HawksBalla

If I can pick our opponent, I'd take Philly in a heartbeat. We'd have the best player (JJ), best shooter (Bibby) and most athletic player (Josh Smith) on the court at all times. Who is there go-to, Iggy? Please. Plus Andre Miller is slow enough to be guarded by Bibby. I don't want Detroit because AI will get a lot of calls and we can't stop him from getting to the hole. Rasheed Wallace and Hamilton work the refs, and Price is still a good defender and likely to get the best of JJ in at least two games. I don't want Miami because of what others have said...Wade will be unstoppable. If we breathe on him, instant foul as he "falls" to the ground. Plus Beasley seems to be coming on. JO could present problems against our lack of size.

I wouldnt be opposed to trading him, but could we really get a better player at either guard position? VERY doubtful. I will admit though that last night I thought to myself I had more fun watching the team when JJ wasnt playing. The offense semeed to pass the ball around more, and they seemed to have more energy. Now its back to boring iso-Joe, pound the ball for 15 seconds then either force a contested jumper or pass the ball and leave someone 5 seconds to create or die.

I used to be a huge member of the "play Acie more" bandwagon. But the last couple of games have kicked me off the bandwaqon. He is looking like another Shelden-like bust. 1. He is terrified to dribble inside the three-point line: Watch how many times he passes the ball away above the three-point line, its laughable. 2. He has lost confidence in his jump shot: I dont believe Acie is that bad of a shooter, but he seems timid shooting the ball. He gives up layups all the time...on the rare occasion he takes it to the hole. 3. He doesnt have the athletic ability to compensate for his mental meltdowns: He isnt that fast, or that big. That also gives him... 4. Defensive problems: He is a liability on defense, either getting posted up or foul-prone when a quicker guard blows by him. I think we might be better served trading him away soon while his value is inflated by his draft status, then try again drafting a pg...except a pg with a much higher athletic ceiling then Law.

Watching Al Thornton finish his moves by throwing down vicious dunks, I thought to myself that I wish we had a player like that, a player who looks like he can jump from anywhere for a slam. Then I remember we did have a player like that...Josh Smith. He just doesnt seem nearly as explosive near the rim like he used to. Is he still playing hurt? Has his tendencies changed? Has he fallen too much in love with his running hooks?

After last night I'm back on board. Last night shows what he can do when he harnesses all his physical talent.

Ridiculous. Woody needs to be fired. That's a pathetic attempt at spin. We all know the truth... Woody is terrible at managing his bench. The last two games have proved that we have enough talent without JJ on the court to be competitive in the nba. Imagine how much better along Law and Solo would be if they had been getting 10 minutes a game, every game this season.

We can't afford to lose any of Woody's eight-man rotation. Woody has developed the rest of the bench, so when Solo goes from dnp to 15 minutes, I'm not surprised when he starts fouling every play. Or if Law's jumper isnt failing. Or if West passes away the ball like it has the plague.

I'm not surprised in the least that JJ struggled. The guy plays 40+ minutes practically every night, even during blowout games. Last night he played 45 minutes after playing 43 minutes the night before. And the "rest" he does get is a minute off here, a minute off there. I fully expect to see JJ struggle on the backend of a back to back for the rest of the season. And its 100% because of his coach.

The problem with those lineups is that you arent accounting for the fact that drafting Paul would have lowered our pick past #5,and there is no way we would have kept our pick that drafted Horford because we wouldnt have been so terrible. And you have to assume that if we drafted Roy, again we wouldnt have been so bad as to keep our pick of Horford. I think more like lineups would have been: Paul JJ Chills Smoove Zaza vs Roy JJ Marvin Smoove Zaza Imagine that second lineup with Chills dropping Marvin to pf and Smoove to center. They would run teams off the court. Still though I've got to go with Paul. If we had drafted Paul, Smoove would have been an all-star last year, averaging 20 points a game. Smoove would have joined Paul and JJ at the all-star game, and we'd have one of the most lethal "Big 3" combos in the league. I think we would have been good enough to win 50 games last year. But instead of either of those lineups, we keep treating to a constant stream of Iso-Joe plays.

Hilarious.

Why is he shooting so mediocre? Easy. He's gassed. You cant play someone 40+ every night for 2+ years and not expect it to affect them. He's mentally and physically exhausted. This is 100% Woody's fault.

Sign Iverson to a two-year deal, 10 million per. I think he would be a good fit. He would draw lots of attention and then kick the ball out to JJ or throw it up to Smoove. We'd take advantage of his hot perimeter streaks because Iso-Joe would plug AI right for Bibby. Look at Bibby's 3pt%, it's no coincidence that he's doing so well playing next to Joe Johnson. Johnson does the double, Bibby gets the wide-open look. Rinse, repeat ad nausem. Anyways...AI might also be a better mentor for Acie. And we know he'd help sell tickets. Iverson to Smoove would be some great highlights.

I cant believe I feel this way but...I am not opposed to trading Horford. It doesnt appear that his ceiling is much higher. I'd be shocked if he got to 16pt 12rb 2blk. He's a pretty good power forward at center, but not irreplacible.

Tonight was an example of small rotation costing us. Despite two days off, our guys were just gassed in the fourth and ot. We played basically 7 guys the whole game. That isnt going to work, and the results are just going to show that more and more. Wait for tomorrow, they'll be on fumes in the 1st quarter.

What restaurant?

I think this offense is far below what it could be. We run an Iso-Joe offense with our favorite play being Bibby and Joe pass it back and forth until one of them gets open. We dont post up Smith or Horford enough. We dont run enough screen plays for Marvin. And I dont think we run enough for how athletic we are. My biggest problem is Woody's use of the bench and playing time. See, I'm thinking about later on down the road when we get to the playoffs and our starters are on fumes, Joe especially, and we end up playing the Cavs or Magic. We will never make the nba finals if we are playing an eight-man rotation in December. And not only does it burn us out now, it could have future implications. We have to sign Bibby because Law isnt being developed. And will JJ think about going somewhere else because he's tired of plying 40 minutes a season? So until the offense improves and our bench gets a chance to develop some confidence, I am not a Woody fan whatsoever.

Nicely done. I agree with all of them. We win in spite of Woody, not because of him.

1. Solomon Jones and Zaza kept us close in the 3rd quarter. They are going to be solid coming off our bench all year. 2. Still disappointed about the whole Law situation. I wish Woodson would play him more, but I also wish he played better to earn more minutes. I had such high hopes for him. 3. Flip Murray is going to earn a hefty raise in the offseason if he keeps this up. We lose this game last year, but insted now we have our own Ben Gordon-lite. 4. I liked seeing Marvin take it to the hole when Joe was out. He needs to keep excerting (sp?) himself offensively. Great 3 near the end, also. 5. We looked way too selfish tonight passing. We need to pass the ball better to get Horford involved on the post. 6. We really miss Josh Smith. Almost all those easy layups and dunks would have been contested. With Josh Smith tonight I think we win by at least 10. Great win. Now lets get one more against the Bulls. Go Hawks.

Its hard for me to call the owners cheap when they are losing tens of millions of dollars a year.

I would take Chills back, but I dont want him back. Our bench is completely different with wings that can shoot 3's and create their own shot. Chills was good and valuable, but I rather spend the money on keeping Flip, Marvin and dare I say it...Bibby.

I dont think Bosh is miles ahead of JJ. I think JJ means more to his team, helps his team more, and is much more versatile. JJ is more skilled, but Bosh's talent level and height make him appear to be better.

Yeah I thought about this some more and...we would definitely be a contender the for Eastern Conference title. -Against the Celtics, would they there put Perkins on Duncan? If they dont, then we have Smith against Perkins, which would be a rout. -Against the Pistons, Josh Smith would run circles around McDyess -Duncan would completely tie up Dwight Howard, which would leave Smith on who, Rashard Lewis? Please. See a pattern? When we played other teams, they would most likely scheme to take out Duncan. That would leave Josh Smith free to terrorize. Duncan hasnt played with a big of all-star calibur skills since David Robinson, and Robinson couldnt run or have the range that Smith does. And we havent even talked about all the wide-open looks that JJ, Bibby and Marvin would get from people trapping Duncan. His affect on our team would be huge. Plus remember the East only has a couple of quality big men. Outside of the Magic, Celtics, and Raptors (who I think we are better then without Duncan), Duncan would be able to put up 20 without even trying. The downside is yes we'd lose Al Horford and Duncan is going to fall apart if 4-5 years. But lets say Duncan gives us Shaq's current numbers in 5 years...that aint bad folks. EDIT: No way the Spurs trade Duncan for a package where Horford is the centerpiece unless Horford starts averaging 20+ a game. The Spurs dont have enough scoring to just give away Duncan's points, and like others have said...they would be a fringe playoff team at best with Horford. I think its more likely the Spurs trade Duncan in the same manner the Knicks traded Ewing to the Sonics, or how Houston traded the Dream to Toronto.

lol Dont insult young Shaq. He had FAR more impact then Horford did last year. If Horford was a young Shaq we would have won a lot more then 37 games last year.

Moon conspiracies are tiring. There is an experiment left on the moon that is still used by scientists today. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=605

I'd like him to try to force less shots and lean on his teammates more. I understand why he feels like he has to do it all on his own, but sometimes he'll take some ugly shots against good man d or double teams.