Update From The Meeting With BK

[Lascar78]

Zaza can't defend real centers, or play help defense and clean up the mistakes of guards. Zaza should either start at PF or come off the bench at C. He is not a great starting big man. We need a real defensive big man at the 4 or the 5

[Spiral]

I agree we need a big in the middle, but who? Looking at the free agent crop, there's not much there. Aldridge would help, but the latest talk has him staying at Texas. So you'd think we might trade for one. Well the one player you think we'd trade (Al), BK says we'll keep. If he plans on signing one of the RFA's, you know they won't come cheap. Plus he plans to re-sign Al, who will probably sign in the 7-9 mil per year range. We would be capped out in a hurry. Maybe thats why he says he's so focused on getting a big. Because their's not really any quality bigs available, he's not willing to trade Al; so how do you get one?

[SmooveTheFuture]

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I agree with BK..we don't need a "traditional" pg...we need a point guard that can play. And we have him..we just don't start him. We saw last night what Salim can do with starters minutes and I think we should go ahead and make him the starter.

We need bigs, but only at the back up level. Zaza avgs 12/10, are we going to sit him on the bench to start Nene? Lemarcus Aldridge?

What we need is a new coach. Give Stan Van Gundy a big contract, get him out of retirement.

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Salim doesnt have the court vision or handle a pg needs. He is a scorer thats all he knows how to do. As soon as he comes in the game hes launching away. Iam not really sure how that helps us a team he needs to work on his PG skills if he wants to be the starting PG. We all know he can score but he needs to do more then that

[KB21]

Never believe anything you hear coming from college players at this time of the year. Last year at this time, Marvin Williams was going to stay for his sophomore season as well.

If Aldridge's health checks out, he will be a top 2-3 pick easily. He won't stay in college, with his injury history, and risk falling lower than that.

[Lascar78]

First of all I haven't heard anyone in the know say Aldridge was staying in college. I highly, highly doubt it.

Secondly, BK said that he wasn't currently shopping Al and he'd like to re-sign him at the right price. That doesn't mean that when next season rolls around and Al asks for a big payday, he won't start shopping him around at that point for a SNT. I would imagine that that is what will happen

My guess is that we end up with Aldridge, Bargnani, or Splitter in the draft. But who knows, rankings change a lot over the course of the college season and ensuing workouts

[Johnnybravo4]

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I agree with BK..we don't need a "traditional" pg...we need a point guard that can play. And we have him..we just don't start him. We saw last night what Salim can do with starters minutes and I think we should go ahead and make him the starter.

We need bigs, but only at the back up level. Zaza avgs 12/10, are we going to sit him on the bench to start Nene? Lemarcus Aldridge?

What we need is a new coach. Give Stan Van Gundy a big contract, get him out of retirement.

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Salim doesnt have the court vision or handle a pg needs. He is a scorer thats all he knows how to do. As soon as he comes in the game hes launching away. Iam not really sure how that helps us a team he needs to work on his PG skills if he wants to be the starting PG. We all know he can score but he needs to do more then that

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He launches away because that is his current role on the team. Hell if I had to give away 10 minutes to Royal Ivey I wouold launch jump shots too..just so I could get some stats. Salim (and probably Josh) will be our only representative on All-Star weekend.

[bralin1]

Salim is most certainly NOT a PG at this stage of the game. He is a terrible defender, a below average ball handler, and just doesn't distrubute that well. PG are born not created...the great ones have that 6th sense to get the ball where it needs to be...SS doesn't have that instinct.

He is an amazing shooter and we should use him 20-25 minutes a night to provide great offense off the bench. Trying to jam a square peg into a round hole won't work...for JJ or Salim. We need a damn PG in here...period.

[Spiral]

I promise you I wouldn't just fabricate that about Aldridge. I read it somewhere, I think it was on the Hoopshype rumor page earlier in the week. I'll look around & post the link if I find it.

I just hope BK doesn't take the stance of, "We're keeping Al no matter what." That's the feeling I get when I see you state that teams are calling, but we're not interested.

[tmac13]

All Hail Bk...Maybe he will let you join him on his "quest"..You guys could go on a worldwide search for the next John Edwards..

[tmac13]

If BK truely doesn't see the need for a point guard then he is completely clueless..If Bk really thinks an inconsistant 3/4 tweener that doesn't play a lick of defense or rebound is worth investing longterm in, he is clueless..If BK thinks Woody is the right coach for this team, then he is clueless..

On another note, if BK wanted a point guard like Nash then why didn't he pursue him last year ?..BK offered KMart a max deal, why didn't he make a similar offer to Nash?..After all, Nash signed for far less than the max..

This is just another example of BK seeing things far differently than anyone else..BK's words, BK's actions, and most of all BK's record make him one of the worst general managers in all professional sports.

[Vol4ever]

Yep a traditional pg doesn't help??? Ask Phoenix I believe they would disagree and look at Dallas, no real PG, JT is a tweener. Notice the Knicks have started playing well since LB tunred starbury loose and Mike James has started playing wee for Toronto.

Nah, pgs aren't important.........................

[TheDude]

i think we definitely need a big man....the true point thing i think we can live with for right now...not every good team in the league has a really good dishfirst point guard...

but with that said, i'm really distraught at the fact we're not trading Al. I mean Josh and Marvin are our forwards of the future why not give them their time to play? and how can you be so certain that we'll be able to re-sign Al in the offseason...he's going to take a lot of cap room for a position we may have players of the future at...

i really would have liked to package Al and anything else for Mike bibby..i think a Bibby/Johnson duo would have been lethal..but i know it would have been a difficult trade to get...but even without getting a point, we don't need Al and may lose him for nothing.

[KB21]

None of the best teams in the league have a true point guard. Detroit is the best, and Chauncey Billups is definitely not a true point guard. He does the same thing that Jason Terry was criticized for doing in Atlanta. He uses his scoring ability to set up the rest of his teammates.

In San Antonio, Tony Parker isn't your traditional pass first point guard.

In Phoenix, Steve Nash is just a rare breed. He's a point guard that can score 20 points a night while also dishing out 12 assists a night. You simply don't find many like him, and if you do, you get him. Wait. Billy knows that, because he said it.

Memphis is playing well with Damon Stoudamire, who is more of a scorer than a passer, even though he used to get around 8 assists a game. Stoudamire is just a liability defensively due to his size.

The so called true point guard is overrated, because there are simply not many of them any longer. Most of your point guards today are scorers that can distribute the ball, not pure distributors. This position is going the way of the true center. Before long, there won't be any left.

I believe that in the league right now, Andre Miller, TJ Ford, and Jason Kidd may be the only "true" point guards that start.

[Guest Walter]

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If BK truely doesn't see the need for a point guard then he is completely clueless..If Bk really thinks an inconsistant 3/4 tweener that doesn't play a lick of defense or rebound is worth investing longterm in, he is clueless..If BK thinks Woody is the right coach for this team, then he is clueless..

On another note, if BK wanted a point guard like Nash then why didn't he pursue him last year ?..BK offered KMart a max deal, why didn't he make a similar offer to Nash?..After all, Nash signed for far less than the max..

This is just another example of BK seeing things far differently than anyone else..BK's words, BK's actions, and most of all BK's record make him one of the worst general managers in all professional sports.

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I don't think he's clueless, I just think BK's so far up his own arse he can't see he doesn't need to redefine history to compete for an NBA championship. Losing his "chance" to win with his way in Memphis or whatever, he doesn't seem able to accept the reality. BK's versatile, long, athletic philosphy, when taken to his extreme, results in a team of forwards that has skill and positional redundancy, lacks necessary skills, lacks leadership, and fails to fill out the 2, positions where "versatility" is a negative attribute (i.e. thus the positive term "true Pg" and why no one prefers a Pf/C as their C).

The bold is the crux of my issue with him. However, to suggest we don't need a true Pg with this lineup of younglings with talent but not the skills to set themselves might be clueless.

W

[Plainview1981]

Teams like Detroit, Washington, San Antonio, Miami, Chicago, and Minnesota, among others, are proving that having the so called "true" point guard is an overrated thing. Teams can use motion offense and ball movement to overcome the lack of having a pick and roll type of point guard like John Stockton."

Wade/Shaq/KG/Rip/Rasheed/Mano/Duncan/Parker can get

their own shots... Josh Smith/Childress/Marvin don't

seem to be able to... The problem with Al is that he

can get his own shot, but he is a black hole on nffense.

There is a reason Steve works so well for the Suns.. Marion

and Amare aren't that great at getting their own shots...

The Hawks look sort of like them.

JJ must not be to dominating... The Hawks are getting crushed on a nightly basis and JJ is a second tier

along the lines of a Larry Hughes. Penny didn't dominate

much of anybody without Shaq... I guess you can link

the two sense never has ever lead a team anywhere.

[Guest Walter]

than any of our players are "true" at any position. We don't have a true center, a true Pf, a true "Sf", and we have just about the furtherest thing from a "true" Pg. Funny thing is, Joe Johnson may be the most true at his position as anyone on our team and unlike Pg which you still insist he is (laughable) it's at Sg!

If you are going to build a team of athlete forwards you better have someone at Pg to lead them, set them up, and whose skills aren't redundant with theirs. Our "team" of forwards BEGS for a true Pg and without one they will remain mediocre, never able to reach their potential, always stepping on each others similar abilities and positions.

AND WTF DID YOU NOT MENTION CHRIS PAUL OR DERON IN YOUR LIST OF TRUE PGS?!? Hmm, KB, interesting how you can make the case for so few true Pgs and forget the two we passed on for Marvin.

W

[exodus]

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Teams like Detroit, Washington, San Antonio, Miami, Chicago, and Minnesota,

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Do you ever watch games?

Washington sucks, they aren't proving anything.

Billups has matured into a great pg averaging 8.4 assists per game.

Parker isn't a "pure" pg but a veteran team doesn't need a distributing pg as much as a young one does.

Chicago has two legit pg's in Hinrich and Duhon.

Minnesota again is a veteran team that knows what it is doing. Jaric may not be a "pure" pg but he is better than anything the Hawks have.

[Plainview1981]

That's KB's line... I was just quoting it.

And no, Chicago don't have two pure PG's... Kirk Hinrich is a shot first PG.

It seems like KB still thinks JJ is the Hawks PG of the

future. lol

[exodus]

LOL you might want to try the quote button.

And yes Hinrich is a legit pg they have played him at the 2 out of necesity. They just recently began starting him at pg with very good results.

[Plainview1981]

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LOL you might want to try the quote button.

And yes Hinrich is a legit pg they have played him at the 2 out of necesity. They just recently began starting him at pg with very good results.

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I didn't say he couldn't play it... I said he wasn't a pure

PG. I think Kirk could use a vet coach... I mean, he seems

kinda reckless to me.