So is taking Yi out of the picture?

[BHayley]

I'm very intrigued by the possibility of taking him, a PG @ #11, and making a trade. Woody said that if we keep both picks we're still a "young team," so I have no clue what will happen.

I'd love to take Yi, even though his stock has somewhat subsided recently.

[BHayley]

^

[NJHAWK]

You cant rule it out. I think we are trading down, I really do.

[emorywjs]

I highly doubt that Yi is out of Hawks' screen.

But we can safely conclude that Billy does not repeat what he did last year. He is still waiting for a better deal, mostly likely through trades.

From Yi point of view, he worked out for teams like GS, Phily just like purchasing an insurance policy. But you can easily find that the cities he worked out are big with decent size of Chinese (Asian) population. Yi's being in favor of big cities actually put Atlanta in a better bargaining position against Grizzles and Bucks.

[Guest Walter]

Quote:

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I'm very intrigued by the possibility of taking him, a PG @ #11, and making a trade. Woody said that if we keep both picks we're still a "young team," so I have no clue what will happen.

I'd love to take Yi, even though his stock has somewhat subsided recently.

---

So knowing we've got to trade to truly fill the position, draft Yi at 3 and Pg at 11. Trade from our excess or strength at forward for a center. Milicic, Pryz, Nene, somebody has to be available and paired with ZaZa next to a 7' Pf who creates tremendous matchup problems we're set.

W

[BHayley]

Exactly. I've been preaching these exact transactions for the last month now.

We need Yi more than we need Horford. Shelden will evolve into a double double machine--just watch. A front court of Yi, Smoove, and Shelden is pretty formidable, plus after you've traded Marvin/+Chillz + PG, you have a serviceable big like a Joel Pryzbilla.

Getting Yi will also probably keep JJ in Atlanta, because I'm sure our front office is one more bad move away from getting a one-way ticket request from JJ outta town, and I don't want to see my man leave.

[DavidSomerset]

Are you saying to trade Smoove?

I know you have said Yi is a 4.

So you are either advocating trading Smoove, or moving the 21 year old who just averaged 16.5 ppg, 8.5 rpg, and 3.0 bpg from his position he is beginning to master to SF.

You Yi supporters are BRILLIANT!!!

[BHayley]

Keeping J.Smoove at the 4 is ridiculous. The 4 is meant for posting up and bashing the boards. Josh Smith is better suited to be a 3 who slashes to the basket. If you watch Yi's videos, you see a bunch of posting up and fadeaway jumpers, which is something Josh Smith has not developed yet.

I think Josh Smith has a ton of talent. Anyway, why would a 4 be shooting all these dreadful 20 foot jumpers all the time? If we weren't taking Yi and we kept the #3, I'd strongly consider including Josh in a trade for a big-time big man because Josh's attitude is not one of the more impressive assets of this franchise.

[DavidSomerset]

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Keeping J.Smoove at the 4 is ridiculous.

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If you think keeping a 21 year old at a position where he put up some pretty sick numbers (again...16.5 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 3.0 bpg) is "ridiculous", then I don't really have any desire whatsoever to carry this conversation any farther.

If you can't see Smoove's potential at the 4 after last season, there's no point in discussing this with you.

[BHayley]

Yeah, and for all those stats he put up, he bricked a million boneheaded jumpshots. I wouldn't say he's a defensive force; rather, he helps on weakside shot-blocking. To say that Smith could guard a much taller Garnett, Duncan, Dwight Howard, Jermaine O'Neal on a given matchup is ludicrous.

Also, do you mind showing me some clips of JSmoove's post game? You don't have to be a 4 to get rebounds...Look at LeBron James

[BusBoyIsBack]

Quote:

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Yeah, and for all those stats he put up, he bricked a million boneheaded jumpshots. I wouldn't say he's a defensive force; rather, he helps on weakside shot-blocking. To say that Smith could guard a much taller Garnett, Duncan, Dwight Howard, Jermaine O'Neal on a given matchup is ludicrous.

Also, do you mind showing me some clips of JSmoove's post game? You don't have to be a 4 to get rebounds...Look at LeBron James

---

Would you not agree that Josh Smith showed signs of improvement last year?

Of course he made bad decisions last year. If he didn't his name would be in the category with Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, etc because he's that talented.

Of course he still has to improve, that's obvious.

But you can't deny he showed strides of improvement.

[BusBoyIsBack]

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You cant rule it out. I think we are trading down, I really do.

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BK should be fired if we trade the 3rd pick.

My goodness would that be stupid if we screwed up a chance to get an all-star post player because we think we are "too young".

Don't they know this pick is a luxury pick?

Who cares if it makes our team younger if we could get a piece that could help us win a championship down the road?

I think they are scared that we won't make the playoffs next year which is why they are going for the quick fix.

BK said a year ago we're not about the quick fix, we're going to build this team the right way.

Well now that he's on the hot seat, he may be changing his tune.

Don't make that mistake Billy.

[Guest Walter]

Quote:

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Are you saying to trade Smoove?

I know you have said Yi is a 4.

So you are either advocating trading Smoove, or moving the 21 year old who just averaged 16.5 ppg, 8.5 rpg, and 3.0 bpg from his position he is beginning to master to SF.

You Yi supporters are BRILLIANT!!!

---

While I believe JS is more a 3 than 4 (but with MW doesn't play the 3 much and when he does the team is less talented because MW is sitting) believe that Yi and JS would be interchangable forwards. This actually works when they have both talent and varying skill-sets.

W

[AtLaS]

Quote:

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Yeah, and for all those stats he put up, he bricked a million boneheaded jumpshots.

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If you return him back to SF, he'll jack up even more shots. Remember the first 20 games of the season when he was the starting SF? Remember all the Smith bashing?

Quote:

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Smith could guard a much taller Garnett, Duncan, Dwight Howard, Jermaine O'Neal on a given matchup is ludicrous.

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Who can guard those guys anyway? And all 4 of those guys play as much time at center as they do at PF anyway.

[a1aa0]

You put him 1-on-1 vs. a lot of guys in the NBA and he'll get blown by... He is very slow laterally... What he does have is his innate timing ability to come behind the player he's been beaten by and block their shot...

I've always advocated him defending the worst offensive option (in the post) of the opposing team and have him coming across the lane for support... Even if this involves defending the opposing center... It'll have more teams shooting outside shots... They'd think twice about coming down that lane like they did when Deke was here...

I think fans (and coaches for that matter) can get too caught up in having the traditional 1-5 lineup out there... I think Phoenix (Diaw at center) and Golden State's lineups (Nellie's small ball) speak to this and the success they had...

[Nicholasp27]

smoove put up those bricks when playing SF

smoove's numbers are much better at pf than sf

he's the same size as amare, etc...he's a pf

[DavidSomerset]

Quote:

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smoove put up those bricks when playing SF

smoove's numbers are much better at pf than sf

he's the same size as amare, etc...he's a pf

---

Yi is a 4, who is going to get absolutely railroaded on defense for the first 2-3 years.

If Smoove is best at PF (I agree), why the heck do you want Yi?

[DavidSomerset]

Smoove should and will get the majority of the minutes at PF...He is one of the rising stars of the league, and plays his best at PF.

You are advocating taking minutes away from him???

Yi is a COMPLETE waste of a pick.

No place for him on this team.

[TexasPete]

If we take a project like Yi at 3 we all will get what we deserve. This Yi is Dirk stuff makes me laugh. Yi is the savior. LMAO.

If you truly understood Chinese basketball you would not go near this kid. China is light years behind the best countries. Light years.

Makes sense to take a physically not ready kid like Yi from a weak basketball country to play a position where we are stocked with young talent.

We will end up the total laughingstock of the NBA when this kid wets the bed. It will be BK took ANOTHER forward and fell for the hype and we got a kid not ready.

Yeah, that sounds real appealing.