thecampster

Vet minimum holds for the empty slots moves it to 3 million less. It can't be done and Jefferson for 11-13 million is a stretch, more or less 8-10 million.

Now I shouldn't have to do this. I really shouldn't but what follows are 2 sets of numbers. Side by side production of our players from top to bottom and +/- top to bottom per game for the year. Positional production Smith - 18.2/11.0 +7.2 Horford - 19.5/16.3 +3.2 Williams - 18.5/16.5 +2.0 Korver - 14.4/13/2 +1.3 Pachulia - 14.6/14.0 +.7 Morrow - -.8 Johnson - -1.0 Harris - -1.4 Teague - -1.8 Jenkins - -2.0 Stevenson - -4.2 Scott - -9.3 Tolliver - -10.2 Petro - -29.3 (proving once again the French know surrender). Now for their per game +/- for the year. Teague +11.1 Korver +10.1 Smith +8.6 Horford +5.8 Pachulia +1.6 Williams -.5 Harris -3.3 Johnson -4.7 Stevenson -5.9 Tolliver -8.9 Morrow - 9.1 Scott -18.1 Jenkins - 19.1 Petro - 36.0 Now Scott and Jenkins +/- are skewed based on getting time at the end of blowouts almost exclusively. But some easy conclusions can be drawn here. Horford and Smith are in the top 3 of both categories, while Teague is only up in +/-. Looking at your first set of numbers your rotation should be. Williams Korver Smith Horford Pachulia Subbing Morrow, Johnson, Harris, Teague, Jenkins (in that order of performance). Looking at the second set of numbers you would set the lineup as such Teague Korver Smith Horford Pachulia Subbing Williams, Harris, Johnson, Stevenson, Toliver (in that order). There are 4 constants in both groups with the only question being who starts at the point and who is first off the bench. This very simple and very accurate 30+ games into the season metric tells us that the big front line should be starting and that who starts between Teague - Williams is a matter of preference. It also shows that Stevenson gets way too many minutes, Johnson gets too few and that we miss Devin Harris a little. What it doesn't say is trading Josh Smith is the solution to any of our issues or that Rudy Gay is.

I can't agree more. The issue with the team is rebounding and defense inside. You don't trade Al/Josh/? for Zaza/Al/Gay to get better at defense. Zaza should start but in a lineup with Al and Josh until a better solution is reached but many nights the only thing stopping our games from becoming a layup drill is Josh Smith's defense.

http://basketball.realgm.com/tradechecker/saved_trade/6200192 This works and doesn't require giving up Horford or Smith, makes more sense and would probably require both our firsts. Pachulia/Korver/Scott - 2 firsts Lou Williams and Stevenson could be swapped for Korver and Scott as well. Cousins/Salmons The problem with giving up Horford or Smith is they make more than Cousins+Salmons and Sacramento is in need of bodies/salary to stay with the salary requirements.

Okay Lets do this from the Rudy Gay point of view. 4.5 million more expensive 4.5% worse FG% 4.2% worse 3pt FG% 2.6 less rebounds 1.2 less assists 1.6 less blocks Rudy wins FT% Shots taken So a hamstringing contract, poorer efficiency and doesn't answer our number one concern which is rebounding/inside play. you can't add Al Jefferson in Free Agency. With Cap Holds, Lou/Deshawn/Teague/Jenkins salaries.

Of course I can't compare them. Nique was a superior offensive player. But not defensively. They are very different players, both with flaws and that same logic was the logic used to ship Nique out of town. The "he's so good he's holding us back" and "it's all about him" and "Manning could do the same on this team. You ship Josh out for a SF and you get smaller, not bigger and our number one issue is dealing with big front lines, not with small forward play.

Someone explain this to me like I'm stupid please. Josh, the power forward, had 7 assists last night (second overall), led the team in rebounds, led the team in scoring while being 3rd in shots taken, was 50% from 3, shot 57% from the field, blocked 2 shots and got a steal. Why exactly are we complaining about Josh Smith when Lou/Jeff combined shot 6 of 15 (40%), had 1 more assist combined than the power forward. All of this while playing on a bum hip that he should really sit out a week for. He outrebounded/outscored Horford again, shot a higher percentage than Al while taking 2 less shots. Please God explain this to me. Why is Josh the problem again? Let's take a trip down memory lane. The year is 1994, February. Sporting the best record in the league, the Atlanta Hawks hit a rough stretch losing 6 of 9 games and decide a change is in order. Their high flying star seems to be too self focused and there is this up and comer they've got their eye on that they think will propel them to a championship after several near misses. The Hawks trade Dominique Wilkens for Danny Ferry. The hawks are 39-17 at this time and finish 57-25, are eliminated in the playoffs and Danny Manning bolts the next season. Leading to the signing of Dikembe, more near misses and then a lost decade of basketball. Their lack of commitment to their best players cost them dearly in the eyes of players in the league and they are one stupid move away from doing it again. Everyone thought Nique was the problem then too. I know...I had tickets to 8 games that year.

2 things. One...someone with 300 lifetime posts shouldn't be calling people who've been on this board since before it was this board a troll. Second, you didn't reply to anyone, your comment comes across as random and another trade Josh hijack thread which is one of the most annoying parts of this message board. The thread was about the importance of January from a positioning point of view because the rest of the schedule is brutal.

Did you really just criticize a player shooting 56%, averaging 17+ppg, 12 rpg, 2.6 blocks while injured.

And that applies to this thread how?

The problem in March is the amount of games as much as the talent faced. With almost all series being 3 games in 4 nights

This next month of basketball may very well determine the race in the Southeastern conference. The Heat are about to embark on a brutal road trip. Not necessarily brutal in the level of talent but in the miles logged. The Heat play their next 2 games at home vs Chicago and Washington then starting on the 8th play 6 games in 10 days, all on the road and in this order. Indiana - Portland - Sacramento - Utah - Golden State - LA Lakers. Then they get 5 days off. A very strange schedule to say the least. They have 12 games left in the month of January, 8 on the road. During this same period of time. The Hawks have 15 games. 8 Road/ 7 home. They must go to NY, Chicago, Brooklyn. They get Brooklyn at home as well and San Antonio. With 3 extra games (all at home), more favorable spread of travel and their more difficult games at home sans NY, this is the stretch that will mark them as pretender or contender.

Jenkins is far too valuable to trade. He costs nearly nothing in salary (about the same as vet minimum) for real production.

And Josh Smith could benefit greatly from Yoga.

I have large hands, flexibility and a muscular frame but I needed to be taught the mechanics of a jumper and even at my elevated size, I can hit a turn around jumper, hook and pull up better than most NBA'ers ---- yet I am and always will be O'Nealesque at the free throw line. Watching me shooting with my feet flat is disturbingly bad.

Expanding on my point about the cost of living in NY, this is a point brought up regularly in response to players playing in Canada in MLB and the NBA. The cost of living in Canada and the double taxation makes playing in Canada unrealistic. The higher taxes on the East Coast and California enforce the need to pay a little more for players. This is why these teams consistently have higher payrolls.

Remember that Atlanta is cheaper to live in than NY/Boston, etc...he is established and is a part time starter. However, Dolfan is correct in pointing out that Zaza is a positional defender only, is foul prone and feasts on the lesser competition of backups. Zaza would struggle as a starter to put up the same numbers per 36 he currently does.

For an example of what I'm talking about, here's a video of Kareem that starts with his classic hook. Watch the ball roll up his hand and off the finger tips softly with nice spin, a little arc and a gentle fall. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMtZGfsWMCE Now for a Josh video with shot explanations. Shot 1 is a layup. Although he makes all the shots, mechanics is the question. On this layup...the hand is straight the whole time, the bank is hard for such a simple shot and only angle makes this fall. The problem is the stiff carry to the basket. Shot 2 is a jumper. Watch the push....although the ball goes in, the push is from the palm and inner finger, it never rolls to the tips for the shooters roll. To compensate, look at how far back he pulls the ball. Instead of bringing it directly over his head and pushing up and out with a roll...he pulls it behind his head to the side and then up. This is a compensation for the stiff wrist, having to generate with the arms instead of the hands. Now Shot 3 is the best example. On the way up his timing is off and the wrist is totally stiff, so it functions as a lob'd push shot from the side as opposed to the hook. Compare this with the Kareem hook and you'll pity Josh. It may be intentional, lack of coaching or in my opinion the result of weight lifting too young. The reverse angle on shot 4 will show him push shot again, this time on a layup. He isn't using the fingers to roll the ball on the layup but pushing it at the square instead leading to inconsistencies on the bank. Shots 5 and 6 are the best formed shots in the video. In both he brings the ball up center of his body, directly to his forehead in rhythm. My guess is because he was having a good night, he wasn't thinking by the time he got to these 2 jumpers. Forward to shot 8, a put back dunk and watch the reverse angle replay....you'll see the ball rolls up his wrist and is loose on the way in. He puts it down with his palm. It barely touches his fingertips. Last shot, shot 10. Another hook. The slow mo replay shows him wrist cupping it on the way up and losing it. It also shows the same stiff wrist and instability of the ball out of his hand. You can also see this often when he tries to dribble through traffic.

I've noticed inconsistency on his release point and what coaches refer as "a stiff wrist" on his hooks, close in jumpers, etc. It's the opposite of rock hands catching. The result is to shoot flat or hard often. This is usually the case of inflexibility in the wrists/fingers due to weight lifting or just genetics.

I'm starting to feel a whole lot better about this prediction. 1 Game back and starting to gel.

Zaza is an expiring contract. If there is a taker and the value is good, he'll be moved at the trade deadline. Now isn't the time to trade him. Sometime before Feb 21st is.

Back in the late 90's when the Falcons went to the Superbowl, a buddy of mine got plastered, stripped down to his Falcons boxer shorts, donned a red table cloth as a cape, put on his authentic team helmet and ran up and down his street doing the dirty bird in front of his neighbor's houses and squawking like an idiot. Somehow he avoided arrest.

It's a case of I told you so. There were those of us who appreciated JJ's game but not at 18 mil per. We thought of him as a good player but someone who could be replaced by a smart gm for 5-9 million a year and the left over salary used for other pieces. It was never a case of hating Joe, it was a case of wanting a star so much, we elevated Joe in our minds to something he was not....a max contract player. I really can't stand New York Sports teams. My antipathy has less to do with Joe than it does to believing New York/Boston sports fans are some of the most arrogant jerks on the planet. So when Joe put on the stripes, he became the enemy. PERIOD!!!!!!!

oh so true

This is very common every holiday season. Things get extremely busy during the trade deadline, playoffs, right before the season begins and draft time. After the NFL playoffs are over, things pick up very quickly and all of a sudden 30 new people will join the Sqauwk and all be experts. Two or 3 will be trolls and we'll spend a couple of weeks arguing with them over their crazy opinions...then boom...playoffs...woot.