Diesel presents the white elephant in the room...

[NJHAWK]

Right Doc...exactly right.

I think we are poorly respected around the league as far as player development goes. :kickcan:

Im not too sure about that. We have like the 3rd youngest team in the league and I think the only reason we arent the youngest is Bibby's age throws off our average, lol. Anyway were one of the leagues youngets teams but we took the champs to 7 last year and came close to winning 50 games and got to the 2nd round of the playoffs this year. Something tells me the rest of the league doesnt look at the Hawks and even Woody through the same glass half empty microscope that Hawks fans do.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

I don't think the problem is in the Horf/Smoove rotation. Put a real C with them and you have a very good PF/C rotation. Zaza plays a role, but isn't what we need next to Horf/Smoove. Some say that Horf didn't do any better when played at PF with Zaza at C. Maybe the problem is that Zaza was not the C you need next to Horf. Replace Zaza with Kaman, Camby, Biendrins, maybe even Bargnani and I think Horf would look much better in his PF minutes.

Keep Horf/Smoove/Marvin, bring in a real C to add to the rotation and sign Sessions, letting Bibby go. I think the imbalance we see would disappear. Better D, better post O and a point of attack at the point on O and D.

I pretty much agree with this. Add a guy like Camby on this team, who can consistently rebound and block shots, and the frontline is much more effective. I know Zaza is a fan favorite, but he flat out kills this team on the defensive end at times, with his lack of awareness and his lack of rebounding, especially defensive rebounding.

I don't trade Smoove or Horford just to put a big body in the middle. But I do bring in a big body to spell Smoove and Horford, especially in the middle of games. But Horford is way too dominant of a rebounder, to just let go for a mediocre center. And I'm not trading Smoove for a guy like Biendrins.

Look at the Lakers. They have the big body in Bynum, but Lamar Odom is almost always in the game at the end, in replace of Bynum. Then Gasol slides to center. A lot of teams that have those "stiff" type centers, opt to play one of their PFs at C toward the end of games.

Having said all of that, I don't know if there's really anyone available that is that much better than Zaza, unless an Okur would be available this summer ( if he opts out ). We can't LOSE Zaza, and not have a big body to replace him. Zaza does at least take up space, and battle on the offensive boards.

[DrReality]

You mixed your metaphors!

White elephant is something that is out of style, no longer in vogue.

Elephant in the living room is a problem that people ignore and walk around.