jhay610

Willis averaged a double-double for four years with the Hawks, playing 80 or more games each time, and came close to averaging a double-double in several other years. In the three years 91-94, Willis averaged 18.3/15.6, 17.9/12.9 and 19.1/12.0 while shooting ~50%. You dock him for shooting jump shots -- well, J-Smoove has shot a lot of ill-advised jumpers over the years and he still makes your list. Toni Kukoc...really? Willis definitely belongs on the list of all-time Hawks.

This is wrong. It is not a 'gamble' to come over from the weakside and help, it is a responsibility. If your man ends up scoring it's not your fault, it's because the next man missed his rotation. Would you rather the guy just lay it in or be forced to make an extra pass (or, if everyone rotates properly, several extra passes)?

Felllas this isnt high school anymore -- they are grown men and are allowed to do what they want to do as long as they bring it when the lights are on. That is what a pro does. If their performance is hampered because of off-court activities that is when it becomes an issue.

I thought this was a Crawford thread...this is about Marvin??

FWIIW, Boise is graduating something like 22 seniors this year. They'll probably still be a very good team though and will likely be riding a lot of positive momentum in any case.

Looks like Vick is becoming the quarterback Atlanta fans always envisioned him to be. What a force. As you mentioned this is a forum placement fail.

Exodus has been harping on this pretty much since Al's rookie year. Maybe they are paying him a consultancy retainer? :biggrin:

Hard to believe it's nearly been twenty years since the Dome went up.

:thumbsupsmileyanim: The officials lost control of this game; well, it didn't even look like they were trying to control it. Nick Fairley is a dirty dude -- he is out there trying to hurt guys every week. The SEC should be embarrassed of the latter stages of that game.

Plus that number is just somebody's arbitrary assessment. I don't think Al's production goes up 35% (based on last year's stats) just because he matches up with the second-biggest guy on the floor. I think he gets a slight edge there but if his ppg go up that much I'd say it's more attributable to player development rather than a positional change.

Hots, I feel like you say this every year.

I took a negative for this post. Fire Drew in all caps was obviously satire. The second point is a fair criticism of this team. Their mental makeup is questionable. Coach Drew even addressed it after the game: “That’s a big concern because I’ve always looked at this team as when it gets a little tough, we have a tendency to hold our head down,” L.D. said. “Anybody can go through stretches where they play well and they win and everybody is high-fiving. When it gets tough, that is when your character really gets tested. When it gets a little tough, I don’t want to see guys hanging their heads. I don’t want to see guys giving up.” Exhibit 1A was Hawks v Magic in the playoffs last year. It is a known fact that this team has a lot to prove when it comes to mental toughness. That is not a reactionary critique based on a few games -- it is one that has been borne out over several years. The only one of the regulars that I can confidently say will never lay down, no matter the score or situation, is Al Horford. Maybe Zaza deserves to be in that conversation as well, but his talent level is such that his play will not be at a consistently high level. You can be a fan of the team without wearing the metaphorical rose-colored glasses.

FIRE DREW!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, the starters have gone out early the last couple of games only to see the bench come in and give it back. That is very disheartening, The Hawks have historically not been a very mentally tough team. When the going gets tough, the Hawks get going...out the door.

Josh needs to around the basket on both ends of the floor, in my opinion. You are playing away from his strengths when you ask him to space the floor on offense or guard perimeter players on defense. Where Josh is a game-changer is on the defensive end as a help-side shot-blocker. Put him on small forwards and you are asking to get punished with open threes, unless you don't want him to help at the rim on drives, which means teams can run a layup drill on us. He is a below average perimeter defender, but one of the league's best at blocking and changing shots and at playing the passing lanes. Why not play to his strengths? Does Zaza/Collins at the five really make us better (and consequently Horford at the 4), considering what we are giving up by asking Josh to guard 3s? Not even a close call, in my mind.

You rail on Marvin for being a bust but then dismiss Acie, who to date has been the bigger of the busts, as "in the past". Marvin is a productive NBA player; Darko is a bust. Marvin's draft position is now irrelevant. He is on his second contract now. Get over it.

That was a difficult carom for Horf. The ball didnt bounce true and came off at a weird angle. Those are the toughest to handle -- your depth perception plays tricks on you because you are expecting the ball to come off the rim a certain way and then all of a sudden it's right on you.

Drew's explanation for the switching, per MC's blog: “The thing that hurt us as far as the switches, we couldn’t match up the way we wanted to match up if you don’t have perimeters when they go small,” he said. “You have to go small along with them, especially when you play big and playing big is not effective. Tonight was a clear case how bad we needed a Marvin or a Mo so we could look at going a lot smaller and trying some other things defensively.” Indeed it does hurt not having a legitimate small forward to plug in there.

My thoughts exactly. The paper tiger.

Your methodology is irrefutable, I'll give you that, {/sarcasm}

I don't see why people would dismiss the Hawks as not being a playoff team, having returned all the guys, plus a few minor pieces, from the team that earned the #3 seed last year. I get that they got bounced in an ugly fashion and there are some teams on the rise, but I would be sorely disappointed and surprised if this team missed the postseason, barring some sort of catastrophic scenario with injuries. This group is in its prime 'window' to hit its ceiling. Whatever that may be, they've already proven at the very least that includes playoff games. They are clearly better than the East's bottom feeders and there is still some separation from that upper tier. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Classic stuff here. Looks like a fun room. EDIT: Ok I now see it's buried in the 'Will Al Sign?' thread but I think it deserves its own space. :thumbsupsmileyanim:

It seems like each of the last two years we have gotten off to a hot start and Diesel and various others have come on early and started putting the metaphorical cart in front of its horse, talking about what we need to do to get in the championship conversation. We've beaten three teams that failed to make the playoffs last year. I am aware that anything can happen on any given night in the NBA and that road wins are golden, but getting fat off these teams won't make a difference to the naysayers. We need to beat Orlando a couple of times before we start to earn back some respect, after the way they treated us last year. Otherwise we will continue to be perceived as a second tier EC team, which is honestly a fair assessment given our performance in the last two playoffs.

Am I the only one that recalls Marvin averaging ~15 and 6 in 35 mpg for the 2007-08 season? He was still getting dogged daily on this board.

0:44-0:47 "And Wilkins is alone...for his WHAMO!!!" :laugh:

I am a Bobby fan but he does deserve some heat for this. You are correct in pointing out that once he makes a decision he is pretty much set on it -- he won't budge on it even if a mountain of evidence is collecting suggesting it is the wrong play.