Atlsportfanz

Suprised to see Mo with so many and Joe with so few. I would have thought he would have had around 30 or so. But I guess he usually lays it up rather then dunk it.

It won't matter that the Hawks will only dress 11 unless Woodson actually decides to use his bench this season. If we continue to go with a 8 or 9 man rotation, those extra spots might as well get comfortable because after warm-ups, they're not likely to break another sweat.

It was nice to win but come on!! You can't put much stock into the team's efforts tonight. Rip and Rasheed didn't play and Detroit featured the bottom end of their bench. If ZaZa and Flip (I mention them because everyone else has) can't do well, they never will.

I look at Acie as kind of a left-handed Mark Jackson. Big enough to back down other pg's in the paint and yet quick enough to penetrate and dish. He'll probably never be a 20 ppg scorer but 10-13 with 7-8 assists (when he gets the full time job) would be satisfactory.

all the experts have us finishing between 7th to 13th!!!! 13th, are u kidding me???

I really hope all these "experts" come up dead wrong about our bench. Plus, we could add some vet players later in the year like the Celtics did last season with Cassell and P.J. Brown. I'm not sure who's out there but their's always a few waiting on a playoff calibur team to call.

I wanted Dorsey only because Qb's are so hit or miss. However, I'm very glad it was a hit!

I did push for Horford though. I didn't think Conley had the outside jumper that would stretch a defense.

yeah, it seems to me that he really hasn't looked at our team or any other one for that matter. He said if the Hawks suffer a major injury, they're through. But that can be said of nearly every team in the NBA. What happens to the Cavs is Lebron goes down? or the Magic is Howard is hurt? We'll see about the Wizards and Golden State. Chances are they'll stumble for a while until they figure out how to make up for their losses.

I can understand the "no bench" comment because no one is really proven other than Evans. But Bibby on the downside. Is he a superstar? No, but that doesn't make him washed up. He's younger than Billups, A. Miller, Kidd, Nash, and Iverson. And every team would want those players despite their age.

If he's healthy this year, which he appears to be, I'm looking for a very strong year.

Well, I tried. But of course Ford just spewed his typical "hate the Hawks" rhetoric.

Daniel (Atlanta, GA): Got any love for the Hawks this year? Can they make the playoffs again? And is this the year that Josh Smith becomes a superstar?

Chad Ford: (1:26 PM ET ) Really? I have to love them? I don't actually. I think the loss of Josh Childress really hurt and I think that Mike Bibby's on the downside of his career. They have no bench. One major injury and they're toast. Let's all hope Acie Law shows some signs of life this year ... because Rodney Stuckey (the guy they passed on to draft Law) is looking like a good candidate for sixth man of the year.

You almost got to consider playing Orlando the way teams played Shaq early in his career. I'm not suggesting Hack a Shaq but shut down everyone else (or at least hold them under their normal averages), especially Hedo and Lewis and you should have a fighting shot.

Give up 30 and 15 to Howard but don't let the other guys go off on you. Most teams want to double team him so much they just leave all these spot up shooters open and get blown out the building. Just Hope that Horford or ZaZa can play him tough, try to keep him from getting deep position in the paint and lock down on your outside shooters.

Yeah, 17 is a bit much. He better be a true superstar for anyone to offer that. And Bynum never will be on the Lakers. He's going to be the 3rd, maybe 4th option behind Kobe, Gasol, and possibly Odom. I'd say 10-12. Big talented Centers are hard to come by so I could see the Lakers going as high as 12 million.

Planning to see it on Sunday. Your summary is about the same expectations that I had for it.

I may go see this tonight since MNF looks like a snooze fest. Browns are playing horrible and I can't stand the Giants.

It's not a true superhero movie but more of an origins movie. It spends a lot of time telling about how Iron Man came to be. I've never been a big fan of Downey but he is great in this movie. If you do watch it, make sure you watch through the credits. Sneak Peak!!

I've been saying it since Childress left that if this team is going to make another playoff run, Law has to be the true 6th man with Evans, Murray, and Pachulia playing solid minutes.

My belief is for our bench to truly be considered deep either Morris or Solo are going to have to be able to contribute. We've got to have more than ZaZa coming in and manning the post. Otherwise, Smith and Horford are going to wear down over the season. Or heaven forbid one of them get hurt and we're forced to start ZaZa and have no one else to replace them.

We should be fine with Law, Evans, and Murray. We need our back-up bigs to produce and give quality minutes for us to be strong playoff contenders.

I really do hope that Mario gets the last spot on the roster. I love watching his energy and it will be a great pick me up at the end of games or in the middle of the season when guys are wearing down and hitting the wall.

Another really cool addition to 2k this year is that they have added +/- for every player for each game plus they have added efficiency, pure point rating, true shooting %, effective fg%, assist ratio, turnover ratio, and possessions. So far my 1-5 Hawks are being lead in many categories by Josh Smith with big Al a little behind him. I'm having a lot of difficulty scoring with Joe Johnson but I seem to remember it was that way last year until I learned his shot so hopefully he'll come around but until then he's killing me missing so many jump shots.

Yeah, I struggled with him initially as well. I had to drive to the whole to score because I couldn't hit a jumper. You have to release just before he gets to the top of his jump. I mean, a split second. You wouldn't believe how many wide open 3's I bricked trying to figure out his release point.

by the way, have you tried the coaching development? Every time I try the game freezes.

Yeah that's pretty much been my experience as well. The best thing you can do is put a body on them before they get into position on the low block and box them out if a shot goes up.

Wait till you play the Hornets, they absolutely murdered me in the 2nd half as Petersen and Posey combined for almost 70 points because my guys kept trying to "help" me on Chandler (I like to play as Horford) so they kept leaving them open and freaking Chris Paul had 28 assists :(

I was playing the Hornets before my lunch break ended and Chandler was destroying me on the defensive end. He had like 8 blocks at halftime. And Peterson had 3 three's. I kept Paul in Check. Used Bibby and made him take the outside jumper.

Oh, if you go to coaching, (i think it's pressure/non pressure) you can set how you want your guys to man up. for instance you might want Joe to play Mo Pete tight since he's not really going to drive past anyone. And you can tell Horford to deny Chandler the ball.

Also, every time a time out is called, click the left trigger on 360 and you can choose an area you want to focus on. Shot selection, defense, and a couple of others. I've usually picked defense and they come out of the time out and start locking down guys and creating turnovers.

Yeah, the rosters need to be tweaked. Salm is still on the roster. Morris and Hunter aren't. I just played a game on my lunch break.

Man, it's hard to stop the top PF's and C's. Brand and Howard have absolutely murdered me. They just back Horford and Smith down so low I can't stop them. But I always beat them back down the court.

Played my first game of 2k9 with the Hawks yesterday against the Magic. JJ had 30 (most of that came from the foul line as I was able to draw a foul with him almost anytime I wanted). But Josh had a monster game. 21 points, 7 boards, 7 assists, 2 steals, and 5 blocks. Seemed like a statline that he put up more than a few times last season. I even had back-to-back blocks against Dwight Howard.

I was excited by the play of our bench as well. The only one thing that disappointed me was the lack of playing time for Morris. I was hoping he would get 10 min's or so. But he did well with the 4 or 5 he got.

Only if Woody lets the team run like we did against Boston. If we play his usual snail's pace, there's no way we'll do it. But since we're probably among the top 3 most athletic squads, if we play uptempo ala Phoenix before Shaq, there's a slim chance.

I couldn't agree more about Law. We may say that Evans is our 6th man but if we are going to be a playoff team, I think it is Acie who has to become that true 6th man. If he could average 10 and 4 a night while locking down the other teams point guard, I would be estatic.

Grimes needs to be removed from starting cb. Hopefully, Foxworth can take his position. And sadly, I think we're going to have to start looking at DE's again unless Anderson can somehow turn it around. Hate to have his big contract sitting on the bench and not producing but that's probably the case.