crimedog

Nov 28 Dec 9 Dec 10 Dec 17 Jan 2 Jan 26 Feb 17 Mar 1 Mar 6 Mar 27 Mar 31 Apr 4 Apr 15 Are all losses where no team scored in the triple digits, per the NBA's Hawks website.

Larry Brown has a fairly sophisticated offense which is why he likes a strange mix (relating to O abilities) of players.

Not sure where you got that but it isn't true.

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the phrase pink elephant in the room? Anyway, I think mrh is probably right on this one. As much complaining as we hear on this issue. Josh and Al make a better starting frontcourt than a lot of teams in this league have.

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Any trade posited for Bosh needs to clarify whether he'll resign or not. As mace noted, he's the dude that most people think really wants to go to a bigger market -- Memphis is a worse market than Toronto.

They'd all be best taking 2 weeks or so. For both their physical and mental health. After that, I'd imagine Joe, Marv, and Al take it especially easy because aggravating an injury over the summer is stupid. I don't know the intensity of his workouts, but I know Josh tries to work on his skills in the offseason. Is he meeting with Hakeem again? The post work has definitely helped and I think it would be nice if Hakeem tried to reinforce the "stay down low" mantra we all have for Josh; even if Woody's system has Josh rotate out to the perimeter on JJ isos, Josh doesn't listen to Woody anyway. He should also try to meet with Rodman. In fact, if I were Josh's skills coach I'd put together a video of Josh's biggest rebounding games and one of his worst rebounding games and show him what a difference he can make on the glass. I'd imagine Acie will be working out a lot, probably nervous about his career.

Obviously the team has a lot of needs -- starting point guard if Bibby leaves, backup point guard regardless, backup 2 if Flip leaves, backup 5 if Zaza leaves and another backup big regardless; that doesn't even touch on Marv's FA status or Joe's possible extension. How would you rank management's priorities?

Haha, as if Cleveland isn't actually a good team and needs the refs that badly. Get over it.

I'm kind of torn. For my starting point guard, I have a lot of trouble with Jack because he is a very poor distributor. For all the crap Bibby gets on these boards, he is a decent distributor and decision maker when given the chance. Felton is almost certainly a better point guard than Jack but he is a poor fit for this team because he's such a poor shooter and unless Woody is willing to put the ball in Felton's hands, he has to be able to hit the J (when the ball is in his hands, he's a great penetrator but an atrocious finisher). Jack on the other hand, has turned him self into a passable shooter which complements his decent slashing. He's also a pretty solid defender... I just worry about having another season in which JJ does the majority of the ball handling, gets worn down, and puts up sub-Jamaal Crawford numbers in the post season.

Not a rant, a question -- hence the question mark; and you didn't answer it.

Have you seriously never seen Smith take someone off the dribble in the half-court or is that a joke?

What makes Kobe a good leader? Nothing - he's an unsupportive d*ck to his teammates. What he is, is a much much much better player than either guy we have and that definitely helps because it makes a more clearly defined pecking order.

I think you are on point with the talent upgrade thing. The thing that is holding us back isn't the lack of leadership as much as the lack of talent... or at least development of talent to this point. There was no way we were getting past Cleveland regardless of how good our leadership was. They are a much much much better team than us and laying the blame at the feet of the best players on the team doesn't change the fact that we didn't stand a chance regardless.

Yeah, find a parking lot somewhere, get in a car, practice. Get some trash cans or something if they're around and set them up for parallel parking. There aren't really any tips other than to practice the stuff you're supposed to know for the test.

Magic Johnson says "hi" Look, I don't disagree that Josh shouldn't be the leader... Joe obviously isn't a true leader either... but PLENTY of great players who are considered "leaders" have had clashes with their coaches and in many cases driven them away. Kidd comes to mind. Kobe had a diss book written about him by the greatest coach ever. Wilt's coaches were a dime a dozen because to him, they didn't matter. Listen to Shaq talk about his old coach...

Here is my issue though, how is it that someone decides which laws are OK to break and which aren't? You're OK with looking at hotties... I'm sure you would NOT be OK with a law against that -- it would land you (or more likely, the hotties you like to look at) in the big house. You are OK with regulation against gay marriage because it has 0 effect on you one way or the other. If if people are going to use the blanket "I don't believe in that because I'm Christian" statement, they should have to apply that statement to everything covered by it -- or at least explain why they don't apply it to everything (well they don't have to obviously, but to be taken seriously they should).

Not sure if that's verifiable... I'm sure I've seen Kobe get back late because he was complaining. Don't get me wrong, its a pain in the *ss to see him constantly complaining. I just think its ridiculous that people point to that as a sign of inability to be a leader when there are so many other things he does that the great "leaders" of the game don't do almost catergorically (stupid shot selection and failure to box out being my most grievous complaints).

The thing I see with "leaders" is that you can't force a guy who isn't a superstar into that role. Mike was a great "leader" but its mainly because he was so good that no one wanted to piss him off because he had as much pull and power in the league as any GM. Lebron is a great "leader" because he gives you the best shot at a chip and single handidly cover so many holes on the floor (rebounding, passing, scoring, team D) that he allows you to just play your role. Guys who aren't superstars but are great leaders? Well if you read the fantastic Outside The Lines thing on Chauncey Billups, you'll see how his entire career made him what he is today. He evolved into a leader by being around the right guys and facing some tough times in his career, now guys bring him on board because he already is a leader (and a multiple time All-NBAer, but a step down from "superstar"), not in hopes that he can become one. Joe hasn't shown leadership qualities yet. He might eventually but it won't be because we need him to, it will be because he realizes that he can be one. Josh has shown some good-teamate qualities but he also has some of those flaws that will keep him from being a leader (but if you think complaining to refs is one, I guess you haven't watched Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Kevin Garnett, Larry Bird, or Magic Johnson -- those guys never shut up). Al has some leadership qualities but for a variety of reasons he can't really impose his will on the team, mainly because he isn't good enough and has his own flashes of immaturity. Marv... well Marv is the least likely leader on the team. He's a nice kid, a guy that a real leader would like because he won't stir up trouble, but a) he's passive and b) he's just an average/above average player.

Absolute WORST case scenario here, we have our usual lively debates but in a more structured setting. Best case? Someone listens. My favorite tidbit of course: Remember, I'm the guy that thinks outside of the box here.

I was gonna agree with you, but then I looked at Lee's numbers and Al's numbers. Lee is a better rebounder by rebound rate (the proportion of available rebounds snagged), but Al's rookie year was pretty close. I didn't realize that Lee had 16-11.7 last year on 55% shooting. If it weren't for the awful defense, both man and team, he'd be a superstar.

Acie? Obviously he's still a bit of a mystery because he never got the playing time he probably should have... on the other hand, when he was out there it wasn't very often where you said to yourself "We'd win a hell of a lot more if this guy played more minutes." I really don't feel comfortable handing him the keys so to speak. I'm still hoping he can be an effective backup though. Al? Al's season was only a disappointment if you had too high expectations for him. Did you really think he was going to turn into Malone, Boozer, Duncan over night just because he was a winner in college and has a solid attitude? He doesn't have the offensive game of a featured scorer and he never has. He can continue to be a solid rebounder, decent defender, consistent midrange scorer, and good transition player though. Next season I'd like to really see him break through the double digit rebounding barrier, hit that midrange J at a slightly higher rate, and take some low-post D courses from a guy like Kurt Thomas. I just don't ever see him having the ability or the mindset to be a guy we run a large portion of our offensive plays for. What's the mystery?

Leave the man's mom alone. If someone doesn't like me, fine, I don't care. If they have a problem with the way I do something, say it to my damn face... I'll most likely agree with you and keep doing what I'm doing. Don't go walk up to my mom and say it though -- its just pathetic.

Garnett is a PF but Duncan came into the league as a "PF" because the Spurs had Robinson at C. Duncan was a C prospect in college and even on the Spurs, Robinson wasn't the low post beast that Duncan was -- if TD is a PF, who has been the C for the Spurs the past few years? Guys who are shorter, not post players, not shot-blockers, and not rebounders? As far as Pau, he never played next to a guy who is more of a C than him until this season when he played next to Bynum for a few games... but that lineup isn't as effective as the one with Gasol at C. People considered him a F coming into the league because he didn't post up nearly as much as he does now.

Put him about where you have him but I'd knock EB down below him until we know he's the same player he used to be. I thought he was but he was bad this year and got injured again and is now on the wrong side of 30. Alos, I'd take Pau of this list and put him onto the C list. That team plays best when he's at C and Odom is at PF. He and West and Aldridge are pretty similar. Out of the remaining guys, I'd take Dirk at #1, KG at #2 then whatever.