JTB

Shit at number 8 if embiid is there...you trade up to get him especially if it's for an unproven yet high potential pg in Dennis. I'm ok if we traded up to get embiid and we are able to keep horford and sap! Talk about one of the best big man rotations in the nba.

Oh boy my post may possibly start an argument, so here goes nothing.... I like Dennis, I really do and I think he's under a coach that can get the best out of him and in the long run will be better than Teague. BUT..., If ferry can trade Dennis for the number 8 pick and smart is sitting there, it's a no brainier trade to me. Again I like Dennis but I see Dwayne wade potential in Marcus smart, I really do. If your the gm you mean to tell me you are willing to hold on to a project pg over a guard like smart with a wade like style?! If so...it's funny how so many on this board would trade a proven injured horford for an unproven possible potential Hakeem Olajuwon player like embiid....,I mean with Dennis and smart it's the same thing but with guards.

This! Im done with Joel officially now…..he has skills to be great no doubt but I rather deal with Al's pec injuries over a BIG mans foot injury. Al's pec injury is very uncommon though it has happened twice I think its the way he works out and he just need to change how he lifts heavy weights or just back away from it all together.

I still feel the same as far as being up and down with drafting embiid. All I can truly say out of honesty as a hawks fan is that if ferry checks out embiid and his back is truly fine and went all out to draft the kid and for some reason he get injuries that hurts his career....I can't blame ferry. Embiid if healthy is a lock to be a superstar if coached properly. I haven't seen a more polished big man than embiid in a very very long time. It feels like he is worth the risk then again it's scary to draft him at the same time.

Honestly I don't know...I said that too but then I looked at the situation and lebron honestly need wade and bosh to opt out and take a paycut probably around 12m while lebron earns about 17-18m. So that they can use that extra cap for some quality players. But looking at wades situation, he can make 40m over the next 2 seasons and he's not worth that at this point in his career. Ultimately wade can handicap Miami over the next 2 seasons as well as bosh. If they truly want to win for years to come. Wade and bosh opt out and accept 12m contracts to free up cap space for quality players...if they really want to win. Personally I think it's hard to tell what wade is going to do. As for bosh I can see that he will likely opt in for the money, which will hurt the team.

I'm aware of that...just putting it out there that we have a team that fits his style of play and skill set. I've been a hawks fan long enough to know big time free agents don't actually really consider us so I'm not arguing with you there. That was really just a "dream post"....and showing how I think lebron fits perfectly with this hawks team regardless of what anybody says.

Not going to lie...I'm with nbasupe on this one even though I know it's not going to happen. But @ points about lebron putting us over the top is right on point though I think lebron could turn any east team into a 1-3 seed in the weak east but maybe not as an actual championship contender just playoff team. Anyways I like nbasupes points: -we have depth -we have a real system like the spurs -we have elite coaching -we have 2 sure all stars paired by lebron in sap/horford (they actually both compliment lebron better than wade and bosh) -we have a point guard (Teague) who can penetrate the lane like crazy and create for others as well as possibly being an all star next season himself -our players BBIQ is high on this team .....I mean we have a good team here that's a great team by adding lebron. Pg-Teague Sg-DMC Sf-Lebron Pf-Sap C-Horford Bench Pg-Dennis/Mack Sg-Korver/Jenkins (Lou would be traded away in this dream situation) Sf-draft pick #15 Pf-brand (resigns)/Scott C-Pero (3pt big man)/Bebe (rim protector) Very very great all around team...coach buds spurs like system and the draft pick would also help put the team over the top if he can defend well. Again I know this will never happen but just a FYI to the squawk, lebron coming here would be smarter than most of you think.

I agree and I really like embiid...a lot! I think....(scratch that)...I know he has the most upside in this whole draft and can be a future hall of famer in the nba one day. BUT I fear embiid is injury prone. His back problems scare me away from him! While he has potential to be a superstar in this nba league no doubt I would possibly if not surely pass on him for Parker or wiggins. However if ferry did have a chance to draft him and does draft him and for some crazy reason embiid has a major injury that sets him back from being the player he can be...I honestly would not blame ferry for picking him. With embiid I'm just up and down everytime.

Honestly I fear both good and bad situations for the hawks. On one hand if ferry can trade horford for the number one pick...I fear that pick might be a bust or get injured. I like all top 3 guys but 1 huge thing about each player scares me if we are able to get the number 1 pick. Embiid-I worry that he's another BIG that will get injured and stay injured like an Andrew Bogut or Greg Oden. Parker- I worry that he may be a better fit at PF than at SF. Many analyst are saying he's a better PF and I fear he may have lost his touch at the SF position after playing PF at duke all year. (We don't need another PF) Wiggins-I fear will take too long to get his offense game going. Honestly I don't see wiggins as a potential 20pt scorer once drafted like I do Parker. Wiggins is really going to have to find his offense game in the nba. Right now he has no go to moves that excite me though he's an athletic freak. I like more about these 3 than I dislike, just saying I don't want to see the hawks get burned if horford comes back healthy and we end up with another top draft bust, but I know ferry will have to take a risk at some point to get this hawks team to next level.

Oh ok....thanks for clearing that up. This whole time I had it wrong. Well let me change what I said earlier. If ferry or any gm thinks lebron or melo would take their team to championship contender instantly once signed than you do whatever it takes to get under the cap to sign them and you commit to them that you will go into the lux tax to surround talent around them. Same process basically. If I'm a gm in the nba and our franchise is serious about winning. I would convince owners to do this. I mean you aren't guranteed championships but then again you could be if you are willing to pay lux tax and put the right talent on the court that fits together. (I get that money is an issue for most franchises though...and this is why I expect to see more paycuts around the nba like what the spurs had to do)

True which is probably why ferry is trying hard now. Personally I don't think there were any good offers for smith and I think just letting help walk didn't effect us since ferry picked up a better player in milsap. Also ferry may gamble on keeping horford if he can't find a trade for Jim he likes and if horford goes through the next season without any injury successfully I can see ferry keeping him around.

Sounds to me that ferry knows he can move horford and his reasonable contract to crack into the top 10...well I'm glad the draft is around the corner, so we will know what happens very soon.

I'm loving this thread! I agree with you here...melo can make this hawks offense virtually unguardable with a theme of "out score you efficiently"...I easily see that possible as long as melo buys into coach buds team system. Defense would be the downfall here like you mentioned. However I have seen melo actually play defense well especially the year he got the nuggets to the WCF against the lakers. So while I can say melo is a bad defender, I also believe it takes the right coach to get him to actually even commit to playing defense. Lebron is a whole different story. Him and DMC would lock the perimeter down and on offense lebron, sap, horford in the front court would be the best in the league.

Love it!!!...EXCELLENT post!!!....i think these are great sale pitches for all these guys.

It takes the right coach and team to change him. If he's serious about winning a ring, he should be serious about changing his style of play. He's already said he's serious about winning a ring.

We may not have the cap but I will say this. If you feel that you have a team that can be a championship team by adding one of these stars than you go into the lux tax to get your guy. You go into the lux tax to get your player if and only if you feel that player has the ability to work with your current group to be a definite nba championship contender. If I'm ferry and I have Sap (all-star), Horford (all-star), Teague (quality guard and potential all-star), Korver (surely a top 5 3pt shooter no doubt), DMC (very underrated defender with an improved shot), Coach Bud (great coach and great team system)....then yeah I'm making my sales pitch to owners to pay the lux tax for a guy like lebron or melo if I truly feel they can make us nba championship contenders instantly from the time they are signed. Just my two scents...the nba isn't like the nfl, you have to take advantage of the opportunity. Waiting for a high draft pick to turn into a star is very likely not to happen in nba but nfl you have a 50-50 chance each and every off season.

I can't take this guy seriously...the heat got they ass beat so bad to point where I would say it doesn't really matter if their big 3 returns they aren't going to get too far with all those shitty role players and the 3 of them taking up all the cap space. Spurs are the best team top to bottom and likely will remain that next season.

Maybe you are right but I hope you are very wrong about bebe. I hope everytime he gets an opportunity from bud he plays with engine similar to Noah.....that will get him on the court quick! A non stop hustling engine every possession like game (Noah's greatest strength in my opinion...."extremely high motor")

How do we know sap and horford just won't take a paycut of 10mil cause they want an opportunity to win? I mean these guys seem like the type that's truly about winning first and money second. I bet sap signs back for 10 mil as well as horford. At some point these players all over the nba got to realize the spurs are contenders every year because guys take huge paycuts to be contenders every year! Not the only reason of course but it's one of them.

I wouldn't care as long as we have a good big man rotation going into next season. Horford can play center just fine. But throughout the game or when a bigger center is in we need our tiago splitter...or sometimes when the shot blocker like ibaka is controlling the post we need our Matt bonner to spread the floor. The pf and center position is a rotation thing now in the nba unlike back in the day when you would have your main two guys at pf/c. Duncan is the do it all that can play both pf & c along with whatever situational rotation big, pop decides to go with and horford is will be our do it all big man for pf/c. SPURS POST Rotation- Duncan (center) + Point forward big (diaw) Duncan (center) + 3pt shooting/spread floor big (bonner) Duncan (PF) + true center (splitter) Ultra small ball defense lineup Duncan (center) + Kwahi (pf) + ginobli (sf) + mills (sg) + Parker (pg) They have four bigs including Duncan that all have different skill sets surrounded around Duncan that can get it done in a different way. The hawks already got 3 that's able to do some of these things in sap, horford, Antić. We are missing the true center size and the point forward bigs.

I agree but I feel like you underestimated or did not even mention the fact that sap is a good scorer in the post. Sap actually does a fantastic job taking bigs slower than him off the dribble to the goal...so for that I would say horford, sap both can do a good amount of damage in the post on offense. CRAFTY.....is the word I'm looking for, for sap when he's in the post against a slower or not as good defender and he makes them pay. Example:Hibbert on sap in the playoffs. Sap took him to the goal repeatedly because he was slower though Hibbert is known as a good defender.

I agree...kind of just wishful thinking that sap could be a point forward but I'm sure he's got the BBIQ to make the smart pass.

Heard Malik say on nba radio that the spurs had been secretly targeting Boris Diaw back in like 2005 up until the time they got him. When he made that comment I instantly thought of bud/ferry comments when we signed sap. If I'm not mistaking I recall bud saying in an interview before a hawks game that sap was a long time target for the spurs. It's interesting to me because when I put the two together I really see sap as a part of the future in ATL. I think bud may try to use sap as a point forward. He doesn't have the passing skills of diaw but he does have a high BBIQ that bud and crew can work with and do more. Thoughts?

I know that Duncan and Parker are sure future hall of famers. Once again I said something that was taken the wrong way. Hawks are far away from contending like the spurs but it's not fair to say "ok hawks in order to win an nba championship we need two sure hall of famers like Duncan and Parker. A 3rd possible hall of famer in ginobli and a stud for sure future all star in Kwahi".....come on guys! It's foolish to think we are going to get hall of fame players. I'm just making the case for the hawks as I rather see bud/ferry get 3-4 all star players and a deep ass bench opposed to doing something like the heat and have all our money tied into 3 superstars with a weak ass bench. If the hawks can get a young player to start out as an all star at a very young age he very well could be a HOF talent by the time he's 28/29. Just saying this series proves that a complete team over 3 stars is the way to go.

These stories are great that I've read so far. I met Philadelphia Eagles WR Jeremy Maclin. He was actually a QB at kirkwood high school facing my school in the State Championship. Also @LamarHampton....I met chili from TLC too just a few years ago. I was in a grocery store somewhere in ATL visiting family, I walk over to the next aisle and there she was. I didn't approach her cause she looked pretty serious doing her grocery shopping, however My cousin and I did stock her a couple aisle to make sure it was her. Lol Also met NFL linebacker mike jones (several times he came to my high school) who was the nfl player that had the game saving tackle on Kevin dyson in the rams vs titans Super Bowl on the final play of the game.