Iman

Lmao, I especially like the Woody stuff on minutes and how he likes to get the team hot. Demon from Breamon and Rakeem were great also.

Our best player (JJ) is still not playing well due to coming off an injury. Our coach and other players are still relying on him and until they change their plan or JJ gets back to his normal self, then we are gonna struggle.

I do think this team is flawed if they want to contend for a championship. However, I think we are currently talented enough to go a round or two deep into the playoffs, maybe a little better if our talent matures and we find a decent point guard. To be better this year, all we need is JJ to play like he has the last two years. I think JJ's injury is taking him longer to fully recover from than we'd all expect. Once he comes around we'll look much better.

If a team were deeply flawed, adding one player wouldn't make them a contender. I think we'd easily be a second tier contender if we added a top point to our team so maybe we are just mildly flawed. Detroit would still be better than us if we had a player just like Chauncey. However, I think we'd be better than Phoenix, New Orleans, or Utah if we had a player just like each of their point guards.

Great deal for Memphis, alright for Atlanta, I'd easily do it.

Funny, I was just rethinking the same thing last nite. Right now we look like at least a solid playoff contender for a few years assuming we keep our core. But can we make that next step without making a big move?

I agree with others that a good, preferably big, point guard is the key. Acie seems like a potential Chauncey Billups type player but if he doesn't make it to near that level then I don't see us being a serious playoff contender.

We wont have much capspace available as we resign. We night be stuck like the Hawks of over a decade ago. We could need one more really good player but only have the ability to get a decent fill-in.

Funny enough, if I had to guess, it might take a nifty trade of JJ in a few years to put us over the top.

Yup, I still see Horford averaging a double double for the season as he becomes more aggressive on the offensive end.

The Amare comparison is the one I like. I really wanted that trade last offseason then I started thinking more about it and realized that Horford could probably do most of what Amare can do. I'm not saying Horford is as good as Amare but when you add in salaries and health issues, I would not trade Horford for Amare right now.

Good luck CoachX. Makes me wish I hadn't traded in my tickets on that game so I could have seen that live.

January is almost completely midlevel teams, most on the road. I'd like to see us get off to a 3-2 start to the month and then finish around 8-7 or 7-8 wouldn't be bad to me.

So far this year our schedule has been misbalanced with us heavily at home. That has to equal out. Also we are a young team that may hit a wall in Feb or March. However, we seem to be improving and have had our share of injuries. It's gonna be interesting!

The way Woodson was grinning, he was just happy for Mario, which is refreshing to see.

I saw Joe nudging Smoove a few times. Couldn't figure what was up there. I think they get along though given how often they go outta there way to kick the ball out to each other for 3's.

Another nice hug was watching Smoove leave the court hugging AJ.

The worst thing on this critical 3 was he looked down, stepped back behind the line, then hit it. I was definitely thinking "bad shot" when he took it.

I've never watched Nick Young before. He doesn't look at all like a point guard to me. Looks about like a young Deshawn Stevenson.

I'm still confident Acie will be fine. He's more of a distributor and defender than I thought coming outta college. He just needs minutes to get back where we need him to be and with AJ playing so well it's gonna take a while before Acie gets 20+mpg.

I don't think we win a playoff game against Boston or Detroit. Woody better know that we need to get a 6th seed, if not getting swept in the playoffs will probably cost him his job.

I'm not sure Smoove realized it. He was pissed when he fouled out but the happiest on the bench when we pulled out the win. Even more likely, he realized his streak was gone and didn't care which is a good sign of his growing maturity. Actually it seemed to piss me off more than Smoove..lol.

I think it's way too early to say. Even just looking at the next 5 games, it's likely we lose 3 or 4 outta the five, that will get us thinking again that it's Woody's fault.

Further, it's likely we slide into one of the last two playoff slots and then get raped by either Boston or Detroit. That will also make us think new Coach.

I think it takes a top 6th seed in the playoffs and a good playoff showing to keep Woody here myself if I were GM. If we make it to the playoffs, we should have pretty much our pick of coaches wanting to work with our young roster.

Great post. I'll take Toni Kukoc, Leon Smith, and TJ Ford for the Big Dog as my alltime worst trade. I don't really think the trade of Smitty was that big of a deal, it was time to rebuild and Smitty barely had any knee cartilage left.

Jesus Diesel, come on! You had a good point when you admitted you never said Marvin was bad, but you have way more of a fetish for Marvin than anyone else around. You don't have to go crazy trying to prove your theories, Marvin's still not playing that much better than Tim Thomas in his prime. What's the deal, you jealous of Marvin's bubble butt?

I like the current Hawks team but funny enough even if we get on a run and somehow win a championship or two over the next decade, I still don't think one of our current players will be the best Hawk ever. A superstar is also very unlikely. The most allstar games will likely be Horford, then Smoove, then Marvin or JJ. Btw, that would be a better topic than this garbage. Second btw/topic, I doubt Chris Paul or Deron would be any higher up the alltime list after their careers than Marvin. Or will they or Iguodala or Deng who we also should have drafted ever be superstars?

Actually, Marvin for Tayshaun would probably be a good trade for both teams. Tayshaun would give us some needed vet leadership. Marvin would mainly give Detroit a player that would help in the future as Billups and Sheed start to fade.

Funny enough, I don't think either GM would do the trade. Dumars backed Tayshaun as the reason they didn't draft Carmelo. BK is just a hard head to seems to always think future.

I think Tayshaun's numbers are lowered playing in Detroit. I think he is nearly as good as Carmelo. I might trade Marvin AND Chillz for Tayshaun. Actually not, but I do think Tayshaun is now good enough to almost carry a team by himself.

I agree with most of your points, the major exception being the point guard and running thing. As we play now, you are correct, we need a point guard that can shoot since all they really do is get the ball up the court and then give it off to a playmaker. We'll never be more than just a lower level playoff team if we keep doing that.

What we need is a point guard who is the playmaker for our athletes. Stick Jason Kidd or even NJ's backup Marcus Williams on our team. Neither can shoot for crap but we'd be a much better team. With Steve Nash I believe we'd be better than Phoenix. Childress is extremely effective when running, Smoove wouldn't have to try to be a playmaker. Which brings up your point about Smoove, I do think it's Woody's system that is setting up Smoove to play outta control. Bascially we are misusing our players trying to turn them into DetroitII.

I'll admit I'm a homer. But I still think we are just undervaluing Shelden due to his high draft position. I'd bet we could trade him for Craig Smith, Millsapp etc, probably not Maxiel however. Either way, none of those players would be good enough to knock any of our starters to the bench or even take minutes from a healthy Zaza. Woody's use of Shelden and Solo is what sux. Actually his use of most of our players sux in my mind. Players need to have roles and know when to expect to be used. Woody seems to think he needs to do it by a clock system but then he'll go aways from the clock system and suddenly leave crappy teams on the floor way to long for no apparent reason sometimes.

Chuck seems to view the Hawks about like most of this board does. He gave the Hawks props early last year then gave up by December. His statements a few days reflect that he thought this was the year but so far it appears he may be wrong again, especially if we can barely beat Minny at home. If we can hover around .500 he'll get some optimism back as will most of this board.

I actually still think Shelden is as good if not better than the players mentioned other than maybe Maxiel, he can really jump. Shelden in the right system or with proper minutes will still be a good NBA player IMO. Shelden's hands have disappointed me but I think he otherwise is mainly struggling due to lost confidence.

I do think we need a bigman with some length and would have moved Shelden for Brendan Haywood if that was possible.

Maybe not brothers but they definitely look like they could be good friends. Acie might be a good influence, motivate Salim to be less moody and play a more complete game.

We've had much better overall offensive performances this year but usually those were in wide open games. I also agree that our offense went stagnant for around three 5 minute runs. But overall I thought we executed our half court offense about as well as we have over the last few years. I don't know if it was the team meeting, Acie being back and Lue out, feeding Horford or what. Actually it was mainly due to JJ passing more since his shot was off and Smoove having a good game.

That performance would not beat many top teams on the road but we cant expect to beat many top teams on the road if JJ doesn't start shooting better (and Acie which is to be expected after missing a few weeks).

I'd give our offense a B- for the night and our defense a C+, that'll get us into the playoffs in the east.

Welcome to the forum! This is definitely the best Hawks website going. I'm in a similar situation as you except I already have tickets. Anyone on here is also welcome to PM me if they have a game they want to go to and need someone to go with or want to see if my tickets are available.

I think we have looked like a much stronger team most of this year. Even in the Boston massacre, we looked to me like me might wear them down but they just never cooled off. If JJ shot normally so far this year, we'd be 3-3, maybe 4-2 with losses to Boston and just that weak showing overall against Washington.

I think JJ will come out and have a great game against Charlotte, we'll sorta overlook Seattle them take over late in the game, again led by JJ. Three outta the next four are very winnable road games so hopefully we can win two of those. San Antonio even here will probably be a loss.

Then December is our easiest month. We'll be fine.