Inside_Man

Last year we got killed in three areas. Interior Defense 3pt shooting (Hello Salim) FT shooting (add Marvin's 80+%) Spending on one of the decent 5s available will complete the Hawks improving in all these areas. I say if we sign one of the good centers, we win 25. Ticket sales will be better, maybe much better by the second half of the season. It's a step by step process. It won't happen all at once, but I believe in the Hawks for the following reasons. I believe BK does have a plan. I believe BK is a good judge of talent. I like that the Hawks right now have NO big uglee contracts around their necks. I like that the Hawks have the best nucleus of young talent in years and years. There's a long way to go, but I think the Hawks can put a product on the floor that will get a better share of Ws, and be fun to watch. From where they came from, that's a good start.

Quote: and the next best bigman is Collier. That will certainly change after FAcy. But your point stands, this is his best opportunity to stick with a team. I think it's reasonable to assume that whatever FA center we can get will take PDrobs roster spot and Okize's now-open spot goes to Morris.

Quote: CHAD FORD HAS NO IDEA WHAT THE HAWKS ARE DOING; BILLY KNIGHT DOESN'T TELL HIM WHAT HE'S DOING. Yep. The Hawks made one serious move for a FA last year, K-Mart. And when they did, we all knew it. I expect the same this year.

Quote: I guess Chad hasn't quite figured out that those restricted guys aren't worth the max, Yes, but that doesnt' mean we make NO offers to these guys. THey aren't worth the MAX, but if it's a young player, who fits a need, who already has some seasoning in the league, who could be part of a long-term nucleus, than you should overpay some to get him, not max, but at least make the other team do some work here. UNLESS the owners already have an unwritten collusion aggreement in effect not to go after each other's restricted FAs. Thoughts on that idea?

Quote: The question is, why does Knight care? He has nothing to lose. He has enough cap room to make two max offers. He has valuable trade assets he could offer to teams for sign-and-trades. By making a run at a young guy he likes, he locks up his cap room for seven days. If the team matches, he loses. But if he doesn't make a solid offer in the first place, he loses anyway. Ford is right. But I'm not sure I believe the hype that we were after Z or Allen. That's more likely their agents talking to drive up the price. But we should be making offers to restricted FAs. Make Philly, and Chitown pay-up or shut-up.

There are no set positions - only guards and forwards. Either your a guard of a forward.

More - Chicago is vulnerable because a big offer for one of their big guys will pry away the other. If we make a big offer for Chandler, they'll feel they have to match, but once they match, they'll most likely be out of the running for Curry. I think the center FAs will fall one at a time and the biggest contract will be BigZ, the agents for the other guys will let BigZ set the price for centers. Either Cleve or Atlanta will sign Z, and then the team who doesn't get him will decide whether to pursue Chandler or Dally. The chips will fall one at a time.

We aren't going to be spending all of our cap this year. We are going to be under a significant amount. This team isn't selling enough tickets to carry a huge payroll and they have to save money for when it's time to re-up the kids. Having said that, there are enough 5s out there that we can get one of them and we should spend to do it even if it's overpaying some. Between Dally, Chandler, Curry and BigZ we can and should get one of them. Curry is probably the cheapest, but he would help us the least (we need defense). BigZ would be the most help now, but would not be a part of our long-term youth nucleus. There's pluses and minuses for all, but I'd take either CHandler or Dally. I'll be very dissappointed if the Hawks don't land one of those four players. I think the issue as far as Curry goes is whether he is insurable. If not, he's going to go very cheap.

We were never offering big bucks for Allen - Cleveland's dollars are for Redd and/or BigZ.

EFFICIENCY!!!!! Chillz +13.28 JR +6.97 It isn't even close. Chillz is the better player. The guy has all the earmarks of being very, very good in this league.

Quote: it said that Dally had been contacted by 7-8 teams including ATL already, but that none of them had offered a max contract. He said a max deal from Philly would make him automatically sign with them. Sounds like to get Dally we will have to give him the max..and he's just not worth that. That's his agent talking his price up. Don't believe it.

Quote: I think the rumored talk about Johnson is b/c BK might use him at the 1 spot instead of at the 2. The rumored Allen talk is a smokescreen to send the signal that we have money to spend b/c Allen is not coming here. In some cases, it's the player's agent who's floating the Hawks name in order to drive up the price of his player. I take it with a grain of salt that we're interested in any of these guys unless the word comes from the Hawks themselves.

Quote: More importantly, Josh and Marvin are the same player positionally. We can't develop 2 identical players positionally at the same time. The consensus on the board last year was that ultimately Josh can play the 4. Your point is irrelevent unless you specifically dispute that. It doesn't matter if Marvin is to small to play the 4 unless you believe Josh can't play the 4.

Yes - rebounding was not our problem last year. Our big problems were FT% and 3PT%, which Marvin and Salim will both improve. Our big man problem was that we couldn't stop othe teams inside. We need a Defensive center.

Quote: The point is, you win with size in the NBA. With Curry and Tyson Chandler, the Bulls are big enough to cause opponents problems inside, even if those players are not in Shaq or Duncan’s stratosphere. Eddy Curry Keep in mind, general manager John Paxson won’t agree to a trade that makes no sense for the Bulls. But if they can get a decent big man in return, a deal could happen. Lorenzen Wright? Al Harrington? Jeff Foster? Rasho Nesterovic? Channing Frye? It’s difficult to predict the possibilities. If there is little to no interest in Curry as a restricted free agent, the Bulls are prepared to make a contract offer, but the dollar amount may be less than Curry’s camp originally hoped for. The Bulls also may try nudging him toward getting a DNA test that might rule out the presence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. source

Here's a huge difference. JT was drafted to save the franchise. Salim was drafted to play a role.

I know we think alike KB. In fact, I posted the same quote and link this morning. Original Cenk Euro cadet post

Quote: If they sign Stoudamire The Hawks will avoid anyone with character issues like the plague. They have young, impressionable guys on this team, and they will make sure to bring in only solid citizens. MWill reads Harry Potter books! That tells you something. Chillz is a Stanford dude. Damon Stoudamire won't, and shouldn't, get a look here.

If you're going to complain that we have too many 6'8" players, then you HAVE to answer the question as to who is out of position when Smoove, Marvin and Chillz are on the floor at the same time. You have an arguement if you wanted to contend THIS YEAR and now you don't have a long-term spot for AL. But contending THIS YEAR was never realistic. I think most people on this board believe that in the long run Smoove can play the four and we no that Chillz is an NBA 2, So you can't complain about us stocking too many at one position, because in the long run, Chillz, Smoove and Marvin are our 2, 4 and 3 of the future. We can get our future 5 in FAcy this year, with Dally, but he will cost. So what, we have the money. The PG question will be answered down the road. Rome wasn't built in a day. The 5 need is more pressing, as that lack of interior 'D' killed us last year. We can win 25 games if we sign Dally.

Quote: We really don't need to spend a bunch of money in free agency Incorrect. The rules are a team HAS to spend 75% of the salary cap. So we HAVE to spend another $14 mil. and that doesn't include MWill's rookie contract.

joshsmithfan gets so tired of getting MartyA grief on this board that he changes his handle to.... marvinwilliams_fan#1

Quote: A special, different player. Behind the boyish appearance hides a born winner, a leader who set the standard for runner-up Turkey. He is a natural shooting guard, although he also has become a good point guard thanks to his excellent vision and capacity of leadership, and despite not having great leaping ability and certain lack of speed, which perhaps restricts to him to being a SG in the future. Leader in assists of the tournament, he's very adept at creating baskets for teammates on the break or off the dribble drive (he is of the few players that when driving, even in the air, thinks more about passing than scoring). He is a streaky shooter, but he connects on the most important and difficult shots. His defense is suspect and it he's not too good in 1-on-1, but he has a special ability to anticipate passes and to turn them easy baskets on the counterattack. link

Quote: Can you name a better shooter to come out of college EVER? uhhh, Ed Gray? I'm just funnin ya. I agree with you.

I'm bumping KB's thread to the top, cuz I think he's right, and he's been right all along about MWill. I don't think Salim was drafted to be our starting PG. He was drafted to score points, which he will do in large quantities.

Quote: With the New CBA, our money means nothing....Now, Philly has the money to offer Dally to match what we can offer. We can either overpay substantially (I'm talking about more than Eric Dampiere) or we can make an offer and watch Philly Match. While the new CBA makes it easier for Philly to match, that benefit cuts both ways, because whatever contract we offer Dally will be one year shorter and with smaller raises than with the old CBA. So to say we have to give him a Dampiere contract is just plain wrong, because obviously it will be shorter. There will be a limit to what Philly can pay. They are committed to $78 million next year before they spend a dime on Dally. That's $27 mil over next year's cap, and obviously that means they pay dollar for dollar lux tax money on whatever they offer Dally. The idea that no one wants Atlanta's money is stupid. A young atheletic center who comes here will anchor a front line with Smoove and MWill, two potential superstars. Trust me, a quality big man will want to come here.