Doc's Diagnosis

[TheDude]

thanks for the idea Walter.....

I'm not a real doctor but I visited the Holiday Inn Express website last night.....

- Last night's game is why we traded for Bibby. It was so nice to see another consistent option shooting 3's last night. The two-man game with JJ and Bibby will be fun to watch. Can't wait for Bibby to heal so he can play more minutes.

- One possible positive outcome of the trade is that Salim gets more CONSISTENT minutes. We (including myself) get pissed at him for forcing shots in the few minutes he gets. I think the reason for that is that he still is not acclimated to that role of a few minutes. He's not a spot up shooter, he's a scorer, always has been. In college he was used to playing a lot of minutes and being able to work his way into the game. So hopefully now he'll get consistent minutes and can improve and contribute for us. But it's up to him, if starts chucking it as soon as he gets in, he'll be back on the bench again. In either case, we can get a good true assessment of what actually we have with him and can decide in the offseason if he can be good for the team. What am I thinking, when Law gets back (even if Salim plays well), he'll probably go back to 1 minute a game.

- Haven't seen Solomon Jones as much as I thought I would and I would have thought that he would have been a fine option in last nights game because of their lack of beef down low. I think that was a mistake by Woody.

- Josh Smith has GOT to learn to protect the ball when he posts up. I give him credit for working hard in the offseasons. This next offseason he should work on ball handling. He has a great eye for passing but controlling the ball in his own hand is a work in progress. A buddy of mine was in a basketball camp back in the day with Mark Jackson. Mark used to dribble the ball and challenge 5 attendees to try to get the ball from him all at the same time and they would fail. They need to do this with Josh in the offseason.

- Speaking of which- turnovers turnovers turnovers. I'm glad to see the team focus on defense and rebounding (well in the first half at least) because that's what killed us in the previous two games. But our turnovers got insane in the second half. Here's to hoping we grow up soon.

- Jeremy Richardson can provide this team with a solid bench effort. I like him and hope he sticks.

Hawks-Utah diagnosis....

They will try to dominate us inside. They have won 14 straight home games against us. We won the last meeting in Atlanta during our good days back in December.

Treatment plan - Horford on Boozer, keep him away from the basket, make him shoot jumpshots. Get Solomon some more time just to mix it up a little. Defense, defense, defense. Reboudning, rebounding, rebounding. No turnovers, no turnovers, no turnovers. Pray that Bibby continues to heal and not get worse.

[gsuteke]

Hawks are gonna get thumped tonight.

[Lascar78]

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one possible positive outcome of the trade is that Salim gets more CONSISTENT minutes. We (including myself) get pissed at him for forcing shots in the few minutes he gets. I think the reason for that is that he still is not acclimated to that role of a few minutes.

They have said that Salim coming out and just firing away was a Woody decision, and that he specifically asked him to do that. I have no problem with Salim's offense, and I know that with more minutes and a well defined role his shooting percentage would go up. He also is much better at giving the ball up and his turnovers seem to be down. My only issue with Salim is on the defensive end. He tries, but he is small and is just not that good. Ellis was able to shoot right over him with no problem.

As for tonight's game, I think the #1 key will be keeping horford out of foul trouble. We are done if he has to sit a lot.

It should be a good game though, Utah is one of my favorite teams to watch outside of the hawks. I just hope we can keep it close even though we are clearly outmatched.

[DJlaysitup]

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...Josh Smith has GOT to learn to protect the ball when he posts up. I give him credit for working hard in the offseasons. This next offseason he should work on ball handling. He has a great eye for passing but controlling the ball in his own hand is a work in progress. A buddy of mine was in a basketball camp back in the day with Mark Jackson. Mark used to dribble the ball and challenge 5 attendees to try to get the ball from him all at the same time and they would fail. They need to do this with Josh in the offseason....

That's exactly flockin right DocH...but let's realize. JS came out as a HS kid who could block shots, jump over the backboard and make the occasional jumper (he does have good form). Since then he has worked on his jumper, and his full-court ball handling has improved (that used to be a comical train wreck), and now he is beginning to learn how to finish - non-dunks. He has made MAJOR strides as opposed to MW....Smoove is also fairly court-aware...he is an OK passer (although he gets carried away sometimes).

P.S. - JS ain't never gonna get close to MarkJ when it comes to ball handling - ever. No hit on Smoove....if you had a guy who could handle the ball with Smoove's talent he would be unbelievable.

[Admin]

yes sir, that 2 man game with Bibby and JJ was freaking nice. It was like the defense couldn't just key on JJ and it would leave Bibby (who is damn sure not afraid to shoot it) wide open for 3 or vice versa. IMO this makes both of them much more valuable than they would be alone. I think that as much as possible they should be in the game at the same time and rest at the same time.

Salim was awesome last night. He got abused on defense by Ellis, but then again who hasn't Ellis been abusing on defense lately. Damn that kid can get to the basket!! I really hope we see Salim getting more minutes because he looked very comfortable passing it, shooting it, and he generally looked thrilled to be out there actually playing.

I can't for the life of me understand why Solo isn't getting playing time and it's really ticking me off. Last night he would have been a terrific matchup with Brandan Wright.

That first half was one of the most exciting of the year, a good portion of the 2nd half was awful but that was when Bibby was resting. I think we will be in excellent shape once Bibby gets healthy and the guys learn to look for passes from him that they have never gotten before with our other "point" guards.

I wouldn't write tonight off. It will be a very difficult game but I think we have a shot. The key IMO will be finding someone to consistently guard either Boozer or Okur, depending on which one Horford is on. I would prefer for Horford to guard Okur since he is a much better man defender than Smoove and hopefully Smoove will stay in the paint with Boozer. I don't expect a win tonight but I do think it could happen.

[DJlaysitup]

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....I don't expect a win tonight but I do think it could happen.

Well I'm a Hawks fan with a simple Ford Explorer - - -but I'd pretty much bet you pinks that we get killed tonight. Coaching/talent??/home court.

[DrReality]

And we have not done well when we play back to back games.

I was pleased at how Chill played pg. Thought this might be a better position for him given his shot. He's gotten where he goes inside a lot and that is to his advantage.

Lastly, there is a huge difference in our defense when Smoove is on his game. He changes the complection of the game.

[NJHAWK]

I can't for the life of me understand why Solo isn't getting playing time and it's really ticking me off. Last night he would have been a terrific matchup with Brandan Wright.

I never even thought of that. Thats a very good point. I know Woody saw that it was a bad matchup for ZAZA and put Horford back in. Wright is one of the few players who would not be able to muscle around Solo.

[Duff_Man]

I think Richardson will stick, and here is why: he uses his head. Last night he missed his first three. So instead of merely chucking more shots, he started to defer if he wasn't open. Also, he seems to defend pretty well and his passing is a little underrated. Not that he was lighting it up, but re-watching the game allows you to see some nuainces in each player's game. I think Rich is a keeper.

[yardbird]

A guy who could handle with Smoove's talent would be Lebron James . . .

[Atlantaholic]

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Hawks are gonna get thumped tonight.

Probably.

JJ is the player in the NBA who's production drops the most in second of back to backs... It's like an 7 PPG drop