crimedog

Yeah, this might be telling. As annoying as Smith can be, he was the most effective player overall in the playoffs and when you consider how much he handicapped his own effectiveness... well its something to consider. For those that say it is clear we need to get rid of Smith, why? Just curious, but do you think swapping Smith for an average-ish C will make us better? Go back and look at those playoffs. The issue wasn't that Smith couldn't be Lebron, the issue is that we were asking him to be Lebron. Look at Cleveland. Does the mythical POST SCORER that everyone talks about allow us to beat Cleveland? No. Not at all. Does Chris Kaman keep up with Lebron on the 3/5 pick and roll 18 feet away from the hoop? Nope. No, when people talk about us needing a shot-blocking, rebounding, post scoring C to win they are right in a lot of ways. Unfortunately they are thinking of Hakeem, not Sam Dalembert/Ty Chandler/Kaman/Thabeet/Hibbert/other stiff. Oh, and Horford scoring 17-20 a game? In high school, I'd imagine he could... Not NCAA. Certainly not NBA.

Maybe Joe's weak playoffs will help us retain him for cheaper.

I'm not OK with rebuilding for the sake of rebuilding (ie, trading Marv for a perma-injured bum like Kaman). If someone good like Bosh makes themselves available long term, I'll trade a peice. I'd also probably trade Marv for a less talented vet who could be lights out from deep and play good D or Al for a slightly less talented true C (none on the market for him probably). Otherwise, I'm happy with this roster... we don't have Lebron or a transcendent talent like that -- that hurts us, but trading our guys for other non-stars doesn't change that.

Article: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writ...ex.html?eref=T1

If you would prefer us to not be in the playoffs, in other words not have us still playing games, you can get a reasonable facsimile by not watching.

You're forgetting Hunter. Sad thing is, he's what passes for our chance at a "difference maker".

How do you propose swapping Joe out for an effective post player and point guard?

What, in your opinion, gave Jordan more "class" than James? Jordan was almost as much of a dbag as Kobe is, he was just a better player so he could get away with it.

Series is moving back to Atlanta. Honestly it didn't seem like the guys weren't trying, just that the injuries finally started to catch up when we were playing in the hardest place to win since the 86 Boston Garden.

The circumstances surrounding the non-call are what bugs me. Its like the PHX suspensions a couple of seasons ago but worse because Horry did get the boot. Just the fact that Artest got kicked out of the game presumably because of his history of craziness but Kobe's history of potentially dangerous cheap shots doesn't force the refs hand in a similar manner is annoying.

I'm not hoping for a career ending injury to him.

I watched it in real-time and it was blatantly obvious that what he did was much more of a hockey move than a basketball move. He saw Scola coming, wound up, and just checked him. That's a call in any era.

My thought is this, things happen over the course of the game, guys get hit, guys get bumped... not only do most fans not like it, they kind of enjoy it, it makes the game more fun. The issue is though, if you are going to make a rule that says any intentional shot above the shoulders is an auto-suspension, you have to enforce it or change the rule. Kobe has a history with this sort of thing, he socked Manu in the face and broke Mike Miller's schnozz. I get annoyed when Bron doesn't get called for reaching in. I get even more annoyed when DWade lies on the ground for 2 minutes after smelling a foul odor and then limps to the line, hits his freebies, and dunks on a 7-footer the next trip down. I get most annoyed though, when Kobe Bryant intentionally throws a bow at a guy's head and doesn't get punished. Selling a foul bump to get to the line is one thing, straight up hitting a dude in the neck because he's crowding you is something else altogether.

Yeah, he cracked the s*** out of him and then Ron got called for it and decided he had enough. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irtnkEmubqY

We did play better last game when Joe was acting like a decoy in the first half. If we could find a way to get Joe shots in the flow of the offense without necessarilly having him iso iso iso it would be nice.

... and credit where credit is due, we'd have to play about a perfect game to beat the Cavs considering the talent disparity.

Whether or not Smith is the least mature player on the team is something that I'm not qualified to answer as I don't know any of these dudes. I can say that from the looks of it Woody doesn't handle Smith with kid gloves. He's willing to pull Josh or call him out for taking bad shots... If Woody's offensive system is "Everyone has a role except Josh Smith because I'm too scared of him to coach him" then that too is an indictment.

$$$?

Al isn't undersized at PF... neither was Malone... Al doesn't have the offensive game Malone did, not coming into the league, not later. Malone was one of the most aggressive players in the history of the league. He LOVED to mix it up, loved contact inside. Al is timid. They aren't alike at all.

I think its a combination of a few things. We don't get Al out in transition too often and we don't run many pick and rolls with him which is where he would shine. On the other hand, he isn't a particulalry good offensive player when it comes to making his own offense. He isn't skilled enough to dominate in the post and he isn't aggressive enough to take advantage of matchups. That being said, what are we gonna do about it? Who would you replace him with and how would you get that player? Obviously the "Al is untouchable", "Al is like Tim Duncan", "Al is going to put up Karl Malone numbers" nonsense of this past summer was foolish, but the fact remains that he's a versatile and fairly effective big man on a rookie contract. If someone else thinks he'll be a star and is willing to give up star value for him, lets do that, otherwise he is what he is and thats enough for now.

I feel like he's Solo with different strengths and weaknesses. He has more meat than Solo though, which is a good thing, and he's from Montreal which gives him points with this McGill Alum. I'm not really sure he's any more productive than Solo though.

Because coaches design plays in the NBA. There is structure. It isn't the playground. If we really want to get into the semantics of what Bibby said, he wouldn't have said to "put him somewhere else" he would have said "don't let him do whatever he wants". I'm not sure that Woody literally says to Josh that he should stand AT the 3pt line, but at least pulled out of the paint to create the most room for a drive from the perimeter. As someone (D?) noted, we often seem to be running a Pistons set where Josh plays Sheed, Bibby plays Rip, and Joe plays Billups. The fact that Josh is in position to take the 3 doesn't mean he should take it, thats his fault on the issue, the fact that he's so often in position to do it is Woody's. Are you actually implying that Woody has never told Josh to do anything? That he literally has no offensive set at all? If thats the case we need to fire him immediately because he's not doing what he's supposed to to earn a paycheck. I'm much more comfortable with what the team is paying him if he just has bad offensive sets than if he's so lazy/stupid that he can't make an offensive set at all.

Joel Anthony? Haha, I know you were kidding.

Yeah, getting to the ECF would mean we knocked off the top team in the league and I'd feel suprisingly confident against either. However, Boston without KG might not be more talented than us so I'd certainly like them... However, that very fact make it unlikely they will make it through.

Haha, congratulations! I hope the Hawks continue to make you money well into the summer months...