The Eastern Conference was just decided for the next 5 years

[CBAreject]

This is an unprecedented dynasty that Miami just bought. I wonder how much planning they put into this knowing that the contracts would all come up this year. I have a hard time believing Pat Riley didn't see this coming 3 years ago. It all is sickening and it seems unfair to us, but Pat Riley has figured out how to put together 2 teams now that will win championships. The first with the Shaq trade and this by signing the top 2 talents available in the biggest free-agency bonanza in history. Our Hawks have always been imposters, and the way we scrambled together talent the last 4 imes we've attempted to build a team (1-signing Mutombo/trading for Laettner, 2-trading for Rider, 3-trading Gasol for SAR to join Kukoc/Ratliff, 4-trading a windfall for the privilege to sign JJ to a max deal) have reeked of desperation, poor planning, and lack of foresight.

I'm going to say something unusual, based on my reading of the other posts, but Miami deserves this. They planned for it. They were patient. They didn't waste their draft picks like we did. They didn't scramble to make a trade to win now. They endured a couple of mediocre seasons, knowing that if they traded 3 first round picks for some middle-tier "star" in order to grab the 3rd seed, they would blow their chance at the greatest EC dynasty in 20 years. The EC now belongs to the Heat and they have no competitor. There will be growing pains and speculation this year as they learn to play together, but make no mistake, nobody in the EC can compete with this squad--especially not our Hawks who have no player that approaches any of the Heat's trio. Hawks designs on a finals run ended today. All the hopes of trading for Bosh and building a formidable 60 win squad and a shot a championship have evaporated, for even if we were to make a big trade at this point (now that all the stars are gone anyway), we couldn't hope to compete with this juggernaut. Basketball in every other EC city became about enjoying just being competitive with the rest of the conference, because the EC title for the next 5+ years belongs to Miami.

[HawkFoLife]

I don't think it will be as clear cut and dry as some of you think it will be. And no they will not win the next 5 Titles. That's being incredibly shortsighted and silly.

[CBAreject]

I don't think it will be as clear cut and dry as some of you think it will be. And no they will not win the next 5 Titles. That's being incredibly shortsighted and silly.

You may be right. They may not win the next 5 EC titles (note I didn't say titles, just EC champions, which isn't silly at all...the Bulls could've won 8 or even 10 in a row if Jordan hadn't retired), but if they lose, it won't be to a team whose best player is Joe Johnson.

[KB21]

You may be right. They may not win the next 5 EC titles (note I didn't say titles, just EC champions, which isn't silly at all...the Bulls could've won 8 or even 10 in a row if Jordan hadn't retired), but if they lose, it won't be to a team whose best player is Joe Johnson.

No, but they will lose to a team that has more than 3 really good players, which the Hawks do have. You are going to have a hard time trying to convince me that three players by themselves can win an NBA Championship. Miami has absolutely no room to fill out the rest of their roster with anything other than league minimum salaries.

[CBAreject]

No, but they will lose to a team that has more than 3 really good players, which the Hawks do have. You are going to have a hard time trying to convince me that three players by themselves can win an NBA Championship. Miami has absolutely no room to fill out the rest of their roster with anything other than league minimum salaries.

Nobody hopes you are right more than I do. Sadly, I do doubt it though.

[GameTime]

No, but they will lose to a team that has more than 3 really good players, which the Hawks do have. You are going to have a hard time trying to convince me that three players by themselves can win an NBA Championship. Miami has absolutely no room to fill out the rest of their roster with anything other than league minimum salaries.

We have more than 3 really good players? Who?

[ATLBob]

Miami has absolutely no room to fill out the rest of their roster with anything other than league minimum salaries.

Somehow I don' t think they're gonna have a problem finding volunteers.

[thecampster]

Yeah, this was brilliant, until someone blows out a knee. If Bosh goes down, who the hell will play below the free throw line. They have no salary left. If Wade goes down, they will have no one who drives to the basket with the ball from the top....they would be highly beatable in any kind of an injury situation (think San Antonio and what happened to them before they got Tim Duncan. A few injuries and they were a teens win team).

[GameTime]

Yeah, this was brilliant, until someone blows out a knee. If Bosh goes down, who the hell will play below the free throw line. They have no salary left. If Wade goes down, they will have no one who drives to the basket with the ball from the top....they would be highly beatable in any kind of an injury situation (think San Antonio and what happened to them before they got Tim Duncan. A few injuries and they were a teens win team).

If Joe goes down who do we go to? If Smoove goes down we lost our heart and soul. If Horf goes down we have no bigs at all.

[oldorder]

We have more than 3 really good players? Who?

Craw, JJ, Smoove, Horf

I count 4

[GameTime]

Craw, JJ, Smoove, Horf

I count 4

Craw is not a "really good player".

He scores points and that is it. He is below average defender, rebounder, passer, pretty much everything else.

[oldorder]

Craw is not a "really good player".

He scores points and that is it. He is below average defender, rebounder, passer, pretty much everything else.

First craw is not a below average defender, he is average at worst. I was not aware that he was supposed to be under the basket gathering rebounds. He is also a perfectly adequate passer. He scores us a ton of points and is clutch when the situation calls for it. He is a very good player.

[GameTime]

First craw is not a below average defender, he is average at worst. I was not aware that he was supposed to be under the basket gathering rebounds. He is also a perfectly adequate passer. He scores us a ton of points and is clutch when the situation calls for it. He is a very good player.

Bibby's horrid perimeter D must be blinding you. Jamal is a below average defender at best. He doesn't contribute in any other way other than scoring. When his shot is off (Had a career year in Woody's ISO offense which fits his style) he doesn't contribute.

I would love for you to define what a very good player is. Because IMO Crawford is not. He is a good scorer who doesn't really do anything else.

Wade-LeBron-Bosh are more than very good players BTW.

Edited July 9, 2010 by GameTime

[CBAreject]

First craw is not a below average defender, he is average at worst. I was not aware that he was supposed to be under the basket gathering rebounds. He is also a perfectly adequate passer. He scores us a ton of points and is clutch when the situation calls for it. He is a very good player.

Eesh, stop arguing. None of this matters. Trust me on this. Whether Crawford is a very good, good, average, or poor player (and for the record, though it matters not, I believe him to be a good to very good player) has no bearing on the outcome of the EC for the next 5 years. We are not beating Miami, and we may have a hard time beating Chicago, and certainly Orlando. As such, we are looking at 2nd round exits until we decline, and then it's first round exits until we tank and rebuild.

This team will have to go through at least one more tanking cycle before they contend for a title. Let's hope next time we're due for tanking, we don't botch it as badly as we did this last decade. Many of us were so young when this rebuilding started in 99, but we will have gray hair (if we have hair at all!) by the time the Hawks win a championship.