TheNorthCydeRises

Lavar's pros outweigh his cons. He's going to be very entertaining personality once Lonzo starts balling. He's going to make the Brookie Monster look like a player they should keep after next year, instead of let go.

Lurker rolling over in his/her grave.

REMEMBER

Lopez is an expiring contract. It'll free up a ton of money once he falls off the books.

When I go to the CIAA Basketball Tournament in Charlotte, I refuse to try to drive downtown and battle that traffic. It's so much easier ( and cheaper ) to just drive south of downtown, park at one of the park and ride stations, and take the train right into downtown. If I lived in Atlanta, especially north of downtown, using MARTA would be the only way I'd go to the game.

When the train literally takes you right to the arena, it's hard to say that getting to the arena is "impossible".

Hint . . . .

Ask Lurker if someone had a .181 WS/48 . . Would that be considered "consequential"? BTW . . . Dennis in the playoffs . . . ( .226 WS/48 )

It's both. If we're rolling with a group of Dennis - Paul - PG13 - Dwight . . and have the kids supplementing that group, I'm definitely down with seeing that for at least one year. A pretty good defensive team potentially turns into a great defensive team that may have what it takes to battle the Cavs in a playoff series. If it works, that's great, and maybe he stays in Atlanta for a while. If it doesn't, George leaves and we'll have the cap space to fill those spots with cheaper "fit" type players, and give the team completely over to Dennis, Millsap, and hopefully Prince. But yeah, the main objective would be to get out from under Baze's contract. If Indiana wants to rebuild ( err, tank ), Baze is the perfect guy to have on your team as a 1st or 2nd option type scorer. He'll try hard, but won't be good enough to flourish in that role, and the team will lose games.

Or how about if Millsap did this tomorrow. Would ya'll be mad at him?

LOL . . George is making a business decision. And business decisions can't be taken so emotionally by fans. Think of it like this. Wouldn't all of us have liked for Al Horford to have told us that he wouldn't be returning to the Hawks in 2017, back in the summer of 2016, to give us multiple options of what we can do? Instead, we got strung along like he wanted to be here, only for him to bolt right out of town and leave us completely hanging. From that standpoint, at least George is giving Indiana plenty of time to decide what they want to do. A team that thinks they can "win now", may bring him in as a 1-year rental ( Clippers ). Or maybe the Lakers deal for him right now, and send a guy like Julius Randle to Indy. Props to the players for taking their destiny into their own hands.

The Marlins were free agent mercenaries though. They were "championship bought" teams. LOL . . then they liquidated those teams with the quickness.

Perfect time to try to use this to get out from under Baze's contract. Baze + a few of those late 1st round draft picks we have . . and bring in George. See if the Pacers will take something . . anything as compensation. Or revisit that deal that you offered Indiana at the trade deadline, and see if they'll take it now. If George bolts at the end of the year, but you can get rid of Baze, we're still good because we'll have a ton of flexibility from a cap perspective.

Lavar in Atlanta would be a natural fit. V-103 would love him, and might even give him his own show . . lol. Lonzo is special, from a playmaking standpoint. Only issue in LA, is that they may not have enough shooters to make him look good. He's going to make Julius Randle look like the most improved player in the NBA next year. Lonzo could easily average 13 ppg - 8 assists in his rookie year. People would scoff at that and call Lonzo overhyped . . until they do their research and find out that only 7 players in NBA history has averaged at least 13 and 8 in their rookie year. The last one to do it was John Wall. Before that, the last one to do it was Damon Stoudamire back in 1995 - 96. And of that 7, only Damon shot greater than 30% from 3 point range, which Lonzo should have no problem doing on the NBA level.

No. Not unless I could get Lonzo Ball. Fox has the potential to be a huge bust due to his lack of a shot. Unless he turns into Rajon Rondo, that dude is in trouble. Tatum ( edit ) is nice, but his shot is suspect right now as well. Lonzo I'd definitely do, because he's a great deep shooter and can make people around him better. Dwight and Prince would definitely like Lonzo.

I was at that game when they played Charlotte. He literally missed about every shot he took in that game, before he hit that one-legged 3 to send the game into OT. Even movie villains can win a few battles.

His lack of shooting cost us that Indiana series. He went 3 - 25 in that series ( 12% ), and miss his last 17 threes. Once Indiana started letting him shoot wide open 3s, and helped clogged the middle, it turned the series around. He would've been a much more efficient offensive player for us, if Bud just kept him in his comfortable shooting range ( 18 - 22 feet ). But like Delaney, he just didn't have consistent NBA 3 point shooting range. I can't deny that the "movie villain" was a fan favorite. But he's probably the most overrated scrub Hawk player in history . . ( if scrubs can be overrated ).

I would also consider drafting Mason at 31. Matter of fact, if Bud is committed to giving Bembry the playing time he needs, and if he's bringing Hardaway Jr back, I'll change my #31 pick from Thornwell to Mason. Mason, from a scoring standpoint, could be a Nate Robinson type.

19 - Caleb Swanigan - ( PF who can shoot with range, dominate on the boards, and score in the low post ) 31 - Sindarious Thornwell - ( SG who can shoot with range, defend 3 positions, good rebounding guard ) Both should be ready to contribute from Day 1, if given the chance to. Swanigan may be the underrated star of this draft, and be ranked in the top 10 of this draft in 5 years.

I didn't like the Celtics at all as a kid. And Game 7 vs the Hawks in 1998 didn't help that at all. But as I got older, my appreciation for the Celtics, and especially Larry Bird, has grown to respect how great of a team they were. That's why I'm not tripping off of the supposed dominance of Cleveland and Golden State in this ear. Hopefully, it will encourage teams that are below them, to really raise their games, and develop unique game plans to try to take them out. Since you like Bird getting manhandled, you may enjoy the next clip.

That's what the sport used to be. A physical game in which even your superstars went at your throats and actually had a dislike for you.

If it is, you don't pass on "troubled" ballers over "good guys" who can't really play. Malcolm Delaney is a "good guy". But I'd replace him and have Dion as a combo guard at the point, alongside THj or Baze off the bench, in a heartbeat.

Either we want talent, or we don't. Give me a loose cannon who can ball, over a great character guy who can't.