TheNorthCydeRises

This I do agree with. When we traded off JJ and Marvin, I was perfectly fine just letting guys like John Jenkins and Ivan Johnson getting as much time as they could, seeing what they could do as players, and even possibly missing the playoffs. But once this team got off to that great start, that kind of threw that plan out the window. And if we were truly going to "tank", this season was the perfect time to do it. Problem was that Ferry really liked Josh Smith. He may have even thought that Josh could be the piece to lure a big free agent in ( like his buddy out in LA ). But when Ferry saw Josh play on a nightly basis, he knew that Josh couldn't be the focus of a Hawk rebuild. At least I THINK that's the assumption he's come to. The main reason why Josh has to go, is because he's not going to yield to Horford or Teague being the top options in the offense over him. Josh and his handlers will firmly believe that he is a better player than Al Horford. And even if Horford is marketed as the "star" and is even announced last in the starting lineup at home games, Smith will not yield to him and reduce his shots. Ferry's time is NOW. If we're going to see what the future of the Hawks will look like, he'll begin to shape it in a big way this offseason. The coaching hire and the decisions of what to do with Josh Smith and Jeff Teague, may even supercede what we do in the draft and with acquiring new talent via free agency. Can't build that Ferry statue just yet. Let's see what he does with loads of cap space, and with his choice of a head coach.

LOL. It still wasn't luck man. It's what desperate teams with money will always do in this league. I know we as Hawks fans think that the worst thing in the world is to be "stuck in the middle of the playoff pack". But where we are right now is in NO COMPARISON from where we were after 2003. We sold off everybody in 2003-04 to be ready for the 2004 free agency period. The offseason comes around, and we completely strike out in free agency, with no one wanting to come here. 2005 comes, and we take Marvin, trying to pimp him out as the next James Worthy. Meanwhile, we were striking out again in free agency, with one exception . . . a young player in Phoenix. We had to literally execute a "jack move" to get him away from Phoenix, by offering him all of his raises in that 1st year, so that he can make 20 million in his first year in ATL. That was the only way we were getting a decent free agent to ATL. What we did was a desperate move, because after then ( 5 years out of the playoffs ), we didn't want to be totally irrelevant anymore. Brooklyn was a desperate team, facing the prospect of not only losing Dwight, but also losing Deron. So they were willing to bring in Joe Johnson, just to try to sell a "named player" to fans, if everything else failed. Look at the Lakers in January. You'd think the dang world was ending out there because they had built this so-called "Super Team", only to see people go down with injuries and the unit not mesh at all. They had fired Mike Brown even before he could correct things, promoted Bickerstaff ( who actually had the team playing the right way ), and then brought in that goof Mike D'Antoni instead of Phil Jackson. Even before a beatdown in Memphis, the Lakers were 17 - 24, and they were in full panic mode. They had just had the infamous "team meeting" that day before shootaround, and the loss put then at 2 - 10 for the month of January at that point. All I'm saying is that if JJ was playing at that time like he played at the end of his final year in ATL ( or even if he played like he did in the 1st half of the year in Brooklyn ), they were the type of franchise that would pull the trigger. The cap means nothing to teams like them. And as JJ enters Years 5 and 6 of his contract, he could be moved more easily to a team looking to shed payroll and maybe even "tank" for a year. The history of this league has shown that if a playoff level team thinks they're one player away from achieving a higher playoff level, they will sell off multiple players that they're not using, to get that one player that can help them. And the history of this league has also shown that average to bad teams who want to potentially start over, have no problem dealing with these types of teams, and will make deals with them, as long as they can get out from under the contracts of the incoming players, more quickly than they could the player(s) they're dealing away. Keep your eye on teams like the Warriors, the Knicks, and the Clippers. With the way their seasons ended, let's see what type of moves and players they bring on. In the case of the Warriors, look for them to dangle the potential expiring contracts of Richard Jefferson, Carl Landry, and Brandon Rush ( which total 19 million dollars ), and bring in maybe just one significant player that can help Curry and the Warriors. And it will be a player currently on a team that people see as being overpaid because he's not playing at star level. Maybe an overpaid player like a Javale McGee or an Andrea Bargnani. If the Warriors think they are "close", and just need either a little more toughness or shooting off the bench, I could definitely see them making a play for Bargnani, and trading Jefferson to Toronto, if the Raptors are tired of waiting on Bargnani's potential. Or if they REALLY wanted to make a splash, they'd make a play for Kevin Garnett, if the Celtics decide to blow it up this year and if Garnett is willing to play for 2 more years in the Bay Area. If Amare came back next year, and showed that he can still be an effective scoring PF, one of those playoff teams that "think" they are close, might even make a play for him . . and his 44 million remaining on his deal. Desperate teams do desperate things. And they will continue to do these things.

Kind of sad that THIS is the high point of this franchise . . . a Game 7 loss to the great Boston Celtics. The best and worst game in Atlanta history . . . at the same damn time.

Hell, if you're talking DREAM Off-Season . . . . - hire Phil Jackson as VP of Basketball Operations/Part-Time coach . . . and have Brian Shaw as his co-head coach ( for road games ) - Draft Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and a freefalling Shabazz Muhammad - pick up option on Mike Scott - Sign Dwight Howard and Chris Paul - re-sign Ivan - Sign Jarrett Jack ( full MLE ), Nazr Muhammad ( vet minimum ), and Matt Barnes ( vet minimum ) PG - Paul . . . ( Jack ) . . .( Lou ) G - Jack . . . Lou . . . Jenkins . . . Pope F - Shabazz . . . Barnes . . . ( Pope ) PF - Horford . . . Ivan . . . Scott C - Howard . . . Nazr . . . ( Ivan )

It wasn't "luck". I've said from Day 1 that the Hawks will be able to get out from under JJ's contract anytime they wanted. A big money team that valued the contribution that JJ brought to the table, would've traded their scraps to us to acquire JJ . . . or made a semi-blockbuster trade of "stars" who didn't quite fit on their current teams. You think with the way the Lakers struggled this year, that they wouldn't have thought about making a move for JJ? Especially since his old coach and his old PG was in LA? With the rumors about Pau Gasol not being a fit, I could've seen a scenario that saw the Lakers exploring a trade of Pau for JJ . . . straight up. LA Lakers lineup PG - Nash G - Kobe F - Johnson PF - Artest / Hill C - Howard Atlanta Lineup PG - Teague G - Harris F - Smith PF - Howard C - Gasol ( no Kyle Korver, because we acquired him with the trade exception from the JJ deal ). Both teams could've been talked into making a deal like that, for the betterment of both teams.

All I know is that most Hawk fans were ready to erect a statue out on front of Philips Arena, because Ferry was able to get out from under that contract so quickly and easily. He'll start to be really judged on what he starts doing with this team, this summer. If Ferry can't turn the cap space left via the JJ trade into something better during the JJ era, then yes . . . the highlight of Ferry's tenure as GM of the Hawks will be the trading of Joe Johnson. Hopefully that won't be the highlight of his legacy in Atlanta.

I've said for a long time that a place like Cleveland may be the ideal place for him. Potential lineup PG - Kyrie G - McLemore ( 1st pick overall ) F - free agent PF - Josh C - Varejao Depending on how they fill out the rest of the team, that's a potential low seed playoff team right there. Along with Washington, Cleveland may be the new teams in the East that fight for playoff spots.

Yep. If I can get a team option in that 2nd and/or 3rd year, I'm definitely taking a chance on him. When he has been healthy, he may be THE best center in the league. If the Lakers were to take everything back, they would've never traded Bynum away for Howard. They'd reverse that deal in a heartbeat . . . injuries and all. The "experts" around the league who think this guy isn't going to get a big contract, are out of their minds. Way too much talent there to simply toss to the side, just because he's kinda goofy and injury prone. Because if he DOES stay healthy, he immediately changes the fortunes of this team. Teams that have cap space, and virtually have no chance to win a title as constructed ( like us ), would be kinda stupid not to take a chance on a guy like Bynum. You don't fully guarantee his contract, but you make those dollars high enough so that he'd think twice about taking a fully guaranteed offer at a lower amount. You don't win championships with marginal talent. You win championships with ballers.

I hope people realize that Kyle Korver has a 9.5 million dollar cap hold That's why any deal that involves Paul and Howard coming here, means that Kyle has to go. If the Hawks are serious about building a winner, Kyle Korver can't be the 1st guy we add after signing a major free agent. He just can't.

Definitely worth taking a chance on. And I argee with your post. Max him out, but have that team option in Year 2, and possibly even Year 3. If he wants a player option in Year 4, give him that. If teams aren't willing to commit to him long term, or max him out, this will probably be the best deal I'd offer him right now.

30% . . . wow. If that percentage is up to 30% now, Hawks fans should be estatic. Instead, there isn't a single legit rumor out there saying that we can get both Dwight and Chris. Not even a peep from those 2 players that they'd even remotely like to play in Atlanta once the summer ends. If the Hawks want to entice one of those guys to come here, they're going to have to make a BIG TIME coaching splash. Neither guy is going to break their neck to just play with Al Horford and Lou Williams. And it doesn't look like they're ready to give up big money in that 5th year, to play with each other for 3 or 4 years. So Ferry needs to find out what coach both players will like, and see if that will entice them to come here.

I agree. Some people like hearing our names in rumors. But if those rumors are unfounded, or flat out lies, I'd rather the Hawks not be talked about at all. It just makes us look bad and get the fans hopes up . . . for nothing. LOL . . Stan Van Gundy went from being interviewed for the Hawks job, to not being interested in coaching at all this season? I'm just tired of journalists and fake journalists reporting anything and everything, just to get a web hit on a story. Sports reporting has become as annoying as reality TV shows.

The answer is C . . . none of the above. Why in the world would any team want a guy taking 450 3s, if he only shot 30%. That's a recipe for suicide.

Ivan is 28 or 29 . . . what do you think about him?

Copeland shooting the ball right now much better than Kyle Korver did the entire playoffs, except for one game. Over 50% from 3 during the playoffs for him. Impressive comeback by the Knicks. They didn't panic when they got down by 12. Still 9 minutes to go though.

( sigh ) . . . don't get me started on this eFG% stuff. It's like I've always said. There is no way in the world that people would want a 30% 3 point shooter ( Josh Smith ) to shoot more shots from that range, than a 45% long 2 point shooter ( Kyrie Irving ). That 30% 3 point shooter is going to be streaky as hell, and may miss a lot of shots in a row, before making a couple. The 45% long 2 shooter is going to make that shot on a more consistent basis, even in critical times. KB, you watch basketball man. The game is not played on a per 100 possession basis. The game is played on a possession by possession basis. So at any point in a game, you're trying to tell me that you'd rather a 30% three point shooting Josh Smith to be taking a 3 . . . than Kevin Durant ( a 43% long 2 shooter ) . . . simply because on a per 100 possession basis, Josh is going to score more on those 3s, than Kevin is on those long 2s? Is that what you're saying?

More film from the "scrub" who doesn't move well or play defense

Here's your film then

Oh damn. Thanks for reminding me to buy my Powerball tickets before I go to Alabama tonight. I'll play along. - Buy the Hawks, but try to talk some local ATL celebs and/or business people into being minority owners. I need a diverse group. - Dan Cathy ( COO of Chik-fil-A ) . . Net worth - ?? ( but his daddy who owns the company is worth 1.2 billion ) - Tyler Perry ( filmmaker ) . . Net Worth - 400 million . . a good fit for the ATL church crowd, making a lot of money off of them - Jeff Foxworthy ( comedian ) . . Net Worth - 100 million . . Hey, I like "redneck" money too - Raven-Symone ( actress ) . . Net Worth - 45 million ( was rumored to be 400 million ) . . Plus we need a female owner And me . . . The 600 ( 240 ) Million Dollar Man Owner/ Genneral Manager . . . ME ( I'm "Jerry Jones-ing this operation. I want full responsibility for the rise or fall of this team ) Head Coach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jerry Sloan 1st Round Draft Picks . . . . . . . . . Kentavious Caldwell-Pope & Shane Larkin Re-Sign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeff Teague ( 4 yrs - 26 million ) - Ivan Johnson ( 2 years - 4 million ) Major Free Agent Signing . . . . . Al Jefferson ( 4 yrs - 52 million ) Other Free Agent Signings . . . . Tony Allen ( 3 yrs - 15 million ) - Chris Copeland ( 2 yrs - 10 million ) - Corey Brewer ( 2 yrs - 6 million ) - Samuel Dalembert ( 2 yrs - 6 million ) Depth Chart PG: Teague - ( Williams ) - Larkin G: Allen - Williams - Jenkins - ( Pope ) F: Copeland - Brewer - Pope PF: Horford - Ivan - ( Copeland ) - Scott C: Jefferson - Dalembert - ( Ivan )

LOL. Well . . I already built my own team in the other thread. And a forum is about giving your opinion. This is my opinion. You have given yours. I have no problem with that. I just disagree.

So why was Korver so ineffective in the playoffs, if he can do all of this for his team? Why did he not even shoot 40% FG? Why does he always get exposed during the playoffs? I know people like Korver around here. But he's just too one dimensional for a team that didn't have an alpha dog type of scorer. What you said about Korver is illustrated perfectly in this game But as good as Korver shoots, there's a reason why he can't have more games like these. And it's because when teams make it a point not to leave him wide open . . . he's useless. With the way Korver shoots the ball, if he had a move where he could pump fake people, put the ball on the floor, and go to the hole, he'd be a very dangerous offensive player. Instead, he has to work extremely hard, just to get open enough to shoot the ball. Even if Korver could catch the ball in isolation, and simply rise up and shoot it over people, he'd be a much better offensive threat. Instead, he's simply a tall Derek Fisher . . . a guy who you can't afford to leave open ( because he will kill you ), but also a guy who can be shut down fairly easy, if you just don't leave him open. I just think that the Hawks can bring in better talent to fill out this team. Copeland > Korver

LOL . . no one is getting emotional dude. You've been taking snide shots at me ever since I've came back to this forum full time. Even dude the other day called you out on your "rudeness" in the other thread. I'm just dishing it back a little. I think Copeland can give us good minutes at the 3, while also providing quality minutes as a stretch 4, just like he's done with the Knicks. I think he can add some depth to the team overall. I also think he's a better all around player than Kyle Korver. You, and some of the others disagree. But people shouldn't call that dude a scrub, and then try to hype up Korver in the same breath, who has proven to be worthless on his 3rd playoff team. Give me Copeland over re-signing Kyle Korver. And I'd have no problem playing him at SF, just like we did with Smith and Tolliver.

Korver can't even stay on the floor during the playoffs, because teams put him in isolation and completely expose that dude. Those are facts.

But Korver isn't a scrub? All Korver does is make spot up jumpers. He cant take anybody off the dribble. He can't post anybody up. So one guy is a scrub, who had to go through the D-League and to Europe, to finally make it to the NBA. But the other guy isn't a scrub, despite the fact that he's been on 4 NBA teams in 10 years, and possibly 5 in 11 years ( if he doesn't come back to Atlanta ). Korver is the one that sounds like a "journeyman" to me. But he's a fan favorite, so he'll get a pass.

No one is fixating on positions. I simply said that Copeland could be our next SF, and that he could play it the way Smith WANTED to play the position . . as a power 3 or a stretch 4. I really don't know why you're even arguing this. As for Korver . . . Could Korver start over Klay Thompson . . . HELL NO Could Korver start over Danny Green . . . HELL NO Could Korver start over Lance Stephenson . . . you mean the Stephenson that also easily scored on him in the playoffs? NO. Could Korver start over JR Smith . . . HELL NO, even though JR isn't a starter Could Korver start over Belleneli . . . HELL NO . . . Belleneli can shoot and put the ball on the floor and go to the hole. Kyle Korver is a great spot up shooter who would not be starting on any good playoff team that had a decent SG or SF. Yes, he can play SG. That was never in the discussion though. Carmelo Anthony all throughout his career, has played both the 3 and the 4, because he's one of the biggest and strongest SFs in the game. He can post you up or take you outside. That's why athletic 4's have to be put on Melo on occasion, to try to slow him down. So why is it an issue when you have a guy like Copeland who fits the mold of those guys who can play both the 3 and the 4 ( albeit at a lesser skill level )? Just because I want him at SF, doesn't mean he'll play there full time. But he has a versatile enough game to definitely play the position. LOL . . you're like one of my ex-girlfriends in college. Always had an argument for anything I said. I was blinded by her cuteness and that azz, but all of that nit-picking quickly ended that relationship. So go ahead. Nag some more and nit-pick. SMH @ this dude.