D.R.P.

Heck, Gortat has gotten more respect from the officials this series than Dwight Howard.

Right now I'm in the Gortat over Zaza camp because defense and rebounding win championships and at those two things; Gortat is a much better at than Pachulia. How could you not want a guy on the Hawks, that can block LeBron at the basket (not once but twice) .

This 4 ppg averaging foreign arse clown will not onlly be the biggest bust of the draft he is already having his agent send out signals that he will not play in Memphis or OK City. Its a joke that this guy who cant even measure up in some slow euro league is trying to pick and chose which nba team he will play for. Then you have a guy who dominated US comp in Blake Griffin saying he will be happy to play for the Clippers ( the worst franchise in sports ) if they pick him. Look Ricardo your lucky there is hype around you and some nba gm's are foolish enough to think you will be anything but a RICH MANS EMANUEL DAVIS.

Well at least you could have linked the article instead of trying to prove a pointless point.

Here is the article by Ian Thomsen of SI:

Thomsen only speculates that Rubio's agent could want him to go to a bigger market. The Spanish club that holds Rubio's rights want him to pay 6-8 million dollars for a buyout, yet the club is only paying Rubio $293,118 this year (which was raised from $97,706). Why wouldn't Rubio's agent want him to go to a larger market to make more endorsement money? Anyway this is only speculation; Rubio's agent has not made any demands that the Grizzles or any club not draft him.

So glad to see the Cavs lose! They complain about everything and think every call should go their way.

Well there are 4 of us now on the say no to Rubio side. Hawkman,MaCeCase. myself and Sekou Smith. He says in answering a ? in his latest blog that he would not part with one of our good players for Rubio. He says we could get a player just as good or better at pick 19. Listen to Flava Flav on this one and DONT, DONT, DONT BELIEVE THE HYPE !!!!!!

Wow! That's 4 people that wouldn't trade up for Rubio. LOL! Kinda reminds me of some people that doubted Chris Paul and didn't want to draft him. Those people were Billy Knight, Mike Woodson, and the ASG.

As for Sekou, I value his basketball insight as much as I value Knight's drafting ability.

This doesn't make any sense at all. What does Memphis reluctance to add players with high salaries has to do with their willingness to trade the number 2 pick? the number 2 pick for horford plus a late 1st round is an extremely lopsided deal that no team would make. Horford, while solid, is the sort of pf/c tweener that is fairly common in this league. No one is going to trade away a potential franchise PG for a solid, but far from franchise cornerstone, horford. If they so desperately need a big, they might as well either draft Thabeet at 2, or trade down a couple of spots and trade him and get something else in return.

Your underrating Horford; it's not like Thabeet has some type of offense skills. Horford is exactly the type of player the Grizzles need. It's not like Horford has played at his natural position.

Arroyo scored 24 and 7 vs guys named Lebron, Mello, Duncun, Wade and company. They couldnt stop him and he beat the USA single handedly with players that nobody has ever heard of on his team. My point is not that Arroyo is a superstar but that the olympics are meaningless when it comes to the nba. You want us to trade Josh Smith or Al Horford for a cat who put up 4 points and 3 assist in last years olympics. So he played vs Kidd, Paul and Deron, he obviously didnt do shyyt against them. Mario West played vs Lebron in the playoffs should we give him Smooves deal?

Please read my original post. I never said trade Josh Smith.

The difference is that Rubio already knows how to direct a team on the court with his high BBIQ (watch the Kobe documentary video) while Arroyo doesn't. It's not just about directing on offense it's also about defense. One of the main things the Hawks need to go to the next level is an alpha dog player that can direct his team on the court. Joe is to mute to do so and doesn't have that type of personality.

Wasn't that "yes I eat cabbages" (forgot how to spell his name) guy a hot commodity a few season back? Indiana picked him up and he didn't work out in the NBA. Wasn't he another one of those "best Euro league guards" type of guys. I'm just not sold on Rubio yet. I wish I could get a better look at the guy other than highlight films. Heck, Yi looked awesome in his highlights before the draft. Remember the big debate of Yi vs. Horf?

Of course Yi looked great in those clips. The secret is that none of the guys he played against in those videos were taller than 6' 4". LOL! Also, everything looked like it was in slow motion in those videos even though it was in real time.

To say I was not impressed with the Yi videos is an understatement.

Since Clippers have landed number one 1, why not just sign and trade MW for Kaman. He is signed for the next 3 years at about 11 per. If it doesn't go well this season, his trade value will still be high because of his contract, size, skill, and age. Perhaps sign and trade Chills and future first for Kaman.

The Clippers have no use for Marvin, they already have a better SF.

If Rubio " led the Spanish in last years olympics then ACie Law " led" the Hawks to the 2nd round of the playoffs this year with his 2 or 3 ppg. You get caught in all the hype you want .

When did Acie play against Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, or Deron Williams? In a gym somewhere during the offseason? Heck, Acie hasn't even played against those guys in the NBA! LOL!

Let's table this post and come back to it in about two years and see how much crow you'll be eating.

No Im not. Arroyo dominated in Olympic play nad got a nice fat nba deal only to fall flat on his face. Who gives a flying rats ayss about what Rubio did in the olympics. When he gets to the nba he will be a bust. The Hawks are looking to reach the next level not rebuild with a mexican Luke Ridnour

First of all Ricky Rubio is not Mexican he is Spanish and if you think he is the second coming of Luke Ridnour, than that tells me all I need to know about your lack of basketball knowledge.

Also, how old is Arroyo? Did Arroyo lead his team to the Olympic championship game?

That's not right. LOL!

Carlos Arroyo made himself some cash off the olympics too. If we are lucky enough to get pick #2 for Al and want a g we best be taking Dikembe jr. If we want a guard so bad trade up to get Curry.

Carlos Arroyo? Seriously your kidding right?

The Hawks lack of an offense (other than ISO this player) is a bigger problem than their defense. Curry is great shooter, than what? Curry is not a true point guard and is a poor defender. Basically, he would be a Mike Bibby clone.

I doubt Woodson plays a rookie mexican version of Luke Ridnour. I just dont see it happening.

Rubio is >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>than Luke Ridnour.

Also Rubio is an excellent defender.

Obviously you didn't watch the Olympics or your joking.

If Rubio can start for the Spanish National Team (that almost beat the U. S. Team during the Olympics) at the age of 17 than he can overcome playing for Mike Woodson. Even with Woodson's incompetence, Woody would have no choice but to play Rubio. Woodson would love to have a player like Rubio because he can run an offense, play defense and RR is 6' 4". Mark my words Rubio is going to be a special player.

That is why I said Memphis OR OKC. Neither of those are going to trade the number 2 or 3 pick for a guy who is solid but far from super star potential.

And not only would this trade be lopsided in favor of the hawks, I guarantee other teams could more than match whatever the hawks are offering. New York, Minnesota and GS have better picks, comparable young players, and more expiring contracts.

Memphis is not going to be taking on any players with high salaries. So what team in the lottery (that needs a point guard) has a better big on a rookie contract than Horford? Also the Hawks have more valuable assets (Childress, Andersen and Akyol), that could also be included in a trade. The Grizz and the Thunder basically need the same things; veteran players and a big that can defend and rebound (Horford).

Chances of a franchise trading Rubio for anything short of a potential all star: 0 .

2 years ago it was Ray Allen for a #5 in a weak draft. This year, I would think that it would take nothing short of a young all star to pry rubio away from memphis or okc.

Memphis needs some size up front more than they need Rubio.

Ray Allen was coming off of a major injury, plus the Sonics were looking to unload his salary. (Heck, Seattle lost the team because the Sonics were losing millions of dollars every year.)

Just to throw some cold water on the trade Smith ideas, he can't be easily traded until late in the summer, specifically after the anniversary of him signing his current contract.

The idea of using our junk to get one of Kaman/Camby is funny. Many teams will be in the hunt for those guys.

You guys need to realize that other teams will be bidding against us to get players. We aren't going to be able to get a top tier center for Speedy and fillers- that isn't happening.

To get a center we will have to move one of:

Smith

Horford

Williams

More than likely it will be Smith in a late summer trade due to salary matching issues and Smith's relationship (or lack thereof) with Woody.

You're forgetting about one thing capspace. The teams of the players I mentioned need to clear some capspace. Heck the Hornets tried to trade Tyson Chandler just to clear space. Donald Sterling is known for being cheap and Mike Dunleavy is a horrible coach/gm, so you can't put it pass them taking Speedy & Mo for one of their centers.

I like that idea more than the idea of trading Josh Smith for Rubio. I think smoove has more upside than Horford.

I do think we can keep the #19 pick though....to replace the loss of Horford with BJ Mullens.

I'm also happy staying put and drafting a pg at 19

Also it would be much harder to move Josh Smith because of his salary. (The hawks would have to take back some bad contracts.)

I really would like to see what Josh could do with a stud at the point that would direct him where to be on the floor.

Even though he is young, Rubio would come in and be the instant leader (alfa dog) of this team. I remember staying up late watching the Olympics; he was leading the Spanish team even though he was only 17 at the time.

It time this team gets a franchise point guard. The Hawks have the right pieces to get Rubio.

Let's do the following trade.

Horford, #19 pick, filler

With this trade happening the Hawks could then turn around and trade for a center. Sund could basically take his pick of the following centers:

Marcus Camby

Chris Kaman

Samuel Dalembert

Tyson Chandler

All it would take is a trade of Speedy, & Mo Evans since the teams are looking to dump these player.

The main snag will be that Mark Gasol would be pissed if the Grizz didn't pick Rubio; but the good news is that Chris Wallace is their GM.

It's time this trade for Raymond Felton talk ends! Do you people not realize that Felton has a .399 career shooting percentage. Josh Smith had a better 3 point shooting percentage this year. Felton had over 200 3-point attempts (even though he is a horrible shooter); yet people complain about Smoove's 3 point shooting. There's a reason Larry Brown doesn't care for Felton.

Check Felton's stats here:

Where we allow the opposing team to switch our defense so that their best player (LeBron) is continually guarded by Mike Bibby.

Where players are allowed to make the same mistakes year after year. (Zaza constantly over playing the ball handler on defense).

3 things I would do:

#1 - Fire Woody

#2 - Let Bibby Walk

#3 - Get Ron Artest

I would seriously play Artest at the 1. He's a better defender, ball handler, and he can hit open 3's.

Ok Billy Knight!

It was okay in the Miami series because they had James Jones at SF but Its important he comes back to play d against Lebron.

Hubie Brown just said the same thing during the Nuggets vs Mavericks game.

Noah steals the ball from PP, drives the court and dunks while Pierce fouls out. They are up by 3. Could be a perfect ending. Going to seven games? Still 35 seconds.

Rose is anti-clutch!

Boston up by 2, less than a minute left in OT. Gordon out and Rose is on a mission to ball hog his way to fame. Celtics going to win this one.

2nd OT but Derrick Rose is horrible. And he wants it all for himself. Gordon has fouled out. This is not going back to Boston.

Wow! How often is there a triple overtime in the playoffs?

I think Chevis Jackson will be given more opportunities to start this year than last year. Von Hutchins is hte perfect nickelback IMO.

I think the Falcons may just draft a corner in the first round, then Chevis Jackson would challenge Chris Houston for his starting position. Check out my Mock Draft.