AtlHomer

Have you seen anything to suggest Cleveland is looking to blow up their roster? Why is it that everyone thinks Cleveland would trade AV for 'scraps' from other teams?

There is only one basketball and it remains to be seen if there will be enough touches for everyone. The difference between this trio and the ones for the Celtics is age. The Celtic trio understood they needed to submit to the team concept to accomplish their ultimate goal. Will this trio have the same mindset?

Very good link! If I had to make a guess based on the unrestricted free agent centers, Brad Miller could be an interesting choice based on his history of running 'pick and rolls' along with moving to a motion offense. Like most, I would LOVE to see Shaq come to ATL (along with the additional media attention he would bring). He would bring a LOT when we go to the half court offense at the end of games. I do have some concerns regarding team chemistry and the impact he might have on that. It would be interesting seeing Shaq and ZaZa in the game at the same time also.

When you think about it, getting $3 million dollars was a 'shrewd' business move. That money will cover the salary of Jordan Crawford so the impact to the bottom line is essentially $0. More money is available for JJ and other pickups.

He played with Miami a few years ago and finished this past season with the Knicks. He's 7 foot and 250 lbs which suggests he has good size. He finished the season with a few double doubles although we don't know how hard the opposition played in those games. Best of all, he is probably affordable. Is he worth giving a guaranteed contract to or should we either extend Morris or try a new big of the bench? He are Barron's stats: Earl Barron

There is another rumor that IF this trade were to happen, then Big Z would be cut by the Suns and he would resign with Cleveland in 30 days If there is truth to both of those rumors, it would make it extremely hard for the Hawks to match up. However, if Big Z were cut and he signed with the Hawks, that would make things interesting.......

A rebuilding project like ours requires both a commitment and patience throughout the process. Fans (rightfully so in many cases) want to win now. Could you imagine where we would be had we sacrificed some of our young talent for a short term fix? Despite their bad record, NJ has a chance to really move forward given they have a veteran PG in Harris and an up and comer center in Lopez. IMO they are a few pieces along with developing chemistry from being a dangerous team.

While I was glad to see RandMo get minutes with the first unit, I was concerned with his level of defensive intensity. Most of us probably learned when we were young that the best way to get playing time was to play good defense. He got several 'ticky tack' fouls while setting moving screens, which seems to be a problem he has had. Hopefully he will look at film and realize what he is doing wrong to correct that. If he wants to be a valued member of the rotation, RandMo has got to take advantage of situations like this....

I found this quote most interesting. It somewhat confirms that 'team chemistry' is a key ingredient to overall success. Players have to know there roles within the team concept and believe their teammates can live up to their expectations...

Not sure why some seem to think that being a young bench and practice player in the NBA will help with his development. Sure, the money is probably better but at the end of the day, you need to play in game time situations to improve your game. Anyone know about the level of competition in the China leagues? That might be the only concern.

Ditto to what you said, Lopez was the first person that came to my mind as competition for Horford. In fairness, the team having a bad season could hurt Lopez's chances....

Well said!!! There was a brief period in the 3rd quarter when 'ISO Joe' started again and the Raptors scored 8 quick points. To Woody's credit, he did call a timeout when that happened. He's got to drill into the players that when they share the ball, good things happen!

No surprised by this. Mike has a son that should be a Junior in high school. I would think he wants to be around for him at least until he graduates.

Great win by the Hawks! Maybe they'll start making more folks believers out there!!!

Good suggestion however look for Collins to have a lot of DNP-CDs unless we play teams with a dominant big man, i.e. Howard, Shaq. Those 5 minutes will probably be split between Smith and ZaZa.

As you read this, you can see it is simply media speculation. This will happen a lot over the course of the season. We should expect every team that has cap space to consider Joe although it will probably happen more on team blogs.

Well said! I asked a question before that I'll ask again. Will the media give Sund that same credit and love that Dmitroff has gotten for the Falcons?

Mike Glenn is a GREAT guy! Our sons were classmates several year ago in elementary school. He also ran a basketball camp, primarily for students at that school over spring break. His patience with children was something else (if you can imagine running a basketball camp for 2-5th graders). He has also written several books that are worth reading. It's good when you seek folks like Mike outside of their professional environment. You find out you have far more in common than some would think.

It is interesting that Thomas Dimitroff gets props for what he is doing with the Falcons. The same type of props should be given to Sund for what he has done over the past year. To think, this is still work in progress.

Your math is a little off as this is 16 million/year. Nonetheless I think his camp may request upwards of 18 million/year (5 yrs - 90 million). Whether the Hawks are willing to pay that is another question.

Well said!!!!

Not sure if it is realistic to get both of these players. The third big man off the bench seldom gets playing time (ZaZa being the first) hence it would not make sense to pay that much for that kind of player.

It was interesting listening to Gus Johnson later in the show. When asked what he thought about the Hawks, he had nothing but good things to say. He really likes the makeup of this team.

I recall Sekou mentioning him as a possibility before this past season. He played with the Heat in 07-08 and finished the season pretty strong. Not sure why he did not stick with a team last year. That could be telling....

Based on everything you read about him, he seems like a 'nice' guy. I worry that he could be the second reincarnation of Preist Lauderdale.