Are Hawks half empty or Half full?

[Guest Walter]

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I do have one last post for ya though Sweet Pea.

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I would hate for you to continue to prove me right, however, you've never let me down yet so I shouldn't expect less.

...Roy over SW

...34 wins closer than 40 wins

...And now yet another series of venomous posts directed against me by GSUteke to ensure that it's 80%, not 70% of his posts this week that are directed against me.

You are too cute you little loser you. Too cute (grab GSUteke by the ears, muss up his hair, and pat him on his little head). I love you like a parasite, but then again that's what you have become.

[Guest Walter]

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Keep the 'moronic' insults to yourself. You're clearly unable to get what should be a very simple point. You've been good at predicting the Hawks' problems. So what? Does it make you happy? Do you want a medal? I'm done discussing this with you.

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While Walter can be abrasive, I think he's made his point on this thread rather eloquently, which is that the accuracy of how one views a sports team is not just a matter of being a told-you-so jerk, but actually allows you to impact the future of the team.

A GM with the view that the team is close to achieving upper-echelon status will make very different decisions than a GM with the view that the team will never be more than slightly above average.

Since people on hawksquawk like to "play" GM with their suggestions on moves the Hawks should make, the accuracy of their views on the current status of the team are relevant in whether we should listen to what you have to say or ignore you.

If fandom to you means that you are just a rabid optimist, then I would love to go to Philips with you to root on the team, but I have no interest in reading your opinions on the Hawks since they will invariably be based on false assumptions.

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Of course I am to individuals who repeatedly are wrong about the state of the Hawks and then insist that their inaccuracy is a badge of fanDUMB. People hated the guy in class who always knew the answers. That is until he was successful. Then they wanted to be him.

I will by no means be successful by accurately predicting whom the Hawks should pick or what their level of relative success will be, but the Hawks themselves would be and I believe "rabid optimism" only disserves the team as it helps let ownership off the reality hook. That and of course, nobody should have the opinions of "rabid optimists" carry any weight.

BTW, I'm very different watching games than I am assessing them and while abrasive, I feel such is a little needed given all the nonsensical "rabid optimism" that year in and year out couldn't predict a rainy day if they were standing in it and follow-up claims to knowledge.

Maybe the always wrong fan is a better fan to a closeted few, but he's a worse predictor to all.

W

[TheNorthCydeRises]

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13 out of GSUteke's last 19 HOMECOURT posts have been about or related to ME!

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A lesson we all can learn from HomeCourt gsuteke 10/07/07 08:55 PM

I've decided to debut a new sig HomeCourt gsuteke 10/07/07 08:46 PM

Re: Jermaine O'Neal HomeCourt gsuteke 10/06/07 08:20 AM

Re: What nonsense. HomeCourt gsuteke 10/06/07 08:17 AM

Re: What nonsense. HomeCourt gsuteke 10/05/07 11:54 PM

Re: NBA SGs: Where is Joe Johnson on your list? HomeCourt gsuteke 10/05/07 11:51 PM

Re: NBA SGs: Where is Joe Johnson on your list? HomeCourt gsuteke 10/05/07 05:53 PM

Re: Better to be right than wrong, PERIOD! HomeCourt gsuteke 10/05/07 05:51 PM

Re: NBA SGs: Where is Joe Johnson on your list? HomeCourt gsuteke 10/05/07 05:10 PM

Re: What nonsense. HomeCourt gsuteke 10/05/07 05:03 PM

NBA SGs: Where is Joe Johnson on your list? HomeCourt gsuteke 10/05/07 02:46 PM

Lovefest continues: SI.com Hawks most improvet HomeCourt gsuteke 10/05/07 02:37 PM

What an @sshole HomeCourt gsuteke 10/05/07 02:11 PM

What a [censored]-up YOU are! HomeCourt gsuteke 10/05/07 12:10 PM

I wish like hell we had drafted Sene HomeCourt gsuteke 10/04/07 08:54 PM

Re: We've LOST this coming year's pick? HomeCourt gsuteke 10/04/07 08:43 PM

We've LOST this coming year's pick? HomeCourt gsuteke 10/04/07 08:19 PM

Re: Interesting how you respond to me that way HomeCourt gsuteke 10/04/07 05:35 PM

WRONG! HomeCourt gsuteke 10/04/07 03:44 PM

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[/indent]

SIXTY-NINE PERCENT

of what you've posted here in the last 3 days involves your hate towards or an attack by you on me. Sadly, that is not even a hate record for you. Your behavior is shall we say, ugly and obsessive. Wash your hands of it 1000 times or however many it takes.

GSUteke's therapy/punishment?

[TheNorthCydeRises]

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I do have one last post for ya though Sweet Pea.

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I would hate for you to continue to prove me right, however, you've never let me down yet so I shouldn't expect less.

...Roy over SW

...34 wins closer than 40 wins

...And now yet another series of venomous posts directed against me by GSUteke to ensure that it's 80%, not 70% of his posts this week that are directed against me.

You are too cute you little loser you. Too cute (grab GSUteke by the ears, muss up his hair, and pat him on his little head). I love you like a parasite, but then again that's what you have become.

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Just for fun.

Projected Hawks lineup w/Brandon Roy before training camp.

Starters:

C - ZaZa

F - Smith

F - M. Williams

G - JJ

G - Claxton

Bench:

G - Roy

G - Lue

G - Salim

G - Ivey

F - Childress

F - Jones

F/C - Batista

F/C - Wright

( one of the guys out of Jones, Batista, Ivey and Wright, would be on the IR. Probably Batista )

Starting lineup on opening night w/Roy on the team and Marvin out with injury:

C - ZaZa

F - Smith

F - Childress

G - JJ

G - Claxton

Bench:

G - Roy

G - Salim

G - Lue

G - Ivey

F - Jones

F/C - Batista

F/C - Wright

Injuries:

- Marvin still hurt in first 17 games to start the year. Returned on Dec 8th.

- Speedy is still off and on hurt in the first two months.

- Chill goes down after 7 games. Missed 19 games in Nov - Dec. Reutrned on Dec. 23rd.

And let's factor in Roy's early injury too. He went down after the 4th game, and missed almost all of 21 games after the injury. He didn't come back until Dec 20th.

Hawks lineup on November 18th, the first game Childress misses, with Marvin and Roy already out of the lineup:

C - ZaZa

F - Smith

F - JJ

G - Lue

G - Claxton ( hurt off and on now )

Bench:

G - Salim

G - Ivey

G - NDBL player ( Bozeman? )

F - NDBL player ( Freije? )

F - Jones

F/C - Wright

F/C - Batista

This lineup would have to survive for the next 10 games. When you look at this squad, Lue and Salim would have to come up BIG TIME, along with Smoove, on a nightly basis. And remember, this is early in the season. How many games could they win, when you go back and look at the opponents we played? ( last year's actual squad went 4 - 6 during this stretch. )

*****

Dec. 8th . . good news!! Marvin comes back. Bad news !! JJ is out for 4 games. And Speedy is having nagging injuries that is limiting his playing time.

Lineup:

C - ZaZa

F - Smith

F - Marvin

G - Lue

G - Ivey ( starts in order to conserve Claxton )

Bench:

G - Salim

G - Claxton

G - NDBL player ( Bozeman? )

F - NDBL player ( Freije? )

F - Jones

F/C - Wright

F/C - Batista

*****

Dec. 15 Good News !! Chill and Roy are healthy, and ready to get back to business. Bad News !! Lue just went down.

C - ZaZa

F - Smith

F - Marvin

G - JJ

G - Claxton

Bench:

G - Salim

G - Roy

G - Ivey

F - Jones

F - Childress

F/C - Wright

F/C - Batista

****

Dec. 22nd - Bad News !! Smith just went down for 8 games.

C - ZaZa

F - Marvin

F - Childress

G - JJ

G - Claxton

Bench:

G - Salim

G - Roy

G - Ivey

G - NDBL player ( Freije? )

F - Jones

F - Wright

F/C - Batista

I think you guys get the picture.

Moral of the story: If Brandon Roy misses 21 games to begin the year, the Hawks may have actually been WORSE in those months, than with a "less than 100%" Shelden and his shoulder. The question then becomes . . . would Brandon Roy make us a significantly better team in the 2nd half of the season? He may have emerged only when JJ went down, and the Hawks needed another shooter in the lineup. But who knows?

With that type of a merry-go-round in the first 2 months of the season, it's pretty easy to be "right" about a sub-35 win prediction.

Then JJ goes down at the end of the year? LOL.

I think we're better equipped this year to handle an injury or two. Even a Smoove injury, I believe, doesn't kill us this year, because we have Horford.

A combination of two of these guys being out ( JJ, Smoove, Horford ) would be catastrophic this year.

Graymule . . . Half full or empty? I say that every time we started to fill up the glass, somebody knocked the glass over and spilled out some water.

[gsuteke]

let's say we won the lotto. we'd draft Oden who would subsequently wind up needing microfracture surger.

Roy would miss significant time because of his heel injury.

would media people be picking us as a playoff team this year as they are now?

You see, it could be worse. Half full is my belief.