BossTweed

I'm up for a game on the weekend sometime here in Atlanta or anywhere pretty close by (marietta, roswell, gwinett maybe, etc). I usually play pick-up games at the YMCA once or twice a week. This would be fun. Also, does anyone know of any public basketball leagues in Atlanta? The only ones I have ever heard people talk about are church leagues. I'd love to play competitive ball but I don't know how to find a league.

Quote: The losing is being caused by the impeccably dressed man sitting on the Hawks bench. You'll spot him. You're blaming it all on Speedy?

Quote: whoever you're calling Fabio they're also calling him that on the radio. This fella: http://www.nba.com/playerfile/walter_herrm...x.html?nav=page He's from South America somewhere, I believe.

Fabio is only shooting 31%, we should consider ourselves lucky. edit: Get some defensive rebounds, please!!!

I say they make their 11th shot (between the two of them).

Charlotte is making some nice interior passes, we need to try and stop that. They need to learn to double knot their shoes. edit: Fabio is in the game.

Quote: Mule, I was encouraged by last nights "non-effort". If we can do that every night, we will easily finish with the worst record in the league. Sure, that's only a 25% chance at Oden and 64% of top 3, but even a 25% chance to get out of our mess is far better than the likelihood of success of any other plan. I just hope Oden decides to go pro if we get the top pick. Who knows, he may decide to stay in school knowing that he has to go to play for the worst franchise in the league if he goes pro.

Quote: Yeah, it wouldnt have gone to OT if we could have made our FTs. I'm more pissed about all the 3 pt attempts by our guys, and the easy layups for their guys though. I'm with you, jacking up threes and letting Ray Allen and Ridnour make tons of layups didn't help at all. At the game I assumed the Hawks were around 50% or less from the FT line, but checking the stats its 63%. That's not good, but we still should have won the game despite it.

Quote: In case you're going and you haven't left yet: GoDawgs21, jdu00743, delanceyj, BossTweed, Lascar, Nicholasp27, and anyone else I may have missed, I'll be at the Back Court BBQ outside portal 8 during halftime if you are interested in meeting for a karmic corndog. Also, watch the screens for Squawk-related text messages! See you at the game. Dang, didn't see this. Sorry, I didn't get a corndog at the game, only chili-cheese fries, which apparently don't help any. The game was exciting and the crowd was pretty solid. They got into it pretty good at the end of the game. Hopefully people keep showing up, despite the loss tonight.

Quote: 2. Play calling Yeah, I was frustrated at the play calling at the end of the game and OT also. It was basically "give it to Joe and make him force a shot". Everyone knew it was coming and so the shots he got weren't any good. I would have rather seen some more movement (screens, etc) before the inbound pass and had someone they don't expect, get the ball. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but I do think most people would be expecting Joe to get the ball. The offense at the end of the game in general was frustrating. Too much relying on JJ's offense and J. Smith shooting from outside. I wanted to see Zaza get some chances to make some plays inside, and Josh Childress should have had some more chances to make plays too. Also, I wasn't too impressed with Sheldens defense tonight, so I think that's probably why he wasn't in the game more. And now that you guys mention it, it might have been nice to see Ivey get a shot at Ray Allen, because Bozeman and Chillz couldn't handle him.

Just got some tickets, Section 112 Row T. Hawks better not let me down

Quote: Why is it that big men always want to act like little men and jack 3s, and little men always want to act like big men and take it to the post?? Because they feel they have an advantage over the defender in a situation the defender doesn't expect or isn't as familiar with. When I'm playing ball, I'm usually one of the taller guys on the team. If I have a size advantage at all, I will be posting up a lot. If the defender is particularly big or particularly scrappy and won't let me get position, I end up moving around and taking some outside shots till they have to respect those. Generally, they will let you take quite a few before they guard you close outside. Also, it draws them away from the basket for their defense and rebounding, although it also means you are away from the basket for your O rebounding. Of course, that only works if you make your outside shots.

It looks like the Spurs picked him up. Should be interesting to see what a very athletic player can add to that team.

Quote: That's weird. Sports guy's insults aside, this is really a group? Sounds very high school to me. I would guess it has to do with their shoe deals. Didn't I read something about Chris Paul and Joe Johnson joining the Jordan brand, and Melo is already in it. And of course Lebron is a Nike guy too.

GoDawgs21: I agree completely with your posts. Those are the exact points I was trying to make. Good posts.

Quote: You want a list of good general managers? Jerry West tops that category. Greg Popavich would be second. Don Nelson Jr or whoever runs Dallas would be third. I love the job Charlotte has done in the draft and Orlando has two young studs in the making with Howard and Nelson. The Bucks GM has done a good job and isn't scared to make trades to bring in better talent. Jerry Colangelo is off to a good start in Toronto. The Phoenix GM is good. The Nets guy, Rod Thorpe? doesn't get enough credit. Kiki Vanderweighe did a good job in Denver. Joe Dumars has been very good in Detroit. I can keep going here. There's at least twenty general managers in the NBA I would list above BK without breaking a sweat. The only GM I can categorically put below Knight is Isiah Thomas. Maybe you didn't get my point. I wasn't asking for your opinion on who was a "Good GM", I was asking you to look at those guy's drafts and player decisions, and show me that none of them have drafted a guy who was a bust, or drafted a guy higher than they should have, or missed a guy who turned out to be a good player. For example, Larry Bird drafted James White in the second round, and traded up to get him. Guess where James White is now? WAIVED. Does that make Larry Bird a bad GM? Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. My point is that no one gets the perfect player every time. You just have to hope they get good players and make good decisions most of the time, and then get more great ones than busts.

I'd love to see some examples of an individual GM that has fit your criteria of a "Good GM". You guys are knocking the job BK has done, but where are your examples of people that have done better over the same period of time, in the same drafts??? Like other people are saying, NO ONE gets EVERY pick right, or gets every trade right. Please, someone show me a GM where there aren't any examples of "Oh, he should have picked this guy who went 5 picks later instead of the guy he picked". I doubt there are any. I'd love to see some examples.

Quote: I prefer "Jojo." I can go with that too.

Quote: that "cool" nickname starts getting on my nerves about half way through the article. Yeah, we have enough guys with nicknames like that, Smoove, Chillz, Marvelous, etc. I like him having a simple nickname like J.J. He is the rock for the team, and he doesn't need a nickname to be flashy and get attention, he lets his game get him attention.

Quote: I wholeheartedly concur. James White has BIGTIME talent. He can dribble and pass very well...plus he'd actually be the best dunker on our team. Yes, he really is a better dunker than Smoove. I saw James "Flight" White go between his legs...from the free throw line. Yeah, I'd like to see James White as a Hawk too, but I'm not sure where he would fit on the roster. It sounds like he still needs to develop some and adjust to the NBA game, and wouldn't really be ready to play right away.

Yeah, if there was a position that the Hawks can survive an injury, it is the PF/SF spot. My only concern is that it hurts Marvin's progress, but I think it can help get some of the other players good experience that will come in handy the rest of the season.