TheNorthCydeRises

LOL . . you were saying?

Marvin must've heard me. And he's definitely looking for his offense now. Just keep driving.

LOL . . this team loves shooting jumpers. Will it kill one of these guys to take the ball to the hole? (( shaking my head )) This is how you let teams right back into the game. Denver down 4 now.

1st half grades: Offense: A+ Defense: B Coaching: A- Effort: A Things I want to see in the 3rd quarter: - a little more offensive aggressiveness out of Marvin and/or Speedy to see if they can draw that quick 4th foul on J.R. Smith or on Dre Miller. In other words . . TAKE THE BALL TO THE HOLE!! - Smoove to play the same way he did in the 1st half. Dang near perfection - Keep knocking down open shots. ( Lue and Salim ) 1st team to 95 will win, even if they eventually score over that number.

oops . . wrong thread

Quote: Quote: Not Craig. Nice airball to start the game. you know for some reason when you said that I thought you were making a "Friday" reference One of my favorite movies. (( yelling )) "Craig! . . . CRAIG!! . . Is you high?"

Quote: Im sorry folks....but we can never get rid of Smoove... LOL . . I agree. (( watching him miss 2 of 3 free throws )) (( sigh ))

Totally different looking team than the one we saw in Sacramento on Sunday night. Only one thing concerns me. Denver is shooting 56% right now, but is turning the ball over a lot. We're shooting 55%, and only have 5 turnovers . . which is absolutely incredible for the Hawks. Can we keep up this pace in the 2nd half?

LOL @ Salim. He got 6 of the quickest points in history. (( standing ovation ))

Notable NBA players who weren't "rah-rah" guys, or vocal leaders. - Doc Rivers: A "leader by example" in the true sense of the word, that didn't have to resort to dramatics to lead his team to victory. He made sure his teammates were in the right places, but you didn't see Doc bumping chests with people after a score or a big play, just to fire somebody up. - John Stockton: Cut in the same mold as Doc. All he did, was his job, and sought no special recognition for it. - Hakeem Olajuwon: The Dream was the most dominant force in the middle from the late 80s to the mid 90s. Rah-rah guy? Vocal or Emotional leader? Hardly. Those are just 3 guys. You can find many more throughout the history of the league that had guys that were stars, but weren't vocal leaders or showmen. There's nothing wrong with JJ's game. And anyway, the vocal leader of a team doesn't necessarily have to be your best player. For us, it's Ty Lue. And there's nothing wrong with him being the vocal and emotional leader . . . as long as he produces when called upon.

I agree. I'm not worried about that game at all. Bad shooting on our part, and bad defensive matchups were the key to the Laker victory. It'll be nice to end this road trip with a win at Sac, but it's not the end of the world if we lost that game either.

DJ . . I agree with that. And further, he'd made life for Marucie Evans more difficult as well. Chill's versatility would've came in very handy last night. I have to disagree with Diesel when he says to put this loss on Woody. This was just a bad matchup all around for the Hawks. - Shelden couldn't guard Luke - Lue, Salim, or Speedy couldn't guard Maurice when they happened to get matched up against him - ZaZa couldn't guard Kwame No amount of coaching can do anything to change what happened last night. The Hawks would've either had to shoot a high percentage from the field, or, try to get some of their key people in foul trouble. The most impressive thing was how Odom played. He was perfectly willing to let Luke and Maurice exploit their mismatches, instead of trying to get his own numbers. If Odom would've constantly tried to take Smoove off the dribble, that may have led to a less efficient Laker offense. Big Chief Triangle coached a wonderful game last night. You have to give him props, instead of taking the easy way out, and placing the blame on Woody.

The Sixers play HORRIBLE team defense. That's why they don't win games. Webber might as well be a Rocky statue out on the floor, and Sammy is a very overrated center. Thank God that we didn't sign that kid. When you look at some of the players that AI had to play with, you just have to laugh. Most playoff teams have 2 very good players on their team. AI has maybe had that twice in his career. And if you don't have another very good player on your team, you better have 6 - 7 good players that won't kill you on either end of the court. The Sixers these days might have 2 good players outside of Iverson. Iggy and Rodney Carney ( when he learns the NBA game ).

I mean, I don't think that acquiring AI makes us a championship caliber team either. But it does make us a better one. But the way you sound, bringing in AI is equivalent to signing Satan to run the point for ATL. It's just funny to see how against you are against this, that's all.

So you're more against losing Smoove, and what he brings to the defense, than acquiring AI, and what he brings to the offense? If you're not, that what it's sounding like. So what if Marvin was the guy being traded, and not Smoove? Would your opinion change then?

Just curious ex. Since you haven't replied to any of my post, how many games do you think the Hawks could win, if we acquired AI? And give your reasoning behind it. Just curious to where your mind is at on this issue.

Quote: Quote: This topic is moot anyway. To get Iverson, we'd have to trade JJ . . because we don't have enough big money players to make the deal work anyway. And the deal may instantly put us in luxury tax land, a place we don't want to be anyway. And even if we could do the deal with that included Speedy, ZaZa, Marvin, and Lorenzen ( contracts equal about 18 million ) that would severly depleat our bench, especially on the frontline. But it would give us this lineup. You were motoring along so well until here. The Hawks don't have to send out the full $18M of Iverson's salary, only $11M or so because they are under the cap. Speedy/Wright/Smith/1st should work under the cap, and it would mean the Hawks are right up against the cap, nowhere near the luxury tax. Whoa. Really? Thanks for correcting me. I know a lot about the league, but I'm far from a "capologist". OK . . so with the players you named, this is our squad. G - AI G - JJ F - Childress F - Marvin F - Shelden G - Lue G - Salim G - Bozeman/Ivey F - Solomon C - Batista So basically, we'd need to find a nice shot blocker to make up for Smoove's defense on the interior. Or maybe add another big body to the frontline, just to spell some people. LOL . . . people talk about Iverson, like he's Andre Miller or something. This is a future hall of famer that we're talking about here, no matter how much you dislike his game. One thing about it . . . if we don't make the move, someone else definitely will. The only question from the Sixers would be this. Would they be willing to take a bunch of role players for AI, or would they want a superstar in return?

vdunk . . . if AI was on the Hawks, he wouldn't average 30 ppg. His average would probably drop to around 24 - 25 ppg, with JJ maybe pumping in around 21 - 25 ppg. Historically, guys who are usually labeled as "gunners", usually don't have high quality offensive players around him. At worst, an AI - JJ backcourt would resemble what is in Washington right now, with Arenas ( who takes a ton of bad shots ), and Jamison ( who is a much more efficient scorer than Arenas ). At best, an AI - JJ backcourt would resemble the Run TMC days of Golden St, where Chris Mullin was the sharpshooter ( a player that USA Today compared JJ to in one of their NBA player spotlights back on Monday or Tuesday ) . . . and Tim Hardaway was the do it all scoring PG that could score at will, and still average a very high number of assists. http://databasebasketball.com/teams/teamye...SW&lg=n&yr=1990 With an AI - JJ backcourt, who do you double? And if you try to double both guys, a guy like Josh Childress would be the beneficiary of those double teams, and kill people by knocking down wide open 15 - 18 foot jumpers. Personally, I want to see what this group of Hawks can do. But would I be mad if we pulled the trigger on an AI deal? LOL . . heck no.

LOL @ the thought that Iverson wouldn't fit. There's a lot of things that people forget about Iverson, and why he is the player that he is these days. 1) NO one in the NBA. And I mean NO ONE works harder on the floor to try to get his team victories, than Iverson. 2) Most playoff caliber NBA teams have 2 or 3 high quality players on their team. Now, go back and name the best players that Iverson has ever played with. - a young Jerry Stackhouse, who was a good player when he stepped into the league. - Derrick Coleman, one of my favorite players from Syracuse, but arguably one of the most disappointing big time prospects to ever suit up in the NBA. That guy only reached 1/2 of his potential as a player. DC had the talent to literally be one of the top 10 - 15 players of his generation. But he's not even in the top 100. - a young Larry Hughes, who was a very erratic player when he played with Iverson. - Toni Kukoc, who was supposed to fill the role as the #2 scorer with the Sixers, but ended up being just a shooter to bring off the bench in his years in Philly. - a young Theo Ratliff, who was a nice young defensive center, before he got hurt. - Aaron McKie, who was the perfect complimentary player to Iverson. He didn't need many shots, but he played great defense. - Dikembe Mutumbo, who was a little past his prime, but still good enough defensively to help Philly go deep into the Playoffs and get to the NBA Finals. - Eric Snow, the good defensive, but average PG of those Larry Brown coached teams in Philly. - Keith Van Horn, another guy brought in to be a solid #2 scorer with Iverson, and played decent in his only year with the Sixers, even though he was a defensive liability. - Big Dog, who we all know and love . . LOL. - A crippled Chirs Webber, who would still be a good compliment to AI, if he shot anywhere near his career average. But the guy can't even make 40% of this shots these days. - Iggy, a nice athletic player that AI actually plays well with. But as a total player, Iggy isn't much better than Josh Childress . . . if he's any better than him at all. So when people call Iverson a "cancer" or say that he doesn't make people around him better, you need to look at who he's playing with first. Iverson is in the same boat as Kevin Garnett and Stephon Marbury. Put some good veteran players around those guys to take the load off of them, and they can flourish, along with their team. AI did it when Mutumbo joined the Sixers. Garnett did it when Cassell and Spreewell joined the Wolves. When you look at who Marbury has played with, he's never played with a great veteran player. He's always played with good young talent, who weren't quite ready to make the jump to being a big time player. But if you keep surrounding these guys with young marginal talent, you can't expect their team to win. And because of that, the star player has to take it upon himself to try to do it all. IF AI came to the Hawks, he'd have NO PROBLEM getting JJ the ball. Why? Because he's NEVER played with a player as talented as JJ. And I don't know what games of the Sixers you guys are watching. But AI is on his way to averaging 6.8 assists or more, for the 4th straight time this season. This may shock some of you, but the ONLY other player that can make that claim . . . is Steve Nash AI has no problem tossing the ball up to Iggy on the fast break. So what do you think he'd do if he had Marvin or Smoove on the fast break with him? An AI - JJ backcourt would be the most feared in the league. It'll be pick your poison. And because JJ is an unselfish player, he'd be able to get Iverson better looks at the basket, instead of the highly forced shots that Iverson always takes. Which means that AI would shoot a higher percentage. Iverson takes all of those tough shots, because he doesn't trust his teammates. But JJ is such a good player, that he'd have no choice but to trust him. This topic is moot anyway. To get Iverson, we'd have to trade JJ . . because we don't have enough big money players to make the deal work anyway. And the deal may instantly put us in luxury tax land, a place we don't want to be anyway. And even if we could do the deal with that included Speedy, ZaZa, Marvin, and Lorenzen ( contracts equal about 18 million ) that would severly depleat our bench, especially on the frontline. But it would give us this lineup. G - AI G - JJ F - Childress F - Smoove F - Shelden Bench G - Lue G - Salim G - Bozeman or Ivey F - Solomon Jones ( I had Freije here at first, but forgot about Solomon ) C - Batista F - Freije Then again . . . that's still a damn good team . . possibly better than what we already have right now. We might have to find a decent backup SF or PF with that squad though. But if AI wants to be traded, the easy deal would be to send him to Minnesota, for Kevin Garnett. Both of those franchises aren't going anywhere fast, so they might as well switch superstars and see if it'll work out.

That was just a great overall win for the Hawks. I had to work late, so I was following the game via my cellphone. At the end of the 3rd quarter, I decided to stop following the game, hoping that the Hawks could at least make it respectable. But I was taping the game the whole time at home. So I watch the first 3 quarters of the game, then watched the 4th, thinking we'd lost by 8 - 10 points or something. LOL . . . that game goes into the 2006 sports archives for me, right alongside UT vs Georgia football game.

Trade Salim ( and fillers ) to Phoenix . . . for Marcus Banks . . . if the Speedy situation gets critical.

LOL. It's funny how some people are blindly loyal to their favorite players. For every 2 good things that Smoove does, he does 3 bad things. And unfortunately for the Hawks, those 3 bad things usually rear its ugly head at the worst times. And I have to agree with the rest of the group. I literally start yelling in the arena or at the TV, when Smoove tries to lead the break by himself, and dang near loses the ball every time. As a former PG, that irritates the hell out of me. But I also blame Lue and/or Speedy for that too. PGs are literally taught from youth league to go get the ball once a big man rebounds it, not fill the lane and let the big man make the ball handling decision. The PGs responsiblity is to be the main ball handler and decision maker on the court. At the very least, Smoove should be looking to get the ball to JJ, because JJ will give it back to him for an easy dunk. I know Woody has made a point in the past for our guys to quickly get the ball down the court, no matter who handles the ball. But it's safe to say that Smoove should NEVER be the one starting the fast break. His first move should be to find where Speedy or Lue is, and immeadiately get them the ball . . . then . . . fill the wing himself. So if we do have a "Lowlight Factory", Smoove is partially himself to blame for it.

LOL . . but he looked pretty good against us in the last meeting with Seattle. It'll be interesting to see how tonight's game will turn out, now that Speedy is starting to regain his form. He missed the last Seattle game, and Luke dropped 20 on us. We'll see if Speedy can limit Luke on offense, and force him into some bad turnovers.

Quote: Quote: If he can't play chess in early regular season can you imagine how badly he'll be outsmarted in the playoffs? I am sort of hoping that we do bad enough in December to get a new coach who is experienced. This team is out of Woody's zone. He has taken them as far as he can. He should become a college coach. When the injured players come back and start dominating the east they'll only cover up Woody's lack of guile. If we need to be at the top we need a top coach. Woody can't ride BK's coattail forever. What are you guys complaining so much about? The team is injured, Everyone up until this point had no beef with Freije. So he gamble with him and lost. He won't do that again. Here is the thing that I can't understand, everything that goes wrong with this young team seems to somehow be related to Woody. Smith ball handling problem and his insistance on going one on one...Somehow Woody manufactured it. Smith's bad shooting and his insistance on lauching 10 threes in a game...Somehow Woody told him to do this. Stoudamire one dementional game and his selfish play...Somehow Woody manufactured that. Shelden's lack of offensive polish...Somehow Woody told him not to work on his offense. Zaza's insistance on putting the ball on the floor in traffic...Somehow Woody told him to keep doing it. The overall lack of playmakers on the team that are healthy last count only Joe and Lue can make plays...Somehow Woody has manufactured that. All of the injuries to speedy, Childress, Marvin, and now Smith were caused by Woody. Lets face reality guy...All of you guys that are screeming now were the same ones predicting 30-35 wins at the beginning of the season without the injuries because you new that this was still a very young team and that they had to learn how to win games. The one thing that suprised everyone was how the defense improved over the summer which elevated everyone's expectations. Young teams still do dumb stuff during crunch time to lose games and teams are smart enough to get the ball out of Joe's and now T. Lue's hand and force someone else like Smith, Shelden, or Zaza to make a play which the cannot do. So please tell me somebody, when the ball is trapped out of Joe's hand and T. Lue's man stays at home, What do you do if you are losing by one with less than a minute to go in the game? Excellent post. No sane Hawks fan was expecting this team to be more than a 32 - 40 win team, even if EVERYONE were healthy. The fact that we're 6 - 8 right now is pretty much what I expected from this team, even though we could easily be 9 - 5 right now. If you told me back in the summer that we wouldn't have Marvin to start the season . . Speedy would break his hand before the preseason and be 50% - 75% to start the year . . and we'd lose Childress for 6 weeks ( which it will be if he's out for another 4 weeks ) . . that we'd be ANYWHERE close to .500, I'd say that you were crazy. People love to blame everything, but the obvious. I guess you have to blame Pat Riley for the horrible start of the Heat as well . . even though they don't have Shaq and didn't have J-Will for about 3 weeks into the season. If by the end of December, the Hawks are 12 - 17 . . 13 - 16 . . Woody would've done a heck of a job with this M*A*S*H unit of a team we have right now. How many of you would've been content with a 13 - 16 record going into January, before the season started? If I were to talk like Dennis Green ( coach of the Arizona Cardinals ) "The Hawks are who we thought they were". So stop acting like we have some juggernaut of a team filled with veterans and guys who know how to play the game. We're a young, schizophrenic team that will drive us crazy all year with their inconsistent play ( both good and bad ). That's who we are. So some of you need to accept that.

LOL . . we'll be OK. I think the obvious adjustment would be to tweak the lineup according to who we play. Portland's starting lineup: G - Jack G - Webster F - Udoka F - Randolph C - Przybilla They like to go big, and they have quite a few big players to insert off the bench. So the Hawks will probably counter with: G - Speedy G - Bozeman F - JJ F - Shelden C - ZaZa With Seattle, they like to go big as well, so you'll probably see a similar lineup. Denver, however, likes to run . . run . . run. So we may be forced to put this squad on the floor. G - Claxton G - Lue F - JJ ( matched against Melo ) F - Shelden ( with the quicker Solomon possibly having to play extended minutes at this spot ) C - ZaZa We still have enough pieces to the puzzle here to mix and match and stay competitive. The guys who have to step up BIG TIME in the next two weeks are: - Salim ( who we probably need to be a 10+ ppg scorer on this road trip, if we want to have a chance at some victories ) - Shelden ( who must control the boards and stay out of foul trouble ) - Speedy ( because we're going to need his quickness and defense more than ever now ) It'll be intersting to see how Woody plays this. We'll either go ultra small, and try to run with people. Or we'll give more time to a guy like Solomon, and hope he is solid enough to defend 2 positions for about 20 minutes a game. Woody likes to use Solomon as a trapper up top, to try to get the ball out of the PGs hands. It'll be interesting to see how he affects games, if we lose Smoove for an extended period of time. The bottom line is this: as long as the East stays sorry, we're still in it.