Packfill

I have a soft spot for him to, but I do have some trepidation with respect to his coaching abilities. Certaintly an upgrade over Woody though.

Except Deron Williams is a point guard. But nice try.

I am not sure Rivers is as good a coach as his early results in Orlando seem to indicate. Celtics fans seem to be quite down on him. I don't watch Cs games though so I cannot independently verify.

You have to win to get respect, whether it is from the media, fans or other teams. Until the Hawks do that on a consistent and extended basis they will be looked down upon by the national media. Plain and simple. It shouldn't really upset anyone.

Stopping or slowing down dribble penetration by the opposing teams guards would also help the team tremendously at the defensive end.

Those are good numbers no doubt but Al's production is hard to ignore. If he is not with the team next year it may take a month or two before the young guys are able to fill in that loss of production. If that happens, then a slow start could derail the team's playoff aspirations.

That said, I think the team should have making the playoffs as their baseline goal for next season. Anything less would be a failure.

If it is based on the coach's track record then Woodson is lucky he didn't finish last. It is a moral victory for him.

Easier said then done. Realistically one of those two positions should be filled by a veteran. I really think someone like Speedy Claxton would be a good pick-up. He is small and not particularly durable but we only need him for about 25 minutes a night to lend a steadying hand when the team is pressed and/or needs another ball handler. He played alot of meaningful 4th quarter minutes when he was with the Spurs, so he has performed in crunch time before.

Big man is a real crap shoot as far as the draft goes, but unless they pull a Nene out of the free agent grab bag there is not much available that can provide a meaningul impact in the immediate future, particularly if the team plays itself out of the top of the lottery.

There is no way the team is able to advance in the playoffs without doing something about its interior defense, so we will see.

Lets put things in perspective here, JJ is putting up great numbers on a below average team. He is putting up these numbers over a short stretch. Obviously his numbers over the last month or so are awesome but he needs to do it over a season or two before he can be labeled "elite." Until then, he is not in the same class as Kobe, Wade, Iverson, Pierce, Allen, etc.

Right now you need to lump him in with guys like Rip, Richardson, Redd.

He has the talent to be one of the best but lets not put the cart before the horse.

An even better question is if the Hawks had to choose between Smoove and Marvin, who do you take?

Don't most star players play 40 minutes per night?

We can't make him more aggressive. Either he develops that type of drive or he doesn't. The reason Jordan was the greatest was not just his skill and athletic ability, it was equally related to his drive to be the best. Time will tell whether Marvin can utilize his enormous talents to become a good/great player.

The USA definitely needed someone like Paul on the team. If Kidd is not going to be a part of the team it is hard to think of another American born point guard that would be more valuable to the next incarnation of the dream team.

Is anyone really questioning whether JJ is better then Diaw? I don't think so. At the same time it is funny to see people denigrate Diaw. He is a very good role player, why hate on him because of that? Yes he did not work out in Atlanta, but things happen. Chauncey Billups did not work out in Boston or Denver; Ben Wallace never hit it big until moving to Detroit; JJ wasn't a star until coming to the Hawks; etc.

Sometimes it takes getting into the right environment for a player to fully develop. We should be happy for him - he is doing very well on a very good team.

Again, I don't think people are questioning whether the Hawks will compete for the playoffs with a .500 record. Realistically 40 wins should be the teams goal even without any off-season additions. A team with half way decent chemistry should win 40 games.

The question is does this team have what it takes to win 50 or 60 games and challenge for a championship? The answer there is that it is too early to tell. But without better defensive effort/talent it is hard to believe the team can achieve success in the playoffs. As such, BK needs to make some moves - hopefully this off-season - to address the teams limitations and get them to the next level.

I think it is a legitimate question. Sure the Hawks have won a few games and are playing better then they have in quite some time, but the real issue is whether this team is built to succeed in the playoffs. Given the teams shortage of defense you could argue that the team is missing a few pieces before it can be anything more then a playoff pretender. On the up side, the success of teams like Phoenix and Dallas - which are not know as tough defensive teams - does provide hope that the Hawks can succeed even with their current personnel limitations.

This summer will answer a number of questions about the long-term outlook of the team. It is really too early to judge because we do not know what this team will look like going into next season because of free agency and the draft.

In order to really make a move up in the standings the Hawks need two things: (1) the young guys to continue to develop and (2) at least two veteran leaders capable of starting need to be added.

Look at the Clippers - they are doing well because they brought in veterans Mobley and Cassell. Phoenix didn't take off until bringing in veteran point guard Steve Nash. All the top teams in the league are veteran teams.

Wouldn't players like Ira Newble, Snoop Graham and Jason Collier qualify?

Good job BK. This is this missing piece to the championship puzzle!

Winning impacts contracts as well. Ben Wallace played a major role on a championship team. Al and other players on bad teams put up stats, but they are not as meaningful as the stats put up by a player on a winning team. Plus Ben Wallace has great stats with the exception of scoring. He is one of the very best NBA players in terms of rebounding, defense and shot blocking.

Agreed, 6'9" 300 is very different the 6'9" 230. He is like Sean May, except maybe more athletic.

How does he help the Hawks? He is another undersized shooting guard. He is identical to Delk who the Hawks just released. He would just take time from the young guys. No point to bring him in.

Point out to me one instance when BK has said specifically that he wants us to be a very strong offensive team.

I don't believe Flip Murray played substantial minutes for them so I doubt that makes a huge impact.

As long as he is 6'9" he is perfect for the Hawks.