cam1218

Yup, avoid the Heat/Bulls and I'm going to feel somewhat confident in a first round win. The rest of the East is a toss up for us.

There has been a lot of up and down over our last 6 playoff appearances. At least we are there though, a lot of teams that haven't won a championship in these last few years would probably even trade places with us. It is frustrating for us fans because we never feel that we are actually a team that will win a championship. We have been in the playoffs though and have at the very least a decent shot. I feel that better days are ahead for our Hawks and am really excited for this years playoff. GO HAWKS!

I'd only even consider Bynum if it was for a one or two year (team option) deal. He is very talented and if he was healthy he would push us towards the very top of the east. Problem is that he can't ever use all of his skills because he is always hurt. If we want to sign a big, I'd much rather have Peckovic or Jefferson because you can at least assume there is a greater chance of them actually being on the court when we need them. Bynum will be an interesting free agent to watch. You figure some team is going to throw a lot of money at him but I could also see him getting a lot of short term offers. He might be a good risk of you are a team that is close to being a playoff team (like Philly honestly, though they never want to see him again) but he wouldn't be worth it for a team as close to the top of the conference like the Hawks.

Al Horford, our lottery pick that went right. It has been a lot of fun watching him come back from injury, improve his game and become our true team leader.

Very good guess lol. I had to miss the game because of work. Looked like a lot of guys had a really good game. I saw that Devin started again but Teague got most of the minutes. Was it because Teague played better or did Harris get hurt? I wonder how they will handle this situation going forward.

We are closer to #2 than we are to #8. After the Heat things are very tight in the East and can change daily. Because of this, I find myself score and standing watching when we win and avoiding the whole issue after we lose.

"That foul was offensive, Al Horford""We regret to inform you, but we have sold out our allotment of Kobe Bryant jerseys tonight. We will offer free tickets to any future Hawk game to anybody that didn't receive their Kobe jersey"

100% accurate, good post.

Russell Westbrook is a great example of a successful player with poor BBIQ. The guy has plenty of good games, but I've seen a lot of games where he shoots 4-19 and takes some of the most ill-advised shots I have ever seen.

Lol right?Well cam1218 just said that "the game" and radio in general would be better without Kordell Stewart.He is more or less right, but he isn't a guy Id ever look to for any hoops insight.

I'm a GT fan, and their inability to consistently compete over the last few years has really turned me off from college hoops. I'm up in Michigan now so I'm surrounded by a lot of the U of M hype, but I still have trouble getting involved with the college game. Coachx and AHF seem to be pretty knowledgable with the college game. Y'all keep your insight coming, it's good to read. I keep hearing about Burke as a possibility but I don't think he will be there when we draft. I'm not even sure if he would be a good fit if Teague is a part of our long term plans.With the potential of 2 picks coming in the mid teens we seem to be good shape. I'm all for trading up but it sounds like our best bet is to keep the picks and go with the depth.

Allowing Houston to sweep the season series might wind up being one of the best things we did this year.

But I thought that article said Jenkins was going to get the backup minutes at the point?!I thought he did a great job. He got a little lost on defense but his offense was a big reason that we won the game. I'm on board with keeping him the rest of the year!

The few fans aren't the issue, and there definitely aren't enough of us.It is a city issue. People that live in Atlanta have no pride in the city and don't care about supporting anything that has Atlanta on its jersey. The support comes when championships might happen but will quickly vanish once all of the possibility is gone.I get it though, it is what it is. We win and they show up, that is what it will always take. I'll never accept it though because it is just BS. Atlanta is a huge city, capital of the south. We aren't trying to find people to be proud of a city in North Dakota.It is never about loving Atlanta and supporting the city. It is about loving that player that makes them good. So once they leave the team you are pretty much back to square one.When Vick returned to ATL the first time as the backup in Philly he received more cheers than the entire Falcons team. I mean, the guy made some insanely stupid decisions and put our franchise in a horrible position. We got lucky that the Ryan/Turner/Smith/Dimitroff combo worked, but how could somebody who actually loves Atlanta sports teams cheer for him?

When Josh doesn't play, we basically have no possessions that are obviously wasted. We have shots that you don’t want, but each player plays to their strength. It is just obvious that we are a better “team” when he is out, because we actually play like one. The Hawks are at the best when we are moving the ball around, and usually Josh isn’t a part of it. He passes some, but he also makes iso Joe look great and stops possessions because he wants to shoot. He is probably our second best passer but that doesn’t mean it happens every time it should. There isn’t a part of me that thinks losing his ill-advised threes and fade away jump shots hurts us. There also isn’t a part of me that thinks we could possibly win a playoff series without him. These games should show him that we don’t need his jumpers; we just need him to get his stats within the flow of the game.

But all of the teams listed above (minus the Bobcats lol) have a city that does a better job of supporting their team. I know that a superstar or a deep winning tradition would help. But you watch the games and you'd think we were the Bobcats.

Or the Falcons of 6 years ago? The team that never had back to back winning seasons? I don't think anybody really forgets it. They were probably the biggest joke of all of the teams (minus hockey). But the standard of winning championships to get fan support is horrible. A lot of fan bases will show up for their team when they win games. Even though we haven't won a championship or appeared in an ECF series, we are a lot better off than so many teams that get real support. It's just the city. The lack of pride is pitiful.

Hey Kobe! Shut up!

I’ve always seen it and felt it, but the final straw was probably the Heat game after the all-star break. A moment where I was so annoyed and ready to just give up. Not give up on the Hawks, but just lose faith in Atlanta ever having a fan base that could somewhat support a professional team. This Lakers game did a good job of reminding me of those feelings. It makes me SICK. I’m not young but I haven’t been there for some of the struggles that some of you have seen. I’m in my late 20’s (which might seem very young Gray Mule lol), so Nique wasn’t much more than a highlight reel to me. I was lucky enough to get a picture with him and definitely hold him in high regards, but my thoughts on him are based on what I’ve heard, highlights and box scores. The days of Smitty, Mookie, Mutumbo and gang are pretty familiar. This isn’t about them though, so I’m not going to focus on the past too much, just wanted to offer some background. I’m going to go back to my original statement of “giving up” after the Heat game. I have seen it happen many times in our city, not just to the Hawks. We were not given the rating of worst sports town by Forbes because our teams suck, it comes because our fan support is severely lacking. No show ATL. The need of a superstar is obvious and much needed. Vick took our city by storm, and in proper Atlanta fashion, decided to give it all away. I don’t think of him as a superstar though, he was just a guy that was talked about. I’m going to go beyond the superstar argument and say that we could be okay if we had better fans. Confident fans too, fans that believe we can win. The Falcons are close, but you still can feel that energy in the dome. I see it on TV. You even feel it through the TV. Seeing the dome packed out during the playoffs made me so proud but you knew that there would be a weird silence once the game was close. This isn’t a call out to anybody here. If you post on the ‘Squawk, you obviously are on the good side of supporting Atlanta teams (whether it is your only ATL team or not). Something needs to be done though, it’s not like it is a bad city. We are full of people; they just care more about where they came from. They come from cities that have a sense of pride. That pride doesn’t escape them, no matter where they are. Championships help a lot. But unless you are one of a handful of teams in the NBA, they are extremely rare. There are plenty of teams in worse situations than us that get so much more support than we could ever dream of. Tell your friends. Tell your family. Tell the person next to you in any public situation that this is a good city. Show your pride, be glad you are an ATLien, show up not because of a superstar but because you support the jersey that reads Atlanta. It won’t happen overnight, and it probably never will, but once the city is loved the championship(s) will come. The Hawks made me proud tonight because they shut up a lot of people. I told Horford on FB that I wish Atlanta could give you better fans, but there are a few of us that are proud and support your effort tonight. It’s just too bad half of the crowd that saw it will never share the story.

I sometimes wonder how our players don't throw the ball in the officials face lol. We didn't get any favors when the game was tight.

Hawks are at their best when we have Josh playing, and Josh playing to his strengths. I'd even say we are a top three team in the East when it happens.He hurts us a lot with his poor play. It doesn't happen all the time, but it happens enough for it to be an issue.So to me, it isn't a surprise we beat good teams when he is out. We beat good teams with him in, but you know the Hawks win when we play smart. They ALWAYS play smart when he isn't there..

F him. Wasn't like he didn't get any calls when Smoove and Boss guarded him in LA.

Y'all can read my thoughts in the game thread, but I'll say this again.I'll forever love my city and forever hate its residents. I'd love to get rid of the people that love their city and make GA their home. Get out, we don't need you.

Listen, I never wish injury on any player, I played sports and know that you want to win when the team is at their best. Kobe is amazing and I respect the dude immensely...So this has more to do with the city I grew up in. The one that is full of Lebron/Celtic/Knick/Bulls/Kobe fans. You got two players in the group and the rest is people from the north that left their city to come down south for better living.It's annoying and pitiful. I will always love Atlanta but forever hate the residents of the city.Seeing all that purple in our arena pissed me off. It isn't new, but I'll never get over it. I hope that they are all happy that they got to see the Hawks win and Kobe get hurt at the end. The Hawks fans deserved the win and the Lakers fans got what they deserved too. Good riddance to all of them..

We could very well lose this game, but this first quarter reminds me why Horford is my favorite player. He is a leader, always plays hard and he really cares about the team. You can just see it in the way he plays..he is smart and doesn't make dumb plays to hurt us.