Any doubt about JT now?

[pathway23]

He showed his true colors tonight didn't he? We need to get rid of him ASAP.

[Playmaker0017]

I missed most of the game because of that stupid little trilogy called the Lord Of The Rings.

I came back and watched it in quick motion on Tivo. I know Terry played two minutes... what did he do?

Reef is getting the treatment right now... he can't get a call and he is constantly tripled. This sucks.

Play.

[pathway23]

Terry was PG #2 out there. Stotts stuck him out there with Vaughn as SG and Terry looked to pass rather than shoot. He passed up wide open Js to go inside, a couple times forcing it in for turnovers. And he didn't play D again. We need to get rid of this insolent guy

[dickaufan12]

Excellent. My day is coming...

I didn't get to see the game. I just assumed they messed up the box score when I saw JT and theo on the bench. Really threw me off.

P.S. Anyone who watched- how well did Dickau play? I saw he got 11 minutes.

[pathway23]

I thought he played pretty well considering he was out there with mostly 2nd unit guys other than Reef and Theo. He scored on the break a couple times, he did fine other than one bad pass, an attempted behind the back pass to Reef on the block, but that is expected, the guy is really still getting his feet wet on this season, he really needs some more PT out there with a SG 6'5" or taller working with him. I hate how Stotts uses the mini-me backcourt because Vaughn is an avg NBA backup PG at best.

[Gray Mule]

Missed the entire game. Had tape in VCR but something

happened to it so I am lost.

Checked the box score. Pretty good 1st half by the score.

Then, nothing in the 3rd.

J.T. -- No points - [but he did have turnovers]

Centers shot 50 % - That's O.K.

What happened to the 3rd quarter? Where was J.T.?

He wasn't even listed as a starter. Was he ill?

[pathway23]

JT was late to the shootaround and Stotts punished him by taking him out of the starting lineup. He responded by coming in as backup SG and acting like a PG even though we already had a PG on the floor . (Vaughn) ... and forcing passes....he looked like he was having fun sitting on the bench watching us get blown out. Made me sick. The Warriors just toyed with us, Dunleavy trying to throw the ball off the glass so JRich could dunk it and accidentally hitting the rim and JRich still able to lay it in, while the whole Hawks team was down on the other end of the floor.

It is getting bad, really bad. I think this team will be worse than the 25 win team a few years ago, we might not even win 20.

[JTFan31]

You guys must be freaking nuts. JT only played 16 minutes because of being benched. I am also glad he was benched and we lost like we did against a meciocre team at home, now we know is not JT's fault we are losing and neither Theo's fault, Theo had 15 points and 11 Rebounds, by far the best this season and we got blown out, out of our own building. Like I said all along Stotts must go and bring in a NBA experienced coach, not a life time assistant coach.

You see not only JT is a poor perimeter defender, so was Vaughn and Glover, letting the Warriors on a barrage of 3 pointers in the 3rd.

I am glad this happened so you guys see this wasnt all of JT and Theo fault, the 2 that were being blame night in and night out for the Hawks failures.

[emeans]

That is the core of the problem with this team. They just don't have any ball movement and they don't trust each other to take the open shot.

Shareef should not be taking shots with 2 and 3 guys on him. Someone should be WIDE open to take an easier shot. The trust is just not there or the talent is not there to knock the WISE open shot down. Also a problem was spacing...sometimes shareef couldn't pass the ball out because 3 guys would be bunched up together in the same area...it's called terrible spacing, which goes back to coaching.

I was at the game and it was ridiculus. They guys have to work to hard to get baskets and that is because they do not pass the ball to get the open shot.

That is why they have good quarters and very bad quarters...they can't continue to shoot high percentages with two and three guys on them an entire game.

[phoostal]

No one said it is just JT's fault. But, I do feel JT is part of the problem. I think they should explore all offers for him. I was always skeptical on trading him, but now the only person on the team I wouldn't trade is Reef. Send everyone else out of here.

For those of you who likes JT, please read the AJC article today. Those quotes he made gave after the game are inexcusable. I think the coaching is bad, rolling his eyes before he speaks. I hope it just was a bad night for him. But what a punk A@#! That is no respect for the coach. Send him to the Blazers he will fit right in with that attitude.

I'm not here to praise Stotts. But, players need to have respect for the coach. Since JT was late for the shoot around he deserves to be benched. He needs to recognize this and except his punishment instead of being a child about things. Grow up. You know what it is to have an opportunity to make millions of dollars and play a game for living.

That just made me so mad today when I read those quotes. What a B*(%$, JT is. To not play because you get benched. Grow up punk.

P

[Diesel]

I watched Philly play without Iverson.

All that stuff that was said about Big Dog was WRONG... Last night, Big Dog was found an open Aaron McKie for the 3 pter a few times. Last night Big Dog scoring was good.

On the same note. Last night, Atlanta looked like the Atlanta of the past few years.. Out of sync. NO ball movement. No plays run. JT on the floor passing just to pass and NOT really thinking basketball.

Where is Ira the savior??

The truth is this:

1. This team lacks good coaching. Stotts is better than Lon but Stotts is still trying to figure out what he's doing.

2. This team really needs a FuLLTIME PG. As I have said for 3 of his 4 years here... JT is a SG. He doesn't know how to be a point and worse is that he doesn't know how to get his game and make those around him better.

3. Theo/Reef is not a perfect mix. I'm not saying that they won't work. I think if they tried, they could make it work. But the effort has to be there every night. Many of us remember Lenny "the great one". Well, Lenny would make Reef and Theo work. For some reason, Lenny always got his less talented Hawks team to overachieve. That's what many of us miss. 50 wins with a group that looks like they could only win 35 on paper.

So what now??

Well, now, we decide what we want to do. I say a mid season coaching change is warranted. This team has already lost hope. This team is already looking for the outs in their contracts. This city has already given up on this team. Change coaches and Front office personnell with the ownership change becomes official. It's kind of unfair that the Leagues have tied our hands like this. I doubt we see anything from Knight. As far as I'm concerned, Knight has done all the moves that he was allowed to do. Now, he's just sitting in the office fielding phonecalls and playing minesweeper.

Nique/Fratello should be the new blood of the Hawks. No disrespect to Doc, but if we take Doc, he'd come in as GM... NOt coach. Fratello should coach this team. Nique should be team president. He would give the team a face. Sorta like Dumars in Detroit and Bird in Indy.

It's time to start fielding some trades. Figure out what we want to build around.

1. Theo? Do we build around the defense of Theo and Diaw? If so, we need to trade Reef for a PF who can rebound and score very well. There are not many of those. In the final computation, we will probably go to either the Rockets, Grizz, Denver, Sonics, or Jazz. The honest truth is that there are not many suitors for Reef that can give us back good value for him. One rumor this year was Reef for Mobley/Cato... But what does that really give us? I'm thinking of a move that would send Reef to Denver and get us back Nene, White, and Filler. Now, this helps us in that we get Nene. He fits somewhat with Theo... I don't know if he can be the lowpost monster that we need but you never know. Another thought is Reef to Washington and Brown/Filler back to us? Brown is definitely a project but when you look at his size, he fits what we need next to Theo. Maybe Reef to Washington for Stackhouse/Brown. Whatever happen to Jerry Crackhouse?

2. Reef? IF we trade Theo, we need to get a SG that can hit shots. My thought is somewhere in the vicinity of getting Ray Allen for Theo, Filler, and draft picks. I don't know if it's possible but Murry's play gives me hope. There's also a team like Memphis. We might be able to get Battier and that would just warm Greymule's old heart....

3. JT???!?!!??????? GOD no. I wouldn't build around JT to save Atlantis from sinking.

[phoostal]

Can you please shut up about Big Dog? Who gives a F#@%!

I didn't care if we kept him or if he stayed. But he's gone, get over it. I'm so sick of hearing about Big Dog.

[TheDude]

I would never trade Reef. You are not going to be able to trade Reef and get anything even close to his talent level. You'll get ripped off..

We need to address our weaknesses..

perimeter defense and turnovers from the guards- we really need to figure this whole jt-sg-or-pg thing.. i think he's a sg and we either get a GOOD tall pg or we ship him out..we need more solid defense on the perimeter and better ball handling/passing..

coaching..stotts isn't doing it...the guys don't respect him, they aren't playing the fundamentals and he has no fire..

rebounding- we need a scrapper on the boards...don't know who but we need one..one that can play a dual role either part time center or small or power forward..has to have some kind of shot..ekezie is injured unfortunately or may have been that guy.

[swolehawk2]

You are a funny dude....it seems you have a obsession with proving you are right no matter how wrong or right you are.

You must have missed the game before where Dog scored 2 points and had 3 turnovers in 16 minutes......and he was booed after 2 turnovers in the second quarter and received some cheers when he was benched early in the third.

You must have been making a sandwich...or just failed to mention you saw that game.

[Playmaker0017]

Doc,

Unfortunately, JT is a SG ... but I would rather Diaw play that spot than JT. Call me stupid or whatever, but I prefer the upside and playing style of Diaw compared to JR RId... I mean, JT.

So, I say ship him for what you can get. If we can get a REALLY good SG (like Ray Allen), then I put Diaw at PG or SF for the rest of the season.

As for the coach... bye bye Stotts. Even if the players are wrong and the coach is the bomb, you can't have players having a mutiny.

Play.

[swolehawk2]

JT is a good kid....he just is realizing that he does not have the talent or leadership or determination to turn this franchise around...so that is hard to accept because of the persona he has established in the community. I can say that I am more wiser now at 29 than I was at 25 or 26 so JT will learn from this. I think it is best for JT and the Hawks he is traded to a winning team with a great coach...if a great coach is not brought to ATL. I think the thing that has hurt the Hawks the most since Reef and Theo have been here is that we have not had starting quality vet guards to play with Reef and Theo. Some solid vet guards and a demanding successful vet coach can win in ATL.

[Playmaker0017]

Swole,

I don't dislike JT as a personality. I just have to agree that he is not the guy to get things fixed.

He is unfortunately in a situation where he is expected to do a lot, and he has never had good coaching to help him understand how to do it.

It is kind of like Reef. Except Reef has much more raw talent than JT, I believe.

JT can, and probably will be quite successful, in the right system. We just aren't in the spot to do it.

Play.

[macdaddy]

Ever since the Hawks traded Mookie and Smitty they've had the wrong-headed notion of building a championship team from scratch. What Lenny and guys like Fratello, Van Gundy and Sloan know is that you try to put together a solid NBA team first even if it has glaring weaknesses that will keep you from ever beating the Lakers. Once you have a solid team then you try to tweak to get the missing pieces.

Lenny could recognize who were solid nba players and who were players with 'potential'. That's why we won with guys like Ty Corbin and Grant Long. Whether Dog hurt or helped at least he is a real nba player. The problem we have now and last year is no solid guards. That makes it hard to win in the NBA.

[Diesel]

Were you one of the main people who said we would be much better with BD gone? IF so, you are the one that need not complain about anything. Shut up and eat crow.

[Diesel]

To me, JT has always been a little two faced. Media reports... JT is learning a lot from Wilkens. JT is talking about how much he has learn about the guard position from Wilkens...blah blah blah. Wilkens is fired and JT starts mouthing off about how he disliked Lenny's coaching.

JT talks about how good a role model Jackson is while Jackson is here. Jackson gets traded, JT mouths off about Jackson's attitude.

JT talks about how solid the team is with Deke. Deke gets traded, JT talks about How Deke slowed down the running game.

I don't remember if he talked about Lon... I can look that up.

But I do remember this summer. He signs with Utah, JT said many bad things about Atlanta and it's fans.

Then of course is the constant lies he tells himself:

"My goal is to be a PG like Isiah Thomas."

"I'm going to man up starting today".

Simply put, Terry is not a man of his word. He says things that sound good. But in the final count, he's just another player who doesn't make those around him any better.