Gangstur

I didn't watch the game, but Josh was 1-2 from 3. So I guess one of his couple of atrocious looking 3's went in. I'll take 1-2 from 3 from him any day.

Once they face reality then what? Sign someone? Draft someone bigger than Horford? How would you have drafted this year? What solution do you see? And I think BK has faced reality on this one. He signed Zaza, then Lo Wright, and Horford. However you feel about those guys, it shows BK has faced the reality that large men are required on NBA teams. In the end, it's a hole in the roster, but I don't think it's one that is going to ruin the season, or prevent this team from making a decent run at winning half of their games this year. We're only talking about a handful of games and a handful of teams who are able to expose that hole. And for the record, the Hawks beat Orland 3/4 times last year, and Howard didn't score 20pts once. I don't expect that to continue, but it's still worth noting.

Well, what do you want BK and the Hawks to do about it now? Yeah, it was a huge blunder on BK's part not to sign Diop. We can all agree on that. A real travesty. But these are the players we have to work with, and I don't think BK has missed out on any realistic opportunities to pick up a big man this off-season, or last off-season that I can think of. I get the picture that you don't think Al Horford is really the answer. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't, but he's certainly an improvement, and teamed with the rest of the front court, I think he'll be a big piece of the puzzle. And anything he's able to do at center is a bonus. Yes, Lorenzen is a garbage can, and that's all that's really out there for the taking. At least we're not paying a ton of long term $$ for the garbage can. If the biggest concern going into the season is how to defend Shaq and Dwight Howard, then this team has really come a long way. But I really don't think the likes of Eddie Curry and Jermaine O'Neal are going to terrorize these guys inside. Big enough bodies are going to be coming at them from all angles.

Diop was restricted, and Dallas exercised their option. And didn't Przybilla (he of 16min, 2.0pts, 2.9 fouls for $6mil) leave Atlanta not really wanting to come back? I just seem to remember him not enjoying his brief time here. Plus, I'm glad he's not on the Hawks' books for 7.5mil in 2010-11. Before that BK (who I hate to defend) passed on Kenyon Martin. Wouldn't it be great to have him around? 60mil for the next 4 seasons. That be great. Last year we got Lorenzen Wright. That was the best out there for the $$ the Hawks have. Whatever, I like our chances with the guys we got, and let's let these guys save their money to re-sign some guys.

I agree that it would be nice to have a big 7-footer to bang with those two guys, but the reality is that we don't. And I don't think it's that big of a deal. The reality also is that they're not that easy to come by. Someone post a trade or a FA that would fill the roll, then we can have this debate. What magical big-man does everyone want? Lorenzen Wright? We got him. Kevin Willis? I think a guy like Eric Dampier would be a great fit, but a guy like that makes $10mil a year. So in the end it looks like Al, Shelden, ZaZa, and the Hawks might have a little trouble defending Shaq and Dwight Howard. I think they'll be alright against the likes of Eddy Curry and Emeka Okafor.

Umm, did anyone check out the video of him bowling?? He's rolling with both hands, putting perfect curve on each ball. I don't know how his basketball career will work out, but I think he could make it on the professional bowling tour for sure. Keep in mind the dude is left handed when you watch it. ">" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350">

Stein is just a hater. First off, I wouldn't be too surprised if the Hawks owners wouldn't have gone for this deal. That's because of the $60mil Amare's getting the next four years. I don't think any of the owners are willing or able to spend that kind of dough right now. So, yeah, I think if this rumor is true, it's not a good thing, but that's just because the Hawks owners don't have that kind of cash to throw around, especially when there's uncertainty regarding who's ultimately going to control the team. They'll get the ownership thing worked out in a year or so, then they can sit down and make long term financial decisions regarding this team. Putting that salary on the Hawks would put them in the top handful of pay-rolls in the league, and that's simply not where this group of owners is ready to go. Second, in an article about the Summer of 2007 off-season moves and player movement Stein spent more time yapping about the Marvin/Chris Paul and Shelden/Brandon Roy debacles than he did talking about what he thinks was a great draft for the Hawks. He just loves ripping on the Hawks. Rather than looking at positives from this off-season, he hyped up a rumor, and re-hashed the dead horse that is the 2005 and 2006 drafts. What a jerk-face. It's guys like him that would make me doubly enjoy seeing the Hawks do some damage in the East this year.

I'm sure that he did, and sometimes I wish he could head into the locker room and engage in some activities during the game. Something to chill him out a bit, so he'd come back in and drain some open 3's, rather than run around in the lane and clonk runners off the back of the rim.

One could easily argue they have under-achieved under Woody. You won't hear anyone argue they have over-achieved.

I'm pretty sure that to get your hands on it, you'd have to walk into the clerks office and make some copies. Maybe they take copy requests over the phone or something, but don't hold your breath expecting to see it online.

Looks like it showed up on the Unreported Cases list. http://www.courts.state.md.us/unreported_o...unreported.html So much for transparency in the system.

The court of Special Appeals Rulings should be available on this page: http://mdcourts.gov/cgi-bin/indexlist.pl?c...e&submit=Submit However, they are only updated to yesterday. Hopefully it gets posted sometime in the next day or so. You'd think the AJC could just PDF what ever copy they have. This all but paves the way for the Spirit to cut Belkin a check and be done with him. I hope the Spirit has deep enough pockets to pay him off and still run the team.....

First off, I'd like to say that I want Smith signed up long term as soon as possible. I simply don't trust this ownership group/situation to do anything tomorrow which they can do today. However, as it currently stands I'm not too concerned. I think a lot of the hold up is based on other teams with other players still working out what exactly the market rate is for the players from the 2004 draft class. The following players are in the same contract situation as Josh Smith: Emeka Okafor Ben Gordon Luol Deng Andre Iguodala and Devin Harris Dwight Howard is the only player from that draft to sign an extension, and some on this list are sure to follow. Once a few of them start to sign, then I think Smith's contract value will be set, and he'll get locked up. If, however, most of these guys get signed, and Josh does not, I think that would be a big problem. He'd be left as one of the few RFA targets next off season, and it would show a lack of willingness on the Hawks and Smith to come to an agreement once others had determined what the going rate is for these guys. For example, if Deng signs a 5 year $50-55mil deal, I think Smith and the Hawks will pretty much agree on similar terms. I really think it is difficult to figure out exactly what salaries these guys should command. Guys from the 2003 draft got paid big time, but they were better players (with exception of Diaw and his 9mil/yr joke). However, once one guy gets a deal, I think Josh will get taken care of. Until October 20th, I won't be too worried about it.

No.

First off, there's plenty of tank talk going on around here, and I apologize to those of you who can't stomach the discussion. Anyway, I took a look at the odds of getting certain draft picks, available at: http://www.nba.com/history/lottery_probabilities.html. I had to make a few estimates based upon the fact that recently there has been a lot of ties for ping-pong ball positioning and that the expansion Bobcats recently threw an additional team into the mix. Based upon these numbers, and my fuzzy math, the following are the odds that a certain lottery position will end up with a #1-3 pick: 1. 64% 2. 56% 3. 46% 4. 37% 5. 29% 6. 22% 7. 16% Currently the #1 and #2 slots appear to be all but locked up, and #7 and higher lottery spots appear to be out of reach of the Hawks, barring a hot streak to close out the year. However, there are several teams bunched at the #3-6 spots, as Philly, the Bucks, Charlotte, and Atlanta all have 22 wins right now. One of these teams will likely end up with a 46% chance at a 1-3 pick, and one of these teams will likely end up with a 22% chance at a 1-3 pick. If it ends up a matter of a game or two down the final stretch between a 22% chance and a 46% chance of the Hawks keeping their pick, I for one would much rather have the odds, and give our studs some rest and our rooks some PT.