TheNorthCydeRises

And despite all of this, he still averaged about 18.8 ppg - shot 45.4% FG - dished out 3.9 assists and shot 38.8% 3FG. You know how many players in the league did that in 2011 - 12? ZERO http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=single&type=totals&per_minute_base=36&lg_id=NBA&is_playoffs=N&year_min=2012&year_max=2012&franch_id=&season_start=1&season_end=-1&age_min=0&age_max=99&height_min=0&height_max=99&birth_country_is=Y&birth_country=&is_active=&is_hof=&is_as=&as_comp=gt&as_val=0&pos_is_g=Y&pos_is_gf=Y&pos_is_f=Y&pos_is_fg=Y&pos_is_fc=Y&pos_is_c=Y&pos_is_cf=Y&qual=&c1stat=pts_per_g&c1comp=gt&c1val=18.7&c2stat=fg_pct&c2comp=gt&c2val=.45&c3stat=fg3_pct&c3comp=gt&c3val=.38&c4stat=ast_per_g&c4comp=gt&c4val=3.8&c5stat=&c5comp=gt&c6mult=1.0&c6stat=&order_by=ws If you slightly reduced the parameters to 18 ppg - 45% FG - 38% 3FG - 3 assists . . . that list grows to only 3 players - Kevin Durant . . ( Superstar ) - Joe Johnson . . ( a garbage player according to some ) - Kyrie Irving . . ( the #1 pick last year ) http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=single&type=totals&per_minute_base=36&lg_id=NBA&is_playoffs=N&year_min=2012&year_max=2012&franch_id=&season_start=1&season_end=-1&age_min=0&age_max=99&height_min=0&height_max=99&birth_country_is=Y&birth_country=&is_active=&is_hof=&is_as=&as_comp=gt&as_val=0&pos_is_g=Y&pos_is_gf=Y&pos_is_f=Y&pos_is_fg=Y&pos_is_fc=Y&pos_is_c=Y&pos_is_cf=Y&qual=&c1stat=pts_per_g&c1comp=gt&c1val=18&c2stat=fg_pct&c2comp=gt&c2val=.45&c3stat=fg3_pct&c3comp=gt&c3val=.38&c4stat=ast_per_g&c4comp=gt&c4val=3&c5stat=&c5comp=gt&c6mult=1.0&c6stat=&order_by=ws The same thing that applies to Josh Smith, applies to Joe Johnson. Do you know how many players averaged 18 ppg - 9 rebs - 3 assists - and 1.5 blocks? TWO - Blake Griffin - Josh Smith When you're talking about "making over" the Hawks, this is the type of production that you have to replace. If you're replacing Joe Johnson, you better get a guy ( or multiple players ) who can not only create their own shot, but also play good defense and have enough awareness to create for others. What guy in this year's upcoming draft has the potential to be a Joe Johnson? The only guy I see is Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. And he's a projected top 5 pick. What guy in this year's upcoming draft has the potential to be a Josh Smith? You know what? I don't see A ONE. But some of you guys are so crazed and worried about what the potential of JJ making 93 million dollars next year, that you're willing to dismantle the entire team and start over, despite this team simply being out of balance . . and not in decline. The truth about Joe Johnson's season last year, is that Josh Smith took the reigns as the #1 option in usage and shot attempts. It wasn't because JJ was inefficient though. In fact, he had his 2nd most efficient year in ATL The only thing that was in decline about that dude last year, was his shot attempts ( 15.5 per game ) which is the lowest he had in ATL. And I place a lot of that decline on Drew trying to develop his bench, instead of running plays for his best players. All I know is that trading JJ simply to get from out from under his contract is idiotic. The cap room of his departing contract isn't going to guarantee anything. The time to move JJ will be in 2 years, in which you could sell to a team close to a championship that a veteran guard like JJ may be the final piece. At that point, they'll be willing to give up lesser players to get him. Even in this new era of the CBA, teams desperate to win titles will make the same moves they've always had. You don't trade JJ for a draft pick, unless you know for sure you can be in the top 5 and get either his replacement, or a starter quality player from Day 1. You don't trade Josh Smith for a draft pick, unless it's the same parameters. Some of you guys want to do the same thing Babcock did in 1999, when the goal was to simply get rid of Smitty and Mookie just because they failed in the playoffs. Forget bringing in the RIGHT PLAYERS, they just got rid of them. Teams that make that mistake pay for it DEARLY for years to come. Dang some "hope" draft pick or some "hope" cap space. Trade those guys for other ESTABLISHED NBA talent that can come in and help us IMMEDIATELY.

With a team like Brooklyn, their only hope is to do like we did with JJ. Throw a ton of money on an up and coming player who is going to be a free agent ( restricted or unrestricted ).James Harden would be my #1 target, and I would throw Max money at him. If the Hawks keep Josh and let him become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, he would be my #2 target. And I would throw Max money at him as well.But even that plan is a plan of "hope", because they'd have to hope that money and being "the man" are the major motivators for those guys, and not necessarily winning.

Nah EasyI would guarantee that most Nets fans would trade places with us. We may have a bad salary situation, but at least we're winning games and somewhat relevant in the NBA. The Nets, on the other hand, have only won 58 games in 3 seasons since Vince Carter left. Their fortunes could've changed had they been able to win the #1 pick and choose Anthony Davis . . AND . . possibly add Dwight Howard. Now you're talking about an insane frontline of Howard and Davis, with a mastermind PG like Deron feeding them both the ball.Instead, Brooklyn won't even have a 1st round pick ( because they traded that pick to Portland in the Gerald Wallace trade, and didn't land in the top 3 of the lottery ). And they may even miss out on Dwight Howard, depending on if Orland does the smart thing, and trade him before the trade deadline. And if they miss out on Dwight, Deron may definitely be gone even before they can go after Dwight. And now the rumor is if Nash leaves Phoenix, the Suns will go aggressively after Deronhttp://www.nydailyne...ksEnabled=falseIf Deron leaves, Brooklyn could be worst than Charlotte last year, and would have to grossly overpay for mediocre players just for them to come or stay there. Because of league payroll minimum rules, a guy like Kris Humphries may get grossly overpaid to stay in Brooklyn, just to meet the minimum payroll requirements.Cap space is overrated, when people don't see your team as a desirable destination. What good is being 49 gazillion dollars under the cap, when no one wants to go to your squad?

A "declining" Gasol still averaged 17.4 ppg - 10.4 rebs - 3.5 asst . . 1.4 blks . . . shot 50% FG and 78% FTIt's not like Gasol is going to turn into a 12 ppg - 6 rebs - 1.8 asst . . 0.6 blks . . shoot 44% FG and 71% FT type of playerHe's a big man that uses his post game and his mid-range game to beat people . . not his athleticism. And his defense is nowhere near as bad as people think it is. His length is still a problem for most post players. It's not like Noah is going to go off and score 24 pts - 12 rebounds on Gasol.As for Marvin, I'm not nearly as down on him as other people, but his production is replaceable . . and has been replaced ever since Flip Murray started taking his minutes in 2008.Slide JJ to the SF spot. Find a few SGs to platoon there ( a defensive stopper and a shooter ), and the Hawks will be just fine.

Marvin has to be included to make a trade of Josh for Gasol work. And there's no way should the addition of Marvin be a "dealbreaker" for that trade. I'll give Marvin props for playing decent for most of the regular season. But he was absolutely abysmal in those first 4 playoff games. His win score was boosted by the Game 3 rebounding numbers, and the 3 point shooting in Games 5 and 6. Otherwise, he gave us little to nothing.Go get Gasol, and his .165 regular season win score/48 and his 20.5 PER to Atlanta.People need to take the emotion out of this topic and understand what is going on:- Josh has indicated behind the scenes that he wants out of ATL- His contract is up at the end of next season- He isn't likely to sign an extension in the summer, seeing that he can get much more money if he waits until next summer to do a deal- The Hawks have never been a destination for major free agentsSo unless management will pay anything ( including the Max ) to keep Josh .. AND .. they know Josh will sign that contract, the Hawks need to be proactive and trade Josh for the best possible deal they can get. And the addition of a top 5 - 10 PF does just that.

Great analogy with the Kidd for Devin Harris deal. That's what the New Jersey Nets thought when they just gave away Vince Carter. They still haven't found a 2-guard that was even half of a declining Vince.2 years ago, people thought John Salmons could be the guy to replace JJ. Look where Salmons is now?So who you gonna bring to ATL? Jamal Crawford? lol.

Joker . . I see Jeff as a souped-up Spud Webb. A PG that can use his quickness to push the ball down the floor and get to the rim. He's bigger and stronger than Spud though. Jeff would easily score 8 - 10 transition points a game, if he got a chance to get the ball whenever there was a defensive rebound. Instead, Josh will bring it up half the time when he gets a rebound, or he'll slow walk it before giving it to Teague. And if Teague had a little more opportunity to create for others, he could average 6 assists per game.With no true superstar on this team, we need every player's strength maximized to the fullest. If Teague can't even get the ball off of a defensive rebound to push the ball up the floor, his main strength ( his speed ) is being wasted.Nobody is trying to make Josh look like a scrub. Josh wants out of ATL, so we need to get something tangible for him. But while Josh does things to help the team, he does things to hurt it as well. And one of them is not letting Jeff Teague have more control of this offense, especially in transition.

499 shots from 16+ feet / 66 games = 7.56 shots per game from that range 7.56 * 82 games = 620 shots from 16+ feet To me, that's almost grounds for Larry Drew to be fired. That's your PF taking all of those shots from that range. Completely unacceptable. Drew doesn't have the backbone as a coach to tell Josh to stop taking that shot. Probably because he knows that if Josh can't play the way he wants to play, it will affect other aspects of his game. Forget playing the way that might be good for the team, it's all about how Josh wants to play, and not upsetting him too much.

My rants on fans and attendance are well documented on this site, so I won't go back into that.What I will cite is this.What I tend to look at now, more than the raw attendance numbers, are the http://espn.go.com/nba/attendance/_/sort/homePct Home attendance numbers by percentage.You had 9 teams draw 100% or more per gameFive other teams drew at least 90% per gameThe Hawks? We drew at 81%, putting us 24th in the league in home attendance %.Only one other playoff team drew at a less rate. Indiana.And from just looking back through the past 11 years, we've never drawn in the 90% attendance range. Even in 2009 - 10, when we had a 53 win team, and a squad that won a whopping 34 home games, our home attendance % was ranked 20th, at 88.3%(( shrugs ))It is what it is I guess. No more rants on the "reasons" why this is from me.

And this is the truth right here.I've been saying it for 2 months now on "the other Hawks blog". We can't have Josh Smith and Joe Johnson ( or insert young SG in place of Joe Johnson ) taking the same type of shots. It will constantly keep this team out of balance.Josh's mentality is more in line with Antoine Walker and Rasheed Wallace, than it is in line with Shawn Kemp or Blake Griffin. Until that changes, the team will be out of balance.

For ANY lottery pick?No.For a chance to get Michael Kidd-Gilchrist or Terrance Ross?Maybe.I think both of those guys will be GONE by the 7th pick. So if someone offered us the #10 pick in the draft, I wouldn't do it. The thing about this draft is while it is deep, it's not deep with superstar type talent. This is in no way, shape, or form comparable to the 2003 draft. So the question is . . how long will it take some of these guys to develop into an All-Star level talent? I'd much rather trade JJ for an Eric Gordon or even a Tyreke Evans, than to trade him for one of these draft picks ( not named Anthony Davis ).Contrary to popular belief, JJ's contracts becomes MORE TRADEABLE as he approaches Year 5, not less likely to be traded. Guys with bad deals get traded all the time toward the end of their contract, because teams may be looking for cap relief. So JJ could be traded for 2, maybe even 3 players, if a team has given up and wants to sell off talent ( ala the Charlotte Bobcats when it got rid of Stephen Jackson and Gerald Wallace ).For the record, I don't know if I'd trade Josh Smith for one of these draft picks ( not named Anthony Davis ) either. We are still a playoff level team. And before we completely blow this thing up, I'd much rather switch out bits and pieces of "the core" to see if we can get a better mix here, than to go with a youth movement that may put us right back into the NBA Draft Lottery.If it's a top 3 pick, it would be extremely hard NOT to trade JJ for that. If it's the #11 pick, nah . . I'll pass. Remember, we took Acie Law at #11.

Heck . . you might as well say that Smith is ALREADY playing SF. Josh took a whopping 499 shots from 16+ feet during the regular season. 109 of those shots were 3 pointers. Under Drew, Josh has taken 460 shots from 16+ feet in 2011 499 shots from 16+ feet in 2012 If you add the regular season AND playoffs 526 shots from 16+ feet in 2011 543 shots from 16+ feet in 2012 LOL . . that's 1,069 shots from 16+ feet in 2 years . . with Josh playing the 4. What do you think will happen if he plays the 3? He's going to post up more . . or he's going to jack up more jumpers? The ONLY way I would be content with Josh playing the 3, is if he accepted a "point forward" role on the team . . you bring in a PF that will crash the offensive boards and rebound missed jumpers . . and if you got Joe Johnson out of here. Because there's no way we can continue to have Josh and Joe taking the same type of shots. That's why this team stays so out of balance. I just don't buy this notion that Josh is going to reform his game into this post up demon if he played the 3. Woody tried his best to purge the jumpshot from his game, but under Drew, he's shooting more jumpers than ever. I don't see him ( or Drew ), limiting the amount of jumpers he'll take, regardless of where he plays on the floor.

(( clapping @ Diesel )) The argument for trading Josh Smith for Pau Gasol was laid out perfectly by him and by a few others. The issue isn't whether most fans want Josh back. The issue is if Josh himself even wants to come back? And if the answer to that is NO, the Hawks must try to get the best available piece we can for him. We can't afford to lose him for nothing. There's no way the Hawks can afford to do nothing, and let Josh hold all of the cards come 2013. This is exactly what happened in the Joe Johnson situation. JJ wasn't about to sign a 4 year - 60 mill extension, because he knew he could get at least 50% more money. JJ played his cards perfectly, and eventually the Hawks signed him to an insane contract, for fear of losing him and not being able to replace his production on both ends of the floor. Now we see Smith about to be in that same situation. But unlike JJ, an extra 20 million may not be enticing enough for Josh to stay in ATL. He may value fame and stardom on a higher profile team, than coming back to ATL for a max contract. This is not saying that he'll take extremely less money somewhere else. But I can see a scenario in which Josh takes a 4 year max contract with another team, than take a 5 year max contract to stay in ATL. @ nbasuperstar Do you know who the departure of Josh Smith might help the most? JEFF TEAGUE Because it is Teague whose full potential is being held by not only by the coach, but also by some of the things that Josh Smith does. And that major thing . . is Josh bringing the ball up the court after grabbing a defensive rebound, despite Teague being right beside that dude. We can see Teague sometimes sighing or having a look of disgust, when Josh just blows that dude off and brings the ball up himself. Instead of filling the lane and receiving the pass back and dunking ( ala Karl Malone, Shawn Kemp, or Blake Griffin ), Josh wants to make the play all by himself. Sometimes he can. Other times, it turns into bad turnovers. I wonder what percent of Josh's turnovers come on these "Josh-breaks" in which he ends up turning the ball over. Josh is undeniably a very good talent. At times, he's the best player on the court. Problem is, sometimes he's the worst player on the court. The freelance nature of his game is what keeps this team "out of balance". Instead of playing like we need him to play, he plays like HE wants to play. And that's a recipe for disaster at times. It's almost like when Allen Iverson went to Denver. The AI - Melo combo was a potent duo to throw at people offensively. Eventually though, it got to the point in which who was going to take the "big shot" . . Iverson or Melo? And with Iverson, the team was defensively out of balance. Eventually, Denver had to make a decision whether to trade for Chauncey Billups ( when Detroit decided that they needed a "change" ). Despite Iverson playing great ball in Denver, that team was still "out of balance". Chauncey was the more stable PG they needed, who brought balance to the team. Josh isn't to blame for the Hawks as a whole for not being great. That falls on management. But like with all of the dribbling and indecisiveness that JJ does at times, the "wildness" in Josh's game prevents us from reaching our potential. Even if we trade Josh for Gasol, and Gasol comes here and averages 15 ppg and 8 rebounds, the Hawks could still be better. They could be better if Gasol continues to shoot 50%+ from the field and adequately defend his position ( which he can do, despite popular belief ). The "new Hawks" could look like this PG: Jeff Teague - 15 ppg . . 6 asst . . 48% FG SG: Joe Johnson - 18 ppg . . 5 asst . . 45% FG . . 40% 3FG SF: Jeff Taylor ( 1st round pick ) - 9 ppg . . 5 rebs . . 42% FG . . 37% 3FG PF: Al Horford - 17 ppg . . 9 rebs . . 3 asst . . 52% FG C: Pau Gasol - 16 ppg . . 8 rebs . . 3 asst . . 51% FG What I envision, is a team that now has multiple people who could hurt you in the halfcourt offense. The reliance on ISO Joe at the end of games may not be necessary, if you have both Al Horford and Pau Gasol who can make a 16 foot jumper off of a pick and roll/pop situation . . and . . post a weaker post player up. Or you could simply run a pick for Teague for him to get to the rim. And even if we do go ISO Joe, you now have a frontline player who is going to be closer to the rim looking to grab the offensive rebound, than to receive a pass out by the 3 point line. Jeff Teague is the guy who will benefit the most from the departure of Josh Smith. He would get a little more control of the team.

And I personally hated how Drew always tried to hold back Ivan Johnson. He constantly tried to mellow him out. He is a bench player. So what if he goes wild and gets a few techs or commits a few hard fouls. That's exactly what that team needed at times. But Drew ( kind of like what he did with Jordan Crawford ), never let those players simply play their games.Players are too nice. Coach is too nice. Owner is probably nice, but needs to simply shut up.Team needs a change in leadership . . . on the court . . on the sidelines . . and in ownership. Ownership is the least likely to change, so we need a change on the court and on the sidelines.

Charles is on point about the Hawks. Has been for over 3 years.- Break up the core . . which means either trade Joe Johnson or Josh Smith ( beause it's really about these two ).- Get a LEGIT NBA coach that are NOT part of the Hawks organization- Bring in a leader type PG

His numbers have been in decline ONLY because he's not getting as many shots. This past year was actually his 2nd most efficient year offensively as a Hawk. But when you only take 15.5 shots a game, your production will decline.Now his playoff production is a different story. Dude simply isn't getting it done on a nightly basis in the playoffs. Can't shoot sub 40% FG and expect people to pat him on the bat, or feel sorry for him.

But Josh Smith, more than any other player, is the one guy who makes the team "out of balance". He's not skilled enough to be an All-Star SF. He IS skilled enough to be an All-Star PF, but doesn't want to play like one. That's why I've started to compare Josh Smith to Antoine Walker. Toine was notorious for doing the same type of things that Josh does. Toine was more offensively talented than Smith, but his mental makeup was arguably worse. His shot selection was definitely worse.Replace Josh with a legit PF, and this team may solve a lot of its problems . . . even without "the engine":

The "engine" could be Deron Williams. Go to that guy and see if he would be interested in being the "man" in ATLANTA. I mean SERIOUSLY go after that dude. Trade Jeff Teague + one more of "The Core" to get him here. Even let him choose which two of "the core" he'd rather play with. And yes ASG, that DOES mean signing Deron to a MAX contract in a sign and trade. You'd open up everything if you had a superstar PG like Deron here. Whether you pair him up with JJ to possibly create the best backcourt in the league . . or you pair him up with one or two of our young tweener forwards to enhance their games . . a true PG like Deron could be a game changer around here. And that's not to say that Teague has played bad, because he hasn't. But he's NOT Deron Williams. We need on-court leadership, as well as leadership on the bench from the coach. Give us Deron, and you IMMEDIATELY eliminate the reliance of ISO JJ at all times at the end of games. Give us Deron, and I bet Josh Smith doesn't try to be the PG on fast breaks, but instead fill the lanes for a dunk. Give us Deron, and maybe he can turn Al Horford into a poor man's Karl Malone. So the question is . . where can we find that type of "engine" if we can't land a guy like Deron?

Josh Smith = Antoine Walker.

Larry Drew said at the beginning of the season that this team can make "no excuses". So you have to hold these guys to that. NO EXCUSES.Game 2 was a pivotal moment in this series. No Rondo. Ray Allen is still out. Hawks have that game at home. Take a commanding 2 - 0 lead in that series, and you put extreme pressure on the Celtics, with the Hawks having supreme confidence. And they blew it.And why? Not because of injuries. But because the players and the coach simply couldn't get it done.Period. We had a 4th quarter lead in every game besides the Game 4 blowout, and forced OT in Game 3 WITHOUT Josh Smith and Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia. They just blew it man.And now look at how the East is unfolding. No D-Rose. No Bosh ( which will significantly weaken Miami ). So instead of going through Boston - Chicago - Miami to get to an NBA Finals . . you're potentially looking at going through Boston - Philly - Indiana.They blew it. And I for one are NOT going to let them use "injuries" as an excuse, seeing how close most of those games were. Despite the absence of talent, those games came down to individual plays and possessions. Boston executed on both ends better than us, so they beat us.You don't necessarily blow up the team, but you do trade at least one of "The Core", and you must get rid of the GM. And if you can find an experienced NBA coach to replace Drew, you need to do that too. Because at the end of the day, the ONLY thing Drew has done better than Woody, was win two 2nd round games . . which in the grand scheme of things meant nothing.Go after the big dog. Bring Jerry Sloan here and completely change the culture of this team. This team needs some toughness. Sloan will provide that, and hold EVERYBODY accountable.

Good article . . . but that doesn't make what Charles said not true. You picked out some comments made in the TNT broadcast of the Miami game. Charles routinely speaks in general about things, and not specifically. But most of the time, his overall premise or thought process is right on target. “There is no doubt that the team can consistently make the playoffs, but is it worth playing every year for a No. 5 or No. 6 seed and a first-round playoff loss?” The statement may be factually inaccurate, but it's only inaccurate because he said First round loss . . instead of a 2nd round loss. The long history of the Hawks franchise in Atlanta has consisted of this team finishing somewhere between the 4th and 7th seed, and losing in the 1st or 2nd round. We have NEVER made it to the Eastern Conference Finals while in Atlanta. Never. So what Charles is alluding to here is "playoff mediocrity". Some people think that when it's clear that your team can't supass a certain level of winning, that you're probably better off blowing everything up and starting over, even if that means that you lose before you start winning again. If this team loses in the 2nd round again, you'll hear talk again about how this team just can't get to the next level. Listen I like Joe Johnson he’s a good player, but they’re not gonna get past the first round of the playoffs, they could have got that for 10 million a year. The perception my most everyone this year ( besides Hawks fans and maybe Chris Broussard ), were that these were going to be your top 4 teams in the East - Miami - Chicago - Boston - New York And a lot of "experts" had Indiana ahead of the Hawks. The reasoning for this was the loss of Jamal Crawford, a guy that most people believed was an integral part to our success. Even some Hawk fans fully believed that he was better than Joe Johnson. What the national media and some of our fans didn't realize, is that Jamal's defensive deficiencies sometimes cancelled out his offensive excellence. A lot of times, actually. And when Jamal struggled offensively, it REALLY hurt the team when he was out on the floor, because his defense was still bad. So keep in context what Chares is talking about here. We'd lost Jamal. We added a bunch of minimum contract players. The jury was still sort of out on if Teague could be a good PG. And our star players ( namely Al Horford ) played so-so in last years playoffs. And most of all . . . most people ( including most Hawk fans ), don't believe that JJ is a legit #1 scoring option. Combine all of this, and you can see why Charles said what he said. ***************** The fact is that while Atlanta was struggling with a Lebron and Wade-less Miami team, all of Charles' opinions about the Hawks were somewhat validated in the way they were playing. What should've been a 15 - 20 point win last night, was on the verge of turning into a 15 - 20 point loss, had it not been for Ivan Johnson providing a spark off the bench and waking that team up. The difference you're seeing in Joe Johnson since Horford went down, is that he feels that he needs to be much more assertive on the offensive end. Like you said earlier, he's not sitting back and trying to get everybody involved. He's getting HIMSELF involved, then getting everyone else going. JJ's drop in production, especially last year, had everything to do with Drew's "spread the wealth" offense, and JJ's pizz poor 3 point shooting last year . . a shot that really didn't return to him until the playoffs started. If it was due to his hurt wrist, then that was a valid reason for his long ball being off most of last year. This year, the shot seems to have returned to at least his career average. Understand this though . . . for the Hawks to get to the EC Finals, JJ MUST play better. That means that he may have to go into "hero mode" as benhillboy and others call it, a lot more often. As the main offensive weapon on the team, when this guy has it going, he MUST look to put up a lot of points and take over the game. We saw a glimpse of him doing this in Tuesday night's game @ Toronto. In the playoffs, superstars usually put their teams on their backs. Charles has routinely said over the years that JJ is a "nice guy", but may lack the "killer instinct". And you know what? He's right. The good thing for us this year, is that we're seeing flashes of that "killer instinct" emerging in JJ. It's just too bad that it took the departure of Jamal Crawford and the injury of Al Horford, for it to start coming ou. In general though, Charles isn't wrong about what he says about JJ and this team. Maybe not specifically factually correct, but not wrong in general. ******************** Oh . . and the BIGGEST offenders of what you call "Media Driven Misconception", doesn't come from the national media . . it comes from the LOCAL media. Outside of Hawks beat writer Michael Cunningham, the Atlanta media does an EXTREMELY poor job of covering the Hawks. After the 1st Miami win in Miami, hardly a word was said about them. But as soon as they lost to Miami without the Big 2 at home, and blew that big lead in Chicago, the detractors in the ATL media had something to say about that. Even now, when this team is playing very well without Al Horford, people aren't saying much of anything. Al is the guy that was supposed to be the best player on the team, and the glue of the Hawks. So I guess people are in complete shock that we're still winning at a high clip without AL. Your next article should be on how the local media covers the Hawks, and how that may create the MDM in and around Atlanta that keeps fans jaded about this team.

Anybody see what Josh said in the AJC?

4.offensive rebounds for Marvin last night. Has he EVER done that? I'm sure he has, but it may only happen twice a year.

LOL. No mention of Marvin I see.

Honestly . . we need to win this division or be the 2nd best team in this conference. A #3 seed will not help us. We need home court advantage in those first two rounds. I simply can't get excited about a #3 seed anymore, knowing that we'll have to steal a game at Chicago and Miami . . AND . . possibly be perfect at home, in order to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. We need that possible deciding Game 7 at Philips Arena, not in Chicago or Miami. The goal for this team should be to win the division and get at LEAST a #2 seed, no matter how good "The Heatles" in Miami are.