When the Hawks resign Al... What then?

[Diesel]

The only team with that type of money is Chicago.

This free agency period is just Us, Chicago, and N.O. looking at bigs...

I really don't think the motive is there for Chicago to go after Al. Al has Chicago roots but honestly, i think Chicago will go after Nene or some other big...

I do believe that they will take Al if we took back a bad contract like Chandler.

I think Chicago knows that they made a mistake by paying Chandler so much.

The other threat is N.O. I think N.O. might pony up some money for Al. I think however, that BScott would rather try to get somebody out of the draft..

I would love to trade with them and let them get Gay...

[Lascar78]

Chicago definitely wants Al. Whether or not they willing to give him the most money is a different question

[Diesel]

Chicago definitely wants a Center.

I think that they are 40% about the need for Al.

Look at their draft position!

I think once it's all said and done, they will go after a C first... Then they will think about Al...

Remember, they had Tim Thomas... If he couldn't play 1 minute in Chicago, what makes you think they want Al so badly?

[macdaddy]

I don't think Al wants to stay here either. All he talks about is getting back to a winning situation, and that is far from certain here.

Al is also our only real tradeable guy and if we're looking to get some veterans at 1 and 4/5 then we are going to have to make some trades.

There is no chance of us trading Marvin because its just stupid to trade guys who are cheap and getting better. BK is not stupid. We know Smoove is going nowhere. Chill is a possiblity but even so he's still cheap production. Same with ZaZa. The only guy I see besides Al to move is T.Lue, but why trade our best PG.

Our changes will not be as radical as a lot of fans seem to hope.

[jumpshot]

I think we could resign Al, but he does hurt us in the cap. I would prefer spending the money for Nene. It should be an interesting offseason.

[chillzatl]

that's what will happen when he resigns Al. More bitching during game chats, more crapping on Al on the board.. blah.

[DJlaysitup]

Depending on how FAcy goes, I think you have to make a solid effort to re-sign Al. He has offensive talent that we need.

JJ started all 82 games for us and averaged 40.7 mpg. He was obviously our star and our go-to guy.

What if we lose Al and (knock on wood this won't happen but) JJ gets some nagging injury and has to miss some games next year. We have to have some more tried and tested scoring depth otherwise we'll be looking at TLue as our go-to guy at the end of the game. JS and MW can score but they aren't yet creators. Zaza is a 3rd option type guy IMO.

It's unreaqlistic to expect to get an NBA ready go-to type player in the draft.

[exodus]

That exact scenario played out last spring. Walker was traded and Al was hurt so it was up to Lue and the Joshs, who were rookies.

They averaged 100 ppg in April.

And just go back and look at how Smith and Marvin scored without Al.

The Hawks scored 120 on the Bucks, in regulation, without Al AND Chill. And JJ had an off game.

If the Hawks resign Al then how are they supposed to fill their holes at the 1 and 5?

[Diesel]

Well,

Nene proved nothing before he went down and he didn't get back in time for the playoffs. I think Nene is that mystery player that everybody wants because of his size and that alone. Nene was at best a 10 point 5.5 reb player in 30 mpg...

I'd rather hold on to AL for a little less money and have a guy who we know can score...

[swolehawk2]

Al supporters would like u to believe that we will miss Al's scoring, because he really brings little beyond that to the team.

In reality, with Lue, JJ ZZ Marv Smoove Chillz Salim we have enough scoring, thats why we really had no drop off with Al out.

What we have to do is spend that money on bigs that play D and rebound.

Really the difference between us and Bucks Bulls Wizards is help defense.

We really need to find a way to get multiple bigs..like a Pryz/Nene combo combine those two with ZZ/Batista...that solid enough to make playoffs nest year...I would waive Edwards adn Ivey.

[Diesel]

Quote:

---

In reality, with Lue, JJ ZZ Marv Smoove Chillz Salim we have enough scoring, thats why we really had no drop off with Al out.

---

Actually, the reason we had little drop off is because we were playing second and third teams....

It's really embarrassing... and defensively.. we let the heat 2nd team put up 100 points on us.

That's no Shaq, no Wade, no Payton, no Mourning.. Putting up 100.

D. Wright scored 19 points on us?

And Al is the reason for our failures on defense.

We lost to Charlotte and Matt Carroll had 17 and Melvin Ely had 21?? They scored 116 points on us and you say that Al is the reason??

Al has his shortcomings... for sure.. but I don't pin all of our woes on him like you do.

[DJlaysitup]

Quote:

---

That exact scenario played out last spring. Walker was traded and Al was hurt so it was up to Lue and the Joshs, who were rookies.

They averaged 100 ppg in April.

And just go back and look at how Smith and Marvin scored without Al...

---

Well then maybe they missed his defense (kidding). That was the year we won 13 games right? Maybe all that scoring wore them out...I dunno, just seems a bit dangerous. If we can get a reasonable player or 2 in FAcy it is a moot point I suppose. Nene and a draft pick would be dangerous though if we lost JJ for awhile.

[swolehawk2]

"And Al is the reason for our failures on defense."

What are u talking about...I have not pinned all our defensive problems on AL. I said we really don't need his offense and since that is basically all he brings....

Why spend money on Al when we can spend it on bigs.

You can play winning basketball in the NBA without one or two guys dominating the basketball, especially in the east.

A team that has 4 or 5 double figure scorers plays defense and rebounds wins games...that would have us in the playoffs next year.

Let me ask you this...if we started the season with the same team .....minus Al...would our PPG drop?

[exodus]

The Hawks will most likely draft a 4.

So how do they fill the holes at the 1 and the 5 after resigning Al since they won't have much more than $5 million in cap room left? And how are they going to allot playing time for the new rookie AND Al, Marvin and Smith at the 3/4?

Smith averaged 17 ppg in April and Marvin averaged 12. They didn't miss Al's scoring at all.

[DJlaysitup]

I agree Al's a problem. He's one of those guys I see as a defensive liability - then I also fear losing his offensive ability, especially around the basket.

I guess we can't keep him 'and' get all the other things we want. One othe point on JJ though - not only did he play all 82 games for us this year but he also did it the year before for PHX, so maybe his durability will come through again next year. If he does it again next year (or only misses a few games) we should be OK.