TheNorthCydeRises

If my memory is correct, Hollinger picked us dead last in the East back in 07 - 08, mainly because we lost Josh Childress. Because Chill's PER was so good as a reserve, Hollinger felt tat we couldn't overcome the loss of Chill.08 - 09 . . I meant.

I love the http://tunein.com website. I can listen to just about any radio station in the country from my computer or from my smartphone. I just happened to be listening to 790 right when Steak mentioned the article. Before the commercial break, he flat out said . . "Mike Gearon, if you're listening right now, you may want to turn to another station." Then they came back from break, and they dropped the Nuke. I didn't know about the e-mail to Thrasher employees terminating them. That's a punk move if he did that. A gutless move. Then he leaves town for 2 months after the Thrashers sale? Come on man. Steak even mentioned how Levenson really doesn't like the city of Atlanta ( don't know if that's true or not ). In my opinion, he caught the most heat from Steak and the crew because he brought the Falcons into the discussion. Steak really went off then. Citing how Arthur Blank goes out of his way to be a visible and active owner trying to improve the Falcons, while Gearon and the other Hawk owners go into hiding most times. Steak called him out on his non-marketing of the team, and on not trying to talk to JJ more ( even if JJ doesn't go out of his way to talk to him ). He also made great points about how it was idiotic of him to compare us to the Hawks, Celtics and Lakers, just because we are the only 3 teams in the league to reach the 2nd round twice. Steak: ( paraphrasing ) "you don't hang banners in your arena for reaching the 2nd round" It was a funny, intense, but sad 10 minute rant he went on, because it was all true. If Gearon has the balls to go on 790 to face the heat, I'll be impressed. Dude better be focused though.

Do you see a mushroom cloud in Atlanta this morning?? If you do,, it's because 790 the zone just dropped a nuclear bomb on Gearon for that AJC. interview. Steak is killing that dude right now...!

I defended them, until last summer. They re-signed JJ, and then just gave up. - didn't hire the big name experienced coach ( Avery Johnson ) - traded the #24 for the #27 and #31 . . and then traded the #31 for cash - brought in 3 bottom of the barrel big men ( Powell, Etan, Collins ), with only Collins partially paying off during the playofs - traded Josh Childress for a trade exception, and didn't use it - didn't use the MLE . . and could've used it on Shaq to get that box office draw the 'casual fan' in ATL may gravitate toward. Matter of fact, they haven't used the MLE since they signed Speedy back in 2005. - traded "that #55 dude" and our 1st round pick of 2011 + Bibby and Evans . . . for Hinrich. In all, this team could've had 3 young players on the roster right now that would be better than Benson, Sy, and Rolle . . a proven head coach that knows what it takes to win a championship ( as a player, but got to the Finals as a coach ) . . and had a big charasmatic center to market the team to the casual fan ( had he'd not retired ). This ownership group had a chance to make their move last summer, and they absolutely froze up.

11 pts - 5 asst - 3 rebs - 1.5 stls shoots 43% FG . . 35% 3FG . . 82% FT

NO That first deal would've kept them at playoff level. Now, all bets are off, unless Gordon develops into a superstar. The first deal gave them enough pieces to keep the people of New Orleans interested. But if this new deal don't pay dividends, and they start to lose, the people of New Orleans will abandon that team. Also, don't forget that Houston also got screwed in this. They were on the verge of getting the Gasol brothers in Houston, because his brother Marc probably signs with Houston, if Pau is traded in that first deal to Houston.

For a fan base that was so concerned about seeing what Teague could do, some of you guys sure are concerned about Jamal Crawford. Let that dude go. HE had a good year in 2009 - 10, but reverted back to what he usually was last year. Time to move forward and see if Teague is the real deal. With Jamal in the mix, Drew will be tempted to overuse Jamal and under use Teague, especially when he's not playing well. It's time to see what the kid can do as a starter. I wish you well Jamal.

Funny you mention Nate Robinson. When it's all said and done, that may be the PG that Sund brings in.

The Pacers will lock Jamal up with a deal he won't refuse. NO way the Knicks get him for 2.5 million. Jamal would go to Minnesota for 5 million, before he plays for the Knicks for 2.5

2 yrs - 20 million for West? That's actually a smart signing for Indy. Instead of being on the hook for a 3 or 4 year deal worth 20 million, they'd rather overpay and give West 10 mill a year for 2 years. That's similar to what we eventually acquired Jamal for ( by taking over the final 2 years of his deal ). That deal enables the Pacers to pay West his maximum worth right away, while also being able to get out of his contract quicker. Good move by Indy.

Hot . . the fact is that we need to be more than just 8 million under the cap in order to give this team the type of makeover that people want. You save that amnesty until it becomes really useful. Hold onto it for about 2 years, then use it on JJ if need be, and be 20+ million under the cap, instead of 8 million. At that point, you may be able to get an impact player here, instead of a MLE type player that really won't help us much, especially if JJ is gone. As for JJ's numbers post All-Star break, you better look at the entire team in that aspect. Only Smith didn't see a significant dropoff in production, although his 3 point shooting went into the tank. And while other people continued to struggle throughout the playoffs, JJ's play did pick up considerably, enabling us to take the Bulls to 6 games. He needed to play better though, since other people's games were going into the tank. No way you amnesty JJ right now. Do it when you can get maximum value for it.

What do you expect from a guy who drafted Robert Swift, Saer Sene ( Walter's boy ), and Johan Petro in consecutive years in the 1st round. Sund has no eye for big man talent whatsoever.

LOL . . that's right. OK Crawford at MLE to Knicks Balkman + TPE to Warriors Amundson + 2 million to Hawks

It's not going to be a major deal folks. Since the Hawks need rebounding help, look for someone like Louis Amundson to come to the Hawks.Knicks get Jamal at the MLEGolden St gets Ronny TuriafHawks get Louis Amundson and a small TPE

You cut the 2nd round scrubs Rolle, Benson, and Sy . . . at the most, you only keep one of them. Toney would be a real nice young and CHEAP addition here. Then when the trade deadline comes, you use Hinrich's expiring 8 million to REALLY make a move at somebody. That's when Hinrich, combined with possibly another contract, could really get you a high quality player(s) in return.

News flash Even if JJ's 18 million were off the books, you're still talking about the Hawks payroll being around 50 - 51 million. That will put you around 8 million under the cap, with no options to use things like the MLE to work with. So what player do we bring in for 8 million that will help us? All of the centers will get around 10 million or more. So who do we bring in? And another thing . . . there is NOTHING precluding the ASG from using . . . - the 3+ million trade exception that we received from the Josh Childress trade - the full MLE on a player - a partial LLE on a player Yes, that means that the Hawks would have to pay the luxury tax, but that's what good teams looking to win titles do sometimes. It's funny how fans blame millionaire players for the spending habits of BILLIONAIRE owners.

NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO . . NO !!!!!! I rooted for Jamal Crawford for 2 years. The only guy in the league who has worse shot selection than Jamal, is Gilbert. ASG . .don't make me root for Gil . . . don't torture me like that. I'd MUCH rather have old man Allen Iverson here, than to bring Gilbert's weird gunning (( bleep )) here. NOTE: Gilbert Arenas has not shot above 42% FG or 35% 3FG since the 2005 - 06 season. Gil was absolutely horrible in Orlando in a reserve role. He had ONE good game vs us in the playoffs, while being a non-factor in the other 4. If some of you thought my Jamal Crawford hate was bad, just watch the hate ramp up to LEVEL 10, if we get Arenas.

Hawks will sign a former lottery know to be an elite rebounder in college, but didn't live up to expectations. His name? Shelden Williams

LOL . . . too bad it's 5 years too late. This is how he USED to play. Hell of a drive at the end of this game to win it.

Come on now. We're talking TENS OF MILLIONS of dollars here. Of course Jamal was going to chase the money, if the Hawks aren't willing to go into the Luxury Tax to retain him. Jamal is going to get at least a multi-year 30 million contract this year. We were probably going to give him a deal for a few years less than 4 million ( and that's if the Hawks were going to go into the tax. ) It wasn't that we were the ones to give him a chance. We traded for Jamal because we were desperate to obtain another scorer. Jamal could always ball. He was just schizophrenic as hell, that's all. As for adding Vince, that might be overkill right there, but I wouldn't be against it either. That would be adding another veteran guy who may not be as athletic as they once was, but still has enough of an array of skills to help a veteran squad out. Phoenix still has to make a decision to exercise the option on Vince's last year of his deal ( which is 18 million ). When they do though, it will be interesting as to who picks him up and how much money he'll get. I doubt Vince plays for the vet minimum, unless he goes to the Heat, Lakers, or Mavericks. Wilson Chandler went to China, and is locked up there until March.

So let's compare the lineups . . and I'll just throw in a free agent into the mix at PF Hawks without Paul PG - Teague G - Johnson F - Marvin PF - Smith C - Howard Hawks with Paul but without Smith or Teague PG - Paul G - Johnson F - Marvin PF - Chuck Hayes C - Dwight Howard By simply adding Chuck Hayes to this squad, I've now added a guy who is even a better rebounder than Josh Smith . . an a guy who averaged 15.5 ppg and 10 rebs vs the Hawks frontline last year. You don't have to worry about Chuck drifting outside to shoot jumpers, trying to be a PG, or like Suge Knight once said about Diddy, "trying to be all in the videos . . all in the record . . dancing". You get none of those personality extras from Chuck that you get from Josh ( like the pouting when he doesn't get a call, or the occasional loafing when he doesn't get his way, or the arguing back at his coach ). Nope . . . all you'll get is a guy who will work his butt off. And on a team with 2 superstars and an all-star, those are the type of guys that you need. Your team would still have a question mark at PG, at SF, and consistency issues at PF. My team would only have a question at SF, because Hayes is going to do exactly what he's known to do at PF. The point is that with 3 stars on the team, you can dang near pick and choose what type of specialty player you want to fill the open spots. The Minnesota Timberwolves were a Sam Cassel injury away from taking down the Lakers in 2003 - 04. And here was their starting lineup PG - Cassell G - Trenton Hassell ( perimeter defensive specialist ) F - Spreewell PF - Garnett C - Ervin ( not Magic ) Johnson ( defensive center comparable to Jason Collins ) And that team was poised to take down this squad PG - Payton G - Kobe F - Devean George PF - Malone C - Shaq

RE-sign the Crawford . . and the Teaguen will be suppressed, because Drew will opt to go with Jamal than Teague. Jamal had one great season with us ( for him ), then regressed back to his career averages last season. No way you re-sign Jamal for 5 years. Three years at the max. And not more than 5 million then. If Jamal Crawford was the difference between us getting to the NBA Finals or not, then I'd say go ahead and re-sign him. But as of right now, most people don't even believe that we're a top 4 team in the East anymore. The "experts" will probably still have Orlando ahead of us in their preseason predictions. If we're not going to go BIG in free agency, and bring in Howard or Paul . . . we may as well continue to be fiscally responsible, and not be locked into potentially bad contracts.

If you believe the reports, the Hornets want a young guard who is a borderline All-Star, to replace Paul. That's why the Warriors ( with Stephen Curry ) and the Clippers ( with Eric Gordon ) are being prominently mentioned. For ATL to be in the running, we'd have to sell the Hornets on a Josh Smith + Jeff Teague type package, with Teague's "upside" being a big reason to do this deal. Problem is, we only have about a 5 - 8 game sample in which Teague's "upside" can be seen. Heck, most of us are still hoping that Teague's Chicago performance wasn't a fluke. So if the Hornets can get a Steph Curry / Eric Gordon caliber of player, it's no way the Hawks can compete with that. Especially seeing that both the Clips and the Warriors are well under the salary cap at this moment. The Clippers are DAMN FOOLS if they wouldn't give up Eric Gordon + Deandre Jordan for Chris Paul . . . just like we'd be damn fools if we wouldn't give up Josh Smith + Jeff Teague for Paul. That Clipper franchise ( since they've been in LA ) has NEVER had a superstar playing for them. The closest one ( ironically ) was when we sent them Dominique for Danny Manning. Now, they can potentially have 2 superstars playing for them, if Blake Griffin keeps developing. If Paul turns the Clippers into a playoff squad, that instantly turns the Clippers into one of the hottest tickets in basketball, and elevates a Lakers vs Clippers game into a must see type of game.

What happened in Miami is that they went from a team that had one superstar that couldn't carry his team past the 1st round . . . to a team with 2 superstars and a very good 3rd player that took them all the way to the NBA Finals. That's what happened in Miami. If Miami couldn't get Bosh, they'd STILL have a championship caliber team, because they probably never trade Michael Beasley to Minnesota. And even if they did, they simply would've given the young guys like Dexter Pittman more time. They may have even brought Jarvis Varnado into camp, and tried to develop him. Plus they'd still have all of those scrub big men like Big-Z, Dampier, and Juwan Howard to throw at people. That team easily wins 50 games even without Bosh. The only question would be if they won the SE Division or not. Also remember that the guy initially on Miami's radar before the Lebron + Bosh packaged emerged, was Carlos Boozer. Miami had enough pieces to field a team, because in the NBA, the most important thing you need are two or three very good players to carry your team. You can dang near fill in the rest of the pieces with specialty players and developing rookies. I guess the next thing you'll tell me is that you wouldn't trade this current Atlanta Hawks roster for the current Miami Heat roster? So let me get this straight . . . you'd be willing to bypass CHRIS PAUL because Jeff Teague played well in 5 playoff games? Not SUPERSTAR WELL, but decent for an NBA PG? Really? Diesel . . this is that "Loser/Welfare Mentality" that you've always talked about on this board. You'd rather keep "hope alive" in a young promising player like Teague, that to get a sure fire HALL OF FAME player that is still in his prime like Paul? This is the mentality that keeps people hoping that Josh Smith turns into this bonafide All-Star player. The mentality that thinks that Al Horford can turn into Patrick Ewing or Karl Malone. The same mentality that keeps people defending Marvin. Yeah history is a teacher alright. NBA teaches us if you have a top 5 dominant big man . . a top 5 point guard . . and a top 5 wing, you're probably going to go DEEP into the playoffs, if not win a championship.

Diesel . . stop it. LOL @ not sure you would do this. This is the same logic that Cleveland used with keeping J.J. Hickson, reasoning that giving him up for Amare was "too much". So instead, they kept JJ and added Antwan Jamison. You could round out that lineup with Magnum Rolle at PF and Pape Sy at SG, if we had a big 3 of Howard - Paul - Johnson. Of course you'd do this. Hell . . . the Heat had Joel Anthony and a broke down Mike Bibby starting for them, and they made it all the way to the NBA Finals.