TheNorthCydeRises

Did you see the way Miami was swarming that dude last night? He maybe got one open look all game. Korver is 6 - 21 from 3 in the last 5 games. Most notably, he's only had 24 shot attempts total in the last 4 game, for a 5.4 ppg average. One thing about good defense is not just forcing a guy to shoot a low percentage, it's forcing him to reduce his attempts altogether.

Because these are the types of games where a team can prove they can at least compete. They did it out in LA vs the Lakers. And this was a "national" game.Then again, you're right. We almost never show up on national TV, unless it is the playoffs, where we can't help but win a few games.

70 points with 6 minutes to go. Dang . . we're going to break 85 points, right? In games like these, we have no chance of winning, because we can't stop anybody and secure rebounds. If we get into a slugfest, we're done. Gotta get out and literally outrun and outgun teams. Definitely a disappointing effort. I thought they'd play much better than this.

Not true . . . but if you want to believe that, that's fine. Marvin upped his trade value in those last 2 games vs Boston, when he was knocking down 3's left and right. Mack and Scott in now. Drew tossing in the white flag early as hell, like he did in the Brooklyn game.

Ivan would fit in well with the Heat. We don't use the dude nearly enough. He'd get 20 minutes a game on the Heat though. SMH . . . Drew has the entire bench in, with Miami still having Wade and Allen out on the floor. Down 20. Game over. Well, at least Milwaukee is down 16 right now. So they shouldn't gain any ground on us tonight.

Wow . . . you see Miami SWARM to Korver as soon as he touched that ball? They are not going to let him even try to get hot.

Not trade FOR Devin . . but a trade to get rid of Devin.

And I see why Utah made a trade for Devin. He's a good offensive player. But when they signed Mo Williams, the Jazz felt they needed more shooting and wing defense. So Marvin, even at 2 years, was an option for them to go to, than to keep Devin on the team . . who plays no defense whatsoever. Not saying that they made the right decision, but I can see why they made the decision.

0 - 6 on jumpers for Josh, yet, he's 7 -16 FG. What does this mean? That means he's 7 - 10 FG on shots inside of 15 feet. Drew finally pulled his butt. And the defense has totally collapsed and we're now down 14. Can't survive when he's in the game trying to be Glen Rice. But can't survive when he's out of the game, because no one else plays defense. And the wrong people are shooting the ball.

( sigh )Another game getting killed on the boards. Heat have 10 offensive boards already. Seems like more than that.Come on Teague. Wake the hell up. Gotta have this dude playing much better in the 3rd, or this game could turn ugly very quickly.

No, but he could've held onto him for at least one more year to see what a squad minus Marvin but plus Devin and Lou could do . . or traded him for a player or players who can actually play and contribute. Had he played hardball with Brooklyn, and traded him for an expiring ( Farmar or Morrow ), plus the long contract of Gerald Wallace and the youngster MarShon Brooks, that would've given the Hawks tangible assets to work with going into this year, without killing our cap space. And if he makes a deal like that, he still could've added Williams and possibly Korver to the squad. PG - Teague G - Harris F - Wallace PF - Smith C - Horford G - Williams G/F - Korver C - Zaza G - Brooks F - Ivan That team gives the Hawks a much more flexible squad to throw out on the court, while also retaining our "financial flexibility". We could either put an offensive or defensive squad out on the court. Wallace + Smith would've been a great defensive tandem for this team, while Korver is there if we needed his offense. And Brooks is there as a young guy we can develop. In the summer of 2013, Horford, Wallace, Williams, and Jenkins would've been the only ones under contract, totaling a little over 30 million. That means we'd still have TONS of cap space to work with to add that "superstar", or to re-sign our own guys, or to add at least one decent player. Even if you kept JJ, you still could've added Williams, and made the Harris for Marvin trade . . and been under the Luxury Tax. G - Teague G - Harris F - Johnson PF - Smith C - Horford I'd definitely roll with that starting group for at least one more year. But I already know how this is going to play out, in the event that Ferry actually makes things worse around here. Guys like you will spin it as "well, we did the right thing, regardless of what is happening now". I hope that Ferry can bring in some guys . . legitimate guys . . and have a keen eye in the draft, to help get this franchise to the next level. But like Diesel said . . . when you trade for nothing, you normally end up with nothing. Heck, even when Memphis traded Pau Gasol in what was perceived to be back then a lopsided trade in the Lakers favor, they obtained the rights to Marc Gasol and got 2 draft picks ( Grevis Vazquez and Devin Ebanks ). Even if Ferry couldn't get all of that for JJ, he didn't even try to get anything tangible . . but "cap space". He took the first deal that they could dump him on. And if we lose Smith for nothing, people will be saying the same thing. The jury is out on Mr. Ferry. If people want to build him a statue, they better build it out of play-doh.

His role is also reduced in Brooklyn . . and that TS% and PER has been steadily dropping since he hurt his foot. On the Hawks, it could very well be that Horford is still the best player on this team with JJ here. And it could very well that JJ would've been more than willing to see his role reduced some, so that guys like Teague and Harris could push the pace and make life easier for him offensively. What we wouldn't have, is this extreme deficiency at the wing positions, when it comes to defense and offensive creation. We don't have a single SG or SF who can create his offense. And the guys we play at SG that can create their offense, are all PGs, which means that they become a liability on defense. And even Korver as of late has been exposed on defense. This team is only slightly better offensively ( not by offensive rating though ), but much worse defensively. And we don't have a closer. The issue isn't really about JJ being here or not being here though. It's about what kind of flight path Ferry has for this team, now that Paul and Howard are virtually out of the mix. Who can he bring here in the 2013 free agency period, that is going to have this team going in the upward direction, instead of slowly descending downward? Is Brandon Jennings or Al Jefferson the future leader and closer for the Hawks? Or will Ferry commit to the Horford - Smith duo? Ferry's accolades are premature, until we see exactly what he can do with "cap space".

AHF . . you know we could've added Lou Williams to this squad, with JJ still here, and still not be over the Luxury Tax. You know that, right? You know that our offensive rating is slightly lower than last year's team ( without Horford, who usually helps the offensive rating tremendously with his high FG% shooting ). You know that we won at a higher winning percentage last year, than this year. Even when we had Lou, we were only a 22 - 17 team and on pace for 46 wins. Now, we're 34 - 28 and on pace for 45 wins. Last year's team, without Horford, won 40 games in a 66 game season, which translates to a 50 win season. We're scoring almost 1 point more per game, but giving up almost 3 points more per game. 1 point more a game, despite a pace increase of about 2 possessions. And that increased pace and new players hasn't translated into anything at the box office. In fact, attendance is worse. Unless Teague and Horford take complete control of this offense come playoff time, we're not a better team than last year. So basically, all Ferry has done so far, is flipped Marvin for Harris, and JJ for Korver. And both Harris and Korver could be gone next year. ( shrugs )

I played HS basketball and one year of JUCO basketball in those damn shorts. No thank you. When you'd come out of a game and go to the bench, those shorts would literally ride all the way up your thighs. Those were the real "granny drawers", because those shorts were dang near like playing in your boxers. Look at this Dominique top 10 highlight clip. And focus on the shorts. There is such a thing as "too long" though. The Arkansas teams of the mid 90s used to wear ridiculously long shorts. And the main offender of that was sharpshooting guard Alex Dillard, whose shorts damn near went 3 inches below his knees.

The key is defending those Heat shooters. No way can we let Allen and Battier get consistent open looks all night. And we can't turn the ball over more than 12 times tonight, and expect to win. I do think this game will be a lot closer than most people think. I'd be surprised if they laid another egg again. If they do, that will be a bad sign for the rest of the month.

You are Danny Ferry. You have Al Horford, John Jenkins, and Lou Williams currently under contract. And you possibly have two 1st round draft picks to add to the roster, depending on if Houston can slip into the playoffs. So that's 8 spots left ( at minimum ) to add to the team. You have somewhere around 39 million to work with, if you decide to renounce all remaining unrestricted contracts on the Hawks ( which includes Smith, Teague, and Zaza ). Who do you add? And list what you'd pay each guy in that 1st year. Here are the list of names, or write in your own name(s). Be realistic about who we can get, and who you KNOW isn't coming here. Matter of fact, I'll take out two names you CANNOT USE - Chris Paul - Dwight Howard You don't have to list all 8 names if you don't want to. Just list the main guys you want from this list and the 1st year salary you'd pay him. Also, don't forget about our own guys that you may or may not want to bring back. Here's the 2013 free agent list of names, along with which players are Unrestricted, Restricted, have an Early Termination Option, or a Player Option. The guys with nothing by their names are the Unrestricted free agents. http://www.hoopsworld.com/2013-nba-free-agents/ Have at it, if you like. Who do you want on the Hawks, to build for the future? And to make it even more interesting, list which guys you would sign 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc

A few teams are still currently playoff teams without their "best player". Chicago is still a playoff team without Derrick Rose. Indiana is one without Danny Granger ( although Paul George may be the best player now ) Boston is even better without Rondo ( and people believed that he was their best player before he got hurt ) Ferry is to be commended on who he added to the roster last offseason ( Lou Williams, Devin Harris, Kyle Korver ). And speaking of Korver, he was the best thing that came from the JJ trade. Without that trade exception we got from the JJ trade, we don't have Korver on this team. The "nothings" acquired from the JJ trade were just that . . . nothings. - Jordan Farmar is out the league - Jordan Williams is out the league - Anthony Morrow was consistently hurt, and was traded for Dahntay Jones ( who can only help us defensively ) - Deshawn Stevenson has been better than expected, but he can't go back to back games - And what little value Johan Petro possesses, has only recently been tapped into None of these players will ( or shouldn't ) be back next year. Korver may not even be back next year. So any judgement on what Ferry does with the 21 million JJ would've made next year, will be determined by the moves he makes starting next year. That's why guys like myself and Diesel can't be all "rah-rah" for what Ferry did by trading JJ for nothing. With no Chris Paul or Dwight Howard on the horizon for the Hawks, none of you who claim to have loved what Ferry did, can even come to even a little consensus on what he should do next. Most of you don't like Al Jefferson or Monta Ellis You didn't want to flip Josh for Pau Gasol Who do you guys want? Or does the only thing that matters is that we got JJ's contract off the books, regardless of who we add to this team? What is the "grand plan" now that it's pretty obvious that Paul and Howard isn't coming here ( as if they were ever coming here )?

The funny thing to me is this. Every fan on this board, whether they liked or disliked JJ, KNOWS that opposing coaches focused on stopping or slowing him down before any other player on this team. They didn't fear Smith and his offense. They all focused on stopping #2. That's why the dude would constantly get doubled at times, like he was Kobe or something. The goal was to get the ball out of his hands, and see if people like Josh, Teague, Marvin, Willie Green and T-Mac ( when healthy ) could beat them. This year, we all asked ourselves who would be the "closer" at the end of games, if it came down to that. And the answer to that question wasn't Josh. It wasn't even Al Horford. It was Lou Williams. The major reason why Smith isn't considered to be an All-Star by the coaches, is because of his limited ability and decision making on the offensive end of the court. If he sacrificed some of his offense, his defense would stand out even more, which would elevate him in the eyes of coaches. But the offense is just so bad at times, that coaches can't overlook that. Eventually, I think Horford CAN be that closer to some extent. I see Horford really using that midrange jumper in the same way Chris Webber used his while in Sacramento. When the Kings were real good, Webber would kill people with that elbow jumper. Smith has almost no shot to be the closer, because of his issues at the FT line and lack of ability to hit the midrange shot. Unless he develops a very good post move that he can score off of, he just can't be trusted with the ball at the end of games.

Quick !!! Name 3 memorable Steve Smith playoff games with him in a Hawks uniform, that led to Hawks victories. I can easily do that with JJ.

Great poll, by the way. Most of my answers were the more popular answers. As for Ferry, I'm indifferent to him at this moment. I want to see what he does this summer to improve the team. Pulling a "Rick Sund" and bringing everybody back is not an option in my book. And I'm very interested to see if he re-signs Larry Drew, or brings in a very good coach from somewhere else.

They would've accomplished the same thing we will have possibly accomplished in the coming years. They gave a dead or mediocre franchise . . HOPE. Hope that they could possibly play at the highest level, by acquiring 3 guys who are top 10 all-around players at their respective positions. If the next 3 playoff seasons for the Nets see them doing this: 2013 - EC Finals . . ( lose in 5 games )2014 - EC Finals . . ( lose in 6 games )2015 - EC Semis . . ( lose in 7 games ) And they simply lost to a better Miami team in each of those instances, I can't call what the Nets did . . a failure. They would be seen as trying to assemble the best team possible, but just couldn't get it done vs one of the best teams in NBA history ( and the Heat are possibly trending toward being just that ).Hell. Hawks fans would jump for joy if that were our 3 year playoff track starting this season. I mean, until New York or Indy or Chicago ( with Rose ) prove that they are beyond a shadow of a doubt the 2nd best team in the conference, I think there is little difference between positions 2 - 7. The only difference will be the matchups each team presented to one another.

It would depend on what type of players they got back in the deal. There are always guys of value around the league, who may be good role players, but not starters. I think a guy like Gerald Wallace will still have value in the league in 2 years, because he can defend the basketball. So say you're a playoff team like the Chicago Bulls, and it's the summer of 2015. You refused to pay a near MAX contract to Luou Deng in the summer of 2014, and lost him to the Sixers. The Bulls were still a high level playoff team with Rose in 2014 - 15, but they needed a good wing defender to guard Lebron and Wade, who have now won 3 titles in a row. Carlos Boozer's contract expires in the summer of 2015, but he's still showing some value to the team as a decent frontline scorer. And because the Bulls need that scoring, they may consider him more valuable than say Taj Gibson, who is locked up for another 2 years at 17.45 million dollars. Gibson still is a quality backup PF at age 30, but his value is less than Boozer's. So they sign Boozer to a 3 year - 21 million dollar deal, with team and player options ( at age 33 ). And they call the Nets about trading for Gerald Wallace, who just turned 33 and is still an above average wing defender. Chicago knows that Brooklyn needs to shed salary somewhere, anywhere. So they inquire about Wallace. The Bulls, by not re-signing Deng in 2014, avoided paying the tax that season, so they make a decision to possibly be a taxpaying team if need be. Brooklyn says . . "OK Chicago . . We'll give you Gerald Wallace and our 2013 1st round pick ( projected to be Doug McDermott of Creighton @ #20 ) for Taj Gibson and your 2017 2nd round pick". Chicago says . . . DEAL . . and the Nets trade away a little over 11 million in salary and take back Taj's 8.5 million slated for the 2015 - 16 season, saving 2.5 million going into 2015 - 16. And he'll have one more season at almost 9 million that the Nets would have to deal with. If and when that deal is made, the question will be if Gerald can serve his purpose as a high level, albeit overpaid wing defender. And can Taj play PF well enough to possibly warrant him even getting in the starting lineup? Deals like this are done all the time in the NBA. And this new CBA isn't going to stop a good playoff team from adding a piece that they think can get them over the hump, even if they're paying a little too much for it.

You have it exactly right. You just can't see far enough to see how it will ( and has worked in the past ). Of course the team will dump a longer contract on you. But it will be for less money, and may be easier to trade in the new future for an even lesser contract. Scenario: - It's January 2015, and the Nets are looking at paying a ridiculous tax bill at the end of the 2016 season. Their total salary will be 79 - 80 million going into the 2015 - 16 season ( after they sign a slew of vet minimum guys to fill out the roster ). With the Nets failing to get to the NBA Finals, and the team in decline, they decide to deconstruct the team. And the target of that deconstruction are their 2 expiring contacts in 2016: - Gerald Wallace: 10.1 mill - Joe Johnson: 24.9 mill - Total: 35 million The goal: Flip those 2 contracts and turn them into 25 million worth of contracts going into the 2015 - 16 season. For the Nets, hopefully the Luxury Tax will be slightly higher in 3 years, at around 72 - 73 million. - July 2015 . . . the Nets trade Wallace ( and his 10 mill salary ) to a team that has given up on a player with 2 years and 15 million ( 7.5 mill a year ) left on his contract. The team sees a way acquire Wallace, and shed that 10 million at the end of 2016, so they make the deal. This scenario could also involve 2 players making 4 mill apiece. They both may have contracts extending 2 or 3 years. Nets savings on trade: 2 - 2.5 million - August 2015 . . . the Nets strike a deal with a team to trade Joe Johnson in a 3 player trade. One player makes 11 million and has 3 yrs left on his deal. Another player makes 4 million and has 2 years left on his deal. The third player makes 5 million, and expires at the end of 2016. The team trading the 3 players sees the opportunity to shed 16 million in payroll by making this move at the end of 2016. Nets savings on this trade: 5 million - February 2016: The Nets make even more moves to shed payroll before the trade deadline. They trade a 4 million dollar player acquired in the Wallace deal for a guy making 2.5 mill for the next 3 years. Nets savings on this trade: 1.5 million Total trade savings: 8 million Nets accomplish their goal, and get under the Tax. Easy to do my friend. And it's done all the time in this league.

What was this for? Did Diesel say something that was incorrect? If so, what do you disagree with? And Woody actually did reach Smith . . somewhat . . in his last season here. That was by far Smith's most efficient year offensively as a Hawk.

That's a screen shot of ESPN's shot chart. - Go to any box score of past Hawks games on their site - Then click on the Shot Chart tab. It'll pull up what the entire team shot. - Then you can sort it out by quarter for the team, or see what each individual player shot per game or quarter Sometimes they have glitches, but most of the time, their shot chart is correct. Josh's chart normally has a bunch of X's on shots 16 feet or more, and a bunch of O's in shots near the rim.