It's called CHEMISTRY

[Vol4ever]

and this team and organization from top to bottom has none.

[Gray Mule]

Along with maturity, which neither the players or

coaches seem to have a lot of.

But, we have a BIG doghouse!!!

[coachx]

Its funny how we lose a game on a last second shot in OT and every one acts like the sky is falling.

Its no where near as bad as it seems people. We have lost 2, tightly contested games in OT in the last 10 days to 2 quality playoff teams.

Its not like we are getting blown out. We compete and are in every game.

A little tweak is all that we need.

[Packfill]

Quote:

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Its funny how we lose a game on a last second shot in OT and every one acts like the sky is falling.

Its no where near as bad as it seems people. We have lost 2, tightly contested games in OT in the last 10 days to 2 quality playoff teams.

Its not like we are getting blown out. We compete and are in every game.

A little tweak is all that we need.

---

Incorrect. This team needs major help if it wants to compete for a championship - which was the whole point of completely blowing-up the Terry/SAR team and starting from scratch.

[Lascar78]

It might have something to do with the fact that 3 weeks ago we were 4th in the East and that we are now 2 games under .500 and probably a couple of games away from being out of the playoffs. Or the fact that we still have no PG and no center for what seems like the 8th year in a row, our star player doesn't seem to care on most nights, we have the worst coach in the league and even the players seem to be finally getting tired of him.

This team has a ton of talent but I see little to get excited about until some moves are made. It wouldn't take too much to make things much better, but there are no signs that that's to come (unless Bernie's "resignation" is followed by more moves).

The problem isn't any single loss, just like no single win is that great. The bigger problem is the general trend that we looked decent for a while, and now have looked like crap for a while.

[coachx]

Quote:

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Quote:

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Its funny how we lose a game on a last second shot in OT and every one acts like the sky is falling.

Its no where near as bad as it seems people. We have lost 2, tightly contested games in OT in the last 10 days to 2 quality playoff teams.

Its not like we are getting blown out. We compete and are in every game.

A little tweak is all that we need.

---

Incorrect. This team needs major help if it wants to compete for a championship - which was the whole point of completely blowing-up the Terry/SAR team and starting from scratch.

---

This is exactly what I am talking about. (if this this not comical sarcasm)

No one who is sane thought this team would be any where near championship level this year or even next year. We are all expecting between 36 and 42 wins. We are on target for that. No one expcted a team to give away one of the 6 or 7 legit centers in the NBA for a box of twinkies either.

I don't think we were eexpecing a 21 year old Marvin, 22 year old Smith, and 21 year old Horford to win us a ring this year with a rookie PG and AJ...LOL

You have to learn to crawl before you start saying Hawks and Championship in the same sentence.

You know how many times Jordan got beat by the Pistons and Celtics in the playoffs before his time finally came to talk championships ?. Even Jordan was 27 or 28 before he got his first ring....Older then JJ is now.

Give me break and take a swallow of reality. Go back and look at post from before the season. 90% of us predicted 36 to 42 wins b/c we live in REALITY.

We saw in December what the squad is capable of.. going 9/4. We just come off off 2 tough OT losses to playoff teams and the sky is falling ? I don't by it.

The Hawks will get will vs. the Nuggs on Wed and gt back on track.

[Lascar78]

Just like evaluating Woody, it's not about the record, it's about the product on the floor. There are very serious flaws that won't just disappear.

[Gray Mule]

Just maybe:

Hawks have a 3 game losing streak.

They are 3-7 in their last 10 games.

Their record is 17-20 right now.

They start their west coast trip now.

Maybe it's because I, for one, expected a .500 average

for the season. I see that .500 slipping away now.

Sure, we played winnable games. Hawks were "right there."

But, they didn't win. They lost. 7 out of 10 times

they came up short.

Maybe I'm expecting too much. Maybe this Hawk team is

not capable of playing better. Maybe they're not

better than their record of 17-20.

They don't give up. They don't quit trying. They just

aren't getting the job done.

Who takes the blame? How many more 3-7 stats do we

see before someone awakens? At this rate, we end up

about 31-51 for the year, 20 games under .500.

[Packfill]

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Quote:

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Its funny how we lose a game on a last second shot in OT and every one acts like the sky is falling.

Its no where near as bad as it seems people. We have lost 2, tightly contested games in OT in the last 10 days to 2 quality playoff teams.

Its not like we are getting blown out. We compete and are in every game.

A little tweak is all that we need.

---

Incorrect. This team needs major help if it wants to compete for a championship - which was the whole point of completely blowing-up the Terry/SAR team and starting from scratch.

---

This is exactly what I am talking about. (if this this not comical sarcasm)

No one who is sane thought this team would be any where near championship level this year or even next year. We are all expecting between 36 and 42 wins. We are on target for that. No one expcted a team to give away one of the 6 or 7 legit centers in the NBA for a box of twinkies either.

I don't think we were eexpecing a 21 year old Marvin, 22 year old Smith, and 21 year old Horford to win us a ring this year with a rookie PG and AJ...LOL

You have to learn to crawl before you start saying Hawks and Championship in the same sentence.

You know how many times Jordan got beat by the Pistons and Celtics in the playoffs before his time finally came to talk championships ?. Even Jordan was 27 or 28 before he got his first ring....Older then JJ is now.

Give me break and take a swallow of reality. Go back and look at post from before the season. 90% of us predicted 36 to 42 wins b/c we live in REALITY.

We saw in December what the squad is capable of.. going 9/4. We just come off off 2 tough OT losses to playoff teams and the sky is falling ? I don't by it.

The Hawks will get will vs. the Nuggs on Wed and gt back on track.

---

YOU ARE COMPLETELY MISSING THE POINT!!!!!!!!!

The Hawks will likely backdoor into the playoffs this year because the east is terrible. That does not mean anything. I personally could care less about being a playoff also ran.

This team was, according to BK, constructed to win a championship. That is what he said his goal was when he started this whole thing. I understand that won't happen this year, only a dunce wouldn't.

The problem is the current collection of players, even given two more years of experience, isn't going to sniff a championship because of the obvious flaws in the teams construction (i.e., no depth, small frontline, poor point guard play, absence of post offense and lack of perimeter shooting).

[coachx]

---

YOU ARE COMPLETELY MISSING THE POINT!!!!!!!!!

The Hawks will likely backdoor into the playoffs this year because the east is terrible. That does not mean anything. I personally could care less about being a playoff also ran.

This team was, according to BK, constructed to win a championship. That is what he said his goal was when he started this whole thing. I understand that won't happen this year, only a dunce wouldn't.

The problem is the current collection of players, even given two more years of experience, isn't going to sniff a championship because of the obvious flaws in the teams construction (i.e., no depth, small frontline, poor point guard play, absence of post offense and lack of perimeter shooting).

---

No I'm not missing the point. I just have a different opinion. That does happen you know.

You guys do realize we are millimeters from being 5/5 from our last 10 games. We lost 2 tough overtime games.

I am not going to throw the team under the bus for that. We sawn in December what they are capable of.

If Law matures and a defensive big is added over the next couple of years....then I can see our current team playing for a championship in 2 to 3 years. Forthe record, I have said Law was the real deal for a very long time and stand by that.

In 2009 - 2010 I see major growth and polish on the games of Marvin, Smith, Horford, and Law. JJ will not have lost any game at 28.....just add a center and we have something. More then something, we would be challenging in the East with Toronto, Orlando and the Cavs.

Of course top 10 quality coach would be needed to achieve that. We can all agree that Woody is not that guy.

[DJlaysitup]

We went from 13 wins to 26 wins to 30 wins...that's easier than the next steps, like 38 then 45 then 52 IMO. It's always been my concern that BK would tear down the team, build for 5 or 6 years, then end up back where we started (record-wise). But you gotta give BK credit - even if it doesn't work out he will have cashed a bunch of paychecks, his buddy Woody too.

Heck, BK may even get a performance award this year for figuring out how to cut expenses (just fire the President and the CFO).

[DrReality]

I want to make the point that chemistry involves the coach as well. And to that extent our chemistry factor is near the Zero point. Fire the S.O.B.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Coach, just let them live in fear. 80% of this fan base is convinced that we're going to lose 4 out of 5 of these road games. Once that happens, all hell will break loose, especially if one of those losses is to Seattle.

The thing that concerns me about this team, is not the play of the starters. JJ, Smoove, Horford, and sometimes Marvin, have been doing their job every night. Chill hs been doing his job for the most part. But the rest of the bench is what concerns me. It would be nice to trade some of the expiring contracts, for a decent player we can bring off the bench that will produce.

As for the state of the Hawks . . .

We're 3 - 8 in our last 11 games.

In our last 22 games . . we're 11 - 11

We're just a streaky .500 team.

And the Nets lost AGAIN tonight.

[DrReality]

From ESPN:

Time to pass out the midseason grades for the Eastern Conference. Team are listed here in order of conference standing:

Atlanta Hawks (Grade: C) -- It's funny how some people think the Hawks have arrived. Yes, they can be great on given nights and have played their best basketball against the NBA's elite teams. But this team has far too much talent to be so inconsistent. I don't want to hear about their youth … they can compete NOW in the East, but they haven't figured out how to focus and mature to the point where they can be taken seriously.

[Guest Walter]

Quote:

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We went from 13 wins to 26 wins to 30 wins...that's easier than the next steps, like 38 then 45 then 52 IMO.

---

It's especially easier than the next steps after you had only a 4 game improvement. When you are rebuilding and you only improve from 26 to 30 games...that spells t-r-o-u-b-l-e. We should have expected between 8-10 games improvement minimum if we ever hoped to contend. Even winning the 3rd pick in the (2-man) lottery doesn't help that. Particularly when you go redundant and fail to get a player with superstar potential.

W

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Quote:

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From ESPN:

Time to pass out the midseason grades for the Eastern Conference. Team are listed here in order of conference standing:

Atlanta Hawks (Grade: C) -- It's funny how some people think the Hawks have arrived. Yes, they can be great on given nights and have played their best basketball against the NBA's elite teams. But this team has far too much talent to be so inconsistent. I don't want to hear about their youth … they can compete NOW in the East, but they haven't figured out how to focus and mature to the point where they can be taken seriously.

---

I don't disagree with that assessment. Of course they're a "C-team". Ish, in years past, we've been a "F . . a D+ . . or at very best, a C- team". What did the fan base expect? For the Hawks to be a B+ team right now?

But like coach hs pointed out, it's so funny to see how some of the fan base is expecting the Hawks to be 22 - 17 or something. Most of the board fully expected that the Hawks would win 36 - 42 games, and maybe just slide into the playoffs.

Now, that doesn't seem to be good enough. People are talking about being "championship caliber?" Please. Only a blockbuster trade, or Smoove or Marvin raidly developing into star players, with JJ playing at a superstar level every night, is going to get us to championship level.

An Anthony Parker, Sam Dalembert, Cuttino Mobley, or any other trade for a role player, only gets us to playoff level. even trading for Gasl doesn't get us to championship level.

My main beef with this team, is how the majority of this bench can't be trusted anymore. We may have to move some of those guys, to bring in a more consistent player, just to assure that we will make the playoffs. Even without the trade, we still have enough talent to be .500 . . as long as the starters play decent on a nightly basis.

(( talking like Dennis Green ))

"The Hawks are who we thought they were."

[Guest Walter]

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Most of the board fully expected that the Hawks would win 36 - 42 games, and maybe just slide into the playoffs.

---

They thought this based upon a sharply decreasing winning increase in consecutive seasons (from 13 to a 4 game improvement). Regardless of what people thought the record would reflect, this team is severely flawed and will never contend remotely as constructed.

BTW, I believe we'll win 34 games this season despite the lottery additions of Horford and Law. We'll see if that is the case but the teams' construct remains flawed and frankenstein. A major move and a minor move or two could alter it but we're trading from the least valuable positions (Sf) in order to acquire a player at the most valuable positions (Pg & C). We should expect to lose talent in any such trade and then the question becomes does this team, particularly looking at it's top two players (in a league of superstars), have the talent to spare. I don't think so. We need a major trade or two but even then it's almost impossible to trade up in talent or if you don't to make up for such a loss in talent with positional and skill set needs to such an extent as to suggest at best a 38 win team (minus talent but plus positional and skill sets) can contend.

W

[Packfill]

Quote:

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Quote:

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From ESPN:

Time to pass out the midseason grades for the Eastern Conference. Team are listed here in order of conference standing:

Atlanta Hawks (Grade: C) -- It's funny how some people think the Hawks have arrived. Yes, they can be great on given nights and have played their best basketball against the NBA's elite teams. But this team has far too much talent to be so inconsistent. I don't want to hear about their youth … they can compete NOW in the East, but they haven't figured out how to focus and mature to the point where they can be taken seriously.

---

I don't disagree with that assessment. Of course they're a "C-team". Ish, in years past, we've been a "F . . a D+ . . or at very best, a C- team". What did the fan base expect? For the Hawks to be a B+ team right now?

But like coach hs pointed out, it's so funny to see how some of the fan base is expecting the Hawks to be 22 - 17 or something. Most of the board fully expected that the Hawks would win 36 - 42 games, and maybe just slide into the playoffs.

Now, that doesn't seem to be good enough. People are talking about being "championship caliber?" Please. Only a blockbuster trade, or Smoove or Marvin raidly developing into star players, with JJ playing at a superstar level every night, is going to get us to championship level.

An Anthony Parker, Sam Dalembert, Cuttino Mobley, or any other trade for a role player, only gets us to playoff level. even trading for Gasl doesn't get us to championship level.

My main beef with this team, is how the majority of this bench can't be trusted anymore. We may have to move some of those guys, to bring in a more consistent player, just to assure that we will make the playoffs. Even without the trade, we still have enough talent to be .500 . . as long as the starters play decent on a nightly basis.

(( talking like Dennis Green ))

"The Hawks are who we thought they were."

---

Why shouldn't this team be 22-17? Guys BK deemed unworthy of drafting are LEADING their respective teams to better records than that. And let us not forget BK's wonderful record with coach hires (i.e, two of the worst in NBA history).

The reason why this team is barely a .50% team now and won't contend in the future is because of bad drafting and bad coaching. Three seasons ago the teams biggest holes were center and point guard and they are still the teams biggest holes.

Why shouldn't Hawks fans be upset about the teams state of affairs?

[Gray Mule]

Hawks were "right there" again. They mounted a massive

comeback after being "buried" early in the game.

Hawks played an exciting game. JS had his first ever

triple double. JJ came on late with a hot hand.

The losing continues. 3-8 for our recent past.

On our way? Going to the playoffs this season? Sure

we are.

Let's get this ship turned around and headed in the right

direction. Please!

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Quote:

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Why shouldn't this team be 22-17? Guys BK deemed unworthy of drafting are LEADING their respective teams to better records than that. And let us not forget BK's wonderful record with coach hires (i.e, two of the worst in NBA history).

The reason why this team is barely a .50% team now and won't contend in the future is because of bad drafting and bad coaching. Three seasons ago the teams biggest holes were center and point guard and they are still the teams biggest holes.

Why shouldn't Hawks fans be upset about the teams state of affairs?

---

I'm not saying the fans shouldn't be upset. But it's a known fact that the vast majority of the fan base picked this team to be somewhere at, or below .500. So to be 17 - 21 . . 18 - 21, should be expected by most of you. It's the fact that we played so well in December, and so bad this month, that has people bugged about this team.

But the Hawks are who we thought they were.

What the Hawks have to do, is hold serve at home, and win road games against bad teams. They have to keep themselves as close to the .500 mark as possible going into an easier schedule in March and April. That's when Golden St. mde their run last year.

This team plays much, much better at Philips than they do on the road. So when you get games vs a Seattle on the road, or catch an injured team, you need to wn those games. Last night was definitely a blown opportunity with Melo out the lineup.

We probably need to win 25 - 28 home games, to compensate for our road woes. Not an impossibe feat, seeing that we've played a lot of the East and West powers @ home already.

But if anyone expected this team to be 22 - 17 right now, that projects out to around 46 or 47 wins at the end of the year. The most I said we can win is 45.