Packfill

Quote: Quote: What the Hawks do not need is a 7' finesse player. That is why i don't want the Hawks to pick Bargnani. Agreed. That said, I have never seen Bargnani play, only read about him, and from what I have read he sounds like a 7' small forward.

Quote: You're still evading. I mean guys that can play, just that. You can go through every roster, just find me a half dozen, enough for 6 teams in the league. I mean legit quality starting NBA centers at 7 feet tall. I'll help, start with Shaq and Yao, go from there. The point is that a 6'10 center is fine provided the guy can play some interior D. isn't Zo 6'10? if we had Zo as our starting center we'd be in good shape. I think you are making an argument out of nothin. The point is regardless of how tall the player is, the Hawks need someone who can play good post defense and has a decent post game on offense. Obviously, the taller that player the better as long as he has some mobility. Alonzo in his prime would be perfect - even if he isn't 7'. A Dwight Howard may even work because he plays bog. What the Hawks do not need is a 7' finesse player.

Maybe "threads" was a bad choice of words, but you certaintly have your fair share of anti-Al "posts." But you are right, the Hawks would be incapable of making a come back with Al and would be incapable of having 25+ assists in a game with Al.

Quote: the Hawks scored 36 pts in the 4th quarter. Does anyone really think they could have done that with Mr. Anti-Clutch playing? No chance. He would have been getting his isolation plays, forcing up bad shots or turning it over. Without him they had good ball movement and consistently found the open man. They had 25 assists on the night. On the other end Minny actually had to earn their points instead of getting uncontested layups. unfortunately they were hitting their jumpers at a high rate but it is hard to do that all game long. However it isn't very hard to shoot a good percentage when you are getting uncontested layups, which they would have gotten if Al was playing. You realize that by posting all these anti-Al threads you are effectively becoming to Al what Diesel is to Marvin. Don't go down to that level.

Quote: um, that's not too much and I'd do the deal in a heartbeat...that's actually far far far too long (a heartbeat). are you kidding? you'd pass that up? with this draft? with the possibility of our losing Al for nothing anyway right now? yikes. Couldn't agree more. 30 ain't that old. Garnett and Smoove would be an absolutely lethal forward combo.

I am not so sure he plays under control.

Donta does have game. He looks like he belongs when he is on the court.

I agree that Woody is not the long term answer. Realistically, both BK and Woody should get a pass this season and their long term status with the team evaluated next season. Next year at this time (i.e., the second half of next season) I want to see the team winning consistently. If the team still isn't winning then it will be time to upgrade the leadership.

Quote: Quote: to Hansbrough. I have no idea about Josh Smith. Did he even declare anywhere? W Can you imagine the inside-outside game that would have allowed UNC to play? Wow. Probably almost as good as the one they had with McCants and May.

Anyone think that for the Hawks to make that quantum leap to playoff contender status the Hawks ownership will have to make a Jerry West/Hubie Brown type move? In other words, do you think BK and Woody are still around when the team makes the shift to being a consistent winner or will their ground work be the foundation upon which a new regime will build a winner?

Quote: Just food for thought, but had Josh Smith gone to college, and Marvin Williams stayed at UNC, it's my opinion that they would both have been locks for top3 in this year's draft. (Aldridge is the only player in my mind who would have challenged them for top spot). Too much potential for GM's to pass over IMHO... ...and it's nice to know that the Hawks have both. (While it's hard to watch Chris Paul's success, it could certainly be a lot worse. At least Knight has secured two of the top players in their age group). That is assuming both did well in college. That is not always a guarantee - look at Rudy Gay.

Quote: I didn't see the game but he got to the line 14 times. He isn't the strongest guy and I would bet he is a little sore from taking hits in the lane. Mike James was 5-25. You gotta love that fact that the little guy isn't afraid to play with the big boys!

Quote: he's a hell of a good rebounder. he can CLEAR some space like no other The clearing space aspect is what I like most about his game. Hawks could use someone like that. I think the NBA is really caught up in the whole "length" thing right now but girth can be a very valuable physical asset as well. That type of girth makes it easier to create space for a shot and it makes it more difficult for the shotblockers to get a piece of his shot.

I love his skill level but his conditioning is an issue. Also he may not be as tall as listed. All that said I think he would be a great addition to the Hawks as he would be a true honest-to-goodness power forward with a back to the basket game. He would fill a need for need for the team in the absence of Al but he doesn't fill either of the two biggest needs (i.e., defensive interior presence and point guard).

Quote: It will easily be JC. Hell, the possee has already loaded up their boats to go and get JC out of Atlanta. He's not 19. Some say he's not better than AI. They will want to get rid of JC to make more room for MW. You could be right. People will complain if they think he is taking minutes from Marvin or Smoove, even if he outperforms them.

So true.

Quote: I don't think it would be JJ. Definitely would be Marvin So what you are saying is Diesel has a head start on the rest of us? His head may swell thinking he is a trendsetter.

Quote: goat for all our problems. The only difference is that Diesel hated JT and likes Al. Both guys are very good players with flawed games who can be key contributors on a good team but neither is good enough to be THE MAN on a good team. As a result, the board blames all things bad on their shortcomings while failing to acknowledge the things that they do well. Watch Al either get traded to another team or leave as a FA and become a key contributor on a championship contender just as JT has. I think our best chance for longterm success is to draft a superstar (hopefully it will be Smoove, Marvin or whoever we get in this year's draft) to go along with JJ and then surround the superstar and JJ with guys like Al, Chillz, JT and whoever doesn't become a superstar between between Smoove and Marvin. Yup. It will be interesting to see who will take Al's place if he is not resigned.

Quote: Quote: Do you know how many rookies would compare to per 40 stats of a KG, Tmac, Jermain Oneal, and Kobe in their rookie years? I'm not saying Marvin will be a bust, but I question the logic of comparing per 40 stats when you are using stars who had the most modest rookie seasons. Caron Butler's rookie season compared to some really great players. He's a decent player, but will never be a Tmac or Kobe even though he had a great rookie season. All we know for sure is that if Marvin will eventually become a star player, his stats didn't reflect that his rookie season. Because we can find a rookie season of a star who had comparable per 40 stats really means nothing, except that Marvin still has a CHANCE of becoming a star. if i'm not mistaken KG is the only one in that group that got any run his rookie year. i'm positive Oneal and Kobe didn't play. Kobe played. But you also have to remember hat even though that was only 10 or so years ago, it was a different era. KG was the first prep-to-pro athlete in a while and Kobe followed shortly thereafter. Now, 8 years later it is much more accepted to play young players - teams draft philosophies have changed as a result of the large number of very young athletes entering the league.

The best two forwards should start. As of right now it is Al and Smoove. If you take Al out of the equation, then it would be hard to argue that Smoove and Chill aren't the Hawks two best forwards.

Quote: Bosh was playing 34 minutes a game his rookie year. Marvin has been playing 24 minutes a game this year. Thats a BIG difference, one contributed greatly to the team and the other hasn't. For example, Rafael Araujo put up 10.7 P/40, 10.1 R/40, 49.2 TS%, 13.7 USG, 14.2 REB. Not terribly worse than Bosh, but yet you DO hear Toronto fans complain about him, I wonder why... I agree that real stats based on actual minutes played are a better gauge of a players worth then projected numbers based on minutes the player didn't play. Bosh became a stud in year two and now is a franchise player in year three. We can only hope Marvin progresses on a similar trajectory. I think the one big disadvantage Marvin has is that in order to realize his potential he will have to separate himself from Smoove and Childress. So far it is unclear whether that will happen. That in essence is the crux of the whole Paul vs. Marvin debate. No one except maybe Diesel is denying he has tremendous talent. Rather the arguement is whether is so much more talented then Childress or Smoove such that it warrants duplication at the forward position - as opposed to filling a clear need area at point guard with Paul. Obviously the answer to the question will take another two years, but so far Paul is trending higher. Going forward the issue is now whether the Hawks can address their needs at center and point guard via the draft or free agency, given the power forward/shooting guard heavy nature of the draft. So if BK picked Paul a selection of a Tyrus Thomas would be a slam dunk, whereas now it does raise some of the same duplication issues. Of course, by writing this I will be labeled a Marvin-hater, whereas I like to think of myself as a Paul-sympathizer, meaning I don't hate Marvin I just liked Paul better as a draft pick.

I really think that the whole point guard thing was lip service by BK and JJ to get Phoenix to back off on matching. If both BK and JJ were truly committed to the point guard thing the experiment would have lasted more then 5-6 games. In the end, JJ wanted to be the man on a team, not the 4th option like in Phoenix.

No way on Francis and his bloated contract and ego. Frye is good, but he is nowhere near good enough to warrant taking on Francis and all his baggage. Plus it seems the Knicks are way more intent on jettisoning Marbury - and there is no way the Hawks should consider Marbury.

Quote: you can't assume that we get JJ if we had Paul. BK fully believed the JJ as a 1 argument, and he might not have pursued him if we drafted a PG. So we'll never know, but you can't just assume that who we drafted would not affect who we pursued. I think you can still assume JJ ends up here. He has admitted that he is more comfortable at the 2. He just wanted a larger role - rather then being the 4th option in Phoenix behind Amare, Nash and Marion. A Paul/JJ back court would be one of the best in the league.

Truth hurts.