Is AW our best player since Nique?

[tmac13]

Interested in others thoughts on this..Steve Smith, SAR, Sheed for one game?..Walker at 27 is a 3 time all-star, has led his team to a conference final,and is a career 20-8-4 guy...I would say he is our 1st real star in a decade.

[ATLien_]

I think Steve Smith was defintley better than him just my opinion.

[tmac13]

I don't think S. Smith was ever in AW's class. Not even close..

[Wretch]

It was a joy to behold. I LOOOOVED that Mookie/Smitty Backcourt. If we could have just added that scoring option we were looking for at the 3 or 4...like a Kukoc or Walker (I've heard that Babock turned down a deal of Laettner for 'Toine.) I honestly believe it would have been enough to get us over the hump.

That and a decent bench...that Lenny was willing to use.

[Plainview1981]

I'd rather have Smith. More fundamentally sound and

could put up numbers without shooting 39-40% basically

every year. Walker turns the ball over too much aswell.

[Chicken_Hawk]

STEVE SMITH WAS THE MAN!! Walker is no Steve Smith (Smith in his prime, of course).

(I noticed nobody mentioned Danny Manning...LOL!)

[AHF]

Dikembe Mutombo was more valuable in his prime for the Hawks than either Smitty or Antoine, IMO.

However, I think Smith was a better scorer (and MUCH better shooter) but that Walker is much more versatile and has the mentality to be a bigger impact on the team than Smith. Overall, I'd say they are pretty comparable in value but Walker has more impact (positively and negatively depending on the night).

[JTFan31]

Oh man, I loved Smitty....after Nique I didnt have a favorite player, but Smitty came, and I absolutely loved him. The one game I remembered most about Smitty was....Hawks played Miami, in Miami (his old team) that same season he was traded. Smitty was having a terrible game, he had 4 pts going into the 4th quarter, Hawks down by 19. Oh man let me tell you Smitty got absolutely freaking hot, hitting 3's left and right, pulling up on fast breaks and nailing 3's. The Heat commentators were just going berserk. Smity hit 5...3's in the 4th, and Hawks won that game. I use to love seeing Smitty get hot, he was so fun to watch and I loved his hesitation move. Can Smitty come back to Atlanta?

[Wretch]

Yeah, he looked like a big 3 year old in the lane when he tried to score; but absolutely COMMANDED the defense and the boards. You could just feel how the game changed when Mutombo went to the bench. I was in the military at the time...stationed here and thus being subjected to every transient's trash talk about the state and its teams...and people would just go on and on about Deke and how he always gets dunked on and whatnot.

People focused too much on the highlights and not how Mutombo dominated the game from the other end. Man, I would take the big "No-No" in his prime RIGHT NOW over MANY, MANY players in the NBA today, not just former Hawks players.

[Diesel]

Not including Toine...

Top 10..

1. Shareef.... Reef was a workhorse.. He came under a bad system but every night with 2 to 3 guys drapped on him, he put up 20/10 or close.

2. Deke.... There has been no one player that the Hawks have had that could change the game like Deke could. He was disrespected by fans because he lacked offense. Then he was traded to Philly and took that team to the finals. You got to respect what he did as a Hawk.

3. Smitty... Looking over the past, you see this guy. He's showing heart. He's showing leadership. He's playing hard. He's doing the best that he can do given his knees.

4. Mookie.... Mookie. Great player until his shot selection grew cold. Mookie was one of those players who will go down in my memory as a defensive stopper. Opposing guards (even Jordan) hated to see Mookie on the court because they knew he would harass them all night.

5. Laettner... Maybe we should have never signed Hendu over Late. But La8ner will go down in my memory for the toughness he showed in the playoffs against Smits and Shaq...

6. Toni.. Short term acquisition. Had he stayed healthy, he could have done great things for us. While he was healthy, I think he got 3 triple doubles and showed what it means to make his teammate look better.

7. Jax... Used last year as a springboard. He played hard every time out and he played defense every time out. His shot selection was a concern at times but he still played hard.

8. Stacy Augmon... Don't you remember plastic man. Sticking it out every game. He wasn't a great scorer, he wasn't a great assist guy, he was a defensive specialist who could get to the hole.

8 1/2. Theo. Theo actually has one foot at 8 and another at 11. He was a good shot blocker but that's all he did. He didn't remind us of Deke because he couldn't rebound like Deke and players didn't fear him like they feared deke. I guess you got to break a few noses to get some respect?

9. JT... I hate to put his name down because so much of our failure is because of him but we have 10 slots to fill. I think he had that one good season when we had Toni/Nazr come in for the second half of it. The year that Lon let him play Sg and defensively we couldn't stop anybody.

10. Grob... for all his shortcomings, he did come in and put up 21/8 from the Sf position. Something not seen since Nique. I think you have wrong coaching and wrong players around him... But he played fair.

[capstone21]

Thank you Diesel. SAR was better then Walker. Two years ago when people on other boards were saying why don't we trade SAR for Walker...everyone here was saying NO.

Walker is a good player and a good addition but he is not a great player or a superstar. I don't know why people here are suddenly turning him into one now that he is going to wear a Hawks uniform.

[Chicken_Hawk]

Though some of you may laugh, I actually think Smitty would be a good mentor to J-Chillz, Donta, others. Every once in a while he could get his creaky knees in the game and drain some 3s for us.

[Diesel]

Walker - passes better, shots from outside better.

Reef - Very hard to stop inside. with the right PG and C, Reef can carry a team to a championship appearance.

I think that's the difference between the 2. Walker's versatility makes him dangerous because he can pass and shoot. I have always called Walker a junk player and what I mean is that he's not a Pf. Not really. His mindset is that of a SF or even a SG. So, he gives a lot of Junk. Now, I'm a huge UK fan and while at UK, Walker had an great game. Not as great as mash's but great nonetheless. I think that converting to the pro game he has changed a great deal.

Whoose better...

depends on the system.

I wouldn't want Reef in a system designed for the offense to run through him.. whereas I would probably take Walker in that system.

I wouldn't want Walker on a team that depends on him for Low post scoring and rebounds. i would want SAR for that.

I wouldn't want Reef to have to create his own space/shot, I wouldn't want that of Walker neither.

Right now, Reef is better for the league because the league lacks real PFs and he's a throwback. A guy who puts his back to the basket and scores. While he was here, Lon tried to make him into Walker because JT couldn't make an inlet pass into the post.... Like I said, with the right PG, either of these guys are allstars.

[Packfill]

I think Shareef and Walker are pretty darn close talent wise - though each has different strengths and weaknesses. Both need to be put into the right system. I liked Shareef alot and loved the trade that brought him to Atlanta. I really wanted things to work out in Atlanta for him and the Hawks.

I think the biggest mistake in the post-Dominique years was trading for Grob. That set the franchise back light years because it messed up both Shareef and Jason. If the Hawks had picked up James Posey or someone like that instead, and if Dermarr never gets injured, the Hawks would have made the playoffs the past two years. Lot of ifs, I know, but thats what I think.

[Wretch]

So much as it was the framework of the trade itself - specifically the draft pick. That pick could have been worked to get us Hinrich, Wade, Bosh or any of those guys that followed TJ Ford at the #8. The LoWright deal that sent two 1st rounders to the Clips was awful too.

[Weez]

that's a GREAT GREAT point. Thanks for reminding me of that...that we didn't want SAR for Toine...and now we shipped JT, after more frustration with his placement...and got Toine in return. I'm still not a huge fan of his...but it's a great point and reminder

[Plainview1981]

Reef is something like a Wayman Tisdale or something. He

shouldn't first. He never lead the Hawks to better than

33 wins.

[Traceman]

1. Deke - I think Deke is HOF player when its all said and done. Four NBA Defensive Player of the Year Titles and 7 All Star appearances. 3000 blocked shots for his career. Defense should definitely be recognized by the HOF and Deke was one of the best defenders of his generation.

2. Smitty - Smitty was awfully good at times but he could disappear at times as well. Still, he made more big shots every season that he was in the ATL than Reef has made in his entire NBA career.

3. Mookie - Perfect backcourt mate for Smitty and a great compliment to Deke on D. Mookie was also a terrific leader on the court. 6 Time member of the All NBA Defensive Team.

4. Reef - Very good player, just not a great player. Can't put him ahead of Deke, Smitty or Mookie because he didn't win.

5. Laettner - Love him or hate him, he was a good player and underappreciated by a lot of folks in the ATL.

6. JT - Not a perfect player by any stretch but he was definitely a good player. Good shooting and quickness with the ball made him a tough cover.

7. Jax - Tough, hardnosed player who never took a night off. Made some HORRIBLE decisions with the ball but made up for it with his all around effort. I wish he was coming back but I'd definitely rather have AH.

8. Dog - Blackhole and no D or not, 21/8 says that he was doing SOMETHING right.

9. Theo - Had his moments but he just never played that well consistently enough for me to put him higher.

10. Augmon - Plastic Man was a solid player for us. Not great but consistently good.

Kukoc would have definitely been in the top 10 from a talent standpoint but he just didn't stay healthy enough to warrant inclusion in the top 10 in my opinion.

[chillzatl]

It's not fair to compare big guys like Deke, his impact is completely different than a guy like walker or nique.

Reef was a very good player, smitty was a very good player. But neither of these guys were legit all-stars. Heck, neither of them were really league wide stars. Walker is and has been for a reason. He's a very good player. He's the first big offensive name we've had since Nique.

Honestly, I can't stand his game. He's like Andrew Jones in that you know he has all this potential. But he just wastes it because he's stubborn. But I do think he's the best offensive talent, at the time he's coming to us, since nique.

Big dog probably would have taken it had he came here in his prime.

[Employee8]

But Toine does something that Big Dog(even in his prime) doesn't :

PLAY SOME DEFENSE!