Packfill

I would trade Al for Darko only if the Hawks are able to sign Joe Johnson and Phoenix does not match. The point being that the teams needs at least one player who is a front line starter and has some real NBA experience. A team of all first and second year players is a recipe for disaster so the Hawks would need Al or Joe to provide some leadership in the clubhouse and on the court.

I am ok coming out of the off-season without a point guard or center but I think next off-season is the cutoff.

If BK cannot fill those holes next off-season then he deserves any and all criticism he gets. The rationale is that, assuming no significant signings this year, the Hawks will have at least one more high draft pick (probably 2) and a lot of money to fill those positions a year from now so there will be no excuse. The team has to start progressing at some point rather then just developing talent and 2006 is the year.

Until then, lets just hope and pray that Smoove, Childress and Marvin continue to improve and develop.

Drew Gooden is no bigger then Harrington. Pointless trade.

Interesting, because like the Hawks Utah's summer league team features at least four players who will be on Utah's roster, and 4 first round draft picks.

How does Marvin Williams get 8 fouls in 17 minutes? And no rebounds? My guess is he is still getting healthy.

As much as some people knock bk's philosophy on postions, I have never heard him say we do not need a talented player with heighth. Given that Harrington, Childress, MWill, and Smoove are all under 6' 10" it makes perfect sense for us to try and grab a player who is over 6 10".

I don't think he needs to be a great shot blocker, Smoove, MWill, Chillz can take care of that and the boards as well. He will have to be a threat on the offensive end and also hold his position down low on both ends of the court.

Just as Detroit realized they needed the 6'11" Rasheed, BK also realizes we need at least one decent (not great) player with heigth as well. Right now we do not have that, so hopefully we will address that need this year. Given that all our talent is at the 2,3, and 4 position it just makes sense that our heighth will have to be at the center position.

We need someone who can occupy the other teams center at both ends of the court (he has to be a threat requiring a block out and also being guarded on the offensive end), that is pretty much all there is to it. Harrington nor anyone else we have is capable of doing that.

Even if Curry exceeds expectations and say averages 17 points and 7 rebounds a game - does he really bring anything to the table that Al Harrington doesn't? I mean, Al is not a great rebounder, shot blocker or defender. Neither is Curry - and you could argue Al is the better rebounder and defender just based on more effort. Al is certaintly the better person.

Curry is definitely bigger and is more of a center, but he does not play as big as he is and would leave the Hawks with the same defense shortcomings that they currently have. So in that sense I do not see how the acquisition helps the Hawks.

There was a review on sportsline about his impressive play with Miami's summer league team. He may be worth a look.

As to the original question, Pachulia would not be bad as a low cost option.

Agreed. Way to early for people to get their panties in a twist, as there is no guarantee Marvin turns into either a stud or a dud.

That cannot be true. If it did the contracts of Marbury, Johnson and Curry would effectively preclude the Hawks from giving extensions to at least one, if not two, of Smoove, Chill and Marvin.

And, it still remains a fundamentally flawed team because of the absence of interior defense.

Agreed. I would like to see David Anderson here next season as well, especially if he can guard an NBA center. He can't be any worse then Collier and Drobs.

trading away last year's rookies is almost like admitting that u made a mistake.

1st round rookies dont get traded in their 2nd year. if they did, they were prob 2nd rounders and HAD to be included as part of the deal (for salary purposes most likely).

Well, I like the leadership and court vision part, but am a little concerned over the streak-shooting, suspect defense and lack of athleticism. That said, any prospect this far down in the draft is going to have warts.

If he turns out to be a good point guard that is great, but he never was a point guard in college. He may learn but it could take a while like it did for Chancey Billups, Antonio Daniels, Gilbert Arenas, Delonte West, and other college shooting guard-to-professional point point guard convertees.

Really not sure what you are complaining about. No one has denigrated the selection. Everyone likes Stoudamire as a shooter, just not as a point guard, mainly because he has never played that position.

My point was that the "disappearing from big games" was not Terry's MO entering the league. Rather, he was a highly decorated collegiate senior.

• Pac-10 Player of the Year and all-conference first team

• AP First Team All-American

• Named National Player of the Year by Sports Illustrated, CBS/Chevrolet & Basketball Times

• Led the Pac-10 in scoring, assists & steals – first player to accomplish that since Gary Payton in 1990

• Career-high 30 points at Oregon – had two other games over 30

• Led team in scoring 21 times and assists 22 times

• Played all 40 minutes in 17 games

Wasn't JT college player of the year as a senior? Also, I believe he did play point guard at Arizona as a senior. Stoudamire has never played the point at Arizona. JT also had no quetionable character issues coming out of college.

Salim is the better spot-up jump shooter to be sure, be he trails JT in just about every other skill. I do look forward to seeing him knockdown some jumpers for the Hawks.

I should add, that he is a good pick at 31, just not sure he can play the point.

Dude, for all intensive purposes Duncan is a center. He plays like a center, looks like a center, etc.

But you are right, a 6'11" power forward who is an excellent rebounder and shotblocker would do.

He is already on the downside of his career and has been for a few years now.

All those guys are better then what the Hawks have but at least half suck and another half dozen no team would really want because of attitude, injury, age and off-the-court issues.

Arroyo, Fischer and Hudson are lucky to still be in the league at this point.

NVE, Payton, and Cassell are at most a year from retirement.

Duhon, McGinnis, Knight, Jones, Jaric and Ridnour are lucky to be starting. There certainly is no guarantee that they remain starters for the bulk of their career.

Boykins, Bobby Jackson and Daniels are not starters, period.

Too early to tell for Livingston, Telfair and Ford, though they are good prospects.

That leaves a dozen decent point guards currently in the league who could reasonably be considered as potential leaders of a championship team in 2 or 3 years, which is about when the rest of the Hawks lineup will mature.

I would try to sign someone like Dan Gadzuric who can provide some rebounding and interior defense at what should not be a prohibitive price.

I would make a run for Dalembert as wekll, but Gadzuric would be my back-up plan.

All I am saying is that you need good team work like the pistons or one of the top five players of all time to win without a dominate center or point guard.

I guess the real answer is you need interior defense to win. The Larry Bird Celtics had the Chief, Pistons had Wallace. Obviously, the Spurs championships were aided by Duncan and Robinson, Houston by Hakeem, LA by Shaq and Kareem.

Biggest anomaly are the Jordan Bulls, but they did have Horace Grant and Dennis Rodman for their two runs.

Well, you picked the three I was thinking off, but Jerry West and John Havlicek also come to mind. That's five. Magic and Issiah combined won five championships in the past 20 years. Center led teams (Shaq, Duncan and Hakeem) have won another 8 in the past 20 years. The remaining 7 were won by Jordan, the best player ever, and the Detroit Pistons.

What was your point?

I think childress, smoove and Marvin are at least a year away from having the game to "attract" free agents. They have talent, but they will need to prove it on at least some level before any veteran would consider them worthy of hitching his cart to for purposes of winning a championship.

AS much as I disrespect Vince Carter for laying an egg to get out of Toronto, it is easy to see where he was coming from. I feel bad for Chris Bosh.

Obviously I agree that you do not need a "playstation team" (I have never played the game so not even sure what that means) of allstars.

But, historically, most championship teams are led by a superstar center or point guard. The major exceptions to this rule are Jordan and Bird.

Here is hoping Childress, Smoove or Marvin develop along those lines.

First of all, let me just say that I trust BK to make the right decisions, but it is hard to get excited about the team at this point because it is impossible to envision what it will look like when the Hawks actually become good. The Hawks have stockpiled considerable talent at the shooting guard and forward positions, but have almost no talent at the point guard a center positions, both of which are hard to fill. I am not bashing the picks, just stating the obvious that the team will still be in considerable flux over the next year or two. My only criticism is that I was hoping to get a better sense of what the team will look like over the long hall and right now it is hard to do that.

I assume Chill, Smoove and Marvin are the long term solutions at the 2,3,4 in some capacity. After that, guys like Diaw, Donta and Salim seem like good bench players. My hope is that in free agency the team picks up someone who can at least provide some interior defense and size, maybe a Dan Gadzuric, then bring Anderson over and see what he can do to fill the teams need for big men. As for the point, I can see the team making do with Salim, Boris and Ivey for this year. I think Harrington needs to be retained for at least this year as he represents the only veteran presence on an otherwise very young team. So for next year I envision a roster something like this:

Diaw/Stoudamire/Ivey

Childress/Donta

Smoove/Marvin

Harrington

Gadzuric/Anderson

Hopefully this time next year the remaining pieces of the puzzle will be in place and we can start talking about playoff potential.