AnakinJoe

His problem is more than bullpen management. If he had benched Kelly Johnson for Martin Prado earlier, that potentially could have put us closer to a Wild Card spot. Not to mention his loyalty to Greg Norton.

I wish this were true but it would probably take 3 consecutive NBA championships before the Hawks could get anywhere close to an above average Falcons team in terms of hype/buzz in the city. Football is KING is these parts and the Hawks allowed themselves to become an after-thought in their own city. It will take some time before casual fans even notice that we no longer suck.

Acie received a decent amount of playing time prior to shooting sub-.400 and suffering through one hang-nail injury after another. Let's see how he does as the 3rd or 4th PG on a bottom-feeding team before we assume that Law was good and Woody was wrong.

No reason why he can't develop all of those skills... over time in the off-season. 'Nique certainly didn't have all of his SF skills when he entered the league, but he worked in the summer and eventually became a HOFer. Why hasn't Josh learned how to dribble after 4-5 summers? Why hasn't he learned how to shoot a consistent mid-range jumper? All of those skills that you suggest are fairly easy to master. But he needs to do it during the summer... not during the 82-game season. Practice is for learning, games are for winning.

Woody needs to be more aggressive with our leads and stop playing an NBA-version of Dean Smith's 4-corners when we have a lead. If we could take some of those 7 point leads early in the 4th quarter to 15 points, then JJ will play fewer minutes. But Woody seemingly goes into prevent defense in those scenarios and is forced to play Joe late into games because we are maintaining a 2-3 possession lead. With Collins on this team, Crawford should always have at least 2 above avergae defenders on the floor with him at all times (Collins plus any starter from the front court) and that should allow Joe to rest while Jamal provides the offense. One way or another, it should be fun to watch it all come together.

Too many times, the Hawks fell in love with the long jumper and Flip was the only member of the backcourt who would attack the rim. Even if he didn't score a bunch of points, he would change the tone of a game by fearlessly going to the hole. And many times, his teammates would begin to follow his lead and end the run of jump shot after jump shot. There is no doubt that Crawford is a better player, but it is HIGHLY unlikely that he will "change the tempo" by bringing tenacious drives to the game. And while Teague may have the ability to penetrate to the rim, I don't like the idea of asking a rookie (essentialy a college junior) to fill that role for a playoff-bound team. Crawford feels like "more of the same" relative to Bibby and JJ, Flip felt like a "change of pace". Again, not saying Flip is better than Crawford (he clearly is NOT), just talking about their role on the team.

Cool stuff. But it would be kind of funny of we gain this tremendous insight and he ends up on another team.

Considering that Disney owns ESPN (and ABC), I wouldn't expect to hear the ESPN commentators refer to Dwight Howard as "Superman". They will likely go with The Hulk, or Luke Cage or some other Marvel "big man". And D. Wade is no longer "Flash" but QuickSilver or Black Panther or Daredevil. I'm sure that the ESPN corporate suits are distributing the memo now... No MORE DC Character names during ANY broadcast.

This likely allows them to move even further away from print media (comics) and into television. Disney operates a few cable networks and Marvel has properties on both Disney and Nickelodian (Viacom) networks. I'm guessing that eventually, Marvel will introduce new characters straight to TV and not have to continue with the dying print media. It makes sense for Marvel's longevity. And of course, Disney gets a franchise that appeals to older boys, something they didn't have with Pixar or Miley Cyrus. They get TV programming and movies for males 13-24. I wonder what things are like in Orlando today... if Disney World has a big U-Haul truck at the gates of Universal Studios loading up all of the Marvel properties that are a fairly big component of the theme park down there. "Get in the truck, Spider-Man, you've been purchased for $4B".

Would a coach like Jeff Van Gundy, Doug Collins or any other "elite" available coach want a more stable ownership situation? Would they want more than 3 years (Avery Johnson was asking for 4 years from Dumars)? I think it is foolish to assume that elite coaches wouldn't demand more than this ownership group is willing to provide, both in terms of salary, stability and contract duration. So before they let Woody walk, they better know that they can get an upgrade and we're not holding a press conference to welcome PJ Carlesimo or Bob Hill to the Hawks as head coach.

What do you all think of Chris Houston? I know that he is young but do you think that he is on his way to being an elite CB, above average or just average? I think he may be above average at best, like someone who goes to the Pro Bowl once every 3-4 years. Thoughts?

What would a Josh Smith mentor look like? Ideally, Josh's mentor would be someone who was ultra-athletic, someone who understood the temptation of being a highlight-producer vs. a highly productive player. Maybe someone who lacked a jumper when they started pro ball and was limited with their dribbling skills. What if this person, through hard work each and every summer, was able to bring a new wrinkle to his game when the season started. Someone who would become the face of the franchise, a HOFer and have his number hanging in the rafters. Someone who was around the team, maybe even traveled with the team during the season and lived in Atlanta during the off-season. Too bad Josh couldn't find anyone like that in his early years as a pro. If he did, maybe someone would call him Heat Check instead of J Smoove.

Isn't Boldin playing for a contract? And wasn't he whining about a contract during last year's playoffs? If dude wants his money, then he needs to show and prove... I would go with the ultra-motivated player, especially if the Cardinals improve their running game (which will make play-action plays more effective).

I'm not sure the D-Leagues are the right classroom for big men. It seems to be a league where the guys with the ball in their hands get all of the touches. If he stays with the Hawks, he will at least get the benefit of scrimmaging almost daily with legit big men. And he will learn from NBA-caliber coaches. And he'll have access to NBA-caliber workout facilities and conditioning coaches. Sending him to the D-League, he would likely get to run up and down the court during games but I don't know if he realizes any other benefit. I'm guessing that practicing 3-4 times a week against Zaza and Morris would do more for his development than playing games against 6"9" forwards who are forced to play center.

I thought Gardner's nickname was scrub. Maybe until Siler shows and prove, he can be called Big Scrub! (Actually, I think he could become a rotational big, kind of like Roy Hibbert, in 2-3 years. And that's strictly based on his intelligence and work ethic).