Hawks:Most Improved in Southeast

[Diesel]

My prayer is that Chillz has become a much better ball handler. IF anybody needs to develop as a ball handling 2 guard it's him now. If he can take that pressure off JJ and allow JJ to do what he does, we will smoke teams...

[Plainview1981]

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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.

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Nash was responsable for getting the Suns to win. JJ

can't make Smith/Childress/Al better the way Nash made

Amare and JJ better. I suspect JJ can do abou as good

a job as Billups... But even Billups is no Nash when

it comes to making others better.

You can't prove that Smith will provide the rebounding,

but the toughness is not on the team... The bulk and

toughness is still lacking. Evans would be a good

addition to the team because the Hawks don't have

have any of those gritty type players.

Sure you will get a few from Chill, AL, Smith and JJ...

But they aren't Rodman, Ben Wallace, Tim Duncan, Shaq,

Hakeem on the boards. That's what has had the most

success. A one guy dominate guy.

Indiana Pacers

Detroit Pistons

Miami Heat

Chicago

Nets

I'd say those teams are surely going to be better than

the Hawks...

Cleveland, Orlando, Philly, New York are likely to be

better than Atlanta this year...

I see the Hawks being better than:

Charlotte/Bucks and could battle with Boston and

possibly Washington... WIll have to see how losing

Hughes effects Washington, but Bulter isn't a bad

replacement for him.

[DominiqueWilkins]

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

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I don't see anyone in the eastern conference getting in the Heats way, so I'm expecting Miami to represent the east in the championship. The Pacers or Pistons are about the only teams that have a chance. I still see them being the most improved team in the Southeast, but we (the Hawks) have made some great steps into the right direction.

[Diesel]

IF JJ could do as good a job as Nash, then I would propose we'd be a 60 win team.

However, I suspect that we will win high 30s maybe 40 games...

Billups would be perfect!

[Buzzard]

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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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I do not get this one either. A #2 picks bust potential does not decline due to free agent pickups. Marvin still has to suceed in order to justify the pick. I do not think Marvin will be a bust but the statement makes no sense.

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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.

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This is the gist of his article and I agree 100%. Now add in Salim and Pachulla and the argument for most improved just gets stronger. Whether the improvement margin is measured by winning % or games won, no other team in our division is going to see at least 13 more wins other than us.

[Final_quest]

Dude, english do you speak it? Most improved means upgrading over what you have done previously.

If Miami wins 61 games and have the best record in the NBA, they are not the most improved in the Southeast. The Hawks could win 30 games this year. That would be a 17 game improvement.

Miami would have to have one of the best records in NBA history to be considered most improved.

[Sage11]

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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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Yea! I feel the same way. I wish we let the man play in the NBA before trashing him. The premature bashing is beginning to rub me wrong.