TheNorthCydeRises

They were just in the EC Finals in 2012, playing a Game 7. The Boston meltdown literally happened in one season, and not because their skills as basketball players went into decline. The problems in Boston was almost solely because of Rondo ( attitude wise and losing his contribution on the court ). What the Nets did, is have a "heart transplant". They took out the heart of the Nets ( Gerald Wallace and Reggie Evans ), and replaced it with the heart of the Celtics ( Garnett and Pierce ) And now word is that they'll even get to keep Reggie Evans. Wow. LOL . . but Hawk fans want to talk crap about what they're doing, while we're stashing young players overseas, and wait until they're ready to play in the NBA. Speaking of which, somebody call Cenk Akyol and see if he's ready to be a Hawk yet.

Glad someone said this besides me. Because when it comes from me, it's just seen as being "negative". If "developing talent' is the plan, while losing in the process, I wonder how cool Horford is going to be with that? Horford has made the playoffs every year he's been in the league. I don't know how long he's going to wait around for us to be good again. He probably sees himself as the "go to guy" and the "franchise player" to build around. So if the Hawks aren't doing that, I wonder what he thinks about it?

The Boston team that beat us PG - Rondo ( for 1/2 the series ) G - Allen F - Pierce PF - Bass C - Garnett Those "old guys" were one win away from the NBA Finals that year, with Lebron and Wade playing their best ball in the 4th quarter of Game 7 that year. Then the "old guy" ( Allen ) saved Lebron's azz this year. And the only reason why Boston didn't make more noise this year, was because of the Rondo injury. Brooklyn next year PG - Deron G - JJ F - Pierce PF - Garnett C - Lopez And when the so-called weakest player in that lineup can do this . . . . . . that's a pretty damn good lineup. Unless Jason Kidd is completely incompetent as a coach, the Nets are going to have a special season next year. And they still may not beat the Heat, because Lebron is just that special himself. But at least they're going for it. And fans of teams who aren't going for it shouldn't talk crap about teams that are.

Dude, there is no one in the league who would rather take our situation, and not trade it for the Nets situation . . . if they could afford to do it. NOT A ONE. Those "old guys" beat the hell out of us in the 2012 playoffs, despite us having better talent. Yet, you think the Hawks are on some type of right track by drafting 2 international players who may or may not play this season, and placing their hopes on the top free agent . . a guy who has NEVER NOT ONE TIME ever said that he wants to play in Atlanta? If the draft picks are not ready to play, and Dwight's primadonna azz doesn't want to come here, what do we do? Fans here act like they don't want the 2nd tier of free agents, so the only other option is to tank the entire season, and hope we don't alienate Al Horford in the process . . . . ( who hasn't tweeted anything since the start of the draft ) Yeah . . . talk smack about a team whose owner and GM goes to any limit to bring a winner to their fans IMMEDIATELY . . . but think a team like us, with absolutely no buzz whatsoever about themselves, are on a better track than they are. Once again, the entire notion that bad contracts are not tradeable is shattered by that deal. People thought that team was stuck, and couldn't possibly get any better. So they turned around and mortgaged their late 1st round picks in the future, and got rid of a bad contract in Wallace, and got 2 "old guys" who are still top 10 players at their position, championship battle tested, and future Hall of Famers. Fans here will laugh at the Nets if they lose in the EC Semis or EC Finals to the Heat . . . while we wait on our savior in the draft after a 22 win season here in Atlanta. But hell, at least they went for it, and not give up . . like it looks like we're doing. It's like I've been saying for months on this website, Hawk fans have NO BUSINESS talking about or criticizing anything that other franchises do, until we prove that what we're actually doing here, is a better way of doing things. As much as I hate Paul Pierce's punk azz, I'd welcome him to Atlanta with open arms, if I could assemble the team they have in Brooklyn right now.

Absolutely sickening. Real teams make real moves. If that roster were here in Atlanta, the entire city would be out dancing in the streets, instead of making jokes about them on the internet. Maybe this move will convince Howard and Paul to try to team up in the best situation possible, since all of the other stars around the league are doing it. When Dwight rejects us in a few weeks, I wonder what the mood will be like around here. (( sigh )) . . . it's just sad that teams around the league can create a positive buzz, but us. But we have cap space and hope . . and that's all we need.

So in other words, both stats has flaws in it that may or may not show absolute true efficiency? You latch on to total shooting % . . . I latch onto points per possession ( or play ). Synergy, in which the NBA scouts actually use, pay less attention to TS% and more attention to PPP. They also pay attention to shot types, ACTUAL FG%, the rate in which you draw a shooting foul, and the percent of times you score on that play type. So blame Synergy for what they look at, not me. Not my fault that they don't value TS% as much as some of you guys do. Only on Hawksquawk would people diss a guy who was a #1 scoring option on his team, shot 49 - 50% FG, can score 18 ppg, and rarely turned the ball over in the process. And people wonder why we're stuck in the middle, as they say.

Both of my targets will be there in the 3rd round, so I may as well select this dude right now. Ironically, it was capstone21 who took a chance on the man I'm about to select now with a 2nd round pick in the 2012 draft. No suspense here. Been talking about him for a few weeks now. The Lord of the Left Low Block. The Mississippi Marauder The Sultan of the Salt Flats. With the 25th pick in the 2013 Hawksquawk Summer Dynasty Draft . . . Northcyde United selects . . BIG AL JEFFERSONNNNNNNNNN No sense in showing any more game clips. Might as well show a side of Jefferson that many don't see. You've seen what the man can do. He's one of the best low post scorers in the game. He's one of the most consistent players in the game. When you look for a #2 guy to compliment a wing shooter, a low post DEMON like Jefferson is the one who can open up the entire floor for a #1 scorer like Melo. At only 28 years old, he's already established himself as one of the premier big men in the game. And he plays a style of basketball that will be effective for 5 - 8 more years. While other near 7 footers are practicing their midrange jumper, Al can kill you in the low post, as well as in the midrange. Even the best defensive centers have major trouble stopping him. Melo and Jefferson will be a lethal 1 - 2 punch for teams to handle, with both possessing the ability to be the #1 option when called upon. Welcome to Northcyde United Mr. Jefferson. Me too. I like this position.

Keep working with it until it looks right. I had to work with the NJSI for a bit, until I perfected it. You keep working with that DWS-82. If all of these other guys can come up with stats, why can't you? Your explanation actually makes a little sense.

See . . . creating your own stat, when it makes perfect sense to you, is a good thing. Call this the "Dolfan-Win Share per 82 games" stat . . . . or DWS-82 for short Now you can say something like . . . Al Jefferson had a WS of 7.7 and his team won 43 games 7.7 * ( 82 / 43 ) = 14.68 WS per 82 team wins While Nikola Pekovic had a 6.7 WS and his team won 31 games 6.7 * ( 82 / 31 ) = 17.72 WS per 82 team wins And Dwight Howard had a 7.6 WS and his team won 45 games 7.6 * ( 82 / 45 ) = 13.85 WS per 82 team wins Pekovic > Jefferson > Howard And no matter how much people disagree with your assessment, you STAND BY YOUR STAT, and tell them that the DWS-82 does not lie.

(( sigh )) . . . selected that fast. OK . . I'll make my pick soon.

That's right. My bad. So the pick will still most likely come around lunchtime.

One Caveat: The clock does not run from 10pm-7am EST. So if team 5 makes a selection at 9pm then team 6 has until 2pm the next day (1 hour until 10pm then 7 hours after 7am.) I'm up next, even though I didn't receive a PM from MrNique. Since MrNique made his pick after 10 pm EST, I officially do not go on the clock until 7 am EST . . . which means that I have until 3 PM to make my selection . Lot's of directions to go in. I'll be up for a while, so I'll either make my pick during the overnight, or during lunchtime tomorrow. Thunderstorm approaching anyway. Need to get off of here.

LOL . . see what I mean Chinky? I mean, does anybody honestly think that Al Jefferson is the 2nd worst center on this list, using the criteria that Dolfan presented? Especially seeing that 2/3rds of these centers couldn't even begin to be good enough offensively to do the things that teams ask Jefferson to do. Does anybody honestly believe that Kevin Garnett, a guy who shot .496 last year, is a far worse offensive center than Deandre Jordan, who shot .643 last season, but is almost solely relying on CP3 to throw him lobs for dunks for his points? How many of those centers could shoot that well,functioning as the #1 or #2 option in their offense? The only guys who have proven that they can do it are - Howard - B. Lopez - Horford - Bosh - Pekovic - Lee ( who played most of his minutes at PF last year, but still gives you great offensive production at center ) - Garnett - M. Gasol - Monroe - Aldridge - Cousins - Hibbert ( sometimes ) - and Al Jefferson That's all folks. Of that group, he's in the top 10 . . . maybe even the top 7. That's why he's going to get the big money once again. If you're going to compare Jefferson to centers around the league, compare him to this group. Don't waste your time trying to formulate an argument of how Robin Lopez and Deandre Jordan have more value than Al Jefferson. At least compare him to legit centers in his tax bracket.

Oh well. No sense in doing something crazy, although I did have a semi-crazy game plan in mind With the 13th pick in the Hawksquawk Summer Dynasty Draft . . . Northcyde United ( the reigning 2012 - 13 AJC Fantasy Basketball Champions ) select . . . Carmelo Anthony of the Manhattan Knicks http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CCZkap_mhk In a league with few offensive superstars, when you have a chance to pick one, you really need to take him. So why not take the guy who led the NBA in scoring last year with a 28.7 ppg average. Melo led the Knicks to their first 2nd round appearance since 1999, and has given the Knicks at least a glimmer of hope for the near future. Despite questionable shot selection, Melo still shot 45% FG . . . and posted career highs in 3pt % ( 38% ) . . 3 point makes ( 157 ) . . PER ( 24.8 ) . . Offensive rating ( 112 ) . . and led the entire NBA in usage ( 35.6% ). And when you need someone to make a clutch shot at the end of a game, there's few in the business that is better than Mr. Anthony. http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9neM8by1SQ He's a true engine that simply needs a reliable "car body" and a good "car driver" to get him to that next level as a player. The only time he's really truly had that, was back in 2009, when the Nuggets got to the Western Conference Finals and lost to the Lakers in 6 games. It is my job as the GM to surround him with the type of players that will help him get to the Finals. And I will do just that. Mr. Capstone21 . . . you are on the clock. PM has been sent.

No way was Kyrie lasting past me. Too bad JayBird is a smart lady. With most of the "engines" gone, I guess I should tank. Pick coming within the next hour.

Chinky, it doesn't matter man. Anything brought up in favor of Jefferson will be shot down, despite the dude about to get paid tens of millions of dollars again. There's a reason for that. And it's not because the dude is some average ball player. It's because he's one of the top ballers in this league. To diminish his value, they cite whatever stat that will show him in the most negative light, even if all of the other stats show him in a much more favorable light. TS% is the favorite stat to use against him, but ask TS% lovers why the statistic doesn't factor in turnovers . . . specifically turnovers that occur when a player intends to shoot the ball . . . such as an offensive foul . . . like this play by Blake Griffin. He has every intention to shoot, even did a monster dunk on Marcin Gortat. If you use the points per possession stat, this play counts against Blake because it resulted into an offensive foul, which also is marked as a turnover. But if you use total shot percentage, the play didn't even count against Blake, because he "technically" never shot the ball, due to the offensive foul taking the shot away from him. No shot. No FT attempt. So no play for Blake, even though he lost possession. But total shot % is the holy grail for measuring how efficient a guy is. If they say so, LOL.

I didn't come up with the statistic citing what points per possession consist of, so you can't ask me. When you're calculating someone's offensive rating, assists aren't calculated in that either. Jefferson consistently has a pretty high offensive rating and PER. So those of you who try to make out how he's so inefficient, may be the ones who cite the wrong stats trying to diminish him. But this ain't the NJSI. I didn't come up with "points per possession" myself.

Putting Monta Ellis and JR Smith so low on this list, is simply idiotic. Both are perfectly suited to be that volume shooting 6th man type that people seem to love these days. The trick is to give them heavy minutes when they are shooting and scoring well, and limit their minutes when their shot is off. A team like Memphis would kill for both of those guys, in replacement of Jerryd Bayless.

Don't ask me. Maybe because when the ball leaves your hands, and your teammate grabs it, you no longer possess the ball. But if you lose it yourself, you lost possession. Or if you shoot it, and scored, you used your possession to score.

The problem with the Jefferson discussion is . . . who said he was going to be our leading scorer? What he brings to the table, is an offensive option that we haven't had since Moses Malone . . . a legit low post scoring option. But it may very well be Horford that leads this team in scoring and gets the most touches. Al Jefferson basically scored 18 points on 16 shots . . and 19 total offensive possessions. Al Horford basically scored 17 points on 14 shots . . . and 17 offensive total possessions. For a comparison, Josh Smith scored almost 18 points on 16 shots, but used 21 possessions to do so. Give Jefferson 21 possessions, and he's getting you 20 points. Give Horford 21 possessions, and he's getting you 21 points. And the killer with Smith's extra possessions, is that those turnovers were absolute killers at times, while Horford will turn the ball over less, and Jefferson will hardly turn the ball over at all. People talk about "inefficiency", but when you're scoring almost, or right at a point per possession, that is pretty good. If they both keep trending this way, you're talking about a frontline who isn't going to waste too many opportunities to score, even if they both don't get to the FT line.

Just saw that ticker. That's cool as hell.

Dieselnumerology at its finest. Clippers won 56 games. Hawks won 44 games. . . . . . . 56 - 44 = 12 Number of letters in the name Philips Arena . . . . . 12 Number of maximum roster spots open on the Hawks . . . . 12 Reminds me of Sesame Street http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZshZp-cxKg

Yeah right It's a shame that this 2010 Hawks team crashed and burned vs Orlando, because they were really a joy to watch that year. Watching that team win 34 home games that year was a true delight. Too bad they couldn't figure out how to even compete against Dwight and the Magic, because they basically beat everyone else ( except OKC ) that year. If you think watching scrub basketball is better than watching this kind of basketball, I don't know what to say.

You're still trying to keep Horford in your "tank scenario". No such thing as "halfway tanking". Just overpay a bunch of people. Give Kyle and Zaza 10 million. Give Mack 5 million. Bring in Jason Collins and give him 6 million. Call back Royal Ivey and Damien Wilkins, and give them 7 million. Give them all 1 year contracts at 2 year contract prices. Then you can have the most ping pong balls, and the most cap room. That's what you want, right? Tank it all the way. Why not go all out for that 25% chance to get that #1 pick, when Horford could mess it all up, and drop down down to 5% ( because other bad teams would be in full tank mode as well ). The good thing is that the team with the worst record ( despite the 25% probability ) hardly ever gets that #1 pick. Since 1994 ( 20 draft lotteries ), the team with the worst record has gotten that #1 pick only twice ( in 2003 and 2004 ). The team with the 3rd worst record has gotten the #1 pick the most . . . 6 times out of 20.

That's as real as you can get. Plus Kobe has always said that he's going to talk to him last, after he's made his rounds to the teams that want him. It'll be interesting to see if we're even on the "Dwight World Tour" list. Should've done that last season, by trading Josh to them for #13 and Marion. But teams know that they can get Josh by just paying outright for him, instead of giving up assets.