Jamil

In reply to: they continued to show that they are overmatched by assembling a group of players that absolutely nobody else wants. Absolutely correct. Fact is that no trades were made because nobody wants our players, save maybe Terry...and nobody was gonna take him because it was probably conditional that the other team had to also take Hendu..who nobody in the world wants. Those who think this team can ever win with the likes of Big Dog and SAR are greatly mistaken. These are two overpaid losers who are we are stuck with for years. Bring in whatever coach you want...it won't work as long as those two are here.

http://espn.go.com/nba/columns/smith_sam/1511885.html In reply to: They can score with anybody, ranking fifth in the NBA in scoring even after trading Glenn Robinson. Which remains one of the best trades in the NBA in years -- for the Bucks. Robinson has been a disappointment for the Hawks, years of hard living and basketball catching up to him as he's turned 30. His shooting is easily a career low, his movement is slowed and the Hawks have collapsed and have been looking to trade most of their players, including Robinson. For Robinson, who had been at odds with Allen and Sam Cassell, the Bucks got a complimentary role player in Toni Kukoc, who has been perhaps their most valuable player, the Hawks' No. 1 draft pick this season (unless it is in the top three) and saved millions of dollars in future contract dollars and luxury taxes. It's a deal that quietly has general manager Ernie Grunfeld among the contenders for Executive of the Year. But with the acquisition of Payton, that noise gets much louder.

http://espn.go.com/nba/news/2003/0220/1511976.html Why couldn't he just show up and take his slap on the wrist fine, community service or whatever and get it over with? This is just irresponsible behavior by an obviously troubled man. Now thanks to his stupidity, he can add a new charge - Failure To Appear. And when he shows up at the United Center, the Chicago Police will be there to escort him away in cuffs. Just another reason why the Hawks have become the laughingstock of the NBA.

I think Kruger's schedule was really tougher than Stotts' has been. Stotts faced more patsys than Kruger did. Kruger wasn't the problem. This team just sucks.

Lon Kruger 11-16 Terry Stotts 9-18 It was all the coach's fault huh? Why is it that with each move Babcock makes, the team keeps heading backwards?

In reply to: Stan Kasten will be kept, and they will take his reccomendations seriously. Kasten is notorious for his loathe for firing people, so Pete Babcock will be kept on as GM. I hope you are wrong. I can't see how they can possibly bring him back. He's the architect of this mess the team is in. How on earth can he be entrusted with another rebuilding project? The retaining of Babcock would make it very clear to the fans that they don't care about winning, that the status quo is okay, that they are insistent in forging ahead with this man who will never put together a champion. How come this organization doesn't hold its management accountable like it does its coaches? Stotts is the fifth coach to work for Babcock. FIVE COACHES. At what point do you determine that it's time to change the GM? [censored] it...he'll be here forever and the Hawks will never, NEVER be worth a [censored].

I imagine the lease for playing at Philips makes any move out of Atlanta nearly impossible for several years.

In reply to: Simply, the less he (Stoudamire) plays, the more the Blazers win. They finally figured out what a loser Mighty Mouse is.

In reply to: Mr. Babcock will be keeping an eye on the all-star break. If he pulls off an amazing trade that can make the NBA start talking about the Hawks, I can see him keeping his job. The trade for Theo + Nazr + Kukoc had the NBA talking about the Hawks. The trade for SAR had the NBA talking about the Hawks. The trade for Big Dog had the NBA talking about the Hawks. Every year, Babcock pulls off some trade that gets everyone talking about the Hawks and provokes Walter to give him another GM of the Year Award. Hasn't Babcock had enough chances to prove he can make this team a winner? Nowadays the only talking going on about the Hawks is what a mess the team has become and what a disgraceful job Mr Babcock has done.

6) "Hotlanta was right about the Hawks and if people want to remain in denial about that they are welcome to ignore his posts." That's the one I vote for. Would you rather have a bunch of Hawksfreaks here? People who insist, despite the obvious truth, that this team is worth a [censored]? We need honesty, not denial. The results speak for themselves. This team is a disaster...and trying to sugarcoat that is no way to correct the problem.

It's interesting how Smitty's name is coming up regarding trade possibilities. Funny when you think about it... trading him was supposed to be the key to putting the Hawks over the hump yet it turned out to be the most disastrous trade in history and triggered what has become a seemingly endless span of losing. Now there are rumors abound that the Hawks are interested in dumping salaries and trading for the soon to be expiring contract of Smitty's. How [censored] ironic is it that Babcock traded him away in the first place to free up cap space and now is reportedly interested in him for the exact same [censored] reason?

In reply to: [Right now, the word around the league is that Babcock is try to package Terry with some dead weight -- someone like Alan Henderson, Nazr Mohammed or Theo Ratliff. Interesting how things change. Back when the Deke deal was made, Babcock was hailed as the GM of the Year for pulling off what at the time appeared to be the swindle of the century. Now all of a sudden Nazr and All-Star Theo are considered dead weight that has to be packaged away with JT. And how about Hendu, who had once again fooled everyone in November. Lost in the shuffle of the team's collapse is his drop in play, particularily his rebounds.

In reply to: their first winning month since February 1996 OMG I hadn't realized they had been so bad for so long. And we thought we had it bad!

Ok so Vecsey is probably 100% right that Richardson and Arenas are pissed off because they are getting benched more times than they'd like during games. What's amazing is the tone of the article. Instead of this "Musselman is sacrificing the future to win now" crap it should be "Musselman refuses to accept losing and is sending the message to his players that either you get the job done or you sit." Losing should never be acceptable. Musselman should be applauded for the job he's doing. He's taken a franchise that was in dire straits and has them winning and believing in themselves. Back on December 16, the Warriors were 8-16. Now they are 20-23 and that run has not been all against patsies. They have wins against NO, Philly, HOU, WSH, MIN, LAL, NJ, UTA in that period. At this rate they will not only finish above .500, but they might make the playoffs...currently they are only 3.5 games out of the 8th seed. And if that happens, then Musselman should easily win COY. Eric has made his decision to try to instill a winning mentality into his players. Good for him. I only wish that the much more talented Hawks had such a coach.

Or it could be the Hawks, who have much more talent than Toronto but far worse coaching.

In reply to: Shareef Abdur-Rahim said, "We're in a bad spot right now. But if our record was flipped, nobody would be questioning our effort or our passion." lmao.... Maybe Shareef would be better off just saying "no comment"?

In reply to: I think if he were healthy and playing we would be at the top or near the top of the conference right now. You can't honestly believe that having a healthy DJ would put the Hawks at the top of the conference??? I will say that he was playing some solid ball at the end of last season, but this team is such a disaster that it would take more than him to change things. It's like last season when people were saying that if we just had a healthy Theo, we'd be at the top of the conference.

I like your Theo trade idea. We need to clear some cap room and acquire draft picks. Let's hope something can be salvaged from this mess!

At this point no changes should be made. Keep Stotts, Babcock and the rest of this bunch of losers and let them continue to sink. Lebron James might turn out to be the biggest bust ever, but the Hawks have been through draft busts before. If James even comes close to living up to the billing, he's gonna be something special. It's worth trying for because this team is going nowhere anyways.

Diesel, you predicted that Stotts would lead the Hawks to some great turnaround and into the playoffs. Now you are backing away from that? Now he's a 4th grade substitute? Stotts has been a miserable failure. At least Lon could win at home. The only Stotts is good for is helping the team get a shot at Lebron James.

Simply put, Stotts has been a colossal failure as coach of the Hawks. Lon might not have been much more successful, but one thing he did do is win at home. Stotts can't even beat the pathetic Knicks at home. However, there is one good way to look at this. It's quite clear that Lon wasn't taking this team anywhere of any importance, but definitely not bad enough to still be able to keep that pick. The longer Stotts continues to coach, the better the Hawks chances are of not only keeping that pick, but of drafting LeBron James. But to your point, yes I think it's totally clear now that Lon was NOT the problem and was simply used as a scapegoat. The evidence is too overwhelming to deny the truth.

"There's nothing we can do about it." No wonder he's always on losing teams. He's got a loser's mentality.

..that when Big Dog has been out of action, the Hawks are 3-0 (all against teams probably headed for the playoffs even) and are giving up an astonishingly low 77 points per game as a team? Especially when you consider that they are allowing about 97 points per game this season. Just a coincidence?

In reply to: Who did Lon post that great Home record against? It certainly wasn't San Antonio, Miami, Houston, Detroit, & Dallas was it? Actually, the Hawks did beat Detroit and Miami at home when Lon was coach. Philly, Utah, Seattle and New Orleans as well. It wasn't compiled against all patsies. Looks like Stotts might be able to do as well if we could just extract that Cancerous Big Dog.

In reply to: " We would not have turned a corner if he (Kruger) remained." I don't see the corner that has been turned. LOL! Maybe the corner of getting worse? Not to defend Lon or anything, but at least he did post a very respectable record at home while Stotts is having trouble regardless of the court.