Would Gasol = Eastern Conference Finals ?

[coachx]

Many of the posters who oppose Gasol say their reason is he would not translate into the making the Hawks title contenders.

My response is it will not take much to contend in the East. Pair Gasol with a veteran PG like Jack and we are a realistic 50 win team.

1. Only 2 teams had over 50 wins last year. Detroit (53) and Cleveland (50). I seriously doubt Detroit gets to 50 wins next year because: Rasheed is slowing down, Webber is finished, Davis is finished, Billups is slowing down, no real draft pick to pick up the slack. Cleveland could struggle if Big Z does not hold up at the age of 33 with metal in his feet. Just one fall from the fragile TJ Ford would really set Toronto back. If Toronto or Cleveland are our main competition I like Gasol vs. Bosh & Big Z.

The East is WIDE OPEN, 50 wins could WIN the East. Detroit and Cleveland don't really have good benches. Gibson came out of no where to be Cleveland's spark. Gibson remind you of anyone ? I can see Salim coming out of "no where" and throwing down 30 points in play off game with the oppurtunity. Salim's fire / will would show itself in the playoffs where competitors such as Salim would show out.

If we don't get Gasol......the Bulls will. You know who would be the class of the EAST then ? The Bulls + Gasol wins the East for the next 3 years. If the Hawks get Gasol we are right in the mix !!!

Gasol paired with Big Ben Wallace is dominating. We can't let that happen !

If we have Gasol I love how we match up with the Bulls. JJ is a taylor made match up problem for the Bulls' mini me back court. We will be happy we have a guy like Sheldon to muscel up with Big Ben. Like the Bulls said: They got Big Ben for play off time when the games get physical. If we EVER get to hte playoffs the same can be said for a guy like Sheldon who would thrive when the refs swallow the whistle and let the players get physical.

My 2 cents !

[Dragitoff]

I like your observations. Although getting Gasol would deplete our spare parts (Chillz, one of Lue or Speedy, probably Zaza and the #3), we'd have a legit scorer when JJ has an off-night or Josh can't get it going. Last season, if JJ was getting double or triple teamed, Josh had to basically carry the load. Sometimes he did, sometimes he didn't. He's an inconsistent player at times. I agree, Gasol would immidiately make this team 10-15+ wins better. I wish we'd have some financial wiggle room, but we'd definitely match up well with some of the top teams.

[coachx]

If we become a true playoff team, veterans would come to us at a discout. So many veterans already have homes in the ATL they would play for the Hawks on a discount if we are winning team much like:

Webber to Pistons

The way the Heat got Mourning & Eddie Jones

The way the Spurs got Finley, Horry

While none of the above veterans are at the top of their games they are still solid players who are great bench players if not starter quality and playing at a discount.

If we are a winnning team veterans would love to play in a city where they already have a home, which lets them stay close to family (older veterans do have traditional families), while playing in a weak Eastern Division. allthat = FA discounts.

We have the youth that would mix well with seasoned vets who still havesome game left with loads of expierence to "teach" Smoove & Marvin.

2 more of my cents ! I might work up to a dime today if I'm lucky !

[Dejay]

With Gasol, the Hawks are an instant contender in the East hands down. He would put up probably more points and rebounds considering he won't have to see Duncan, Brand, Biedrins, Boozer, Ukur, Randolph, Oden, Yao, et al nearly as much. Nearly everyone on this board talks about this team being a playoff team last year if not for the injuries; lets play the 'what if' game then. As currently constructed, the team can win 35-40 games, injuries notwithstanding. Gasol's direct impact would be an additional 8-10 wins and the indirect impact (JJ no longer having to kill himself from carrying the whole team) would be another 3-5. That alone would've been enough to win the SE crown this past season and that's before factoring in more experience and what (insert point guard here) brings to the table. What could be better?

[DJlaysitup]

I'm afraid that without doing something like this we may be in effect wasting the JJ years. If we get a couple draft picks that can't make us better immediately (plus we have no pick next year), we could be looking at 35 wins next year.

We have to get JJ veteran help this year IMO.

[Dejay]

Why did they splinter the ownership group on JJ's deal in the first place if they're going to continually bring in young guys, oft-injured backups (see Claxton, Craig) and unwanted veterans (see Wright, Lorenzen)? You think the Joshes won't play hardball with their extentions if they miss the postseason (again)? They're competitors like everyone else; they want to experience playoff basketball without having to buy a ticket. You think JJ will continue to stay silent while another meaningless spring passes him by, especially if the rooks aren't ready for primetime yet?

The folks on this board may be patient but I'm not. Neither are the core guys on this roster.

[coachx]

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I'm afraid that without doing something like this we may be in effect wasting the JJ years. If we get a couple draft picks that can't make us better immediately (plus we have no pick next year), we could be looking at 35 wins next year.

We have to get JJ veteran help this year IMO.

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That is exactly my worry. Why pay JJ all that money if we are not going to put good vets around him to get us to the playoffs.

We we ant to play the "stay in the lottery till we get lucky game" why have a max player ?

I guarantee you JJ is begging BK for Gasol.

[Dejay]

That's the same reputation teams like the Royals and Pirates have right now; a key veteran who everyone else wants (JJ), a bunch of young guys (MW, Smith, Zaza, Childress, SW) that veteran teams are waiting to pry away after the grunt work (development during their rookie deals) is done on the Hawks' dime, the free agent 'splash' who really isn't any good (Claxton), and a group of other guys most teams wouldn't touch if not for their expiring contracts (Lue, Wright, AJ). Both are run by a questionable front office and cheap owners; sounds familiar, doesn't it??

[Sothron]

I also share the same fear that by the time we get good enough talent around him JJ will be 31 or 32 and it will be wasted.

We really need an inside scorer that isn't going to take years to develop. That IMO is more important than even a PG right now. No team has ever won a title or even does well in the playoffs if they no kind of inside scoring. Look at the Bulls this past season: good team but Detroit closed out on all their shooters and they had no one inside to dump it to in order to free up their shooters.

[Dragitoff]

I wish one of our local salary experts could show us what we'd have left if we traded for Gasol with both scenarios..

#3/Chillz/ZaZa/Lue

#3/Chillz/ZaZa/Speedy

There was a few threads talking about Stuckey being a possible Chillz replacement, but I was looking at some of the 'vet' free agent SF/SG type players and there are a few decent ones that might be had pretty cheap. Here's a few and their 2006 salaries

Jason Kapono $1,188,000.00

Jumaine Jones $744,551.00

Jalen Rose $1,540,000.00

Derek Anderson $617,539.00

None of these guys are game changers and only Kapono averaged double-digit scoring last season, but at least something to look into.

Now, can someone get those salary figures posted? I'm curious just how much room we'd still have left if we did get Gasol. What is the league minimum these days for like an undrafted rookie?

[BHayley]

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I also share the same fear that by the time we get good enough talent around him JJ will be 31 or 32 and it will be wasted.

We really need an inside scorer that isn't going to take years to develop. That IMO is more important than even a PG right now. No team has ever won a title or even does well in the playoffs if they no kind of inside scoring. Look at the Bulls this past season: good team but Detroit closed out on all their shooters and they had no one inside to dump it to in order to free up their shooters.

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Sothron, JJ will be about 29 when his contract is up. Do you think he'll stick with us if we're (sorry... WHEN) we're a playoff team?

If we are going to get Gasol, we MUST take advantage of it this coming year. The East is a miserable joke right now. You have teams like the Nets (no big men or bench), Wizards and the Magic holding off the final playoff spots.

Just look at the Miami Heat.

They were down in the cellar back in 2002 or 2003(I believe) or were just an average team. They got that one big player (Shaq) who made them a championship team in 2 years. NO, Gasol is not as dominant as Shaq, but a core of Smoove, Gasol, JJ, and two or three quality role players would be one hell of a challenge for teams. With Gasol, Smoove, JJ and these role players, this is easily a #5 seed team in the East. Jerry Stackhouse even said after they beat us a couple months ago that with a healthy lineup we're a top 5 team in the East, and that's WITHOUT moves we'll make to ameliorate this team this summer.

[Dragitoff]

I think it all boils down to this. Everyone should answer these questions honestly if you want to feel like you've got a crystal ball or something, but of course, we're all trying to guess what BK will do and sometimes that's impossible to do.

1. BK and Woody are in "win now" mode. They both know their jobs are on the line regardless of the ownership situation. ASG or definitely Belkin will tolerate another season short of the playoffs. Belkin will probably fire both of them regardless should he win, but you get my point. They are going to look at what makes the team better now first and what helps us in the future second. Does everyone agree with that or not?

2. The East IS a joke for a conference right now. If you look at the way things are going, alot of the top teams are in decline or retooling to some extent. Detroit is getting older and losing some of that killer instinct as evidence in the playoffs. Cleveland has many glaring weaknesses but is carried by LeBron's talent. Miami is beginning to look like an NBA retirement village. Chicago might lose some of their key role players although they're still very good. New Jersey has no inside game and might lose one of their 3 main players. Indiana is in a complete rebuilding plan. I believe this is a fair assesment of the league?

3. Teams like Charlotte, Orlando, Philadelphia, and others are stockpiling young talent. They've got a few really solid pieces, but are only a few pieces themselves from being in contention.

The time to take advantage of this weakened state of the Eastern Conference is now. Teams like in #3 will be there in a year or two so we've got to establish ourselves now. This doesn't solely hinge on getting Gasol, but he would definitely put us in the upper echelon of teams in the East. In my latest off-season plan, I showed how we could acquire a vet that would help us w/o giving up all our young talent. Even in my offseason plan, I don't know if we'd be a better short-term team than if we traded for Gasol now. I know we'd be a playoff team with potential to be a great team, but with Gasol, we're easily a top 3-5 seed team in the East or better.

[DavidSomerset]

What package is it going to take to get Gasol, in your opinion, Sothron?

I don't think we can afford to give up both 3 and 11, given our need for a PG.

Would 3, Chillz, Lue, Lo get it done?

Or would we have to throw in Shelden somewhere in there?

[Dejay]

I agree totally, Drag. The time to strike gold in the East is right now; its right there for the taking, folks. With Cleveland and the Labrons making the Finals (a team the Hawks beat without Marvin), Detroit and Miami set to retool their rosters, and a ton of young teams still rebuilding, why not advance the 'process' here by a couple of years and take advantage?

[Dragitoff]

Remember it's results now or BK and Woody's heads. You know they're feeling the pressure. Who's gonna' hire them if they don't make a winner here? Really? Woody could get an assistant job somewhere probably, but I doubt he'd be a head coaching candidate anywhere.

[Sothron]

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I also share the same fear that by the time we get good enough talent around him JJ will be 31 or 32 and it will be wasted.

We really need an inside scorer that isn't going to take years to develop. That IMO is more important than even a PG right now. No team has ever won a title or even does well in the playoffs if they no kind of inside scoring. Look at the Bulls this past season: good team but Detroit closed out on all their shooters and they had no one inside to dump it to in order to free up their shooters.

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Sothron, JJ will be about 29 when his contract is up. Do you think he'll stick with us if we're (sorry... WHEN) we're a playoff team?

If we are going to get Gasol, we MUST take advantage of it this coming year. The East is a miserable joke right now. You have teams like the Nets (no big men or bench), Wizards and the Magic holding off the final playoff spots.

Just look at the Miami Heat.

They were down in the cellar back in 2002 or 2003(I believe) or were just an average team. They got that one big player (Shaq) who made them a championship team in 2 years. NO, Gasol is not as dominant as Shaq, but a core of Smoove, Gasol, JJ, and two or three quality role players would be one hell of a challenge for teams. With Gasol, Smoove, JJ and these role players, this is easily a #5 seed team in the East. Jerry Stackhouse even said after they beat us a couple months ago that with a healthy lineup we're a top 5 team in the East, and that's WITHOUT moves we'll make to ameliorate this team this summer.

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I think JJ is not going to wait until the end of his contract for us to put a team around him. He didn't come here just to get more money and maybe make a token AS appearance or two. He wants to win. And he is quietly pushing them to get some kind of real help at big man and point. JJ is a classy guy so he won't say it too strongly publically but his interviews with Chris Paul and at various points last year showed he is getting fed up with the losing.

We can't wait year after year to finally hit gold in the lottery or we'll waste JJ's years. And he won't resign to stay with a team that would still be treading water in the lottery every year.

[coachx]

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Would 3, Chillz, Lue, Lo get it done?

Or would we have to throw in Shelden somewhere in there?

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I think they would want ZaZa over Sheldon. The reason is they are targeting Hoford in the draft. ZaZa is a better compliment to Hoford then Sheldon. Then again if they want Sheldon they would probably be targeting Yi over Hoford.

ZaZa is 23 year old 6'11, 250 pound guy. They have some value. His age is the same as Sheldon.

My final offer for Gasol:

#3, Chills, ZaZa or Sheldon, any PG they want on our roster, and Lo if they want him.

Considering Lo, Lue, & AJ are all in the last year of their contracts, their 2008 salary cap relief is valueable for a rebuilding team. Chills give them a starting SG and Miller can continue his 6th man role. ZaZa is an adequate young post player that fits in with a young team. then they have #3 & #4 to build around with Gay & Warrick.

They could rebuild with:

Conley / Stoudamire & Jackson to tutor Conley

Chills / Miller

Gay / Warrick

Hoford or Yi

ZaZa / Swift

Some nice young pieces their for a rebuild through the Grizz's perspective

If I had to include pick #11 I would think really hard. If they gave us a sharpshooter like Miller and took Speedy's contract of our books I would then include #11.

[Sothron]

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What package is it going to take to get Gasol, in your opinion, Sothron?

I don't think we can afford to give up both 3 and 11, given our need for a PG.

Would 3, Chillz, Lue, Lo get it done?

Or would we have to throw in Shelden somewhere in there?

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I think it would take #3, Shellhead or Chill and Wright and possibly the 11th pick to get it done. Memphis needs a good young PG as well and they could use that 11th pick to nab Law, Critt or Conley if he fell that far.

[coachx]

Take this thread to your peeps at work !

[Sothron]

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Take this thread to your peeps at work !

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Lol just to clarify again: where I work has no bearing on my sources. I got the sources through my friendship with Jaywalker several years ago and from various attempts to be hired by the Hawks or Phillips Arena. The guys I work with that do follow the Hawks though are ready to kill Knight if we don't get a PG or C out of this draft though.