ESPN Summer Forecast...East Predictions

[Mr. C]

Of course, you can only take these type of things w/ a grain of salt.

10 Atlanta Hawks 37 45 .451 37 45 .451

Good news: The Hawks gave the Celtics a tougher playoff series than the Lakers did. Bad news: Josh Childress flew to Europe. Good news: The Baby Birds are a year older. Bad news: The East is deeper. More bad news: Another 37-win season probably doesn't get it done.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?p...asonPredictions

What y'all think???

[Swish]

I could care less what they say. ESPN has proven pretty much they know nothing as far as making predictions. Who cares?

We are considerably better than at least nine teams in the East IMO.

[Mr. C]

I could care less what they say. ESPN has proven pretty much they know nothing as far as making predictions. Who cares?

We are considerably better than at least nine teams in the East IMO.

Yes...I totally agree 100%. That "article" is proof. That's why I said you can only take it with a grain of salt...lol.

[HawkItus]

I have no problems with it. This team under achieved last year with much of the same cast. Bibby had a down year with injuries/playoff performance. Woodson lost a lot of his assistants. Chicago and Miami did both get better. The Hawks have to prove themselves.

[crimedog]

We didn't make a coaching change, we lost Chil, we didn't make a big move, we didn't get a proven frontcourt vet.

I think that Joe will have a bounce back year, I think Chil's absence will make Josh and Al more efficient around the hoop, I think our new additions fit the team better, I think having Bibby around for camp will help our flow, and we are a year older.

Positives outweigh the negatives if you are talking strictly in terms of our record compared to last season.

At this point I think we should be equal to Washington, the question is whether the players click.

[tmac13]

I could care less what they say. ESPN has proven pretty much they know nothing as far as making predictions. Who cares?

We are considerably better than at least nine teams in the East IMO.

Please name the 9 eastern teams that the Hawks are considerably better than.

[Swish]

Please name the 9 eastern teams that the Hawks are considerably better than.

My pleasure.

1. Miami

2. New Jersey

3.Charlotte

4. Chicago

5. Milwaukee

6. Indiana

7. New York

8. Washington

9. Toronto

I can explain if necessary...

[frosgrim]

My pleasure.

1. Miami

2. New Jersey

3.Charlotte

4. Chicago

5. Milwaukee

6. Indiana

7. New York

8. Washington

9. Toronto

I can explain if necessary...

I agree Swish, to a point (see below). The thought that Miami is going to be a good team this year is laughable. Can someone name their point guard and how about their center? 'Nuff said.

The teams that I think might be better than the Hawks on your list are Chicago (50/50 there), Washington (Arenas/Jamison/Butler is hard to beat consistantly), Toronto (depends on the health of JO and if he's willing to do the dirty work again). I am a little concerned about Indy as they made a nice run at the end of the season. Another 5 games and they may have passed the Hawks. They now have Ford who will work much better than Tinsley at the point.

Other than those, I think you are right on.

[Swish]

OK, frosgrim, thanks for the response. I see where you are coming from on Washington and possibly the Raps. Lets look at Chicago first. I just don't see it.

Rose/

Hinrich/Gordon?

Deng/Hughes

Gooden/Ty Thomas

Noah

Now---would you really take that group of misfits over Joe Johnson, who is better by a long mile than Deng, Josh Smith, also better than Deng, Al Horford, maybe better than Deng (I use Luol as he is their "goto guy") and Mike Bibby, who for this year I will take over Derrick Rose. I don't see it. Maybe I am missing something.

As for Indiana...no! Anybody who thinks the lineup the Pacers trot out their this year can win anything is either a Pacers fan or delusional. If this is the starting five:

Ford

Daniels

Dunleavy

Murphy

Rasho

, They are one of the worst teams IMO.

As for the Raps...I don't see O'Neal making that big of a difference, though up front they are downright scary. I look forward to Bosh/ONeal vs. Horford/Smoove big time though. Beyond that they are desperately thin. Crapono, Calderon, and Bargnani? Maybe Jamario Moon? Please.

As for Washington...I agree. If healthy and firing on all cylinders they should, on paper, be perhaps better than Detroit and Orlando. Agent Zero, Hibachi, or whatever the f he wants to be called is overrated and injury prone. Sure, he can score, but he's not as good as Joe IMO. Jamison is solid, but he is short and old. Butler is their most valuable player to me. Again, with Washington, they can be superb, but I think it would take a miracle for them to be better than last year.

As for us, with new guys in the fold, Bibby for a year, and Smoove and Horford growing, I see only daylight.

[Gray Mule]

15 teams in the East.

Last season, Atlanta ended up # 8.

Next season, with another year's experience and ALL five starters returning and apparently

100% healthy, we are to fall to # 10.

Wow! 9 teams are better than the Hawks. 5 are projected to finish with fewer wins.

Another 37 win season, with almost every team in the east SO much better. Huh??

[crimedog]

I think what they did was that they took our growth, subtracted Chil, assumed all other teams were going to be better (not entirely sure why) and said we'd be the same as last season :. have the same record. That doesn't take into account that we were a tale of two seasons last year starting out as a slow, grind it out team with good defense and ending as a solid offensive team with very little defense or depth.

Restocking the frontcourt, even with scrubs, and having an extra couple players in the backcourt who can play in the NBA should help with the depth problem and hopefully we will be solid on both sides of the ball.

I don't see Chi as being good, as I've said before, when they were good a couple years back it was because of their defense. Now they have no elite defensive players and still have no post scoring or proven slashers.

Miami will only get 39 wins if they let Wade go out there and destroy himself again, they don't want to do that.

[Lascar78]

I agree Swish, to a point (see below). The thought that Miami is going to be a good team this year is laughable. Can someone name their point guard and how about their center? 'Nuff said.

Last year's champs had Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins. They averaged 6/3 and 4/5 the previous year. Marion, Wade, and Beasley could easily end up being better than us. And Toronto will definitely be better than us, not even close

[tmac13]

My pleasure.

1. Miami

2. New Jersey

3.Charlotte

4. Chicago

5. Milwaukee

6. Indiana

7. New York

8. Washington

9. Toronto

I can explain if necessary...

Toronto was better than us last year without JO. If he gives them anything at all they will be improved. Washington was also better and has a healthy Arenas this year. Two years ago Chicago was an up and coming playoff team and now they have added Rose and could easily regain form. Miami is also a team that could make a huge leap but I don't think they are better than the Hawks. Milwaukee has improved and Charlotte with Larry Brown is another team to look out for.

I appreciate your enthusiasm but to say we are "considerably" better than any of the teams I mentioned is just not true. We may be a little better than a few but we have done nothing to catch up to Washington and Toronto.

Edited August 29, 2008 by tmac13

[crimedog]

Last year's champs had Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins. They averaged 6/3 and 4/5 the previous year. Marion, Wade, and Beasley could easily end up being better than us. And Toronto will definitely be better than us, not even close

Perkins and Rondo are both elite defenders and were so before KG got there. Blount exclusively and offensive player, and not a special one, and Chalmers is a rookie second rounder.

Marion doesn't really fit on that team until they can get a distributor who can get him the ball in his sweet spots and some shooters to get him space for cuts. Beasley, who I love, is a rookie which means he'll need some time.

In about 2 years, I have no doubt they'll be better than us unless Smith and Al get midrange jumpers and Marv a 3pt shot but til then I'm less concerned.

[DrReality]

ESPN:::::::: The are a legend in their own minds.

[oiatlhawksfan]

last season out of the 15 "experts" one picked up to make the playoffs.

[Admin]

last season out of the 15 "experts" one picked up to make the playoffs.

So they had about 6% picking us to make the playoffs, which I'd bet is a higher percentage than people here who predicted that we would make the playoffs before the season started. I'm extremely proud of what our guys accomplished, but it took a historically bad eastern conference to get us into the playoffs so nobody in their right mind should have picked us for the playoffs last year. I'm sure many more will pick us for the playoffs this year, but the number will probably still be fairly low as we'll have to prove it wasn't a fluke and prove that we can win without Chillz contributions.

I believe that we'll be back in the playoffs next year though fo sho!

[frosgrim]

Last year's champs had Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins. They averaged 6/3 and 4/5 the previous year. Marion, Wade, and Beasley could easily end up being better than us. And Toronto will definitely be better than us, not even close

Boston also had Ray Allen and KG. Both of those guys open the floor and require double teams when on. All Miami has are slashers. There are no shooters on that team. Defenses will play 2-3 zones all day against them and Miami will be lucky to score 85 a game.

People on this board amaze me how much they discredit the Hawks talent. Amazing.

[swolehawk2]

Of course, you can only take these type of things w/ a grain of salt.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?p...asonPredictions

What y'all think???

I think this team will be better even with Woodson coaching. I think a full year with M-Bibby can only help and adding two gritty bastards like Flip and Mo will do wonders for our toughness. If ZaZa could only understand his role on this team we would be a lock for the playoffs. If Z came off the bench and focused only on rebounding and defense we would be a much better team.

[DrReality]

Hoopsworld.com

?????

Selling More Tickets in 2008-09

By: Jason Fleming Last Updated: 8/29/08 6:44 PM ET | 920 times read

Adjust font size:Every team in the league wants to sell more tickets, more jerseys, more hats, and to do that they do their best to put a product on the floor people want to shell out money to watch. Not all the plans work as well as a team would like, so they make other moves. Every move a team makes impacts that bottom line.

So who made moves this summer that will put more fans in the seats? And who didn't? Let's take a look.

Three Teams Who Should See a Boost

Philadelphia 76ers: The Sixers ranked 23rd in the league in attendance last season, pulling in 14,870 fans a game. That was only 73% of capacity for the team. After a strong playoff run and the addition of superstar power forward Elton Brand from the Los Angeles Clippers, as well as retaining Andre Iguodala and Louis Williams, expect the Sixers to push that percentage much closer to capacity.

Atlanta Hawks: The Hawks have become the poster child for no fans in the stands in recent seasons, but they finished 20th overall in attendance last season at 16,280 a game and 87% capacity. Considering the frenzied, packed houses the Hawks hosted in their first round series – and almost upset – of the eventual champion Boston Celtics, the team hopes to build on that in 2008-09 as all of their young players now have one more year and playoff experience under the belts.

Memphis Grizzlies: 29th in the league in attendance at only 12,270 a night (69% capacity), the Grizzlies are a team of great young talent people should take notice of. Actually, the addition of O.J. Mayo by himself is probably worth a decent amount of tickets sold. Add in the outstanding play of Rudy Gay and international additions of Spain's Marc Gasol and Iran's Hamed Haddadi and not only will the Grizz be getting money from Memphis, but all over. Anyone else see Iranian tours to Memphis becoming a big item across the Pacific?