TheNorthCydeRises

You may want to review that thread, to refresh your memory on what was said. http://hawksquawk.net/community/topic/394015-my-problem-with-ferry/ The ONLY mention he made concerning Charlotte, was citing that Charlotte's five Lottery draft picks had a hand ( possibly a bigger hand ) in the Bobcats dramatically improving, instead of giving a lot of that credit to Charlotte adding Jefferson to the team. He made every attempt to try to diminish Jefferson, in order to say that Millsap was the better fit and value. So let's look at the Charlotte Lottery picks: - Kemba Walker . . . http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/walkeke02.html - Gerald Henderson . . . http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/h/hendege02.html - Michael Kidd-Gilchrist . . . http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/k/kiddgmi01.html - Cody Zellar . . . http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/z/zelleco01.html - Bismack Biyombo . . . http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/biyombi01.html Now you tell me, which one ( or a group ) of those guys had such a breakout year, that you can say that their improvement had a big hand in Charlotte jumping from 21 wins to 43 wins . . over the contributions that Al Jefferson brought to that team? You can say that Kemba and maybe MKG sligtly improved at best. Henderson regressed. Zellar was a rookie who wasn't terrible. And Biyombo was hit and miss off the bench. No one wants to admit that by adding a very high quality player to that roster, Charlotte stabilized that team. And it not only stabilized the team, it made the team significantly better because he can make clutch scoring plays on offense and secure huge possession stopping rebounds on defense. It is what it is though. The GM will probably shop once again at the Dollar Store, and try to find quality cheap players who can do one thing well, but aren't complete players.

There's two MAJOR things that you ( and he ) forget though. The Hawks don't have a go-to scorer, when the "system" isn't producing. And we're a weak rebounding team, especially defensively. So tell me how a player who can address those two issues, plus give us the ability to keep two high quality centers in the game at all times if we wanted ( in Jefferson and Horford ), doesn't fit the great "system"? Jefferson is a basketball player. He could easily move the ball around, if he were asked to do so. Having said that, any coach who didn't utilize his elite ability to score on people in the post, would be a dummy of a coach. There's no way I'd want Mike Scott or Pero Antić shooting a 3, over Jefferson doing a post-up move on the low block, all for the sake of "ball movement". At some point soon, all of you will understand that the Hawks need significant TALENT in order to see this system work like it does for the Spurs. And we as fans have to hope that the GM doesn't dismiss talented players, simply because they haven't played his style of play on other teams. As much as people talk about stretching the floor and ball movement, the Spurs start most games with Duncan and Tiago Splitter on the frontline. Number of 3s taken by the two of them during the regular season? EIGHT . . . and they missed all 8 threes. Number of 3s taken by Antić alone? ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-ONE So if people REALLY want to copy the Spurs, how about adding two guys to the frontline who will actually play like big men, and take big man type shots . . . instead of relying on wannabe 3 point shooters that can't score in the post to save their lives. I mean, we did only win 38 games and held on for dear life to make the playoffs. And when we actually had a chance to shock the world in Game 6, we didn't have the go-to guys on offense to actually get the job done.

And you are exactly right about Randolph. That dude was damn near toxic and bouncing around the league, despite putting up numbers. But as soon as he went to Memphis, and got a chance to play with better teammates who were also willing to play defense, his all-around game became even more lethal. And you're also right on Stephenson. If he goes to Charlotte, watch out for him and the Hornets. They might not only become the #1 defensive team in the league, they may improve to a top 15 offense. That combination may be enough to win around 50 games and get them a top 4 seed. This is why the GM needs to add Stephenson to this roster. God forbid if he goes to Charlotte, or worse .... Chicago.

Mace was comparing salaries and perceived value, not style of play. And even he had to back off of his criticism of Jefferson when even he admits that he wasn't overpaid last year, making 13.5 million. Despite his attempts to argue against the dude, even he knows that Jefferson balled out and significantly improved that Charlotte team.

I watch the entire league. And as a Synergy subscriber, I can also watch every single play type a player was involved in on offense and defense. So yes, I have not only watched him and the Horncats play, I was in Philips Arena in late December when he destroyed us for like 23 points and 22 rebounds. Thank God for Millsap raising his game and keeping us right in it with a monster . And of course Antić's luck shot one legged 3 to send it into overtime. But the same old arguments made about Jefferson, are the same ones who talk about Kyle Korver and bad defense. Every Hawk fan knows that Kyle is nowhere near the defensive liability that he used to be. Even I had to admit this. While his defense in isolation is still a little below average, he closes out on shooters well and can stay in front of his man at times. So to keep acting like Jefferson is still a defensive liability under a better defensive coach and playing in a better defensive system, is simply characterizing Jefferson the wrong way.

No way you can watch them play, if you still think his defense is terrible. Every defensive metric shows a vast improvement in Jefferson's defense. The defensive video clips on SynergySports shows just how much improved his pick and roll defense is. Those same video clips show that his post defense is very good ( and has never been a problem defensively for him ). The only thing he still struggles with ( and will always struggle with ), is closing out on jumpshooting bigs. But when almost 70 percent of your defensive possessions come via Post Ups and the Pick and Roll, and you're doing well in both of those play types, you are NOT a matador. LOL @ a dude with a defensive rating ( 100 ) and defensive win score ( 4.7 ) better than ALL OFF THE HAWKS, still being seen as a Defensive liability. Homerism at its best.

They're not comparable because when all of our centers started getting hurt, and Millsap had to play minutes at center, it was simply asking too much of him to defend guys who were much bigger than him, even if he was still scoring points. Millsap is a true 4, who can play the 3 if need be. Asking that dude to play center is ridiculous. Jefferson is a true Center . . . period. Millsap is a very good player. I like that dude a lot. Wish we had him instead of Josh Smith around 4 years ago. But comparing Jefferson to Millsap is like comparing Kevin Love to Dwight Howard. Two totally different players. He did get 4 votes.

Yep, he's a matador. Which is why his team jumped a whopping 22 games in the standings ( from 21 to 43 ) Which is why his Pick and Roll man defense was even better than Joakim Noah's this year. Which is why his Post defense was better than both of the All-NBA Centers named ahead of him. Which is why he led Charlotte in Defensive Win Score. Which is why Chalotte went from dead last in defense last year, to 5th this year And good call JayBird. These dudes will throw around stats all day, but try to revert back to so-called "eye tests" for players they don't like. They're the same people who would find a reason why not to have an "in his prime" Kevin Garnett here or even a Lebron, simply because they don't like the dude. They're the same ones that speak against Carmelo Anthony, who had a much better year than Paul George this year, but blame him for the woes of that sorry NY Knicks team he plays on. Al Jefferson is a straight up baller, whether Hawk fans want to admit to it or not. Dude can score, rebound, and now can hold his own on defense.

No . . he should've been 3rd team. Millsap is not a comparable player because Millsap is a true PF while Jefferson is a true C. And we're going to see how tradable of an asset he is, when teams basically wait until he is an unrestricted free agent next season to get him. Any talk about trading Millsap better happen this offseason, and not when the season starts. Preferably before the draft. If we wait until the trade deadline to deal him, we're going to be on the short end of the stick. We'd get a playoff level team willing to give us a decent player + a 1st round pick, which will be in the 20s . . . and I guess people will celebrate over that. Meanwhile, Millsap will not only go to a better team, we'll become worse, because we may not have any legit PFs to develop for the future.

And Lance Stephenson got 3 votes . . . hmmm. The dude flat out blows up next season, no matter what team he's on.

SMH @ Jefferson making 3rd team. And people argued up and downed multiple Hawks forums and blogs as to why we shouldn't have added him last year. And Russell Westbrook not being on any of those teams, is a flat out travesty.

Good Lord.

If we bring Brand back, tell Antić "thanks, but no thanks". We really need to see if Bebe can give us anything from the center position this year. No need to be carrying more than 3 centers on this team to start the season. So if the GM isn't going to get a starting quality center to move Horford to PF, and he opts to bring a guy like Brand back, send Antić packing and bring on Bebe. C: Horford - Brand - Bebe

Exactly. If I'm Lance, and I see that Hill is making 8 million, that is my starting point, not my ceiling.

Who in their right minds would've played Boris Diaw at center though? Even D'Antoni playing Diaw at PFand then at Center came via the injury to Amare, which forced him to put crazy lineups out on the floor.

His individual defensive numbers are not great, to say the least. In fact, you could argue that he was kind of bad in the first 1/3 of the season. He got much better as the season progressed though. The real quesiton is . . . what person in the Atlanta media voted Jeff Teague to either 1st team All-Defense, or gave him two votes to the 2nd team?

He's talking about Stephenson. But I'd wager that he doesn't have the balls to take a risk on him, even if he's probably the closest thing to Leonard that we could pick up ( draft or free agency ).

You know Dol. You know. I just hope he's as good as Bismack Biyombo.

So which is MORE likely? - that Bebe is closer to Noah - or closer to Solomon Jones

What if he's Solomon Jones?

Yeah. He'll fit in here.

Dragic is the trendy pick to make one of those All-NBA teams, so you have to have him ahead of Teague. Teague isn't a top 10 PG yet.

Some of you need to bookmark this thread, as I'm about to do. When Lance is somewhere else and flat out balling for that team, while we may STILL be looking for an athletic wing, remember this thread. SMH .. scary GMs are going to pass on him, and he'll end up on the Lakers playing along side Kobe. Or worst, he'll end up in Charlotte, and make them a top 3 team.

Yep. Trying to be an irritant too much, but also producing at the same time. 11 points and 3 rebounds, while George, Hibbert, and Hill have 9 points TOTAL on 2 - 15 FG. His teammates ( outside of West ) are mentally weak.

I'm not a Braves fan, but I just happened to have my TV on that game right before Papi hit that homer That crowd reaction was ridiculous. May as well have been Boston South.