Jump hook ? Am I hallucinating ! Go Smoove ! Go ! Now THIS is what I like to hear. Scoring around the basket with POST MOVES. Just stay close to that basket Smoove.