bird_dirt

i didn't care too much for the pick, but i'm not pissed at it either. honestly, i don't think this was that great of draft class, regardless of who we got where. i don't think roy or foye will be exceptional superstars for years to come, either. if there is some great superstar to come out of this draft, it will probably be someone that comes out of nowhere that wasn't a top five, or even ten, pick. your guess is as good as mine. this draft seemed pretty weak to me and the sheldon pick, along with everything else, was pretty anticlimactic to me. no use crying over missing out on hardly anyone in this past draft, imo.

okay, sure. i'm not all hugged up on bk's nutz, but let's at least bash him for the mistakes that he's done within the last month. with so many to choose from, it seems pretty ocd to keep going back to the same one over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over......

i think you have very well reflected on the complexity of reasons for drafting or not drafting sheldon in like your last billion posts. i'm sure there have been other polls over whether anyone liked/didn't like the pick. i could look that up to double check if it's happened, but really i'm too lazy to look it up, plus, i could really care less to find out the results. i didn't care for the pick, either. but damn, boston red sox fans have let go of the babe ruth trade faster than you have with this draft.

HANNO! HANNO! HANNO! HANNO! we seriously need to bring him back.*

*just kidding--but seriously--just kidding (seriously).

i'll ditto that. seriously oken, you've been watching too much anime. reading that last post made me feel like i was listening to some capcom video game character talking to me. nothing personal though.....hahahahah.

i would be less inclined to trade chillz. unless we get an amazing two-way center that would allow us to keep smoove and marvin on the floor together at the same time like walter has been begging for, then i would be more inclined to trade js or mw (probably js) than chillz.

i know that i may sound crazy saying that, however....our biggest problem is the redundancey of marvin and smoove both wanting/needing to play at small forward. unless js develops more of a power forward's game, then one of them will be on the bench more than they should, and only one of them can be a starter.

one of chillz strengths, that the other two don't have so much, is his versatility. i also don't believe that he ever will be a serious starter for any team for any length of time in this league. if the hawks can't work out a way for both our star small forwards to be on the floor together, then either one or both of them will be unhappy at not getting enough starts/playing time, or we trade one of them for something that we really need (like a major upgrade at center or point). smoove or marvin would net us something much larger and benificial than anything childress would ever get us. he is a perfect 6th man (which is what he will primarily ever be imo), getting really good minutes splitting time at forward and guard--why mess with that and lose it?

we could trade him, get another bench player, lose some depth, and have two unfulfilling small forwards, or we trade one high-potential small forward for a great starting 1 or 5, still have a great, high-potential 3, plus jj at 2, plus a great 6th man to rotate around in myriad of different sets. blast me if you must--and i know some must, but i see this as a battle of between mw and js, and either they adapt their roles, or only one, and ONLY one, comes out on top.

being so early, there's no telling what will happen. i'm really pulling for solomon and el toro, too. even if solomon is playing for the nbdl this year, he'll be ready to play for the hawks by this time next year (let's hope). it would be nice to pick up a great big, but honestly, i wouldn't be disappointed one bit if we picked up r. steele, pg from alabama in the next draft. some mock drafts out now show that we could possibly get him in the area of the pacer's pick to us without having to do anything (i.e. trade up, which billy hasn't had any luck doing in past drafts). how sad is it that the '06 season hasn't even started yet, and we're already trying to make our picks for the '07 draft?

branch

the patriots just gave dion branch a week to seek a trade and negotiate a new contract. i bet the falcons are kicking themselves for trading t.j. duckett for lelie already. with cory dillon wearing down, i'm sure the patriots would've traded for him. i suppose there's a slight chance they could still get him, but i doubt they will go out and do it, now.

i say, "the smeller's the feller."

that pretty much sums it up for me. thanks for writing it so i didn't have to.

"We missed by far our best chance this offseason." for what? getting a 2-way dominant center? i'll agree with your theory that that is what we really need to get the most out of playing js and mw together, but we really don't know what was offered to billy, or what ownership was really allowing him to get. i would have loved to have gotten a bynum, magiloire, camby, dwight howard, whoever--but we don't know. i would hold the hawks ownership and management over the fire collectively, not just bk.

as far as the cp3 crap is concerned GET OVER IT!!! yes, i feel it was a mistake, too. i would have liked to have gotten him in the draft, too. i know that i would have liked to have gotten him even more now than i did during the draft, tenfold. both of their play last year has only driven that home so much my head is numb. i'm not a bk apologist, but i have a feeling that with a pick as high as two, and with the MASSIVE hype coming from everywhere over marvin, i really think that bk had visions of drafting sam bowie over michael jordan floating in his head by dafting by need and not the best talent of the draft. yes, i know he didn't do that this year, and he's getting crap from that, too. i would've liked a pg, but hell, as much hype marvin got, i was pleased to have gotten him at the time. if we had the number one, everyone know we would've taken bogut. billy said it, bogut talked about it, everyone. and everyone would've been pleased as punch to have gotten him then. after seeing his mediocre play this past season, i'm sure people would've been griping about not getting chris paul then, too.

i think bk does some descent things, and does some lame things. but lets face it, when you're gm for the hawks and this ownership group, you can't win for losing-damned if you do, damned if you don't.

i know something is better than nothing, but......if it isn't a high pick, isn't everyone else getting as great or likely better prospects as the hawks? it keeps us treading water, but not so much improving ourselves when compared to our compitition. i know bk could possibly trade up somehow (though it seems he hasn't had much luck doing that in the past, i recall a few instances they mentioned they tried to do that and were unsuccessful). he does like to go out on a limb and draft someone much higher than anyone else projects them to go, so he may find another josh smith, but he may find another sheldon williams (admittedly, he's unproven as of yet.)

okay, so i feel very moderately better now. i have seen mention of john edwards still going to the pacers with al. not a major point, but still nice to get rid of what has basically been dead weight in a red and yellow jersey.

yeah, i was pretty happy when i heard about that. it seemed that bk/the hawks were ready to play ball and not bend over for donnie walsh's demands. it would seem to me that maybe they were trying to use b-w/-b to "leak" some of this information out there to try to get the pacers to up their offer. if the pacer's deal goes through, then it just shows how they didn't bite, and the hawks have egg on their face because they said/acted like they were willing to take on players in exchange for al, when really they never had any intention to at all. now it seems if the hawks maybe getting less and less as time goes on. at least before you heard about the pacers taking back edwards, but there has been no mention of that recently. sad, sad, sad.

gsu--just what exactly is billy doing, and why does his neighbor have such a big grin?

this has been some of the best news i've heard, and it isn't even anything specific. i was worried bk was getting spanked by donnie walsh since the pacers were the only team willing to give him (some of) what he wanted, i.e. picks, $, no salaries. i'm glad they're saying screw you and seriously looking elsewhere, even if it's just a ploy to the pacers to get them to up the ante to what they want. at least bk seems to be playing ball again!

it would obviously depend on how we got him. if we gave up the farm for him, then only a very few casual fans would like it, but not enough to bring in major butts to the seats. i personally believe if belkin took over, he would want to trade jj to philly for ai. not that it would be a wise business move, but purely for stroking his ego and getting rid of the reminder of how the ownership turmoil got set off. i personally wouldn't mind too much if ai was here as long as jj was still here and we also kept at least one, but preferably both, mw and js (those are really the only players i really, really wouldn't want to see go anywhere else). it could turn out to be a disaster, but it would still be interesting to see. good or bad, the hawks would be getting some national notice outside of the ownership crap. but what do i know.

i thought i had read somewhere that belkin was the one wanting ai in atl, but the other owners weren't all for it (naturally). if that was the case, and bk had gone after him, then i don't think it would've been a big deal since any trade can happen regardless of the years/$$ involved as long as all owners agreed. philly was probably asking for mw, js, salim, plus draft picks.

i couldn't agree more with this. if belkin wins, bk will be gone immediately. if the spirit wins, i could see giving him an extra year or so after the settlement to see what he could honestly do, no holds barred. if "the great 6'9 experiment" continues to flounder, then we will need to bring in some serious preperation h or tucks pads to relieve the burning, itching sensation in the hawks you-know-what. not exactly womanly, but it's my own version of a metaphoic skin treatment for the hawks.

honestly, i'd rather not.

i agree. and 35 wins isn't going to get us any love from chad ford or anyone else outside of some hawks fans. i don't see atl getting any serious national recognition until we post a winning season, which usually is an almost automatic bid to the postseason in the eastern conference.

the national media needs a whipping boy, and the hawks ownership fiasco and record gives them plenty of ammo. we have to be it right now, because even the long-time whipped clippers made the playoffs. once the court/nba settles the the ownership dispute and we start piling up the W's, they won't have anything left to talk about up but the positives.

i was thinking from an egotistical point of view. sure it wouldn't be a wise business decision, but hiring m.l. carr wouldn't be either, and he already stated he would do that. he would do it more for wanting to wash away the reminder of what set the whole fiasco into motion, to put his stamp on the organization. i read of his supposed interest in ai, and wouldn't be shocked if he traded jj + whatever for ai, because that seems like it would be the sort of dumb move he would do. i wouldn't ever want jj traded, i just think belkin would do it for his own ego's sake.

i thought david anderson was our center of the future that we had signed and kept overseas to develop? oh yeah, he's making more money there then what the hawks have been willing to give him to play here.

that would be pretty funny. bk trades SAR to the hawks for brevin knight, lo wright (and gasol), then later becomes hawks gm and reaquires knight and wright. i'd love to have ely and may here, though. i've never heard the bobcats mentioned, but it could help them reach the payroll minimum this year, which they need. i wouldn't think al would want to go there, though, unless it was the only possibility left for him to get paid.