crimedog

He and Thorpe are the only guys on that site that I read with any frequency. After them, I'll occasionally Stein and Ford. From there its a joke with Adande, Broussard, and Bucher all being a bigger joke than the next.

Steve Kerr (and Sarver before him, even when the team was winning 60 a year people were talking about how stupid they were for selling picks) Donny Walsh Bickerstaff Paxson Every GM in the league gets critical coverage from the local media and fans - go on realgm, listen to sports radio from other cities.

I am enjoying the trip. I'm loving this season. I'm loving when I go to the bar to watch the games and all the Knicks fans tell me they're cheering for Altanta because we're exciting and finally good. That doesn't mean there weren't a lot of easy ways for the team to have more talent and potential. Regarding being built for the long haul, what does that mean? I've always thought that a team best positioned for the long haul is a team built around a young superstar (like Paul, Deron, or even Roy). The fact is we could have had any of those guys plus secondary stars like Joe and Smith and from there you don't need to worry about getting expensive talent at other positions, just filler.

Bravo.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't the Hawks undefeated without Chil last season, or close to it?

These are the conversations that get us into complaining but what are you gonna do. Without any of our starters except Marv, this is a poor team. Not the case with Paul who is a true superstar and the type of player that is a cornerstone of a perrenial contender.

I think Yi is drifting toward bust. Or at the best utility player. Especially if he is actually 24 (or older) as most people seem to believe.

^Yeah, my only miss so far. Seems like the Michigan and Maryland "upsets" were pretty predictable. I'll say this though, there were some exciting games last night even if the lid didn't get blown off.

What this guy said. This thread seems to pop up once a month and the synthesis is always that he didn't build the worst team in history but the strategy of passing up the most talented players so you can get more draft picks in the future was neither intelligent nor intentional.

I always thought that our interior defense was better than it was made out to be and our perimeter D was worse. We have had a lot of games where our D was just demolished by dribble penetration.

Al's been great, but to be fair to Conley, ever since Iavoronni got canned and the new cat put the ball in Mike's hands, he's been doing 15-6 on aroung 45% with only 2.3 TOs. Not saying he'd be better, but I don't think its a God thanking sort of thing.

I'm not one who thinks that the team is better without Marv. I do think though, that if he were up to it, we would be a better team with him off the bench. Not because I think he doesn't deserve to start, but just because the way our team is structured, his talents aren't as crucial in the starting lineup. Mo's offense is running the break or spreading the floor. Period. Marv can shoot but he gets a solid chunk of his points from slashing in the half court but in our starting lineup, we don't need him doing that as much. Since his offense can be divided up among the other starters easier than some other guys' and his defense, while good, isn't lockdown, it would give us one of the most dangerous and versatile benches in the league if we had Flip-Marv-Zaza as the bench squad. Of course, I said "if he were up to it" because I'm not sure he would be. Not that he has an ego and would protest, the opposite actually, I think his confidence gets hurt too easily and a percieved "demotion" could definitely do that.

I'm mixed on Josh on the break. Most of the time someone runs with him, he's willing to give it up. Like when Joe will run on the wing, if they have the man advantage, Josh will attack the hoop and suck the defender and hit Joe for the 3. If Al/Marv is running with him, Josh is more than willing to pull a defender and give it to the other guy for an easy hoop. The problem seems to be when no one else wants to run, Josh has trouble accepting that and tries to run the break without the advantage. As far as whether you should walk it up when you are up. I'm mixed on that too. If you are a better half court team than your opponent, sure do it. If you are a worse half court team but a better full court team, don't play to their advantage unless you have a significant lead. Remember the Portland game last season where we had a chunky lead and then after half time we refused to push it - Portland, being one of the best half-court teams in the league, took advantage and came back from 20 or so.

I still watch the "what if there were no upsets?" scoreboard videos before Atlanta games.

Nique is a terrible announcer but this is a stupid thread unless he said something after "Man I wish I had played in Philips Arena back in those days" like "because I'm better than this guy."

One really nice thing about them if they can continue to develop as a pair, is that they might be the second best passing FC in the game after Odom/Gasol. Obviously Duncan and KG are fantastic passers as well. If we did decide to run a more inside-out approach (as we did last night), these two guys are very unselfish and also pretty creative as passers.

I'd say Lebron and Wade... but Joe's numbers would go down except his 3pt%.

I don't think they found a way to lose, I think the Hawks just toyed with them until the 4th and then just shut them down. I think they are a legitimately terrible team and thats what happens to terrible teams... although Kevin martin is a fantastic scorer. That team needs Griffin and then then need to start making some trades and get some real talent around Griffin-Martin-Hawes or Thompson.

Bill Walton had feet problems and couldn't play a full season. Bird had foot problems, played through them, but ended his career a little early. Ilgauskus had foot problems, recovered, and played 78 or more games for 5 consecutive seasons. You can't assume that just because a guy has a type of injury, it will do the same thing to him that it did to another guy unless it is the type of injury that ALWAYS does that. We don't know Marv's prognosis, but we do know that a "back injury" doesn't mean a guy's career is done.

Seems tough. You never win all the games you should anyway. A big key for this team is going to have to ben not losing confidence after the streak finally ends. It seems like the thing we usually do is play really well, hit a bump, and then lose it. Sposing we win against Dallas (not a given), then we lose at Cleveland (not a given either, but an "@ Cleveland" is the toughest game in the NBA this season), we have to be able to come back home and shake it off vs. Minny AND THEN take on SAS, Boston, and LAL in succession. It seems like the sort of stretch that usually kills our momemtum. Lets hope its different this season.

Maybe its something about this Hawks team. They all seem to come on late in the season. When he and Josh play like this, we're tough.

5 games is a poor sample size but man, over the past 5 games we have Josh doing 17-9.6-2.8-1.4-1 and Al doing 14.2-10.4-3.2-1.6-1.2 (and both are shooting +50% from the field). Not bad.

Well I think it would work better than what we have now... at least we'd be OK when any 1 front court player went down. Not sure if it would be optimal, but if thats the best we can do and it is in fact doable, yeah I do think it could work. We definitely need a 2nd backup big man, I think the issue with those two would be minute management. Unless we were willing to put Al on the bench as a versatile 1st big off the bench (he can be subbed in at either position), Woody would have to be creative with the minutes or he'd risk falling into to the trap of not playing either Za or Gortat depending on who was doing well.

Well that makes me respect his commentary skills even less. They have a roster with some decent players, but not one of the best starting fives in the NBA. Davis was 13-8 that game... solid, but not at all "like a superstar". The Clippers suck, they are 4-11 since then. They're "momentum" before the win against us consisted of a win against Memphis proceeded by 7 consecutive losses. Like the Kings, the Clippers sucked then as they suck now. We took them too easy and they got hot.

Harold and Kumar to go White Castle How High? Office Space Bourne Ultimatum