Packfill

I would rank Garcia higher and I thin McCants belongs on that list somewhere.

The words Villanueva and superstar do not belong in the same sentence unless you are talking about one of his teammates. Villanueva is lazy, lacks passion and toughness. He has talent in that he does have a broad skill set but he is nowhere near the athlete that Rasheed Wallace is. He is like Tim Thomas.

Olowakandi was the first pick in the draft. Yinka was a lottery pick. Benoit Benjamin was a lottery pick. Stacy King was a lottery pick. Don't forget other infamous big men lottery picks: Olden Polynice, Jon Koncak, Alexander Radojevic, etc.

Quote: You are right that he has skills that every other big man in the league does. Except the fact that he is one of the most athletic 7 footers in the league. Not only in hops but in quickness. He is a specimen, he has the talent I should say, he only needs to be able to show it. Just for the record, Michael Olowakandi is a specimen, as are James Jones, Brendan Haywood, Desagana Diop, Adonal Foyle, and Shawn Bradley. All have great size and athletic ability but still suck. Let us not forget past luminaries who were athletic marvels that were giant duds when it came to actually playing: Benoit Benjamin, Tito Horford, Yinka Dare, Stanley Roberts, Chris Washburn, William Bedford, Stacy King, Luther Wright and Sharone Wright.

Quote: bogut is a better passer if smoove/chill turn out good, bogut could get brad's assists from 3-4 up to 5... bogut could be the only one in the league besides kg putting up 20/10/5... i think that's worth the #1 Is Bogut a better passer then Dougherty? Dougherty was an excellent passing big man both at the collegiete level and in the pros. I think you are getting a little too hung up on statistics. I could care less if a center averages 2 assists or 7, as long as they dominate the paint defensively and are a threat to score everytime. Dougherty was a very good player, who unfortunately had his career cut short by injury. That said, it is unclear whether he was ever talented enough to lead his team to a championship or close to a championship. Hakeem, Ewing, Robinson, and their ilk were great centers because they not only were dominate offensive players, but they were dominate defensive forces. They were intimidators. That intimidation was evident at the college level and carried over to the pros. Bogut, for all his talents, is not a defensive intimidator - or at least he did not appear to be one this past season. Again, he is still the most viable number 1 pick, but he is like Dougherty in the sense that he is a very good prospect but not great prospect. And for the record, I do not consider it disparaging of his talents to suggest that he may not be great. He probably will be a top 5 center in the NBA by 2009, but that might not be saying much since there are not currently 5 dominant centers. Guys like Miller and Ilglauskus are very good, but not dominant.

I would be plenty happy with Deron Williams at 4.

I am no expert, but Bogut did not appear to me to be as athletic as Duncan. He reminds me of Brad Dougherty - good center who can score, rebound, pass and generally plays intelligent basketball. Dougherty was not a great center though in comparison to his more athletic contemporaries like Hakeem, Ewing, and Robinson. That does not mean I would not take him first, just that he is not a prospect in the class of a Robinson, Ewing, Hakeem, Shaq, etc. Dougherty was a number 1 pick I believe.

I never would have pegged you as a Bogut supporter.

I would much rather give Al Harrington that contract. He is the better player. I think Harrington works better at forward with Josh Smith because they are both tweener types and thus can be rotated defensively depending on match-ups. Yes the Hawks can run plays for Al, which is a good thing because they do not have anyone else they run plays for. Also, given how well Josh Smith and Josh Childress rebound, does it really matter if Al is a great rebounder? The real weak point is center, so I rather spend 8-10 million on a Dalembert then 7 on Swift.

I agree completely. Swift is just not tough enough to warrant a large contract.

I don't think it is a stretch to say Deron Williams should be a top 5 pick. He would be a great fit on the Hawks.

So Roko Leni-Ukic is no longer in the draft?

Most mocks and fans had Josh Smith in the top 10 last year. The year before that they had Sophocles Shortsinidis (I apologize for the spelling) as a lottery pick.

If the Hawks don't get the first pick then I rather they just pick the point guard they think is best at 2, whether that is Paul or Williams. Both will likey be gone by the 4th pick, which means the Hawks would be left to sift through alot of questionable talents.

I just read that for the month of April Smoove has averaged 15.1 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocks. I agree, Swift would be an incredible waste of money.

He is listed in several places as 6'9" and 225 punds, which is the same size Josh Smith is listed at. How can he possibly play center for the Hawks? Swift has never been able to beat out Lorenzen Wright to start in Memphis. Lorenzen is not a bad player, but certainly not a game changer. Given Swift's injury history, lack of basketball intelligence, reported lack of toughness, I cannot see any reason to waste $6+ million on the guy - especially when Josh Smith is already better.

Well, I think Woodson is trying to cover up the fact that the Hawks have a few players who are defensive liabilities. I also think, for the zone to work, the Hawks players need to be more active. A couple times Diaw or Josh Smith would not get out to cover the wing after a cross-court pass.

Does Swift bring anything to the table that Josh Smith does not already provide? Just seems to me that Josh Smith is already the better player, they offer similar athletic ability and are about the same size. Sure it is nice to have depth but I rather have a slightly different player in Al Harrington to provide different looks to the opposition.

We should probably wait until after the draft lottery to spill each others blood over who will be the better pick. I think if the Hawks get the first pick, then Bogut makes the most sense. If the Hawks end up with the second or third pick, then Paul or Deron Williams make the most sense.

Quote: You still got to watch the games... Not the stats... 7.6 rebs... Low. Yes.. But watch the game. This guy controls the middle. Watch the games. This guy intimidates. Watch the games. This guy has good post moves. Watch the games. This guy gets good position for rebounding. Watch the games. There is nothing soft about him. Watch the damn games... First off, let me say that I agree with you in that I think Frye will be drafted in the middle of the first round, as he is an athletic big man with a proven track record. I also would be ecstatic coming away from the draft with Williams and Frye. That said, comparing him to Mourning is a mistake. Calling him a dominator is a mistake. He absolutely does not intimidate like Mourning, not even close. Frye is a good player, and may be a good pro, but his upside is along the lines of a P.J. Brown or Antonio Davis, not Alonzo.

We can't defend the three because the zone the Hawks play is useless. They need to man up.

I was at the game. Entertaining, but there was absolutely zero defense played by either team the entire game. The zone the Hawks play is awful and constantly results in open jumpers. That said, the Hawks young players do show tremendous promise. Childress seems to do a little of everything and always seems to be in the right place. I would attribute that to his strong basketball IQ - he just knows how to play the game, get good positioning, and when to cut to the basket. Diaw is incredibly smooth on the court. His shot was not falling tonight (even still he ended up with 20 points) but his form is excellent and it really should just be a matter of repitition in the off-season for him. Once he consistently zeros in he will be a solid shooter. Josh Smith is a freaky athlete. Clearly he was the top athlete on the court last night. He did make a couple of nice post moves in the seond half and his jumper does not look to bad. What he really needs to work on is driving to the hoop and dribbling. I thought Lue played fairly well, and he would make a nice back-up, but he does not have the creativity that you want at the point guard position - a good point guard can go a long way towards creating easy scoring opportunities for his teammates, and Lue does not do that. He just does not have great floor vision - Childress and Diaw are better at seeing the court in my opinion. He can score some, but that is about it. Ivey, also does not seem to have that innate passing ability that good point guards have. He also would be a good back-up because he shows signs of being a very good defender off the bench. It was a tough game to really evaluate players because of the lack of defense, but I think the Hawks are stockpiling some good talent that will help them win in the years to come.

I don't think it is very easy finding a true franchise point guard. To me the two best points guards in the league are Kidd and Nash based on the impact they have on their teamates level of play. If the Hawks think Paul or Deron Williams have that type of ability, then by all means I am behind drafting them ahead of Bogut. I think Bogut will be good but he does not strike me as a franchise maker in the O'Neil or Duncan sense, or even a dominant presence along the lines of Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, David Robinson or Hakeem. I only saw a few of Bogut's games but he did not, to my untrained eye, exhibit the defensive presence that the aforementioned centers did at the college level, at that defensive presence is what made them all so good. Ewing, Robinson, Mourning, etc. scared people in a way that Bogut does not do.

Living in NY I get to see precious few Hawks games either live or on TV. I got an e-mail this morning from my boss' assistant offering me and a co-worker two tickets each for Sunday's Knick game, basically as a thank you for working on a big project. I have not been to a Knicks game all year - I am not a big fan of their product right now - so a free ticket 6 rows from the court sounded good to me. I have not been paying close attention to the schedule but when I got the tickets, low and behold, the game is against the hawks. I finally get to see Childress and Smith live.

What has Childress done that would deserve sending him to the bench? Childress is a rookie, and will improve, so I don't see the need to bring in a two guard to start over him.