Being serious:This is why I think No playoffs...

[JTFan31]

Some of you guys need to take it easy. Reef and JT will bring their A game come October 29th. These Preseason games mean diddly-squat. We all know what Reef and JT can do and I have a good hunch about this year's squad. We have guys like Dion and Jax that are improving players and can both very well avg 12-14 ppg and if we can get that from both these guys that will be fine and dandy in my book.

I dont think scoring will be a problem, TO's look like they have gotten better and they have improved on that. I think they keys for the Hawks to have a successful season is chemistry and defense.

Please dont make too much of a preseason game, because that is all it is a preseason game. Another thing please dont say JT should be traded once the season starts because we all know he is a slow starter, once December comes around he blows up, but it might not happen this year, he might just come out of the gates with a bang.

[Diesel]

In all honesty...

I said trade no one unless something truly mouth watering comes along between now and Jan. I say Jan is a good time to evaluate players.

What that means is that we have given this team good enough time to have developed chemistry and we have also looked at what we have.

These preseason games don't mean a whole lot. We have to remember that this is a time for teaching as well as trying stuff. Look at Denver, they're playing Boykins and Miller together. Do you think that is what they will do on the season? I doubt it because Miller is not a good enough shooter to be a SG. This is tinker time.

One thing that I can see is that Nazr rebounds much better than Theo and we know from last season that Theo's defense doesn't make us a good defensive team if we don't have the right people around him.

One or two places we might need to examine is trading Theo and if it were possible trading JT. However, I think JT is just here for the duration. So Jan, we need to look at where we are and see if we need to tinker. My bet is that Theo will be someone who we will have to consider... because of his salary and his value to our team.

I'm not saying that Theo is valueless, but for US, we might not have the team to support him.

If we did trade him, I would want either a really good Ballhandling SG or a Big OG who can play PG.

Right now, however, there's nothing unless we want to try to get Finley in some manner. And Right now would be too early to look to trade anyway.

[Diesel]

One other thing is CC.

We have to answer a lot of questions with CC.

Namely.. Is he better than Nailon?

If not, is he better than Hansen?

I just don't see the roster spot that we give to CC as being that unimportant.

In my estimation we have 15 spots....

JT, TB, JV, DD, Diaw, Glover, Sjack, SAR, Hendu, Theo, Nazr....

That's 11 guaranteed...

Then there's: CC, Hansen, Nailon, Ekizie, Holcomb, and Parker.

These 6 are fighting over 2 spots...

So what do we do?

[OGRat]

I read somewhere that the Hawks were going to IR Okezie for the season. Did anyone else read that?

I think we owe something to the guy, but spots are valuable in this league. It seems that players are getting hurt more frequently, so that roster spot may come in handy later in the season for a body that could contribute. I doubt that Okezie would be able to contribute anything this season due tho the nature of his injury.

He was not even signed to a guaranteed contract at the time of his injury, so are the Hawks going to sign him to contract knowing this? I doubt that the league would give the Hawks a medical exception.

Also, doesn't CC have a year left on his contract?

[Traceman]

in the event that he sustained a season ending injury while playing for the Hawks in the preseason. I don't think that is uncommon for guys on make good contracts in Ekezie's situation. Ekezie probably had other opportunities where a team would have been willing to guarantee his deal in the event of a season ending injury so if we had not agree to that, he likely would not have been here.

That being said, it is unfortunate because now, with Brandon and Ekezie being injured, we only have one spot left to stash someone on the IR. If we assume the following lineup:

Theo/Nazr

Reef/Hendu

Jackson/Nailon/CC

Glover/Diaw/Hansen

JT/JV/DD

then we have problems. With Brandon and Ekezie taking up IR spots, that leaves only one spot for DD (who is currently injured), CC or Hansen on IR.

I guess Nailon can play some PF but that leaves us awfully small up front. What MAY end up happening is Nailon getting cut and us getting another big body because Nailon's contract is not guaranteed. That would REALLY suck because if that happens, who is supposed to score for us off the bench? If I were a betting man though, I'd say we will go into the season with the small lineup and see what happens. That sucks too.

[Weez]

No one here knows what to expect from CC ~ I barely remember what he "brought" as a bu several years ago and no one's gotten to see him play much in recent years...he can't be counted on. Hendu's health is on the rocks right now...

Nailon scores off the bench. He's not good for much else, and certainly shouldn't be starting, not with that D, no three range, etc...but he's a nice o-punch off the bench...