New Sekou blog

[newkid]

Do you think that Petro is stronger than Horford?

Not sure if he's stronger than Horford, but he is a bit taller and I think heavier; a bit more of what Billy refers to as a wide butt. He may not be the 'answer', but he just might be a better complement (than Shelden) to our current frontline players.

[AHF]

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Isn't Batista having a nice pre-season with the Celtics?

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According to an article I saw this morning, he is one of four guys out of the 17 currently under contract in Boston who is considered a possibility to be cut by the Celtics. If the article can be trusted, there is a four man scramble for the last 2 spots on the roster and Este is in the hunt.

I would be surprised if they cut him given how much they could use an interior banger.

[Diesel]

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If Amare can play D on them, why can't Horford?

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Defense for Amare is related to how the team plays offense than how he plays one on one. I have not been impressed by Amare's one on one skills. Have you watched him defend? However, how well Amare plays one on one defense doesn't matter. That's the beauty of uptempo basketball. The intent is to outscore the opponent, not to stop them. So, Amare doesn't have to be a defensive stopper. He only has to get a few stops a game. The offense will pick up the rest of the slack because when you're team is converting more than it's being converted on, you're winning. IN other words... OFFENSE CAN and Does win games and championships!!

When you look at us, we barely have an offensive scheme. We definitely don't take advantage of our speed advantage... Therefore, there will be a lot of times we will be in a halfcourt set trying to defend. That's a hard road for Horford if he's out of position.

[Zone034life]

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I posted this idea on Sekou's blog a couple days back. Minutes for Shelden are likely to be quite limited with the addition of Al and the improvement of Solomon. Why not try and convince Seattle to take Sheldon in exchange for Johan Petro and a 2008 2nd round pick. Petro has the height and frame (he could stand to add 15-20 lbs), and Seattle is 'blessed' with a couple other 7-footers (remember Sene?). A relatively undersized, but very strong, center to add to other their over supply of 7-footers just might be of interest to the Sonics.

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Do you think that Petro is stronger than Horford?

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The question should be can he fill a bigger role on this team than Sheldon Williams. I say yes. Not because he will score more but he is more athletic than Sheldon and is a true center. He will take pressure of Al by allowing him to guard his natural position of power forward. This will keep him fresh throughout the season. I'm not saying Petro will be a better player but I am saying he will fill some of the Hawks needs more so than Sheldon. I would trade Sheldon for Diop and two second rounders as well.

[jerrywest]

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Diop was restricted

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Dallas didn't draft him, Cleveland did. Dallas signed him for peanuts.

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What's the point of bringing up Diop? Diop stunk it up so badly with the Cavs that nobody wanted him after that and he signed for near minimum with Dallas. He was lucky to get a contract at that time. No manager can be blamed for not signing him at that time.

[Diesel]

I like Petro a little but to give Shelden for Petro is foolish.

I think we can spend far less and get Petro. Moreover, I don't see Seattle parting with Petro for Shelden. They already have Collison. They are moving towards a more Athletic team (Paul Westhead - Offensive Guru). They would be more interested in a guy like Chillz. I also would not give up Chillz for Petro. I just think we go into the season and see exactly what we have and what we need.

[jerrywest]

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I posted this idea on Sekou's blog a couple days back. Minutes for Shelden are likely to be quite limited with the addition of Al and the improvement of Solomon. Why not try and convince Seattle to take Sheldon in exchange for Johan Petro and a 2008 2nd round pick. Petro has the height and frame (he could stand to add 15-20 lbs), and Seattle is 'blessed' with a couple other 7-footers (remember Sene?). A relatively undersized, but very strong, center to add to other their over supply of 7-footers just might be of interest to the Sonics.

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Do you think that Petro is stronger than Horford?

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The question should be can he fill a bigger role on this team than Sheldon Williams. I say yes. Not because he will score more but he is more athletic than Sheldon and is a true center. He will take pressure of Al by allowing him to guard his natural position of power forward. This will keep him fresh throughout the season. I'm not saying Petro will be a better player but I am saying he will fill some of the Hawks needs more so than Sheldon. I would trade Sheldon for Diop and two second rounders as well.

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Heck, I would trade Shelden + AJ + Selim + 2 second rounders for Diop at this time.

[jerrywest]

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I like Petro a little but to give Shelden for Petro is foolish.

I think we can spend far less and get Petro. Moreover, I don't see Seattle parting with Petro for Shelden. They already have Collison. They are moving towards a more Athletic team (Paul Westhead - Offensive Guru). They would be more interested in a guy like Chillz. I also would not give up Chillz for Petro. I just think we go into the season and see exactly what we have and what we need.

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How about Marvin for Petro?

[exodus]

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What's the point of bringing up Diop? Diop stunk it up so badly with the Cavs that nobody wanted him after that and he

signed for near minimum with Dallas

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You just answered your own question.

[newkid]

Diesel, you might have missed the second part of the proposed trade (i.e., AND a 2nd rounder in '08). The difference between Shelden's and Petro's salaries may even require such a package. This 2nd rounder allows us to package a couple '08 2nd rounders (with perhaps another 'asset') to get into the '08 lottery and perhaps fetch the kid from Georgetown or the kid from Stanford. Petro helps to fill an immediate need, one that can't be adequantely addressed by Shelden, and the 2nd rounder becomes yet another asset to use to continue to build the team.

I agree Petro isn't going to 'answer all of our questions' at the 5 spot. Frankly I don't think we can get such an answer in the near term without blowing up this emerging roster, and that my friend would be foolish. But to 'sit on' Shelden (until the trade deadline) is to compromise our ability to position ourselves for a 2nd half playoff run.

Could we spend less and get Petro? Perhaps. But it does take at least two to consumate a deal (unless of course it's a mugging). Gotta give value to get value in most instances.

I do agree that - for this deal to work - Seattle would need to be convinced that Shelden brings something to the team that the Sonics don't currently have in the array of 4/5's under contract. That might take a lot of convincing.

[jerrywest]

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What's the point of bringing up Diop? Diop stunk it up so badly with the Cavs that nobody wanted him after that and he

signed for near minimum with Dallas

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You just answered your own question.

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Countless washouts flood the market and on a rare occasion one of them turn out to be something special. How do you know which one to pick?

[prolific25]

No...he didn't answer his own question. You can't blame BK for not signing some one percieved as a bust. If Hoffa was signed for the minimum and then turned out to be a quality backup you can't blame BK for that. It's the ultimate example of being a Monday morning QB(unless you are on record saying he should have signed Diop 2 years ago which I doubt). Maybe BK should have went out of his way to sign Luke Jackson and Rodney White as well. However...I do agree he should have made a serious attempt at Nene(or Chandler).

[Diesel]

First off,

Again, Why does Seattle do this?

If the answer is because the Hawks need a big, then you can pretty much veto this call.

[Zone034life]

Foolish is too steep of a word to use. I don't think teams across the NBA look at Sheldon in the same light as you. I realize Sheldon may not fit into the sonics scheme but the trade proposal was to point out Petro can fit into the Hawks better than Sheldon. What Sheldon brings to the table simply does not out weigh what a true center on this team can bring. Do you ever see Sheldon being a regular starter on this team barring injury? His production as far as points and reboounds can be made up by ZaZa/Horford/Smoove/Solo/Petro. The good thing about the Hawks having so much young talent is that they can loose a landlord and fill there center need and still be in good shape.

Sheldon is not needed more than a defensive center like Diop,Petro,Haywood or a package for Camby.

[exodus]

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What's the point of bringing up Diop? Diop stunk it up so badly with the Cavs that nobody wanted him after that and he

signed for near minimum with Dallas

.

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You just answered your own question.

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Countless washouts flood the market and on a rare occasion one of them turn out to be something special. How do you know which one to pick?

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There aren't many players with Diops size and mobility in the league. We desperately needed size and could have gotten him cheap.

We signed Lo for the same thing they signed Diop for. We knew Lo sucked. At least Diop had a chance at having some upside.

If you keep waiting for a center you can get with no risk involved you are going to be waiting a long time.

[AHF]

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We signed Lo for the same thing they signed Diop for. We knew Lo sucked.

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We didn't know Lo sucked nearly this badly, though. His projected productivity based on the 3+ years before he played with us indicated he would not drop off the face of the earth like he did last season. Both he and Speedy were unexpectedly bad.

[Gangstur]

Well, what do you want BK and the Hawks to do about it now?

Yeah, it was a huge blunder on BK's part not to sign Diop. We can all agree on that. A real travesty. But these are the players we have to work with, and I don't think BK has missed out on any realistic opportunities to pick up a big man this off-season, or last off-season that I can think of.

I get the picture that you don't think Al Horford is really the answer. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't, but he's certainly an improvement, and teamed with the rest of the front court, I think he'll be a big piece of the puzzle. And anything he's able to do at center is a bonus.

Yes, Lorenzen is a garbage can, and that's all that's really out there for the taking. At least we're not paying a ton of long term $$ for the garbage can.

If the biggest concern going into the season is how to defend Shaq and Dwight Howard, then this team has really come a long way. But I really don't think the likes of Eddie Curry and Jermaine O'Neal are going to terrorize these guys inside. Big enough bodies are going to be coming at them from all angles.

[exodus]

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We signed Lo for the same thing they signed Diop for. We knew Lo sucked.

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We didn't know Lo sucked nearly this badly, though. His projected productivity based on the 3+ years before he played with us indicated he would not drop off the face of the earth like he did last season. Both he and Speedy were unexpectedly bad.

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Lo averaged a whopping 6/5 his last season in Memphis. Plus he played here before and wasn't even remotely the physicaly inside presence then that we need now.

Memphis needs inside help badly yet made no effort to retain him. That is pretty instructive.

[exodus]

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Well, what do you want BK and the Hawks to do about it now?

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How about facing reality?

Howard isn't going anywhere. We are going to be facing him for a long time. Should we continue year after year without a player who has any hope of guarding him?

Maybe if we keep wishing hard enough Horford will eventually turn into a star center.

[AHF]

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We signed Lo for the same thing they signed Diop for. We knew Lo sucked.

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We didn't know Lo sucked nearly this badly, though. His projected productivity based on the 3+ years before he played with us indicated he would not drop off the face of the earth like he did last season. Both he and Speedy were unexpectedly bad.

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Lo averaged a whopping 6/5 his last season in Memphis. Plus he played here before and wasn't even remotely the physicaly inside presence then that we need now.

Memphis needs inside help badly yet made no effort to retain him. That is pretty instructive.

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I am not saying that Lorenzen Wright was anything special. I am saying it was reasonable to expect more than we saw from him:

14.46

14.06

13.98

12.19

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6.65

The guy was only 31 when we signed him - not 38. I don't know that at 31 it was reasonable to project significant career lows in every category from %s, to ppm, to rpm, etc. (with the exception of a slight increase in assists per minute).

He clearly was not an impact player or a young, rising player. However, it was reasonable to expect that he would be able to give you significantly more productive minutes than we got.