TheNorthCydeRises

Starters look good . . bench was horrible except Zaza. Look for Woody to not play Teague and possibly Joe Smith in the 2nd half ( unless Smoove picks up some quick fouls . . . and even then, Woody should go with Marvin ) Crawford needs to give us something toward the end of the 3rd qtr, or he needs to sit the bench with Teague and Joe Smith. Interesting game.

Buzzard, he's always said "we". After the Laker loss, he said "we're soft" ( just like Deron Williams did Wednesday night about his team. ) After the Bobcat loss, he used the word "we" again. In the link posted in the previous post, JJ correctly states that when Smoove stays close to the basket on both ends, that he's an asset to us. Matter of fact, the guy that writes on the hoopinion blog about the Hawks, was "upset" at JJ that he didn't name names when directing his media comments toward somebody. And you keep wanting to cite the Charlotte game as an indication of his bad performance. But you fail to mention that the guy had 11 points at halftime, even though he didn't take a shot in the final 5 minutes of that half. And part of the reason why he didn't, was because Smoove uncharacteristically ( for this year ) looked to score on just about every Hawk possession to close the half. Woody even take him out of the game with a minute to go, either to keep him from picking up a 3rd foul . . or because he was shooting too much and it wasn't helping us cut into the decifit. In the 2nd half, Smoove kept shooting, and the lead kept growing. I mean, if you want JJ to say . . "hey, I didn't have a good game" . . fine. But that game started to turn with Smith came back into the game in the 2nd quarter, and started to look for his own offense, instead of it happening within the flow of the game. And even though JJ used "we" when describing that loss, there's little doubt who he was talking about. And I think the reason why Smoove wasn't upset at his comments, is because he knows that Jj was right.

Comments from interview: - Explaining Hawks hot start: Gave credit to conditioning and addition of new players ( Crawford and Joe Smith ) - Main motivation of Hawks: To do better because of how last year ended, gave props to Jamal again for helping team be better - What they need to work on: Composure ( specifically referenced how they kept it in Knicks game ) and need to improve defensively. - View of Boston game tonight: Every game is a big deal to Al, but looks at Boston game as definitely important. To win, they need to be tuned in to Woody's gameplan - Reference to Paul Pierce "bet" in Game 2 of 2008 playoffs: Described it as playful . . all fun and games . . and didn't extend beyond the court - Being part of NBA Hispanic marketing program: Proud to represent DR and Latin America Nothing groundbreaking, but nice to always see and/or hear guys on TV.

Handcuffing the team? The Hawks did that the minute they traded Speedy and Acie for Crawford, because both Speedy and Acie's contracts could've came off the books in 2010. They knew Jamal had 2 yrs @ 20 mill left on his deal, yet, they traded for him anyway. JJ didn't do that, SUND did. JJ didn't sign Bibby to 3 yrs @ 18 mill . . or Zaza to 3yrs @ 15 mill . . or Marvin to 5yrs @ 37.5 mill . . SUND did. JJ didn't sign 2 stiffs like Joe Smith and Collins, and dupe the fan base that theyse guys could help us . . SUND did. Didn't we Hawks fans have all of this mapped out in 2008, in regards of the summer of 2009? - re-sign Marvin - let Bibby go - let Zaza go - trade Speedy, or let his deal expire in 2010 - let Acie take over for Bibby But SUND changed all of that, when he traded for Crawford. And he definitely changed al of that when he brought back Bibby and Zaza. Remember, if we don't re-sign those 2, that's 19 MILLION OFF THE BOOKS. But SUND re-signed both of them. I'm not mad at him for doing so. But in retrospect, we COULD'VE rolled with this squad this year: STARTERS: Acie - JJ - Marvin - Smoove - Horford BENCH: Teague - Flip - Evans - Solo - Zaza ( West - Morris - Speedy ) With that group, the big questionmark is at PG. Could an Acie - Teague combo be effective at PG? Then you'd see if Flip could give us the production he gave us in the 2nd half of the season. All I know, is that we'd keep 7 of the core 8 from last year's playoff squad intact. And financial-wise, we'd be in damn good shape to re-sign JJ ( no matter what people offered us ) But here's what I'm getting at Swat. We've known for years now that this day would come. We've known that we'd either have to pay JJ, trade him, or let him walk. And before SUND came onto the scene, we were definitely in position to lock up JJ without much resistance . . IF . he wanted to come back. But when SUND locks up all of the pieces around JJ . . then comes at JJ with a 4yr @ 60 mill offer ( basically paying him the same thing he made in his previous contract ) . . you expect JJ just to take that offer, instead of seeing what he's worth on the open market? The NBA is a business man. These teams don't care about players. So the players have to look out for themselves. So just because you in particular think all JJ is worth is 15 mill a year @ 60 mill, doesn't mean he should take it out of loyalty to the Hawks. LOL . . look how they did Flip. And with the way Flip played last year, he definitely deserved a multi-year deal starting at least at 3 mill a year. But when the Hawks traded for Crawford, they basically gave Flip the finger. So in JJ's case, he'd be stupid to take a 60 mill contract, when he and his agent could pretty much set the asking price next summer. A much HIGHER asking price. His agent could be like . . "OK . you all know who my client is. He's the 2nd best SG in free agency and he's the 5th or 6th best free agent overall. We know that my client can't expect to command MAX money, but it is my job to get the best deal possible. So I want at least a 75 million contract to start out. We don't care how many years, but the total amount starts @ 75 million." Then JJ's agent goes to SUND and says . . . "You know JJ would rather stay in ATL to finish the job. Like I told the other GMs, the bidding starts at 75 million. You do have that 6th year option, so if you do give us a 6 yr deal, we want at least 75 mill in the first 5 years. Player option in year 5 .. team option in year 6." That's how JJ's agent may play this. Don't look at it as JJ turning down 15 mill a year. Look at it as him turning down 60 million . . . when he may can secure an 80 - 100 million contract. Because once these teams start jockeying for position, JJ will get more than a 75 mill a year contract. Probably closer to 80 - 85 mill. But as far as JJ "handcuffing the team", nah man. You better blame SUND for that one. Not JJ. Crawford's 10 mill in 2010 - 11 is what is handcuffing the team, especially if Crawford's addition turns out to not make us better at the end of the year.

I just think people need something to complain about. We're 6-2, and other than the debacle @ Charlotte and the 3rd quarter ( 4 minute ) collapse in L.A., there isn't much to complain about. If you really look at it, the major difference in his game this season, is that instead of settling for the 21 foot jumper, he's probing and driving, trying to take a 12 - 15 foot jumper. And that's a good thing, because it's a higher percentage shot. Once Marvin starts making his shots again, the assists will go back over 5 per game. Not too much to say about a SG that averages 20 pts - 6 rebs - 5 ast . . shoots in the mid 40s% FG . . 90% FT . . and is the best man defender on the team. Well . . then they'll cry about your 3pt%, even though you're taking less this year. JJ, keep doing what you're doing man. We're going to need you to be "selfish" just like this come April. And keep telling the truth when the truth needs to be told. They all wanted the "vocal JJ" for years. But now, some don't like what they hear. Oh well. Keep doing what you're doing.

LOL . . it'll become iso-Jamal. The fact is that no one on the team, other than Jamal, would be able to create and make a quality shot. Every team needs a go-to player, and Jamal would be the one. Smoove, Horford, and Marvin don't have enough offensive skills to handle that role. Bibby can't do it without a pick . . and even then, he's shooting a jumper. So it would be all on Jamal to score, pass, and defend.. Not good. And our switching defense? With Bibby and Crawford together on the court, and Marvin having to probably guard the best perimeter player every night? Not good. @ sultan: That's what I say too. But they'll have to find a team that has a good, but disgruntled player on a bad team, . . and that team willing to give the player up. And the team that gets JJ will also have to simply let him go at the end of the season, to create cap space. I said this summer that the guy would be Kevin Martin. Sacramento would be idiotic to do that though. So they'll try to justify a trade for somebody like a Monta Ellis, Baron Davis, Troy Murphy . . some dude that they'll claim we got the most we could get for JJ, and would be a guy that could help us. Or . . they may find a good team with young talent and "potential", that is willing to bring JJ in for the rest of the year, to see if he can get them deep in the playoffs. I don't know . . maybe Cuban trades Josh Howard and a 1st to us, to get JJ. And Sund will be like . . . "look, I got a quality player and a 1st round pick for JJ. Pat me on the back." Half of the fan base will rejoyce, hyping up Sund as this genius . . while the other half will be like, "you traded JJ for a pothead and a 1st round pick that will be in the 20s? And you want praise?" Then Crawford will be given the iso-joystick, and he can go back to what he does best . . chuck up bad shots. All I know, is that if the Hawks are anywhere near the #3 seed at the trade deadline, trading JJ is OUT OF THE QUESTION. I'd rather see this group as is, make a run to the EC Finals, and miss the playoffs the following year . . . than to trade JJ, get bumped in Rd 1, and be good enough to get bumped in Rd 1 again next year.

The game definitely means much more to the Hawks and Hawk fans, than it does to the Celtics and their fans. We're the only ones referring to this as a "rivalry game". We're the ones looking for vallidation, not them. I agree with Dolfan. I'd be shocked if Smoove or Horford didn't have a bad game in Boston. I said before the season that Crawford's value to the Hawks may be how he plays on the road. He was big time in Portland, and we may need him to be big time tonight. As for the Celtics game planning for the Hawks, they always do. They try to play JJ straight up. But if JJ is getting the best of them, they start doubling him like crazy. JJ got Doc's full attention after he lit up Ray Allen in Game 4 of the playoffs. But Crawford may be the difference ( good and bad ) tomorrow night. Zaza may have to give us his best game of the year as well. And it'll be nice if Marvin found his stroke back in this game. If they come out doubling JJ, he and Smoove are going to be the guys left open.

JJ has taken exactly one more shot than Lebron. One. And here's a news flash . . JJ averaged 18.1 FGA last year, shooting .433 This year, he's averaging exactly 18 FGA, shooting .451 Now you tell me? Which JJ would you rather have? Oh, and Lebron averaged 19.9 FGA ( 20 shots a game ) last year. The only thing JJ isn't doing this year, is knocing down the 3-pointer. Because of that, he's taking less 3s and driving the ball to the hole more. Come playoff time, this is the version of JJ that has to show up. Not the one that is passing to his cold shooting teammates or actually waiting for them to make plays first. Not the one that Hawks fans literally BEGGED to force the action last year. The JJ hate is amazing. Dude is trying to elevate his game, and some people are acting like he's actually playing worse basketball this year, than he was last year. 45% FG . . 91% FT . . 5.9 rebs . . are all up from last year. Turnovers are up, but still under 3 a game. Assists are down, but still over 4 a game. Hawks are 6 - 2. Seriously . . what's the problem?

In other news . . . . Deron Williams just called his team "soft" tonight, after the Celtics beat down the Jazz in Boston.

JJ was playing like Gilbert Arenas ( the evil Gilbert ) in the 1st half. In the 2nd half, he was much more under control, shot 6 - 9 FG . . and most importantly . . had 0 turnovers. Gotta love how Josh Smith once again, played within himself, and looked to get the easy baskets. Another high shooting % game from him. And he hit the boards. Horford was terrific in that 3rd quarter whe we finally took the lead. He had the advantage all night, but just couldn't make anything in that 1st half. The shooting of Mo and Bibby kept the game from getting out of hand in that 1st half. Finally a high assist game from Bibby as well. Marvin . . . that dude better be careful to become less and less important to Woody's rotation. He has to simply start making his open shots. Interesting that Woody basically went with a 7-man rotation tonight. Heavy minutes for JJ and Horford. I'm sure people will cry about it, once they see the boxscore. And Teague was basically out of the rotation tonight. Doesn't bother me one bit in a game like this. He may be needed on Friday night though. Good comeback win. 6 - 2. Now for our new arch rival. Maybe Marvin will wake up there.

JJ needs to go all the way to the rim, instead of shooting the floater, when his jumper isn't faling. If he keeps playing like this, he better take full responsibility for the loss tonight. No "we" ish. He. Thank God for Mo Evans in that 2nd qtr. That's why I don't mind at all if he starts getting more time . . even if he has to take minutes from Teague. If they stop turning the ball over, they'll take control of this game and pull away in the 4th. LOL . . this team is so schizophrenic on the road. They play just like Utah.

The whole Miami assessment is what gets me. Without D-Wade, there is no future in MIA. Without Wade, they'll still get a FA, but they may have to grossly overpay for somebody . . . like a Joe Johnson . . just to get them to come to that team. Yeah, South Beach is the ish scenery-wise, but it's not a basketball hotbed either. That market is only appealing because of the weather. But I haven't seen a plethora of free agents take less money, just to play in South Beach. And the situation with Beasley over the summer definitely raises red flags about them. The only valid question that they posed about us, is if management is willing to pay the luxury tax to possibly keep this team together for at least one year? If so, they can bite the bullet in 2010 - 11, and then have contracts that will either fall off the books ( Crawford, Evans, Randolph ) or contracts that they could trade easier for their mid-level value and/or for their years left ( Marvin, Zaza, Bibby ) And why is Miami's management not in the bottom 5? - they trade Shaq for Shawn Marion - then trade Marion for Jermaine O'Neal, having to pay him 40 mill for 2 years ( instead of having Shawn's money fall off the books last summer . . ish, might as well have kept Shaq ) - your young potential star SF might have a major drug problem and a psychological problem - the coach that should be coaching the Heat, Stan Van Gundy, is now coaching your NBA Championship caliber rival up the street in Orlando - you got your superstar guard no help in the offseason, even though the entire conference was making major moves - that only further solidified D-Wade's decison to NOT sign a big money extension with the Heat

Best post of this thread. I'm not the biggest BK fan in the world ( I give Woody more credit for the development of this team than BK ), but I can't dismiss the contribution BK made to the squad either. The Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby deals are the 2 most important moves of this franchise since the acquisition of Dkembe Mutumbo. His biggest blunder was passing on Chris Paul. That's his legacy.

That's true, but a little misleading. Smith is scoring on te inside, yes. But it's when he's scoring that's really telling. 37% of his shots and 6.6 pts come within the first 10 seconds of the shot clock elasping. He's shooting a whopping 82% FG during that time. That tells me that he's getting fast break or put back opportunities that he's converting at a high rate on. It still counts as "inside scoring", but not the type of inside scoring you'd see those other guys doing. At any rate, it's nice to see.

I think it depends on what is the "priority programming" in that area. For the people around metro Atlanta, the Hawks are the priority, so they'll hardly ever not be able to see a game. Where I am ( close to the Nashville, TN market ), I NEVER see a Hawks game on Fox South, because I'm completely out of their territorial zone. On that station, the Nashville Predators get the priority. If they're not on, the Memphis Grizzlies get priority. And when both aren't playing, they still don't show the Hawks. They'll show regular Fox Sports Net programming. SportSouth is a different story. If the Hawks are on SportSouth, I usually get to see the game 80% of the time. But even on SportSouth, Univ. of Tennessee programming gets priority. So like with the Laker game 2 Sunday nights ago, I couldn't see that game on SportSouth because they were showing the REPLAY of the UT - S. Carolina football game. A replay that they show damn near all day on Monday. Once college basketball season starts, it'll get worse for me . . especially in January and February. Most of the Hawks games during that time will be Fox South games ( not SportSouth ), pretty much blacking me out. The priority on SportSouth during CB season is UT basketball ( both the men and the Lady Vols ), so that may cut into some of the Wednesday and Saturday night games scheduled to be seen on SportSouth. And on the rare occasions that the Grizzlies get shown on SportSouth, they also get priority over the Hawks ( this happens about 3 times a year ) Thank God for internet feeds on sites like channelsurfing.net . . and sports bars carrying DirecTV NBA League Pass.

I explained this in that Josh Smith praising thread. If it was directed at anybody, it was directed at Josh Smith. In that Charlotte game, Smoove picked up 2 fouls within the first 2 minutes of the game. So he had to go to the bench. Woody brings him back with about 8 minutes to go in the 2nd quarter, and the Hawks down by 3. I guess he felt the need to get his shots up, because that's exactly what he started to do as the Charlotte lead grew to about 8 points. From the 5 minute mark to the 1 minute mark, Smoove attempts to score 6 times ( takes 5 shots ). Conversely, JJ's last shot in that quarter came with about 5 minutes to go. This, after scoring 11 points so far in the game. Hawks find themselves down double digits at halftime. Now the decifit isn't all Smoove's fault. But the fact that he looked to score that many times in that short of a span, isn't what his role is at all on this team. So what happens in the 3rd quarter? Virtually the same thing. He looks to score another 7 times within a 6 - 7 minute stretch, jacking up about 3 jumpers in the process. So that's about 13 times he looked to score within a 12 minute span ( with almost all of those scoring chances being off one-on-one or open jumper opportunities. ). I think he was 4 - 11 FG during this stretch, while drawing a foul on a shot attempt 2 other times ( not counting the and-1 ). That's not his role on this team at all. His scoring opportunties should come within the flow of the game. Like it or not, only JJ and Crawford should be forcing offensive looks at times, because they can still actually be effective in doing so. Smith can't. In the Denver game, Smith scored a ton of points and had arguably the best game of his career. But almost all of his scoring chances were within the flow of the game. That wasn't the case in Charlotte. I don't think JJ has a problem with Crawford at all. I think his problem is with Smoove's inconsistency, immaturity, and wildness at times, especially on the offensive end. Like I said a few days ago, JJ was probably restating publically what Woody probably told "the team" in the locker room.

They'd have everything to match up with any team. Even the Lakers. Defensively, they would be much better, especially from a rebounding standpoint. The ONLY problem might be Lewis at the 3 defensively. But that's still the best starting lineup in the league. Even if he didn't start, he'd be their frontline version of Jamal Crawford. Not from a scoring standpoint, but from a rebounding one. He'd be the guy that could give both Howard and Lewis some rest on the frontline. He would easily average 25 - 30 minutes a night. Horford's 40% jumpshooting is actually good for a big man. Add in the easy shots around the rim he'd get from passes from Nelson and Carter. And add in the extra offensive rebounds he'd get for the Magic. Damn. LOL . . that team wins 65+ games easily . . and the NBA title. Horford would essentialy be Dwight's "Otis Thorpe" ( the PF that played alongside Hakeem Olajuwon in those mid-90s Rocket championship teams ). And Thorpe didn't hamper Olajuwon at all, or slow down Houston's 3 point attack. Houston's schizophrenic jumpshooters slowed themselves down. Ex's hatred of Horford's offensive skills, blinds him to the fact that Horford possesses a lot of other skill sets that he brings to the table to help a team win games.

I love tis version of Smoove. But take a look at his box score stats in the 7 games. When we've lost, he's played pretty bad - Laker game . . their frontline pretty much punked him, and he accumulated most of his stats in the 4th quarter when the game was over. - Charlotte game . . he immeadiately picks up 2 fouls, and has to sit the bench until 8 min in 2nd qtr. Then I guess he tries to stuff his stat sheet all at once. From about thr 5 min mark in the 2nd to the 5 min mark in the 3rd, he attempts 11 shots and getting fouled on 2 more shots ( not counting the and 1 ). That means he attempted to score 13 times in about a 12 minute span That's why JJ had those comments at the end of that game. That's why he referred to "the team" as being about "me, me, me . . and immature . . and not knowing their roles". It's obvious who he was talking about. But in the wins, he's playing All-Star caliber basketball. - he's laying off the long jumpers - he's making all the right passes. - he's crashing the boards - he's challenging every shot in his area and getting blocks - he's running the floor - and he's hustling enough to disrupt plays and get steals The last mental roadblock for him . . well 2 roadblocks: make his FTs . . and stop playing small against big and/or athletic frontlines. But overall, he definitely gets an A- for his performance this season. It's early, but it's amazing to see him have a FG% of over 55%.

What about this guy in Boston? PER 36: 15.3 ppg - 11.4 reb Actual stats: 6.9 ppg - 5.1 reb ( 16 min/gm ) He's on his way out of the league though.

- Concerning the JJ move: Buzzard, those moves put those teams over the top or in big time contention. All of those teams on that list, with the exception of Boston, were already playoff teams at the time of their major move. Us? We were a 13-win laughingstock who no one wanted to come to . . . until Knight threw a lot of money at JJ . . taking him away from the Suns ( and possibly preventing Cleveland from teaming him up with the ROY Lebron James. ). That at least gave us a multi-dimensional player to build around. Without that move, we may be talking about paying Al Harrington ( 5yr - 50 mill ) just to retain the guy who would be our leading scorer ( if JJ isn't in the picture ) - Concerning Chris Paul: With Paul here, along with scorers like JJ and Harrington, we would've instantly become a much better offensive team. We would still lose to teams with decent frontlines because defensively they would still suck. We made a 13-win jump by adding JJ. Adding Paul to that mix, instead of a role-playing Marvin, probably would've added another 10 - 15 win to that total . . especially in a bad Eastern Conference. Chris was ready right from the jump. His only issue was his size. We went with the length and potential of Marvin. We lost. As for Deron Williams, I think the Utah system made him the player that he is today. Unlike Paul, Deron struggled a little his rookie year. By year 2 though, he was ready. I can't remember if he had Boozer his rookie year. I think he did though. Add Deron on that 2005 Hawks team, and I don't think he has nearly the impact on the Hawks that Paul would. Deron might develop into the guy he is now, but it would be more difficult with JJ being the #1 scoring option and no low post threat for Deron to run pick and roll with. - Concerning Ainge: All I'm saying is that he didn't draft Rondo when he had the chance to get him. You guys forget that Ainge's guy was actually SEBASTIAN TELFAIR . . the guy who he traded the draft rights of Randy Foye for ( who BOS took at #7 ). If he had such an eye for talent, why didn't he do what Portland eventually did . . . trade Foye to acquire Roy, to play alongside Pierce? People forget that Foye was traded twice that night. BK gets ripped for trying to bolster the frontline, by adding the college DPOY and one of the best shotblokers and rebounders in college coming out ( Shelden ), instead of adding a great 2-guard to the mix ( Roy ) . . . when we already had a 2-guard in the mix ( JJ ). And he got ripped for not adding one of the PGs too. I'll admit that trading down may have been the way to go. But he was still taking Shelden regardless, if he were available. So if Ainge saw Rondo as a talent, why not take him at #7? Why did he basically trade Foye for Telfair? And let's keep it real about Rondo that night. His draft stock was plummeting, just like Marcus Williams' stock. Teams were passing on those guys left and right. But Phoenix could've used a PG, especially a defensive one, to play behind Steve Nash. But their owner was so concerned about paying the luxury tax, that they were willing to trade away the pick for cash. If memory serves me correct, they ended up getting Marcus Banks that year ( a disasterous move ). Ya'll talk like Phoenix has pre-draft night negotiations to sell the pick to Boston, so that they could pick Rondo. I'll give Ainge credit for trading up to get him, because a cheap organization didn't want to spend money to keep their 1st round pick. Ainge added Rondo to give him another PG to try out in Boston. But he wasn't his top guy. Ainge basically got lucky that he was able to get another shot to acquire him in the first place. Then when Rondo struggles mightily in his rookie year, people in Boston were really pissed. Until the KG trade, people in Boston were considering Ainge's legacy as GM as a complete failure.

I'm not going to say that BK was a good GM, but some of those cats you listed shouldn't be ahead of BK. I look at that list, and say if any of those teams have collectively as good of players as Josh Smith, Marvin Williams, Al Horford and Josh Childress ( who are all solid players ) - Cross out Ainge, because he didn't draft Rondo. Phoenix drafted Rondo, then traded him. Phoenix is dumb. - Cross out Kupchak. Bynum is the only viable player he drafted. Farmar can't even take the starting job from a jumpshooting SG playing PG, and Vujucic isn't any better than Marvin. But Ainge and Kupchak has to be in front of BK, because of the trades they made. The trades that won them a championship. When you look at BK, his best move was convincing/enticing JJ to leave a playoff team to come here . . when we were a laughingstock. His next best move was his last move, trading Shelden, AJ, and Lue for Bibby. When you really look at the GM moves made this decade, the JJ move has to be in the top 10. If I were to list some off the top of my head, I'd list these as the best moves of the decade. Most of them had nothing to do with the draft. - Celtics trading all of their young talent away to get Garnett, then acquired Ray Allen, win title in same year - Lakers acquiring Gasol for basically nothing, get to Finals same year, win title the next - Riley bringing Shaq to Miami in exchange for basically Lamar Odom, win title in 2nd year - Detroit acquiring Rasheed Wallace before the trade deadline, win title the same year - Utah giving Boozer a great offer sheet to get him, after he'd told Danny Ferry that he'd play for the QO for one year . . . gives them a replacement for Karl Malone - Denver trading Iverson for Billups, reach Western Conf Finals same year - McHale bringing in Cassell and Spreewell in the same year to Minnesota, reach Western Conf Finals same year - BK giving JJ the opportunity to make 20 mill in 1st year as a Hawk, taking advantage of a cap loophole, to bring JJ to Atlanta . . the worst team in the league at the time GMs in this league usually become known, not through their draft picks, but by who they trade or trade for. And people must keep this in mind about the people we supposed passed over. If we draft Chris Paul, we probably don't have the 5th pick in 2006 . . . and we probably have no pick in 2007. So Chris Paul here probably means no Brandon Roy or Al Horford. But if you want to focus on who he passed up when he did have the chance to draft them, thatms cool. Take Brandon Roy over Shelden, and he's NOT a 2 time All-Star here. He'd be the 6th man on the Hawks in the beginning, because the organization would still start Marvin . . to see what kind of player Marvin could develop into. He plays the same role in POR that JJ plays in ATL. He'd no doubt be good. But he wouldn't be the Roy you see in POR. Or, you start him at PG, and try to do what Miami tried to do with Smitty in his first few years in the league. Maybe the following year, Roy starts at the 2, with JJ at the 3, and Marvin on the bench. Who knows the scenarios. What I do know, is that Zaza would be our starting center . . and no chance to draft Al Horford, or anybody in the 1st round in 2007. But no sense going through all of this again.

PG: Bibby ( 30 ) - Crawford ( 10 ) - Teague ( 8 ) G: Johnson ( 20 ) - Crawford ( 20 ) - Evans ( 8 ) F: Marvin ( 24 ) - Johnson ( 16 ) - Evans ( 8 ) PF: Smoove ( 34 ) - Marvin ( 8 ) - Joe Smith ( 6 ) C: Horford ( 34 ) - Zaza ( 14 ) Johnson: 36 Horford: 34 Smoove: 34 Marvin: 32 Bibby: 30 Crawford: 30 Evans: 16 Zaza: 14 Teague: 8 Joe Smith: 6 I'm definitely looking at a mainly 8-man rotation, with Teague and Joe Smith giving spot minute support. Teague would play every game, while Joe Smith may not. Like Exodus, I'd rather just give Joe Smith zero minutes and divy up some of his time between Teague and Evans. But with the way Smoove gets in foul trouble sometimes, I'd play Joe Smith spot minutes after the 3 minute time out, in the 1st & 3rd quarters . . . maximum. Teague would get most of his time in the 1st half, and I would use discretion to play him in the 2nd half. It would definitely be on a need or feel basis. I wouldn't have in my mind that I HAD to play him in the 2nd half. But if Teague shows that he can actually guard people, I'd give him more minutes. We'd need somebody like that when we play Rondo in Boston on Friday. Right now, Mo is our best deep shooter. So if JJ, Crawford, and Marvin are going to continue to struggle behind the arc, I'd give Evans more minutes to open up the floor, and play Marvin a little more at the 4. Mo would get his time after the 3 minute time out in the 1st & 3rd quarters . . . and come out sometime between the 9 and 6 minute mark in the 2nd & 4th quarters. I'd rather play Horford more at PF, but if Zaza can't give us 20 solid minutes a night, Horford has to play center as much as possible. Giving Marvin more minutes at the 4, gives JJ more minutes at the 3, and Crawford at the 2.

My bad. JJ is ( +40 ) at SF, not ( +46 ) And there's also a significant dropoff in production when Bibby isn't in the game. Hawks are +9.3 with Bibby on the court . . . -1.7 with him off the court. I think he and Horford's point differential, when looking at this, is partially because they were the two who were out of the game during that Laker 3rd quarter run.

Those quarterly stats are from last season. The points may be about the same though, while the assists are going to be down slightl. But I'd bet that he racks up more assists in the 1st halves of games, than at any other time. That's when JJ is looking for his teammates most times. The dude got ripped into last year because he couldn't or wouldn't even try to shoot us back into games, like most star players try to do. He was staying within the team concept, passing to other guys when teams doubled and tripled him . . only to see them miss the shot. Part of the reason why Josh Smith's assists are up, is because he's taking dribbles to the basket more, instead of taking the open jumper. Last year, he'd receive the pass from JJ and immeadiately shoot a wide open 18 - 24 footer. This year, he's passing up the shot, and either driving to the hole himself for a lay-up or he driving and making the extra pass himself, to get an assist. Teams don't double JJ because he passes the ball. They double him to make other people on the Hawks beat them, because they know that JJ can.

* Best 5-man unit: Bibby - Crawford - JJ - Smoove - Horford . . . ( +33 ) plus/minus . . 60% eFG . . 4 - 1 W/L record . . no other lineup comes close to this production. * Hawks shooting 41% eFG on jumpshots ( that's not good . . especially when 61% of your total shots are jumpers ) * starting 5 get to the FT line far more than any other unit. Joe Johnson: * 76% of shots are jumpers ( 46% eFG - 12 pts ) * has a plus/minus number of ( -18 ) when he plays SG . . ( +46 ) at SF * 4.8 assist/bad pass ratio * shoots and rebounds better playing at SF . . assists and trips to FT line higher playing at SG * 45% of shots come with 8 or less seconds on the shot clock ( 46% eFG ) Jamal Crawford: * 70% of shots are jumpers ( 41% eFG . . actually worse than at Golden St last year ) * converting a whopping 81% FG on close shots ( best on the team by far ) * 5.3 assist/bad pass ratio * drawing a foul on almost 15% of shot attempts * has a plus/minus number of ( -13 ) when he plays PG . . ( +46 ) at SG Al Horford: * has a plus/minus number of ( +59 ) . . best on team * has a 10.8 roland rating . . best on team * has a 31.8 rebounding rating . . best on team * Hawks are +12 with Horford on the floor . . -12 with him off the floor Josh Smith: * shooting 70% FG on close range shots ( 10 ppg ) * 3.9 assist/bad pass ratio * 14.4 block rating * draws a foul on over 19% of his shots * shooting 32% eFG on his jumpers ( luckily only 33% of his total shots are jumpers ) Marvin Williams: * shooting 72% FG on close shots ( by far a career best so far ) * draws a foul on over 17% of his shots ( 2nd on team ) * shooting only 33% eFG on his jumpers ( with over 60% of total shots being jumpers, thats a problem ) * FG% and rebounding are higher with him playing PF, than at SF * plays in no lineup that consistently outplays or is outplayed by the opponent, continuing a trend from last year Mike Bibby: * 88% of total shots are jumpers ( 48% eFG - 7.3 points ) * opposing PG shooting 39% FG with Bibby in game playing the point * hands rating of 43.8 ( best on team ) Jeff Teague: * 17.0 assist/bad pass ratio ( 10.1 assts per 48 min ) * 28% eFG on jumpers ( worse than Josh Smith ) Mo Evans: * .595 eFG% on jumpers ( best on team )