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Hollinger interview about the Hawks

exodus

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exodus Newbie

exodus

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Questions With ESPN.com's John Hollinger

by Micah Hart

With the season just past the midway point, we exchanged emails with Hollinger, an Atlanta resident who probably catches more Hawks home games than any other national writer, to find out what he thinks about the Hawks' season so far.

Hawks.com: Are the Hawks out of the playoff picture? After all, they are only four games out of the 8th spot and teams like Orlando are starting to come back to the pack...

John Hollinger: Atlanta isn't completely out of it, especially now that their players are healthy again. The key is surviving February -- they face a brutal schedue filled with tough road games. If they can put together a .500 or so month and at least maintain contact, perhaps they can make up ground in March and April.

That said, they'll have to play a lot better to get there. If you figure it will take about 40 wins to get that last playoff spot in the East, it means the Hawks have to go 22-14 the rest of the way. A .500 February would require Atlanta to go 15-7 over the final two months, which is significantly better than they've played at any time in the past three or four years.

Hawks.com: What do you think is the one thing the Hawks need to improve upon to get closer to the hunt?

JH: They've got to find a way to get more points in the paint. Right now the team is heavily dependent on jump shots, and when they're not falling things can get ugly -- this is why Atlanta ranks 29th out of 30 teams in Offensive Efficiency (my measure of points per 100 possessions).

The points don't necessarily have to come on post-ups either -- getting more transition buckets or drives to the hoop would accomplish the same thing. Hopefully having Lue and Claxton healthy again can help in these areas, because they really missed having somebody who could push it upcourt and break down defenses off the dribble.

Hawks.com: Should Joe Johnson have been an All-Star?

JH: I didn't include him when I made my picks for ESPN.com, but you could certainly make a good argument for Johnson. It was so close between the last few guards for the Eastern Conference; statistically, Johnson was a match for Carter and Hamilton and I'd

argue he's a better defender than either.

Unfortunately, All-Star voting has been heavily predicated on win-loss records in recent years, and that really hurt Johnson (as it did Michael Redd, who I thought was the biggest snub, and Emeka Okafor).

Hawks.com: Which (if any) Hawks player has exceeded your expectations this season?

JH: Joe Johnson. He made a big step forward a year ago; normally guys who do that regress a little the year after or, at best, hold their ground. But Joe's elevator has kept going up, especially in his effectiveness as a scorer.

You could arguably put the two Joshes in this group as well, but I think they're improvement this year was much easier to see coming.

Hawks.com: What moves if any would you make before the trade deadline?

JH: It's so hard to say without knowing who's available. I think, realistically, that the Hawks probably need to look less at moves that improve them immediately and more at moves that improve them for next year and the year after. That may mean dealing a veteran for a draft pick or a younger player with more potential, or it may involve the Hawks using their cap space to facilitate a deal between other teams.

But I don't think major surgery is the answer right now -- the biggest thing is to let some of these young guys play together and get better, and then figure out how to add to that nucleus over the summer.

Micah Hart is the Manager of Websites for the Atlanta Hawks

http://www.nba.com/hawks/feature/5_Questio...ger_020507.html

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CBAreject Newbie

CBAreject

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Quote:

Hawks.com: What do you think is the one thing the Hawks need to improve upon to get closer to the hunt?

JH: They've got to find a way to get more points in the paint. Right now the team is heavily dependent on jump shots, and when they're not falling things can get ugly -- this is why Atlanta ranks 29th out of 30 teams in Offensive Efficiency (my measure of points per 100 possessions).

Funny, I thought he'd say "Gotta teach those boys how to win".

No, Hollinger is a bright guy. He knows what's wrong with the Hawks. Not enough post scoring (or post defense for that matter). Wonder how we can fix those...

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Guest Walter

Guest Walter

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Funny, I thought he'd say "Gotta teach those boys how to win".

No, Hollinger is a bright guy. He knows what's wrong with the Hawks. Not enough post scoring (or post defense for that matter). Wonder how we can fix those...

He knows it ain't about getting these guy to feel good about themselves. It's about getting a guy who is good inside.

W

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exodus Newbie

exodus

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But I don't think major surgery is the answer right now --
the biggest thing is to let some of these young guys play together and get better, and then figure out how to add to that nucleus over the summer
.

Funny how some people only see what they want to see.

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vdunkndunk Newbie

vdunkndunk

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Hollinger is the guy on ESPN whose opinion I respect the most. He's actually able to look beyond hype and evaluate things objectively. He also doesn't equivicate; he makes his predictions boldly, and then he goes back and follows up later to tell you if he was right or wrong.

It's also cool that he has legit opinions on the Hawks because he actually sees them play on a consistent basis. That's a personal bias on my part, of course, but it's nice to see someone who can actually diagnose exactly what's wrong instead of just saying, "they should have taken Chris Paul."

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TheDude Newbie

TheDude

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Quote:

Quote:

But I don't think major surgery is the answer right now --
the biggest thing is to let some of these young guys play together and get better, and then figure out how to add to that nucleus over the summer
.

Funny how some people only see what they want to see.

exactly, i'm not sure how how some people get "we gotta tank" out of those words.
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Guest Walter

Guest Walter

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Quote:

Quote:

But I don't think major surgery is the answer right now --
the biggest thing is to let some of these young guys play together and get better, and then figure out how to add to that nucleus over the summer
.

Funny how some people only see what they want to see.

...Because you don't have a better "plan"?

W

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TexasPete Newbie

TexasPete

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When you watch the Hawks for any length of time you realize immediately that they always shoot jump shots. Its crazy that they dont attack the rim more...last night against the Lakers they weren't knocking down anything but they just kept shooting jumpers. This is all about coaching because Woodson permits this to happen. I can hear the huddle many nights and he just doesn't make going to the hole a priority. So many things happen when you attack the rim...free throws, opposing players in foul trouble, better percentage shooting, drawing easy follows when you miss due to drawing defense, etc.

Just shooting J's is a huge flaw in this team and its never addressed because Woodson is LAME. Every member of the top 6 players can go to the rack and yet our mindset is settling for jumpers. Its why we lost last night. Shelden is really the only guy not suited for attacking the rim off the dribble. No, we don't have post presence because the genius GM apparently forgot low post scoring when doing his "building". But these guys play the wrong way on offense...slow, methodical, and settling for jumpers. When we do attack the goal we do better but Woodson hasn't figured out the correlation yet.

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Packfill Proficient

Packfill

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Hollinger and TexasPete are right in that this team can only go so far while it remains dependent on jump shooting. Some of you may call that "hate," but I think it is an objective criticism about the construct of the team.

If it is possible to trade for a legit big man (i.e., Gasol, J. O'Neal, Okafor, Garnett, Bosh, etc.) and not give up either JJ or Smoove then I think you absolutely pull the trigger right now or at any time thereafter. Other then that, a midseason trade probably does not make a lot of sense unless it is a minor deal where the Hawks unload a Tyronne Lue or something for a draft pick.

All that being said, I do believe BK has to address the post deficiencies this off-season if not before.

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exodus Newbie

exodus

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Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

But I don't think major surgery is the answer right now --
the biggest thing is to let some of these young guys play together and get better, and then figure out how to add to that nucleus over the summer
.

Funny how some people only see what they want to see.

...Because you don't have a better "plan"?

W

Whatever anyone's plan is has no relevance to the interview. What is relevant is you reading things that are not there. Somehow you see him saying this

Quote:

He knows it ain't about getting these guy to feel good about themselves.

yet he doesn't say anything even remotely like that in his interview. In fact his quote contradicts you.

Of course the Hawks need help in the middle. Last month zaza averaged 8.4 pts on 40% shooting with 5.6 rebounds. Lo averaged 2.4 pts on 30% shooting and 4.3 rebounds.The Hawks still had a winning month in spite of this.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out where the problem is.
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Hoosier Newbie

Hoosier

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I disagree with Hollinger's solution. The Hawks need to trade their Indiana pick and a combination of Pachulia/Lue/Claxton/Stoudamire for a young veteran PG, that will increase their production in the paint more than anything except for getting a new coach.

Hopefully Jones can mature and become a defensive force in the paint. If he matures to fast, the Hawks may not be able to keep him.

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AHF Grand Master

AHF

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Post scoring? I can solve that problem right now.

Marvin+Ind pick = Pau Gasol. Problem Solved

Speedy

JJ

Smoove

Pau

Zaza

=Playoff Push

I bet they want more than that, but the Hawks should be putting that deal and similar deals on the table.

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Packfill Proficient

Packfill

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I absolutely agree that a real point guard would positively impact the team - particularly the production of Smoove, Childress and Sheldon. Unfortunately, Speedy is too injury prone to rely on and Lue lacks true point guard skills.

Maybe they will make a run at Billups in the off-season?

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CBAreject Newbie

CBAreject

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If the Hawks can trade for Gasol without giving up cap space and still have 11 mil projected to offer Billups....you gotta believe Billups would be interested in coming here.

A team of

Childress

Smoove

Gasol

JJ

Billups

is the best in the East.

It's either this or tanking, and we don't look like we're gonna tank.

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