Letting Knight go was a stupid move

[exodus]

Quote:

---

However those players were CLEARLY RANKED 1 AND 2 BY EVERYONE NBA WISE.

That is a mock draft. But the gap between marvin and Paul/Deron wasn't seen as being very wide and given that pg is the second most important position on the team (and the fact that we had drafted 4 forwards the previous year) it made sense to take a pg.

It is funny how you point to mock draft rankings to justify Marvin over Paul/Deron but ignore those same rankings in regards to Shelden. Hello McFly, is anybody home?

[Diesel]

If you believe Gearon Jr. He didn't let Knight go. He begged Knight to stay.

[NJHAWK]

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

However those players were CLEARLY RANKED 1 AND 2 BY EVERYONE NBA WISE.

That is a mock draft. But the gap between marvin and Paul/Deron wasn't seen as being very wide and given that pg is the second most important position on the team (and the fact that we had drafted 4 forwards the previous year) it made sense to take a pg.

It is funny how you point to mock draft rankings to justify Marvin over Paul/Deron but ignore those same rankings in regards to Shelden. Hello McFly, is anybody home? The Shelden Williams pick was a HORRIBLE pick. Yes we needed interior defense more than anything but the Hawks should have at least worked him out. Im sure Shellhead was Woody in BK's ear saying get me an experienced big man who can defend. BK was very foolish here but every gm makes a foolish draft pick. Marv was a consensus #1 or #2 pick. Does BK deserve a bashing for Shelden, HELL YA. Should we have taken Roy? Why to back up JJ? BK should have traded down or traded the pick for a veteran big. At least he used Shelhead to get Bibby before Shelhead lost all value. However Shelhead was BK'S ONLY 1ST ROUND BUST. Getting Smoove at 17 was GREAT. Even Diaw at 22 wasnt that bad as it turns out. He is at least a quality rotation player. Plus he helped us HOSE Phoenix for JJ. Another one of BK's great moves.

[exodus]

Quote:

---

Should we have taken Roy? Why to back up JJ?

No, to play alongside JJ. They would be a great combo at the 1/2 or 2/3. Either way you have two guys who can create for themselves and others. The defense woouldn't be able to double either of them when they are both on the court.

Roy >> Marvin

Roy >>>>> Shelden

[NJHAWK]

I just dont see JJ as a sf and I certainly dont see Roy as a point guard. If Portland had any confidence Roy could play point he would start there over Steve Blake thats for sure.

[Packfill]

Quote:

---

I just dont see JJ as a sf and I certainly dont see Roy as a point guard. If Portland had any confidence Roy could play point he would start there over Steve Blake thats for sure.

Steve Blake is a better option at point guard then any other shooting guard on the Portland's roster is as a starting shooting guard - if Roy was playing point.

[vdunkndunk]

I don't mind BK's trades or free agent moves all that much other than Speedy, but the reason he just wasn't good enough in my mind was the draft. I know people say it's easy to criticize his draft picks after the fact, but with BK I think most people are frustrated because they didn't agree with what he did at the time, and over and over again it turned out that these people were right and BK was wrong.

For instance....

A lot of people in Atlanta (like me) desparately wanted Chris Paul and didn't want Marvin. I argued like crazy on RealGM for Paul (although every once in a while I waivered in favor of Deron), but I never seriously considered the idea of Marvin simply because we already had Josh Childress and Josh Smith, not to mention Boris and Harrington. Some people also wanted Bogut, but most people on RealGM didn't think the Marvin pick made sense. (I tried to justify the Marvin pick after we made it because I'm a Hawks apologist, but at the time I was pissed and so was everyone else I knew who actually cared about the Hawks.)

And like almost everyone else, I also hated the Shelden pick at the time and spent several months leading up to the draft talking about what I saw as his fatal limitatoins and arguing that LaMarcus Aldridge was a much better prospect. I admit that I eventually tried to justify the Shelden pick after it was clear we were going in that direction (because, again, I'm a Hawks apologist), and I did have this idea that a big man was a bigger need for us than PG, but I never thought Shelden was the right big man to fill that need and it seems like everyone knew the Shelden pick was a huge reach even at the time. I personally favored Rudy Gay over Brandon Roy once it became clear that Aldridge would be off the board by the time we picked, and even though it now looks like Roy would be a better fit on this team, I'd still take either one of them over Shelden any day.

I also think almost everyone wanted either AI or Deng over Chills. I admit that I had hard time deciding between AI or Deng - either one would have made me happy - but at any rate I didn't think there was a chance we'd go after Chills with the 6th pick. I love Chills at this point, so I don't really hate that pick, but still....AI or Deng clearly had and still have more star potential, and it seems like everyone knew it except BK.

I also went on record here with the idea that Stuckey would be a much better pick than Acie. While it's still a little too early to make a definitive judgment on that one, I think the fact that Stuckey played much better this season, is two years younger, and is longer and more athletic - all of that points to the fact that Stuckey will ultimately prove to be the better pick. Many ESPN writers are already lumping the Acie-over-Stuckey pick as another example of BK missing on the right PG. While there were many on this board who favored Acie, I still think the obvious pick at the time was Stuckey.

Really, the only two picks I've ever agreed with at the time were the Smith pick and the Horford pick. For the other picks, I had a fairly strong opinion that differed from what BK did, and in the end I can't help but feel we would have been better off if BK had just made the consensus pick. Everyone knew the Hawks needed a PG and were already loaded at SF when we took Marvin instead of Paul, and everyone knew Paul and Deron were big-time PG prospects. Everyone knew AI or Deng were better overall prospects than Chills. Everyone knew Shelden was a massive reach at 5 overall. It's not like BK always did the sensible thing and just had bad luck - usually he went against the grain and it didn't pay off. That's why, to me, this whole rebuilding process has been so frustrating.

[pimp]

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

However those players were CLEARLY RANKED 1 AND 2 BY EVERYONE NBA WISE.

That is a mock draft. But the gap between marvin and Paul/Deron wasn't seen as being very wide and given that pg is the second most important position on the team (and the fact that we had drafted 4 forwards the previous year) it made sense to take a pg.

It is funny how you point to mock draft rankings to justify Marvin over Paul/Deron but ignore those same rankings in regards to Shelden. Hello McFly, is anybody home?

Bk says he never looks at mock drafts. So he wouldn't know who the media had ranked higher.

[exodus]

Quote:

---

I just dont see JJ as a sf and I certainly dont see Roy as a point guard. If Portland had any confidence Roy could play point he would start there over Steve Blake thats for sure.

JJ is 1/4" shorter than Smith, our starting 4. He is also certainly strong enough for the position, stronger than Marvin by a mile.

Roy is a far better 2 than any other 2 they have so it is easy to play him there.

[Cwell]

I've always wondered why Joe is listed at 6'7 when he's every bit of 6'8.Marvin and Smoove aren't 6'9 either.

[AtLaS]

Don't forget that he offered Kenyon a max contract, luckily K-mart didn't want to play here or we'd be screwed. We should've never gotten the Horford pick, BK lucked up and fell ass backwards into it.

How anyone can defend BK is unbelievable.

[exodus]

Quote:

---

I've always wondered why Joe is listed at 6'7 when he's every bit of 6'8.Marvin and Smoove aren't 6'9 either.

NBA listed heights are strange. JJ measured 6'6.75" without shoes and Smith/Marvin measured 6'7" w/o shoes.

[Guest]

Don't forget about the big contract he offered Dampier.

I am glad that BK is gone, but what scares me is that he left on his own. From what I have read, Spirit was actually thinking about extending him. Doesn't that make you think twice?

[AtLaS]

The Terry for Walker trade sucked also. Not to mention the AJ trade was dumb and pointless.

Yeah, the Spirit are complete basketball idiots. The fact that there are so many of them makes it so tough to agree on anything, everyone has their own views and it just doesn't work that way. When I heard they were talking about Billy King that just ended it for me.

[NJHAWK]

He didnt offer Dampier anywhere near what Dallas gave him. BK offered him a lower deal and he is still a good starting center. Also teams like Dallas have the luxury of making up for mistakes like that because they are willing to eat those deals and spend the money to still add more. BK did not have that luxury and didnt make those mistakes. His only bad contract in 5 years was Speedy and that is pretty dam good considering the nba.

[NJHAWK]

Quote:

---

Don't forget that he offered Kenyon a max contract, luckily K-mart didn't want to play here or we'd be screwed. We should've never gotten the Horford pick, BK lucked up and fell ass backwards into it.

How anyone can defend BK is unbelievable.

Yes he did and are you going to say Denvers gm is terrible because they couldnt forsee KenYons injury. Also remember BK would not give up draft picks for Kenyon. Denver gave up 3 1st round picks I believe. Your comment about being lucky we didnt get Martin because it would have meant no Horford is silly. BK picked Horford over Yi and Wright, that wasnt luck THAT IS WHAT HE DID. If your going to say having Kenyon meant no Horford you could as easily say having Kenyon would have meant no Marv or No Shelhead.

[Wretch]

So let me pick my words carefully. For starters, save for last year's draft (and obviously JSmoove), BK has passed on every player that I wanted. Unlike many, I actually did want Chris Paul and was VERY vocal about what he meant to the team. So I have every right to criticize him. Honestly, I have never been too down on BK...understanding how long rebuilding takes. (LOL @ some people wanting to fire him after 2 seasons...just wow man.) At the same time though, I've never been too high on him either.

Some things you can take to the bank on this (or call me out on later if you like).

#1) When faced with taking a SG/SF or a PG/Big...all things being equal, you go with the PG/Big. Sure you can say "what if Marvin becomes James Worthy!?" at the same time you can say "what if Chris Paul becomes John Stockton!?" Both having great potential, take the damn PG because he will make everyone better. Those of us pining for a PG that year completely understood this. Why didn't BK??? Worse yet was that we were STOCKED FREAKING FULL UP TO THE NECK WITH MNFN FORWARDS. Billy should continue to be hammered over that decision.

#2) Getting rid of Billy Knight (or Mike Woodson for that matter) just to bring in another assistant head-cheese in training...that is a BS move. I just don't believe the best thing to replace BK is simply another short sighted GM with no DIRECT experience. I think it would hurt our situation moreso than any other because frankly...nobody has watched this team but us. Hell, ESPN/TNT couldn't even get half of our names right. Marvin Harrison? Van Gundy calls Josh Smith "Smoove"??? Pfft. Whatever...

Anywho, I put this all on the ownership. Worse than a short sighted GM or an inept coach...is a meddling ownership. I am not comfortable at all with these jokers at the wheel.

[NJHAWK]

That pick for Terry helped us get JJ.

[exodus]

Quote:

---

That pick for Terry helped us get JJ.

No it didn't. The pick we got when we traded Walker to Boston was the one we used in the JJ deal.

[HawksBalla]

Quote:

---

Diaw-18th pick-6'8 forward

Childress-6th pick-6'8 forward

Smoove-17th pick-6'9 forward

Marvin-2nd pick-6'9 fprward

Shelden-5th pick-6'9 forward

Horford-3rd pick-6'10 forward

Law-11th pick-6'3 PG

Wow. And doesnt account for JJ (6'7) and Harrington (6'9). He least he was consistent at something.

Joking aside, its sickening to know how many drafts we overachieved on. I have a sinking fear we're never going to get past the 2nd round (like the late 90s teams) because we missed on so many game-changing players.