I am not scared of Miami.

[Plainview1981]

You expect Horford to guard Dwight? Dwight was the reason we lost, we are the anti-Celtics. They can beat one man bandstands like Cleveland and Boston but struggle v. all around talented teams. We suck v. one man bandstand teams. Mainly because we always get dominated by those teams best player.

I'll PM you with a response.

[High5]

I wasn't too worried about Miami when it was just Wade and Bosh, but we just don't have the fire power to contend with those two + LeBron. LA and Boston are the only teams who have a chance at taking them down in a series.

[High5]

Bah, who needs Miami? I'm ridin with Zaza! :worshippy:

Can't wait for three games at Philips with thousands of fans screaming OV-ER-RA-TED! at Miami for 48 minutes.

~lw3

Come on, our home games against Miami are going to be awful. Now all the Wade and LeBron fans in Atlanta will be at the same game.

[Admin]

Come on, our home games against Miami are going to be awful. Now all the Wade and LeBron fans in Atlanta will be at the same game.

Philips will be sold out to cheer for the sell-outs

[buckeye242424]

It's easy, Miami takes the place of Cleveland as the best team in the East. They get the number one seed. We have no reason to think we cant be the three seed again...Hell, the SE could produce Miami, Orlando, Atlanta as 1-2-3...

[lethalweapon3]

Come on, our home games against Miami are going to be awful. Now all the Wade and LeBron fans in Atlanta will be at the same game.

It's gonna look like the Haters' Ball guys and the VH1 Basketball Wives merged their conventions. And when the band to which they hitched their wagons LOSES, isn't it so fun to watch them all pursed-lipped and heading for the exits early? Lovin the thought of it already!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

SuperCoolBeas will be SuperCooler now that he's off to Minnesota.

Sources close to the situation told ESPN.com that the Heat agreed Thursday night to a trade that will send Beasley to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who can simply absorb Beasley into empty salary-cap space and furnish Miami with additional financial flexibility to continue the dramatic transformation of its roster.

To complete the trade, Minnesota must only part with a 2011 second-round pick to acquire Beasley. The teams have also agreed to a swap of unspecified future first-round picks.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5365794

~lw3

[Dejay]

Hotlanta, I love your posts you say it like it is and don't hold back. :thumbsupsmileyanim: Seriously, as a Hawks fan how can anyone be optimistic knowing other teams are better than you.When I mean other teams I mean the teams who are already at the Hawks level or just below them.Yes the Hawks will clean up vs average and weak teams but if your any kind of team that's a given. If you want to compete for championships you must beat the better teams head to head. Can anyone honestly think the Hawks could beat Orlando,Miami,Boston and don't foget Milwaukee who almost beat the Hawks without Bogut and Redd.

It's nice to have JJ back but to reach the next level work must be done by Sund. It always seems like the better teams get stronger in the off season and the Hawks are just treading water. That's why the basketball world doesn't take the Hawks seriously and just look at the free agents they always go to the better contending teams not Atlanta. Very frustrating this is a pattern to well known as a Hawks fan. :help wanted3:

Oh God. I remember when the Celtics brought in Allen and KG a couple of years ago and folks on this board were like 'they'll get old and won't be nearly as good as they think they'll be'. They were one knee injury and a good 4th quarter away from winning a second title in three years. I'll take those odds all day long over hoping/wishing/dreaming/praying that Marvin visits the Wizard one day and gets some heart and courage.

Here's the bottom line, folks. Boston is better than the Hawks because they've gone further in the playoffs than the Hawks. Orlando, for obvious reasons, is better. Contrary to popular opinion here, Miami is also better. Chicago is just a step below but have millions of $$$$ to play with and the resources to make impactful moves; so do the Knicks and Nets. Milwaukee would've beaten the Hawks had Redd and Bogut played and they don't appear to be going south, either. What we're looking at is a 5th seed at best and an ugly first-round exit unless Sund and Co. makes a counter-strike to improve right now, not in 2013. Just bringing Childress back and some fringe guys from the NBDL isn't gonna get it, folks.

I really hope the $$$ the Notorious A.S.G. rained on JJ was just the beginning. With a lockout looming over their heads, the last thing they can afford to do after this is stand pat and say 'well, we have the gang all back, come see us get blown out in May'. If Northcyde, Sweet Lou, and others had a beef with fans in this town over being right about not taking them seriously enough to show up last season, imagine what ticket sales will look like if we see Randolph Morris and Othello Hunter riding shotgun on the bench again instead of some real players. Again, folks in town are many things but dumb isn't one of them. No town in America knows a phony from the Real McCoy better than we do. But don't just take my word for it. Ask Chipper Jones what it was like to see 10-15,000 empties in October after they were found out to be regular season-good, playoff-awful.

It's not like they have to make a move right now; they'd BETTER make a move right now.

GAME, SET, MATCH.

Edited July 9, 2010 by Dejay

[Endy9]

I think that we matchup well with them. Call me crazy. All we have to do is zone them up and force them to shoot. The only thing that bothers me is the refs. My god they may score 60 points a night off of free throws alone.

Like i said before Josh owns Bosh, Marvin probably does the best man on man d on Lebron of anyone in the league. As a team we do a pretty good job on Wade. Our length and athleticism will make the difference and remember there is only one ball and only one man can have that ball at any given time.

Now if Teague can ball this year. i like our chances against the Heat this year.

Not too many players in their prime will want to chase a ring for the vets minimun due to the fact that salaries are about to go down so they may want to gt all they can right now and say to hell with a ring.

I say we will be alright.

What gives me hope is they aren't focused on us. Despite our gains they still don't see us as serious competition. So the games they get up for will be Boston and Orlando. Maybe we can sneak up on them a few times.

[lethalweapon3]

I'd have been skerred of Chicago had they secured LeBron and Wade with the team they have now (Boozer, DRose, Noah). But Miami, with one Shaq-infused title between the three of them, remains a thoroughly incomplete team. They'll have no problem finding shooters, and will need more even with Mike Miller in the fold. They still need some reliable options at C (Bosh and Haslem will not be enough) before we just start forking over trophies or even division titles. Bosh, who has never endured a complete 82-game season, cannot be worn down in the paint over the course of the season and be expected to step up come playoff time. With Wade's reckless style and injury history, going down at the wrong time will leave this team looking eerily similar to Cleveland's regular-season-strong, playoff-wilting roster of recent years.

Meanwhile, the Hawks aren't ready to challenge even Orlando yet, but there is still time and room to make this team deeper in talent and options. We've seen Mario West turn into Jordan Crawford, and we'll need to see what A$G turns the likes of Randolph Morris, Joe Smith, and Jason Collins into. Plenty to look forward to. Next season allows the new coaching system time to gel and for the still-young stars to put a scare in these other teams' grand plans.

~lw3

[BusBoyIsBack]

I will say this, we don't matchup with Miami any worst than we do with Orlando. Of course that doesn't say much because Orlando just gave us the most lopsided beating in NBA history in the playoffs.

But I say that because the Heat don't have a big body presence like Dwight Howard on both sides of the floor. Josh Smith has had his fair share of success vs Chris Bosh. And although we can't contain Wade or LeBron really, it's just something about how Dwight Howard demoralizes this team by getting all those high percentage shots near the hoop and all those kick outs for 3 pointers and locks down the paint on the other end.

The Heat don't have that right now.

IF Jeff Teague can develop, then maybe just maybe there is a chance we could have our own "BIg 4" in Teague, JJ, Smoove, and Horford. Basically we need Teague to become as good as Russell Westbrook or something.

And maybe a lineup of Teague, Jordan Crawford, JJ, Smoove, and Horford could hang with the Heat offensively.

Edited July 9, 2010 by BusBoyIsBack