Ouch

[AHF]

From an SI article on their webpage currently listing some players who are surprisingly productive and some who are "wastes." The good news is that Josh Smith is listed as one of the most productive with his high block rate and top 25 rebounding rate.

The bad news:

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2. Speedy Claxton: 32.7 field goal percentage

There comes a point in every fan's life when he can say that he could perform as well as a particular player. This year, that player is Speedy Claxton

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[Packfill]

In fairness to Speedy, it is obvious that his injuries are responsible for his poor play this season.

That said, his injury history should have been a major red flag to Billy Knight. You can make the argument that the Hawks needed a point guard and that Speedy was one of the better ones available, but that argument is without merit in light of (1) Speedy's injury history and (2) the fact that BK painted the Hawks into a point guard-less corner last off-season rather then correcting that deficiency through the draft or a trade.

Sadly, Speedy remains the most talented point guard on the Hawks roster.

[Lascar78]

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that argument is without merit in light of (1) Speedy's injury history

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I don't think that's true. Yes Speedy has a long history of injury. That's why it was a gamble. So far it has exploded in our faces, but it was still a reasonable gamble. After Cassel turned us down, it was either get a very mediocre guy, or get a pretty solid vet but you're gambling on his often injured body holding up. When you gamble you lose sometimes. Or in Bk's case, a lot.

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and (2) the fact that BK painted the Hawks into a point guard-less corner last off-season rather then correcting that deficiency through the draft or a trade.

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Absolutely.

[Packfill]

The point is that it was wrong for BK to try and fill a position of critical need (1) with a guy who was a career back-up with a long list of medical issues and (2) it was a huge mistake to put the team in a position to have to fill such a critical through free agency when the free agent cupboard was bare.

It did not take a psychic to figure out that the point guard market was paper thin last off-season - considering the two "best" guys were an extremely over the hill former malcontent and an off-injured career back-up that has bounced around the league.

Good players by and large are not playing for their 5th team by the time they are 28 years old.

[mrhonline]

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it was a huge mistake to put the team in a position to have to fill such a critical through free agency when the free agent cupboard was bare.

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I question the stubborn refusal to trade Childress (who I've come to like) or less for a PG. The Claxton signing has proven unnecessary by the fact that a comparable guard (AJ) was acquired for less years, money, and injury concerns at the whopping cost of a 2nd round pick.

[Diesel]

Well, I agree with what you say, but I disagree a bit.

Yes, Speedy had an injury history but with nothing chronic and coming off of a "good year", you can't fault BK for taking a chance with Speedy. Before he was traded to NJ, Vince Carter had developed an injury History similar to Speedy's. Nothing chronic but a whole lot of little things that added up to wrong injury at wrong time. However, NJ has made off pretty good by selecting him.

You're right.. BK should have picked a PG when he had the opportunity to (with Paul or Deron).. but we can't go back and change that. At the time, we picked Speedy he was our second choice and the best PG left standing.

If he gets over his injuries, I don't think we'd do so much crying in the future.

[SmooveTheFuture]

Can you post a link to the article or tell me where on the site it is I cant find it thanks.

[Lascar78]

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The point is that it was wrong for BK to try and fill a position of critical need (1) with a guy who was a career back-up with a long list of medical issues and (2) it was a huge mistake to put the team in a position to have to fill such a critical through free agency when the free agent cupboard was bare.

It did not take a psychic to figure out that the point guard market was paper thin last off-season - considering the two "best" guys were an extremely over the hill former malcontent and an off-injured career back-up that has bounced around the league.

Good players by and large are not playing for their 5th team by the time they are 28 years old.

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Well yes and no. There are 2 entirely separate issues here:

-Should BK have put us in a position where we enter the 2006 free agency with no PG?

-Once we got there and Cassel turned us down, should we have signed Speedy?

I think we all agree on the first issue that it has been a flat out failure of Knight's that he hasn't found us a PG or a center. He has put the team in a good position to trade for a PG or C, but hasn't found that trade.

However on the second issue, I think we disagree. The fact that Speedy has been traded a lot doesn't make him a bum, it means he's no star. Speedy is what he is, an ok starter / outstanding bench guy who has injury problems. Forget the fact that BK put us in the position he did, once we got to the point where Cassel turned us down, what would you have done? I think it was overpay on Speedy (gamble on his health), or get a bum in here. Not sure who you would have gotten. We can't rebuild for 10 years. He saw a guy who could push the fast break and most importantly play good D on quick PGs who killed us last year. I still think it's a good fit if he is healthy. I also wouldn't be surprised if he plays 70 games next year. He's only played less than 60 games in a season once, although this will probably be the second.

Speedy clearly did NOT work out in the first year because of injuries, but I think he was about as good as we could do when we signed him. It was that or go another year without a PG, which is basically what ended up happening when he was injured all year.

Honestly I've been more disappointed with Wright than Speedy. Speedy's whole game is based on his quickness and it's not his fault if he's injured. Wright has really sucked overall IMO.

[lunar]

i don't really see wright playing after this contract is up. i really think he's getting ready to retire. that being said, he's only getting paid 3 mil to basically be a backup. i think he'll be giving the reins over to either solomon or whoever we get in here to help out pachulia next year.

[Plainview1981]

If Billy had addressed the issue before now he wouldn't have been forced to fill the position with a career backup.

I knew Speedy was a horrible shooter... But 32%?????

D@mn, I haven't looked at the players stats in forever.

[AHF]

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Can you post a link to the article or tell me where on the site it is I cant find it thanks.

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CNNSI

[Guest Walter]

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I don't think that's true. Yes Speedy has a long history of injury. That's why it was a gamble. So far it has exploded in our faces, but it was still a reasonable gamble. After Cassel turned us down, it was either get a very mediocre guy, or get a pretty solid vet but you're gambling on his often injured body holding up. When you gamble you lose sometimes. Or in Bk's case, a lot

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I guess I would have rather us gambled on a big. Given that it's so much more difficult to get a big and that you often "gamble" with them anyway, I would rather have seen a gamble for NeNe. I'm not saying don't "gamble". I'm saying the Speedy gamble didn't offer much upside and the downside has been bad and will get worse.

W

[unknownjdb]

We should have gone after Marcus Banks or Jannero Pargo. Darn hindsight crap...

[DJlaysitup]

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...I'm saying the Speedy gamble didn't offer much upside and the downside has been bad and will get worse.

W

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We are gonna take Speedy's contract to the grave. The Knicks won't even bite on that. Our only hope is that he can get healthy next year and actually play - but in truth - we need a better PG anyway. Catch-22.

All that work to clear cap and then a mistake like the Speedy contract is dumbfounding IMO. Lo was a fairly bad move too - but it only hangs over our head for another year.