emeans

Excellent Points!! And you are totally right about this being the responsibility of the coaching staff. One thing I can say about Lenny is that his teams played consistent defense.

This team can score points. In the 1st half of the Clippers game they were shooting over 70%. In the 1st half of the Golden State game they were shooting at a very high percentage. But guess what? They were still behind at the end of each quarter even when the other team was shooting around 30%. I was scratching my head!!!! How does this happen? This is not logical. When this team is winning or scoring well, this team gets very sloppy with the ball and when they are scoring they start playing very poor defense. Now personally I think this is where the coaching is important. I don't think a Larry Brown or Rick Carlisle coached team would go through these horendous lapses where we are shooting 70% and still losing. Stotts need to figure this out or let someone else have a shot at coaching this team. 70% shooting and still losing is very unacceptable and frustrating!!!

I totally agree. Dion has become a solid player in the NBA. He still can use a little work on his jumper but that has improved tremendously. He has always been solid slashing to the hoop and scoring. His defense has also improved. I am so glad we signed him back and we need to think about keeping him for the future. He always would do well in the summer league and it is finally translating to the big show.

I would do that trade. We need some size.

This is why we get man handled physically everynight and this is why Ekezie was the MVP in preseason. We are a totally finesse team. No physicality and height to this team whatsoever. No true bangers. The successful Hawks teams of the past always had a banger/workhorse player in the starting lineup and on the bench. We have missed this during our rebuilding years.

We shoot over 70% in the 1st quarter and still we are behind by 2 points when the opponent was shooting like 30%. That is not even logical?? There is really something terribly wrong with this team. Stotts hasn't found this team yet and I am not sure he will. Shooting 70% and still behind????? This is ridiculus!!!

I am finally glad Stotts is waking up and realizing what he has to do to be a true coach with balls in this league. And look they won easily against an undefeated team. Don't stand for no trash and mental mistakes on the court even if you are the "STAR" of the team. If you make mental dumb mistakes come visit the bench!!! This is a good sign!!! I was really getting worried about Stotts, but maybe he is waking up!! Read this article. http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/ha...03/11hawks.html When Jason Terry committed his third turnover of the first quarter, Stotts gave him an immediate hook. After Dion Glover made bad passes on consecutive possessions, he quickly found a seat on the bench. Terry scored 19 points after leaving the pine, and he and Glover combined to commit two turnovers the rest of the game. "That's just a credit to Coach Stotts, having that focus coming in, letting people know he's not going to tolerate the way we've been playing," Hawks center Theo Ratliff said. "That's the authority that we need as a team, so guys know you've got to pick it up. If you're not getting the job done, he's going to put somebody in there who can." >>

This team is too light in the britches. Too many finesse players and no bangers. That is why Ekezie was so valuable to this team in the preseason. Dampier was killing Theo last night in the paint. Against NO Tractor Trailer had a career day against our frontline. We are to light in the britches to compete night in and night out!!!

Josh Howard should have been our pick. Josh could be a future superstar in this league. We don't need more role players. We have a squad full of role players.

This team is awful!!! Coaching, poor decisions and not enough physical talent. Spacing is terrible. People are lost on the floor. No physical presence at all. We got manhandled by a banged up team. That is why Ekezie looked so good in the pre-season. We have no blue collar players on the floor. No bangers, No physical players. Everyone on the team are finesse players and Golden State looked like men playing among boys.

To be totally honest it is really too early to point fingers at anyone right now..... even Stotts and JT. We can only have our suspicions as to the problem but we can't say for sure because it is just too early in the season. Lets see a few more games and then make more definative conclusions on the problems. I hope everyone see the game tonight and come back with their opinions.

Fair or unfair.....The evaluation of a coaches true value always and will continue to be based on WINS. Yes the defense is better. Yes the offense looks better in the 1st half of games. Yes opposing teams will always make runs during games. These things are true and I agree with them. However, if over an evaluative period of time (I am willing to give him this entire year) you are not WINNING and closing out games after these runs then something is wrong. Now the jury is still out on this PG situation and whether this is why we are losing games. There are either 2 things that are keeping this team from being successful and 1 of them has to be the problem. Either Stotts is a decent coach that can't close out the games with WINS or we have some serious problems at the PG position that need to be address. Unfortunately....Both of these problems go back to the Coach. He has to make the decision to pull JT when he is screwing up. He along with General Management have to evaluate what will be best for this team.

First of all who said anything about Tim Floyd?? Where did his name come up in this conversation?? We are talking about Terry Stotts not Tim Floyd!!! I know nothing about Tim Floyd...never have and probably never will until he coaches the Hawks. I can't comment on Tim Floyd. I am telling you what I see with Terry Stotts. And you are basing Stotts capability on what?? Stotts hasn't proven anything as a head coach in the NBA yet and so far he is doing a poor job this year. If the players are not playing hard enough to win in the 2nd half that has everything to do with COACHING!!! Players efforts are direct reflections of their Coach and his expectations. If you can consistently get up by 18 or 15 points at the half you certainly have the talent to continue to stay up in the 2nd half. Right now they are not doing that.

Stotts is a temporary solution at Coach. I don't think he makes very good adjustments in the 2nd Half of games. The Hawks consistently give up HUGE leads and I never see him light a fire under their fannies when they start making dumb decisions with the Ball. If it wasn't for the heroics of Stephan Jackson they would have blown the NO game. You can see these game lapses coming from miles away and he seems to have no answers for them so far. They had an 18 point lead late in the 3rd quarter that was trimmed to 1 point. They blew the Indy game after having a big lead. They blew the 1st NO game....a game they should have won. We have some talent. I don't think we have a good coach. We should be 3 and 1 or 4 and 0 right now.

I watched this game from beggining to end and the biggest thing that stuck out in my mind was how much better team play was without JT. Ball movement was much better and finding the open man was much better. I really think this team would be much better with a true point guard. Not a shooting point guard. Don't get me wrong. I am glad we resigned JT but I am starting to think he may be the problem with this team. PG guards must have a pass first shoot if necessary mentality in order to be successful and Vaughn really played the position well last night and the team looked like a playoff contender with that kind of play at the point. JT frustrates me with a lot of his decisions and turnovers and no ball movement 1 on 1 play. I think this really hurts the team. Now I am really thinking Big Dog may not have been the problem it may be JT. And by the way I told you guys that Stephan Jackson was steal. I really like what this guy adds to this team. Like the announcer said he does good things at the right times, not necessarily the high volume things like scoring a lot of points, but he does them when they are needed the most. He spoiled many NO combacks with clutch shooting at times the Hawks were struggling. I really like this guy!!

I am taking Jackson over Diaw this year. For one Diaw is a rookie and he is going to make a lot of rookie mistakes this year. One intangible that you guys are not taking into account, that is not in the stats book and has nothing to do with turnovers or field goal percentages is INTENSITY, HEART and the will to win. I was very impressed with Jackson when he was thrown out of the Orlando game during pre-season. He was fired up to play and win a pre-season game. And it was obvious no one else on the Atlanta Hawks team came even remotedly close to the passion he had while he was on the court. He wanted to win at all cost. Everyone else was all lethargic and emotionless even when they were getting bad calls. That in itself impressed me with Jackson. We haven't had an emotional player in years on this squad. A player who will get kicked out of the game because it isn't going his way. A player who argues with the refs and challenges other players on the floor. That is what he brings to this team.....forget the stats, he brings some passion and intensity to this lifeless squad. Stephan Jackson was a very good pickup and he plays with more passion than anyone on this team right now. I wish we had more Stephan Jackson's on this team.

Some of these forum posters kill me with the blame game. Who are YOU going to blame next? We have the same problems without Glenn Robinson!!! Some of you misinformed people are going to sit up here and try to put all the blame on him. The problem is and was always BIGGER than Glenn!!! This team has no coach and still has no idenity!! You have to start thinking maybe its the coaching and not the players. Yesterday was a combination of bad coaching and the players. Some of you are truly humorous to me!!! I personally don't think Stotts is going to be a good coach. I see too many fundamental mistakes (spacing, passing, offensive structure, and on and on......), which leads to too many turnovers. THAT IS COACHING!!!

That sounds more personal than objective. If he is successful in Philly then it is a matter of the system he played in for Atlanta, and based on our teams success that system (Whatever it was?) sucked!! We never had a team identity to say whether he fit in Atlantas system or not. This team has never had a definative identity. So if he works in Philly maybe the problem was with the Hawks and not Glenn Robinson. Ever thought that??

I am not going to get my blood pressure up because we don't win this year. I am really looking for improvement on turnovers and ball movement. On the defensive side I am looking for more pressure on the backcourt. But overall I am looking for the Hawks to at least be competitive for 4 quarters. Be in the game with the possibility of winning at the end.

whether getting rid of him was the right move. I personally think he will do well in Philly. If he does I will be very interested in seeing what people on this forum will be saying then. If he doesn't then all of the people who said he was trash would be right. But again lets play the season before we make any analysis of his worth.

First of all.......This trade will never happen!!! Secondly, no official person of the organization has remotely hinted to any trade like this. In the future can we continue to put this fantasy trade talk on Trade Central and Not Homecourt. There is more fantasy trade talk on this forum than the Trade Central Forum. What is the purpose of the Trade Central Forum?

Yeah those are some amazing picks. What made these guys experts?? I am very disappointed in David Aldridge picking us to be the worst team in the NBA. I always had respect for his knowledge but again I don't agree with his judgement on the Hawks.

in the NBA by David Aldridge and Ric Bucher on ESPN. http://espn.go.com/nba/preview2003/s/2003/1023/1644859.html The media really hates the Hawks. While I don't think they are a playoff team, I definately don't think they are the worst team in the NBA. That is a stretch!!!!

CC is the most money getting bench sitting injured player I have ever seen in my life. Why don't we cut this scrub and eat his money. He has been taking a valueable roster spot for a couple of years now. All for having 1 excellent game in the playoffs against New York. What a waste.

"Obinna Ekezie, Atlanta's leading scorer and rebounder in the preseason, left the game with 7:01 left in the fourth quarter with an apparent injury to his left knee. He will undergo an MRI, possibly Friday." I really think Ekezie was going to make this team and he was contributing big time to their preseason success. I hope it is not a serious injury, but anytime you have knee problems it usually turns out bad.