Hawks to make a splash....

[Diesel]

With about 25 million dollars on the way and a team that will still have:

Harrington, J-Chill, J-Smooth, Diaw, Delk, and Drobs signed, I think that we are looking to go out and beat some folks. I think we want to do what Miami did last year. The question is what is the prize???

I have no sources... Only strange feelings.

If Knight is still the GM of this team, I think that we may get:

Stromile Swift and make a strong bid for Micheal Redd.

The draft will yield us Charlie Villanueva.

I think we will also trade for Larry Hughes and try to build him into a PG....

The team future could be:

Hughes/Ivy/Delk

Redd/Diaw/D-Smith

J-Chill/C.Villanueva

Harrington/ J-Smooth

Swift/Drobs/Collier

[emeans]

That is what makes this season so exciting. I think everyone is anxious to see how competitive this team "as is" will be in the NBA.

If not competitive, you have to believe a lot of changes will take place the next offseason with so many contracts coming off the books.

If we are competitive and maybe a player or two away from serious playoff contention then we may try to sign some of these players to longer contracts.

Walker for example. What if he leads this team to the 8th playoff spot and is really the center piece of this team? Would you not sign him? Would you take a chance at trying to fit Swift into this team and risk the chemistry built?

These are the questions/answers that will unfold as the season goes. This is what makes this season so exciting. There are so many unknowns. More unknowns than this organization has ever had in its history.

Personally I think this team is going to open some eyes and be very competitive. Next year I think people are really going to be talking about the Hawks as the next up and coming young team.

[Nicholasp27]

everyone made fun of denver and the bucks last offseason and said utah would be one of the worst teams in the league

well now everyone praises those 3 teams...

hawks are next on that list, methinks

more likely than: bulls/wiz/clips/bobcats

[Lascar78]

I certainly hope we get better than Villanueva. He's currently projected as the last pick of the 1st round. Besides, our needs for the future are a PG and a C. He's a SF, where we already have, well, arguably Diaw, Harrington, Josh Smith and Josh Childress.

There are a number of good PGs and a couple of C's that will be coming out next year. That's what we'll be looking at

[Diesel]

Notice, I said if Knight is still the GM...

The first thing about Charlie V. His stock will rise. He no longer has Gordon or Okafor there eating up his credit. Also, he plays a very complete game. Secondly, like I also said, this team will play harder than most give us credit for. Maybe ending up in the playoffs. That 16th or so pick is good for Charlie V. if he's still around. About our needs. BK never draft for need. He draft players that he like. Charlie V. is a 6'11" Sf that can pass the ball. That says "KG" somewhere in the back of BK's mind. Like I also said...

I think we will meet our other needs in either trade or FAcy. Either this yr or next I think we will get Swift. I don't know what he will cost us yet. I also think that FA wise, we are bringing home a shooter. Either Allen or Redd... My preference is Redd because of his youth, but BK is not afraid of the Vets...

Lastly, I don't think that Harrington will be a franchise player for the rest of his career here either. I think he's holding J-Smooth's Seat....

Imagine:

PG, M-Redd, J-Chill, J-Smooth, and Swift.... With Charlie and Diaw off the bench.

Atheltic, Long, and all versatile. That's the 4 yr plan...

[capstone21]

I think next season we will make a major run at T. Parker. If he and Diaw have a good relationship since they both come from France and if we are competitive he might be enticed to really consider us.

We will still have money to go after another big name or two quality players. THe key is to show we are competitive to convince FAs that we are getting better. That and money will bring them here.

[capstone21]

BTW, I really like Larry Hughes. He is not a true PG (who is now a days) though but would be an excellent addition to our team.

[Lascar78]

BK has never drafted for need because we've never had less than 5 needs.

If you trust our young core (Diaw, Childress, J Smith, and Harrington) to be our 2-3-4 core of the future as I do, then we now only have 2 real needs: PG and C.

I think drafting the best player available made sense this season , but the more complete your roster is, the more you look for your needs.

Also Villanueva might not have gordon and okafor "eating up his credit", but he also won't have them there to make him look better and get him wins. I see him in the 2nd half of the first round, and I think we'll be in the first half. I hope not, but I expect us to have a top 10 draft pick easily.

[Traceman]

way up. No way will a 6-11 guy with his skill set and athleticicsm last until the end of the first round. I think before it is all said and done, he is a lottery lock.

[Wretch]

It is true that as your team begins to take shape and form an identity, you should start looking at drafting by position. However, we are nowhere near that point right now. We've remodeled, but the public has yet to see the renovations first hand.

It's exciting because we have a new team. At the same time, we're getting lost in the excitement and forgetting that this team has yet to play a game together. For all we know, both of our picks could be complete busts...

(...)

I'm not saying that they will be busts, or even that I believe it. Though our opinions at this point don't mean much. That being said, I'll have to wait until the season gets underway and guys get serious playing time in real games; then I could say for certain that we either look at drafting for position or drafting on talent.

Not only that, but this team could be much better than anyone thinks. That would have a major impact on where we draft...and that has a major impact on how you draft. Picking outside the lottery, or later in the draft in general, I'd be more inclined to draft based on talent.

For the most part, I think that unless you have a sure thing and a strong core already built around it...then you look at getting the best talent available.

[Iman]

Swift seems to me to be a good PF/athletic but small center prospect. Word is he wants big bucks and I dont think he could ever be a cornerstone of a championship team.

I think a move for Kwame, Tyson Chandler, or someone like that is much more likely. I also would not be surprised if we within a year or few, Dwight Howard rumors are all we'll hear until he finally arrives to be our other cornerstone.

We also are most likely to have more first round draft picks after we give up Antione in a few months.

[Diesel]

Quote:

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BK has never drafted for need because we've never had less than 5 needs.

---

That alone says that we should draft and or pickup the same guy right?

We picked up Diaw... That's cool.

Then this past draft we get:

J-Chill, J-Smooth, and D-Smith... All three of those guys and Diaw play kinda the same game... J-Chill and D-Smith Shoots a little better than the other two. Then in FAcy, we get Harrington. Harrington is no different than those others (especially J-Smooth) with the exception that Smooth is more Atheletic.

All this while we had a glaring need at PG and C.

What was BK's rationale? We took the best player available.

I think the same is true of Charlie V. He will turn out to be a steal if we can get him at Midround. I think BK's Philosophy is that I can always trade for what I truly need.

Quote:

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Also Villanueva might not have gordon and okafor "eating up his credit", but he also won't have them there to make him look better and get him wins.

---

Out of HS, Charlie V. was a star.... He could have gone pro then. He only went to college to tweak his game. He's a pippen Like, KG like SF who will become a beast this year. I don't know if he will not go lottery but If you watch him, you know that he's much better than the sootsayers are saying now.

[Diesel]

Actually, I would prefer Kwame myself... If we could move Walker for Hughes/Kwame, I would be all over it.... But I DOubt Washington would do such a thing...

[TheDude]

Larry Hughes game is nice but we don't need another converta2 trying to make him a point guard. lord please let's not do that again. it was painful...other than that, the rest looks fine.

[Diesel]

I think our team is a lot different than when we had JT....

First off, Hughes is another ball handler.

Second, he would fit into our team of ball handlers.

Even if the trade was Harrington/1st for Hughes/Kwame.

Hughes/J-Chill/Diaw/Walker/Kwame.....

On that team, you have 3 other guys who can handle the ball. I think offensively, we won't play a guard oriented offense but we would look to break as much as possible.

I also think Hughes has a better basketball IQ than JT did.

Honestly, JT was probably the dumbest PG I have seen since Rumeal. He actually made me long for Rumeal and say Rumeal wasn't this bad.

Not because he couldn't learn one play... He learned the pick and roll with Lo... But for the fact that he couldn't do anything that a PG is supposed to do....

He couldn't run the break. He couldn't read a defense. And for a while, he couldn't bring the ball up against token pressure. I think Hughes is better than that...

[Lascar78]

He most certainly could not have gone pro out of high school. Yes I know he had alot of hype. Yes I saw him on the cover of SLAM. But he was never considered a true prospect to jump to the pros. He needed some college. I realize that he'll be a first rounder, and he could go as early as the teens if all goes right for him, but he's no lock for the lottery. You have to factor in all the foreign players and high schoolers making the jump. He could very well end up going very late in the first round too.

He's nowhere near KG. He's pippen-like, in the sense that Diaw, Childress, and all tall ball handlers are. I've seen nothing all that special out of him, and there's a reason he came off the bench at UConn and only got 19 minutes. Yeah he's got game, but let's not make him a phenomenon that he's not.

[emeans]

There is an interesting article in ESPN Insider talking about next years draft prospects. They explicitly say that this year is the worst class of High School Seniors....ever in the history of the draft!! The best High School senior would have gotten drafted in this years 2nd round behind every single high school player that was drafted this year. They compared Josh Smith to the best High School player coming out this year and said that Josh Smith is twelve times better than him.

They said the kid (Paul) from Wake Forest (PG) could probably be the 1st pick in the draft next year, definately a top 5 pick. It would be nice if the Hawks could pick him up next year. He is the best PG coming out next year and he could be out PG of the future. They compare him to Jason Kidd.