Inside_Man

Here's some random thoughts from last nights game. The Hawks need perimeter scoring. The problem now is that there's no production from The Shoot Brothers. Now I'll give a pass to Can't Shoot, as he's just a rookie and I think he needs minutes and he got some last night (27). But ultimately, the Hawks will need him to knock down jumpers. The other brother, Doesn't Shoot, just makes me frustrated to watch. I like so much of the rest of his game, but watching him pass up good looks just leaves fans scratching their heads. It seems that both Can't Shoot and Doesn't Shoot have mental blocks on putting the ball up. It should be a priorty of Hawks coaching to turn these guys into perimeter threats. Toine had a terrible game last night. Is he hurting? He seemed to have trouble moving and his 36 minutes played were light for him (that's fine with me). His 4-16 from the field is a disgrace. Note, the Hawks decent second quarter run was made with Toine on the bench. I don't think he's a long term piece of this puzzle. Ahhh - Smooove. Well he put on quite a show. The kid has great gifts. But it would be good for him to get a dependable mid-range jump shot for those times when his path to the hoop isn't so clear. The refs robbed him on one goaltending call where it was a clear block. The Hawks are going nowhere until they have a defensive presence in the center. It's just pathetic. I like Drobby, but he should be a backup center getting regular minutes off the bench. The Hawks spent some time playing without a center, which makes some sense in that there's no use in pretending to have something you don't have, but on the other hand you aren't going to win without a five on the floor. For the blazers, Darius 'Pharoah' Miles impressed me a lot. (he looks like a pharoah with that beard). He spent a lot of time above the rim, especially when Smoove wasn't on the floor.

for Zo, Aaron Williams, and 2 1sts.

Quote: We should start a new contest to give him an appropriate nickname. J-Hops

Has that jerk been fired yet?

Okay - but how about take your line-up and switch out AW for Chill. Diaw and Chill in the backcourt with AL, Smoove and Drobby. They'd kill on D. Wingspan city. And I think that if Chill got minutes without AW on the floor, we'd learn he could score. .... a lot.

Yes - that's what I'm trying to say. This idea of worshipping veterans just because their veterans is shades of Lenny at his worst.

Le me be a little clearer. Rather than focus on the rookies' minutes. Look at it from a standpoint of Al and AW's minutes. Coach obviously feels that they each HAVE to have at least 43 minutes EVERY night. He's not flexible on that point. I think the shocking fact that he has no clue on is that he could cut their minutes some (not a lot) and win more games. Sure, he's tried a zillion combinations this year, but the one he hasn't tried is cutting them back a bit. Heck, minutes can motivate vets too. "AW, you want to play 43 minutes? Hit 5 straght free throws and you'll get your minutes."

Last night rookie player Josh Smith saved rookie coach Woodson from doing something stupid, i.e. taking him out of the game. We saw the same thing earlier this year when RoyAl Ivey's play forced the rookie coach not to make that mistake too in the Houston game. Two instances of our rookie players saving this coach from himself have accounted for 66% of the teams wins this year. Obviously, this doesn't look good for the rookie coach, since when there's no one there to save him from himself, we lose. Woodson's dilemma is that he obviously can't go with 4 forwards too often like he did last night. Minutes for JoshChill are already rationed, and when RoyAl comes back that will be even more backcourt minutes in demand. The bottom line is that the rookie coach has refused to cut into Al and AW's minutes in any significant way. Both still manage to play well over 40 minutes per night. Last night's results pretty much forces his hand to give Josh Smith serious minutes. Face it, Woodson's reliance on heavy minutes for Al and AW weren't resulting in wins. It's clear that Toine must be moved near the trading deadline, to enable our frontcourt minutes to be divided between JoshSmve and Al. Hopefully, BK will get a 1st pick for him. In the meantime, the rookie coach needs to cut AW's minutes to 35 max and AL down to about 40 in order to get JoshS more court time. He can win games. The coach also needs to let Childress, and Ivey when he gets back, have some significant time on the court. THey don't need major minutes, but they need to believe they'll be left alone to play. As long as these kids believe that they'll get yanked if they make one small mistake, then they'll never relax and be comfortable enough to get in their groove. This idea at yanking the rook for each and every mistake is a bad one. If we treated our rookie coach that way, he'd be fired already. If I wasn't trying to write an intelligent and thoughtful post, I'd just call our rookie coach an idiot. Maybe I'll do that next time.

Is it more important to win games? Or is it more important to develop CHIll, Smoove and RoyAL? I think Woodson feels like he needs to win to keep his job, but he's trying to hard by giving the horses too many minues. Right now he's accomplishing zero, neither winning nor growing the young'uns. I'd rather stick the kids out there and leave em alone for 20 minutes at a stretch. The wins will come. Kenny's gotta go. He's over.

Quote: Without Walker we wouldn't even have 2 wins. If he could shoot free throws, we'd have five!

Where do you get those stats? Does management have access to them? They're idiots if they don't. The main point of those stats is that KA should retire.

Quote: wat if he doesnt win the "BIG GAME"? Then he's not the best. Joe Montana is the best ever. When Peyton get's his third ring, we'll talk.

They should pick someone who can make free throws.

Indianapolis is not going to miss the playoffs. They'll have a bad stretch where they'll go mayb 6-14, including a loss to the Hawks in December, but they'll still grab one of the last playoff spots, instead of the 2nd or 3rd spot.

Artest should be banned from the league - he won't, but he should at least be out for the season. Sure some of the fans deserved what they got, but other's didn't. The guy who Artest went after apparantly wasn't the guy that threw the drink. Obviously, he'll sue Artest for millions and he'll get millions. A fool and his money are soon parted. I wrote the Hawks this AM and told them that at least one player needs to be suspended for the season. If the NBA doesn't have the sack, then I'm not buying tickets. Plain and simple. Get the gangsta's out of the game or I'm staying home. I have kids. I can't take kids to see this crap. Did you see the young kid crying at the Piston's/Pacer's game? Get these overpaid ganstas off the court. And cut the bull crap about players defending themselves. As a Red Sox hat wearing fan in Yankee stadium, I've had beers thrown at me. And no, I didn't feel compelled to act as an out of control moron. Suspend Jackson, Artest, and O'Neal for the season. Sure that will screw the Pacers over, but then maybe teams will think twice about giving fat contracts to idiot head cases.

is Grant Long in the broadcast booth. He's getting better every game. He has good insights. Much better than the Stinger. And I don't miss Stinger's "Ru Paul laugh" either.

We can see the big strategy coming in to focus. Draft players with serious reach and then teach them to play tenacious defense. What we saw tonight was a combination of 3 people brought in putting together one philosophy. Those 3 were Chill - RoyAl and the CoachWoody. Let's not leave him out. Their D was suffocating in quarter 4. And let's not forget about the stud on this team. The horse who does the heavy lifting. Yeah, the Toine man. He's an all-star who plays like a very hungry kid. I'm comparing Toine to Gary Sheffield, an amazing talent with a rep as being something of a head case, who then grew up and matured. My big stats of the game were Chill not missing a shot, and Toine not picking up a single foul. Methinks coach has laid it out - if you want minutes, you have to play Defense. I love how Chill was under the basket at both ends of the floor. What a change from years of 2 guards in this town haning out somewhere between halfcourt and the refreshement stand. This team is underrated right now. Sure they're going to struggle, but they're going to be fun to watch at a minimum, and give some good teams headaches to boot.

And great to see coach go with the kids in the 4th!

And you forgot his biggest accomplishment. He traded away Reef........TWICE! BRiliant!!

Thanks, and how 'bout those world champion Red Sox?

Hawks played some very good fast break basketball in the 2nd quarter. Both teams were sloppy in the 4th quarter, and it wasn't pretty to watch the Hawks lose a 12 point lead. The vets got all the minutes, with Ivey and Smooth only getting 12 minutes total and Chill a DNP. With a back-to-back tonight, I'd expect plenty of minutes for the kiddies, if not, maybe we should call the coach "Lenny II."

Right now, we have no backcourt player who can give us 20 points on ANY night. Not average 20 pts, just do it once in a while! None!! Until we have an outside threat, team are going to beat up and abuse Al and Toine. That's life. Toine is here for one year. The future is Smooth at the 3 and Al at the 4. Smooth should be playing at least 25 minutes a night. At least. What are we going to do with the 1st pick next year? This team needs a combined 25 points a night from Diaw and Childress. Right now they're getting 13. I'm dissappointed in Chill so far, but it's too early to pass judgement and I'll give him and the coaches the benefit of some time. When's Delk coming back? We might not win a game until he does.

I've been much too wraped up in the Sox to check in with y'all. Let's review. Quote: Hey Inside Man......where are the mighty Red Sox? [ I was just browsing back through the old posts and came across your Red Sox in a walk post.........HAHAHA. The Yankees even spotted the Red Sox a 5.5 game lead and have since turned it around and lead by 7 games now....it would take a freakin miracle for the Sox to come back now. and the reply... Quote: Piece of cake. The Yankmees won't even make the playoffs. They have no pitching. Their hitting is collapsing. Old players fading away. Bullpen arms falling off. yada yada yada. And the Sox? The Nomar trade was brilliant. They have good pitching. They're just getting warmed up. Hey, it's not even September!! Well, there is nothing sweeter than the events of the past week. It's fascinating because if the favored Sox had beaten the yanks in a normal give and take series it would be no big deal, but to lead them on and bring them to the edge and then administer the greatest comeback of all time in any sport ever on the face of the planet! Well, it's just too much!!! I have many friends who are NY fans and there are plenty of classy folks in that organization, but there's also people like ARod, who showed himself to be one of the most repugnant losers on the planet. The best part is that the yanks have set a mark for collapse that can never be eclipsed. It can be equaled, but never exceeded. Words can't express how beautiful that is. You can't fully appreciate this Sox victory unless you've been in the stadium in the Bronx and had beers thrown at your red cap from the upper deck. Been there, done that.

Heard it on the radio. That's insane. Dallas doin dumb damp deal. Also, no third team involved.

. Quote: ....it would take a freakin miracle for the Sox to come back now. Piece of cake. The Yankmees won't even make the playoffs. They have no pitching. Their hitting is collapsing. Old players fading away. Bullpen arms falling off. yada yada yada. And the Sox? The Nomar trade was brilliant. They have good pitching. They're just getting warmed up. Hey, it's not even September!!