It's called CHEMISTRY

[Atlantaholic]

Our starting five is too talented for us to have this record. Talent is the most valued asset for any team, and the hardest to obtain. Thanks to a plethora of top 20 picks in the last 4 years, the Hawks have lucked (or rather, "sucked") their way into getting one of the most talented teams in the East.

People were expecting us to win 36 games you say? Well yeah, we also expected the East to be much, much improved. As it stands, the East has never, ever been more pathetic. Last years team (had they been healthy) could have gotten off to the start we are of to this year. Despite the fact that we added two lottery picks and two of our players (Marvin and Josh Smith) have improved their games significantly... we are only playing marginally better than we did last year.

That is pretty pathetic.

[Packfill]

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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?

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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.

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The reason why expectations are so low is because of poor drafting and poor coaching over the past 4+ years.

If BK didn't pass on MVP candidate Chris Paul the Hawks would likely be one of the best teams in the NBA right now. Same thing if BK didn't misplace his brain and drafted Roy instead of Sheldon.

These are the reasons the team is struggling to win 35+ games instead of 50+.

The team management is f'ed from the top (Atlanta Spirit) on down (BK and Woody) and that has resulted in a poor product on the floor. What have any of these guys done that says I should trust them? Atlanta Spirit has demonstrated poor decision-making time and again: (i) agreeing to go into business with Belkin; (ii) retaining BK; and (iii) signing that horribly drafted agreement with Belkin regarding the buyout. Similarly, BK has made bad decisions time and time again: (i) hiring Woody (and hiring that flop in Memphis); (ii) Childress over Deng/Igoudala; (iii) Marvin over Paul/Williams; and (iv) Sheldon over anyone else. Should we even address Woody's inability to install a credible offensive system, poor substitution patterns and inability to make in game adjustments?

For that I am mad that this team has squandered the many lottery opportunities it had.

This current team is likely to suffer a fate similar to the Smitty/Deke/Mookie teams - good enough to get bounced in the first round of the playoffs but not bad enough to get a draft pick that is high enough to fill the voids on the roster.