TheNorthCydeRises

Unfair to bash Josh as the reason why we can't be a championship caliber team. The organization itself is not committed to winning a title. It starts from there, then trickles down.

Damn . . . the 3 by Teague is nullified by George's 3 point play. 58 points given up at halftime. Just have to play better defense. LOL . . I don't know how, with this personnel group, but they have to be better. Josh may have to play SF in some stretches vs George, to see if we can keep a man in front of him and keep him out of the paint. 10 FTAs for George already. Pacers are 15 - 15 at the line. Hawks as a team have 7 FTAs, and have only made 3 of them. We're lucky to only be down by 8.

Keep balling Ivan. This dude HAS to be re-signed in the summer. He's playing great on offense and doesn't mind banging his body around one bit. Wish he would've gone straight up right there vs Hibbert, instead of throwing the ball out to Teague ( who was open though ). Turnovers starting to mount this quarter, but the Hawks are only down 5. Oh yeah . . . chill on the Josh Smith criticism. Dude is playing well right now. The problem right now is with the Teague vs Hill matchup, in which Hill is KILLING Teague. Make your FTs Teague and cut this down to 3.

TNT: "Mike Woodson did a great job in Atlanta." LOL . . . they go to the extreme with things. Either that, or expectations for this franchise is so low, that just mere playoff appearances are "great" for us. Woody did a "nice" job in Atlanta in his final 3 years there, but the Orlando series caused him to not be re-signed. That's what they should've said. Two good plays by Josh as soon as he comes back into the game. Only down 7 now. Ivan gave us some good minutes when he was in the game. If Korver proves to be ineffective this game, I may want to see the Horford - Ivan - Smith lineup . . . provided that Smith doesn't get jumpshot happy. Horford playing real well now. Hmmm . . . David West hurt.

We're not playing bad. Actually we're playing pretty good offensively. It's just that we can't stop anybody. If Korver picks up that 3rd foul, it will be interesting to see what lineup Drew goes with. He may go small and put Deshawn at the 3, with Teague and Harris in the backcourt.

All I know is that the Nets look damn good right now. That move and pass that Deron just did to set up Lopez was SICK. The Hawks definitely did the right thing in "tanking" those final 2 games. No way I wanted to face that team in Round 1. If JJ and especially Gerald Wallace can get back right, along with Deron and Lopez playing like they are right now, they'll push the Heat in Round 2 a little further than people think they will.

As for Josh turning down that deal, he had to turn down that deal. He'll get a contract more than 45 million from somebody. A team will at least give him a 4 year - 50 to 60 million dollar deal. I still say that a team like Houston or Cleveland is going to make a big run at Josh this summer. People must keep in mind that the main reason why Josh is somewhat expendable to the Hawks, is because Horford can slide right in and play PF. At that point, if the Hawks can get a quality center ( Nicola Pekovic ) at a price cheaper than Josh, that will help balance out the team in a big way on offense. Problem is, I can easily see the T-Wolves overpaying to keep Pekovic in the mix, because he's a big time fan favorite now.

If we could get those two for that price, that would be big time. May have to overpay to pry Tyreke from Kings though. Not sure I'd do that. But overpaying Tyreke means something like 8 - 9 mill a year, compared to overpaying for Josh, which would mean 14 - 16 mill a year.

http://www.nba.com/2013/news/04/15/celtics-game-canceled-ap.ap/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpts Due to the Boston Marathon bombings today, the NBA ( with probably strong encouragement from the city of Boston ) cancelled tomorrow night's Celtics vs Pacers game. That was scheduled to be the early TNT game. TNT replaced that game with our game, and the game will start at 8PM.

If one of you guys have access to ESPN Insider, could you tell us who they have the Hawks selecting with those two picks, on their mock draft board?

Welcome to the board. Don't be afraid to express your opinions on any subject at any time. You'll quickly find out here that people almost never agree totally with each other on a subject, which keeps the board lively. Something that looks cut and dry to one person, will look totally different to another. For example . . . my answer to Question 1 . . lol. 1) Let's hold off on Ferry being a "god" until we really see what he can do this summer. Yes, Joe Johnson was overpaid with that contract. But the fact that we basically gave away a 6-time All-Star for a bunch of dead flies and a low 1st round draft pick, isn't exactly an Earth shattering move. We also got Kyle Korver because of the JJ trade ( via a 5 million dollar trade exception we received from the trade ), which as of right now, was the best thing that came out of that trade. But even with Kyle, he may simply be a one year rental. As for JJ's contract not being able to be moved in the future as he declined, that's false. While JJ's salary in Year 5 ( 23.2 mill ) and Year 6 ( 24.9 mill ) is INSANE, a team looking to rebuild and/or shed future salary, would've been willing to trade with us. Most of the time, we'd be able to add decent players in a trade, while also possibly having to take on one "bad" contract of an underachieving mediocre player. Even with the new collective bargaining agreement, trades like that will still go down. The real truth is that had the Joe Johnson trade not go down this season, we'd be a better team right now ( possibly the #3 seed ). But we wouldn't be any closer to winning a championship now, or possibly in the future. I wasn't totally against the JJ trade, but I was against trading him for what we got for him. Ferry took the bare minimum for Joe. So we'll have to see what he brings in to improve the team, before we can erect that statue of Danny Ferry in front of Philips Arena. 2) Like Camp said, "top tier" is a funny word. There are only two players in the top tier . . . Dwight Howard and Chris Paul. No, we probably can't sign them both. No, neither of them has shown any indication that they'd want to come here. Despite this being Dwight's home town, he has NEVER said that he wanted to play for the Hawks one day. And playing with Josh Smith isn't as appealing as one would think. I think maybe if we were to pull of a trade to bring Rajon Rondo to Atlanta ( in a sign and trade of Josh Smith ), MAYBE Dwight may glance our way for about 3 seconds. A Rondo - Horford - Dwight trio would be very interesting here. But Dwight, once again, has shown not one bit of interest of playing for the Hawks. Also remember that the Lakers can offer him an extra year on his contract and give him about 30 million more than any other team in the league. Plus he's on the Lakers, the highest profile team in the league. Those are two BIG things they have against us, that we simply cannot duplicate. As for Chris Paul, he plays with the league's most exciting dunker in Blake Griffin, and he plays in a city in which he can get as much media attention he wants. He's been the #1 reason why the Clippers fortune as a franchise has turned around. I'll admit that it will be interesting to see what will happen with the Clips and Paul, if they crash and burn in the 1st round. Maybe he will blink a little if that happens. But like with Dwight Howard, the Clippers can pay him more than anybody . . and he hasn't talked about playing in Atlanta since the time he got drafted. 3) Honestly, it really doesn't matter. Hawks are currently slotted to have the #18 pick ( ours ) and the #20 pick ( the pick we got in the JJ trade, which the Nets got from Houston ). If we're the 5th seed, that pick is the #19 selection. So it's not like we're going to get a significantly better player either way. The names being thrown around on different mock draft boards with those selections, are guys like: Archie Goodwin ( SG - Kentucky ) Mitch McGary ( C - Michigan ) James McAdoo ( PF - North Carolina ) Steven Adams ( C - Pittsburgh ) Rudy Gobert ( C - France ) Lucas Noquiera ( C - Brazil ) If none of those names blow you away, you kind of see where we are with those picks. Can any of those big men even be better than Ivan Johnson? Is a guy like Archie Goodwin a better SG than John Jenkins? This is where we'll really see what kind of GM that Ferry is. Coming from the San Antonio management machine, Popovich, Ferry, and their scouting team had a knack for finding diamonds in the rough or very good international players who flew under the radar. If Ferry can duplicate that here, he'll prove his worth as a good GM. 4) If we could trade the picks to get a decent established player ( especially at SF ), I'd probably be all for trading the picks. Something tells me that Ferry will hold onto the picks, and try to build the team from the ground, up. 5) If Josh really doesn't show out in the playoffs, and play at a high level ( I'm talking about legit All-Star level ), it's time for the Josh Smith era to end in Atlanta. He's part of the element that makes us good as a team. But he's also part of the element that holds this team back. If he's still jacking up a ton of bad jumpers in a playoff series, and we lose partially because of that, say bye, bye to Josh. Give complete control of the team to Horford, or whatever big name free agent we may bring in. Josh isn't exactly the guy I want to go to battle with, in a playoff series. Honestly, it may simply be time to part ways. He gave us a good 9 years. But like Joe Johnson, he couldn't get us to the next level. Let's see if we can replace Josh with a better player that compliments the team overall.

Until ATL proves that it can be a big time city from an attendance and enthusiasm perspective, they'll always be looked at as a bad sports town, when fans don't even support decent teams like they should support them.

Wretch, the difference is this . . . If Portland were in the mix to make the playoffs, instead of being 11 games under .500 and on an 8 game losing streak ( at the time they played the Lakers ), those KOBE MVP chants would've been drown out by the plethora of Blazer fans in the building, rooting for their team to make the playoffs and beat the Lakers. The "bandwagon effect" may exist in some form in every arena/city, but in ATL, it doesn't matter if you're playing at a high level at the time . . . the "bandwagonners" still outnumber and out "volume" the die-hards. That's the difference. And even when the Lakers went to Indy to play the Pacers, even the die hard Pacer fans agreed with George calling out the "bangwagon" fans and/or Pacer fans who sold their tickets just to make a buck. The Braves are the hottest thing going in baseball right now. The Upton brothers have lived up to the hype, and exceeded it early in the season. Let's see if the city gets behind them, if they keep winning at a ridiculous rate . . . or if "fans" will use the "well let's wait and see what they'll do in the playoffs", before they support the team like a real good team should be supported.

(( Ding !! )) Horford + Lou + Jenkins + two 1st round draft picks = around 20 million The cap holds on Smith and Devin Harris alone total over 29 million Both CP3 and D12 will get max deals, totaling about 37 - 40 million together in the first year Even if you renounced everyone else's contracts, we'd only have about 11 million under the salary cap to sign both CP3 and D12. To sign both of those guys, we'd have to cut ALL of our free agents . . . including Smith and Jeff Teague. So Horford, Lou, Jenkins, two 1st round draft picks, CP3 and D12 = between 57 - 60 million . . . hopefully the salary cap is at least that high, otherwise, we can only afford one of them. At this point, we are now over the salary cap, and can only add a MLE level player, a LLE level player, and some rookie and vet minimum guys to fill out the roster. Would Harris or Korver come back for a MLE level contract? 2 yrs - 10 mill . . ( can't have them both, because both will probably will get a deal close to MLE type money from someone else. So pick one ) Would Ivan come back if we gave him the LLE ( Bi-Annual )? 2 yrs - 4 million . . ( which basically doubles what he's making right now ) Fill out the rest of the roster with vet minimum guys and non-drafted/cut rookies.

Like I said back in the summer, John Jenkins should've been the starter from Day 1. Should've just thrown him right into the fire, and see how he responded. Deshawn tries on defense, and he's a decent defender. But what he gives on defense is offset by his erratic offense. Then add the fact that he can't even play everyday, just makes the situation worse regarding him and his playing time. Prediction: Jenkins will have more of an impact during the playoffs, than Deshawn will.

LOL. Of course people would rather play the Nets, even though that means the Heat in Round 2.People better be careful for what they wish for. The Nets are built for the playoffs. That is NOT a team we want to playing in Round 1, especially with them having home court advantage. Deron is playing like a Top 3 PG and a top 15 player these days. We're Shorthanded in the post vs LopezAnd in ISO situations, we have no one to guard JJ. And with Reggie Evans rebounding like he's Bill Russell, they are a very dangerous team.So give me the "boring" Pacers, with a chance to play the Knicks or Celtics in Round 2.But like I've been saying all year, there is a specific interest in JJ and the Brooklyn Nets. And beating them would validate beyond a shadow of a doubt that we did the right thing. Just be careful what you wish for.

But he can't . . and he won't . . so it will never happen. It's been 9 years. If Josh hasn't reached his potential yet, he'll never reach it.

I'm mad that Joakim Noah at #19 is ranked ahead of Horford. If Noah is #19, then Horford is #16 or #17.

And that's why I laid out the process like I did. For a team like the Lakers, who would probably be the #1 overall seed in the Draft Tournament, they would probably have to go through these teams: - Dallas in the qualifying round ( possibly @ Dallas ) - Portland in the 1st round of the tourney - Washington in the Semis ( who have won 18 of their last 32 games, and beat the Lakers in LA recently ) - and Cleveland with Kyrie Irving in the Finals. If the Lakers beat those 4 teams and got the #1 pick, so be it. At least we know that the pick is going to a team that will make them better, instead of going to a bottom feeder for the next 3 years, playing in obscurity . . . unless he's truly a great player. And the rest of those teams are still going to be slotted in their respective positions, according to record. The real issues with the scenario I present, is how many teams fighting for the #8 seed, would rather tank the season and get into that tournament, than to play in the playoffs and be the probable sacrificial lamb to the #1 seed. That's the real issue.

You mean the same "star laden" Laker team who are currently in a dogfight with New Orleans . . in a virtual must-win game for them . . but are only up 3 points with 4 minutes to go? And they're playing in LA at that?

I personally despise the Draft Lottery, in which the ping pong balls aren't selected live on the air. They could easily do this if they wanted to, but act like they need some secret accounting firm to do all of this. All it does is create speculation among fans about how the league rigs the results. Just let these guys play for it out on the court.

I like your idea. But I've been an advocate for a few years now, of having an NCAA style tournament to decide who will pick first in the NBA draft. A Draft Lottery tournament. The winner gets the 1st pick in the draft, while everybody else just falls back into place, slotted by worst record. You'd have a qualifying round between the 14 eligible teams, to see who would play in the single elimination tournament, held in a neutral city ( like what you proposed ). Las Vegas would probably be my choice, but I agree that they could also have the tournament in NBA prospective cities like KC, Louisville, Seattle, or even Virginia Beach, to see how fans would react to the NBA coming to their city for a weekend. 1st Round * Matchups determined by record. Example . . worst two teams would play vs each other ( #7 seed ) . . then the next two would play vs each other ( #6 seed ) . . and so on. The tournament needs to be weighted, as to give the low seeds a chance to advance far in the tournament, while the top seeds would have to face each other all the way up until the Finals. Matchups ( as of today ) . . . coin flip determines home team #7 seed - Orlando @ Charlotte#6 seed - Cleveland @ Phoenix#5 seed - Detroit @ Sacramento#4 seed - New Orleans @ Washington#3 seed - Minnesota @ Toronto#2 seed - Philadelphia @ Portland#1 seed - LA Lakers @ Dallas Winners of these games get to go play in the Draft Lottery Tournament. #7 seed gets a 1st round bye. Play 1st Round #1 vs #2 #3 vs #4 #5 vs #6#7 Bye Semifinals Winner of ( #1 vs #2 ) plays winner of ( #3 vs #4 )Winner of ( #5 vs #6 ) plays #7 Finals Winner of ( #1 thru #4 ) plays Winner of ( #5 thru #7 )So if a Draft Tournament final featured the LA Lakers vs Sacramento, that's OK. Winner of tournament gets #1 pick. Everybody else gets slotted by record. The winner of the draft tournament is NOT ELIGIBLE to play in next year's tournament, if they don't make the playoffs. At that point, the team with the worst record would automatically be Personally, I'd rather see a lot of these top stars go to a bad, but not horrible team . . than to go to a bottom feeder. I'd much rather see the kid from Kentucky ( Nerlens Noel ) go to a team like Toronto, and make an immediate impact for them to make the playoffs, than to go to Charlotte, and still be on a bad team.

Too bad I missed the Hawksquawk fantasy b-ball league. I guess I'll just have to settle for the AJC League crown, if Northcyde United can pull it out this week in the Finals. Would've been nice to have a shot to win 2 leagues though.

LOL . . Drew changed the lineup on the 2nd day of the season. Now granted, Josh was out that game vs OKC, after we lost to Houston, but here was the Houston lineup PG - Teague G - Harris F - Korver PF - Smith C - Horford Here was the lineup vs OKC PG - Teague G - Stevenson F - Korver PF - Tolliver C - Horford Smith was out, Devin came off the bench 3rd game vs Pacers, we get Josh back. Here is the lineup PG - Teague G - Korver F - Smith PF - Horford C - Zaza 4th game vs Heat PG - Teague G - Stevenson F - Korver PF - Smith C - Horford 5th game vs Clippers PG - Teague G - Korver F - Smith PF - Horford C - Zaza 6th game vs Portland PG - Teague G - Stevenson F - Korver PF - Smith C - Horford 7th game vs Golden St PG - Teague G - Stevenson F - Korver PF - Smith C - Zaza ( Horford out ) 8th game vs Sacramento PG - Teague G - Korver F - Smith PF - Horford C - Zaza LOL . . 9th game vs Orlando PG - Teague G - Harris F - Korver PF - Smith C - Horford It wasn't until Game #10 vs Washington, that we saw Drew stick with the exact same lineup. But it only lasted 1 game. Deshawn was back as the starter in Game 11 vs Charlotte. The injuries may had a lot to do with the different lineups, but Drew started this trend almost immediately. If the team doesn't have an identity, it is his fault. I thought we were supposed to be this fast paced, run and gun team? I thought this team was supposed to easily average over 100 ppg? I thought that was our "identity"? I guess I was wrong.