Why The Hawks Need To Sign Sprewell

[clrumph]

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Spree Likes Hawks, Hawks Have No Interest

November 9, 2005

Latrell Sprewell's agent said his client would love to fill the Hawks' need for more veteran leadership. Sprewell is out of the league, having turned down a three-year, $20 million extension in Minnesota.

"Latrell is very much interested and has indicated a number of times his desire to play for the Hawks," said Sprewell's Atlanta-based agent, Bob Gist. "He likes the fact the owners, GM and, certainly, the coach are committed to amassing a winning team."

GM Billy Knight said he has had conversations with Gist, the last ending with this succinct sentiment. "We're loaded with players at the wing positions," Knight said. "And we really have no interest in Latrell Sprewell joining our team."

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I could maybe understand BK's thinking back during the 1st week of the season when he and a lot of other people, myself included, thought that the Hawks would be playing much basketball and at least have 2-3 wins at this point of the season. However, starting the season 0-9 and looking like an NDBL team during long stretches of most games should cause BK to rethink his position on Sprewell and other veterans who are also currently out of the NBA who could help this team immediately by providing some much need veteran skills and leadership (Jahidi White and Tom Gugliotta are two others that come to mind).

Here are my reasons why signing Spree to a one year contract would be wise move at this point of the season:

Reason #1 - Sprewell Would Fill a Huge Need On This Team

One of our biggest problems on offense is that we don't have a slasher who can penetrate and either score, get fouled or kick it out to our shooters (JJ and Salim). We also have trouble scoring 90-100 points even when JJ and Al are playing well, but if one or both of them are struggling offensively we usually won't score more than 80-90 points because we don't have a reliable, consistent third scorer. Since we give up and average of 100+ points a game then that is a recipe for disaster (and an 0-9 record with no end in sight until possibly Toronto on Dec. 2 and don't think Toronto isn't looking at the Hawks in the same way in order to get their 1st win also). I think Sprewell can average at least 16-20 ppg on this team because of his ability to drive to the basket and draw fouls and on top of that he's a good free throw shooter.

This would be my new starting lineup:

PG - Salim Stoudamire - would probably average 14-16ppg and 4-5asts

SG - Joe Johnson - JJ and Salim would be a deadly combination of outside shooting

SF - Latrell Sprewell - would average close to 20ppg and be on his best behavior in order to sign another deal either here or somewhere else next year (see Sam Cassell this year and Stephen Jackson in 2003)

PF - Al Harrington - obvious choice

C- ZaZa Pachulia - obvious choice

Reason #2 - A Major Move Has to Be Made to Show the Fans That Management Will Not Accept Another 10-15 Win Season

I scan all of the major Hawks boards and the fans are at a near mutiny over BK's draft philosophy, Woodson's coaching, management's total silence regarding the Hawks poor play so far, Josh Childress regression, Josh Smith's lack of focus and hustle, Lue's tendency to dribble too much, Al's inconsistency, and Marvin's inability to keep up with other players in his rookie class so far. Basically everyone except for ZaZa and Salim have been getting slammed for one reason or another and we fans are feeling that the season is slipping away and we just don't want to endure ANOTHER 10-15 season. Last year the fans suffered but were optimistic because the Hawks had the #2 pick in the draft and $20 million in cap space and were supposed to improve in this offseason, but then to draft Marvin over Paul and Deron Williams, sign JJ and expect him to play point guard and pair him with Childress in the backcourt has obviously not worked out. The jury is still out on Marvin's potential, but I think the cases are closed on Paul (will be a great NBA PG), JJ (is not a PG but is a very good SG), and Childress (is not a SG or a NBA starter period).

How can the Hawks management regain some of the die-hard and casual fans interest (i.e. the paying customers) in this team for the rest of this season? By at least TRYING SOMETHING DIFFERENT before this season goes down the toilet and even less people show up at Philips than last year. Like him or not Sprewell brings toughness, energy and a certain flair to the game that no one on the Hawks roster currently possesses. I would much rather go to a Hawks game with Sprewell in the starting lineup because I know at least one player is going to play hard all the time (and don't think that Sprewell won't be playing hard - he'll be playing for his next contract so he will give his best effort).

Reason #3 - Give the Fans a Reason to Spend Their Hard Earned Money on Hawks Tickets

This reason may not be important to those of you who live out of state or who have no interest in attending Hawks games in person, but I live in metro ATL and I went to about 15 games last year (yes, I was a glutton for punishment). I've been to one game this year and honestly I won't go back down to Philips this year until I see management make an attempt to shake up this roster because I can watch this team play like this on TV and keep my hard earned money. I've got a wife and two kids to support so I don't have money to waste on a Hawks team that has basically no chance of winning each time they take the floor against a decent team or any team for that matter (see the Hornets game for a perfect example of what I mean). I know that may sound harsh but tough, my funds are limited and if management doesn't show me that they are trying all that they can to improve their product then why should I buy it?

For all of you who think that we should just play out this season with our current roster because we are still REBUILDING, my question to you is this: Shouldn't a team be improving in each year of the rebuilding process? This team as it is currently built is fatally flawed and no amount of playing time for our young guys will change that fact (will Childress learn how to shoot just because he's playing 30 minutes a night instead of the 10 he should be playing? Of course not). We don't have a legit PG, our interior defense is horrible, we have too many players who play the same position, and we don't have any veterans because even Al and JJ are young players themselves. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Sprewell should be signed past this year, but I think the Joshes and Marvin could learn from Sprewell this year by watching how hard he plays the game at all times while he's on the floor. Then when we get a real PG and some more defensive help next year (hopefully BK won't draft another swingman or soft euro player) our young guys should be in a better position to succeed. All that our young guys are learning right now is how to lose all the time and getting their confidence in their abilities taken before they can mature into consisent, productive NBA players (see Josh Childress).

Latrell Sprewell will improve our chances to win and that's the bottom line, no one can dispute that. Will Sprewell solve our defensive woes? No, but maybe Jahidi White can help in that area (Batista should be sent to the NBDL to find some semblance of an offensive game and how to play position defense). What Sprewell can do is improve our team offensively by providing us with a reliable third scorer, and he can also provide better perimeter defense because of his quickness and his ability to play the passing lanes. He will also spark more fan interest in this team by giving the fans and the media something to talk about and by helping us get a few more wins this season, especially in front of the home crowd.

In my opinion I think the potential benefits are too great and the risk is too limited to not bring Sprewell in for the rest of the year. I doubt that management will heed my suggestion, but we know that at least one owner (Levenson) reads these boards so hopefully I'm speaking for other fans like myself who are current and potential paying customers. I just don't want to go through another 13-69 season (or worse) considering all of the money spent on JJ and the drama the Hawks and their fans went through in order to acquire him. Then Chris Paul rubbing it in our faces last night just added salt to the wound considering our huge need at PG, so signing Sprewell would at least give me hope that management won't just sit by and do nothing while the Hawks lose game after game after game. If it doesn't work out then Sprewell can always be released, but I think that once he arrives he would quickly become a fan favorite with his hustle and energy. Say what you want but Sprewell is a legit NBA scorer and he brings it every night, which is more than I can say for most of the current Hawks roster.

[jpierrek]

sprewell can definitely help......we worry so much about long term, but we need to at least be a decent team short term. maybe win a game.....period

[Diesel]

Getting Spree would be a bad knee jerk reaction.

First of all, Spree has lost a step and his best position is prolly SF.

Secondly, Spree has already put it out that he doesn't want to play for the vet minimum. I think his only interest in Atlanta is financial.

Third, Our need is exactly where it was before the draft. PG/C.

Spree might give us the chance to win games, but at what cost? At the cost of never developing Marvin, Chillz, and Smoove?

[clrumph]

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Getting Spree would be a bad knee jerk reaction.

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At what point do you stop focusing so much on the future and try to win more games now. Believe me, the casual fan has already lost interest in this team and die hards like me are seriously wondering whether to pay money to watch this team give half effort each night and lose at least 9 of every 10 games that they play.

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First of all, Spree has lost a step and his best position is prolly SF.

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Great, like I said in my post when I displayed my starting lineup, I want Sprewell to play SF so that we can bring Childress off the bench where he belongs. Sprewell is still a legitimate NBA scorer who can be a reliable third scoring option on this team and he's a good defender on top of that.

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Secondly, Spree has already put it out that he doesn't want to play for the vet minimum. I think his only interest in Atlanta is financial.

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We've still got at least 4 million in cap space left. I'm sure we could sign Sprewell to a one year, 2 million dollar contract no problem. That's nothing to pay for a proven 20ppg scorer in the NBA, hell we are Lue 3.3 million a year over the next 3 years to be our BACKUP PG! (Lue's only starting now because the JJ playing PG experiment didn't work)

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Third, Our need is exactly where it was before the draft. PG/C.

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I agree with you, but we also need a legitimate third scorer and the ability to play better perimeter defense and Sprewell is available right now so he can help us immediately in those areas. There are no good PG/C available now who will make an impact on this team this season. We had our chance to address those positions in the offseason and we blew it.

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Spree might give us the chance to win games, but at what cost? At the cost of never developing Marvin, Chillz, and Smoove?

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Marvin, Spree, Chillz and Smoove are signed for another 3-4 years minimum. They aren't going anywhere, and they need to earn their minutes like any other NBA player. Who WILL be going if they aren't already gone are the fans who are disgusted watching 0-9 team who, if they don't beat Toronto, will probably have a chance to break two records: The worst record to start an NBA season and the worst record of ALL TIME!

If the young guys were earning their minutes (all of them need to come off the bench until they can consistently bring effort and be productive each night) then I wouldn't have brought up the need to get Sprewell this year, but when Chillz and Marvin score 0 pts in the same game when both are in the starting lineup and we lose to a 2-5 team missing three of their best players and the PG that we passed up in the draft dominates us then SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE! Management needs to make a move to show people like me that they want to compete THIS YEAR is will tolerate being worse than last year after the drama and changes that happened in the offseason.

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"We're teetering on the brink of down right ridiculousness right now," Hawks point guard Joe Johnson said. "If we don't get our (expletive) together, we're going to be the laughingstock of this league."

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The above quote is straight from JJ's mouth (thanks diehardfan for this post):

http://www.hawksquawk.net/forums/showflat....0&Number=107186

I would suggest that we are already the laughingstock of the league based on the whole Belkin situation in the offseason and our terrible start this year. The height of stupidity is doing the same things and expecting different results so if the Hawks don't make any changes then I'm afraid we are going to continue to lose and lose and lose and NBA fans (including potential paying customers like me) are going to continue to laugh and laugh and laugh. I'm not comfortable putting up with that scenario, but the question remains to be seen if management really cares or not. If not then we are in for ANOTHER looooooong season with no end in sight for all of this losing!

[clrumph]

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Management needs to make a move to show people like me that they want to compete THIS YEAR is will tolerate being worse than last year after the drama and changes that happened in the offseason.

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Oops... there's a slight typo within my last post. I meant to say:

Management needs to make a move to show people like me that they want to compete THIS YEAR and will NOT tolerate being worse than last year after the drama and changes that happened in the offseason.

[Vol4ever]

Spree has been and always will be a cancer. He is all about "ME", and should have had his ass kicked out of the league years ago.

[Packfill]

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Spree has been and always will be a cancer. He is all about "ME", and should have had his ass kicked out of the league years ago.

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Agreed. He has absolutely no value to the Hawks.