TheNorthCydeRises

Pretty much an expected performance by the Hawks defensively. The Wiz are a perimeter team. And when Arenas is going like this, they're hard to stop. Good thing that Arenas usually runs hot and cold. If he goes through a "cold" stretch ( something like 1 - 5 . . 2 - 7 FG ), let's see if the Hawks can climb back into this game. Game notes: - Looks like Bozeman is going to make this team, possibly sending Ivey back into Hawk purgatory . . and maybe Salim too. - Freije has a nice shot for a big man. But I remember him at Vandy. He's like the forward version of Salim. Either he's red hot and unstoppable . . or he's ice cold and can't buy a shot. - JJ seems to be shooting the ball real well this preseason. We may need him to put up 20 shots a game this year. - ZaZa's presence on the court should make a difference in the 2nd half. Down 11, but we'll probably make a run. If Arenas is still hot, we'll still lose.

don't even waste your time on Jay

Al will do well. Anybody thinking that he'll go to Indy and be less of a player than he was here, is fooling themselves. But people have to realize, especially Indy fans, is that Al is only replacing what Peja gave them last season. And contrary to popular belief Diesel, Indy is NOT a strong team. They're a schizophrenic team, just like the majority of the teams in the East. Subtracting Peja but adding Al, isn't necessarily an upgrade for the Pacers. Al can do different things than Peja, but Peja is more of that pure shooter. So to me, it's pretty much a wash between Al and Peja. The question for the Pacers is this: can the young guys like Granger and Daniels be impact players THIS SEASON? Question 2: Can Jermaine take his game to the next level, or is he destined to be a guy that is just solid night in and night out, but doesn't possess the skills to literally take over a game? I think both things have to happen for the Pacers to be a serious playoff contender. If not, they'll be in the hamper with the rest of the mediocre East teams. That team last year was notorious to playing to the level of their competition. I don't think they can afford to do that this year, because the good teams aren't going to let them off the hook this year, like they did last year.

It is NOT important to play JJ tomorrow night. If LeBron isn't playing, I wouldn't play JJ. Give ZaZa the night off again too. Matter of fact, let Smoove or Marvin have the night off too. G - Lue G - Salim F - Marvin or Smoove F - Shelden C - Wright Bench - Ivey - Bozeman - Chalmers( if he's ready to go ) - Batista - Freije ( who may just make this team ) - Dres - Solomon ( if he's ready to go ) As far as the starters go, give either Smoove or Marvin the green light on offense. Let's see what they can do if they were ever in the situation of being "the man". And let Salim do his thing at the 2. If all else fails, just let Lue run the show.

Quote: Quote: Quote: Just checked: Josh Smith average 17.5 points per game during the month of April last season! I need to get this straight. Are we arguing that Smoove should start at Small forward or Power forward? Is it Marvin you want on the bench or shelden? I don't care where Smoove starts (though I think he is more of a small forward then power forward), nor do I care who starts with him. Rather, I think the battle for the other starting position is between Sheldon and Marvin. I just think those games played in April are more indicative of Smoove's ability then these pre-season games, so in that sense his starting spot should be secure for now. If Marvin and Sheldon surpase him during the season fine. Check Smoove's numbers in April 2005. You may be surprised at what you see. Compare those numbers, with what he did in November and December of 2005.

They won't listen to you DJ. If Shelden at the 5 is better than Lo at the 5, then you play Shelden at the 5 sometimes. It's amazing how the Squawkers give Josh Smith a free pass, while Salim takes the brunt of the criticizm. I guess nobody noticed that Smoove had 5 turnovers tonight and shot 2 - 8 from the field. Didn't he have 5 turnovers in the last game? This is the guy that a lot of you are hyping up to be the "next big thing" here. He's good, but his game needs a lot . . A LOT of work. Preseason, from a team standpoint, can't tell you much. But individual performances sure can. What we know from this year's preseason: - JJ is the leader of this team. And he may have to think about scoring 25+ ppg ( or jack up 20+ shots a game ) in order for us to win games. - Marvin looks like he'll be the one that will be the #2 scorer, and might be the best slasher on the team, but has to still learn how to be a scorer. - Smoove's perimeter game has improved, which may not be a good thing for us, seeing that he'll settle for too many jumpers. - Salim can't play the point, and his shot is way off for now .. lol . . but he still has confidence. - Childress is Childress . . the "glue" of the Hawks. - Shelden is a lot stronger than even I thought he was, and that will bode well for this team from a toughness standpoint - Lue is solid, but still can't play defense.

Quote: ...haven't exactly been carrying the load tonight - 95 - 68. It only validates how important JJ is to this team. Marvin and Smoove will be good complimentary pieces to JJ. Maybe by season's end, one of them will step up and be the solid #2 guy. LOL . . this is another reason why we just can't up and get rid of Salim. If Marvin and Smoove are off of their games, you may see the Hawks go with a lineup like this: G - Speedy G - Salim G/F - JJ F - Shelden C - ZaZa That'll give Speedy 2 shooters to pass the ball to on the wings. Salim may thrive in a lineup like that, where all he has to think about is shooting the ball.

Quote: how are you guys listening? NBA Audio League Pass . . . . it's free all PRESEASON. When the regular season starts, you'll have to pay. And for furure reference, if an NBA preseason game isn't played in a NBA arena, the internet play-by-play will not be posted until after the game is over. Sometimes, you may find some exceptions to the rule, if they're playing in a newer arena. But most of the time, if they're playing on a neutral floor, you can't get the net play-by-play in real time. 5:35 to go Hawks 68 Magic 95 ouch.

No answers to this question yet. I wonder why?

As a Cincinnati Bengals fan, I know all too well how these sportswriters can completely overlook your team. Their reasoning is . . . "well you sukked last year, so you're going to suk this year as well." As far as the Hawks go, it's like I told some of you fans this summer. Joe Johnson is the real deal, and he's going to be the guy that takes this team to the next level because he'll improve on what he did last year. I hope most Hawks fans realize this, and not think that Marvin or Smoove are somehow going to become the "go-to" guys on this team. They'll get plenty of opportunities to shine, but this is JOE'S TEAM. NO if's, and's or but's about it. And for all of those people that think Al is going to improve the Pacers by leaps and bounds, they have another thing coming. If Peja was there, then I would agree. But all the Pacers did, was replace what Peja gave them, with what Al will give them. Yes, guys like Danny Granger will improve, but who else on that team is going to take their game to the next level? As good as Jermaine O'Neal is, I don't see him elevating his game to be a 25 ppg . . 12 rebs guy. I think that's what he'll have to do, in order for the Pacers to jump to that upper tier of teams in the East. The East is so full of "average" teams, that you can almost shuffle the deck after the top 5 teams ( Cleveland, Miami, Detroit, New Jersey, and Chicago ( maybe ) ), and come up with the other 3 playoff teams. The Hawks have 4 players in JJ, Marvin, Smoove, and Speedy, who could dramatically improve their game this season. If that happens, we're almost a lock for the playoffs. On the flip side, we don't need a situation in which we're still bad defensively, and we go through tremendous offensive droughts.

But there's a big difference in trying to incorporate him back into his previous role ( talking about Amare ), and hoping and wishing that the Suns will fall off. Kurt Thomas hardly played for them last year. He's at best an adequate center in this league. And a lot of you are forgetting about last year's X-factor . . . Boris Diaw. As much as people don't like to see him prosper in Phoenix, it's not out of the question to see Diaw actually RAISE his level of play this year, and become even more of an offensive weapon for that team. He's the point forward/center on that team, and that alone takes some of the pressure off of Nash. I made the mistake last year of saying that Phoenix would fall off without Amare. I won't make that same mistake this year. Question: If Phoenix is due to fall off, who in the West is honestly better than them . . or are on the rise to take their place?

You guys have to remember that this is the same magazine that picked the MIAMI DOLPHINS to win the Super Bowl. SI is hardly ever right on any of their predictions. I haven't even seen the magazine, but they probably even have the same 8 teams in the East making the playoffs. Or they'll have some outlandish prediction, and have a team like the Knicks or the 76ers winning their division, in order to sell mags in the NYC or Philly area.

Defense is going to make or break this team, as far as making the playoffs go. If we become even an average defensive team, that may be enough to get us the #7 or #8 seed. We need Speedy to at least stay in front of PGs in this league and force them to shoot jumpers or tougher shots over him. On the inside, we really need some guys to come up with big stops or key rebounds in the 4th quarter. Everything we've done this offseason has gone to address those two key issues. If we can hold opponents to 44% - 45% FG . . . and win the rebound battle on a nightly basis, we should be able to get in.

That's wishful thinking though. You could say that about every team that has a superstar guard.

Quote: Quote: Isn't a point-counterpoint article supposed to have two distinctly different opinions? After reading that article, I feel like I am less informed about the Hawks than before. Another absolutely horrible article by RealGM, not a big surprise. LOL . . I agree. And I think the point made about Solomon Jones was idiotic at best. This is a team that still doesn't have a true center and has only 3 serviceable big men . . ( and no, I'm not counting Batista ). So adding a young big man to the team who can play spot defense, is an added bonus to the squad.

GSU, you should know better when it comes to the Suns. They have the perfect offensive system. And that system almost guarantees that they'll win 45+ games a year. That team isn't going down in flames if Amare isn't up to par. They pretty much proved that last year.

Quote: you saw the new hawks.com intro too right? very nice! A lot of NBA teams have updated the look of their team website just in the past week or two. NBA.com definitely looks a lot cleaner and is much easier to navigate through.

LOL . . . who is "we"? I haven't had confidence in Darko since Day 1. That's not to say that he won't turn out to be a decent ballplayer, because he may turn the corner . . . someday. But it's like I told the guy hyping up Saer Sene. Most big man projects turn out to be way less than expected. If they're not showing signs right out the gate that they have talent that can be molded into big time talent, then they'll probably never live up to the hype. As far as ZaZa goes, the main issue with him is defense and strength. As an offensive player, ZaZa is pretty good for a PF/C that doesn't use his strength or great athletic ability to produce results. No one can honestly say that they knew that ZaZa was going to be this good with us. But ZaZa, in his benchwarming days in Milwaukee, did at least give a sign that he had some game offensively. But it's ZaZa's hustle that makes him the player that he is today.

I agree with that Howard statement. The kid should solely concentrate on developing a 15 - 18 foot jumper and just one "go-to" post move next offseason. If he can add that to his arsenal, the sky is the limit for him.

The man tried to tell all of his detractors that he could knock down the 18 foot jumper. But the fans didn't believe him. He is showing that he can knock down that shot when open. He's a much better offensive player than Ben Wallace, but not nearly the defensive force that Ben is. I said before the season that he could average 10 ppg and 7 rebs this season. I'll stick with those numbers.

LOL @ the board. Emotions about this team swing with every win or loss. Good win by the guys tonight.

Eddie House's numbers last year: 9.8 ppg 1.6 rebs 1.8 asst 0.9 turnovers 42% FG 39% 3FG 81% FT Salim's numbers last year: 9.7 ppg 1.9 rebs 1.2 asst 1.3 turnovers 42% FG 38% 3FG 90% FT Translation: Salim = House

Walter is incredible. He's like a guy that knows that a Yugo is a terrible car . . . but defends it to the death because he made the decision to buy one. Yugo = great gas mileage . . . nothing else Sene = shot blocker . . nothing else And to think that I was actually going to start a thread hyping up Sene and his 2 blocks in 7 minutes of garbage time. The opening post would've went something like this. Thread title: Sene is a BEAST !! Opening post: "That Sene . . boy can he block shots. 2 blocks in 7 minutes? That means that he can block almost 14 shots in a game. He'd be a DOMINANT FORCE out on the court. Uh oh . . . he also picked up 4 fouls in 7 minutes. That means that he'd only get to play 10 minutes, before fouling out. Oh well."

First off, I made a mistake on the season I was talking about. It was the 2004 - 05 season, not the 03 - 04 season. Second, I said that Lue played pretty well AFTER the Antoine Walker trade. His play didn't translate into wins, but he did put up some good numbers playing PG. Walker was traded at the deadline, which is around mid-February. Take a look at Lue's numbers from about the end of February, until the end of the season. 181 assists in 31 games. Which is right at 5.84 assists a game. In that stretch, he had a 10, an 11, and a 14 assist game. http://basketballreference.com/players/pla...4&ilkid=LUETY01

That could very well be the reason. Anybody who plays basketball on a regular basis, knows that different types of balls can affect your shot and how you handle the ball. Most people who play b-ball, loves the old NBA ball. I can't comment on the new one, because it's not in the stores yet. When it comes out, I'll definitely have to get one. Anybody ever played with one of those outdoor basketballs? You know, the brown ones with absolutely NO GRIP to it? How about those indoor/outdoor b-balls, that are super slick when your hands get wet? Or how about the infamous rubber ball that sticks to your hands like glue, but might have TOO MUCH grip to it? The ball could very well be affecting their shots. That means that it'll take some time for them to get used to it. Eventually, they will. The size of your hands could impact how you handle that new ball too. Shaq's non-free throw shooting self, has decided to experiment with a one-handed push shot to shoot FTs. We all know that he spoke out big time about the new ball. People may not put a lot of stock in what Shaq says about the new ball. But when a guy like Steve Nash speaks out about it too, then there may be a problem with that ball. But like I've been saying with Salim. He's just in a shooting slump right now. He'll eventually snap out of it. But if the ball is the problem, it might take a little longer for him to be back to his old self.