TheNorthCydeRises

Hawks are 4 - 4 when scoring less than 100 points . . . but have wins @ Boston, @ Portland and @ Dallas Hawks are 1 - 4 when scoring less than 90 points . . . with losses @ Charlotte, @ Detroit, and @ New Orleans Hawks are 10 - 2 when scoring 100 points or more and 12 - 4 when scoring 90 points or more. Hawks are 4 - 0 when holding their opponent to 90 points or less. Hawks are 6 - 2 when our opponent scores 100 or more points. So I guess the threshold offensively is the 90 point mark for a likely loss . . and 100 points for a likely win.

That team misses Ben Gordon's scoring so much. Brad Miller looks old this season. Tyrus Thomas has been hurt all year, and is reportedly on the trading block. Smoove needs to really attack these dudes tonight, to see if he can get Noah in foul trouble. If that happens, they virtually have no replacement for him. They'll be forced to play small. It'll be nice to comfortably win this game. LOL . . but these are the Hawks. We'll see. I'd be shocked if we lost though.

Yeah, that's what stands out to me. That, and the fact that the projections doesn't have any team in the league winning 60 or more games. I think that may change over time though. Hawks record vs the top 10 teams in the league so far: 5 - 2

Yes sir, I think you are correct. And I like how they're putting our home games on ESPN. I think we had 7 games total scheduled to be on ESPN at the beginning of the year. Now, we still have 8 games left. We don't have any Thursday night games scheduled, so there's no chance of being on TNT again ( unless they broadcast games on a special night ). Only possibility is if TNT goes with a quadruple header on MLK Day, and show our game vs the Thunder @ 2pm.

Yep. People talk about Oklahoma City following this blueprint, but the other team following this, is Memphis. The addition of Zach Randolph, a much maligned player, has given that team an extra scoring punch on the frontline, to team up with the scoring of Gay and Mayo. The trade of Pau Gasol to the Lakers helped LA out, but it also gave Memphis the rights to his brother, Marc Gasol. That guy is a good, fundamentally sound center that is on par with Horford. The weak link right now, is Mike Conley, but even he came up big last night. The Iverson fiasco actually was a blessing in disguise for them. They added another much maligned player in Jamal Tinsley, a true PG that they can bring off the bench. Now all of a sudden, they're a dangerous team. They've won 8 of their last 12, with wins @ Portland, vs Dallas, and last night vs Cleveland ( funny, I thought elite teams don't lose games to below .500 teams ). The move to get Randolph was similar to the move we did to get Bibby. Don't be surprised if that Memphis team doesn't come to ATL next week, and battle us to the death. They're one shooter off the bench away from being a playoff threat in the West.

I didn't call you a lie. I said that you need to stop telling that lie. If you're offended by that, I apologize. But I wasn't calling you a liar. It's just that many people are saying that we have a strong bench. But the play of the bench doesn't back up that assertion at all. Teams have a field day against our bench. AND if Woody believes we have a great bench, he sure doesn't coach it like we do. He knows what's up. I don't think he believes the lie anymore either. Forget Teague for a minute. Woody can't even depend on Zaza and Mo on a nightly basis anymore, because of their poor play. Crawford is Crawford. Great one night, horrible the next. Maybe Joe Smith can be the consistent guy off the bench. But even he has only had an impact in a game in 3 games ( Boston, Toronto and Dallas ) The fact is this though. If he doesn't trust the bench, and the bench is weak defensively, then I have no problem with playing the starters more than he should, if it leads to wins. A lot of people talk about playing the bench more, so that the starters won't be worn down for the 2nd half of the season. Well let me ask you this? How many games should we sacrifice, in order to do this? If we were 10 - 10, this board would be in complete chaos right now. Everybody knows this. LOL . . it would be Hawk Armageddon ( even though we'd be 5th in the conference ). Our bench is Jamal Crawford, plain and simple. And Woody plays him like a starter. LOL @ me losing this debate, but we're 14 - 6. Once again sir, I did not call you a liar. I called the idea of us having a strong bench "a lie", because they're way more inconsistent than our starters.

It still wouldn't matter, and you know it. And please stop telling the lie about our strong bench. If we had a strong bench, things wouldn't immeadiately fall apart when they enter the game. If three of them can't even play together on the floor at the same time, then we don't have a strong bench. The guys on the bench are BY FAR our worst defensive players on the team. If they ( they = Crawford ) isn't scoring the basketball, the bench as a group is pretty much useless . . because they're not going to play defense. At best, we'll get Crawford + one other guy at least playing decent. But on most nights our bench = Crawford and Crawford only. Maybe Joe Smith can prove to be the other guy who ca get it done on a nightly basis. Zaza and Evans have been lackluster so far this year. And in non-garbage time, Teague has been lackluster as well. LOL @ strong bench . . . please. If Woody listened to the fans who want to see the bench play more, we'd be a 10 - 10 ballclub right now, instead of 14 - 6.

At least the Braves spent money. And Arthur Blank was showing that he was willing to spend money, when he gave Vick that huge contract. If the Hawks followed their lead, we may be onto something here.

And get who? Some more role players to fill his spot? I bet people would jump for joy, if JJ was traded for any of these guys: - Kevin Martin - Monta Ellis - Michael Redd - Jason Richardson - a good young player + a 1st round draft pick You thin we're any better than a 45 win team with any of those guys? Some of them can score better than JJ, but they're horrible defensive players. The problem with Atlanta sports is NOT the superstar. It's the ownership and management that FAILS to get talented players around that superstar. And most of it is due to them being too cheap to bring in talent. Seriously . . when Atlanta franchises have decided to spend money to either keep star players or bring in a star player, the teams have been good. Maybe not championship level al the time, but very good. What I don't get, is how does paying JJ "market value" ( whatever that value is set at ), hurt our playoff and championship aspiration? If the market says he's worth 15 mill a year, so be it. If the market says he's worth 18.5 mill a year, so be it. Regardless of what WE think he's worth, retaining him keeps us at playoff leveL. And since there's no one out there who can get us to championship level, we might as well stick with what we got, until they peak ( and they haven't peaked as a team yet ). But we do know this, going into next summer: - we can't get one of the big boys - we're not getting any lottery picks - we can at least keep the core together one more year, before having to decide to let Crawford go and deal with HORFORD'S upcoming bump in salary - and the dynamic in the East could totally change, if Wade and/or Lebron decide to go to lesser teams for more money, while we stay together. Seriously . . . would some of you want Sund and the ASG to refuse to pay JJ 18 mill a year ( 5yr - 90 mill ), if that was his market value? Really? Why? Because he's not worth that kind of money? So to prevent from doing that, you spend less money on a lesser star player that may or may not gel with our squad? You don't do like Isaiah and the Knicks did, and pay premium prices for mediocre players. isaiah would paid Marvin 12 mill a year, based on potential. Bibby would've gotten a 3yr - 30 mill deal. That's not how you win. You don't pay premium prices to mediocre players. But in this league, you dang well better be willing to pay premium prices for all-star caliber players. Why? Because cheap teams don't win championships!

LOL . . maybe that's true too, if you want to look at it the other way. Woody knows how to beat the Celtics though. It's just getting our frontline to play big enough against them on a game by game basis, that's the major challenge for Woody.

Come to think of it, you're right. Sekou did write a similar article about the Hawks this summer. It wasn't solely about Woody's contract situation, but that was discussed, along with the overall state of the team ( from an expectation and perception standpoint ) If the guy in Boston didn't do all of the work himself, maybe he's "Frankensteined" this article, taking quotes that our players have said in the past, and pieced this article together. Still, if the quotes aren't true, someone who covers the Hawks or someone from the organization, will probably debunk this. Ken is the guy that needs to shoot this down, if it isn't true. He's the one writer that's closest to the Hawks. LOL @ Sund's non-committal answer in that article. Typical.

And let me put a conspiracy theory type angle on all of this. Isn't it curious that something like this comes out of Boston? Could they be writing something like this, to get people ( i.e. - the Hawks organization ) to talk about something other than what we're doing on the basketball court? Something that could serve as a distraction to us, and possibly start some trouble? I don't think Boston fears us, but we're definitely on their minds. They do NOT want to play us in the 2nd round of the playoffs. But don'mt be surprised if this is some national sportswriter moonlighting as a blogger on a fan site. Heck, for all we know, Sekou could've written this and sold it to their blog site, or some ESPN writer under an obscure blog name, could've written this. But to make up an in-depth story like that, with supposedly quoted statements from our players, the coach, and the GM, would severly damage the credibility of that blog and render it as a complete joke. But we obviously have some VIPs on this board who lurk, even if they don't post. If the story is untrue, they'll quickly debunk it.

LMAO @ how the people are already coming out of the woodwork to nit-pick about the article, instead of addressing the facts stated in the article. You gotta love it. @ AHF: Man, you know good and well that they gutted this team, much in the same way that New Jersey gutted their team. We weren't in rebuilding mode back then. We were in full demolition mode. Woody had to start from scratch. @ niremental: You may be correct. But ask yourself this. Why would someone who runs a respected blog in BOSTON, make up quotes and stories about the players liking the coach? The people who do these blogs do have access to some of these teams. If this same article came from peachtreehoops.com, you wouldn't be disputing it. And don't get it twisted man. Some of these people on these fan blogs are actually sports writers. They may be using made-up usernames like you and I, but they're writers nonetheless. LMAO . . . I love this. Because to anybody who isn't completely biased against Woody, it's OBVIOUS that the players like playing for the dude. It's obvious that he has their respect. I know one thing. A blog/article like this would NEVER have been written by an Atlanta writer or someone running an Atlanta Hawks blog. It's so funny how the rest of the league view us, compared to how we view ourselves. You guys can believe all of the negative stuff you want about Woody if you want. Let's see if some of the players will come out and dispute the quotes. Or better yet, how about contacting Ken ( who obviously follows this blog ), to see if he can get the same types of answers from the players, concerning Woody.

Right now, I like how we match up with Boston. That's the team that if we're matched up against them, we can beat in a 7 game series ( even if we don't have home court advantage ). The win we had up there, ( a convincing win in which we ran them to death ), I think proved that we can win a tough road game against a good team like then. Unlike with Orlando, I don't this team isn't scared of Boston AT ALL. It's all about staying tough when we play Boston. Boston does not have a defensive answer for JJ, and they know it . . which is why they double team him like crazy, hoping other people don't hit wide open jumpers. I don't know how we look vs Cleveland with Shaq, but too many people ( including yourself ) put way too much stock in that Cleveland playoff series last year. You routinely bring up how we're beating teams this year when they have people hurt. But everybody who complains about how bad we looked vs Cleveland, knows that Marvin and Horford were nowhere near 100% last year in that series. They don't sweep us if we're healthy. No way in hell. We'd beat them once last year, and should've beat them a 2nd time, if it wasn't for a BS phantom call on LeBron driving to the hole with a second left. The Cavs do not have a defensive answer for Smoove, and JJ can abuse their smallish guards, if they choose not to double team him. It's just that with Shaq in the middle, will Horford and Smoove be willing to attack him? And on the flip side, how well do we guard Shaq in the middle . . and can we guard him without fouling Horford out? We'll see after Christmas how we play them. The Big 3 are great teams, but they're not invincible. As for the sorry teams beating us, the Hawks are now the hunted . . not the hunters. We're the team that a squad like Memphis will get up for, to try to see how they measure up against good teams. It wasn't long ago when we were the hunters, using the good teams to measure up to. Now we're good, and we use the great teams to compare ourselves to. Orlando is our kryptonite right now. We have to shoot real well to beat them, because we can't stop Howard. And we don't have enough shooters on this team to keep up with them, if their shooters are hot.

And when these bench players play like garbage, people are like. . . "Woody you idiot!! Why are you playing the bench?" Where was the bench in the NY game? That was the obvious time for people to step up, seeing that Smoove got kicked out of the game. Bottom line is that they simply have to do their jobs when they do get into the game. Joe Smith actually impacted the game the other night, which is why he got extended playing time. When other guys do that, they're rewarded with extra playing time. This bench has to learn how to play as a unit together, if people expect Woody to rest the starters. And when that player gets into a game, he has to produce. Simple as that.

LOL @ Skip Bayless. That's a dang good description.

Marvin had 15 rebounds last night ( a career high ). He also had 3 steals. Great effort game by him last night.

Post of the Year. I think the only reason I have patience, is because I'm also a Cincinnati Bengals fan. Between the Hawks and the Bengals, my sports life as a fan has been absolute hell, especially since around 1990. Rooting for both of these teams has taught me to appreciate and savor every moment of success each team has, because it can fade away at the snap of a finger. So to see both of my teams really start to turn the corner at the same time . . yeah . . I'm loving this ish. And I'm not going to complain every time one of those teams lose a bad game. I mean, the Bengals 3 losses came off of a fluke tip pass vs Denver ( a game they deserved to lose anyway because they played horribly on offense for about 57 minutes . . but didn't deserve to lose like that ), a beat down at home vs the Texans, and a HORRIBLE loss out in Oakland. Some Bengal fans have been doing the same thing that Hawks fans do. You have a small group that flat out trashes Carson Palmer, because he hasn't reached Peyton Manning's level yet. Sound familiar? From the outside looking in, you'd think people would be crazy to trash Carson, especially seeing how the team played last year when Carson was hurt and out for most of last season. But it happens. Chad Johnson is the Bengals equivalent of Josh Smith. He's the face of the franchise and easily the most popular player on the team, although people tend to hate his immaturity. When he plays bad to mediocre, we can lose to anybody. When he plays great, we can beat anybody. But for the most part, the Bengal fan base highly appreciates the run the Bengals are making this year, and are excited to see if we can hold onto that #2 seed and make some noise in the playoffs. But they're inconsistent like the Hawks are, and could easily lose @ Detroit today, seeing that we play Minnesota next week ( a game they'll probably win ) I don't know if I can say the majority of this fan base appreciates the Hawks, and what they're doing so far this year. Maybe that will change as the year rolls on. If we take care of business this month, January will be the proving ground for the Hawks, with all of the big time playoff teams we'll play. Maybe things will change then, if we hold our own against those teams. Like you said, we were a joke of a franchise, before we acquired JJ. Without JJ, God knows what kind of franchise we'd be right now. He's not an elite player, but he's definitely on that 2nd level. And contrary to popular belief, 2nd level ( even some 3rd level ) players, get big time money. People talk about his "selfishness" at times. But ALL superstar players are selfish at times. Every single last one of them goes into a mode in which they put it on their shoulders to win a game. We lose that game last night, if JJ plays unselfish basketball, because other guys weren't stepping up. Fact is though, JJ always passes the ball, even when people are accusing him of being selfish. He plays more unselfish than just about every star player in the league. But he only gets the "selfish" tag when he's missing shots. When he's in the zone like he was last night, it's "Go JJ Go" . . like he's Speed Racer or something. Most people on this board have watched enough NBA basketball to know that you usually need 2 all-star caliber players, plus a third guy who can play at a high level on occasion, to be in championship contention. We're not quite there yet . . . YET. So to expect this team to play like a championship level team on a nightly basis, will simply drive you crazy as a fan. I think people who have questions about this team, also realize that Hotlanta simply shows up only to spew negativity about this team. If JJ goes 6 - 18 FG, he's a horrible basketball player. When JJ goes 13 - 24 FG, JJ simply got "lucky" to have a game like that. It's just Hotlanta being Hotlanta. I'll close with this. If people want to know the effect of not supposedly overpaying to keep a good ( but not great ) young player on a team, you only have to look no further than the Chicago Bulls. That team decided to really play around with Ben Gordon, not paying him what he wanted, even though he was easily the most talented offensive player on the squad. Last year in the playoffs vs Boston, Gordon looked like a superstar scorer. But the choice of the Bulls was to let Ben test the market, thinking no one would pay big money for his services. So here comes Detroit, with their 5yr - 58/59 mill offer, and the Bulls are like "whoa" . . someone thinks he's worth 12 million dollars a year? Yep. Someone does. So now they have to decide if they want to pay that much money for Gordon, but Ben doesn't even give them a chance to mull it over. He signs with Detroit on the first day of free agency. Ben is nowhere near a perfect basketball player. But his scoring role in Chicago was damn near perfect for him and the team. But the team decides that with Luou Deng coming back, and the prospect of possibly getting one of the big free agents next year, that Ben isn't worth 12 million a year. If they land a Dwyane Wade or a Lebron James next year ( or a Joe Johnson ), then that decision may have been wise. But if they don't, it's a decision that could see them fighting for the 8th seed in the playoffs for years to come, with no chance to advance to that next level. I say that because the jury is out on whether Derrick Rose can go to that next level as a player. So far this year, he's pretty much been the same guy he was last year. And Ben's absence from the Bulls has taken away the deep ball from that team. I wonder if Bulls fans miss Ben Gordon? LOL . . what do you think. http://www.examiner.com/x-490-Chicago-Bulls-Examiner~y2009m11d27-The-Bulls-miss-Ben-Gordon http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/chi-02-pistons-bulls-ben-gordon-.ar0dec02,0,1814286.story http://www.suntimes.com/sports/jackson/1915119,CST-SPT-jax02.article ( the latest blog about the Bulls blowout loss to the Raptors ) http://blogs.bulls.com/chicago_bulls_blog/2009/12/raptors-demolish-the-staggering-bulls.html This free agency season, you're gonna have teams chasing after ghosts. Honestly, Lebron and Wade would be CRAZY to leave their respective teams. It could happen, but it wouldn't put either of them closer to a championship. If they re-sign with their current teams, guess who all of those teams with cap space are going to come FULL THROTTLE after. Amare Stoudamire . . Chris Bosh . . and Joe Johnson. And if the Hawks aren't willing to play with the big boys, they run a SIGNIFICANT RISK of seeing this team fall back in the pack ( like out of the playoffs ), simply because they don't want to pay superstar money to an all-star player. It's going to be a dangerous game of "chicken" the Hawks are going to play with JJ this summer ( or before then, if they decide to trade him ). If Sund's and the ASG's JJ contingency plan is to give Jamal Crawford the ball . . or trade JJ for some lesser star, Sund should be fired TODAY and the ASG should simply sell the team. I don't want Kevin Martin here, but that's a predictable move that they'll try to make, and try to sell us that we got the best possible value for JJ. The list of the games he's played ( or not played in ) is eye-opening, to say the least. It's almost T-Mac like. I knew he was injury prone a little, but not like that. That's a huge reg flag against bringing a guy like that in, to replace a workhorse like JJ. I'd much rather pay JJ top dollar, to assure that we'll stay at playoff level, than to bring in a cheaper "star", and have that be in jeapordy. JJ may not lead ATL to a championship, but he sure can help keep us a playoff team for years to come. But if JJ teams up with Wade or Lebron, people around here can FORGET ABOUT ever getting to an NBA Final, let alone winning a title.

Had to grind it out, but the Captain wouldn't let us lose. Gritty tough win by this team tonight, with a brilliant performance by JJ . . ISO JJ that is. Joe Smith had some huge baskets and defensive plays down the stretch. Good for him. We definitely need someone else on this bench that we can depend on. ISO JJ is preparing him for how he'll have to score in the playoffs. All of your superstar players have to be great ISO players during that time of year. Team ball is great, but great ISO players win championships.

The people you named are a combined 3 - 10 FG at halftime. Add Teague to that group, and they're 3 - 12 FG. Any more suggestions?

I agree. I threw out Solo's name out there, simply because we probably could use a shot blocking prescence off the bench. But dude was definitely foul prone. That's why I used to call him "Hack" Solo . . . Han Solo's brother. None of those guys are difference makers, you're right. It's going to be up to our core 6 players, to get us where we want to be as a team. Last night was a good opportunity for guys to step up. And for the most part, they just didn't do it, especially on the defensive end. I expect a much better game tonight, win or lose.

But we're all responsible for our own behavior. While I think Smoove merely was frustrated as hell for not getting calls, he should still be able to contain his emotions to the point where he doesn't cuss someone out. He can express his displeasure without all of the cursing. It's bad enough when you sit in the stands of sporting events with your kid ( or with other people's kids in the area ), and you have some drunk idiot fan cursing up a storm all throughout the game. Then when you tell him to stop all of the cursing around the kids, he wants to get mad, talking about that it's "his right as a fan to speak however he pleases". But it should be all about common courtesy. I wouldn't mind a rule stating that if you blatanly curse at the referee, or is doing a lot of eexcessive cursing on the court, that you'll get a technical foul for that. That'll at least calm down some of Kevin Garnett's antics, seeing that he's a notorious cusser on the court.

I never said that he would. I'm just going on with the premise of the thread of IF he did coach the All-Star game this year. Actually, everyone on this board should be rooting for that to happen, because that'll mean that we're having a dream season. The story was just a hypothetical of what may happen.

Boston . . Portland . . Denver . . Miami ( nuff said ) Bad losses . . good wins. Nobody isn't denying that we didn't have bad losses this year. And no one is denying that tonight's loss isn't a bad loss. But it's not end of the world time either. If you want to throw in the towel because we've lost 4 of 6, go right ahead. But like Teke said, you're never around after a win. During the 7 game win streak, you were dang near MIA on here. Maybe you were in MIA forreal, on South Beach. But as soon as we lose, here you come, popping up like a Jack-in-the-box. Let us lose against the Mavs, and you're surely be here, with that big sign with the words THE END IS NEAR FOR THE HAWKS on it, spouting all of your negativity. Let us win though, and we probably won't see you till Wednesday. Or if we do see you, it'll be to say that we're still pretenders. Either way . . it's just Hot being Hot.

I wonder how Teague is playing defense in practice? To me, that's the easiest way for him to earn consistent playing time . . by playing defense. From what I've seen in the games, his on the ball defense doesn't look that good. The defensive awareness by Bibby and Crawford is just atrocious sometimes. LOL . . I hope Sund has Mario on speed dial, if these defensive efforts keep up.