The scarey thing is

[capstone21]

that with the pacers hanging around the 11 spot and us the 3 rd spot we might end up with 2 draft picks or we might end up with none.

Unlike last year this is a very strong draft and it would be awesome for us to get two picks. I just have a feeling that we are going to end up with none.

[vdunkndunk]

Imagine on the one hand adding Greg Oden, Kevin Durant, or Al Horford...along with maybe Tywon Lawson or Acie Law....

Or, on the other hand...

Adding no one.

[macdaddy]

You obviously don't know The Secret.

[mrhonline]

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You obviously don't know The Secret.

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You mean create a pseudo-spiritual network of horse poop and market it for millions?

[TexasPete]

If Billy Knight touches something it turns into crap. It's the opposite of the Midas touch. My bet is no picks.

I have a gut feeling we start next year with the same lousy team...with 4 crappy backup PG's. They will sell us on improvement within the current ranks.

For once, at least I won't have paid money for the crap they shovel and that is a moral victory for me.

[thesheedera]

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Imagine on the one hand adding Greg Oden, Kevin Durant, or Al Horford...along with maybe Tywon Lawson or Acie Law....

Or, on the other hand...

Adding no one.

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Nothing could be more painful than knowing that this is possible, then waiting for it to happen, knowing it most likely WILL happen, then watching it happen.

Any combo of the guys from 1-3 as well as a PG from 11-14 or whatever, would be in incredible boost for this franchise.

Oden/Law(Lawson, Conley, whatever), puts us in the limelight. Durant/Law(Lawson, Conley, whatever), does the same, and hopefully forces us to make some moves with our SF situation.

But getting nothing out of this draft would be a complete disaster.

[Diesel]

I don't think missing out on this draft will ruin our franchise. The way that I see it, it marks the beginning of a new era. A BKless era. As of this moment, the GMship of the Hawks should not be in BK's hands any longer. It should be based on what happens with us and the draft. If we get no picks, BK goes. If we get 1 or even 2 he stays. It's that simple.

He has put us in this position with his draft choices and FAs... We can't reward him with nothing to show for it except growth of young players. YOung players grow. If it doesn't equate to winning, then we're just spinning our wheels.

As i look at the team, we still have trade Material, we still have decent youth, and we still have some money under the cap. I think that even if we end up empty handed on draft night, we can still do some good work this offseason and we can put a good team on the floor next season.

[thesheedera]

If we get #1 or #2, and that alone keeps him in the job, then he's being rewarded for winning a luck-based lottery system, rather than doing something to earn his tenure.

I see where you're going with it, but it's not like he will DESERVE anything based on how the balls bounce.

[Diesel]

You're right.

However, the GM's job is definitely never about the GM's moves... If it were, he'd never lose his job. For all the bad things you can conjure up about BK:

1. He brought in our first Allstar since Deke left.

2. He brought in Josh Smith who could be a franchise player.

3. He cut our Payroll significantly.

4. He put us in a good position to make trades.

5. His drafts and FAcy pickups have tried to address need.

For all those players you don't like, he can always say: Let's see them under a different coach.

[Vol4ever]

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If Billy Knight touches something it turns into crap. It's the opposite of the Midas touch. My bet is no picks.

I have a gut feeling we start next year with the same lousy team...with 4 crappy backup PG's. They will sell us on improvement within the current ranks.

For once, at least I won't have paid money for the crap they shovel and that is a moral victory for me.

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Until they show us different you are 110% correct. This is a lousy operated franchise and anyone that don't see it has rose colored glasses on!

[TroyMcClure]

I don't even care anymore. Until we get rid of Woody, who cares who we get, what trades to make, etc? Even then, the ASG will probably still "own" us. So what difference does anything make? That's the scary thing.

[BusBoyIsBack]

It would be devastating if we got zero picks but I don't think it would be the end of the world.

I think we could still make the playoffs and eventually be a championship team but Marvin Williams would have to develop into a star.

If we got the Indy pick and got a solid PG only JJ and Smoove would have to be stars.

If we did the impossible and got both picks, we basically could contend for a championship as early as next year.

Acie Law

Joe Johnson

Marvin Williams

Josh Smith

Greg Oden

Yep that's CLEARLY too good to be true. That would require a whole lot of luck and we are the complete opposite of a lucky franchise.

So Im just hoping we get the Indy pick.

[Traceman]

If we don't get a top 3 pick, I think that should be the last straw and BK needs to be gone. Period. All of his drafting decisions have gotten progressively worse and his "wheeling and dealing" have left us with such an unbalanced roster that it is difficult to see a clear way out of this mess unless we land a "saviour" in Oden or Durant. We MAY be able to salvage something if we land Noah, Hibbert, Wright or Horford but I am not sure that any of those guys would make us anything more than serious contenders for the 8th seed.

My problem with BK at this point (as others have said) is that while he has drafted "good players," he has passed on players that were there for the taking who would have been better for the franchise. That can happen to any GM once or twice but I think BK has done that FOUR TIMES IN A ROW!

Barbosa or Josh Howard over Diaw.

Deng or Iguodala over Chillz.

Paul or Deron Williams over Marvin.

Roy or Foye over Shelden.

The thing about all 4 of those scenarios is that if you had taken the consensus pick off of the message boards that I visit who discuss the Hawks (Hawksquawk, Real GM, Access Atlanta for you old heads), Diaw, Chillz, Marvin and Shelden would have never suited up as Hawks. How can message boards get it right more than our GM? Ridiculous!

[d2v16DKG]

Yes he cut our payroll and put us in a good position to make trades. But so far BK has not impressed me. Other than Joe Johnson, there's no other trade I'm particularly crazy about. He let Bob Sura get away. And his draft picks truly suck. Marvin Williams annoys me more and more every game and Sheldon Williams is a joke. Meantime Chicago was in the same position we were in a few years ago and they have a decent team now.

[thesheedera]

I agree with that. Maybe my use of the word "disaster" was a poor choice. The worst case scenario will be a disaster compared to the best case scenario.

If we go through this offseason and make NO changes at all, and come back with the same team, i.e. worst case scenario:

AJ, Speedy, Lue

JJ, Childress, Salim

Marvin, Childress

Smith, Shelden, Batista

Zaza, Solomon, Wright

I'll still be excited about a team that I think should make the playoffs, and COULD one day be a contender, if all these guys continue to improve.

But best case scenario: Oden/Law, or Durant/Conley/SF trade, or Hibbert/Lawson, or Noah/Collison, or whatever it may be - as long as it's a draft that gets us a C & PG, or Durant and of the two between a C/PG, then I'm no longer just thinking playoffs and dreaming of being a contender one day, I'm fully expecting to be a contender within a couple of years, and maintaining a spot at or near the top for a long time. The beginning of an era where the playoffs are a given, the conference finals are always within reach, and the championship round is a few lucky breaks here and there a way. A run like the Suns are in right now, like the Mavs are in, like the Pistons have gone through. Great basketball, great players, and an honest hope to go the distance.

If we come back like we're set up now, I see us getting into that no man's land where teams like the Wizards roam. Good enough to get in, but no one believes for a minute that you'll ever get a ring without more bold moves or lucky drafts.

Long way of discussing the BK situation. I think he's done a better than average job as GM. I love some of the players he's acquired and moves he's made. I hate the fact that we've missed on players that I think will be awesome. I like this team better than the one he inherited, but there's a ton left to do.

I'd love to see him go an Colangelo replace him. I'd hate to see him go and have someone else come in and start the process all over again.

If we get lucky with the lottery and the Pacers pick, and Oden and Acie Law are in our starting lineup next fall, he'll look like a genius, deserved or not, and the Hawks will be the favorites for a huge jump in the hierarchy of NBA hoops. If we have no luck and come back as we are right now, he'll still be the butt of every joke and our team will as well.

All in the bounce of a few balls...

[BusBoyIsBack]

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If we don't get a top 3 pick, I think that should be the last straw and BK needs to be gone. Period. All of his drafting decisions have gotten progressively worse and his "wheeling and dealing" have left us with such an unbalanced roster that it is difficult to see a clear way out of this mess unless we land a "saviour" in Oden or Durant. We MAY be able to salvage something if we land Noah, Hibbert, Wright or Horford but I am not sure that any of those guys would make us anything more than serious contenders for the 8th seed.

My problem with BK at this point (as others have said) is that while he has drafted "good players," he has passed on players that were there for the taking who would have been better for the franchise. That can happen to any GM once or twice but I think BK has done that FOUR TIMES IN A ROW!

Barbosa or Josh Howard over Diaw.

Deng or Iguodala over Chillz.

Paul or Deron Williams over Marvin.

Roy or Foye over Shelden.

The thing about all 4 of those scenarios is that if you had taken the consensus pick off of the message boards that I visit who discuss the Hawks (Hawksquawk, Real GM, Access Atlanta for you old heads), Diaw, Chillz, Marvin and Shelden would have never suited up as Hawks. How can message boards get it right more than our GM? Ridiculous!

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I will give you the first two.

But to say Marvin and Shelden are busts after one year for Shelden where he wasn't even healthy and Marvin's first year as a starter where he wasn't even healthy for the year, that you cannot get.

And to say Hibbert, Noah, etc would only make us a contender for the 8th seed?

Um hello, we were a contender for the 8th seed THIS year even without being healthy all year losing key players all year.

The talent on this team is clearly there. We are a few pieces away. You act like we are a team with absolutely no talent that needs a superstar just to make us a respectable franchise.

Not the case.

Josh Smith is a future all-star

Joe Johnson is a current all-star.

You don't need 5 all-stars 2-3 are enough if you have a team.

The reason why we are on the outside looking in isn't because Marvin or Shelden have been dissapointing.

It's because the same two positions that we went into needing in last year's draft PG and C.

Both of those areas could be addressed. C could be addressed if Zaza showed some desire on defense. Or if Solomon Jones gained some weight.

PG is def the area that needs to be addressed in the draft.

We get Acie Law or another playmaking PG with Indy's pick and those of you making us seem like a hopeless frachise will look mighty foolish next year.

[AtLaS]

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3. He cut our Payroll significantly.

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But he's done nothing useful with it, so it doesn't really matter.

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5. His drafts and FAcy pickups have tried to address need.

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It's actually the opposite. BK has drafted over 10 players for the Hawks, and hasn't drafted ONE PG or Center.

And he hasn't signed one impact FA. It's never a good decision to give a long term deal worth $25 million to a career backup. Much less a backup that has never played a full season in his career.

[KB21]

Personally, I think it is silly to think that Chris Paul and Luol Deng would have made much difference in this team as it stands. Chris Paul has some solid players around him in New Orleans, and the Hornets are only a couple of games better than the Hawks right now.

[AtLaS]

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Personally, I think it is silly to think that Chris Paul and Luol Deng would have made much difference in this team as it stands. Chris Paul has some solid players around him in New Orleans, and the Hornets are only a couple of games better than the Hawks right now.

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Thanks for that.

[Guest Walter]

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If we don't get a top 3 pick, I think that should be the last straw and BK needs to be gone. Period. All of his drafting decisions have gotten progressively worse and his "wheeling and dealing" have left us with such an unbalanced roster that it is difficult to see a clear way out of this mess unless we land a "saviour" in Oden or Durant. We MAY be able to salvage something if we land Noah, Hibbert, Wright or Horford but I am not sure that any of those guys would make us anything more than serious contenders for the 8th seed.

My problem with BK at this point (as others have said) is that while he has drafted "good players," he has passed on players that were there for the taking who would have been better for the franchise. That can happen to any GM once or twice but I think BK has done that FOUR TIMES IN A ROW!

Barbosa or Josh Howard over Diaw.

Deng or Iguodala over Chillz.

Paul or Deron Williams over Marvin.

Roy or Foye over Shelden.

The thing about all 4 of those scenarios is that if you had taken the consensus pick off of the message boards that I visit who discuss the Hawks (Hawksquawk, Real GM, Access Atlanta for you old heads), Diaw, Chillz, Marvin and Shelden would have never suited up as Hawks. How can message boards get it right more than our GM? Ridiculous!

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For a team building almost solely through the draft, what besides 4 years of consecutive draft failures, an aggregious, inexplicable 3 in the lottery, would rise to the level of a dismissable offense? Is there some basketball equivalent to kiddy porn that BK has to be caught with for his firing to be justified? Personally, while I would have fired BK earlier, the promise to SW was just that.

It's like a hand model cutting off his/her fingers and keeping his hand modeling job modeling his stump. Well not exactly unless the middle finger remains pointed up at that model's former fans.

W