Packfill

Quote: For the purpose of a new conversation..................... So how do we beat the Raptors Fri night ? At least we don't have TJ Ford to worry about. ford always hurts the Hawks but the unfortunate thing is that Calderon is better. Toronto is all about teamwork and working together and really good point guard play, their roster beyond the point guards and Bosh is not impressive. The Hawks definitely have more overall talent but need to play smart and physical to win.

Quote: Keeping the overall merits of Diesel's trade to the side, a trade that leaves the Hawks with a bench of Horford, Childress and Law makes the team deeper then it currently is. That would be a great bench for just about any team in the league. Replacing the contributions of guys like Lue, Sheldon and Zaza is pretty easy, even for NBADL guys. Either Chillz or Horford would start since we would be losing Marvin. (I guess Mike Miller could start at SF). Its either: Chillz at SF and Smoove at PF or Smoove at SF and Horford at PF A bench of Horford, Miller and Law would be fine too. Heck, a bench of Dalembert, Miller and Law would also be great. Point is, you have two big man options, a couple different options at forward and a back-up point.

Quote: Hey Diesel, I did calculate the loss of those contracts in my number. Did you? This trade puts us in horrible cap position. I did forget about Horf. My bad. You can't have a team of NBDL players and plan on no injuries, unless you're Boston. Keeping the overall merits of Diesel's trade to the side, a trade that leaves the Hawks with a bench of Horford, Childress and Law makes the team deeper then it currently is. That would be a great bench for just about any team in the league. Replacing the contributions of guys like Lue, Sheldon and Zaza is pretty easy, even for NBADL guys.

Quote: EDS When you mentioned the top teams, you left out Atlanta. Just because we've lost a few games, I suppose. (Ane the Hawks headed west soon)

That photo of Shaq and Boykins is great.

The East has two good teams - Boston and Detroit are the only ones that can compete with the top teams in the west. Only 3 east teams would make the playoffs in the West if the season ended today. The West has 5 or 6 really strong teams.

Thank goodness the Hawks are not in the West as they would have no shot at the playoffs. But in the East, the Hawks really have no excuse to not make the playoffs. Look at some of those teams that will be vying for the 7th and 8th seed - they all have huge holes. 37 or so victories is likely enough to make the playoffs in the East.

Quote: Quote: Quote: Quote: I do agree that the Bobcats are much improved with Nazr b/c it frees Wallace up to play his natural poistion at SF rather then PF. I wonder what would happen if the Hawks tried playing their players at their natural positions for a few games. What lineup are you envisioning? I didn't understand that post either. Wallace is, without doubt, a better SF then PF.... while Smoove is, without doubt, a better PF then SF. One is 6'7', 210 lbs The other is 6'9'', 235 lbs. I remain uncertain as to whether PF is really Smoove's best position. As far as his size is concerned I will remind you he is smaller then Marvin. I actually think Marvin's body is tailor made for the PF position because of his long arms and big butt. That said, I am not sure if it would suit him from a skills perspective. I also would like to see Horford at PF to see how things shake out with him.

Quote: I do agree that the Bobcats are much improved with Nazr b/c it frees Wallace up to play his natural poistion at SF rather then PF. I wonder what would happen if the Hawks tried playing their players at their natural positions for a few games.

That certaintly wouldn't be a bad thing. What is it that Portland has that allows them to win while the Hawks lose?

It is hard not to be impressed with how well that team is playing considering how very young that team is and the injuries they have had.

Quote: I do need to wait until season's end to celebrate my infinite correct-ness. I could still be wrong. But just for the record, here's some foundational positions-o-mine argued throughout the off-season, and even before... and those positions are looking pretty stout, even while others are desperately grasping for new ways to couch their old positions so that they don't seem SO wrong. I'll put it in my tickler file to revisit these in April to see if they seem any more or less true... ======================================= 1. BK did have a cogent plan for re-building the roster. 2. BK did execute that plan for the most part. 3. The few exceptions to that are glaring: the attempt to jump-start the process by throwing money at Kenyon Martin and at Speedy Claxton... though the glare is slightly mitigated by the point that injuries are always a wild card to some degree. 3. Patience, something fans too often have little of, is wonderful when an ownership and a GM have a good dose of it. 4. When Marvin Williams ends his career, ATL fans will look back on his body of work and consider him clearly worthy of his #2 selection. 5. The perception of "being a good coach" is only as good as the won-loss record that his team has accumulated... and in the end, too few fans recognize the great difficulty in distinguishing between when success or failure is primarily a reflection of the coaching, as opposed to a reflection of the talent. 6. Obtaining Andrew Bynum this past off-season would have been a mighty good idea... he is as good as I'd advertised. This post is amusing in so many ways.

There is no question that AJ is playing above and beyond expectations and that he has lent a steadying hand to the starting five. The only question marks his play raise are whether he can keep it up this season (he is older, so may wear down) and will Law be ready next year to take over.

Quote: Jack is not a PG, he is a tweener. ZaZa and especially Sheldon has more value than you know around the league. I would not even think about gicing either for Jack. I like jack ok burt he is a 6th or 7th player on a roster. Your post is confusing. Are you saying Zaza or Sheldon are anything more than a 6th or 7th player on a roster? And you realize they are not even that on the Hawks. I would trade either one of those guys straight up for Jack in a heartbeat. Jack would be a great back-up guard for the Hawks.

Quote: Well at least Shelden is usually healthy, lol. Shelden may turn into a solid big yet as soon as he stops having shoulder problems. Roy would have been a nice 3rd string 2 guard for us though. I am pretty certain with the way Roy is playing he would be the 1st or 2nd best player on the Hawks right now. 3rd string? Please.

Quote: Make a run at Monta Ellis in the offseason. I think he becomes an UFA... and just like they did with Arenas, GS has placed themselves in a situation where they may not have the money to match a big offer... I don't see the need for a short combo guard. Why would the Hawks want Ellis? Now someone like Roy I could understand.

Quote: Mike Woodson is a good coach right now. I was an adamant supporter of Woodson the last 3 years and really got pissed with him after lackluster halves (1st Minny game, Chicago game) this year, but I can't hate on what he's doing. Jdu made the same post last week, but that was before these last couple of games. Our defense is looking incredible right now--we could've used Nazr M. but I am satisfied now. Every shot is being contended, teams are running low on shot clocks, and there are fewer and fewer easy baskets every game for our opponents. Unfortunately, once Lue comes back, Lue will resort to him for whatever reason. Of course the offensive substitution patterns could be a bit better, but it was wonderful seeing Mario get 19 minutes last night. My only complaints right now for Woodson are he needs a better offensive playbook and to keep one of our big 3 (Marvin / JJ / Smoove) in at ALL times. Our team has gotten better to a .500+ (hopefully) level as it has gotten older, and this can be attributed to Woodson's developments of the players. Hopefully we can gut out a win against Utah tomorrow (I think Okur is out), and then the feeble Miami Heat Wednesday. Please. Woodson is not a good coach. He may be average, but that is on a good day. If the Hawks ultimately aspire to something more than mediocrity then they need to get a better coach in sooner rather than later.

BK has done a decent job acquiring young talent but the real test of his skills will be what happens when these guys are up for contracts and whether this team actually wins anything or not. I really question how hard it is for any run of the mill GM to build a "talented young team" when you are given 5 lottery picks and 7 total first picks, even giving the fact that he traded for two of those (they were the two lowest of the seven picks). For now he gets an incomplete.

Quote: I don't think it is a career ending injury eithther. Why would he even be showing up at games (in a suit) if his career is over? There just isn't a time table set for his injury. He probably is out for this year, but that's just a guess. Speedy's career as a Hawk is effectively over before it began, might as well accept that now and move on. Even if he were able to return to action it is impossible to rely on him since he has yet to make it through a full season without injury in his career.

The reason Speedy is not playing is not because he "doesn't want to." Rather it is entirely due to him suffering what appears to be a career ending injury. This really should not be a surprise given his lengthy injury report throughout his career. I think the team is better without Lue 4 out of every 5 games. The one game that he is actually making shots he provides some benefit but otherwise is a complete liability. Zaza is a 10-15 minute per game player at best. I actually prefer that Sheldon get those minutes rather then rot on the bench.

The Hawks do not have the youngest team in the league.

Quote: Quote: Quote: The reason I mentioned this is that Chris Paul was not a sure thing like some people say. He did show a lot of weaknesses in college. Also, Marvin continues to get better every season. Lets wait 10 years before we make a final decision. Chris Paul and Deron Williams were the two best best point guard prospects in the past decade. Don't bother trying to sugar coat things. The wrong decision was made at the time. The franchise was set back a few years, but hopefully BK finally rectified the problem this year. Time will tell. Show me a pre-draft post where you predicted that Paul and Williams were the two best PG prospects in the past decade. His point is that Paul and Deron were not consensus picks to become great (or even good) point guards. Both have surpassed expectations, which makes it hurt that much more that we missed them, but doesn't change the fact that they weren't supposed to be this good this soon. For what it is worth, I said on 6/23/05 that both had superstar potential. I have not said that about any other point guard prospects since, or before. And have there been any other point guard prospects in the same stratosphere as those guys?

Quote: - I know last night there was no problem, but what is the deal with the continued problems that Phillips Arena has with it's electrical devices? It's PHILLIPS Arena for god sake. You would think they would locate the source of all the shotclock and timeclock problems and horn problems and fix it. It really makes us look shotty and unprofessional (although Phillips Arena IS one of the nicest LOOKING arenas). - I would like to personally thank Dominique Wilkins for the speech he gave Josh Smith. It has worked beyond my expectations. Not only that, but it's also encouraging for Josh Smith to continue to play that way. He is scoring more just by playing better OVERALL ball and not forcing things. - I could have swore that Marvin had more than his 17 points. Seemed like he was everywhere. Many of us were concerned about his aggressiveness but it seems that we can lay back off of that for awhile. He seems to demand the ball, be more vocal and attack the basket. - I'm sorry but Jerome Jernovich (or whatever it is) is terrible. He says some pretty dumb things and generally just looks nervous the entire time. And his personality is absolutely zero. He tries to say funny things or at least somewhat witty things and it comes across bad. The other night when they had the hot chick (forgot her name) at halftime talking to her, in trying to say that a short interview with her was sufficient, he said "You know me, I only need a minute and a half with a pretty girl." He wasnt TRYING to be funny in THAT way, but I laughed my ass off. He's not a prick so I hate to bash him, but dude, the guy is horrible. And looking at him makes me uncomfortable and like i need to wash my face. I hope he doesnt read this. - Dominique however has become very good. He seemed to start off nervous too and inexperienced (which would be because he was) but he has become very very good at it and speaks very well. - Again, Horford pushing the ball up the court. I just love seeing that. - Shelden was off. He was aggressive and tried to do the right things but just seemed to make mistakes. I still think with continued playing time, he will develop into something we can use but I think expecting him to be an NBA ready talent was farfetched to say the least and it's taken him some time to get used to the speed. Seems to me like he still plays nervous. - Back to Horford. The guy is a beast. - Rudy Gay is going to be a real talent in this league one day. Thankfully Memphis is in the West. - I don't like that teams can get back in the game against us. You definitely don't want that to be your namesake to other teams. But I am glad that we put our starters back in to nip it in the bud. Still, Joe played too much. - That may have been the best offensive movement in a game by the Hawks I have seen all season. - Shot by Law at half with the offhand was great. - AJ played lights out I felt last night. Made great passes in transition and kept the ball moving. Maybe he sees the holes in Woody's abilities and has decided to coach the team himself? But he played extremely well and he's gotten some bashing so gotta give him props. I saw him on the bench really teaching some young guy (I forgot who, think it was Law maybe) and I realized how important his presence on this team is. - I think that even if we lose to the Pistons coming up, that we'll play better just for the fact that I believe we have some confidence gained last couple games and won't bow down. At least I hope not. I'll say the same thing I said before the last time we played the Pistons- If we lose, it's not so much of a bad thing, if we win it's huge for us. - This will sound weird, but Joe's slump may have been a blessing in disguise. It has helped encourage ball movement and not just hoping that Joe will bail us out each time. Marvin and company realize they need to be aggressive offensively and not just wait on Joe. I hope Joe gets IT back but I hope when he does, we don't lapse back to that GoJoe mindframe. - I love how we have been able to play bench guys lots of minutes lately. If we're going to be able to go farther, we are going to need the bench (other than Chill) to be able to fill in for us and give us rest. Word. Play bench guys more minutes? Didn't JJ, Smoove and Marvin each play 40 minutes against Memphis? To me, having to play those guys such heavy minutes against a bad team is not good in the long run. Ideally the Hawks should be able to rest their top players against weaker opponents.

Quote: The reason I mentioned this is that Chris Paul was not a sure thing like some people say. He did show a lot of weaknesses in college. Also, Marvin continues to get better every season. Lets wait 10 years before we make a final decision. Chris Paul and Deron Williams were the two best best point guard prospects in the past decade. Don't bother trying to sugar coat things. The wrong decision was made at the time. The franchise was set back a few years, but hopefully BK finally rectified the problem this year. Time will tell.

Quote: Was that written by an 8 year old? Half the teams the guy mentions have been in the playoffs since the 2005 draft. And BK does have a safety net in that he works for the least intelligent group of owners ever. Plus, does it matter who is better between JJ and Marion? Neither one has ever led a team to the playoffs. I can assure you, I am not an 8 year old. Some know that I am Astro Joe over on ajc.com blog and Anakin Joe over here. Long story about name difference, I won't bore you. My point is that virtually every GM has a list of mistakes. And the fan bases in those cities are not satisfied with mere playoff appearances. They operate under different circumstances than BK. BK has certainly made his fair share of errors, I was just pointing out the same is true of other GMs. The difference? They erase those mistakes with the help of their owners. We don;t have that here. well, I guess the Marion/JJ reference is out of context, otherwise it doesn't make sense. I fully acknowledge that the Hawks have terrible owners. No question. But there is also no question that BK has hurt this franchise with his poor drafting. Fortunately BK's 5th draft for the Hawks finally looks like a good one. Of course, even Babcock could get lucky with the amount of high draft picks BK has had.