Iman

If Speedy comes back at near full strength and we sign Morris and Kwame, we are suddenly a very deep team. I'd resign Jeremy Richardson unless some summer leaguer seriously outplays him but probably let Solo go and sign Wayne Simien. Sund is coming into this thing at a very simple time. What he does with Bibby would be determined by whether we look like we can win a round or two in the playoffs and how Acie plays. You give Marvin a contract midway between Smoove and Chillz, I doubt he gets an offer that would throw that off. Horford will be easier to match than Smoove unless he shocks me and doesn't easily deserve the max. The difficult contracts will be Acie and how much to pay JJ if we aren't a title contender by then.

I wish Solo had played in the summer league, he needs the PT. However, if I were him and his agent, I think I would have skipped it too. In past summers he has looked horrible. Another horrible summer might cause his release. Whereas now he's a two year vet returning to the same team and seems to have a position by default since we need even more players to fill out the roster.

Dermarr's shot was too Childress like for him to have ever been great IMO.

I agree on the continuity thing and just the continued improvement of our players and hopefully coaches. We blew 5-10 games last yr. Philly played a little over there head IMO and I'm not sure how strong Brand comes back or fits, I would actually expect them to be the team that misses the playoffs if some other team improves. I see it Boston, then Orlando and Detroit winning 5 or 10 less than Boston. Then I see 4 or 5 teams all being a little over .500 including Atlanta. With a new Coach and Bibby healthy all year I could see us getting a homecourt slot next playoffs.

I'd also like to see it come to and end but I agree with Diesel's other topic where he said we just need to step back and let things settle playout. As far as not knowing the makeup of our team, I disagree. It's not set in stone, but since we are in control of our restricted free agents, basically we can plan the team, we just don't know how much the market is gonna make us pay for this team. Either way, we have very little to spend on the rest of the roster. Hopefully summer league will help. We'll know more about Speedy and probably make and offer to someone like Simien. I'd personally rather see us part ways with Mario and sign a shooter like Luke Jackson and maybe another backup combo guard from the summer league rosters. Then we need to get lucky and figure out how to get that defensive backup center, I'd like to steal one from Seattle somehow.

Yup, not extending Smoove or Chillz last summer or Marvin this summer is just a gamble. Orlando extended Howard just to try to keep him as happy as possible, sorta the same with Bogut and Milwaukee. Without extending, you just let the market set the price for your player. If they don't get any offers they can't be too upset with whatever you offer. If Smoove were offered the max, we'd practically have to match it but that would just be part of how the gamble went and in that scenario we sorta lost. As it's playing out so far, we sorta are winning. 5+ years ago, more teams had salary space and more borderline players got max deals. Nowadays not many teams can make big offers and with all the good players from Smoove's draft year, I figured it would be a good gamble. In many teams minds, Okafor, Deng, Iggy, Biedrins, Ben Gordon, etc may still be more valued than Smoove.

Yup Diesel, I think they pretty much already use most of the marketing you mentioned. Chic-fil-a as well as Home Depot are big sponsors. Two years ago every night a whole section would win a free burrito, I believe from Chipotle. I've received 4 or 5 Home Depot cards to redeem, only remembered to redeem it once and it was valued $1 which isn't worth bothering with but at least they tried. Better half time shows, better dance teams, etc would help but mainly we just need more people willing to shell out big money just to see the Hawks. Avid fans probably wouldn't help as much as someone figuring out how to make Phillips for the Hawks "the place to be" and then the people who can afford it would come out. Getting more of the Atlanta famous faces and hot women in the stands would probably help as much as anything.

Marvin has improved every year and I expect that to continue for a few more years. However, with Horford and our pg's getting more shots this year and with another rebounding center adding, I don't see Marvin's stats improving much. Areas where I think he'll improve are generally just in his weaknesses. I see him gradually getting lost less during the game this year. His driving and mainly finishing skills will improve as he gets stronger just due to normal maturation. I think he can hit 3's at a good clip whenever he and the staff decide that that's what they want him to do. This year for good parts of the year he was nearly automatic on jumpers. I'd like to see him solidify that skill this year THEN move it out beyond 3. I think Marvin already is way better than a top40 SF. I see him approaching top10 level this year, maybe near allstar 2010. The only way I see him approaching his original hype is if somehow he gets onto a weight lifting program (or steriods..lol) and suddenly gains strength and confidence. Either way, he still wouldn't be as good as Chris Paul and will always be a missed opportunity. But he does give us depth in case of injuries or trade opportunities.

This year's home playoff crowds were just plain goofy. It was more like a UFC fight crowd than a basketball crowd. For the first game there were plenty of Celtic fans and this strange Hawks crowd fed off that as well as all the other factors. One of the strangest things was the crowd occasionally practically spontaneous would get loud and the next thing you know the Hawks would go on a run. It was contagious. I think a good number of fights with Celtic and Hawks fans broke out, I nearly saw one right in front of me but the Celtic fans backed down. By the second and third home game, barely any Celtic fans remained. By the third game I was sick of "high-fiving" all the new Hawks fans that were just plain goofy/happy. I guess I was realistic and knew that we couldn't win in Boston so what did it really matter. Opening night is always packed as are the Lakers and a few other games. This year I see much better crowds, probably 2k more per night. However, I think the crazy fan thing was much like what happened the first year the Braves broke out, it happened the first year but never again.

I think retaining all our younger talent will be the way this team goes. I think Bibby is gone after this year and JJ after his current contract ends. I like both players but Bibby even at $8mil per really isn't much better than Acie or other cheaper options we might find, especially given his injury tendencies. JJ is great but he can barely carry a team to a playoff win or two. Really he's just another 6'9 multifaceted player and we already have plenty of those. SG is the easiest position to fill cheaply. I hope we start looking for his young replacement soon and start looking to trade JJ. This is where the Shelden draft year hurt us, Roy or even Foye would work fine to allow us to move JJ for a center, etc. Of course, maybe a better option is pick up a cheaper 2 or 3 and let JJ cover the opposite position and trade Marvin. Hmm, kinda makes it look like it's either keep Marvin or JJ doesn't it.

I think that when we didn't put a huge effort into extending Smoove last offseason, we were basically gambling. We knew that an offer as large as $14.5 mil or so was possible but we also knew that Smoove might have a bad 2008 or even with a good season, not get many offers. When we made that gamble I think we in effect committed to matching no matter what. Smoove isn't worth that much money but neither was Kmart when we offered it to him and for sure Arenas isn't. I think we match and retain Smoove no matter what, if nothing else just due to the excitement and hometown factors.

We should at least start talks with Williams. Even funnier would be to also pursue Iguodala. If we picked up Iquodala and made the decision to let Chillz and Marvin go, think about our team then.

Diesel likes to argue and keep this chatroom lively so much that sometimes I can't tell if he's really this bad with math and cap rules. I'm sure glad he's not my accountant..lol.

This is a much closer decision than people seem to think. Fortunately I don't think we are currently at the point where we have to make that decision. However, it may come down to extending Horford or JJ and in that case by that time I'd probably take Horford. JJ is our best player and first option but as our other players improve, I think he'll be replaceable. His salary is probably consistent with his skill but it's not like he's a great value. He completely carried us late the last season and through some of those playoff games but as Hotlanta would say, he hasn't carried us to being good. So overall, I'd say that for our future the next year or two, JJ is the most important Hawk. For the real longterm future, Horford or Smoove is the most important, then Marvin or Acie, then JJ. Just think how tricky the decision would be if we had drafted better and had Brandon Roy or Monta Ellis or even Kelena Azubuike and consider replacing JJ with one of those guys that were already on our roster. In that case, JJ would be gone, hopefully traded for a center.

If both player resign, Biedrins likely will get a few $mil less per year. I don't know all the in and outs but I assume GS would have to throw something else in. If that piece were significant (more than Kelena A) then I'd probably do it. The biggest downside would be loss of fan enthusiasm due to losing our most exciting player. So I guess factoring that in, if I were management I'd stop any deal like this. I'd only deal Smoove for someone that fans would similarly love to watch. Chillz would be great in the GS system. Maybe a better deal would be Chillz and Marvin for Biedrins and Brandan Wright or maybe Monte. I don't really want Monte much more than Wright due to what Monte will cost combined with his size.

I like the topic and both comments. However, in my mind, to really contend you need two superstars or one superstar and a couple of allstars. We appear to have a few lower level allstars. That'll get us into the playoffs regularly but not really with much of a shot unless those players are really coached well, etc. I guess what we'll still have to do is move some of our depth for a player closer to superstar, or maybe playing Horford at PF allows him to become a superstar? And on the drafting thing, it did pan out OK since we got Horford and we aren't too front loaded in our rebuild with players needing to be paid the max. Having to extend one of those points next year after extending Smoove and Chillz this year, we'd be in more cap trouble than we are now. Shelden's pick probably hurt us more since Brandon Roy or Rudy Gay would have allowed us to consider moving JJ or Marvin without hurting our depth.

We really just need the interconference stats to make a top to bottom comparison, I looked and couldn't find them without adding it up myself. But overall, I'd agree that it was jut Boston and Detroit in the East that were tough, below the top two seeds all the way to the bottom of the league, the West was better. I doubt Atlanta would have been favored in the playoffs against any team that held home court advantage over them.

Wow, some of those values and revenues are surprising. Chicago and Cleveland being valued so high surprises me. I could see Atlanta moving up fast when you consider the market here.

It's always in our best interest to look for a trade for one of our swing players. However, I just don't see our salary situation becoming a problem until we have to extend Horford and Acie. This offseason is simple, the market sets the value for Smoove, Chillz knows he's a role player and will take an appropriate contract. Those contracts combined shouldn't amount to much more than will be coming off the books with Bibby. That will leave plenty of money to resign Marvin. Speedy and Zaza will be gone before we have to extend Horford and it wouldn't surprise me if we move JJ around that time. JJ is a great young player but he seems to already be loosing some athleticism. As our other players improve, we probably will be better served to find a cheaper guard.

Yup, the best Braves forum for sure is Bill's on scout.com. They have a free forum and an additional pay site where you get way more inside info.

I think it might be a harder decision for Smoove than it will be for Sund. I doubt Smoove gets a max offer, but in my mind, no matter what the offer, we match. The market sets the value for Smoove. If there are no offers, we offer around $10mil per for six years and let Smoove decide. If he turns us down, we still have him for one more year and can trade him for whatever we can get.

All the rankings look pretty right to me. I like Travis Outlaw and dislike Mike Miller (especially his contract) a little more than the board though.

I don't see how anyone can call Smoove clumsy. He sometimes plays outta control and dribbles the ball way too high. Also his small hands cause him to fumble the ball sometimes. Marvin seriously seems like he needs to grow into his body. He can be graceful at times but his duck butt and long feet make him so clumsy looking that he can barely walk. However he is one of the most athletic players out there to have such good basketball skills. He still has the potential to be the best Hawk. He needs to hit the weights, that might get him more of what he needs. However, like others, I wonder whether he really has the mindset to be great. I'd trade him for a top5 pick or a good center.

I think Acie will be fine but I do think we need another PG especially so we can trade Bibby's expiring contract. I'd like that next PG to be another youngster with potential. If Conley is available for anything up to Marvin I'd consider it. I'd rather get Crittendon from them though, he can backup JJ at SG also. Crittendon plus a future pick for Marvin or maybe they'd do Critt for Chillz.

That's funny, I wasn't even factoring in Speedy. I agree though, unless it is clear that Speedy is fully coming back then we have to go after another PG, especially considering we probably lose Salim and might lose Chillz. If I were GM I'd already be talking with Memphis about their extra point guards, preferably Crittendon. Going forward with Acie and Critt with some D-leaguer for third string would be perfect in my mind.