b3bawla

Thanks exodus.

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=15408

Can someone with ESPN insider post the David Stern chat from today? I recently discontinued my subscription to the magazine and can't get insider anymore.

Solomon is going to be a nice piece if we ever decide to play him. But the big difference between Thomas and him is that Thomas has good hands and Solomon does not. The next time you get a chance to watch Solomon (if he even plays again this year) notice how many times he bobbles passes and rebounds. When we throw lobs to him he gets up high but doesn't secure the ball. Thomas has good hands. If you saw that game against the Cavs you know that if he got two hands on the ball he was dunking on somebody. Now I'm not sure if you can really work on that...but if he can, that should be the focus of his off-season workouts. Because if he can get his hands better...I think he'll have a great chance of being better than Thomas.

Not exactly big time Stars but...Al Harrington, Boris Diaw, Stephen Jackson, Bobby Simmons...interesting three were Hawks. Ron Artest was pretty close and so was Chauncey Billups.

Good point...and to think he did a good portion of this left handed

You know what is interesting? The weakest part of his game, his offense, is just as good if not better than a lot of the great center of recent memory in their freshman years. See if you can match the freshman stats of... Oden Olajuwon Robinson O'Neal Ewing Duncan 1. 12.7ppg, 7.5rbg, 3.21bpg, 63%fg, 61%ft 2. 9.8ppg, 9.6rbg, 3.75bpg, 54%fg, 75%ft 3. 15.5ppg, 9.7rbg, 3.5bpg, 61%fg, 63%ft 4. 8.3ppg, 6.3rbg, 2.48bpg, 61%fg, 56%ft 5. 13.9ppg, 12.0rbg, 3.59bpg, 57%fg, 55%ft 6. 7.6ppg, 4.0rpg, 1.32bpg, 62%fg, 66%ft 1. Patrick Ewing 2. Tim Duncan 3. Greg Oden (surprise surprise) 4. Hakeem Olajuwon 5. Big Shaq 6. David Robinson The point is that big men take longer to develop. Look how long it took Eddy Curry to start playing anywhere near his potential. Also, they need players who are determined to get them the ball and know how to do it. Oden will probably not end up being as potent or fluid as Olajuwon in the post, but he won't be Eric Montrose either. He will be a dominant center, eventually being one of the top three big men in the league for years to come (Yao and Dwight Howard being the other two).

It officially might be time to tank

Anybody mention that Oden is just 18 or 19 and is still growing both up and out?

That job has Esteban's name all over it. Esteban Batista = Shane Stant. Billy Knight = Jeff Gillooly. Mike Woodson = Tanya Harding.

Wade considering season ending surgery Now I'm a big D-Wade fan, but if he does opt to go under the knife our playoff hunt is all the more realistic. We're 5 and a half games behind Miami who has the 8th spot and 3 and a half behind New Jersey, the 9th best team. This could be really interesting because if we got hot, we could make a real push this year.

Yea, Atlanta is also one of the best stops on Moutin Dew's And 1 Tour. They always get a huge crowd.

I've only seen James play once and he had a bad game. I did get to see that he is ultra and is strong enough to get where he wants. But I really don't like drafting players that have low field goal percentages in college. The athletes in the pros are bigger, stronger, faster, longer, smarter, and more athletic. This usually means that your 1st 2 years or so, your field goal percentage goes down. Then you also have to consider that he's shorter than 6 feet. And he's bad free throw shooter. I'd like to see us go after Acie Law. That guy is a player. He get's knocked for his awkward shot, but it goes in and it's hard to block. He's not the best athlete but like Marcus Williams he knows how to change speeds very well. And he can really pass. Another guy I really like for the Hawks is Mustafa Shakur. I haven't gotten to see him play this year, but I've seen him play before. He's a great athlete that really pushes the ball and isn't shy about shooting. In that regard he reminded me a little of Gil Arenas. But now he's actually passing and running the team extremly well. For some reason though, he's not very highly thought of by nbadraft.net and draftexpress.net. I think he's gonna be a stud.

Nobody is really talking about the possibility that both Oden and Durant go back to school. It's very possibile, as both speak very highly of the college experience. So unlike, Steph at Georgia Tech, this isn't a forgone conclusion. In which case the best thing for us may be to keep on winnig and give PHX our pick this year and the get lucky next year.

Just don't put it in Speedy's hands at the end and we are good.

First off, great win for the Hawks. We beat a team with two All-Stars that were playing pretty well. Marvin was clutch. Chillz was solid (as he always is these days). Lue is ice cold like the Silver Surfer. And Joe is the best Hawk since Nique. With that said I can't shake the frustration I have in knowing that we almost lost this huge game because of STUPID coaching. I try to be positive and not be so harsh...but STUPID is STUPID. Joe Johnson is the best ball handler, shooter, penetrator, passer, and decision maker on our team. We ought to use him in late game situations the way that Miami uses Wade, LA uses Kobe, and Washington uses the Hibachi (Gil). I'm talking about the 1-4 flat, where you put two on guys on the baseline (by the paint) and two other guys a couple steps in the baseline direction at the wing. And then you give your star the ball at the top of the key and say "win the game." If they double, you have great spacing so that usually only one pass needs to be made before a good shot is taken (and the star makes that pass). But instead we (like the Cavs often do) try to run the same plays we run the whole game for Joe (fully knowing that they will try desperately hard to deny him the ball). So we play into their hands. The opposition loves it when Speedy has the ball late, because he can't shoot. Which gets to my next gripe with Woody. Why was speedy in the game at the end of regulation with 10 seconds left, when you knew they were going to double Joe...and guess who doubled? Speedy's man. And so a hobbled Speedy who's already had another terrible shooting night gets the ball because he's the open man. He knew he couldn't hit the shot so he passed to Smoove who had to shoot. BAD BAD BAD COACHING!!!!! Thankfully, Woody learned from his mistake. Lue was looking terrible in the 3rd. So I understand him sitting out the 4th. But in those 10 seconds, Woody should known that it would have been catch and shoot (like it was in overtime). So the good thing is that he learned from his mistake and put our team in an opportunity to win. But he's got to improve because you can't be a great team with your coach making decisions like that.

You guys realize that there are 6 Western Conference teams that have superior records to all the Eastern Conference teams...SIX!!!!!!!!!

NBA Standings Coming off a tough lost to a surprisingly solid Toronto squad, who with a 24-23 record is leading its division and is currently the East's 4th seed, I had to check the standings to see if we have a shot at the playoffs...and we do. Folks we are only 4 games out of that last spot. Miami is currently the 8th seed but sooner or later they'll heat up (they should call me the Pun-isher). Orlando the 7th seed is probably on their way down as Grant Hill is expected to miss some time. New Jersey, currently the 9th best team, is looking bad and things may not get better. Kidd just had a scoreless night and I think that divorce thing might be getting to him (BTW, it could get REALLY UGLY for him). New York, coming in 10th...well New York is New York. Chances are they'll screw up somehow. Charlotte is not a good team (though they beat us like a ugly stepchild every chance they get). Alls I'm saying is that somebody is going to back into that 8th (and maybe even 7th) seed. We are not that far off. Now, this month is going to be super tough (which is why that Toronto loss hurt so much), but if we win 40% of the games this month we'll be just fine. That's 5 wins. If we beat New Jersey twice that's 2 games we gain on them. We can beat Golden State again and we can steal a win in Utah (to repay them for that one they stole from us). That's 4 wins and then we 'll just need to catch one of the better teams in the league on an off night. Because if we can do that, March is where we can gain some serious ground as we have 10 games versus Eastern conference teams. Seriously, it's not the greatest shot in the world. But the East is so horrible that one (and maybe two) playoff teams won't have winning records. We're not out of it yet guys. So if there are any Hawks players, coaches, or administrators working the boards, know that I believe. We still got a shot at the playoffs.

I see you guys' point that overbidding for a big is a bad idea. But then again, why would anyone want to come play in Atlanta...for any reason outside of money and PT? To be tutored by the defensive genious that is Mike Woodson? To practice against the likes of Lorenzen Wright and Esteban Batista? To be alligned with a stable organization? Face it, we got lucky that Joe wanted to be here. No other free agents will want to come here unless we overspend for them. If we are too smart to spend money we will be a very bad team for a very long time. Another factor is that if we are afraid to have any big contracts (other than Joe's) we will never be in the running for any big name trades because the salaries won't match up. We (for the most part) couldn't have gotten Iverson if we wanted to. I'm not saying we turn into New York. They go WAY overboard with the spending. But we're gonna have to spend some money some time to become decent. BTW the Knicks do have 5 more wins than us and a -2.5 point differential to our -5.5 with a big man averaging 18.7 and 7.2 (Curry) another big getting 10.7 and 6.8 (Lee), and another big getting 10 and 5.7 (Frye)...all 24 years or younger.

I really think that Brenden Haywood is not the answer. We need to make wholesale changes to the coaching staff. We need to get a coach that will truly say "if you don't hustle you are not going to play." We are cursed by complancency. I wish we could be like those pre-Grant Hill/T-Mac/Dwight Howard Magic teams (with Ben Wallace and Darrell Armstrong). That team did not have much talent. But they played hard. They dove for loose balls. They challanged shots. They may go 0-16 in the 4th quarter, but they kept blocking out. You know what? Watching us against Indy felt like watching the most recent Falcons Panthers game. No effort, just an acceptance of imminent failure.

I understand and share your anger. I am embarrassed. It seems that Woody is still surprised that he has a job. I'd start benching folks. I'd rest Joe and Lue because nither is 100% and playing them while we are giving this kind of effort is just going to get them hurt even more. But this would be my rotation. Speedy/Ivey Thompson/ Ivey Chillz/ Marvin Shelden/ Este (or a hungry 10 day contract guy) Solomon/Zaza We would lose, but maybe...just maybe...we would start playing like our players' jobs depended on their effort and production. Just maybe.

This Hawks season is really frustrating. We started off the year hot and I got my expectations up. We cooled down some but were competitive. Then we started getting injured and things turned south quickly. However, we are not unique in that we have injuries to important people on our team. We are not unique in that we have a very young team. However, more so than any team other than Charlotte, we seem to be blowout prone. I'm talking about games that the 4th quarter is a mere formality. When the stars for the opposing team sit and laugh and cheer and lounge as 3rd stringers and career journeymen and old has-beens have career nights on us. It's embarrassing. You can tell that the teams 10th, 11th, and 12th men search out when they are going to play Atlanta on the scheduele because that is going to be their time to shine. And I think the big thing is our own players (and coaches) believe that we suck. So when the other team makes a run now, we throw in the towel. Now I was pleased to see Royal Ivey and Solomon Jones and Dijon Thompson save us from scoring less than 60 points, but something has to change. I like Woody. From what I've seen he seems like a great guy. But...IT AINT WORKING!!!!I've seen so many teams that are less talented than us or are hit harder by the injury bug still play harder. There seems to be no accountability. I love Zaza offensively...but how do you expect him to start playing defense when you never punish him for sucking so bad? I love Marvin, but as a 6'8 player with tons of athleticism it is simply not acceptable that he not rebound. We've coddled our young talent enough. They've gotten good minutes. If they keep making the same mistakes we need to do something drastic to persuade them to learn. We can't just continue to do the same thing. I understand that we are hurt, but if we keep this same attitude of "one day things will take care of themselves" we will still be bad when we get healthy. I've seen a good number of these blowouts and the complaceny is spreading. I caught Shelden not blocking out a few times this last game. One time Solomon blocked Foster out but failed to make an effort to chase the ball. You'll see after made baskets all 5 players start up court with no one taking the ball out, and then when called out a player will sluggishly stroll toward the baseline to get the ball in. Something's got to change. After any adversity we bail out. And it seems like that Utah game was really when we lost hope. So now something must be done. I say that people need to start losing jobs. Woody, Knight, assistant coaches, Lorenzen, even Marvin (and it hurts me to say that bc I'm a huge UNC fan)and Salim. But we gotta do something because I can't be proud of this team...in any way (right now). We are young but I'm not seeing progress. At the same time our record isn't bad enough to say that we got a good shot at landing a top 3 pick. We need to shake things up and give someone else a try at getting us out of the gutter. Billy and Woody have had their chance. It didn't work. It's time for us to move on.

You know what? I think we need to sit Joe until he's at least 95%. There's no need in playing him now and taking the chance on him devoloping other injuries while favoring the existing one. Because if he does really go down we will lose and lose and lose and lose...but probably find a way to pick 4th or 5th.

Any change is worthy of being explored. We are embarrasing ourselves just about every time we play and are expecting there to be some miraculous turnaround. I think we need to shake things up. A guess a couple lineup changes is the best way to start, but if we suck like this at the break we gotta fire woody and knight. BTW great point on the highlight factory thing. I think most of the highlights since Smoove has been out have been for the opposition (except Zaza'a behind the back dunk).

Rick Adelman would be fun!!!!! We'd score 110 a game.