insider request: hawks preview

[niremetal]

he said we should have traded joe for trade exception and then get al jefferson and then build around marvin/josh/horford. So where does al jefferson play then? He wants us to have scrubs/rookies in the backcourt and then our 4 best guys in 3 positions in the front court?

That doesn't matter. Jefferson's PER rocks. Fit, chemistry, and positional need play no role in how well a team plays. Haven't you been paying attention to Hollinger all these years?

FYI . . . Hollinger lives in Atlanta and actually goes to Hawk games and watches them. So it's not like he's some clueless national writer that doesn't know jack about the team.

Hollinger is about 75% dead on with what he said, but fans don't want to believe it. Hollinger does have a history of selling us short though, so a 46 win prediction by him really means that we'll probably win 51 games.

I was gonna jump on you until that last line. Hollinger has projected that the Hawks would backslide for 5 straight years now. He has been wrong - and badly wrong - every single time. I'm sorry, but the man is an idiot. His understanding of the importance of balance and the impact of coaching and chemistry changes is appallingly bad. He harbors biases for and against specific players and teams, and is perfectly willing to ignore his statistical analyses (which are a load of BS to begin with) when they don't jibe with his preconceived notions. It's really quite pathetic. I have no clue why ESPN keeps him on the payroll. Oh wait, yes I do - because most people don't care enough to recognize how bad his predictions turn out to be.

- We DID go the cheapest route on everything this offseason ( minus the JJ deal ).

So we did go cheap...except that we overpaid JJ and gave him one of the biggest contracts in NBA history. In fact, it was one of the 30 largest contracts in the history of professional sports. But besides that, we were cheap.

Kinda like saying "he was always a non-violent man, except that one time that he went on a shooting spree."

Edited September 28, 2010 by niremetal

[foeteen14]

no one ever expects the hawks to improve, i guess because we we're bad for so long. but the hawks have improved each of the last 5 years, i don't think people give continuity enough respect. i see no reason that we shouldn't be better this year than we we're last year. yeah miami got better, but cleveland got worse. yeah chicogo got better but boston got older. all the while, the hawks core is getting better and has not reached it's full potential. how was last year the ceiling when most of your core players are still growing as players. i don't see where a decrease in wins comes from. if anything there should be an increase.

[Plainview1981]

If you thought this was bad don't watch the NBA channel preview on NBA Gametime. Chris Webber said Hawks fans should jump off a bridge. And we won't make the playoffs.

The guys a moron. Only a moron would think the team would miss the playoffs without severe injuries. It's just a matter if you think 4-7 seed is satisfactory.

[Chickenstanley]

" ......... We don't know - He's never been a head coach."

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Sounds a bit like the Miami Heat basketball team, huh? Oh no, excuse me, they're the NBA's leading title contender ---- without ever playing one single game together and having absolutely no track record with the current unit.

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"This writer is very smart. He know all the answers, doesn't he!"

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Of course all writers are smart! Aren't you with the program G-Wolf? Because they decide to (simply do their job and) type something/anything ---- *some* members of this forum consider them so brilliant as to use their (purely speculative) *typings* as evidence for debating purposes.

And because they constantly type the words LEBRON JAMES & MIAMI HEAT --- many on this forum (and others) seem compelled to constantly do the same.

We don't need brains beacuse the press so graciously provides them for us.

Unless this forum is actually involved in a thread about an actual game with Miami, I think the moderators should suspend anyone who types (or makes any reference) to Lebron James on this forum. And ditto for any mention of the silly, totally meaningless reference of "All-Star". Let it stop somewhere --why not here?

CS

[macdaddy]

I don't think Hollinger is an idiot and he makes some valid points. I just think it is comical that he clings to these stats that aren't really very good predictors of anything especially when it comes to the Hawks.

The fact that he was so waaaay off 2 years ago on the Hawks just shows that very few procnosticators can see much in the future except when things are constant. Like last season, the Hawks brought back the same team/same coach as the season before and everyone was able to accurately predict that they would be about the same. Well duh. This season has a wildcard in a new coach but basically the same team so to predict that the same players will fall from #3 to out of the playoffs seems dumb.