Packfill

The Hawks are young and have the misfortune of playing a much more talented team in the Celtics. That being said, the Hawks starting backcourt is NOT young. JJ and Bibby are veterans and will have to step it up if the Hawks want to steal a game or two in this series. Bibby has proven to be exactly the player that the Sactown fans told us he would be - sensational one out of every 3 or 4 games and then a non-factor the remaining nights.

Quote: Go find some mock drafts from that time where Paul was expected to be the 2nd pick. You might find a few, but the vast majority had Bogut and Marvin as the consensus top two choices and Marvin was almost unanimously predicted to be the best player in 3-5 years. You weren't a member here at the time but I can assure you that people were all over the board about who they wanted but there was certainly not a large percentage of people calling for Paul over Marvin and not even over Deron. Deron was definitely the favorite PG of the Squawk and it was a toss up between Paul and Felton here. Quote: huh? if the consensus was that MW was the 2nd best choice (after Bogut), how can it be that he's "closer to being what was expected" than Paul? It means that Paul is significantly better than what most expected of him. Marvin is not as good as was expected but surely not as far below expectations as Paul is above expectations. I think a good number of people, myself included, did want Paul. Plus, you really need to consider the fact that the Hawks drafted TWO small forwards in the first round of the 2004 draft. If BK didn't draft two small forwards the previous year and if the Hawks didn't have such a glaring need a point guard then the choice of Marvin would have made sense.

Quote: Yeah. I think Dallas is a good team, but the way the Hornets just willed themselves to a win tonight proved to me that they will likely upset these guys. I fully expect the Hornets to win this series...and if they play like they did in the second half, it wont even be close. How is it an upset? Isn't NO the higher seeded team? Paul was lights out tonight - almost too painful to watch.

Quote: Hornets have verteren players. When the hawks best player reach 25-27 yr. old than you can compare them to the Hornets. The Hawks best player (JJ) is 26. The Hornets best player (Paul) is 22. The Hawks 2nd (Smith) and 3rd (Bibby) best players are 22 and 29, respectively. The Hornet's 2nd (West) and 3rd (Chandler) best players are 27 and 25, respectively.

Quote: I think we will see their potential just by subtracting by addition alone...once they remove a few weaklinks (Zaza, Woody, ect) in the offseason. They just need to retain the Smith for next year and beyond. One thing is clear, this will be a VERY important off-season for this franchise.

To me, this further shows why a total house cleaning is needed. If the GM and coach are not on the same page it will have a negative effect on the teams performance. Both BK and Woodson need to be fired promptly.

A weak eastern conference.

Quote: When Woodson plays Acie it's "Woody sucks for not playing Salim" When Woodson play Salim it's "Woody sucks for not playing Acie" He has 2 backup PGs that are not big enough to play together or to play the SG spot. What is he supposed to do? He's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. Salim is NOT a point guard. If he were 4 inches taller no one would ever talk about him playing the point. The only reason they do now is because he is too short to play his natural position. Similarly, Childress is NOT a point guard. On top of all that, Woody is not a good coach - that is obvious.

Quote: Quote: both players should stick to basketball because they made Larry Johnson vs. Alonzo Mourning look like Ali-Frazier. LMAO. Call me crazy but I kind of like it. I want to see some fire. As long as it is not a sign of an imminent full-blown implosion, I like a little fire. Plus it means less Pachulia minutes. Does it mean less minutes for Zaza? The only alternative is Solo, and he can't even catch the ball.

Quote: Quote: Quote: I want BK to go too but he is not nearly as bad at his job as Woody is at his. Other than the Shelden pick, every move he's made can be understood (at the time)....... NO NO NO - GM's have to get it RIGHT. It's their F#@&^ng JOBS. That's it. "Understanding the pick" is a joke - the smart guys win and the dumb guys lose. I really don't see how we can accurately seperate the two of them. The mistakes of one are compounded by the mistakes of the other. BK gets players he likes, Woodson mis-manages them. Woodson asks for players, BK gets them, and then Woodson doesn't play them. Woodson is a complete FUBAR as a coach. BK is close behind as a GM. The one pass I give BK is that his hands have been tied by ownership on several occasions. I strongly believe that Al Harrington would have been traded to GS for Murphy and Monta Ellis a couple of years ago. Ellis would have been the PG for the Hawks, and we would have been further along. Of course if that trade had gone down we probably wouldn't have Al Horford... At any rate, a clean slate of team management is clearly needed for the Hawks. Agreed. Let us all not forget that it was BK who hired Woody in the first place, and it its BK that has a track record of hiring two of the worst coaches in NBA history. It goes without saying that BK should not be involved in hiring the next coach of the Atlanta Hawks.

Quote: why doesnt he play more?? When he does play, he does a decent job out there with the starters on the floor. I said it beofre and I will say it again...he has potential to be a solid big man but he isnt getting any PT on a team that can use him most witha pretty week front court. I dont get it! I like Zaza but i think he could be better for the Hawks style of play Solomon is still a project unfortunately. He also has hands of stone which limit what he can do, particularly on the offensive end.

Quote: Quote: Quote: some of yall are some straight B1TCHES! "he shoots below 40%" who cares what salims field goal percentage is. You ignore the fact that acie doesnt know what to do when he comes in the game, you ignore the fact that when salims comes in NOT IN GARBAGE TIME he plays calmly. No, salim is not a point guard BUT he gives us a better chance than chills AND acie. Hell, when he was in the game he played the 2 am i correct therefore he wasnt force to play the point. hell, if you want you can put acie at the point for bibby and salim at the 2 for JJ or vice versa. anyway salims needs more playing time. if you disagree then bring the meat, i will be ready. How can you recommend him as a shooting guard but not care what his FG% is? I can understand ignoring that to rely on effective FG% but for a guy who is not a defensive asset, he better score effectively. I like Salim but can't understand why he consistently shoots so poorly. IMO, he needs to be able to shoot effectively without being on the floor for 15 minutes. no, people are bringing up salims shooting %s in this point guard discussion that we are having. some folks brought up salims career field goal %. let me ask you, who would you rather have at the back up point for the rest of the season and playoffs(not next season, not the season after that...this season)? acie law, chillz or salim? gimmie a good reason. I want Acie playing the back-up point minutes for the balance of the season and the playoffs. The reason I feel that way is that Acie needs the playing time to develop. The team needs to find out whether he is the future or not. Neither Chill nor Salim are point guards and do not play effectively at that position, which is why I do not want them playing out-of-position.

Quote: We have averaged 109.1 ppg over our last 10 games while winning 8 of our last 10. That is 8th best in the NBA over that period. We have a point differential of +7.90 over our last 10 games, 7th best in the NBA over that period. We are shooting 51% over our last 10 games, 4th best in the NBA over that period. We are shooting 42% from the 3 pt line over our last 10 games, 5th best in the NBA over that period. Before Bibby arrived, we were averaging 94.8 ppg which would be good for 27th in the NBA if that had continued for the entire season. Since Bibby arrived, we are averaging over 103.4 ppg which would be good for 8th in the NBA if we had done that for the entire season. With Bibby around, Woody goes from being coach of one of the worst offensive teams in the NBA to coach of one of the best offensive teams in the NBA. It is still a little early but it appears to me that the lack of a PG was a bigger problem for this team than Woody's offensive system. We are averaging 25 apg over our last 10 games, 6th best in the NBA over that period. We have averaged 103.4 ppg since the Bibby trade Those stats would be more impressive if they weren't against some of the worst team's in the NBA. Good to see nonetheless.

The Hawks definitely are feasting off of the NBA's bottom feeders - as they should.

Quote: Quote: Fact is, the easy answer to this is "Becasue it's Woodson" Both JJ and probably Bibby will play 35 or so mins tonight. Watch. While Richardson, Solo, and West barely play. JJ only plays 38 mins tonight in a blowout... yes it beats playing 42 minutes. Ok, the bench sucked last night but I am still unsure why Woodson can't rest JJ more. Play Smith, Horford and Marvin as much as needed.

Quote: Nate was having his way with him that's for sure. Bibby is not this bad defensively and I hope he gets back to being the average defender that he is soon, otherwise Acie better be ready to step his offensive game up because he is far and away our best defensive small guard. It would be hard to believe any 10 year NBA vet could be as bad defensively as Bibby has been lately. He must be hurt really badly. He looks like he can barely move out there. I am not sure why Woodson even plays him against bottom feeder teams like the clips and knicks when the Hawks should be able to win going away without him. The Knicks absolutely mailed it in tonight.

Quote: Quote: keeping bk is fine he has assembled a team that most would trade for in a heartbeat when considering the future sure it won't now or in the next few years, but boston/detroit/spurs are in the way now anyway, and should be more on the decline in 3 years while teams like us/portland/toronto/orlando will be on the rise as the new elite teams however, under no circumstances should they re-sign woody...let him go to indy this summer and get a real coach in here QFT. The main thing is to get rid of Woody, not Knight. BK can stay, IMO. He absolved himself with the JJ trade, Acie & Horford, & the Bibby trade. He's proven that he actually wants to win, unlike the head coach and the AS. do you honestly trust BK to pick a good coach? He is the one that hired Woody after all. His other coaching hire in his previous stint as GM, before he was fired, was Sidney Lowe!!!! The dude has hired two of the worst coaches of all time. Why give him a chance to make it three of the worst?

Quote: I pretty much agree with your assesment. One thing I do not not hold against BK that much is the inability to get a true center. We have NEVER had the chance to draft a real center in the draft that panned out except for Bynum when we had the #2 pick. Bynum fell to the 20's where the Lakers took him. Since 20 other GMs passed on Bynum too I can't really hold that one against BK. Center is the hardest position to fill and most of the time it takers lottery luck to get the really good ones. (Yao, Ewing, Hakeem, Duncan, Robinson, O'Neal, Howard) - Pretty much all of the dominant centers in the modern era were the #1 pick over all and you had to be lucky to get the #1 pick. (The Spurs got lucky twice). Even Okefor went #2 right behind Howard. Or a past player does his old franchise a "favor" (Celtics / McHale / Garnette connection) / (Lakers / West/ Gasol connection.) When there is a good 7 footer available BK will draft them (he drafted Gasol). Since coming to ATL, BK has had bad luck in terms of NO talented centers available at his draft spot. Bynum was the 10th pick, not 20-something. And Billy had plenty of chances to draft at least a capable back-up big man. In 2004 he could have drafted Biedrins instead of Childress. The Salim pick in 2005 could have easily been Ronny Turiaf or Andre Blatche. The Solomon Jones pick in 2006 could have been Craig Smith, Paul Milsap or Leon Powe, all contributors on their respective teams.

My thing is I don't thin the Spirit group has what it takes to own this team. They have made so many mistakes, first with agreeing to partner with Belkin, then letting him get the upper hand with some poorly drafted agreements, and now with not wanting Woodson fired. Firing Woodson does not involve a money issue. Fire him, pay him what he is due for the balance of the year and promote one of the assistants to run the team for the last two months of the season. Obviously you don't want BK hiring a replacement, because he is on the way out, but that has nothing to do with naming an interim head coach for the balance of the season.

Quote: Then let me ask again, who is available that you would sign? I think that having an adequate backup to Al that can play defense like Lo and getting our best defensive PG Acie back healthy would do wonders. Right now I see it as either our players have given up or they are simply exhausted from playing too many minutes. Maybe a combo of both. Forget about signing someone. No veteran with pride would sign with this organization now. Veterans want a shot at a title, not at an 8th seed.

Quote: Nobody is arguing against that, however he is better than anything else out there that we can get for the remainder of the season. Do you not believe that? I find it hard to believe that there is no one better available. Besides, if the rest of the team has stopped playing defense then there is no point in bringing back Lo now.

Quote: in the year, in case you have forgotten. He languished on the bench after that for quite some time but when he got to play he was physical on D and made a difference. I am not saying he is the answer but when the team is hurting so badly for depth anyone that can even remotely play D Lo would be a blessing. The fact that the GM left the Hawks bench bereft of talent does not mean that Lo is a difference maker. Sure he can play good in a few games a year, but so can any 12th man on the end of any NBA bench. As far as I am concerned Lo Wright was a disappointment in both stints with the Hawks, so I see no reason why the organization would want to give him a 3rd opportunity to perform poorly.

Quote: Quote: Quote: What has he done to the ASG? Fight for some extra cash? Wow. What an idiot he is, trying to maximize his interests. This Belkin hysteria is like a good folk story, it gets better and better. He gets more evil every time the story gets told. All I know is he was against giving up so much for JJ. He felt like we could get him for less because Sarver was a cheap bastard. Turns out Sarver sells 1st round picks and auctions off key talent due to luxury tax worries so Belkin looks smart. He wasnt against JJ, just that BK was dropping his pants around his ankles. Yeah, BK has been so damn smart, we should trust he was making a great deal right? How could Belkin ever question BK? The other fact is that Belkin has never stated his side in public. So, all the cutting payroll stuff was from the ASG. They went public with a position that he was against the JJ deal when I have since learned that he was for the JJ deal but against sending TWO #1 picks. He knew Sarver and he knew that he wasn't paying the tax. So he felt we could get him for less. What an evil guy. He seems more nimble to me, more on the ball than the ASG. Naw, we wouldnt want that would we? Oh, and for all the people worried about him moving the team we have a thing called a lease in place. He can't move the team if he wanted. Regardless of how you feel about the JJ trade, Belkin went against the agreed upon decision making process. If his partners could not trust him to follow specifically defined decision process, how far are you willing to trust him? How far would a trading partner be willing to trust him? How far would a FA signee be willing to trust him? Sorry. I'll pass. Once you lose your credibility, it takes a lot to get it back. The stakes in the NBA are often too high to take on additional risk. Agreed. I have said my peace on this repeated times but Belkin deliberately provoked the unworkable infighting, legal battles with legal restrictions on the team, and the unprecedently bad ownership situation (which is different that simply bad owners) we have had to endure the past 5 or so years. Then he has deliberately prolonged it by stretching out the legal part of the case (for example, prolonging the appeals process) because he doesn't care about the success of the team only what gives him more leverage in his dispute. Belkin doesn't give the slightest crap about the city of Atlanta and the risk of him trying to move the team if he can finagle a way out of the lease is very real (realize that with no way to legally take over the team he has already tried to do that at least twice). I want no part of him as owner. With the recent revelation that the Spirit group did not want BK to fire Woody it is hard to argue that the unprecedently bad ownership situation is not an altogether simple "bad owners" issue.

Quote: this team will never reach its potential until ASG are out of the mix. And BK, and most definitely the most overmatched coach in the league, a Mr. Michael Dean Woodson. If woodson had been axed for a capable replacement at the all star break this team would be 5 games better, there is no doubt in my mind about that. This team is laying down on MW waiting on ownership to make a move...which they won't anytime soon. Agreed.

Quote: As far as I know there isn't anyone as good as Solo out there and he barely gets (or deserves) any PT as it is. I'm still hoping the Kings will cut Lo so that we can sign him because we miss him more than anyone realized. If we could get him back and get Acie healthy it would solve a lot of our defensive problems. Please, Lorenzen Wright is not the answer to any of the Hawks defensive problems. They guy barely played, and when he did, he was essentially awful. The Hawks defensive problems all stem from the fact that none of the players seem to want to play any defense.