TheNorthCydeRises

I agree . . . somewhat. What I think is really killing the game, is the disappearance of the midrange shot and teams not valuing offensive rebounding. Teams literally shoot themselves out of a game, because they're jacking up 3s that they can't consistently make, instead of taking midrange 2s that they can make at a 45% - 50% clip. I've had arguments on this very site talking about how guys are better off taking midrange jumpers than 3 pointers, especially if they can't make that 3 at a reasonable rate. Analytic stat guys can talk about points per shot, or how making 33% on threes is equal to making 50% on twos. That's hogwash. The difference is that a guy who shoots 50% from two point range is going to be a much more consistent shooter on a nightly basis, than a guy who shoots 33% from three. And that guy who can shoot 50% from 2, is more than likely a guy who can create his own shot, or at very least, shoot quickly enough space to get his shot off. Most important, he's going to be around that 50% range most games, and not have too many bad games. 33% shooters from 3 are normally streaky as hell. They run hot from game to game . . sometimes from week to week. Like Paul Millsap's 3 point shooting. And all of those missed 3 point shots by these mediocre long range shooters lead to transition opportunities for the other team. Demarr Derozen is a guy who plays to his strengths and stays in the midrange, because he knows that he can't shoot the deep ball. Instead of trying to develop a 3 ball, so that he can become a mediocre shooter from deep, he stays in the 16 feet and in range, and has become a top 5 SG in the league. He literally takes over this game vs Boston at the end with midrange jumpers. ( I had written this yesterday, but forgot to post it. Thank you for the auto save feature when writing posts. )

We might be "simply fans", but even us simple fans can tell that some of these GMs are absolutely clueless when it comes to who they target, what they value, and why they dish out big money to the guys they pay big money to. I think the biggest mistake that GMs make, is that they get "married" to the guy that they chose, and sometimes get blinded by the fact that "their guy" just isn't going to be good enough. That's how some of these guys get head scratching contracts from their own team ( cough ) Kent Bazemore ( cough ).

Besides team chemistry, what do you think is the most important ingredient in building a championship level team on the floor? ( If the GM candidate gave me a general answer, I'd disqualify him immediately. If he could go into specifics, I'd continue the interview and see if he could convince me that he was the best candidate )

The screw-up was Bud and Wes going with Delaney as the backup PG . . . a guy who has a great 17 - 21 foot jumper, but can't shoot the NBA 3, can't get to the rim, and can't defend. If he could've done just 1 of these 3 things, we may have been OK at the backup PG spot. PG was definitely a strength of this team during the 2015 - 16 season. So when you lose a very good PG like team, you want to replace him with a guy that can at least adequately do a few things very well, to keep the position solid overall. Baze is now the backup PG . . . at least for now. If the Hawks don't find one in free agency or in the draft, hopefully Bud will start letting Bembry handling the ball some in the halfcourt offense . . . if he cracks the rotation. He has better ball handling and passing skills than Baze, and that needs to be taken advantage of.

Soth . . . the Hawks were 36 - 16 at the time of the Hawks trade . . . in 1st place . . . and with no Michael Jordan in the Eastern Conference. You definitely blame the guy ( Babcock ) for trading the face of the franchise, and still your best player at the time . . for another player who is a free agent, who also gave you an ORAL AGREEMENT that he'd re-sign in the summer for big money. You just can't do that. You just can't. If anything, you take the risk of Nique hitting the open market and letting the chips fall where they may. If cap space was the issue, you can simply let him walk away. If the market determined that Nique was worth much less than what he was asking, maybe you could re-sign Nique for less years and less money. But Babcock obviously thought he was the smartest one making the trade, and saw Manning as the replacement to Nique long term. And he thought it was no way that Manning would turn down the exact 7 mill a year deal that Nique was seeking. ( 5 yr - 35 mill ) He was wrong. DEAD WRONG! The fact that bitch Manning signed with Phoenix for just 1 million to chase a championship, spoke volumes about what he really thought about the Hawks. Once he saw that the Hawks talent wasn't all that ( even with him on the team ), and that he had a chance to go to Phoenix with much better talent around him, he left us hanging like an ugly girl at the high school prom. Poetic justice would've been Jerry Colangelo lowballing the hell out of Manning after he tore his ACL, but unlike Manning, they stayed true to their word, and immediately signed him to a long term deal. ( 6 yrs - 40 million ). Here's a good write-up about Manning going to Phoenix, from their perspective. http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2015/8/20/9174073/throwback-thursday-danny-manning-phoenix-suns-ticket-championship I love the movie New Jack City, because it has so many quotable lines in it. So as Nino Brown would say. Babcock "f--ked up. He f--ked up BIG TIME." Being able to sign Dikembe 2 years later wasn't because of not signing Dominique. It was because the Nuggets didn't want to give Mutombo a long term big money deal. Not re-signing Mutombo is the Denver fan equivalent to not re-signing Nique. And the Hawks still had to trade Plastic Man and Grant Long, just to sign Mutombo. http://blogs.denverpost.com/nuggets/2015/09/11/bickerstaff-only-regret-as-nuggets-gm-was-not-re-signing-mutombo/13292/ And it was because the salary cap had risen, from 16 million in the summer of 1994, to 24 million in the summer of 1996. http://basketball.realgm.com/nba/info/salary_cap Amd let's keep it real. The Mookie - Smitty - Dikembe Hawks were no more successful than the JJ - Josh - Horford Hawks. They both hit a 2nd round wall, because they weren't good enough to beat the top teams in the conference. The ONLY time we had a legit shot to get to the NBA Finals, was in 1988 vs Boston ( should have won Game 6 to end that series in Atlanta ), and in 1994, with Nique as the aging star of the team. At the very least, the franchise OWED it to Nique to give him a chance to make a run in the playoffs, with no Jordan in the East. But then again, if Nique balled out in the playoffs, the Hawks would have to pay Nique, something they obviously didn't want to do. F--k all of them for potentially taking our only shot at a championship away from us. F--k them ALL!!

All hating aside, this dude has been balling in the playoffs The offensive aggressiveness he showed last night is what I always wanted the dude to do here. He looks much more quicker and decisive with his post moves. I remember this dude struggling to take guards as late as last season. Now, he goes right at them. Stevens even has him playing some "point center" in order to free up the small guards from all of the ball handling. He's easily been the most offensive player in all of the playoffs so far. We all know that he's capable of having games like these. But it's the sustained consistency during the playoffs, that has been most impressive. That, and the fact that he's shooting 57% 3FG and dishing out over 6 assists. He's completely comfortable as the #2 guy, instead of having the pressure of being "the man".

They were afraid that they wouldn't be able to re-sign Nique. He was reportedly asking for a 7 mill a year deal, if I remember correctly, for at least 3 - 4 years. He ended up signing with Boston the next year at 3 years for 11 million. But he left Boston after just 1 year to go to Greece The big thing was that Lenny and Nique didn't mix well, because Nique was still in the "I gotta get mine" type of mindset to help the team win, while Lenny wanted more of a team concept. From that standpoint, Manning fit Lenny's team concept better. Better rebounder and passer and defender. Nique was a more versatile and explosive scorer, but becoming highly erratic with his scoring. He'd have 30 point games, but then turn around and have 19 point games shooting 5 - 18 FG. He was scoring the ball ( 24 ppg ), but only shooting 43% FG and 31% 3FG. Still the trade was inexcusable, especially when you realize that Manning was also a free agent going into that summer.

Name the type of center ( a better center than Dwight ) that you think would be a better fit in "diving hard" on the PNR. And let's see how many of those types of centers are available.

Reef got a bad rap as a Hawk. No, he wasn't a superstar, but he was a legit good offensive player and a borderline All-Star. The problem with the "Playoff Guarantee" Hawks, was that they had an awful bench. Here's one of his best games as a Hawk. LOL . . we sure could've used some of this in the 2017 season.

I would LOVE to see the reaction if this guy was named the GM Heads would literally EXPLODE!!

So back to basketball. Would anyone be against bringing Mike back, in place of Muscala or Ryan Kelly? If it came down between Ersan and Mike, I'm definitely keeping Ilyasova, because his overall skill level is better than Mike's. But in a choice between Moose and R. Kelly, I'd rather have Mike. Funny how Scott and Adreian Payne are now UFA's and at the bottom of the free agent list for power forwards. http://hoopshype.com/2017/04/26/nba-free-agency-2017-power-forwards/

In 2015 and 2016, Register made more than 1,400 traffic stops, yet he issued tickets in only eight of those stops, according to court records. He also made 47 arrests, and 44 were minorities, two were white and one was of unknown race. “These numbers are truly shocking,” Judge Mingledorff wrote in his order. -------------------------------- LOL . . . WHAT? Wow. 1400 stops but only 8 tickets? That's incredible.

LOL . . dang right. I had that happen to me in Ozark, AL on my way to Tallahassee a few years ago. Got pulled over for a supposed improper lane change ( i.e. what happened to Sandra Bland in Texas ). This road took you to I-10 in Florida, but it was also the road most kids used to go to spring break in Panama City. After checking my license and registration ( which was a rental car ), the Cop asked to do a quick search of my car for drugs. His reason was that there were a lot of out of state people transporting drugs down this road on their way to Panama City. I refused, since I'm not a drug dealer. He said OK, but then requested the K-9 unit and told me to wait. 30 minutes later, the K-9 unit still hadn't shown up. Me being impatient, I let him physically search the car so I can be on my way. That was probably my mistake right there. Once I gave him consent, they had free reign to do what they wanted. He searches me first, then searched the car for about 10 minutes. Nothing. Then he still says that he's waiting on the K-9 unit. I was frustrated as hell, but didn't lose my cool. Cops weren't assholes about it attitude wise. They were pretty cool about the whole situation. It helped that I kept my cool as well. 20 minutes later, the K-9 shows up. Dog goes all around and throughout the car. Nothing. Then the cop motions to the dog, and he scratches on the door handle. Cop turns to me and says that the dog "hit" on the door handle. The door handle, mind you. He had passed the handle at the beginning of the search, and didn't do anything. He literally asked me if I had used any illegal substances recently, or if anybody who did use something illegal, touch the car. Irritated to the max, I basically explained that I had nothing on me and wasn't transporting anything. And if the dog "hit" on something, it wasn't from me, seeing that this was a rental car. LOL . . how in the world would I know if someone touched the car after using something illegal, if I had just got the car 8 hours beforehand? The cop finally came to the conclusion that the dog must've had a "false positive" hit on something, I had some Bayer aspirin in my book bag in the back seat. They said that "maybe" that's what the dog hit on, if the residue was on my hand after taking aspirin ( which I hadn't done ). Now that I think about it, the cop opened the door himself, so maybe the dog hit on something or a substance the cop had in his hand. Or the dog hit on nothing, and the cop motioned to the dog to act like he hit on something, just to see how I would react. So after an hour of a failed search, I was free to go. I've been pulled over 25+ times in my life, but that was easily one of the most bull crap police encounters I ever endured. Not the worst, but it's up there. Interesting article on K-9 false alerts compared to a true alert https://nevergetbusted.com/2016/07/20/university-study-tricked-certified-police-dogs-to-false-alert-200-times/

Since you hate stats, here's a stat for you. The Hawks shot a blistering 34.1% from the 3 point line, ranking them 23rd in the league. This despite taking 26.1 threes per game, ranking us 15th in the league. League average is 35.8%. So if the Hawks aren't really good at playing the "pace and space" style ( 27th in the league offensively ), how do you think we won games? Defense - #4 in the league ( #2 in opponent turnover percentage ) Offensive rebounding - #15 in the league ( and this is with having the #5 offensive rebounder in the NBA . . and we're still only 15th ) And what does the guy that you say is a "system killer" do best? Hmmmmm

You were clowning Dwight all throughout that losing streak, despite him playing at a pretty high level. And Dwight averaged 13 pgg - 12 rebs - 61% FG AFTER the All-Star break And it wasn't Dwight's antics after the All-Star break that sent this team into a tailspin. It was Bud's handling of Dennis' that started it. He called himself making an example out of Dennis, by benching an entire game, and benching him for a quarter of the next game. We dropped 2 games right after the ASG.

Of course. When Dwight performs to ( and above ) the level people expect of him, the stats are meaningless because the Hawks lost . . . even if he wasn't the reason why they lost. When Dwight performs to ( and below ) the level people expect of him, the stats are indicative of Dwight's decline as a player . . . even if he's not getting the ball.

Hawks shot attempts per game during the regular season and their FG% Schröder: 15.1 FGA - 45% FG - 34% 3FG . . . . . . . .17.9 ppg Millsap: 14.2 FGA - 44% FG - 31% 3FG . . . . . . . . . 18.1 ppg Hardaway Jr: 11.5 FGA - 46% FG - 36% 3FG . . . . . 14.5 ppg Bazemore: 9.9 FGA - 41% FGA - 35% 3FG . . . . . . . 11.0 ppg Ilyasova: 8.7 FGA - 41% FGA - 35% 3FG . . . . . . . . . 10.4 ppg Howard: 8.3 FGA - 63% FGA - 0% 3FG . . . . . . . . . . 13.5 ppg Hawks shot attempts per game during the playoffs and their FG% Schröder: 18.3 FGA - 46% FG - 43% 3FA . . . . . . . . 24.7 ppg Millsap: 16.5 FGA - 51% FG - 18% 3FG . . . . . . . . . . 24.3 ppg Hardaway Jr: 13.7 FGA - 33% FG - 26% 3FG . . . . . 12.8 ppg Bazemore: 8.8 FGA - 40% FG - 29% 3FG . . . . . . . . 8.8 ppg Prince: 8.7 FGA - 56% FG - 29% 3FG . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2 ppg Howard: 6.0 FGA - 50% FG - 0% 3FG . . . . . . . . . . 8.0 ppg So technically, Dwight has been the 6th option. And considering that he was 5th in the league in offensive rebounding ( 2nd in OReb % at 15% ), he had to get 1 - 2 of those few shot attempts on his own.

But yet, somehow we were able to get things to work in Game 4, despite all of the things that Dwight can and can't do. We all know that this guy is NOT a leader. He's more of a frontrunner. And the thing you have to do with guys like him, is keep him engaged. He still is effective enough around the rim to be effective. Even if you feed him and turn it over, is that any different than a Baze turnover or a Millsap 3 pointer that isn't going in 80% of the time? To Diesel's point in the other thread, notice who got Dwight going offensively in this game. It was Jose Calderon driving to the basket and looking to PASS instead of shoot. When Dennis drives, he's always looking to shoot. But Jose got Howard a few easy baskets around the rim. Then Baze, instead of looking for his own shot, actually looked for Dwight at the rim . . twice on back to back lobs. If Dwight is now Deandre Jordan lite, that still makes him a threat and a top 10 center in the league. In that 8 game stretch late in the year, when Millsap was out and the Hawks were losing a ton of games to bad teams, it wasn't because of Howard. He was still a highly productive player. 16.3 ppg 13.3 rebs 2.5 asst 1.3 blks 1.1 stls 58% FG 58% FT ( which is great for him ) He wasn't the reason why we were losing to those bad teams. He was doing his job. Heck, in today's NBA, 16 & 13 are 3rd team All-NBA numbers at the center position. Honestly, there's no way you can watch the Hawks this season, and act like one of the main problems with the team, was Dwight Howard. Not with the piss poor play that our wings gave us this season. Lurker routinely talked about the Hawks bad transition defense when Dwight was in the game . . . like the center is responsible for transition defense. As someone who played basketball all throughout my life, I know that transition defense is the responsibility of the guards and the wings. You are taught in basic 3 on 2 drills on defense to force the ball handler to make a decision, and DO NOT let him get to the rim. You either make him shoot off the dribble, or make him pass the ball. But you have to pick him up and you do not let him beat you off the dribble. If you can hold the ball handler up, that gives others a chance to get back, and you can set up your halfcourt defense.

To your point, Dwight also routinely goes multiple possessions down the court, without touching the ball, unless he can get an offensive rebound. That would frustrate anybody, even if you were playing a pickup basketball game. There would be plenty of times when Dwight would have his man dang near sealed under the basket, wanting the ball, and his teammates didn't even look for him. I personally don't have a problem with Dennis' usage. He's the PG and probably the 2nd best offensive player on the team right now, if not the best offensive player. This game is geared toward guys playing off of an Alpha Male scorer, and not balanced scoring. My pet peeve is the other people who have the green light to shoot the ball. We had 8 people attempt at least 100 three point shots this year ( not including Korver ), due to the notion that a long 2 attempt is worse than a 3 ( even if you can't make the 3 ). The problem, is that of those 8 guys, only 1 person ( Muscala ) shot over 40% and the rest of them didn't even shoot over 36% from 3. We have a bunch of inconsistent shooters on the team, yet, the offense is centered around shooting. That's the problem. Hot has even said this in the past, before we added Dwight. That and rebounding were the two things that we both agreed on, that were a major problem with the Hawks, even going back to the Joe Johnson era. But now, because Dwight is not a likable person overall, he takes the brunt of the blame, despite him doing exactly what people expected him to do this season.

But that's Dwight's point. You paid him all of that money, just to be the 5th option in the offense AND be benched in the 4th quarter of games, just because the coach believes the other guys give him better shooting and defense at the 5 ( which they didn't . . . not even Millsap, when he played the 5 ).

1. Yes 2. Definitely yes, in a small ball lineup 3. Regular season: Yes . . . Playoffs: ehhhhhhh ( definitely wasn't this season ) 4. Yes

I'm sure they paid their fair share of money to the Banks Co, clerk a nice sum of money in court fees and fines. They didn't get off "scot" free. ( rimshot ) One of the dirty little secrets of law enforcement, especially when it comes to small rural counties like where Mike got stopped, is that they'll stop cars not necessarily due to drug trafficking, but due to the cash that people may carry on them. They can seize the cash under ( civil forfeiture ) laws. And police can and will abuse these laws. http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/09/06/stop-and-seize/?utm_term=.7ef7030ff03c Here's what went on in Georgia http://www.peachpundit.com/2015/06/10/georgias-new-civil-asset-forfeiture-law-does-not-go-far-enough/

Police was like . . . Mike was like . . . "Hol up .. hol up .. hol up .. hol up .. hol up ............. here you go"

Ain't God . . . or money . . . good? http://nba.nbcsports.com/2017/05/02/former-hawks-mike-scott-cleared-of-drug-charges-by-georgia-judge-return-to-nba-possible/ So he and his brother beat the charge, because his lawyer proved that the stop was unwarranted ( i.e. - racial profiling )? Wow!! No way would the average citizen using a public defender or a cheap lawyer, would beat this. But when you have money, and you have the ability to pay people off, it's amazing what you can be cleared off. At any rate, congrats Mike Molly. You get a new lease on life. And with all of the roster spots possibly open on the Hawks this summer, maybe a return to the ATL is in your future.

So what is Muscala's name?