TheNorthCydeRises

Rudy can ball. Been telling people that for years. He'd be a great #2 guy alongside a star player . . . or an ideal player on a team like ours, when we need a shot creator.

Re-watching the game right now. Dwight forced the 3rd foul on both Ty Lawson and Rudy Gay in the 1st half. Then forced foul #4 on Rudy when the Kings were really surging in that 3rd quarter. Dwight also forced Koufos to get his 4th foul in that 3rd quarter. Joerger stupidly left Gay out on the floor in that 3rd quarter, and he picked up foul #5 trying to defend a wild shot by Baze. Kings were up 6 at that point and threatening to blow the game wide open. The Hawks then promptly went on a 16 - 3 run with Gay out of the game, to regain the lead, before giving the lead right back at the end of the 3rd. But they took control in the 4th, got the lead back, and completely shut the Kings down. Kings were +13 in that 3rd quarter when Gay was in the game. Kings were -12 from the mid 3rd to early 4th quarter, when Gay was out of the game. And by the time Rudy had come back, the Kings had lost all of the offensive mojo they had in the 3rd. Thabo was a whopping +18 in the 4th quarter.

RIP Edy. Nice knowing and rooting for you man. Surely some NBA team will add you to their roster. The question then will become . . . can Edy be a poor man's Hassan Whiteside? Watch the Knicks pick him up.

When is the last time the Hawks shot 47 FTs? The power game of Dwight is a game changer. When you crash the offensive boards like he does, you basically have no choice but to foul him. And even when he misses 1/2 of his FTs, the sheer volume of them takes its toll on a team. His misses aren't nearly as catastrophic as they could be on this squad, because we can play great team defense and limit the scoring of the opponent. Dwight missed 4 FTs in a row at the end of the 1st half, yet was still +2 in those last 2 minutes, because the Hawks went on a 6 - 0 run to close the half. If it makes you guys feel better, he went 5 - 8 FTs in the 2nd half

I have to agree about Moose. I was all in favor of him getting cut this year. In summer league though, I remember a game in which Wes Wilcox was being interviewed, and he was ranting and raving about how far Moose had progressed. He even said something like Moose "embodied everything that was right with the Hawks". I believe he was talking about from a developmental standpoint.

The last time we beat the Spurs . . . Check out the stat lines for Horford, JJ . . . and Marvin at 2:28 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PorRRY2DOHw

We've lost 11 in a row and 18 of our last 19 games vs San Antonio in the past 11 years? Wow. And who made this obscure, not very viewed video?

I thought Pop had said something negative about the Hawks, with that headline.

No problem with Teague on my end, just like I have no problem with Horford. As for the Teague - Ellis backcourt, that was tried once in Golden State with the Ellis - Curry backcourt. Once they got rid of Ellis, Curry became a superstar. At this point, Ellis should be used as the volume shooting spark plug off the bench, while playing a better shooter like CJ Miles at the starting 2 guard. That would balance out the team better.

LOL. Baze plays like a shorter version of 2009 Josh Smith. All hustle, great defense at times . . . but wild as hell offensively.

Not when the NBA is making money hand over fist. Salary cap is projected to be 108 million next season. The issue is the MAX on player salaries. A guy like Lebron should arguably be making 50 million, or whatever a team is willing to pay him. But because the top level guys have a max level that they can make, the money has to be divided up to other players. So if a team desperately needs a C, they'll be willing to overpay for that C, even if he's mediocre. ( Mozgov . . . 16 million this season )

He's transformed into that SF/PF that some of us thought he would, as he got older. It'll be interesting to see how the Jazz use him, once everyone gets healthy.

What gets me, is how people always prop up players AFTER they leave Atlanta, but dog them out while they're here. Boston and Indiana have nice teams, and it wouldn't shock me to see them in the Top 4 . . . even over us. But to try to prop up teams like Detroit, Washington, Orlando, and Milwaukee over us, is just ridiculous. The Hawks looked like a legit top 5 defense in the league during the preseason. If that trend holds during the regular season, we'd literally have to be a bottom 5 offense to miss the playoffs. Of the top 13 defensive teams in the league last year, only ONE missed the playoffs . . . Utah. Why? Because they were ranked 28th in offense. And even they were a game away from getting the 8th seed. I mean, are we going to be the Washington Wizards in 2013, who were 5th in defense but dead last in offensive efficiency. IF he would've elaborated and said something like . . . "well I don't think Dwight won't play more than 60 games this season" or "the Hawks don't have enough 3 point shooting" . . . at least he'd have some sort of foundation to stand on. But to simply say that because we lost Horford and Teague that we won't make the playoffs, is idiotic. We replaced Horford with a guy who will address one of the Hawks biggest weaknesses . . . rebounding. And we replaced Teague with a guy who was routinely taking his 4th quarter minutes in the 2nd half of the season, and in the playoffs. Washington? Really? Come on Chuck. You're usually on point with your analysis, but this is way off.

This dude thought it was 2005 for a minute there, in the 2nd half. Still not enough to beat the Blazers, because Lillard matched him shot for shot.

I like it. What I'm looking at, is for the rookies to really crack this rotation and do special things in the 10 - 18 minutes a game they may get after January. Bud will be forced to reduce the minutes of a guy like Sefolosha and even Korver, to give these kids time. Don't be surprised if Prince becomes a key cog in the Hawks "small ball" lineup, because he can play the 4, if they run him with Millsap at the 5. Dwight is Batman. His presence will immensely help this team play any type of style they want. Combined with Sap, teams will no longer be able to punk us. 57 - 25 #2 seed ECF ( 7 games . . . Schröder pulls a John Starks, after having a fantastic playoffs, and goes 2 - 18 FG in Game 7 ) Splitter gets hurt, officially becoming Speedy Claxton, and opens the door for Edy to play spot minutes . . . 642 minutes for Tiago

LA can ball, but this is the problem with him . . .

The issue to me with the backup PG, isn't on the offensive end, it's on the defensive end. That's why if Delaney isn't a decent scoring PG off the bench ( ala Shelvin Mack or Janerro Pargo ), guys like Baze and especially Bembry will be able to get away with playing the point in spot minutes. I said from the jump that Bembry has a lot of Josh Childress in him, from a versatility standpoint. Even Chill brought the ball up and initiated the offense at times, from the SF spot. Bembry won't have any problem doing the same, if called upon to play this role. It's not too much this dude can't do. It'll be hard to keep him off of the court, if Bud allows him to play multiple positions.

True baller. LMAO @ 1:10 . . . that's why I have a soft spot in my heart for this dude, despite his gunning mentality. He should not be out of the league. Much worse players than him still on NBA rosters.

Having said that, I believe it was Kamla that said Dwight was coming here all along . . . while others scoffed at it.

I'd trade Splitter for a 2nd rounder. It should be Moose or Scott. The cut will probably be Edy though.

Rick Barry FTs compared to Jamaal Wilkes FTs Dwight Howard interview at Hawks vs Rockets Summer League game this year. Fast forward to 6:20 to see his reaction to Chinanu Onuaku's underhanded FT release.

Tommy Heinson has a point

First off, those were very good questions asked to Dennis. I can't imagine C-Viv doing that type of in-depth interview with Dennis, or anyone on this team. Wish he'd start asking these guys the tough questions. Second, I was impressed with the maturity and honesty in Dennis' answers. He was completely honest about he and Teague. I loved his answer about Horford "running away", which is correct. And he knows that he has to work on his entire game, despite the confidence he has in his game right now. Skill wise, he may not be on Teague's level yet, but he's far more mentally stronger than Teague, which may translate to him being the leader of this team. I can't wait for this season to start.

Teague had done very little, and was virtually a no show in the 2011 Orlando series, before being forced to start vs Chicago. He plays well in the series, which was enough to part ways with Jamal, and fully give him the PG spot Let's keep it real though. If Dennis is inconsistent, so are Korver, Baze, Sefolosha, and the rest of the team.

And his best assist, a simple play that won them an NCAA tourney game. Controversial ending though.