A-town Hawks

I think the man to get is Micheal Redd from the Bucks. I've seen rumors that he is available and is not too happy in his current situation and wouldn't mind to relocate. I think his shooting would improve JJ's game immensly. Especially JJ's post-up game, which im sure more of us would like him to exploit more often. I think he would do alot for Smoove and Horford as well, who's post-up games should be improved over the summer and featured in the offense next year. Marv/Bibby(exp)/2009 1st rnd pick top 5 protec for Micheal Redd Then I've seen alot about Calderon being the man that the Raptors want to keep up in Canada, and Calderon mentioning that he wants to be a starter. Meaning Ford is expendable. I think he can be had for a cheaper price than he is worth. Sign &Trade Chillz for TJ Ford Our Lineup: Ford/Law JJ/Stoudemire Redd/Richardson Smoove/Zaza Horford/Solo Coach: Mike Fratello This team in my opionion is ready to finals contenders in the weak East. I think this team can still be tweaked in terms of strengthening the bench but this deffinetly is a good start towards improvement. All Fratello needs to do is instill a winning attitude, toughness, and defense into these guys and I see no reason why they can't take over the east next year. Thoughts?

As I said in a previous post I like the idea of getting a guy like maggete. He may not be some one that can directly help in the 3pt category but I think his efficient scoring ability wen slashing will create wide open shots for JJ and bibby. Guys like Bibby, Smoove, and JJ will be greatly benefitted by a slasher like Maggete. Maggete is one of the league leaders in free-throw attempts & free throw % and a guy like this can get teams in the bonus early and get Smoove to the line early & often. Which may encourage smith to stay away from the long jumpers and attack the rim, improving his shot selection. Maggete will also cause teams to sag into the paint in fear of his relentless slashing ability creating shots for bibby and JJ. This can be key in bibbys revival as a stud in this league. Get Maggete.

Alrite, besides the fact of suffering a disspointing game 7. I must commend our young hawks on there efforts and basically achieving what many didnt think possible. But now its time for a critical offseason where we can becom a great team and continue to build or become one of the latest, one playoff visit then crumble teams like Milwaukee. Heres somethings i would like to see done as I play GM. 1. DO NOT EXTEND WOODSON For anyone thinking he may deserve another chance due to the nice showing we had in this past series, you're wrong! I give no credit to our wins to woody he has not shown us anything. Our team looked horrible in the halfcourt unless someone was going off. His qusetionable substitution patterns were on display, like the lack of minutes given to Acie wen he was playing well and Bibby was not. Then the uninspired halftime speeches were almost laughable, Woody would just beg for his team to do this and do that. I see no player-to-coach respect. We won those three games due to heart, energy, and us THE FANS. He even was taking heat from established coaches who were calling the game. 2. Hire a top notch coach This what we need a coach to bring us to the next level. We need a defensive guru, someone that gets our guys in the open court more, and disciplined in our halfcourt sets. I like a guy like Mike Fratello to do this. He is already familiar with the franchise and has a respected name and legacy in this league. He would have our player playing free-hardnosed basketball. Also l'd take a look at Hubie Brown, Avery Johnson 3. Resign Smoove and Chillz I think these to guys showed us their worth, when they were at home. Ok I recognize that they didnt do much on the road but who did? With proper coaching I see smith ascending to a all-star and having alot more games like he did in game 4 & 5. And in the right system that Mike Fratello will bring, Chilldress should become the top sixth man in the league (move over manu! lol). I say Smith 6 year/60 mil and Chilldress 4year/24 mil 4. Upgrade the wing This I believe is a huge step in developing a title worthy team. We need a 3 that is willing to play hard nosed D on the Kobes and Lebrons and also be a efficient slasher that can complement bibby and Johnsons shooting strengths. Corey Maggete is the perfect player for the job. Although he is not known for being the top notch defender I said we need. I strongly believe that Fratello will bring him there, and it may not be as hard as it seems. Maggete is super athletic, smart, and very very strong. These things give him the potential to be a awesome defender. He has a Ron Artest body and i think he can be come a Ron Artest like defender when given all the right help in that department. Maggete as a scorer is a perfect fit with this teams roster. He is one of the league leaders in free throw attempts and free throw % (and we all know the success we have when we drive, Game 6). Getting maggete is the tricky part altough I think a Acie & Marvin package would more than do the trick Maggete has the option to opt out of his current contract, we will have to watch and see his case to know if he is available. Also I'd take a look at Jason Rich, R.Jefferson, and Redd. 5. Keep Bibby It was a bad year for Bibby, who has had to deal with serious injuries that when reported as healed nagged him all year, adjusting to a new team and city, and working in bad offensive systems while under bad coaching (woody). I think next year he will return to form. This off-season bibby will be able to rest and and heal, learn his teammates and city more through training camp, and play under a real coach and a real system that will actually suit him and his teammates. He will have all off-season to get out of his shooting funk and return to being the fast paced, dead eye shooting pg he has been over the years. Bibby kows how to run a NBA team and I know he may have a huge salary but next year when it ends I can see it going down from its current 14.5 mil. a year to maybe 9 mil. Bibby will be a main engine that runs this team to a top seed in the East next year. Viva La Bibby! Our 08-09 Roster C : Horford/Zaza/Jones Pf : Smith/Andersen Sf : Maggete/Childress/West sg: Johnson/Childress/Richardson pg: Bibby/Salim Coach: Mike Fratello This team is fast paced, toughand well coached. Lead defesively by a Hard nosed strong perimeter defender in Corey Maggete, and maybe the #1 help defender in the league, Josh Smith. This team is a great rebounding team using their athleticism & quickness to crash the offensive & defensive boards with precision. Their balenced offensive attack is usually lead by All-star Joe Johnson, and ran by battle tested guard Mike Bibby. Corey Maggete and Josh Smith are a constant threat to get to the rim as they slash relentlessly. Horford's leadership, rebounding skills, and inside presence may show why he is the heart of this team. His emotion mixed with his skill and knack for winning energizes this team. Josh Chilldress is a beautiful offensive rebounder and does alot of the"dirty work" for his team form the wing position. He head lines the bench. There is a new attitude in Atlanta, and this team is ready to challenge for its chance to perform on the nba's biggest stage. The NBA Finals. My Prediction 52-26, #3 seed in eastern conference playoffs What do you all think?

I KNOW I HATE BASEBALL WITH A BURNING DESIRE...... ALL they do is play baseball highlights I HATE IT! lol as you can see i feel pretty strongly about this.

Yea I was at the game too it was very entertaining and i saw exactly what u did NO DEFENSE!. it seem like all it was as a couple guys slapping the nets at da final but when they got past that line it was a dunk! That was horrible to see, but yea it was fun I was the only hawks fan in my area but I was cheering HARD and had to argue with fans around as to why the hawks dont suck lol.

Im just as pumped as you are IM GONA BE GOING TO GAME! lol. My first hawks game, can't wait. Too bad im gona be the one hawks fan there making noise for my boys. Maybe u should make a FIRE WOODY sign let him kno he cant go anywhere without knowing he sucks lol.

Quote: Quote: Marvin our 2nd best defender! LOL.. now i KNOW you barely know anything about good basketball, please just stick to watching dont ever pick up a coaching job. Marvin puts no effort on the defensive end he lets people by and never gets a hand up in the opponents face. lol "our second best defender fool!" haha. Dumbest post i have read in a long time. Welcome to my filter. To your filter?! lol do you think you know any more about basketball then I do because you spend your whole day sitting on the computer posting? Anyway all im saying is that we cant have players feel like just because your past resume is greater than another you are guranteed mintues (talking about marvin being 2nd pick and West as a unsigned pick). I see no passion in this team coming from anyone except JJ, what I think we should do is bring it back to college days for these guys for a couple practices, make it a try-out, a competition for minutes. Everyone has to start over and EARN their starting position by using our athleticism (which the hawks have a abundance of) to play hard nose defense & rebound and to RUN the fastbreak every chance down. I would put money down if we had a competition like that you would see marvins minutes be cut to a high energy guy like west.

Marvin our 2nd best defender! LOL.. now i KNOW you barely know anything about good basketball, please just stick to watching dont ever pick up a coaching job. Marvin puts no effort on the defensive end he lets people by and never gets a hand up in the opponents face. lol "our second best defender fool!" haha. Im not saying for West to officially take marvins spot but use West as a threat to Marvin letting him know hey if you dont give effort on D I will play someone who will. Then when Marvin is out of the game, and sees his minutes falling he will give more energy once he does begin to slowly reinstate his minutes.

Not only am i not a g-tech im barely even a collegebasketball fan so your wrong. I am totally impartial to Mario West im talkin based on past displays of defensive intensity I have seen from the kid. You sound like you nothing about the game, whatever your probably a casual fan thought saw a nice box score and is just talking out of his ass...

Quote: u should tape ur fingers together and see how well you can do ANYTHING. Yeah Kobe Bryant is the perfect example of this. Look how bad he is with the taped fingers lol. That means nothing Bibby has to get with our assistant coaches and really work on shooting and finding his rhythm during shoot around. He has just been in a funk all year he has to find himself.

THIS WAS NOT A GOOD GAME FROM MARVIN! Yes he strung together some nice wide-open jumpers in the 2nd half, but were you watching the lack luster energy he was giving us since the beginning of the game? This just goes to show the HORRIBLE basketball being taught by woody, after marvin hit a few in a row in the 3rd they had a close up of him and he was smiling as if he was having a super game when actually it was mostly his late closeouts and non exsistent help D was the reason why the knicks were so close in the first place! I think our players think its ok to do nothing defensively and show no effort if they hit a few shots, this is ridiculous. If I was coaching Marvin never even would have had the chance to hit those shots because I would of had Mario West in at his spot. Because West would of gave me the defensive intensity and hustle that would of rubbed off on all our players! All we need is one to show the heart to play D and all of our players would pick up, creating a top defensive team.

The scariest apart about one of them having to go is we have the worst ownership maybe in sports, dont be surprised if both of them go with nothing better coming back in return

Is there a reason to open a new thread talking about a charge when we have a game thread going?

This 4th quarter is what we need to see Every second of everygame this is the swarming defense im talking about. when a shot goes up in the paint not only is the offensive players man in his fast but the closest help man has a hand in there too, and for the first time all game we all RAN on the fastbreak not jogged on the fast break, we sprinted

Yea he's heating up and scored like 10 in da 3rd but he did give up like 12 in da 1st half with his lack of energy defensively. This is what im talking about we have the mindset of losers. When marvin hit that last one goin into commercial he was smiling (showing satisfaction) HE'S BEEN PLAYING LIKE CRAP on the other end for the whole game! If I was coaching this game he would of never had the chance to hit these shots here in the third because I would of sat his butt down early in the 2nd replacing him with Mario West. I KNOW would give me the hustle and effort defensively and on the boards which would of rubbed off on everyone else on the team.

This was a horrible half of basketball to watch from the hawks. The only bright spot is JJ hittin shots. I believe everyone played HORRIBLE defensively, it seems like its an issue of laziness! Which is something that should never take place, THATS WOODY'S JOB TO PREVENT! The knicks have had way too many uncontested shots and this is the nba no matter how bad the team record wise expect them to hit uncontested shots. And bibby needs to spend alot more time with the assistant coaches pre-game to get his rhythm it seems like he comes in cold to every game. Our halfcourt offense consist of NO plays that get us good looks all it is a one on one. THIS IS RIDICULOUS

Screw horford/noah they are both Bust's. Try Chillz/Shelden/Lue for Calderon/Nesterovic then trade #3/#11/Marvin/Speedy/Zaza for Pau and #4 draft Yi and know were talking. Calderon/AJ Johnson/Salim Yi /Smith Smith/Wright/Jones Gasol/Nesterovic Interchanging Yi and Smoove at the 3 and 4 spots would be a ridiculous combo.

Face it were not getting anderson Bonzi is nowhere near good for this team Speedy starting? No he sucks. I would not like a deal including #3 when it can be a Marvin/Speedy/Zaza/#11 package instead. This off-season plan is one reason you are not a GM.

I like the idea of Pau and Jose but there's now way in hell that I include Josh in that trade. Try a package of Speedy/Marvin/#3/Zaza for Pau and #4 We move down a spot and trade for Pau while keeping JSmoove. Calderon/Lue Johnson/Stoudamire Yi/Grahm Smith/Yi/Jones Pau/Shellhead

Quote: The Atlanta Hawks, who came close to signing Calderon out of Spain before the Raptors did, desperately needs point-guard help and carries a wealth of wing players that could fit in Toronto, but Colangelo has stressed that continuity and depth are features he wants to establish on his roster, which suggests any move that would involve a player as prized as Calderon would have to net a proven asset in return and likely a draft pick, too. One rumoured deal involving Calderon and Joey Graham for Josh Childress, Solomon Jones and the 11th pick in the draft, as floated the other day for example, wouldn't cut it. Link

I like the Idea of a Jack and Randolph package for the #3 I think JJ Randolph and Smoove would our big 3 along with Marvin Williams slowly getting better and Jack runnning the show. We Will be a playoff team.

Quote: Let’s start with The Scoop: According to the L.A. Times this morning, the Portland Trail Blazers will offer Zach Randolph and Jarrett Jack for Atlanta’s #3 pick next month and whatever else would be needed to match salaries. So that’s that. web page Jack/Law or Crittenton/Johnson Johnson/Chillz/Stoudamire Marvin/Chillz Smith/ZaZa/Jones Randolph/ZaZa/Jones Hopefully we can trade Shellhead and Speedy's bad contract for a big expiring contract if were lucky.

I think Conley is a nice prospect but I would never be happy with draft him at 3. I would much rather prefer trading the pick for a star Big like J.O. Pau or even Marcus Camby or Maybe just drafting Brandan Wright I like the idea of Acie Law at #11 he IMO will be a better player than Conley immediatly. Acie I think even though his ceiling isn't as high as Conley he still would be a great PG for the Hawks. Plus I'll take JO and Acie over Conley at 3 and Joakim Noah at 11.

Quote: I admire your passion but still think the link that says "Full Petition" should link to the full petition rather than a small excerpt. Best of luck. Still a work in progress but almost done here most of it is ENJOY! Dear Mr. Levenson or Atlanta Spirit, I am a dedicated Hawks Fan that is sending you this letter on behalf of Hawksquawk.net, Realgm.com, and other Hawks fans from everywhere. And I as well as many other hawks fans I hate to see the team being so poorly run. I think the team has great upside and potential. That teamed with a great off-season in the summer of 2007 we believe the 4th seed in the playoffs can be reached. But many of us fans don't see our General Manager Billy Knight able to provide us with the great off-season we desperately need to further advance as a winning franchise. Please do give thought in firing Billy Knight. He has not done a good job in our eyes and is turning a lot of us fans away from the team with his horrible decisions. Yes Billy has made some good decisions, but his bad decisions out weight the good ones by far. I have compiled many supporting reasons to back up my disbelief in Billy Knight's capability as the young and upcoming Atlanta Hawks general manager. 1. Billy's obsession with 6''8 - 6''10 players. The idea of a long athletic team is not bad idea to a point. But when it takes the passing of finding a good point guard or other player, it's not worth it. I absolutely love the Josh Smith pick and even the other draft choice Josh Childress. But after getting such a future stud like Smith is (one of the few things Billy has done right) many fans and league insider pondered the choice of Marvin Williams, who is another nice player to have, but as I said earlier it's not worth passing on a need like a point guard. And in that particular 2005 draft, there were many great future all-star point guards to be easily had. On top of that this past year Shelden Williams and Soloman Jones were the next pair of 6''10 and 6''8 players to be chosen. I'll get more into Shelden next but Soloman Jones was a very uncessary pick. I could understand his pick if he was a steal in the second round but he has shown nothing special or anything to look forward to in the future based on his play this season. He may be raw but even if he pans out to be a decent player out the second round, he has no place on a team full at his position. Also with the logjam we already had at Small Forward at the time with Marvin Williams and Josh Smith, to play both studs at the same time one of these players will have to move to power forward. So why draft two Power Forwards that make playing time hard to figure out? A poor choice and a waste of a #5 draft choice by Billy Knight 2. Billy's promise to Shelden Williams Don’t get me wrong Shelden Williams was a decent prospect out of college, at best. But in the opinion of many league insider's, fellow general manager's, and fans at that time he was not worth the fifth pick. And at this point in time he was not worth the fifth pick. Not only was he not worth the fifth pick, he was not a position need at that point in time. As stated in reason one about the playing time problem's it would of created if Shelden wasn't such a bust, Shelden's playing time just would of taken away time from our growing stars (Josh & Marvin) that have much more potential. Even if he was brought in for a specific role he has not done that unless the role I benchwarmer. He is too undersized to play Center, and didn't have the upside or intangibles to play like an undersized bruiser like Ben Wallace. There were many other good guards to Also to promise a guy that you would pick him that you didn't even workout. That in my opinion is just laziness and not doing the job to the best of your abilities. 3. Billy's horrible trades Billy often has the right idea what players to try to get, but he often gets cheated by other General Managers and thinks he's done a good job. I as well as many liked the idea of Joe Johnson coming to the Hawks in the summer of 2005. But in order to obtain him the hawks had to give up a huge piece of their future. Those three draft picks that we lost came back to haunt us. There is a very deep and talented draft as we all know and because of Billy's horrible reputation percieved by others we as a francise were able to be cheated out of trade transaction and unless we either tank (which Im ashamed as a fan to even mention) or get very lucky we will have to miss out on a huge step to becoming a winning team and winning city. 4. Billy's Free Agent Signing's For a young growing upcoming team like the hawks are, signing an often-injured, point guard that can't shoot, that came off the bench for practically his whole career is not good for a young team that needs to save it's cap-space for a permanent solution at one of it's big position needs. I'm talking about Speedy Claxton. Speedy nice for a team that is already on it's two feet and is ready to get a good point guard off the bench. He is too often injured to waste a large part of a growing teams cap-space to sign to a 4 year deal. That was a huge block of money, that Billy threw away. We wouldn’t of needed to sign a point guard if Billy had addressed the point guard issue in the draft instead of drafting Sheldon for no reason. Speedy is now a big useless contract that we will have to force feed to other General Mangers in future trades to get rid of him. Also another bad signing was Lorenzon Wright for two years. This signing just like Speedy's eats up a chunk of are money for free agency this year. I can fully understand signing Speedy and Lorenzon to 1-year deals, so that they are not hurting us if we want to sign a great player to match with Joe, J.Smith, and Marvin. But once again Billy's poor judgement of talent and money spending have hurt this franchise. 5. Billy’s lack of use with building great tools Over the past 3 years of rebuilding Billy has had great tools to help us get back into contention. He has not took full advantage of the weapons and still has us the fans dissatisfied with the way he used these tools to rebuild. Over the past three years many believe Billy’s use of picks #2, #6, and #5 have been horrible. No. 2 pick Marvin Williams although as stated is coming along, he is not worth the passing of any of the three great point guards drafted that year in the top 5. No. 6 pick Josh Childress is a decent player but at this 2004 draft there were other much better players to be easily had. Players like Luol Deng who is tearing up the playoffs right now and Andre Iguodala who is starring for the Sixers and will be a top 10 player in the NBA very soon (Shelden at No.5 has already been covered). Another tool Billy has once again wasted was our cap-space. Last year as stated previously, we had a good amount of cap flexibility to use in free-agency and/or trades. This was wasted on Lorenzon Wright who is just not valuable to this team, Speedy Claxton who can’t shoot and is constantly hurt, Anthony Johnson 6. Billy pushing the fans away 7. Billy hiring Mike Woodson Look at the Raptors with a simple change at General Manager they are almost a lock to win the Atlantic Division we must do this. I would love to buy season tickets soon but I refuse to with Billy Knight as the General Manager. It's time for change, please get rid of Billy Knight. GO HAWKS!

Quote: Your're wasting your time, I am Not going to fire him or Woody. Oh no!! I didn't know you were the hawks owner that makes all the decisions! Please sir, Please Fire Bk and Woody. LMAO your wasting your time even posting that BACK OFF! LOL