Packfill

Quote: I'm still trying to figure out what position Brandon Roy would play for the Hawks. So many people wanted him, yet the same ones bitched and moaned last year when Billy duplicated the wing positions. Randy Foye, I can see only in the sense that he may have been able to play point guard along side Joe Johnson. Brandon Roy is a shooting guard though who might be able to play some point in spurts. He is by no means a point guard though, and while I think Randy Foye could play it alongside Joe Johnson, Randy isn't a pure point guard. It looks like the Hawks were actually looking for more of a pure point guard, which is something that I didn't see coming. The word from the draft was that they were trying to move up to get Marcus Williams as he was dropping, and then they signed Speedy Claxton. Aren't you the one who has repeatedly stated that to have a "pure point guard" on the team would stiffle Joe Johnson by taking the ball out of his hands? Either you change opinions faster then John Kerry or you really have no opinions and rather blindly follow whatever Billy Knight does.

Quote: I also don't understand some people's arguments. They say don't take Foye or Roy because we have Joe Johnson but isn't it true that we used two first round picks to take Josh Smith and Marvin Williams, not to mention Josh Childress? So basically by taking Sheldon Williams are we admitting that taking one of those two players was a mistake? We can't start all 3 so obviously one of these picks was a huge blunder unless one is used in a trade to upgrade elsewhere. I agree with this. I also do not believe being critical of moves made by the team is a bad thing. Are we not supposed to question? Are we supposed to blindly follow?

Quote: Quote: I also don't understand some people's arguments. They say don't take Foye or Roy because we have Joe Johnson but isn't it true that we used two first round picks to take Josh Smith and Marvin Williams, not to mention Josh Childress? So basically by taking Sheldon Williams are we admitting that taking one of those two players was a mistake? We can't start all 3 so obviously one of these picks was a huge blunder unless one is used in a trade to upgrade elsewhere. That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. We picked Shelden Williams to shore up our defensive frontcourt. No one with half a brain projected Shelden to be more than a decent defensive-oriented role player. On this team he will be a rebounder defender-part time scorer ala Cliff Livingston of old. We didn't get Roy or Foye because they are not point guards. Speedy Claxton is a pointguard. We also wanted a veteran at the point...Speedy is a veteran. Why don't you closet Laker fans go troll someone elses thread. Texas Pete, you haven't articulated a cogent point of view since you been on here. The Hawks better have gotten more then a Cliff Levingston with the 5th pick in the draft.

Quote: I was wondering the same thing. He's great fun to watch, that's for sure When his shot is on I agree, but when it is off he is painful to watch because he does not contribute in other ways.

Quote: I like Salim's attitude. It's what makes him great. If he didn't think that way, not sure how successful he would be. It seems like he is learning how to control his fire to work for him instead of against him. I think of Salim as our X-factor, and I hope he shows up this season in a big way. Wait, when did he become "great"?

Quote: it sucks to me, cuz everyone still sees NYK as a "dynasty-type" franchise, and NY is a place everyone would love to play for (ESPECIALLY HARRINGTON)...... they had this past year labeled as a disaster...yet the franchise is not "lowly", and though they've been a mess since their finals appearance in 99, the doubters all know the knicks will be back in full force soon.....because they are the KNICKS.......but what about us? I rambled a bit there, but what im trying to say is: the nation opinion on the hawks is pretty low, and though we've seen a bit of promising media lately....it still doesn’t look good. ugh, it's just annoying to me. As they say in real estate, "location, location, location."

True, and I live in NYC so I see it all the time. Thing is, the Knicks do have some promising young big men in Frye, Butler and Lee. If they could unload some of the bloated contracts while retaining those three they could do something.

Portland really seems to have a nice rookie class - Roy and Aldridge are a great start to building a winning team. Through in Jack, Webster and Pryz and they have something there. Bargnani is a foul machine. That may limit his minutes and production this season as he gets used to the NBA.

Finally a good deal for the Knicks! This is a remarkably reasonable signing for them.

I sure hope it is not Murphy.

Quote: LOL. At least it is good to hear some common sense coming from the Hawks. Agreed.

Quote: In essence, it's a 3 year deal. Moreover, sure he's overpaid. But he's good at the one thing he does. He plays defense. I'm not suggesting that he's our starter. I'm saying that he's our defensive C. Moreover, Look at what else comes with him. A 1st round pick. When has GS not been a lottery team. If the pick is unconditional, this is a win for the Hawks period. We'd make Chicago raping NY look like a kiddie movie. Because GS is just destined to fail. Even if they get Al, insert him at Sf... They won't have the dollars to get a real C. Biedrins and Obryant are both weak. so you have a weak C with an undersized Pf.... That smells like teen spirit to me. With the 2nd pick of the 2007 draft, the Atlanta Hawks select: Will you be crying about Foyle's contract then? Um, if they trade for Al using Foyle they still have Murphy and Diogu on the roster to play power forward, so Al would be slotted in at small forward. But it is a total pipe dream to think GS is giving up a good prospect and a first round pick for Al in a buyers market.

Can someone please buy Marvin a t-shirt that fits. Dude is 6'8" and looks like he is wearing a t-shirt he stole from Shaq.

Quote: If Mike James signs with Dallas, then I think Devin is on the trading block. It is well known that it is now or never for Dallas and their roster. Avery Johnson is trying to put together a veteran team to win a championship. He does not have the time to wait on Devin's development. It appears from the Dallas message boards that Devin can not hit an outside jumper. I think that we could get him for Tyronne Lue who would be a solid vetran that could hit the outside shot for Avery.If we get troy murphy, then we could add him to the deal. I think that Dallas would bite on Troy Murphy and Tyronne Lue for Devin Harris. There is a 0% chance Dallas would trade Devin Harris for Tyronne Lue.

Quote: Considering the fact that Marcus Williams fell to the 22nd pick, criticizing Billy for not taking him would be foolish. At the end of the day, it matters not where these guys were picked but how well they perform. Marcus is one of the types of player that tends to fall in the draft - i.e., because of some athletic or size limitation (although there is another type that tends to fall as well - that being the athlete with limited skills ala Josh Smith). Still way to early to tell how Marcus will perform long term.

Quote: I'm not disagreeing that Stern might prefer for both groups to just sell to a new group. What I'm saying is that there's no way they will sell when it's a lifelong dream, and that it's gotten so personal at this point. That is where I think we disagree. As business men, they have reputations to maintain. Getting their buts kicked publicly is not good for business. They could save face by selling for a slight profit over what they bought the franchise for.

Quote: I think you GROSSLY underestimate how complicated this is. For starters, you're crazy if you think the owners would sell to a new group after all this. Why would you give a team up, when you currently have a 50/50 chance if getting it? That makes no sense. Also if it was that easy to sell the hawks, why is it that the first guy who tried to buy us didn't have enough cash, the second group was a disfunctional bunch. Billionaires aren't lined up to buy us. Additionally, if it was so easy to just get one group to sell to another at "fair market price", the spirit would have gotten the team from Belkin a long, long time ago, when he agreed to sell to them. Also, we don't know how legal it is for him to do all this threatening, and forcing a team to sell. We do know that if he waits patiently, the judge will hand it to him and put the ball in his court, which is what he's probably waiting on. At that point he can legally recommend that the owners don't approve Belkin. In round 1, he waited for the judge to call upon him, he spoke up, and got Belkin to agree to sell eventually. He knows the law and knows when he has to wait. Just because he's extremely powerful within his league doesn't put him above the law I think you are GROSSLY underestimating the underlying business issues here. The Spirit Group had the team on their doorstep but they screwed up and now Belkin has a legitimate chance of gaining control of the franchise. But for the prodigious blunders by the Spirit Group this issue is over and Belkin has already been bought out. Anyone with half a brain that is associated with the NBA, including Stern, realize that neither ownership group is in the best interest of the league due to obvious reasons. For that reason alone, there will be plenty of closed door arm twisting sessions to force these guys out.

Quote: Quote: I don't think the court ruling will affect the sign and trade of Al. All BK has to say is that I was actively negotiating with every team in the league at the time of the court ruling. It's perry unlikely that the deal that goes down was no "being discussed" for some time now.... flava Court ruling will affect EVERYTHING. The future of this team will be terrible. This clown will single-handedly make this team suck for the next decade with absurd moves and non-moves. So you are saying he will maintain the status quo from the previous decade?

Well, he could essentially circumvent the legal system buy doing some behind the scenes arm twisting forcing all of the current owners (i.e., Belkin and the Spirit Group) to agree to sell the team for fair market value. Basically, he could tell them that they are not "NBA material." The way he sells this to Belkin is by explaining in no uncertain terms that the NBA will never approve him as owner of the team. He sells it to the Spirit Group by explaining that they are dumb asses for getting into this mess and this is the only way to bail them out of this mess and to save the franchise. Easy really.

Quote: Why is it that Sheldon has to prove himself from day 1... and Marvin has been in the league for a whole year and still has nothing to prove? Well, Sheldon is as finished a college prospect as you are going to get and is arguably a more developed basketball player then either Smoove or Marvin. Marvin still has everything to prove. Last year proved nothing to me as far as his performance went. I want to see some evidence justifying why he was such a high selection. I want to see that alleged "superstar potential."

I am looking for the following: 1. Sheldon to prove he is ready to play from day one and hopefully start. 2. One of Esteban, Solomon Jones or Edwards to step up so that the Hawks have a legitimate reserve big man. 3. I want to see some aggression from Marvin. In his freshman year at UNC and as a Hawk rookie he deferred to others. I want to see him come in and dominate. I think it would be a good thing if he became a ball hog for summer league play so that he can get some confidence in himself. 4. I am penciling Speedy in as the starting point but I want some clarification as to who, other then Lue, can legitimately be relied upon for minutes when one or both of Speedy and Lue get hurt. Ivey, Salim, Grundy, someone else? All are huge question marks. Based on last seasons play, I do not want Ivey or Salim running the point at all so I want to see something (anything really) from one of those guys to justify minutes during the season. That and 5. I want to know whether Salim is just a Tony Delk/Eddie House type of player or something more. I am leaning towards the former but hope to be proven wrong.

Quote: Instead of Troy Murphy and Mickael Pietrus, what do you guys think of Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins? They both are young players that could grow up with the young corp we already have. Monta Ellis looks like he has legit star potential and Biedrins plays with a mean streak and seems to play some D as well which we all know could be used on this team. Those two could be our future 1 and 5 on this team. Andris Biedrins 6’11 245 Apr 2, 1986 Monta Ellis 6’3 177 Oct 26, 1985 Why would Golden State do that trade? Seriously, there is no logical reason for them to trade away two talented young prospects while retaining all the veterans with bloated contracts. Plus, you have to question whether the Hawks really need anymore raw youngsters, and both Biedrins and Ellis are a year or two away from prime time.

The problem with that line-up is that there is no one to push the ball up the court and get the team into the "running game" that the coach and front office have been talking about. Plus, that line-up would get killed if the other team pressed full court. It can work for short stretches but at the end of the day would result in Childress playing out of position.

Agree. I rather have Al then Murphy if the money is the same.

Quote: How much of that is due to the fact that Jerry West can't build a team without the help of being in LA? Name one half-way decent coach BK has hired. Just one.