Packfill

BS. JJ had at least 3 turnovers in the 4th quarter and the whole team settles for jump shots. WTF is the coach not getting involved and telling them to go down low or drive to the hoop? That or why isn't our point guard setting up a freaking play that involves getting the ball inside? It is plain and simple terrible coaching or terrible execution.

No way you can pin last nights loss on Al, no way. Woodson, JJ and whomever was trying to guard LeBron are all in line before Al as far as blame for last

nights loss.

And there is no freaking way he can be considered a cancer. Artest is a cancer, Steve Francis is a cancer, Al is nothing of the sort. It is incredulous to even say that.

That is truly a moronic statement.

First, it is not covering for both Al and Zaza - Zaza would be riding pine. Further, the the utter lack of a coherent defensive scheme or attention to defense by the coaching staff is a huge reason for the teams defensive shortcomings. I strongly believe that even a modicum of direction with the coaching staff would make for great improvements. The Hawks do have great athletes so it shouldn't be that difficult.

Second, historically there are alot of big men who would be perfect: Deke, Mourning, Robinson, Chief, Hakeem, Russell, etc.

I am sure there is no one available to the Hawks that deserves being mentioned in that group - unless you consider Ben Wallace available to the Hawks (which I do not).

Third, it is getting less and less likely that Al will be signed beyond the end of this season - if BK does sign him like he said he would then the Marvin pick is even more of a disaster.

Check your facts, Acguire did start, along with Lambier and Mahorn, with Thomas and Dumars in the backcourt. Salley, Rodman, Johnson and Edwards were brought off the bench.

I am not saying finding a defensive center is easy, but BK has painted the team into a corner so we need one.

If they get a real center Zaza is on the bench, so that is a non-issue. If they get a coach who can coach, instill good team defense, then Al is no longer the liability you claim he is now.

Be careful, your "Al hate" is putting you in the same boat as Diesel and KB.

Plus that vaunted detroit team started Mark Aguire at small forward, and he certaintly was no defensive stalwart.

I didn't say they all have to be excellent but they can't have someone playing significant minutes who sucks.

Let's see you and EDS think that all the Hawks have to do is add one defensive center and that will improve the Hawks interior D from one of the worst in the league to one of the best.

Does this defensive beast have a name? Or are you just dreaming?

It took Jordan a long time to win a title because he needed some help - so it wasn't until Pippen and Grant had a little seasoning that he really had a legitimate chance to win.

Because no team has won a championship in 20+ years without at least one excellent interior defender.

That doesn't mean every big man must be a great defender, just means you need at least one or two. For example, Al, Smoove and defensive center would work.

Smush is crap as well. No need for him.

I don't think anyone who saw him play previously expected him to be a Kobe/Tmac type of player. That is an unrealistic expectation - he just isn't that good. If nothing else, the very fact that he needs a quality point guard to fully exploit his abilities is evidence of that - remember his shooting percentages were not great pre-Nash. Guys like Kobe, Tmac, Wade etc. can dominate with junk at the point position.

I can't see why Seattle would want to do that trade since Harrington is essentially duplication of Rashard Lewis, a player they already have. They need a reliable post presence with defensive skills - just like the Hawks.

Let's be honest here, JJ is a really good player but he has not yet demonstrated he deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Kobe, Lebron, Tmac, Wade, Allen, Carter, etc.

So what if Kobe could have scored 30+ those few seasons. How is that sacrificing? He won championships because the team was built around Shaq, simple as that.

Kobe is playing better, but I still think there are at least ten other players in the league I would choose to build a franchise around other then Kobe just because of his attitude.

No way, Rafer is a head case and Swift is a tremendous waste of talent. Not worht it, especially if McGrady stays healthy because the Rockets will not end up with a lottery pick.

If that is the case maybe you better change your signature to include a point guard in the starting line-up.

Always seems like the Hawks play their best when Woodson is under the most pressure. I don't get it. Nice win though.

Maybe this means Woodson will be a great playoff coach.

It's not like it could hurt!

Maybe they were talking to the guys in Detroit about how to play defense. We know they didn't learn it from our coach.

Well to be honest diesel, your theory - which Exodus is simply turning into a poll to show how ridiculous it is - has been discussed too much already.

or maybe they were just slow to react. too small a sample set, but if they do learn to avoid going for the fake it is a good thing.

It is a pipe dream to think we are getting all that in the off-season. The team had the exact same needs coming into this past season and the only thing BK did about it was sign another shooting guard (JJ), draft another small forward (Marvin), draft still another shooting guard (Salim) and sign a solid back-up bigman to fill a starting role (Zaza).

So to sum up, team went into '05 off-season needing a starting caliber point guard and big man and came away with neither.

So excuse me if I think it is crazy that BK will now somehow be able to obtain two starting caliber centers and a starting caliber point guard - especially after he already traded away two future first round draft picks and gave out a max contract.

The interesting question is this: Who is a better player - Joe Johnson or Chris Paul.

Paul gets his team more wins, so he seems more valuable to me.

Two reasons: (1) his outside shot is bad enough that defenders sag off of him which makes it harder to drive; (2) UK's offense has been so bad this year and has had so little movement that teams just collapse on him when he drives and he has been told not to force it.

lol You haven't watched much UK basketball if you haven't seen him drive successfully one time.

Oh, never mind you must have seen a lot of his games. Or maybe not.

Rondo has actually underacheived defensively this year in part because he doesn't have the defensive support he had last year with Chuck Hayes and Kelenna Azubuike. He hasn't been able to pick as many passes off in the lanes, although he still has a great touch stealing the ball. Despite what I would consider overrated D from him this season, he has not gotten routinely pushed around by any stretch of the imagination.

Pryz is o.k. but my concern is that his history in Atlanta will actually work against us as far as him wanting to sign here. There has to be some reason he choose Portland and potentially limited playing time and Atlanta and potentially infinite playing time. Family? Money? Direction of the team? I don't know, but if he likes the West Coast to be closer to his family/home then our chances of signing him will remain slim to none.