xhawk

A couple of things: 1. Teague's playing time will likely be determined by his performance in the Summer Leage 2. I forsee Teague taking Mario West's minutes and game situations at a minimum.

1. Ramon Sessions 2. Marcin Gortat 3. Zaza 4. Flip 5. Bibby 6. Marvin 7. Rasheed Wallace 8. Raymond Felton 9. Allen Iverson 10. Jason Kidd What do you guys think?

For point one, I felt the same way about the Lewis signing, but they seemed to improve. For point 2, I totally agree. Between the Vince and Lewis contracts, they can only hope to get Hedo for cheap. Also, I think that Hedo's contract will dictate what Marvin will get.

As a big man, you should not be looking to take a charge against a point guard on any level.

We can also go small with Crawford at the 2, Joe at the 3, Smoove at the 4 and Horford at the 5. Thats my preferred linenup.

Everyone seems to forget that on the previous play, Derrick Fischer's shot hit the rim, but the refs did not see it.

You are right...the players and the coaches need to show a little more pride and not let something like that happen. Sadly, we were just getting out-hustled..I see Mario earning alot more playing time because of quarters like those. (Notice I said "earning" because I don't know if Woody would actually give it to him.)

I am also pretty sure that they can change games when they need to.

A few things... I don't consider Sheldon a starting caliber center. By "play more center," I meant 5 - 15 min per game. Many guys that are "too short" do play effective minutes at Center (Boris Diaw, A. Jamison, E. Brand, M. Sweetney, the list goes on). Next, I believe that Sheldon is the safest pick that addresses our needs (even in the long term). Sene may never turn out to be a decent player. Gooden and Wilcox would have been fine, but the question was not about them. Without being disrespectful, you don't know what would get Gasol. Also, for the system that Woody likes, Williams has a lot of value to us. Don't forget when Williams was starting at the beginning of the season and was healthy, we were 4 - 1. I agree we are also forward heady, but JJ is going to get 30 - 40 mins a night at Roy's natural spot with Childress getting the rest of those minutes. It would be tough for Roy to break into Woody's rotation. You try to make this pick seem terrible, when in historical context it's not that bad. In recent history, look at Darko, Olowokandi, DerMarr Johnson, Marcus Fizer, Nikoloz Tskitishvili, M. Webster, etc. These guys were all taken around 5 and higher. Williams is already putting up better career number than them. Look...if Amare or Nene were on the board (they both went relatively late), I would have picked them. But you work with the players available.

These are very good points...To add to that, who else was available that was going to make us better rebounders and give us better interior defense? He is also a big man who make free throws, which is tough to find. Not to mention he is still a rookie and is injured. Roy would have been nice but we are guard heavy right now (Salim, Childress, JJ, Speedy and Lue). Williams was and is still is the safest pick for the long term outlook of this team. As a side note, I would like to see him play more center. That is currently where his best instincts are and he does seem a bit slow for PF.

I probably speak for many when I say that I do not like the tone of this post. Why are so many people focusing on the strongest part of our franchise (JJ) and leaving out the weakest parts (Coaching, PGs, Centers, youth, GM, etc.)? Lets stop bashing the move that brought in our brightest star and let's start focusing on our real problems.

They have a good coach and a GM committed to winning. They will be fine. I actually expect them to make the playoffs.

It makes logical sense for us fans, but we don't have our jobs at stake. I also think it was two losses that spelled the end of the season: the aforemetioned Utah loss and the Bulls loss where we were up in the fourth quarter and really outplayed them the whole game.

Actually this is one the more thoughtful set of posts that I have read--each one contains pretty good analysis. Whatever skill set or players we put on the floor, we still need them all pursuing a common goal. In other words, we need an offensive and defensive identity for those players. On offense, do we run, spread the floor, screen off the ball, etc? On defense, do we switch everything, play zone, double team and scramble, etc. To many times I have seen something work with one group of players only to see it abandoned later on. Without identity, it looks like we lack intensity, focus and consistency. As Phoenix, Seatle and teams like them have shown, identity is more important than personnel. As a final point, the Hornet seem to stay competitive and even win without Chris Paul, because every player knows what the team is trying to accomplish on the floor. This is what we lack.

That's because according to the media, the Hawks don't exist.

The hawks are definitely under achieving. It is obvious from the fact that we do not play the "thinking game" well--in fact, we are handicapped in that area. For example, when an opposing team shoots, we should think: "Who should I be boxing out?" When we put up a shot, we should think: "Should I be covering the backcourt to stop a fast break?" The worst one is: "When Joe is being double teamed, should I just stand and watch or I be ready to receive a pass?"

Woodson definitely got out-coached, look at this: -With 35 seconds to go at the end of regulation (at the end of a timeout), we had a chance to get a 2-for-1. Even if we miss, we still get he last shot of the game. We end up missing a shot with 19 seconds left. -And after EVERY time-out late in the game, we missed our next shot: 13s in overtime 35s in 4th 2:07 in 4th (24 second violation) 3:56 in 4th Either Woodson is not reaching his players or is he is not a good in-game coach--neither is very good.

Is any team offering cap relief, a talented young player and a pick? None of deals that I have heard have combined all three.

Philly wants cap relief, young players and picks. We could offer (1) Lue + Wright for cap relief (2) (Sheldon OR Childress) and Salim as young players (3) the pick we got from Indiana Solomon Jones has already shown he can atleast play just as well as Wright and we don't need any more young players from the draft. I hate to part with Sheldon or Childress, but Iverson puts up good assist numbers and he would help our stagnant offense. He is also a leading scorer in the league and plays hard on defense. I don't see Philly getting a better deal than that.

Considering that one the Hawk's biggest problems of this young season is getting timely defensive rebounds, that could be a good lineup late in games--especially when they grind to half court sets. But I think Marvin being out has helped Smoove's development. I believe that he is learning how to play within himself and letting the game come to him. 15pts, 4 blks, 5 asts, 11 rebs and a couple of threes at a high percentage is a great all around game. I believe that Josh is learning to become a force on the court without having to take so many shots.

Speedy is the only new guard for the Hawks from last year. While we might not be a better team without him, early on we will probably have better chemistry. So losing him might actually help us get off to a better start. With that said, I am confident that Speedy is ready to step up and be an excellent point guard for us. I am expecting a strong assist-to-turnover ratio as well as solid perimeter defense. I don't see any reason why he can't be just as good as Tony Parker. They are similiar in size, shooting ability and quickness.

Swat, you make a really good point. Looking at the last few championship point guards: Jason Williams, Parker, Billups, Derek Ficher, etc. None of these guys were at Paul's level out of college. In fact, they do not possess any season MVP trophies nor many allstar appearances. This becomes more evident when you look at guys like Jason Kidd, Steve Nash and Steve Francis. There are many allstar appearances and MVPs (and MVP considerations) in there, but no championships.

The media will turn on Paul in a split second though. If by the middle of his career, he has not won a championship, then they will say the same stuff they said about Duncan before he won a championship: "He is not aggressive enough" or "He does not have a jumper." The media never looks at facts nor situations and they will always attack teams and players when they are down.

I'd also add Austin Croshere to the list of guys that got favorable contracts for a good playoff series... The key to the Hawk's future (and even upcoming season) is the development of its younger players. I do not want childress nor salim to lose time for a player with a short term contract. Also, Wells wants a contract that is really too big for his career performance.

What are the good channels for sports?