Did the Hawks give away the championship again?

[Diesel]

A few years ago, the Hawks gave a strong team, Rasheed Wallace (for a pick) and watched Detroit march to the championship.

This offseason, again, the Hawks gave a strong team a good player (for a pick).

Thus far, Al Harrington has been putting up 17/5 in 24 minutes and leading Indy in scoring. Will Harrington be the player that the Pacers needed to get over the HUMP?

[DJlaysitup]

I think Al will do well back in Indy. It should be a good situation for him, plus he can play the three there. I doubt if they are going to win a championship this year though.

[mrhonline]

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Will Harrington be the player that the Pacers needed to get over the HUMP?

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No, that player is Jermaine O'Neal. Or, at least it SHOULD BE Jermaine O'Neal.

[Diesel]

I think Al will do well there too. Playing the 3 is a different story. I don't know how they will line it up. They may play Oneal as the 5 and Al as the 4.

[Diesel]

I happen to believe that Oneal is on his last chance. It will be easy for Indy to trade Oneal for somebody young and somebody on their last contract and recoup some of his value.

[Johnnybravo4]

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I happen to believe that Oneal is on his last chance. It will be easy for Indy to trade Oneal for somebody young and somebody on their last contract and recoup some of his value.

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Their bigman situation is not even as good as ours. They are putting Al at center in come situations.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Al will do well. Anybody thinking that he'll go to Indy and be less of a player than he was here, is fooling themselves.

But people have to realize, especially Indy fans, is that Al is only replacing what Peja gave them last season.

And contrary to popular belief Diesel, Indy is NOT a strong team. They're a schizophrenic team, just like the majority of the teams in the East.

Subtracting Peja but adding Al, isn't necessarily an upgrade for the Pacers. Al can do different things than Peja, but Peja is more of that pure shooter. So to me, it's pretty much a wash between Al and Peja.

The question for the Pacers is this: can the young guys like Granger and Daniels be impact players THIS SEASON?

Question 2: Can Jermaine take his game to the next level, or is he destined to be a guy that is just solid night in and night out, but doesn't possess the skills to literally take over a game?

I think both things have to happen for the Pacers to be a serious playoff contender. If not, they'll be in the hamper with the rest of the mediocre East teams.

That team last year was notorious to playing to the level of their competition. I don't think they can afford to do that this year, because the good teams aren't going to let them off the hook this year, like they did last year.

[macdaddy]

I feel like Indy is in trouble. I know they have a lot of new faces but it seems like the core of the team: O'neal, Tinsley, Jax plus Al and that's not necesarily a good thing. They'll be a tough team I'm sure but I'm not looking for them to go anywhere significant.

[Popeye]

No way Al will bring Indy a championship. When Rasheed came to Detroit that was the only missing piece they had.

Indy has a lot question marks to begin the season.

Their C position is average and at point Tinsley and Sar are pretty average too.

Detroit had Ben at C and Billups at PG when Rasheed came there.

and Rasheed is better player than AL in almost every category.

[mrhonline]

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I happen to believe that Oneal is on his last chance. It will be easy for Indy to trade Oneal for somebody young and somebody on their last contract and recoup some of his value.

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I agree, if he stays healthy this year. Otherwise, it will be hard to sell teams on an oft-injured player who makes $80M over the next four years.

Of course, if he stays healthy, there a good team...

[gsuteke]

addition by subtraction

Indy fans will likely feel the same way in 2 years

[tarco69]

You can say what u want but u cant keep doing business by giving away your best asset for minimum gain. I have yet to see another team in the nba go about business i n letting players go the way the hawks do. Eventually it will catch up with them. They need to get back more in return for their assets they are my team but i hate that aspect of management. From Rasheed for a pick then Payton they waived now Harrington for a pick. It might have more that does not come to mind. The first two ironically has championships go figure. Productive players are hard to come by. And the Hawks let them go for free.

[terrynoonan]

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A few years ago, the Hawks gave a strong team, Rasheed Wallace (for a pick) and watched Detroit march to the championship.

This offseason, again, the Hawks gave a strong team a good player (for a pick).

Thus far, Al Harrington has been putting up 17/5 in 24 minutes and leading Indy in scoring. Will Harrington be the player that the Pacers needed to get over the HUMP?

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I'm not even going to dignify this post with a detailed assault of Al.

Go watch the Pacers on the ticket if you like him so much.

Do I actually have to say "NO!"?

Geeze. What is it going to take? Seriously. Watch a game and really look at how he does nothing without the ball but clog space, takes brick j after brick j, never steps over to help on D, and generally looks uninspired.

The guy is an on-court cancer. They used to have vets when he was there. Now he is. They will be sorry for years to come.

[Final_quest]

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You can say what u want but u cant keep doing business by giving away your best asset for minimum gain. I have yet to see another team in the nba go about business i n letting players go the way the hawks do. Eventually it will catch up with them. They need to get back more in return for their assets they are my team but i hate that aspect of management. From Rasheed for a pick then Payton they waived now Harrington for a pick. It might have more that does not come to mind. The first two ironically has championships go figure. Productive players are hard to come by. And the Hawks let them go for free.

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I think we are at the end of trading vets for middle first round picks. Besides a lot of these people we let go for free would have played with us a half season than signed elsewhere. At least that is the case with Sheed and Payton.

[Johnnybravo4]

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You can say what u want but u cant keep doing business by giving away your best asset for minimum gain. I have yet to see another team in the nba go about business i n letting players go the way the hawks do. Eventually it will catch up with them. They need to get back more in return for their assets they are my team but i hate that aspect of management. From Rasheed for a pick then Payton they waived now Harrington for a pick. It might have more that does not come to mind. The first two ironically has championships go figure. Productive players are hard to come by. And the Hawks let them go for free.

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It is hilarous watching the revisionist history on Sheed. He wasn't going to stay here. He was surprised that he played a game. That is just like saying that we gave away GP for nothing.

[Diesel]

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that Al is only replacing what Peja gave them last season.

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Yes, this is true, but it doesn't mean that it makes Indy bad...

Peja disappeared in the playoffs. One thing that Al doesn't do is a disappearing act. He may not defend like you want him to, but he can score and I think the good part about Al scoring in Indy is that he takes the pressure off of JO...

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The question for the Pacers is this: can the young guys like Granger and Daniels be impact players THIS SEASON?

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I really don't believe that Indy need these guys to step up to be winners. However, I do believe tht Granger is a young stud.

Indy will be lacking in the shooting department but they do have: Jax, Yessircabbages, and M Daniels for outside threats... I suppose that they will trade for Luke Jackson.. Bird really liked him.

[Johnnybravo4]

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that Al is only replacing what Peja gave them last season.

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Yes, this is true, but it doesn't mean that it makes Indy bad...

Peja disappeared in the playoffs. One thing that Al doesn't do is a disappearing act. He may not defend like you want him to, but he can score and I think the good part about Al scoring in Indy is that he takes the pressure off of JO...

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The question for the Pacers is this: can the young guys like Granger and Daniels be impact players THIS SEASON?

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I really don't believe that Indy need these guys to step up to be winners. However, I do believe tht Granger is a young stud.

Indy will be lacking in the shooting department but they do have: Jax, Yessircabbages, and M Daniels for outside threats... I suppose that they will trade for Luke Jackson.. Bird really liked him.

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Al not disappearing? You must mean the time where he scored 24 points in the first quarter against the Spurs, and then only scored two points the rest of the game. Even David Blaine couldn't disappear like that.

[Diesel]

That's fans of course. I call it a welfare mentality.. but it's the thought that somehow if the Hawks can strike it rich in the draft, they will be a great team. Wasn't that the Clippers Montra for so many years??

I think you have to build a team byu first having a plan... then getting the right player and building around him. I don't know if JJ is the right player. I like JJ a ton, but building around a 2 guard who is not dominant is scary to me.

Then there's the team concept. Just build the best team. However, most teams that are built on the team concept usually have a speciallization. As I look at our roster, all we have is guys who are athletic. That doesn't win. Not without a superstar.

So, you're right... You can't keep cashing in throwing in all your cards hoping to draw 4 aces...

Billy Knight never played 5 card draw. If he had, he'd know that sometimes, you take an incomplete hand and try to build from that.

Are we destined to fail? NO.. But we're closer to failure than we are to a championship.

[Diesel]

Call it how you like.

However, I remember Al being a top scorer just about every time he played. I can't say the same for JJ. JJ does disappear. I don't mean JJ scores 20 points and goes away quietly. There will be some nights where JJ puts up very little points... But us Hawks faithful will say "BUT he contributed in so many other ways".

Mark my words...

[beenthere]

Given the salary cap, sometimes you have to make a business decision based upon a player's worth. Al is a good, not great, player. Solid stats. Solid person. He is not worth the money Indiana is paying him. The only question should be is whether we would have gotten more for him by trading him in February vs. holding on to him until this summer. I wish him well, but we won't be seeing Indiana going deep in the playoffs.