TheNorthCydeRises

Right . . . but if you add Lopez on this squad, the Lopez - Horford combo is better ( both talent and fit wise ), than the Horford - Smith combo. The Nets would NEVER trade Brook Lopez though. As precious as good centers are in this league, there's NO WAY a decent basketball mind would trade Lopez, outside of trading for Lebron or Kobe or Wade.

Smoove is the box office draw, and Atlanta's favorite son right now ( even if Dwight is better . . but he's not a Hawk ). But if it comes down that this team is still out of balance, and if by trading him, they have a chance to get the team in balance to make a run at a title, you better believe that they'll trade him . . . if they want to win that championship. If it is OBVIOUS that Smoove is the difference between this team getting to the next level or not, with an upgrade at PG or C . . they'll bite the bullet ( to the disagreement of the fans ), and make that move. I do agree that now is NOT the time to do that. But next year, if we're in the same situation, may be the time to do it. If the presence of Smith is preventing Horford from really breaking out into a big time PF, then they HAVE to consider moving him. Hopefully, Al will start to play bigger vs bigger competition, and eliminate the need to make a move like this. I bet Gearon wouldn't call Smoove "Lebron" if you asked him now. He just got caught up in the moment of the great Game 2 that he had.

* Great point about JJ and Crawford's scroing being down in the regular season against them. - JJ ( 18 ppg during the season ) . . . Crawford ( 12 ppg during the season ). . . lol . . we were down ( -10 ) from the jump * Analyze what your team does vs the top 6 teams ( CLE, ORL, LAL, DAL, DEN, PHX ) Joe Johnson CLE . . 21 pts - 6 rebs - 3.5 asst - 46% FG ORL . . 16 pts - 6 rebs - 5 asst - 38% FG LAL . . 26 pts - 6 rebs - 6 asst - 50% FG DAL . . 29 pts - 6 rebs - 6.5 asst - 53% FG DEN . . 19 pts - 6 rebs - 7 asst - 45% FG PHX . . 19 pts- 7.5 rebs - 4 asst - 42% FG ((( Orlando definitely had JJ's number, I think, because the presence of Howard takes away his favorite shot . . . the floater ))) Josh Smith CLE . .15 pts - 7 rebs - 4 asst - 50% FG ORL . . 14 pts - 8 rebs - 3 asst - 40% FG LAL . . 9.5 pts - 7 rebs - 6.5 asst - 41% FG DAL . . 15 pts - 8.5 rebs - 5 asst - 46% FG DEN . . 19.5 pts - 9 rebs - 4.5 asst - 62% FG PHX . . 20 pts - 10 rebs - 2 asst - 50% FG (((( the extremely low shooting % against Orlando and the Lakers doesn't surprise me one bit. Big and athletic frontlines always give him trouble ))) Al Horford CLE . .11 pts - 8 rebs - 3 asst - 43% FG ORL . . 8 pts - 7 rebs - 1 asst - 53% FG LAL . . 8 pts - 7 rebs - 1 asst - 50% FG DAL . . 12 pts - 7 rebs - 2.5 asst - 35% FG DEN . . 14.5 pts - 11.5 rebs - 3 asst - 79% FG PHX . . 17 pts - 9 rebs - 0.5 asst - 61% FG (((( As with Josh Smith, no surprise that his numbers are way down against the teams with big centers - Shaq, Howard, Bynum ))) Jamal Crawford CLE . . 18 pts - 4 rebs - 2 asst - 40% FG ORL . . 12.5 pts - 2.5 rebs - 2 asst - 31% FG LAL . . 15.5 pts - 2.5 rebs - 1.5 asst - 39% FG DAL . . 12 pts - 2.5 rebs - 2.5 asst - 29% FG DEN . . 24.5 pts - 3.5 rebs - 3 asst - 57% FG PHX . . 16 pts - 1.5 rebs - 2.5 asst - 38% FG ((( For all of you who are Jamal Crawford supporters . . look at his FG% against those top teams. If we lose JJ, this is a huge RED FLAG for all of those who think he can step up in the absence of JJ * Getting your team high percentage shots . . ( which is a great point, because they took away our transition offense, and JJ's floater, and Horford and Smith in the paint ) * Can you stop a team off the dribble? . . ( we definitely couldn't . . relating to our perimeter defense ) * Blasts Josh Smith about that critical point during the Orlando game in Game 2 . . ( which is correct) * Accountability . . ( who was making the Hawks accountable for doing what they were supposed to do . . . this was a direct shot at Woody, in my opinion ) * Joe Johnson's comments . . ( haha @ Hubie telling it like it is, to the people who want JJ to walk . .Hubie: "who the hell are you going to get to replace 21 pts - 5 rebs - 5 asst?" . . He gives JJ a pass, calling his comments immature and out of frustration ) * He makes the correct correlation with Vince and JJ. . . They're not Kobe and Wade, but still a top player, and the BIG DOG on their particular team. And he disses "potential". He's dead on the money with that. ( potential - see Marvin Williams ). * Definitely indicts Woody and the offense for not adjusting to playoff basketball, and especially not being able to get JJ and Crawford better shots outside of isolation. * Addresses Lebron possibly guarding Rondo, which he only in favor of for doing for a few minutes, not the entire game . . . ( which brings up back to JJ guarding quick PGs ) * Toughest thing for a young team to do, is to win the 2nd round . . . ( it definitely puts the situation we were in, in perspective . . . calls the Magic a bad matchup )

fixed

50+ wins is NOT mediocre. That's a top 10 team in the league. It just isn't a championship level team. Mediocre are teams like how the Washington Wizards were a few years ago, when they would win in the mid-40s win total. Retaining JJ for that price ( hopefully it's 6yrs ), is 15 mill a year . . which means that as the contract starts out, he'd be making around 12 - 13 mill a year. That's actually a bargain ( if it's a 6yr deal ), and very workable for the Hawks to maneuver around.

Complete BS. - The Hawks were a top 5 to 10 team the entire season, but I think they finished 18th in attendance. A higher percentage went to see the Hawks when they were on the road, than when we played at home. Even the Knicks drew more than us at home. - The low attendance numbers are explained by most in Atlanta by saying that: 1) traffic is just soooooo bad, that we always either get to the game late, or we don't go at all 2) the ticket prices are too high ( despite us not even being in the top 10 in ticket prices 3) that are too many out of towners who live in ATL, so they don't really like the Hawks ( and will always support their hometown team when they come to Philips ) - I personally witnessed 30% of the crowd walk out of Philips after JJ missed a shot to win the game. They walked out on the Hawks, despite the game GOING INTO OVERTIME. On a Sunday evening in early March, there were maybe 11,000 in the building to see us play the ( at the time ) red hot Milwaukee Bucks. When JJ missed that shot, literally 3 - 4,000 people walked out of that arena. The Hawks get down by 5 early in the OT, and anothet 1,000 fans walk out before the game was over. The Hawks ( mainly JJ ) then decided to play ball, took the lead, and ended up winning the game . . . in front of about 7,000 of us still in the arena. Keep it real about this fan base as a whole. Passionate is NOT a word to use to describe Hawks fans as a whole. Only a few thousand of us are passionate. The rest of the fan base treat a Hawks game like going to the movies, a play, or a music concert. As for JJ, some fans started booing JJ in Game 3, before he even had a chance to get going. Those fans, after we fell behind, went into complete negativitiy mode, booing the Hawks and especially JJ for every bad play they made in that quarter. This was BEFORE JJ made his commet about he could "care less if the fans showed up" Shoot, if they were going to boo him even before he got going, I probaly would've felt the same way. I wouldn't have said it publically. But I definitely would've felt that way. The booing in Game 3 was out of frustration, like JJ's comments were. But the booing at the start of Game 4 was a travesty. They were booing JJ like Boston fans did Bibby and Bucks fans did Smoove. It was an embarrassing display by some of our fans. That's not passion. That's just the fans wanting negative attention.

No . . . what makes the fans 2-faced, is that they "all of a sudden" act like the really, really care about the Hawks now. These are the same fans that act like getting to a 7 PM start during the week, is an impossible task . . so some don't even show up. The same fans that when Lebron comes to town, 35% of the crowd is cheering for Lebron, and not the Hawks. The same fans that when a lowly team like Indiana comes to town, they don't show up because it's not a "marquee enough game". That's what makes them 2-faced. JJ made that comment about the fans, and it hurt. It hurt because everyone knows that he was telling the truth. It was a stupid, ill-timed comment, especially with the way he played during that series. But it stung because he was telling the truth . . and everybody knew it. They just got mad at him for saying it, after his pizz poor performance.

1999 - The #4 seeded Hawks stagnate in the playoffs, getting swept by the #8 seeded Knicks in the 2nd round. ( that Knick team went on to win the Eastern Conf Finals.) They decide to get rid of Mookie Blaylock and Steve Smith partially due to their poor playoff performances. Smitty averaged 17 ppg in the playoffs, but shot 35% FG. He goes 6 - 17 FG, 2 - 16 FG. 7 - 21 FG,and 5 - 20 FG in the New York series. He shot 20 - 74 or 27% FG . . . ( sound familiar? ) Mookie averaged 12 pts and a whopping 4 assists, while shooting only 33% FG. Mookie had shooting games of 6 - 16 FG, 7 - 20 FG, 5 - 15 FG, and 3 - 15 FG. For the series, he shot 21 - 66 FG or 32% . . . ( sound familiar also? ) Atlanta, deciding that Mookie and Smitty had taken us as far as we could go, trade the duo. Smitty goes to Portland. Mookie goes to Golden St. In turn, the Hawks go out and bring in a young athletic playerr in Isaiah ( J.R. ) Rider. They also bring in Jim Jackson and Bimbo Coles, along with 1st round draft pick Jason Terry. They will be added to compliment the frontcort "core" of Mutumbo, Alan Henderson, and Laphonzo Ellis. 1999 team went 31 - 19 with a .620 winning percentage 2000 team went 28 - 54 with a .342 winning percentage Diesel is afraid that history is about to repeat itself. The Hawks had a good season that year, but failed big time in the playoffs. Instead of tweaking the roster and keeping the veteran guards for a little longer, they decide to get rid of the 2 cornerstones of the team, who set the pace offensively and defensively. Rider and Jackson weren't all bad. They were talented offensive players, although a bit streaky. Defensively though, they were HORRIBLE. The Hawks changed from a defensive oriented team, to a team that couldn't play a lick of defense. Hawks went from the 2nd rated defense in the league . . . to 25th. JJ is so much a part of the framework of the team, that if we don't bring in the right guy ( or group of guys ), this thing could turn south in a hurry without him . . like it did in 2000 for us. While people want the team to revolve around Smoove and Horford, the fact is that they NEED a capable PG to run the show, so that he can get them easier shots, instead of them trying to create their own offense ( which they aren't real good at right now ). The fact is that it's not going to be Smoove and Horford that the team revolves around. It's going to be Jamal Crawford, because as of right now, he's the only guy who can create his own shot. And he will take all of the shots that JJ took . . . out of necessity. Then the question will be . . . who will assume Jamal's current spot? Or better yet, can Horford or Smoove be efficient in an increased offensive role? Gotta get a PG . . a good PG that can make Smoove and Horford better than what they are right now.

They don't understand that they made the situation worse tonight and put extra pressure on the team with the booing. Booing is something that I've never done in my life. I may have cussed, or stayed silent for being so mad, but I've never booed any favorite team of mine in my life. If they wanted to get their initial booing of JJ out of the way during the announcement of the starting lineups, then that's one thing. But to boo him the first time he touched the ball while the action was going on, that was straight up bush league and simply showing how idiotic some in the fan base were. Then they did it AGAIN. They were booing him from the jump. He made a few shots, and the went back to cheering again. He started missing in the 3rd, and they went back to booing. When he finally came out of the game, you heard cheers and boos. With that possibly being his last game, I would've stood and clapped out of appreciation for the 5 years he gave us . . .not boo him because he "hurt our feelings' with one stupid comment in the heat of the moment after losing a game. That's why people outside of ATL rag on Atlanta so much. Seriously . . . who the hell boo THEIR OWN PLAYERS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME? They were acting like he was Kevin Garnett, with the way they were booing him.

If you guys want to see a salary breakdown + the cap holds, go to http://shamsports.com/content/pages/data/salaries/hawks.jsp You can go to the other teams as well. Chill's cap hold is a KILLA. Sund needs to make a decision on him THIS SUMMER. Trade him, get him back and sign him, or renounce his rights.

They started booing EARLY though. I mean . . . real early. The game was still well within reach, and they started booing. We've gotten off to plenty of slow starts at home, only to come back in the game. But I'd say about 15% of the crowd were booing by midway through the 1st quarter, and it progressively got worse as the half went on. The negative energy in that arena was AMAZING. The crowd was hoping the Hawks would win. But as soon as JJ started missing shots and Orlando built a 10 point lead, a lot of the crowd instantly gave up on the Hawks.

LOL . . . why do people want to become Golden St East? Is that team that entertaining to watch, that you're willing to watch them score 110 ppg, but give up 120 ppg? And MVP . . what is Raja Bell doing these days? Is he a manager at Wal-Mart? Raja Bell? Come on man. This ain't 2005.

Yeah . . . I see the Bulls are salivating again http://www.nba.com/bulls/news/smith_100510.html?rss=true And they don't have to do a sign and trade at all . . and JJ doesn't have to agree to one.

I fixed it again. If you're going to shake up the lineup, this is what I'd do. And it goes against everything I believe in regarding Smoove. But this lineup puts all of our firepower on the floor to begin the game, plus inserts Zaza into the lineup to deal with Dwight from the beginning. It also puts Horford at PF, where he has been most effective. Starting Teague and Mo Evans ( who has the worst playoff shooting % on the team ), isn't going to solve anything.

Kenny Smith on Inside the NBA gave him a pass as well, and said that JJ doesn't usually make comments like that. Remember . . . he's the "quiet one". It's funny though. Smoove said something similar to what JJ said a few weeks back about "we play for each other". He just didn't add the "I could care less that the fans don't show up" part. But I believe Smoove ( and probably most of the other Hawks ) feel the same way as JJ does. They just didn't say it.

It's funny. The Hawks played the #2 defensive team in the league ( according to defensive rating ) in Milwaukee ( although a big part of their defense was missing, in the form of Bogut. Then they have to play Orlando, who is #3 in defense according to defensive rating. They're also the #1 team in the league when it comes to defensive eFG shooting %. And #1 in defensive rebound % ( our achillies heel as a team ). And #3 in free throws/field goal attempts ( .194 ). The only reason why this team is #3 in defense overall, is because they rank #27 in turnover%. So while Orlando doesn't turn you over, they make you shoot a bad percentage from the field, and then they rebound all of your misses. And other than Dwight Howard, they don't get into the habit of putting you on the free throw line. Orlando is the #1 defensive team left in the playoffs. And they're the #2 offensive team left in the playoffs. Phoenix is the top offense left. And that correlates to them being #1 in defensive eFG% shooting . . . and #2 in offensive eFG% shooting. That's damn near the perfect scenario. Our offense has been horrible against Orlando, because we can't make open shots, can't get a lot of offensive rebounds, and we have trouble scoring on the inside when Howard is in the game. But they get some of the credit for our horrible offense because they play great defense. And our defense, while overall ended up pretty good vs Milwaukee, has been absolutely horrible against Orlando Orlando eFG% - ( season avg - 53.6% eFG% / 47% actual FG% ) . . . offensive rtg: 111.4 Game 1 - 57.7% ( 52.4% actual FG% ) - 124.7 off rtg Game 2 - 62.5% ( 55.9% actual FG% ) - 138.5 off rtg Game 3 - 57.7% ( 50.7% actual FG% ) - 127.7 off rtg Atlanta eFG% - ( season avg - 50.6% eFG / 46.8 actual FG% ) . . . offensive rtg: 111.9 Game 1 - 35.8% ( 34.8% actual FG% ) - 77.7 off rtg Game 2 - 45.3% ( 41.3% actual FG% ) - 121.2 off rtg Game 3 - 37.3% ( 34.9% actual FG% ) - 91.2 off rtg Keep in mind that Game 2 was the game in which we really hit the offensive boards and got to the FT line and made our FTs. This is why people say ( and we all knew ) that Orlando was the worst possible matchup for us. They take away the 2 extra things that make our offense go. 1) Putting back offensive rebounds . . . . and 2) they make enough shots to stop our transition offense. And on defense, we can't stop Howard and they take and make the 3 point shot at a prolific rate. As Woody said . . we damn near have to play the perfect game ( or hope they're off big time on their 3 pointer ), for us to beat them.

Come on Blunt. Be realistic man. Chris Paul is a SUPERSTAR in this league. While Collison is good, he's no Chris Paul. So why would the Hornets trade their ONLY star and box office attraction? Let's be realistic about this guys. We are NOT getting back a superstar in a JJ sign and trade. It's not going to happen. If we do get a star caliber player, it'll be a player that the team and its fans have given up on, and just want to see someone new in the spot. The face of the Hornets is Chris Paul. They're not trading that dude for anything. Ish . . they probably wouldn't even trade him for D-Wade

The talent and the balance of the roster is more of an issue, than the coaching is. Without a decent PG to run the show here, that can get guys ( especially our interior people ) easy looks, we're going to have the same problem. And if we don't add more quality size on the frontline ( preferably at center ), we're going to have the same problem. I know everybody is concerned about the offense, but we keep losing these games defensively. We switch , , , they killed us. We didn't switch . . . they killed us. We mix and match matchups . . they still killed us. we have personnel issues Changing coaches is fine. Definitely do that before blowing up the entire roster. But this roster has been overrated from the jump. WE need serious talent upgrades across the board, and people who can do a particular thing very well. - Teague will probably get his shot at PG, but we don't know if he's the long term answer. Regardless, we need a penetrating floor leader who can create his own offense, and create for others. - We don't have a sharpshooter who can knock down open shots ( ala a Korver or anyone of that sort ). Mo Evans used to be that, but he can't shoot anymore. Marvin used to be able to do that from 21 feet, but he can't do that anymore either. Bibby has pretty much served in that role for 2 years, but he's the dang PG. - We really don't have a slasher on this team who can get to the hole and draw fouls. ( was hoping that could be Marvin, but that hasn't panned out. Crawford is the defacto slasher . . but he's more of a slash and jumpshot guy, rather than a slash to the rim guy. Smoove also slashes, to a certain extent. But we need a guy who could do it on a regular basis ) - We don't have a defensive center. - We don't have a reliable low post scorer ( although Horford is getting better, and may become that on those occasions in which he's allowed to play PF ) So changing coaches is fine. But we need to balance out this roster with players who can do certain things well to compliment other people.

Chill had a good game. He was the best on his team. Couldn't get some of his drives in traffic to fall, but he did knock down about 2 or 3 threes. Barcelona pretty much smothered that team overall with great defense and timely 3 point shooting. They pretty much denied Kleiza everything on the inside. Juan Carlos Navarro was easily the best player on the floor. And I didn't know Scoonie Penn was playing in Europe. Navarro was a beast today though.

Great post. But this all depends on what is most important to JJ . . . winning? . . . the money? . . . or winning and the money? I think the team that is going to come full throttle at this dude, is Miami. They have to appease D-Wade somehow, to get him to re-sign. I think Bosh will go to somebody before JJ. Whichever team loses out on Bosh, is going to go hard after JJ. I don't see those lesser teams giving up any talent, in order to add JJ to the roster. Teams like Chicago and Miami are still going to have a ton of cap room to sign JJ, plus add quality dudes to the roster. God . . . if all we got for JJ, was Dampier's expiring contract ( or any expiring contract ) I will be pizzed. That'll pretty much mean that we are giving up trying to improve for a few years.

They don't want to see this point of view. A lot of people simply wanted a real reason to really dislike JJ. Unfortunately, JJ's stupid comment, combined with his pizz poor effort these last 2 weeks, has given them all the reasons they needed to dislike the dude. He's been villified all year because he turned down that extension. This just completes the cycle of hate toward him in their minds. KG did the same thing up in Boston toward the end of the season, when the Celtics got booed off the court after the Wizards beat the hell out of them. In that case though, KG said it to their faces as he was going to the locker room. I believe the C's either suspended him for one game, or Doc decided to give him a DNP the next game. If Woody or the ASG did that, it may satisfy the fans a little, but it would completely destroy any chance of JJ returning here, even at a reduced price. And he'd wouldn't even agree to a sign and trade to help us get something out of his departure.

And thanks Spud.

That's how I felt too when I was at the game. But he did sell the team out. He couldn't buy a jumper. And then when he started going hard to the hole, everything was long and going off the back of the rim. Meanwhile . . Orlando looked like a well-oiled machine. We couldn't even begin to stop him. And JJ proceeded to play one of the worst games he's ever played as a Hawk. So the fans booed him and the team. They even started booing Smoove in the 4th quarter. But the main focus was on JJ. Game 4 is going to be interesting, as his comments come to light tomorrow and on Monday. Even Horford is talking a little about guys not giving effort. No telling who or whom he's talking about. Maybe JJ . . Maybe Smoove . . . Maybe Both.

I gotta agree with you. The empty seats . . . and fans from other teams coming into Philips and cheering en masse for the other team, instead of the Hawks. This is the absolute worse case scenario that's playing out. I was at the game today, and the fans really started booing him early on, after that 3rd miss. By the time he missed that running lay-up in the 2nd quarter, the boo birds were already out. We may be looking at a situation in which not only does he not re-sign with the Hawks ( even at a significantly lower prices and less years ), he may screw the franchise altogether, and not even agree to a sign and trade to somebody. I mean . . he doesn't HAVE TO AGREE with a S & T. Say the Bulls offer him 5 yrs - 75 million . . and we offer him 6yrs - 80 million. Do you think he's coming back here? Or worse . . . Wade gets in his ear, and tells him to come to Miami. He may take less money just to be in MIA and to play with Wade. It's unbelievable how all of this has played out in the past 2 weeks. We might lose this dude for nothing, with only the MLE and draft picks to replace him. That's a very REAL POSSIBILITY now.

Proud of Jamal . . . until the 4th quarter in which he missed 5 consecutive shots and went 1 - 7 FG in the quarter. He was 6 - 11 FG going into the 4th, but turned ice cold at the worst time. those misses, combined with Josh's theactrics, is what initially started the Magic's 4th quarter run when JJ was on the bench trying to get a little rest.