Hawks:Most Improved in Southeast

[RAHMOR]

According to this article. Remember Miami and Charlotte are in our division.

http://www.realgm.com/src_fromtherafters/8...ms_and_charges/

- Can you argue that the Hawks aren’t the most improved team in the Southeast Division? Plugging multi-dimensional talents like Joe Johnson and Marvin Williams into your starting line-up will do such a thing. Positions 1-4 will be scary when you consider the size and closeness of age of JJ, Josh Childress, Josh Smith and Marvin Williams. These guys will mature together as a collective unit like the NBA hasn't seen since the Blazers' teams of the late 80's.

Johnson gets everything he can possibly want in Atlanta.

a) A max contract.

b) The control of a team.

c) A conference that will be on the decline when the Hawks are ready to compete, which will be when the Pistons and Heat have aged.

Marvin Williams bust potential has decreased significantly as well and that is because his mental make-up doesn't seem inclined to become a team's go-to leader. As he did in Carolina, Williams will be an auxiliary option, albeit the second one.

- Bryan Colangelo on the other hand has played margarita with a team that was a few games away from the NBA Finals last season. Taking a step back from the shock of losing two-fifths of your teams, since the Suns essentially had no bench last season, they may have very well improved both immediately and long-term.

Raja Bell should overachieve in the Suns system, just as Joe Johnson did and Kurt Thomas gives the Suns an added frontcourt presence that they so desperately needed against the Spurs. Adding Brian Grant will also help in the Duncan showdowns.

The Suns will also be better long term in the post-Nash era when Amare has no pier by getting rid of a semi-bad contract in Richardson and a very-bad contract in Joe Johnson. Plus, in Johnson’s contract they have two Atlanta first rounders and Boris Diaw, who has shown some potential and is another guy who has the skills to excel in the Phoenix system.

Colangelo was wise to recognize that swingmen like Johnson and Richardson are the cheapest players in the NBA.

- Seattle’s tactic of stalling on their free agents will finally play out this week as they have until Thursday to match the offer sheet Damien Wilkins signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves .

A five-year $15 million deal for a player who has played consistently when minutes have been given to him, even better in light of the identical deal that Boston gave to Brian Scalabrine.

Since there will once again be a logjam at small forward, Wilkins will have to improve his 3-point shooting and play more minutes behind Ray Allen at the shooting guard spot.

Matching the offer makes signing Vladimir Radmanovic to a one-year tender a no-brainer, letting Wilkins develop in a secondary role again this season, before moving Vladimir to New Orleans in 2006 in a sign-and-trade for Jamaal Magloire.

- The Latrell Sprewell story should be considered funnier and he has done plenty for the country to take great pleasure in the kind of money he has lost in the last 10 months, but there is no way I could take pleasure in the plight of a guy who was my favorite player while I was growing up.

His first five seasons in Oakland stand beside Rick Barry’s run in the early 70’s as the greatest run in a Warriors’ uniform.

He was an All-NBA selection his second-season (1994) after being drafted late in the first round, a sophomore season that has gone unseen until last year when LeBron James and Dwyane Wade became dominant fixtures of the NBA.

1994 was the first year of Jordan’s first retirement and with Chris Webber, the Warriors represented the future of the NBA, but it all fell apart for Golden State when management sided by Don Nelson instead of the Rookie of the Year. In some ways, this was the last stand an owner and a coach has made in professional sports.

The bottom line on Sprewell is that he is going to turn 35 in two weeks and for an explosive wing man that is ancient. He will fit in nicely in Detroit and give them a perimeter option off the bench that they didn’t have last season.

[Packfill]

Is it me or is that article unintelligible?

How does it makes sense for the author to say that Marvin's bust potential has declined (which is surprising because no games have been played yet); while at the same time say that his mental make-up suggests he doesn't have the drive to be a number one option?

[DominiqueWilkins]

I can't even get myself to click the link, because I don't think Atlanta is the most improved. I feel Miami has had a great offseason, because they've filled so many holes, and have added alot of talent. Finley might even be next to join the team.

[Final_quest]

It's not Miami because it's hard to improve on 59 wins.

Think of the Lakers when they added Malone and GP. Everyone thought they would be unstoppable. It remains to be seen that adding #8, Jason Williams, and Michael Finley will truly improve the team.

Consider also what's been happening to our Olympic teams. Bringing in names and stars doesn't equate to a winning team all the time. Reggie Miller came right out and said he didn't like Miami's moves this offseason.

In baseball you see the Yankees struggle sometimes because they don't have enough role players. They don't have a batter who would lay down a bunt to advance a runner.

The Hawks really have the best chance of improving after upgrading their roster. The only other team that could improve significantly is Charlotte. I think Charlotte is building a real solid team.

[Nicholasp27]

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Is it me or is that article unintelligible?

How does it makes sense for the author to say that Marvin's bust potential has declined (which is surprising because no games have been played yet); while at the same time say that his mental make-up suggests he doesn't have the drive to be a number one option?

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he thinks that marvin doesn't have what it takes to be a #1 option...and he thinks that marvin would have had to become a #1 option on our team...so he thinks marvin had an X% chance to bust due to the pressure of being #1 option...but now that we have a legit #1 in jj, marvin's pressure is off, so therefore his bust potential is now Y%, where Y

[Guest Walter]

While I understand deals can be good for both teams, stating that the deal for JJ largely made us the most improved EC team and then saying "Pheonix was good to recognize swing players like JJ are the easiest and cheapest to come by", etc. and "good move not resigning him" is hard to consider consistent.

W

[Diesel]

Right now?

Hmm. I think we have improved the most.

However, something makes me want to say that Miami did. I mean, they did get WIlliams, Walker, and the kid from Kansas...

Miami has heaps of talent.

Yet, I don't think they will win 75 games so their improvement won't match ours.

I think we will win something close to 40 games this season. But it's dependent on coaching.

[Plainview1981]

Quote:

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Right now?

Hmm. I think we have improved the most.

However, something makes me want to say that Miami did. I mean, they did get WIlliams, Walker, and the kid from Kansas...

Miami has heaps of talent.

Yet, I don't think they will win 75 games so their improvement won't match ours.

I think we will win something close to 40 games this season. But it's dependent on coaching.

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40 wins? lol

The JJ/Al combo isn't alot better than the Walker/Al

combo and the Hawks wouldn't have hit 20 wisn had Walker

stayed.

[swolehawk2]

Yeah ...I don't see 40 wins out of this team as is...unless we sign some real big men...it is going to be hard to win 25 games with ZaZa being your only good big guy...I like Al...but we need another BIG.

I wish they would go ahead and get to signin'...want to see who fills out this roster.

[Diesel]

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40 wins? lol

The JJ/Al combo isn't alot better than the Walker/Al

combo and the Hawks wouldn't have hit 20 wisn had Walker

stayed.

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I believe that the JJ AL combo is better than the AL/Walker combo for several reasons.

1. Better shooting percentage.

2. Better PG.

3. Offense not coming from the same position.

4. Offense has more movement. - It was hard to play uptempo ball with that crew.

5. JS, JC should be more mature than they were when Walk was here. If you look over the last 3 months, the Hawks offense really woke up when Walk and Al were gone. That's because JC and JS started stepping up and finding their game and Delk came back.

6. JJ is a better defensive player than Walk. So is Al. So is Smoove.

7. ZaZa! Zaza if nothing else will be a much better rebounder than Ekezie and Drobs. But I believe he will also be a better scorer.

[Diesel]

Almost forgot..

A strong outside threat will open the inside for AL to be more productive.

If any time is the time to prove himself, this is it. Al doesn't have to fight with Walk for the ball or the offensive duties, he will have it.

[JTFan31]

Well all that depends on a lot of factors, so is just a maybe hotlanta. Ok Maybe Al/JJ are not as good as Al/walker, but just maybe they are or even better, but the difference is add 1 year of Chillz and Smoove experience and also add Marvin and Salim to the mix, and possibly just possibly this team can turn out to be a 40 win team or close to it......and yes Diesel is right it all depends on the coach.

[Gray Mule]

I think it simply means that Marvin will no longer have

so much attention focused on him with JJ here.

At least, I hope that's what the writer meant.

[Plainview1981]

We are talking a pretty big difference in win total

here. I would have guessed that had Walker stayed

the Hawks would have won maybe 18 games. I don't

believe the Hawks have done enough to make a 22 game improvement this year. It's still a team that can't

defend and is still extremely young.

The Bulls got away with it cause they have Chandler

that rebounds and blocks shots and Antonio Davis who

plays tough inside. They also got Harrington and

Griffin who are on the tougher side.

All the offense didn't come from Harrington and Walker...

Delk averaged 12PPG and Lue averaged about 11.4PPG

The problem is defense... 102PPG given up... ZaZa

was a good pickup, but he alone can't cut into that

very much I don't think.

Winning 40 games the team needs more toughness and

defense coming from the inside. And no, Josh Smith

isn't a good defensive player YET... His defense

right now is sorta like Theo's was. The weakside

shot blocking is good, but one on one defense is

not something that Josh is good at right now.

[Wretch]

We sucked last year and most of us (excluding those who felt the "veterans" would make such a big difference) pretty much knew it going in. This year, there is a lot of focus on Joe Johnson and what he's going to do for us...and people are looking at JJ/Al and whatnot.

But the key is going to be Childress. He has the type of game that can make things happen and he said it best when folks were asking about what bringing JJ to this team meant. They could be dangerous.

Chill is a guy that can get to the basket. He's quick, athletic, and knows how to make decisions - especially on the break. What it boils down to is...

Is he more of a "core" player or is he more of a "complimentary" player. I don't mean complimentary in the mold of Pippen...because Pip was incredible and was a bonafide starter/star. I mean is Josh more of this 6th man that everyone wants him to be or can he assert himself as a goto guy.

I think more so than anyone, JJ compliments JC and that could very well be the difference. You've got two guys that can get to the rim, two guys that know how to make decisions with the ball... One guy is damn good at snaking his way to the basket...the other guy is damn good at knocking down the outside shot. Both are huge, both are long, both are athletic.

I think at this point is where you start looking at the help around them. Harrington is a handful as we saw the difficulties that teams had with him at times last season. It's going to be harder to help on him now with a guy like JJ ready to take advantage on one side and JC on the other. In the middle of all this...ready to clean up or finish is Smoove.

With all these guys able to swing between 2 or 3 positions, it also opens up the game for a shooter like Salim...who can come in and add yet another dimension to our offense.

I mean...it looks good and not just statwise or on paper. These guys have the skills to compliment each other extremely well. It's just a matter of how good they are. We know AL and we know JJ...so it really boils down IMO to Chill.

Lastly...

There are two things, outside of individual players, that are going to affect us. First, is obviously, how well these guys come together. Secondly, is how well they defend. Yes, we need a defensive anchor in the middle (which I don't think ZaZa is...), but team chemistry and defense is going to have a great deal to do with Woody. His trial begins now. I don't expect a sub 20 win season and if it happens, I think we can put a decent amount of that on Woody. The heat is on.

I'd say things look good. Decent defense and a more assertive Childress will dramatically improve this team. We get those two things, and I am expecting better than 20 - 30 wins. I'm not going to debate it, as I defended Chill and BK's vision from draft night on last year, but I will stand by what I'm saying all the same.

[RAHMOR]

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something makes me want to say that Miami did.

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Even though when you compare our roster this year with the roster we had last year it seems like we obviously have the most improvement, yet I feel the same way. Miami added so many players of quality it's hard to argue against them until the season starts. It is no doubt in me mind we are a close second if not them being 1 and us 1A.

[Diesel]

I agree that our defense needs help... However, maybe the intent is not to outdefend but to outscore ala Phoenix. If I'm not mistaken Phoenix was the worst defensive team in the league last year. They had the best record because they just BLEW TEAMS Out....

I've been paying attention to BK... Have you found 1 instance where he said anything about defensive??

I've heard him say Long, Versatile, Athletic but not defensive. From My perspective it would seem that BK brought Woody in because Woody knows how to teach defense and if you teach the most athletic guy where to be and what to do, he will give you average to better than average results. It makes sense when you think about the fact that there aren't many good defensive players who can also play offense in the league. Smoove being a shot blocker is a plus.

But if you have an unstoppable force, it will take a strong defensive team to beat you... And the odds are you won't encounter one of those until the Conference Finals..

Now... About this coming year and ~40 wins?

I looked at our margin of loss last year. We lost a lot of close ones...

The one thing that we improved going from last season to this season is Chemistry. We added shooters. I think that may help us get over the hump that stopped us so many times before.

[Plainview1981]

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I agree that our defense needs help... However, maybe the intent is not to outdefend but to outscore ala Phoenix. If I'm not mistaken Phoenix was the worst defensive team in the league last year. They had the best record because they just BLEW TEAMS Out....

I've been paying attention to BK... Have you found 1 instance where he said anything about defensive??

I've heard him say Long, Versatile, Athletic but not defensive. From My perspective it would seem that BK brought Woody in because Woody knows how to teach defense and if you teach the most athletic guy where to be and what to do, he will give you average to better than average results. It makes sense when you think about the fact that there aren't many good defensive players who can also play offense in the league. Smoove being a shot blocker is a plus.

But if you have an unstoppable force, it will take a strong defensive team to beat you... And the odds are you won't encounter one of those until the Conference Finals..

Now... About this coming year and ~40 wins?

I looked at our margin of loss last year. We lost a lot of close ones...

The one thing that we improved going from last season to this season is Chemistry. We added shooters. I think that may help us get over the hump that stopped us so many times before.

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The Hawks don't have the shooters/playmakers/inside

players or anything to have such an offense. Sorry to

say that the Hawks don't have the players to have a

Suns like offense. The Hawks don't even have a shot to

average 100PPG... Mustless the 110PPG that the Suns

averaged last season.

It takes a H*llva lot to win without the rebounding

and toughness. Look at The Mavs roster... And they

still cant get out of the second round. The Suns

getting to where they did in the playoffs is probably

about more of who they played than anything. The

Mavs are a bad defensive team, and the Rockets just

didn't have enough on offense.

The Hawks don't have the right pieces or the depth

to win 40 games in a conference that has only improved

more over last year. THe Nets/Heat/Cavs/Bulls could

ALL be stronger this year... Indy and Detroit should

also remain strong.

It's simply too much to ask of this team at the present

time.

[Diesel]

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The Hawks don't have the shooters/playmakers/inside

players or anything to have such an offense. Sorry to

say that the Hawks don't have the players to have a

Suns like offense. The Hawks don't even have a shot to

average 100PPG... Mustless the 110PPG that the Suns

averaged last season.

It takes a H*llva lot to win without the rebounding

and toughness. Look at The Mavs roster... And they

still cant get out of the second round. The Suns

getting to where they did in the playoffs is probably

about more of who they played than anything. The

Mavs are a bad defensive team, and the Rockets just

didn't have enough on offense.

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Here's your first mistake. We do have rebounding and toughness. I would suggest that CHillz will probably be the best rebounding Shooting guard in the game. I suggest that JJ will get about 5 rpg. I suggest that Smoove will be a 10-11 rpg guy too. I even believe that Zaza will pull down more than 8 rpg.

But to be more comprehensive, let's look at Phoenix.

They had Amare, Nash, JJ, Marion, and Voskhul starting a lot of their games.

We have Al, JJ, JC, JS, and ZaZa. NOt that we're better because Amare is a best.. But we are somewhat comparable. We have shooters and scorers. I think we may be faster. I would even say we will play better defense.

[JTFan31]

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The one thing that we improved going from last season to this season is Chemistry. We added shooters. I think that may help us get over the hump that stopped us so many times before.

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Bingo....

Now we are looking eye to eye, Diesel.

Chemistry is a big factor in basketball, when 5 guys are meshing with each other. The other factor is shooters. We have just added one of the leagues best shooter and best 3 point shooter to the team, not only a shooter but a great scorer. Through the draft you added a "will be" all-star in Marvin Williams (this is the only spot me and Diesel aren't seeing eye to eye) and also Salim stoudamire, the steal of the draft and possibly the best shooter in the draft with tremendous 3 point range....and also a very well known scorer in the collegiate level.