emeans

I still don't want Al with the ball at the 3 point line in the 4th quarter trying to make something happen. He is a turnover waiting to happen. Now if he is wide open for a 3, then fine shoot it, but if he has to create his shot all the way out at the 3 point line, I guarantee he will be unsuccessful. This has happen so many times in the late 4th quarter I can't even count them. I agree Al is excellent on the block and around 15 feet from the basket. He is almost unstoppable, but that is where it should stop and that is where a PG should get him the ball. The JJ/Al Michael Jordan impersonation show in the 4th quarter doesn't work........coaching people!!

I would trade Woodson before I trade Al.

If you don't get very high value from trading Al, I would even consider it. This team is developing and learning together as they grow up with each other. Keep in mind this is a YOUNG team and you don't want to keep changing the chemistry and trust these guys are building with each other. I wouldn't touch this team right now with a trade. The only thing I would do is let them continue to learn and add 2 experienced veterans in the offseason. They are starting to trust each other and develop better chemistry. The problem is that they are just starting to understand the cerebral part of the game (experience). Lue understanding that someone other than Al needs the ball late in the 4th is a big step. Al is not a playmaker. He is a solid player in his comfort zone, so use him in that way. Don't put the ball in Al's hand a the 3 point line and see if he can make something happen late in the game....that is clueless coaching. Something coach Woodson should have seen...Lue saw it!!

First of all, I personally don't think you will get fair value for Al. Secondly, people are starting to see that Al is really not our problem. Coaching Woodson is the problem. Last night Lue understood that Al does not need the ball in his hands at the end of the 4th quarter, unless it is in his comfort zone on the blocks. Al is not a playmaker, he is a situational player and Woodson doesn't see that. Lue saw that while sitting 4 games and that is why he took over the game last night. Thirdly, this team has developed chemistry. What they are lacking is veteran experience and leadership because ALL of these guys are young. Our priority should be to add 2 veterans in the offseason and leave this team INTACT as it is!! Don't mess with it anymore!!!

Lue took the ball out of Al Harrington's hand late in the game. He didn't give Al a chance to mess the game up in the 4th quarter. Lue was quoted as saying "he studied the team while he was out 4 games and saw some of the things that they needed from the bench, and that was PG leadership at the end of the game". About time someone saw this. Woodson's cluesless coaching tries to use Al as a playmaker at the end of games and it blows up in his face everytime. Lue saw this while sitting on the bench for 4 games.

Yeah the more I look at this team the more I think you better not mess with this team AT ALL. I don't think we should even consider trading anyone right now, not even Al. The chemistry is too delicate right now to mess with. They are learning together and growing together. We need to concentrate on adding a 2 veterans in the offseason to this team as it stands right now. Although Al has frustrated me on numerous occasions, I do have the sensibility and onsite to know that we wouldn't win 10 games without him. He is our veteran and he is still a kid in terms of NBA veteranship. All of these guys are just young and that is why we lose so many games. They haven't gotten the cerrebral part of the game down and the only thing that is going to grow that is experience and chemistry and the ADDITION of 2 more veterans in the offseason. I wouldn't touch this team right now!!! The potential is right there, with a few more veterans (preferably big men) this team is going to be a very nice squad.

If we get the No. 1 pick this year. This is the year Atlanta should look to trade that pick and get multiple picks from it. Even if we get No. 2 we need to trade it without question. This draft has a lot of SG/SF dominating the top of the draft. Rondo may fall in the 5 to 10 range. We need to target Rondo and a big man. The problem is there are no 7 footers in this draft!! Everyone is 6'11" at best. We need two 1st round picks in this draft to satisfy ONLY TEAM NEEDS (PG and C)!!!

I personally wouldn't mind trying to get this kid. I think he is a Zsa Zsa waiting to happen.

Well you have to think....they are holding on to him for some reason also. Why haven't they traded him?? There are a lot of behind the scenes information that we don't have. Maybe the Pistons are just that loaded that they don't need to play him? As far as Atlanta, we are in desparate need of a 7 footer with athletic ability that can play a stick of defense. On paper he fits the profile. I think the main problem for Darko is that he is just on a hell of a team with veterans all over the place and he is still the kid on this team. From what I have seen from him he has shown flashes of ability and like Zsa Zsa he just needs some minutes to show what he can do. Until he gets minutes you can't truly say he is a bust on the BEST team in the NBA.

We could use Darko on this team badly. He would get massive playing time with Hawks!! The question is, knowing what you know about his playing time with two different coaches.....Would you trade Al for Darko straight up?? That is a hard one!!

This was a terrible lost and it is consistent. They do the exact same folding almost every game.......This points to bad coaching and poor play by the VETERANS. JJ and Al are not doing what they need to do to stop the bleeding in 4th quarter. Ball movement totally stops and it becomes a JJ to Al on the perimeter game. Al is not a playmaker!! JJ is not leading this team in the right direction at the end of the game. He should stress that they have to continue to have ball movement on the floor. It is frustrating because they do the same crap every game.

To say Rondo is not in the same class as Paul is not true. They may not be the same style of play or have the same body structure, but to say one is not in the class of the other is totally subjective. While I wish we had Paul right now, I do think Rondo will do well on the next level. I have seen Rondo a few times this year and I came away impressed with his playmaking abilities. He is a crafty type of player that can score around the basket. I am not sure of how consistent his outside shot is yet, but we will see. Gary Payton had a terrible outside shot coming into the league. I think Rondo will be a nice pick for us next year. If not we have to get a legit PG through FA. We also have to get an athletic big man from somewhere this offseason or through a trade. Rondo will be fine playing in an Atlanta Hawks uniform next year.

tmac you are right on a lot of your points. I was a huge BK supporter when he was getting rid of all of these overpaid veterans like Shareef, Theo, etc. Those moves were very good for the organization. Where I question BK is on drafting and selection of coach. While he hasn't drafted bad, he could have drafted better. Iggy and Deng were ranked higher than Chillz in the pre-draft rankings and he should have gone with that. Chillz is still a good player so all is not lost with this pick and he made up for it with the Josh Smith at 17 pick. Passing over Duhon twice was flatout ignorant. I remember wanting Duhon's name to be called out during that draft for Atlanta. Signing Collier over Pryz was terrible. Getting a rookie coach to coach a rookie team was not good. This same coach didn't like Diaw (who is a great complimentary player) and Diaw went packing which was a mistake. JJ was a good move even though we did give up a lot. Would have like to keep one of those picks. According to Pheonix people Chillz and 1 pick would have gotten it done. Signing Zaza and drafting Salim was excellent!! Basically the time of true evaluation is fastly approaching this GM. He doesn't have long to start showing some serious improvement with this team. The bottom line is wins. Nothing else truely matters. Right now I give BK a C+. Two year ago I gave him an A-. He is declining in the support polls.

I kind of agree with you on this one, his stats are kind of misleading. I would take a defensive center with a limited offensive game anyday over an offensive center with no defense. Once we get a legitimate defensive center, Zaza would be an excellent backup. A change of pace hustle type guy in the middle that will help offensively to keep a lead, but when your team is down and you need some defensive stops, Zaza has no business being on the floor.

I was about to say you need to clarify what category you are talking about. Zaza is far far down the list defensively. I would take several PF defensively over Zaza. He is a none factor downlow on the defensive side of the ball.

I was in attendance at the game. This loss is squarely on the hawks shoulders. They had at least 7 to 8 times to put this game away and didn't in the 4th quarter. Al Harrington got owned in the last 5 possessions. Charlotte blocked everything he tried to put up including a dunk in the finally 2 minutes. My frustration is that they could not close the door and god knows Charlotte gave them too many chances to count to at least build a lead of 3 to 5 in the final seconds. They blew it everytime, even on a 3 to 1 fast break they threw out of bounds. Woody always gets outcoached against the Charlotte Bobcats. These guys came in with their 2nd unit and whipped us the entire game until a stretch in the 4th quarter when we took the lead. But we couldn't close the door. JJ didn't show up for this game. I noticed in the warm ups he spent a LOT OF ENERGY playing cat and mouse with Ivey before the game for like 30 minutes. It was like they were playing 21 before the game. The coaches were no where to be found. This is where COACHING is important. No way should JJ have been playing that hard BEFORE the game and it showed in the 1st half. He was tired and spent with no energy, no legs and his game suffered because of it!! You do light warmsups before the game and then turn it up a notch when the game starts.

Yeah...I have always seen a huge weakness in his defensive effort. He is very scrappy on the offensive boards and offensively, but he can't guard anyone on the defensive end. That is why I try not to overrate him based solely on his offensive numbers. A lot of people on this forum do that. His numbers are always great, but he is not putting any fear in anyone on the defensive end.

Quote: Sources tell the New York Post that Hawks GM Billy Knight is in hurry to move Al Harrington, his rising free agent. And that the Sonics for all intents and purposes have bailed out of the bidding for Artest when they refused to include Nick Collison in any deal. Something is definately in the works and it may happen soon.

I agree with RedStripes on this issue. BK is well aware of the teams interested him. Even JT never made comments like that even when rumors swarmed about him being traded. Antoine Walker didn't either. Hell even Rasheed Wallace never said anything like that when he KNEW he was going to be on another team the next day. That is just an unwritten rule. If you are under contract with a team you don't talk how it would be if you an another player on another team would play together and what postion another player could play on another team when he arrived. I am in totally agreeance with RedStripes. Those comments were inappropriate for a player under contract with the Hawks and the possibility of getting a new contract with that team.

ESPN has up as the 23rd best team in the NBA. Seven teams are below us now. It has been years since I have seen us above 25. Keep it up Hawks!!

LOL. Everyone swindles the Knicks on deals!!! Even their coach swindled them. That team is a mess!!

Those comments are now on ESPN!! You open yourself up for criticism when you say those kind of things.

Quote: Paul is a leader, a winner, and a guy who can score. Those are three attributes that our team would have benefited from and three attributes that are questionable in Rondo. Well the 2nd and 3rd points I think Rondo has. Kentucky is definately a winner and Rondo definately can score. I don't know much about his leadership skills, but he looks like a solid leader on the floor in the 3 games I have seen from him this year. Now about the Babcock thing. The point I am trying to make is that we can't continue crying over the Marvin vs. Paul pick. We probably won't trully know the results of this draft until 2 to 3 years from now. So for now lets hope Marvin becomes a superstar and also get some fresh potential at PG (Rondo) in the process.

Quote: As far as Rondo goes, he will be a decent player but he is not in the same class as Paul.. Let me preface this by saying I am disagreeing with you, howver, what you basing this quote on? How do you know Rondo want be as good as Paul? The kid looks just as good as Paul looked in college last year in my eyes, maybe even better. I have seen 3 Kentucky games so far this year and he is impressive!! Let me also say that I am not stuck on saying BK didn't make a mistake. All I am saying is that we have to look at the positives that can come out of us picking Marvin. He will be very good and we will have a chance to pick up Rondo also, who I think will be just as good as Paul on the next level.

and it will not hurt as bad Diesel. We may be able to get Rondo (Did you see the game against Louisville?) and still have a potential all-star caliber SF after next year. If you had drafted Paul, you would of had Paul, but no Marvin (Marvin will be very good, even you can see his potential). You may get a Paul clone (Rondo) and Marvin after two years. Hope that make the pain a lot less for you!! This team will be scary in two years if we draft Rondo......trust me on this!!