At least BK is happy....

[jerrywest]

This interview places him in a strong position to trade down. If he said anything other than what he did, his trading partners would know his hands better. He doesn't have to impress us. If other GMs think he is cornered by us fans, then they can exploit BK better.

[Diesel]

BK should have noticed last year that this year draft would be stocked with nothing but 6'8 guys.... No Cs and very few PGs.. Had he planned for that, he could have drafted accordingly.

Instead, he drafted like a hatpin and now we have a glut of Sfs and no PGs and no Cs and NO pick next year. And FAcy is not yielding a whole lot these days.

Any fool can get up there and pick the best player in the draft.... or at least what they FEEL the best player in the draft is... BUT a GM has to have the ability to:

Plot a course based on his own vision.

Select available pieces at the right time.

So many of you were worried about getting Sam Bowie and missing out on MJ.. that you didn't realize we were taking Sam Bowie, missing out on MJ, and we had somebody playing Bowie's position.

[jerrywest]

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BK should have noticed last year that this year draft would be stocked with nothing but 6'8 guys.... No Cs and very few PGs.. Had he planned for that, he could have drafted accordingly.

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Thats a good point. However, I'll be surprised if any GM in any sports has ever done that?

Besides, last year most people thought MW has more upside than anybody else.

[Lascar78]

yeah it's too hard to plan drafts. You never really know who will declare, and you never know who will look great, you never know where you'll be. Nobody knew that we'd want Noah for instance, much less that he would be a top 5 lock and pass. Especially when you get a very high pick, you have to get whoever you think will help the team the most in the long run because you never know when you will be back.

Hell Diesel thought we'd win 40, in which case we'd be looking at a #14 pick or something. Long term planning is tough

[Diesel]

IThe draft is filled with Centers... and one PG..

Your team needs a Center... (and they look mighty thin next year)

But the PG is bpa.. even though you already have a PG... DO you take him?

If you think Draft's are hard to plan, you need to write a letter to draft express and nbadraft.net...

Not only have the planned next years draft, they can tell you where they expect players to go.

[Johnnybravo4]

It depends on who your pg is and what center is in the draft. For example, for all the flak we get for not getting CP, you could argue the same thing for Mil. You mean to tell me that Mil would not be a better team had they not drafted paul instead of Bogut? They could have resigned Zaza, they would have gotten Magloire...etc.

I don't care how much they like T.J. Ford. Paul is already a better player, and he wasn't coming off of an injury.

[AHF]

I agree with Diesel that GMs do need to look years in advance in terms of the draft. Of course, they need to factor in the greater certainty involved in the players they are scouting for this year's draft and those available next year. Things change but you can still plan for a draft or a free agency class years in advance.

[Johnnybravo4]

You can't do that or you'd be changing your list every five minutes, too many variables.

This is especially true for the draft. How many prospects have we seen as freshmen, and thought of as lottery material, only to fall off later in their career. Anybody remember the great Chris Marcus from Western Kentucky? Hell for all we know, Noah could suck next year and fall into the late first or second. You never know these things.

[Diesel]

Milwaukee is smarter than us.

They didn't take CP because they did have TJ Ford and Mo and Bell...

Here's the point.. even if they knew that CP would be what he turned out to be, I still think they would take Bogut.. because he filled a hard to fill need.

That's what makes them smarter than us.

Sfs are dime a dozen.

[exodus]

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Telling your fan base that you know more than them and don't care about their opinions is just bad business practice.

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The only reason the NBA exists is because the fans are willing to pay to watch them play.

Considering the fact that the Hawks are last in the league in attendance this year and have so few wins the last two years you would think that BK wouldn't be so dismissive of the fans. Especially considering he passed on the runaway ROY who would have filled a gaping hole.

I just think he is out of touch with reality. The way the game is being played now smaller, quicker players are even more important than they were in the past. A lot of teams are playing extended minutes with 2 pgs in the game with good success.

I don't really think the Hawks will become a contender until BK is shown the door.

[Diesel]

You never know...

But if you look at your roster and see need.. you have to address need before you consider duplication.

Let's just look at that one point JB...

In your house.

Do you take care of needs before you duplicate?

[Johnnybravo4]

To me Mil was just as deep at center. They had Gadzuric and Zaza. They both weren't studs last year but at least they were healthy. They had no idea that T.J Ford would come back and play well. They also had tradable assets that they could move for a center..ala Magloire.

In our case, BK hedged his bet in case Harrington left for free agency, which was very likely, and Marvin was seen by most people as a 4.

[Lascar78]

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Not only have the planned next years draft, they can tell you where they expect players to go.

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And do you know how much their 2006 mock has changed from last year until now? A whole damn lot. That's my point. Of course you can guess, but you have no real certainty, and no real certainty of where you'll be picking.

Who do you think we'll be drafting in 2007?

[gsuteke]

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I like BK in a philosophical way. I respect anyone who understands the value of not freaking out, overreacting and getting stressed out. In that respect we are much alike. It allows one to maintain perspective and not be distracted by the chaos around them.

I dislike the way he thinks he's the smartest guy in the room. Well, let me rephrase that. Everyone should think they are the best at what they do. I have that attitude about anything that I know I'm good at, especially my career. But when you aren't willing to acknowledge the possibility that other people might have had a better idea than you did, you show that you can't be the best at what you do. He proves this in his responses about the past and his vision towards the future. To be honest, as a Hawks fan, it's terrifying.

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if BK were like Jules in Pulp Fiction that would be cool. i think a better comparison would be Barry Bonds.

[AHF]

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Not only have the planned next years draft, they can tell you where they expect players to go.

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And do you know how much their 2006 mock has changed from last year until now? A whole damn lot. That's my point. Of course you can guess, but you have no real certainty, and no real certainty of where you'll be picking.

Who do you think we'll be drafting in 2007?

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I agree you have to factor in uncertainty but you should still be planning, for example, this whole season with the idea that a high lottery pick in 2006 is worth a fraction of what a high lottery pick 2007 will be worth.

The Bulls factored this in when making the Curry trade and demanding the right to switch picks with the Bulls in 2007 - thus giving themselves better odds in a much stronger draft.

BK should have factored that in in deceding what level of protection to put on the pick we traded to Phoenix. He needs to recognize that the 2007 draft is shaping up to be a very good one and recognize that in assessing the value of the pick. Teams do this in the NFL all the time when they trade future picks.

You factor in the uncertainty in the draft process for sure, but you still need to account for how the market (draft, free agency, etc.) projects years in advance.

[gsuteke]

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Not only have the planned next years draft, they can tell you where they expect players to go.

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And do you know how much their 2006 mock has changed from last year until now? A whole damn lot. That's my point. Of course you can guess, but you have no real certainty, and no real certainty of where you'll be picking.

Who do you think we'll be drafting in 2007?

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i could give you a pretty good idea over the course of about an hour just from surfing the internet.

point is you can get a pretty good idea moving forward a year in advance. you know who is likely to declare and what Euros have been in their respective leagues long enough to develop their games.

[Lascar78]

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i could give you a pretty good idea over the course of about an hour just from surfing the internet.

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Ok then tell me who we can expect to draft next year

Most years, 1 year ahead of time you have 2-3 guys who are expected to be the cream of the crop, who usually end up somewhere in the top 6-7 or so by the time the draft rolls around. You have no clue if you'll get one of those guys, or who the other top prospects will be. I wish we could see Draftexpress' mock from a year ago.

I bet if you look a year before the 2005 draft, Bogut was somewhere in the 20s, Deron was probably in the teens. Don't remember about Marvin, I know Paul was #1.

If you look at next year's mocks, Oden is #1, and will be drafted #1. After that, it's currently Noah McRoberts and it appears to be a Pf/C draft. But we might end up at #9, all the top center prospects are gone, and the best players remaining are PGs and SGs. You just never know except for the absolute star players if there are any

[DrReality]

Same is true for John Schurholz, he could get away with saying the same thing as BK but do it soooo smoothly that it would not be offensive.

The bottom line is BK has a chip on his shoulder, and that is a liability! You gotta wonder if that egotistical manner doesn't mask the opposite.

When you do business that way, you turn people off and that's one thing he's great at.

[Yeti]

Next year doesn't matter for us. But Phoenix will be happy.

[Lascar78]

unless we miss the playoffs and get lucky