Iman

Wow, I need to respond to most everyone of those posts. I think we were jetlagged last nite. We couldnt get any loose balls, got killed on the boards, Lue looked especially bad. Still, if Lue had a normal game we would have been in it. Of course Seattle without Ray Allen is not near the team Denver appears to be. I think we have to stay in the game early tonite and then maybe we'll get a second wind, kinda thinking that tonite's game is humpday may give them a surge. I'll say 108-98 Denver. I've heard that very top athletes arent very altitude effected, especially if not in a full endurance sport. I dont notice it just hanging out or playing tennis in Denver. It kicks my but if I try to go running. Freije could shoot in college. I think the extra distance and the fact that he is no longer the man and is fighting for a job is too much for him. He's an average euroleague player at best. I wouldnt put him on the court if I were Woody.

I think Woody has told them that whoever gets the rebound should take a few dribbles and initiate the break. Smoove is a good outlet passer, I just dont think we really have any players who naturally try to break to throw the ball to. It's gonna have to be coached into them but it appears first Woody is trying to Coach defense and basic offense. Getting Marvin back and Speedy playing more will get us breaking more. I really look forward to seeing Solo getting a chance to run.

The stats dont look very different to me. Looks like continuation of what he got going late last year slightly influenced by increased confidence and skills. His assists will probably come back up somewhat when he gets Marvin and Chillz back, scoring probably will go down a little too.

If you watch the game, especially in person, Zaza makes so many bad moves that you think he really sucks. Then you look at the stats and have to say he's OK, maybe he'll learn. I think he's a quality backup or piece of a two man center duo. We just gotta find his counterpart....or of course just find a better starter and let Zaza backup. Maybe practicing with Shelden will help, Shelden has much better fundamentals and footwork, just not quite the size.

Actually I bet BK was very tempted to draft Rudy Gay, coulda used him last nite..lol. I thought Frieje was a better shooter than he's shown this year. I think he's been given a chance to prove that he's not so I agree, I bet he's gone when we get back to strength. I can absolutely see no reason why Woody didnt pull him when he saw what was happening. Doubt it cost us the game since I doubt we would have won with such a depleted roster, but geez Woody sucks sometimes.

No doubt JJ is a top 25 player in the league. However, he's paid on that level also. The only rookie contract player that I'd say is definitely better and thus has the greatest trade value is Dwight Howard. I think JJ is better than Chris Paul, Deron, Marvin, Okafor and all the other rookie contract players but a few probably would have higher trade value due to contract and potential. Kinda depends on the trade, team, etc. My list: Dwight Howard Lebron D Wade Tim Duncan Nowitzki Kobe Steve Nash Bosh Carmelo 2007 #1 pick Yao Chris Paul Amare Stoudamire Deron Williams JJ Jason Kidd Lamar Odom Jermaine O'Neal Sean Livingston Marvin Williams Okafor Pierce, McGrady, Iverson, Shaq, etc.

Those really are "swing the season" type games. If we were playing well you'd figure we should go 7-4 or so, many winnable games. Given our injuries and recent play you tend to think that another 5-6 would be good. No "definite" wins or losses in the bunch.

Welcome back and great post. I pretty much agree, especially on the ZaZa stuff and the Speedy defense effect. Childress is my favorite Hawk and I dont mind Shelden, you almost sound the opposite, otherwise we're pretty much in agreement. Hope that doesnt mean they'll ban me..lol.

I think many of BK's draft decisions might could have been better but honestly, none can decisively be proven yet. Maybe Monta but remember Salim had that killer game where he single handedly brought us back last year early in the season then never improved. The clearcut BK mistake to me is not getting into the draft to get Jarret Jack two years ago or even moreso this last year got buying a pick to get us Marcus Williams or Rondo. Maybe it wasnt possible but if it were and he didnt do it, HUGE mistake.

Great post Lascar, and I'm completely with you. Smoove has been shooting way too many 3's since late last year. Woody needs to step-in and make him stop. However, I cant blame him, they are leaving him open and he knows his tendency to turn it over with his handles. I also like that he's confident enough in his shot that he takes them. It's also interesting that he seems to make them more reliably under pressure. I actually bet he'll improve and it will become a strong part of his game as he takes more. I still want him to back off and work on driving and playing like a 4 but I have very little doubt that he'll eventually shoot 3's much more like Robert Horry than like Antoine Walker. On handles, there I do wish Smoove more resembled Walker. I dont see Smoove ever really developing good handles. However, here I'll also give him credit, he would be able to handle the ball better if he wasnt always looking so hard for a pass. His passing, sometimes even as he's losing control on the dribble is amazing. At least that's what I'll think because otherwise, he just may have the worst handles of any non-center in the league..lol. For that matter, he and Salim both might have the worst handles in the league for their positions and they might be the worst on our team (Shelden and Zaza have shown me some pretty good handles a few times this year).

They sale 6 and 12 game packages. That would be easier than trying to split up season tickets. If I buy cheap seats, I usually try to get there early so I can sit in the front at restaurant. Those seats are pretty good and you have waitress staff to bring you food and beer.

If Coach Woodson decides to take major minutes from Smoove and Marvin by playing Shelden then he is signing his ticket outta here. It may happen due to Woodie's preference for defense. What we need to do instead is keep Speedy, JJ, Marv, and Smoove on the court together as much as possible and run. Shelden, ZaZa, and Lo can use there fouls and some helpside blocks from Smoove to at least slow down teams in the paint versus last year. It will take some time for us to get more accustomed to running and to Speedy but that is our future. I'd rather see Shelden and Lo take big minutes from ZaZa unless he decides he can defend now that he has some help.

Those are terrible rankings, looks like they just took where the team placed last year and moved it around a slot or two based on player additions, etc. The top few NBA teams are obvious but from there lots of parity exists and I could see major surprises. It's probably too hard to predict so they figured let's just post a crappy ranking and get it over with.

Great stats! Seems you think Lue will get a good bit of PT to have that average. I agree, especially since he'll probably play in 10-20 games without Claxton to block him. Stats that I'd change would be Shelden's shooting percentage. I know he shot poorly this summer but I doubt he takes many shots during the regular season and thus will have a good percentage. I'm also hoping Salim gets it this year and shoots a much higher percentage.

Wow, I seem to be in the extreme minority. I see this teams future identity being JSmoove and Marvin playing the forwards together. I thought there was a chance that Shelden might start at one forward but only get about 25 minutes vs over 30 for JSmoove and Marvin. Not that summer league means much but I'm now almost positive that Shelden wont start. JSmoove or Marvin will get backed down by an opposing PF more than Al did but their other skills will make them at least as good defensively as Al. Where we will drop off is not having as much post offense. I also think that everyone keeps forgetting that JSmoove and Marvin are just growing into their bodies. As they get stronger and learn to hold their positioin they will be fine defending the post, for sure in a year or two much better than Harrington defensively. ZaZa will also improve defensively as he matures but not enough to ever team up with our two tweener to be much better than average defensively. For that to happen we still have to find that dominant center. Until then I'm still starting my future, even if they get pushed around alot. Maybe that will make them both a little meaner which is what we need anyways.

Wow, more outta staters than in. I grew up near Cartersville, Ga about 40 miles N of Phillips, went to college in Rome then in Birmingham. Stationed in way upstate NY in the Army a few yrs then restationed in Atlanta. Had a condo in Buckhead ever since. I used to go to the Hawks summer games at Life College and then and now still usually go to any draft function and around 10 games per year.

Chillz is my favorite Hawk. Being that he is my favorite I kinda hate to bring up the fact that he's largely my favorite because he's so goofy to watch. He can be explosive at times too. This would be my list: Chillz JJ Marvin JSmoove Speedy

Yup, Al definitely did not break the bank like many similar skilled players have. However, the two players most similar to him that I can think of are Shareef and Antoine Walker. Both did have big contracts but now I believe both are paid less than Al. I'd personally rather have either, especially Shareef, if the salaries were all the same.

Diesel is just fishing for another topic. He'd be thrown outta court with that lack of evidence if this were a court case. Even if Lue is moved for practically nothing, that still doesnt prove anything since Lue is redundant, isnt needed, but really isnt paid that much. And even if we are being ran on the cheap it wont effect us much for now, where it will be a big deal is when we have to start resigning our young core. In the meantime about the only thing that would prove ownership is trying to cut the budget would be if we here rumors about a JJ for a cheap, young talent trade proposal.

Thanks for the info BBP! I am completely satisfied with the deal. I hope it's an unprotected 2007 first rounder but even if not, any first rounder for a player that could have left us for nothing if more teams had capspace is adequate to me. From a fan standpoint we'd like to get some talented player in return. But as I've read here earlier if you think about the idea of paying some unneeded player $7mil this year to get a team to also throw in a player with similar skills to what we'll probably get with the pick really is just a waste of a lot of money. If we could have picked up Camby or someone like that but took this deal then that is a different story. Al is a standup guy and I assume he'll leave with no hard feelings. This is a business and he probably felt his days here were limited when we picked up Marvin to go along with all the other players that basically played the same position as Al. I wish him well, but not his team well..lol.

I completely disagree. I would rather have a known good player with a reasonable salary that fit our team but otherwise I'd be glad to take a mid to late first rounder for Al. Even if we arent gonna use the pick, it could later be used to trade for a needed player during our future playoff push type years. Just look at the Rasheed deal. Detroit got a great talent basically by giving up a first, we got Josh with the pick. Sounds pretty valuable to me. As far as making Indy better, I agree that move could possibly keep us outta the playoffs this year or next. But longterm I dont see Al being such a strong player to make much difference. It's even likely, especially given Al's knees seem a little iffy to me, that it's a bad contract the last few yrs of the 6 yr deal.

BK may have put together a team that wont work. However, if it doesnt work this year or even next I still dont see BK being the one to get the ax. Woody will go and then if a second coach of BK's choice cant get it done then BK will go. As an owner you most want a GM that can build you a winning team. However, you'll be more likely to give that GM a pass if he at least doesnt overspend or get you into a position that is hard to get out of. We do have too many swingmen but they are get tradeable assets. The Shelden pick goes against this, kinda makes you wonder if it was a true BK pick or more of a owner mandated pick. I think Woody was brought in here just to be a teacher. We didnt want to pay for an experienced coach to come in for the early years of our rebuild. Not to sound to "KB"ish but I still believe that BK is on top of things and on plan. If he still sees Woody making poor coaching decisions this year then Woody will be gone, especially if BK has an experienced coach that he always wanted ready to come in. Actually that is probably the most likely scenario and what BK planned all along. He brings in Coach X to lead us in the playoffs and he releases his friend Woody with a good resume so he can move on to coach somewhere else.

I agree, Reef will always easily be in my top5 favorite NBA players. He's extremely talented and works extremely hard. His slight size disadvantage vs other PF's is all that keeps him from being a superstar. As it is you can count on him to get 15 and 7 even off the bench and with no offense ran for him. If you try to feature him he'll get you around 20 and 10 but he needs a dominant center to cover his size disadvantage. I'd love to see a replay of the game where he put up 50 on the Big Ben and the Pistons. The main raps against Reef were that he was overpaid and seemed to always play for losers. Now he's a good value salary wise and hopefully someday he gets lucky enough to play for a good team, maybe even the Hawks.

Assuming we move have moved Al the Indiana for a pick then we do have a 1st rounder next year. However, our more tradeable assets at this point are JJ, Smoove, Marvin, ZaZa, Chillz, Shelden, and Salim probably in that order. Combine JJ and Speedy's salary and you are up in the Iverson, KG kinda territory. If many posters here are correct and our two best young assets in Smoove and Marvin cant play on the court together at least half the game then basically we will be looking for a future trade. A trade this offseason would have fixed that problem but I'd first rather see that it wont work and give these players more time to establish themselves which should increase their value and help us decide who to keep. I would always be open to a trade like Shaun Livingston for Marvin but otherwise I'd rather wait. My next hope is that Shelden and even Salim can improve into more tradeable assets for us in case they dont fit. As far as KG or Iverson or even Jermaine O'neal, I would give up one of our top3 assets to get a player like that, not two and I'm pretty sure that wont get it done. Al and one of those assets this year probably would have gotten it done but I still am glad we waited.

The worst thing about Jaywalker's absense is I used to like seeing him at every home game in this dorky JT jersey representing this site and fans in general. I thought JayWalker was sorta banned by the Hawks I guess from coming to Hawksquawk after he did those reports on our predraft workouts. I notice he is a moderator on the Braves Scout site but never see him post there or anywhere. I still like this site but it's definitely turned into Hawksbitch and just stupid post central compared to in the past. We only had Hotts in his prior chatname and then that goofy kid reporter here in the past that disrupted the solid flow of info and good chat. I did read a good post or two by both KB and Walter today, maybe we are turning the corner!!