Think of all the arguments made for picking MWill.

[KB21]

You always draft the best player available, no matter what. If we happen to get the #1 pick next year, then it should be a no brainer. Rudy Gay should be the pick. He's the clear cut #1 prospect going into the season, and I believe he will remain there. He's another product of the greatest high school class of all time....the 2004 class.

[RAHMOR]

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Obviously you've never heard the saying " Defense wins games"...

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It's offense wins games, defense wins championships.

[KB21]

BK wants Joe Johnson as a point guard because Joe has proven at the college level and at the pro level that he can run an offense. Plus, he's the ideal fit for a Billy Knight point guard.....long, versatile, and athletic.

Josh Childress's shot may be flat, but he hits 47% of his shots. So, where exactly is the flaw? He's a better shooter at this point than Scottie Pippen was at the same stage of development.

When did Mike Woodson give up on Boris?

[Diesel]

No it's offense sells tickets, defense wins games.

[Lascar78]

I have no problem with building a defensively oriented team, and I am well aware that that's BK's preference. But that's not the issue here. You keep saying that we need a defensive C because our offense was fine last year, and that's complete BS. Our offense needs as much help as our D. I'm fine with us chosing a defensive C, but it's not because or offense is fine, it would just be a choice of building a defense-oriented team.

[Packfill]

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Well for starters Curry doesn't do the things we need! We have scorers. Hell, there was absolutely nothing wrong with our scoring last season.

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Al led us in scoring with 17.5 ppg. Lue was 2nd with 13.5 ppg. Do you really think we are going to win anything with Lue being our 2nd leading scorer?

We need a dominant low post scorer every bit as much as we need interior D.

As for being an albatross, Foyle IS an albatross at $8.1M next season (and escalating thereafter) whether he takes the floor or not.

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That is not necessarily accurate because you have to fctor in the fact that the Hawks had Antoine Walker for part of the year. He averaged 20 points a game. After he was traded, Childress stepped up his game considerably and was averaging in the neighborhood of 16 points per game over the lst 30 games or so. Josh Smith averaged double figures over that time period as well. I don't think it is unrealistic to expect a combined 25+ points per game from the two this season.

[swolehawk2]

"We need a dominant low post scorer every bit as much as we need interior D."

This statement right here is FALSE.

[Diesel]

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You keep saying that we need a defensive C because our offense was fine last year, and that's complete BS. Our offense needs as much help as our D.

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IN comparison... Our defensive struggles made our offensive struggles look menial. Help is on the way for offense. However, if we don't patch up our defense, we will never win PERIOD.

In other words.... Our defense is worse off than our offense.

You can try to spin that whichever way you want. You can try to get stat by stat... or whatever.

All I know is that our team was getting much better offensively, but Nazr was still putting up 22/15 on our defensiveless interior!

[Diesel]

Some of these guys would be happy for another Collier like performance on the defensive end from our C position.

With Al or Marvin or Smoove playing PF, we will definitely need a strong defender holding down the C. I would love Tyson Chandler even though he's a Sf who just happens to be 7'0. Hell, I would take Theo if PTL gave him Amnesty... But damn... NOT Curry. Every coach he has ever had has complained about his laziness and inability to play defense.

[Diesel]

First off, JJ was not a PG in college, he was a 2 and sometimes a 3. Pargo and Cleveland played PG for the Razorbacks...

Secondly. Childress may be shooting 47% from the field but he's shooting 23% from 3pt.. We can't have a Sg shooting 23% from 3 pt land.

Lastly, Woodson gave up on Boris sometime in the middle of last season... When Boris would sit on the bench and not play... When we would go with Ivey over Diaw...

[Plainview1981]

Didn't you know Diesel that BIlly Knight is the

basketball god and is going save the Hawks because

he knows everything there is to know and never

really makes a wrong or even questionable move.

All you need is to be tall, athletic(That got the

USA team real far)and you can play any position

out on the court.

[TheDude]

they say some people talk just to hear themselves..i think sometimes Diesel you post just to read your own posts and see what kind of trouble you can start..even if the post isn't really all that informing, or insightful (maybe incitefull though) or even remotely likely(trade options), it's still posted.

[Plainview1981]

One thing.... Good defense can lead to more scores

on other side, but does good offense make the defense

better? I don't think so.... Upgrade the defense first.

If you built a good defense you can get a few more

transition baskets ESP with athletes like Al and

Smith and Childress.

That 92PPG can go up to 95PPG or better next year possibly.

[AHF]

When Diesel gets nailed on a post like saying our O isn't a problem he tries to deflect (i.e., "you are the idiot because it is our D that needs help") and to qualify (i.e., "I only meant that our O was fine in comparison to our D"). Just admit you were wrong and that our O isn't fine but state that you think the higher priority should be D.

IMO, JJ would significantly improve our D. Also IMO any of the centers we have been connected with in FA would be a huge upgrade over Collier (that includes Curry).

We do need an improvement in low post scoring too (every champ since the Bulls has had low post scoring in common with Hakeem, Duncan, Rasheed, Shaq, etc. in the low post).

[AHF]

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One thing.... Good defense can lead to more scores

on other side, but does good offense make the defense

better? I don't think so....

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Actually it does. Made baskets allow you set up your defense and force the other team to play half-court offense. Missed shots and turnovers lead to fast break opportunities for the other side and allow them to attack your defense when it isn't set.

Also, if you look at a statistical breakdown there is a bigger correlation between offense and wins than defense and wins. I agree, though, that a champion team needs a good defensive presense and the creampuffs like the Dallas Mavericks will get you wins but not advance you far in the playoffs.

[Plainview1981]

What did the scoring do for The Mavs and Suns

defense? NOTHING. It isn't like the Suns don't

have players that can play defense...

Shawn Marion

Joe Johnson

Bo Outlaw

Jim Jackson

Amare has the potential to play it.

So with all those scoring and with guys that can

play defense why was they so bad on defense?

If you play defense you almost always will be in

the game.

[AHF]

What is ignorant that I said?

(1) Statistical analysis shows a greater correlation between offense and wins than defense and wins.

(2) High scoring cream puffs like the Mavs don't advance in the playoffs.

(3) Made shots allow you to set up your defense (if you play any).

(4) Missed shots and turnovers allow teams to run.

Your comeback that the Mavs and Suns didn't advance don't exactly prove that anything I said was ignorant. They won a ton of games and the Mavs are the very team I used as an example for point 2. (The Suns lost to the NBA champs).

[Plainview1981]

I didn't call you ignorant. I'm trying to stay away

from that stuff.

The goal is to win a title right? You improve your

defense first and that's what you build your team

on to try and win the title.

Someone said that Offense wins games and defense

wins titles. Hello! obviousally defense wins games

too since it wins the title! I'd rather be a 3rd

seed and win the title than be the 1st seed and

get knocked out.

It's tougher to go from 101PPG given up down to

89PPG (which is about what Detroit and SA give

up) than it is to go from 92.5PPG up to say 97PPG.

Defense is more important than offense so that is

what you start building with.

I'd like to see a 95PPG/97PPG for the Hawks this

season. That would be what I'd hope for.

[AHF]

Sorry - didn't mean to incorrectly state you were accusing me of ignorance. I do think you need a good balance as you can see champs of both colors (high scoring champs like Lakers 80s, Celtics, Bulls, Lakers 90s & 00s and high D champs like Pistons 80s, San 90s & 00s and Pistons 04) but most champs can score when they need it and get stops when they need it.

With our existing roster I think we have the making of good defenders in the Joshes and Marvin but they all need more seasoning before they will be standout defenders. We have an absolute hole at the center position and not much at PG. Earl Watson would be a good playmaker and a good upgrade at PG defensively, IMO. Anybody would be an upgrade at center but I'd like to see us land Curry who showed improvement last year defensively (assuming we can't get Chandler) and a primarily defensive center as a backup (perhaps Hunter, Foyle, Diop or someone else). Al isn't ever going to be a great defensive player but with another year in the system he could be OK as part of team defense.

[Plainview1981]

The problem is the Hawks still don't have a guy that

really makes an impact in the middle. Also, Lue needs

to go in favor of a bigger defensive guard or atleast

a real starting PG. It's not easy to be a good defensive

team with no really good defenders at the 1,4,5 positions.

Hawks don't have really a defensive player at either of

the 3 positions...With that being the case I expect the

Hawks will once again give up 100PPG atleast. If the

Hawks get rid of Al they can go with a PG/JJ/Childress/

Smith and you hope Josh Smith can become a better

defensive player and perhaps get a guy that can rebound

and block shots in the middle.