I was going to pose the question 10 days ago....

[Sothron]

I was waiting for the moronic homers to appear and hey presto! here we go.

[Guest Walter]

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True fans of this team would NEVER want to see the Hawks tank the season, just to get a top 3 pick.

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Mussilini, I don't have time for you. Ba-bye.

W

[AHF]

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It sounds all good and well AHF, but this draft affords us a top notch center prospect at 1, 2, or 3 with Oden, Thabeet, and Noah (not my preference) all available. We don't have to tank perfectly, just tank well enough and we come out all-right.

What "injury" can we think up for the NBA's iron-man, Joe Johnson. Kidding of course.

W

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My point is (1) it is too early to tank - the East is crappy enough that if we turn this thing around we can still be in the playoffs; (2) if we do end up choosing to tank we can make that decision at midseason based on our current level of play; and (3) tanking is a high risk/high reward prospect since we are almost as likely to give up our pick to Phoenix as pick in the top 3, even given the best case scenario coming into the draft.

[DJlaysitup]

If:

Zaza is what he is and will always be...a lumbering undersized center.

Marvin is what many expect...a simple athlete with few moves (remember those two "post moves" he "installed" - LOL)

Speedy is a dynamo for 45 games and the team can never tell when he is going to play.

Shelden is truly (as Walt said - a 6'8" rookie who doesn't get the "Duke" calls anymore).

Josh is hurt - Lo sucks - Medved-whatever does what he has done before - JC can't shoot over a short fence - Salim can't hit a rim ??

TLue is OK - but a slow down PG.

Solomon and the rest aren't factors.

then wtf do we do?

JJ versus the world. Double team JJ and you win.

[AHF]

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If:

Zaza is what he is and will always be...a lumbering undersized center.

Marvin is what many expect...a simple athlete with few moves (remember those two "post moves" he "installed" - LOL)

Speedy is a dynamo for 45 games and the team can never tell when he is going to play.

Shelden is truly (as Walt said - a 6'8" rookie who doesn't get the "Duke" calls anymore).

Josh is hurt - Lo sucks - Medved-whatever does what he has done before - JC can't shoot over a short fence - Salim can't hit a rim ??

TLue is OK - but a slow down PG.

Solomon and the rest aren't factors.

then wtf do we do?

JJ versus the world. Double team JJ and you win.

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If all that happens then our team will probably have the worst record in the NBA halfway or 2/3 of the way through the season and we can go into full tanking mode without having to do much more than give JJ some R&R.

[drzachary]

I'm not sure why this is even an argument. Why should we discuss whether or not the Hawks should tank? Should the sun rise in the morning? Should birds fly? Should corndogs continue being delicious? I'm sure there is a Zen koan in here somewhere. So much debate, for something so self-evident. Whether or not the tanking is intentional or not is completely academic. What matters is that they are!

[Guest Walter]

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If all that happens then our team will probably have the worst record in the NBA halfway or 2/3 of the way through the season and we can go into full tanking mode without having to do much more than give JJ some R&R.

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We're already playing alot of youth anyhow. It's not like we bench a "veteran" like MW to play Solomon Jones. We might could play ZaZa and JJ less but we don't have a Pg prospect to throw in the fire so we can't make that move.

With JS out IMO 6-8 weeks we don't have to try hard. Just play JJ 32 MPG instead of 40.

W

[DrReality]

You never tank a season. But the way things are going I don't think we have to worry about it. I think the psyche of this young team is so fragile that they will not be able to rebound from the adversity.

That being said, I raise the whole notion of the conspiracy theory. More than a few times Stern has intervened in the lottery in order for a given team to have lady luck to shine her blessings on it. With all of the crap going on in this franchise, I say it's our turn for Stern to give us a top three pick. I think Atl is an important city for the NBA for multiple reasons and that Stern wants to see it succeed, one way or the other.

If that is the case, we get two first rounders.