thecampster

Seriously. When he scored 50, he was scoring it off of NBA starting shooting guards. When he comes in the came as a backup, he will be playing against far inferior talent. He has to be licking his chops.

I have to say I agree with Diesel on the premise of this post. I think we can challenge anyone this year. Anyone watching the preseason will see that the Hawks are just going through the motions and still laying a beat down on teams. They were very hobbled in the playoffs last year and that i think has skewed everyone's vision of this team. I'm not fearing any team we might play this year. The only thing I fear is the injury bug. There are just too many offensive weapons right now on this team to endure any kind of losing streak. When you look at the team and count the number of players capable of a 20 point + game or 10+ boards and or capable for starting for another team it's a scary list. This is that list Johnson Crawford Smoove Williams Horford Bibby Teague Evans Pachulia Maybe Joe Smith The Hawks have 9-10 guys that could start for other teams in the league. The secret to winning 50-60 games in this league is not having a superstar or great coach, it's having enough horses. Every team will endure injuries in a season. Look at the wizards when they lost Arenas....they were done. They had no one to step in and play acceptibly behind him. The Hawks are now a stacked roster that can afford to allow injured players to sit and heal. That goes way farther than having a top 10 guy. The only thing the Hawks have to fear is having 3 players injured in the play offs again like last year.

Tayshaun Prince is in his NBA prime at 29. At 215 lbs, he can not guard the 4 but can guard the 2. These are his career stats 33 minutes - 12.7 PPG on 46.1 FG%., 4.7 rpg, 2.6 apg, .6 spg, .6 bpg Marvin Williams is barely 23 and hasn't entered his prime yet. Marvin can guard the 2,3,4. These are his career stats. 31.5 minutes - 12.5 ppg on 45 FG%., 5.5 rpg, 1.4 a, .8 spg, .4 bpg When you consider Marvin is on the upswing and Prince has peaked, it is no contest. When you consider that Prince is being asked to do more as the 3rd option and can not put up the numbers that go with that task, you have to ask yourself why. The reason, he can not get his own shot. He's a cutting, finisher that can not play opposing 3's straight up offensively. Marvin is a better defender, can get his own shot more efficiently (Prince feeds off of others and the system). In 1.5 less minutes per game over their careers the ppg is virtually the same, but when you consider Marvin is a 4th option it's debateable. Marvin gets nearly a rebound a game more and .2 more steals which shows his greater team contribution at the defensive end.

4th option role....I stand by my statement

Uh...no, not close.

Great point. Tyler Hansbrough - Born Nov 3, 1985 Considered a polished product coming out of college Hawks younger than Hansbrough by oldest to youngest Josh Smith - Born Dec 5, 1985 Randolph Morris - Born Jan 2, 1986 Al Horford - Born Jun 3, 1986 Marvin Williams - Born July 19, 1986 Jeff Teague - Born Jun 10, 1988 and if you want to get stupid with it, Garrett Siler was born Oct 25, 1986 When you look at those 5, you start to get an appreciation not only for how good these Hawks are, but for how good they will eventually be. Most players don't reach their peak until after age 25. All of these players are 23 or younger.

You're kidding right. Dunking on Dwight's manikin and challenging it to a dance off is pretty freaking hilarious.

I went to the open practice on Saturday and Sims was the best (and ugliest) big man of the group by far. He played very well in the scrimmage. He was a defense nuisance and active space eater.

I did not say Joe is the reason I said offense philosophy is the reason and the biggest cog of that philosophy is ISO Joe and yes it is. Diesel there are 5 players and 1 basketball. Someone has to be a 4th option. The players do not determine that. The coaches do. 2008 -2009 season stat. FGA/G Joe - 17.97 Bibby - 12.72 Josh - 12.30 Marvin - 10.2 Flip - 9.94 Horford - 8.87 Flip Murray.....the bench player averaged more attempts than our starting center. That is wrong on so many levels. This is a guard dominated offense. Top 3 guards took 40.63 shots a game. Top 3 big men took 31.37 There are only 2 guards on the floor at one time. Think about this....your point guard (distributor) and your Shooting guard took almost the exact number of shots as 3 other players that are your young core you are trying to build your franchise around. This is basketball chaos run amouk. If this is Marvin's problem then it's an even bigger problem for Horford and almost as big a problem for Josh Smith who most of this board screams shoots too much. The highest percentage shooters of the starting 5 are 6, 3, 4 in FGA/G. That tells you the system is seriously flawed and it is not the fault of the players...yes Diesel...even Marvin.

Yes we do! This is such an obvious thing that only someone with an agenda would ignore it. Joe is the focal point of the offense. With Joe in the lineup, the pecking order for touches is drastically changed. Marvin is currently tied for the 4th option with Horford, behind Joe, Josh, Bibby. There are only about 100 shots a game to go around. Starters are on the floor about 2/3rds of the time. so that's about 66 shots to go between 5 starters. That's 13 shots a game. Law of averages say you make 50%. that's 13 points a game for a typical NBA starter. Marvin more than meets the criteria for a 4th offensive option. Who sets that priority? The coach. This Marvin bashing is out of control and needs to stop. It's ridiculous. Who can honestly argue with the evidence of when he was called on to perform he went for 26.5 ppg and 8.5 rpg but the second Joe returned he went back to a 13 point a game guy. It's obvious the issue is offensive scheme. It is no different than why the heck is Josh constantly at the perimeter having to bail out a guard with 5 seconds on the clock. Again, it's offensive scheme centered around Joe Johnson. ISO Joe is just ISO Jordan 18 years later, with the only difference being that Joe isn't Jordan. It's irritating to go through this every day and more importantly to see legitimate threads hijacked by this nonsense at every opportunity. You criticized Exodus for calling on the 20 Free throw game asking if it was 2 years ago in a pickup game with his family. You didn't even have the facts to draw on what game he was talking about. This is being blind to the facts on Marvin. Marvin is a solid defensive contributor and efficient offensive player that is not the focal point of the offense and for the life of me I can't figure out why he, Josh and Horford are not more focused on. 3 man games with 1 guard and big in a pick and roll with a wing cutter seems like a far better use of our talent to me but as long as ISO Joe is working and giving you fuel to bash Marvin, I say we roll with that.

On Feb 4th and Feb 6th of this year, Joe Johnson was out for 2 games against Minnesota and Charlotte. With Josh still hobbled some on the ankle, Marvin stepped up and took the scoring burden. In the game against Charlotte, he was 5-15 from the field going to the free throw line 20 times, making 18. He scored 29 points, had 7 rebounds, 2 blocks and 1 assist in 40 minutes. In the game against Minnesota, he was 6-13 from the field going 11-14 from the free throw line. He scored 23 points, had 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks in 41 minutes. Stats over those 2 games averaged. 26.5 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1 spg, 1 bpg, 1.5 to/g and 17 free throws per game. These were 2 of only 16 road wins for the Hawks all season and the way was led by Marvin. Marvins stats are as much a product of the ISO Joe system as anything. Without Joe in the lineup and Woody having to try something new, Marvin flourished. I think any Hawks fan would love 26.5 / 8.5 all year round from their small forward.

Let me add some dollar and cents perspective here. 4 year 60 million vs 5 year 75 million. Scenario 1. JJ doesn't sign the 4 year deal and gets a career ending injury this year. He just lost 60 million dollars. Scenario 2. JJ doesn't sign the 4 year deal and underperforms this year (very possible with an improving cast)...he doesn't get a 5 year offer then. Scenario 3. JJ leaves and gets a 5 year 75 million dollar deal. Chances are the team is not as good as the Hawks and his endorsement options are limited. Scenario 4. JJ signs the 4 year deal and after it's done he signs a veteran deal for 9 million a season. He loses a possible 6 million total in the deal. Reality. The probable loss in signing the 4 year deal is at most 15 million and probably more like 5 million. When you couple the lower endorsements with the risks it makes very little sense to sit out. There is a rule in negotiating. Don't walk away from guaranteed money on the table over greed. Take the guaranteed money every time. The extra 15 million will not change JJ's life permanently. Losing the 60 million would.

59 -23 and you heard it here first, 2nd seed in the conference behind Cleveland. there is no glory in not making a bold prediction. i'd rather be wrong and be optimistic than right and expect to lose.

http://sports.yahoo.com//video/player/nba#nba/15576207 Watch the video, I won't spoil it.

Ah, you beat me. I was going to say "someone on the national team coaching staff". I'm guessing he got some lessons in "the art" of basketball. Playing with only the best of the best, you learn that freakish athletic skills only get you so far. That there is an artform to running plays effectively and to playing defense 1 on 1.

This could easily be a 38-35 type of game. Atlanta will score on anyone...does not matter. Atlanta could get scored on by my son's high school team. There will be alot of these games for them this year.

Take away flip, speedy (LOL) and Acie. Add Joe Smith, Teague and Crawford. How many of these 16 - 7 point or less losses would have been wins?

Access please.

beat me to it. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=ArJ95hmzG7zhiWYlJyW8hyI5nYcB?slug=aw-beasleyheat082409&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll Not good for getting things done. Worse for midterm elections. Going to be alot of scrambling to decide whether on not to jump on his coattails.

Guaranteed $60 million, don't have to move, comfort in system. Play a year and risk injury without that guarantee in hopes of 5 year 90 million. I'd ask for 5 - 75, stay here and call it a good day. The difference between the extra year and 30 million isn't that big either. 10% to agent. 40% to government. so he's down to an extra 15 million...and in a 5th year after the 4 year is over he could get his 20....once you've made $60 million you are really just talking an extra aston martin in the driveway. That's all.

We can't get Wade, Lebron...etc. We are at or above the cap. We couldn't add a player of that salary (20 mil) without dropping other needed players from our roster and replacing them with bargain bin. There are breaks to resigning your own guy. So to get Wade is the same as trading Joe, (insert starter here) for Wade, trash bin player. Then you open a hole at another position. First injury you get you are screwed.

Enough talk about roster. I was thinking that right now our biggest glaring weakness is coaching and since Woody isn't going anywhere, that means the addition of an assistant coach. What former NBA player would you like to see the Hawks add as a coach? Who could make an impact? For my money, I'd like to see Charles Oakley on the sidelines.

Let me get this straight. We lost Flip Murray, acie law and some bench trash. We gained Health 2 respected league vets, each of which can mentor others and spot start in: Joe Smith Jamal Crawford A quality rookie: Teague An understanding of how bad the hawks injury situation was. A possible good project in Siler (keeping positive on this). and everyone a year older which is good for everyone but Bibby.

Ah no....flip is not better. Crawford is a better passer, better scorer and longer defender. Crawford is younger. Flip has a cooler first name. If you want the glue...the player that makes it happen it is Josh Smith. I can't wait to get bashed for this. Smith missed 13 games last year. In those 13 games the Hawks had a losing record. 6-7. .461 winning percentage. in the 9 games after injury when he came back too early they were 5-4. Basically with Smith injured the Hawks were 11-11. With Smith healthy or mosly healthy and even with other people out of the lineup, the team was 36-24. .600 winning percentage. We saw in the playoffs this last year that as goes Josh, so went the Hawks. If Josh had a good game, the Hawks did well if he struggled so did the team. I am very excited this season for a few reasons. JJ was injured the entire second half. Josh was hobbled and didn't have his normal ups most of the year. Health and gameflow is much more important for this team right now that adding another player. These are 2 very talented players. Coaching is going to be the most important thing to the Hawks next year. Can the coaching staff get JJ and Josh to find a better way to play with and off each other and to get their team mates involved.