Will we go 0-12 against Miami/Boston/Orlando?

[GameTime]

I don't care about how we do in the regular season. It is meaningless except for playoff seeding. And speaking of which we're the third best team in the Southeast division which is going to hurt our seeding no matter what our record is. What we should care about is actually having a chance to beating teams in the playoffs.

We don't have a team that can beat a top three seed in the playoffs. It is just that simple.

I disagree. The regular season means A LOT for us for playoff seeding. Us having a better regular season record than either Miami/Orlando is CRUCIAL. We can not be a fifth seed and win. We are just not built for it as is.

Edited August 6, 2010 by GameTime

[AHF]

1-3 Miami

1-3 Orlando

3-1 Beantown

5-7 Overall. Not too shabby for the best also-ran squad money (or a lack thereof) can buy.

~lw3

. 5-7 seems very reasonable to me.

[Sothron]

I disagree. The regular season means A LOT for us for playoff seeding. Us having a better regular season record than either Miami/Orlando is CRUCIAL. We can not be a fifth seed and win. We are just not built for it as is.

I hate to say this but let me break it to you man: we're not finishing with a better regular season record than Miami or Orlando. Miami is going to be out to try and get 71 wins and Orlando will be right behind them to try and not drop in seeding. We're going to finish with at best the third best record in our division.

[jerrywest]

Didn't ASG say that they would pay luxury tax when this team is good enough to fight for championship? or was that another con job?

[Sothron]

Didn't ASG say that they would pay luxury tax when this team is good enough to fight for championship? or was that another con job?

Con job.

[thecampster]

I hate to say this but let me break it to you man: we're not finishing with a better regular season record than Miami or Orlando. Miami is going to be out to try and get 71 wins and Orlando will be right behind them to try and not drop in seeding. We're going to finish with at best the third best record in our division.

Basketball is so much more than just marquee names. The players have to fit together on the floor. I see nightmares on that roster related to post play and point guard play. Who is going to distribute while driving to the basket? You still have to move without the ball, play your position and play solid team defense. I'm not sold that even with 3 24+ a game scorers that they can do the things necessary to mesh as a team.

The Hawks on the other hand are going to have a much better offensive philosophy. They will play for Drew. They as a team had very little faith in Woodson. That alone is worth a couple of wins. They won't be switching Bibby onto small forwards and Horford onto point guards. Lastly, only Mike Bibby will be older in a bad way on this team this year. Horford, Williams, Smith, Teague should all be older in a good way. Do not discount this. It's like a minor upgrade at 4 positions out of our top 8.

Based solely on continuity, the fall of Cleveland, the aging of the Celtics, I could see the Hawks winning 55+ games this year. I can see the Heat losing 10 games alone based on sharing the ball issues, an inability to play 5 man team defense and floor spacing. Now if Miami stays together 3 years, I could see them challenging that 71 win mark but not this year.

Lastly, remember that it's a very long season. Miami has sunk so much money into the big 3 that if one of them goes down for any length of time, they will not have the system, players to make up the difference. I'm not saying they're a .500 team, but I am saying that it's not what it looks like on paper. I see a number of players on that roster that all move at different speeds, play different types of a team game. Getting the most out of their talent is going to be a nightmare. Getting shots for the anyone not named Bosh, Wade, Lebron is going to be hard and is going to take a mental toll on those players. When players with career averages of 12 points a game start scoring 6 a game, their ego's kick in.

[frosgrim]

Campster, I agree with the notion behind your post, but I don't think Miami is going to have a lot of ball sharing problems.

Wade is the leader of that team as evidenced by him bringing in guys to play in Miami. Lebron is just as happy dishing as he is scoring. I actually think he'll be a better player in Miami than he was in Cleveland. Lebron just isn't a leader. He lacks the ability to get people to push themselves through a wall. Wade, however, seems to be able to do that.

Bosh, is a very nice complementary player. He knows his role as a 3rd option on most nights. He also knows that he'll get a lot of open looks because of Wade and Lebron drives and dishes.

Overall, Miami may struggle some in the early part of the season. Quite possibly be at about .500 a quarter of the way into the season. After that, they will be absolutely dominant.

Miami's depth isn't that bad either. Loosing one of their 3 won't hurt too much during the regular season. The other guys can pick up that slack easily. it will hurt them to loose one in the playoffs though.

In all, the Hawks are the 3rd best team in the Southeast. We may also be the 3rd best team in the East. But since we have to play Miami and Orlando so much we may end up with the 5 seed in the playoffs. Sigh.

[Skar]

Hawks don't stand a chance against Heat now, they can't do nothing against Orlando.