TheNorthCydeRises

And I'm outside of the ATL area, so I definitely have a sense of how the rest of the country view ATL fans. Here's the thing about the Hawks. We have a very small base of hardcore fans that live and die with this team. The other 10,000 or so, will only show up if there's a big name in town. You're talking about a guy ( me ), who lives in Tennessee, who always used to wear his red Hawks STARTER jacket everywhere. You know . . the jacket with HAWKS written in yellow letters. And back then, the team wasn't terrible. They were making the playoffs, they just weren't great. And people would talk about me like I was supporting the worst team on earth. And whenever they'd see a game on TV, the one thing they ALWAYS SAID was . . . "why is it so quiet in the Omni?" If the Omni "rocked" in the mid-late 80s . . it definitely didn't "rock" in the 90s, even though we were perenially a playoff caliber team. Even during that 40 - 1 home season, the Omni didn't "rock". When you look around the league, we've perenially had one of the WORST home court advantages in the league, from a fan enthusiasm standopint. Of the 4 Hawks games I've been to this year, none of them had the fans getting involved in it, until the very end. And even then, the support was halfhearted at best. I understand the part about people not supporting the team because it's a lousy product. But if you actually ATTEND the game, you shouldn't be there sitting on your hands, when your team needs you to really cheer and possibly give the team some motivation or adrenaline. I remember the cheerleaders at the Toronto game ( the Hawksquawk discounted ticket game ), encouraging the crowd to get on their feet and cheer. Some did. About 3/4ths of the crowd continue to sit though, even though I think we only had a 1 point lead at the time, and we desperately needed a stop. That tells you all you need to know about the majority of ATL sports fans. Not the die hards . . but the ones that come to the game for more of the "night on the town" aspect, rather than for the "I want to cheer for the Hawks" standpoint. ATL is a lot like Miami and LA. It's a lot to do in those cities, and being a passionate sports fan isn't high on the list. Some of you may take offense to that, but all you have to do is go to other cities, and see how their fans support the product. It's sad to say this, but even Memphis have better sports fans than ATL does. That may hurt, but it's the truth.

Quote: Click here Seems to me that as he plays more minutes, his rebounds/points increased... Wright is only pulling down 3.7 rpg right now. Not to mention Crappy defense. But the difference is that Lo Wright, while terrible defensively, isn't a "soft" player either. He's not afraid to mix it up on the inside, and not get bullied by centers. Sometimes, his toughness by battling guys, actually allows other guys like Smoove, Chill, or Marvin to get defensive rebounds. Loren would just get knocked out of the way, and let a decent rebounding big man have his way with him. Loren is very weak, and his lack of strength kills him on the NBA level. I like this site better, because it gives the same stats as basketball-reference.com . . but it also gives you similar players at that particular age or career, to compare that player to. http://www.databasebasketball.com/players/...ilkid=WOODSLO01 Loren is comparable to Dwayne Schinztus. I know all of us in SEC country, who watched the SEC back in the late 80s, remember that guy. Loren is the same size, with the same type of weak game. Thanks, but no thanks to Loren. We're better off playing Solomon.

Quote: Quote: Loren Woods, Austin Toros Loren Woods of the Austin Toros is the D-League Performer of the Week for February 5, 2007. Woods recorded three straight games of 15 or more points and rebounds while leading the Toros to a 3-0 record last week. Austin has currently won seven straight games. Woods scored 16 points with 17 rebounds in 101-84 win over Idaho on Wednesday, 19 points with 17 rebounds in a Friday's 112-107 overtime win over Bakersfield, and wrapped up the week with 19 points and 16 rebounds in an 83-80 win over the Jam on Saturday. For the week, Woods averaged 18.0 points, 16.7 rebounds, and shot .550 (22-of-40) from the field. Since joining the Toros on January 6th, Woods has averaged 13.5 points and 12.5 rebounds in twelve games. A 7-1 center from Arizona, Woods is in his first season in the D-League. The 46th overall pick by Minnesota in the 2001 NBA draft, Woods has played in 208 NBA games over five seasons with the Timberwolves, Toronto Raptors, and Miami Heat. He also shares the NCAA record for blocked shots in a game with 14. How can getting this guy HURT? LOL. Good Lord Diesel. Sometimes, your posts are brilliant. Other times, it seems as if you post stuff, just to be posting it. Loren Woods is one of the softest big men in history. And when I say "soft", I mean as in Shawn Bradley soft. Even Manute Bol was tougher than Loren. And he's not even close to the defensive force that either of those two guys were. If Loren was a feesible commodity for any team, the current team that owns his D-League rights, would call him up and put him on the roster. ( i.e. Sacramento ) This is Loren Woods in the D-League: http://www.nba.com/dleague/playerfile/loren_woods/index.html As bad as the Kings need interior help with the rapid decline of Brad Miller, don't you think that they'd call him up and give the kid spot minutes in the league as a backup center? Loren is just tall . . that's it. I'm like Yeti and the others. You want to play another "big" man in the lineup with the Hawks . . play Solomon. I guarantee you that Solomon would definitely raise some eyebrows in the D-League, with the way he hustles, runs the floor, and can block shots and even score a little on the block. And now that I think about it, that's probably the reason why BK doesn't let Solomon play in the D-League. That, and the fact that he's the next feesible option at the 5, next to ZaZa and Lorenzen. Loren is garbage. We don't need anymore garbage on this team.

Quote: Good, I hope you are right, maybe Woodhead is learning something after all. I did not see the game. lol ... i guess you haven't seen the season either. you talk as if lue has been healthy and available to in all season. the losing we incurred in december directly coincides with lue being out of the lineup. this team is finally somewhat healthy and it shows up in games like these

Quote: WOAH!! I think JJ's definitely an all star, but Vince is no overrated chucker, and he has a far better all around game than back in his non-stop-dunking days. He shot over 50% from the field and 50% from 3 point range today, along with 7 boards and 8 assists, 2 blocks and a steal. Those are far from chucker numbers. Quote: If those guys are so great why aren't the Nets better? Agreed to a point, but they weren't exactly deep coming into the year beyond the starting 5, and Kristic and Jefferson have missed a bunch of time. They aren't terrible, they're barely out of the 8th spot. Vince and Kidd get a extra push from previous performance and how recognizable they are to the average fun, but they've earned that. It's a fan's game, I wish it were chosen by the players and coaches, but it's not. There are definitely guys who made the all star game that shouldn't have, I don't think Kidd and Carter are among them. LOL @ Sheed. THANK YOU for stopping this lie about Vince, before it snowballed out of control on this board. Vince dang near had a triple-double today, and had 21 of his 27 points after halftime. LOL . . what are you guys watching to even make a comment about Vince like that? I mean, complain about Rip Hamilton or Caron Butler being All-Stars over JJ. But Vince? LMAO !! Vince is a no-brainer as an All-Star. Is he better than JJ? Well, that's definitely debateable. It might be scary to see what JJ could do, if he had a PG like Kidd making life easy for him. But Vince is a baller. A "chucker" is Eddie House.

The Hawks picked up 4 very quick fouls in that 4th quarter, that helped Jersey get back in that game. ZaZa had 2, Speedy and Shelden 1. And they got 3 consecutive offensive rebounds on a possession when they cut the lead to 3. Get one of those rebounds, and we have a chance to push the lead right back to 7. LOL . . things like that are beyond the coach's control. You have to put mistakes like that on the players. And since your starters have to rest, you have to trust that your bench can come in and play decent basketball, without making bonehead mistakes.

Quote: They showed Woody a few times today and he looked like he didn't have a clue. (like he alwasy does) Like he knew he was standing there in his underware and he hoped no one would find out. He does not exude confidence and this has to be very tough on our young guys. Think we're stuck with him, especially after wins like today. Doc . . you're a knowledgeable fan. But if you acutally agree that Woody did a bad job coaching today, you either weren't paying attention, or you'll never give Woody credit for anything . . or . . as most of you would call Woody . . an IDIOT. But I don't think you're an idiot, so like with Jerry, I'll just say that you're just not paying attention. Woody pretty much successfully countered everything that Jersey did today, outside of the 4th quarter run they made when they had the 2 PGs in the game. IF Smoove had a decent game early on, we may win by 10, instead of having to go to OT to pull out the win.

Quote: Early in the 3rd quarter, Lue was hobbling and NJ came from behind to take a 6 points lead. Thats when Lue was taken out and Chillz came in. What happened after that was bascally total domination. We were blowing them out of the building. There bread and butter pick and roll was useless. Our height and quickness bothered them feel old. It was beautiful to watch. When Speedy came in, we became aweful again. Michel Williams looked like a future all star and I don't know how we could keep the game close. Speedy stunk it up and we went back to play 4 on 5, like we did against the Raptors. Why didn't we go back to our best 4 players playing together? We won today despite many bad coaching decisions. Neither Speedy's making that one shot out of six nor his steal after many bad defensive plays, were sufficient reason to justify this decision. Jerry, it's a reason why none of the Squawkers haven't responded in your favor to this thread, even though it has 43 views. They haven't responded because THIS IS A FLAT OUT LIE !!!! And if by the time I post this, I hope no one agrees with you . . because I'm about to make you and them out to be LIARS. Or at the very least, a guy who just didn't pay attention to exactly went on in that game. LIAR is a strong word to call somebody. So I'll just say that you weren't paying attention. When Speedy came into the game with a little over 2 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter, the Hawks were up 59 - 58 . . with ZaZa about to make one more FT to make it 60 - 58 Hawks. Yes, Chill was in, but Marvin went out, mainly because he was having a little trouble guarding Vince Carter. Marvin did a good job of preventing him to drive, but Vince is a shooter who doesn't mind shooting long jumpers . . and he was doing just that with the room that Marvin was giving him. Chill played him a little better that game, so Woody inserts Speedy at the point, and Chill drew the assignment on Carter. The Hawks then go on a 7 - 2 run to go up 7 to end the 3rd period. This right here dispells everything you said about Woody inserting Speedy in the game. But wait, there's more !!! JJ hits 2 straight jumpers to start the 4th, to push the lead to 9. Let me repeat that. JJ hit 2 jumpers, one of which Speedy assisted on, to push the lead to 9. This is with the lineup of: G - Speedy G - JJ F - Chill F - Shelden C - ZaZa After Jersey hits 2 more free throws to cut the lead to 7, Speedy drives and kicks out to a wide open JJ at the top of the arc, that would've pushed the lead to 10, if JJ knocks down the jumper. If JJ hits that, Jersey probably calls timeout, and the Hawks may have a good chance to blow this game out. Jerry, the reason why Jersey came back in that game in the 4th, had little to do with Speedy, but a lot to do with Lawrence Frank making the decision to play both Jason Kidd and Marcus Williams ( his 2 PGs ), in the game at the same time. Every missed shot or loose ball the Hawks had early in that quarter, immeadiately turned into a fast break opportunity for Jersey, because both Kidd and Williams were making a point to increase the tempo of the game. Woody sees this, and gets Smoove back in the game, taking Shelden out ( who was actually playing well, but a little too slow to play at the increased pace that Jersey was forcing ). Woody had to get a little more athletic and quicker team on the floor, to counter what Jersey was doing. But Woody had to have Speedy in the game, because with 2 PGs, Jersey could easily dictate the tempo. You can't have JJ chasing Marcus . . and Chill chasing Kidd on defense. That would've been defensive suicide for the Hawks. And because Speedy had to be in the game, Marvin sat a good chunk of that 4th quarter on the bench, mainly because Chill was playing just a little better than him. In actuality Jerry, this was probably one of Woody's best coached games of the year, when you look at all of the adjustments he made all game. The timeouts to call set plays or stop Jersey momentum and the player moves he made, made all the difference today. That . . and JJ's 37 points. He inserts Marvin on offense near the end of regulation, which results in SPEEDY finding Marvin, who hits a 22 footer to put us up by 2. Then Woody inserts Lue for Claxton, on offense, to give the Hawks a 2nd option to shoot the ball or shoot FTs down the stretch in OT. He hits 2 FTs the possession before Carter hits the 3 to tie the game. Then he puts Lue back in, after taking him out for Claxton's defense, to give the Hawks that same option on the last possession. They deny JJ the ball . . Lue gets it . . makes a nice move to free himself . . and the rest is history. Jerry, this is why I refuse to be on the "Woody is always a horrible coach" bandwagon that this board is constantly on. I'm surprised that the usual Woody bashers didn't just go right ahead and agree with what you were saying, instead of actually looking at the game, and realizing that we acutally extended the lead with Speedy in the game. He isn't a great coach, but he's no idiot either. He's a coach that understands what to do in a game. He may not always do the right thing, but his decisions don't always kill this team either. And that "blowout" you talk about with JC + JJ + MW + JS in the game? They did actually get us back in the game. But Woody putting Speedy in, actually extended the lead to a point of almost no return for Jersey. Woody definitely gets an A, for today, as a coach.

Quote: Quote: Quote: All we needed was Josh Smith. really? them why we're we down by 17 at the half, with smoove playing the majority of the 2nd quarter and jj on the bench with 3 fouls? woody sat smoove at the exact same point in the 3rd quarter, and we cut into the lead. Your favorite coach; also had Smoove on the bench for a long period time. That's when they went on their run with Shelden in the game doing nothing... LOL @ my favorite coach. He's not my favorite. I just don't place blame on him everytime the Hawks lose. Meanwhile, none of you give him credit when the Hawks win. You can't have it either/or. If he's the reason why we lose, he has to be at least part of the reason why we win games. LOL . . and it's Woodson's idea to put Smoove at the 4, where he's playing great. So Woody has to get some of the credit for Smoove's success as of late, right? Or does that all go to Smoove as well. For the record . . Woody had Smoove on the bench for about 8 minutes in that stretch . . from about the 5:50 in the 1st . . to about 10:30 in the 2nd. If you want to argue that it was too long for Smoove to sit . . fine . . I can agree with that. Smoove should've went back in the game when JJ picked up that 2nd foul with about a minute to go in the 1st. But the fact remains that the Hawks only lost 4 points while Smoove was out that entire time. Four. It was the absence of JJ in that 2nd quarter, that saw the game get out of hand. Marvin and Chill tried to keep it close, but we needed JJ as well. And Smoove only had 2 FTs and a jumper in that 2nd quarter. Woody definitely should've gotten him back in the game sooner. But the reason why we lost was . . . - JJ not being able to play much in that 1st half - Speedy and Lue going 2 - 15 FG and only dishing out 3 assists - And we got totally lost at times on the defensive end, trying to guard Toronto's shooters. And your boy Smoove was one of the main people not rotating properly to contest those jumpers or stop penetration, along with Chill and Marvin. Childress especially killed us with his lack of defensive awareness last night. Sometimes, if you want to give players praise, you also have to put blame on them as well. That's all I'm saying. LOL . . Shelden had very little to do with that loss last night.

Quote: I think you are being nice with the next to last option. We need to have a discussion on what "competing hard" is. I think if you come out flat and not ready, then chop a lead late, you haven't really competed hard. You were in a fog for a large chunk of the game. Why are so many people blind to this? Execution is part of playing hard. Mental awareness is part of competing. We lose because we DON'T play hard enough. Most young players in ALL SPORTS have mental breakdowns. And it has nothing to do with competing or playing hard. It has everything to do with their concentration and their experience in certain situations. If that was the case, every young QB that enters the NFL, wouldn't look lost as hell. As good as Vince Young looked at times last year, he looked just as bad. Same goes for Matt Leinart. Same goes for Jay Cutler. That's a mark of a young player. Most of your elite teams in the NBA, have very few 3 years and under players on the roster making major contributions. Almost all of them consist of veteran players making huge contributions. There's a reason for that. EXPERIENCE.

Troy . . why not post this after the Golden St win? Or after the Orlando win? Things were exactly the same then, as they were last night. We were 4 games behind Jersey for the 8th spot . . but the season wasn't "over" in your eyes then. But as soon as the Hawks lose a game, "doom and gloomers" like yourself always come to the surface, like a goldfish trying to eat that fish food at the top of the bowl. You need to settle down and just watch this team without so much emotion. Every win doesn't mean that we're bound for the playoffs . . and every loss doesn't mean that we're on the road to destruction. Relax. A win over Jersey will feel much better tomorrow afternoon.

Quote: It is funny that people can't see what is right in front of them. It takes stars to win in this league and we are seeing two stars emerging on the Hawks right now, JJ and Smith. JJ should be an All-Star and he probably will be a multiple All-Star. Just ask the Raps fans how they felt last night, or the Orlando fans when JJ lit them up for 73 pts in two game. Josh Smith is turning into a star too. Last night he had 26/12 and he is 5th in the league in blocks. No way could i have seen that coming in November when he was jacking up 3s and generally playing with his head up his ass. Now he is looking to attack the rim, he is posting up, shooting his j from closer in. The results speak for themselves. Last year many of us felt that Smith's future was at the 4 and now he is proving it. Some people criticize JJ for being quiet and not showing emotion, and that is another thing Smith brings. He may wind up being the vocal, emotional leader on the team. Of course you also need good players around your stars and right now the pg and especially the center position absolutely suck, which kills the Hawks record. But Childress has shown that he can be a very effective role player. He goes to the basket and gets the easy points that a team needs, plus you can't leave him open from deep. Marvin is still a work in progress but he has been hitting his J lately and he has also been showing new moves. He has been posting up and hitting a few jump hooks. Last night i saw him make the first pullup jumper off the dribble i have ever seen from him. Usually when he shoots off the dribble he doesn't go straight up. He usually stops, gathers himself, and then goes up which gives the defense more time to react. Last night he drove to his right and pulled up quickly for a jumper like most good players do and swished it. Yes there is a lot of dead wood on this team that needs to be cleared off. Good pieces need to be added in the right places. But i see the beginning of a contending team in spite of BK's many mistakes. His summer fa have basically bombed. Salim is a waste. Shelden has been very underwhelming. Etc. But still when i see guys turning into big time players right in front of me it makes it a little easier to accept the record. This season isn't just about wins and losses. It is also about young guys turning their potential into production and we are seeing that happen right now. Good post Ex. The problem with about 75% of this board, is that they see with their eyes, but their brain doesn't comprehend what they're actually seeing. So if something positive happens, they tend to overreact. And if something negative happens, they tend to overreact. There's no middle ground with posters like that. That game got out of hand as soon as JJ picked up that 2nd foul, and really got out of hand when he quickly picked up foul #3 in the 2nd quarter, when we were still in relative striking distance. When that happens, I don't expect us to win games like that. And I can't overreact and act like the world has ended, when it does happen. That's just part of basketball. Excellent point you made about Marvin and the pull up jumper he made last night. I thought the very same thing you did, when he made that move and shot. It immeadiately got listed in my game notes about Marvin. People knew this was a long term deal with this team, yet, they want them to be East contenders right away. That'll only happen when Smoove, Chill, and Marvin play consistently well on a nightly basis. It'll also help if our PGs don't shoot 2 - 15 FG, like they did last night. And they only dished out 3 assists. That's absolutely unacceptable from those guys. If they're going to play like that, we might as well start Chill at the point. But even I realize that Speedy and Lue aren't going to play that bad on a nightly basis.

Lay off of Craig. All he needs is for Debo to hit him in the mouth one time, then Craig will come back fighting and he'll be OK the rest of the season.

Quote: I would assume he was trying to say sufficiently and had a seizure halfway through typing the word. LOL. That's what happens when you view this board over your cellphone, and have exactly 4 minutes to type what you want to say . . plus keep it under 512 characters. LOL . . I'm pushing buttons as fast as I can, before my connection cuts off. Once that happens, I have to re-log in, and start the process all over. Translation: I either need a Treo or a Crackberry.

Quote: All we needed was Josh Smith. really? them why we're we down by 17 at the half, with smoove playing the majority of the 2nd quarter and jj on the bench with 3 fouls? woody sat smoove at the exact same point in the 3rd quarter, and we cut into the lead.

actually, we lost because our pgs shot 2 - 15 from the field. lead was 6 when smoove went out. lead was 10 when he got back in. woody should've put him back go when jj got his 2nd foul. but jj sitting most of the 1st half, it may not have mattered.

solo should definitely be in d-league if he isn't going to see 10 minutes a game. but we as fans don't see behind the scenes. if lo and zaza outplay him in practice, them he shouldn't play in the game. i say play the kid anyway. he is only 230 lbs though, and would have the same problem with big men that smoove has guarding them. i'd put solo in whenever the 2nd team went to zone, and let him roam the middle. if ivey can see spot minutes at the point, surely solo can get some spot minutes.

i chose option 3. the team is in better shape than it was 4 years ago. woody does mistakes, but also does things right. and smoove and chill have suffiky improved under his watch.

troy, miami hasn't set the world no fire either. what you fail to realize, is that this entire conference is schizophrenic. if miami gets hot, they'll knock someone else down. if we can play 5000 ball this month, we'll still be in the mix.

lol troy. jersey lost too. that means we lost no ground tonight. if we can take case me jersey in the next 2 games, we're 2 games from the 8 spot.

Quote: Quote: Walter says tanking is the way to the future. I say.. Bet on whoever has the worse record getting the #1 pick. MY BET IS that it doesn't happen. If Walter is all about tanking, why doesn't he take that bet?? Walter has not been all about the first pick in his posts, though. He has been about the benefit of the Hawks getting any pick 1-3. What you should be betting on is the whether the third worst team (which looks to be about the bets outcome for tanking at this point) will get a top 3 pick. But any pick doesn't help us in our need areas. We can't play Durant at center, unless the decision is to go small, and play Smoove at center and Durant at PF. Walter's argument has mainly revolved around getting Oden here. Oden is the immeadiate impact player in the middle. Durant may be good right out the gate, but he won't impact this team from an offensive and defensive standpoint, like Oden will. And when you talk about a guy like Noah, he' strictly a defensive pickup, who may or may not be able to hold his own at center. So his argument isn't just about gettting a top 3 pick. It's about getting Oden. It's always been about getting that dominant center . . not a dominant PF or a great scoring SF. So to get Oden, you have to be in the catbird seat at #1. It's always been mainly about Oden in his eyes. The only team that might even think about passing on Oden, is Charlotte. They could go with Durant at #1, giving them a Okafor, Durant, Wallace frontcourt, with Morrison being the hired gun off the bench. But even they would be crazy to pass up on a "mini twin tower" look with Oden and Okafor. By the way, they're not thinking about tanking either. They also went 8 - 7 for the month of January.

If the Knicks don't make the playoffs, expect the 1st round pick that they gave the Bulls, to somehow jump into that #1 or #2 position in the lottery. What is better for the league? Greg Oden or Durant in Chicago? Or Greg Oden or Durant in a place like Atlanta, Charlotte, or in Philly without AI? I've always been suspicious about the draft lottery and the process they use anyway, because you don't see the drawing of the ping pong balls live. They always preface the draft lottery selection show by saying that some reputable accounting firm oversaw the precedings, and that everything was secure. It's a reason why the Knicks got Pat Ewing. Speaking of that . . here's a question: Our pick is top 3 protected. Now is that top 3 protected AFTER the lottery positions are picked, or top 3 protected according to how we finish in the standings? For example . . would Phoenix still get our pick, if we had the 2nd worst record in the league, but somehow ended up having 2 teams jump ahead of us in the lottery, thus, making us pick 4th? Conversely . . what if the Hawks finish in the 11th position . . but get extremely lucky in the lottery and obtain a #1 or #2 pick once the selection order is announced. Do we keep the pick, because it's in the top 3, or does Phoenix get it?

Quote: Quote: The Hawks just have to take this one game at a time . . and so does the fan base. I have always looked at it that way. I don't get all worked up about the schedule since it always ends up being the same every year. We are healthy and playing well so I want to see them play against tough opponents to see how they (especially Marvin and Smith) hold up. I don't either. I know people on this board say that this or that game is a MUST win. LOL . . fact is, we don't know what Hawks team is going to show up, so even "sure" wins can turn into losses . . and "sure" losses can turn into wins. I mean, even during this stretch, I'd never say that we'd be 5 - 4 . . but have losses to Charlotte twice, and Philly. A loss Friday vs the Raptors isn't the end of the world, although you'll see the "Fire Woody" and "Hawks need to tanK" posts return. And a Friday win vs the Raptors doesn't mean that we're in the playoffs either. One game at a time . . sweet Jesus . . that's all I'm asking from you . . LOL.

And he kept him in the starting lineup, something that even I was questioning. I wanted Marvin to still get his minutes, but come off the bench and get them. That's why I'm not dogging Woody every chance I get, like other posters on this board. The guy obviously knows what he's doing. He just needs his young players to mature more. But now, Marvin is pretty much a money shooter, shooting almost 57% FG in the past 7 games. And the vast majority of those shots are coming off 15 - 21 foot jumpers. Marvin has been compared to Worthy and T-Mac most often on this board . . along with Tim Thomas. But with the way he's shooting the ball lately, the guys he's reminding me of lately . . are Alex English and Glen Rice. For those of us old enough to remember Alex in Denver, we know that he was one of the purest shooters in the game. He wasn't a guy that worried about taking a lot of 3's to beat you. He'd just beat you with that solid mid-range jumper. If he caught it, and was in good position to shoot it, the jumper was automatic. For you youngsters, this is Alex English. http://databasebasketball.com/players/play...ilkid=ENGLIAL01 Size wise, Marvin may be more comparable to Glen Rice, although Marvin is bigger. But since most of our college posters probably don't know much about English, they probably do know about Rice. I'm just glad to see Marvin playing within himself these days, and not worrying about forcing the action and taking it to the hole . . or trying to be a 3 point marksman. He's taking what the defense is giving him, and killing people with that 20 footer.

. . and in a decent position to really make a move on that #8 seed. Right now, the target is definitely NEW JERSEY. We're 4 games behind them for the #8 spot. Miami is 2.5 games ahead. The Knicks are 1 game ahead. Jersey's next 4 games: @ Orlando vs Atlanta @ Philly @ Atlanta Interesting stretch here. On paper, Jersey is probably better than Orlando, Atlanta, and Philly. And they're probably looking at these stretch of games as an opportunity to distance themselves from the pack, and move back ahead of Toronto for the Atlantic lead. If we are destined to go 7 - 6 in this 13 game stretch before the west coast trip, the 2 games I'd obviously want, are the Jersey games. I think, at worst, the Nets go 1 - 3 in their next 4 . . while at best, we go 3 - 1. If that happens, the Nets will be 23 - 27 . . while the Hawks will be 20 - 28. ******** Although our February schedule is tough, it's also a tough road for teams ahead of us like Miami, Orlando and Milwaukee as well. Orlando and Milwaukee are especially in danger of taking a serious hit in February. And Miami has to play the Texas teams, with the Heat playing Cleveland 3 times that month. Jersey may be able to post a .500 or better record in February, but their March schedule is absolutely brutal, with them having to play the Texas teams on the road, during a grueling 6 game road trip. But the Knicks, of all teams, may set themselves up, if they take care of business in February. Other than road games @ Utah and at the Lakers, every other game that month are definitely winnable games for them. The only consolation about our schedule, is that we get Houston, San Antonio, and Phoenix at home . . 3 games that would almost be automatic losses on the road. At home, with a big crowd, maybe the Hawks can squeak out a win or two amongst those 3 teams. But right now, it's in our best interest to take care of business this week and next . . and possibly steal one or two of those west coast games ( Golden St and Clippers ). The Hawks just have to take this one game at a time . . and so does the fan base. But I'd like to see this team win 3 of their next 4, so that they can be at that 20 - 28 mark by the time they get on the plane and go to Phoenix. At worst, they need to play .500 ball this month, to make it interesting. But once they get over that 10 games under .500 mark, it's in our best interest that we don't dip below that again. Put the pressure on these other teams and see if they crack.