I caught the tail end of Bernie on 680thefan......

[MoonKnight]

this morning and he said we have a verbal agreement with "a legitimate starting big man". However he later said this big man would likely back up Zaza (though the hosts apparently know the identity of the big man and believe he may start ahead of Zaza). Bernie also said Anderson is not coming over after signing a big contract with his current Euro team. Lastly, Bernie said management is hoping Shelden starts at the 4 with Jsmoove and MW battling for the starting 3. I hope someone heard the beginning of the interview and maybe has some info on Harrington.

[Diesel]

A legitimate starting Big?

I think that kinda rules out Cato...

It may mean Olowakandi or Wright??

[Diesel]

It's also interesting that Management sees Smoove and Marvin as 3s not a 4 and a 3...

Redundancy anyone?

[chillzatl]

it pains me to consider Kandi a "legit starting big man"

[MoonKnight]

I thought Wright though I agree with the hosts that he would not start ahead of Zaza IMO. A legitimate starting big man would leave out Cato, Pollard, others. Without hearing the first part of the interview, I also concluded that Bernie did not believe we were taking back a big man in any Al trade.

[oiatlhawksfan]

if they want to win they ned to have Smoove and marvin on the court together, Shelden is good but, he's better off coming off the bench because he get in foul trouble early.

[macdaddy]

Depth! Plus, we aren't going to play Sheldon and ZaZa all the time. We'll want to play small ball a lot so I'm sure we'll see MW and Smoove out there together.

Plus, it really only matters how Woody uses them not how management views them.

[Packfill]

Bernie really said they hope Sheldon can start at the 4 and expect Marvin and Smoove to battle it out at the 3?

[MoonKnight]

Yep. I was abit surprised by his comment though setting the starting 5 is premature at this point. He made a big point of saying we would not miss Al's points because we gave up too many points on the D end which is where management wants to improve.

[DJlaysitup]

Bernie danced around the hard questions pretty well, but listening between the lines - it sounded to me like the team is intentionally being run on the cheap - at least until the ownership thing is worked out.

When asked, he brought up the JJ contract to prove $$ isn't a problem...but anybody with any sense knows that the JJ contract was a pre-Belkin winning in court deal.

That said, all we really need is a decent big man to give us some depth and I think we'll be fine for the upcoming season. I'd take the 1st round 2007 pick from Indy for Al and pick up Cato and move ahead.

PS: Bernie said AL wants $10m+ for 6 years.

[BornandDieHawks]

Bernie has went back on his last interview when he stated they were dealing with another team for a "Big"; now he saying they have an verbal agreement with a big. So he has to talking about a FA now. You're right when you break that down to Olowakandi or LW. My hopes are they do not sign them to long term and tie up our CAP with either one of them.

[jezmund]

The only big that 'might' start that is a Free Agent is Chris Wilcox. I still wouldn't start him over Zaza, though. I'm not enthused about his lack of BBIQ.

[MoonKnight]

Did he discuss the alleged trade with Indy? It sounds from your post that he did not discuss any details about the trade.

[AHF]

Quote:

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It's also interesting that Management sees Smoove and Marvin as 3s not a 4 and a 3...

Redundancy anyone?

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That is the part about the interview that stuck out the most to me. I couldn't believe he indicated that they were battling eachother for a starting role at the 3 and only in line for backup minutes at the 4. Redundancy is exactly right.

[TheDude]

the center situation sounds good...because honestly as much as many of us may not like kandigirl or lowright, they are heads and shoulders better than edwards..

but i would be amazed if smoove and marvin aren't on the court at the same time...maybe it's a ploy to motivate those guys to work on their game...i don't know but both those guys need to start...

[DJlaysitup]

I can't understand what's so hard about understanding this?

Marvin is a 3. Smoove is a 3 who can play some 4 but really doesn't want to. Hawks management said Shelden will be playing the 4. That's all there is to it. They aren't going to put a mid-sized 4 at the 5 spot just to make room for your favorite player.

The logical thing is to play MW and JS at the 3 this year and see who is better. Will they both be on the court together - sure - occasionally, depending on game situations, but not often.

[swolehawk2]

My question is, at least intially, what makes you feel Shelden will be a more productive/effective starting 4 than Smoove.

[Johnnybravo4]

Exactly. By putting one of them on the bench you are basically saying that one of them will be gone in 2 years. And this buries Childress way down on the bench.

[DJlaysitup]

Quote:

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My question is, at least intially, what makes you feel Shelden will be a more productive/effective starting 4 than Smoove.

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Well I don't know how good Shelden will do - but he's a 4 that is comfortable in the paint and wants to be a 4. He's big and strong. That counts for a lot in my opinion. Besides, my opinion doesn't really mean spit - the Hawks organization has been saying that Shelden will play the 4 since they spilt the beans on drafting him - why would they change their minds now.

[Diesel]

Scott Pollard.

I think it's one of those three:

Olowakandi, Lazy Lo, or Scott Pollard.