gurpilo

I'd love to have him here, but I doubt he sign with us if Joe isn't leaving. If Joe leaves he would be one of the best FA options we would have.

He is a FA this summer, seems that is out of NJ and could be a great adition for us.

He is solid rebounder and shot blocker, shoot at great percentages, can play both PF and C and is still young and developing, just need minutes. He could provide quality minutes from the bench. In his best season he averaged 8 ppg, 8rpg and 1bpg on 25 mpg, those are even starter numbers. We could cut Collins, Morris and J. Smith for him, sign him for 1-1,5 M$ and have roster spots available for other young developing players.

Thoughts?

I completely agree than the pick is Sessions. He is a floor leader, can score, has size, is young an sure can improve a lot. He has no 3pt shot but we have Murray, Joe, Marvin, Mo and could sign ohter player. I don't know about his defense but does not seem that he is a terrible defender, at least he has averaged 1 spg.

I think we could sign him much cheaper than Felton and would allow us to keep some $ to improve at C position. You must remember than althought Felton could be a better defender and even a better player, he is a terrible shooter. I would try to offer Sessions 5 year 25-30 M$, if we fail to sign him I agree that we should go after Felton, Miller, Bibby or Jack.

I voted Sessions. I think is the only guy we could sign for 6 M$ a year that is what I think we should be paying for a PG. He has size, defense, great passing abilities, can score, is young... He would be a perfect addition to the Hawks roster and would add the PG of the future we need.

Hinrich makes 10M$ and we will have to trade for him. However he is a leader an good defender and would give good play for many years but we can have Sessions for free.

Miller would be a great addtion but I´m not sure if he would sign for that money and I doubt how many years he can play at this level

Bibby has played well for us this year, he would be my sedond choice but I doubt he woudl sign for 6M$. He is also getting old and has a history of injuries.

Charlotte would match any offer of 6M$ for Felton and he is a poor shoter. However he would become a good fit for the Hawks and woudl fit the position for years.

I think Kidd would never sign with Atlanta. The rest of the players are worst than Sessions for me so that´s why I picked him.

PG or C.

I like how you say "At C, we still don´t have a true center." Then you go ahead and put Blair, who is 6'7", down for a possible option at center. I don't see Blair being a center in the NBA at all. (For that spot, you can also consider J. Jordan.)

That´s why I said draft Mullens and if he is not available, draft a PG, you should have finished the post.

My opinion is that we should bet on Mullens that is a legit 7 footer with good upside. I still have some faith in Law and think that Bibby could be resigned. Anyway if somehow Lawson drops there forget about Mullens and take him. Also intrigued about Maynor and Flynn and really don´t know if we should take one of them or Mullens, perhaps you guys have a more clear idea than me.

There are two positions we don´t need to cover: SG and PF.

At PG, Bibby ends contract and Acie has not proved to be a starter, it would make sense to draft a PG as this draft has a lot of them

At SF, Marvin also ends contract, we could draft a SF just in case we cannot resign him. Evans can also play the position

At C, we still don´t have a true center.

So here comes the question, who would you draft

PG: Maynor, Teague, Collison, Flynn, Curry

SF: Budinger or Young

C: Mullens, Blair or Brackins

I would personally take Mullens, if he is not available I would draft a PG: Lawson, Maynor or Curry

I expected Bennet to get an invitation to the camp after his performance on the last game, it´s strange they invited Robinson and not Bennet. A little disapointing also the bigs invitations, I don´t think any of them have a chance to make the team. I hoped someone like Justin Williams or Fazekas would get the invitation.

His stats on summer league were impressive 16 ppg, 6rpg for a big guy!!!. Summer league games are often dominated by guards, if a big guy put good numbers you must keep an eye on him. Horford last year was like 10 ppg, 7rpg. Solo has done nothing on it. He was considered fot the starting lineup of the summer league roster. He reminds me Udonis Haslem, same history, undrafted player, plays PF, comes to the Hawks at summer league and does really well. Haslem signed with Miami and put 7ppg, 6 rpg. I wouldn't be surprised if Hunter does something similar, I can understand Sekou's love for the guy.

Both play roles. We have a 15 man roster and I like both these guys more then Hunter and Gardner so honestly there is no reason to cut either of these guys.

There is a reason why Hunter and Gardner outplayed both Mario and Richardson on Summer league. I say cut both of them, they don´t deserve a spot on the current roster. Now let´s try to add someone to help on the post.

Politically, it's not smart to trade Smoove.

Basketball wise, you can make the move make a lot of sense. You can say SMoove for Kaman straight up on Dec. 15....

By basketball reasoning it would make some sense. It gives you classic positions and skillsets.. It gives a big who rebounds, plays defense, and scores.

However, there's the political nature. Smoove is exciting and he places players in seats. He is the face of the team (really). He's not the best player, but he's the most recognizable player. And he "reps" the city strongly. So trading him is not the correct political move. Just like Nique for Manning was a good basketball move (contracts not considered). However, you killed a franchise the day you traded Nique. There are certain players who endear themselves to a city and regardless of what you feel you can get for them, you just don't trade them. Smoove has moved himself into that place.

In that place, you find Cal Ripken Jr., Dale Murphy, Deion Sanders, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Shaq, etc...

I have been pursuing that trade long ago, we would be so much better, we would win like 50 games with Kaman and Horford, that would also allow Marvin to become the 2nd scorer and everybody would be in position. Horford is PF and we all accept that. It's a win situation for us. We all know we should grow around JJ and Horford.

Josh is the face of the team, I recognize that, but I think even all love Josh we all know we will not win any title with him. Probably with Kaman neither but the chances of becoming a contender increases. It's not like you trade the future Lebron James for Chris Laettner. Kaman is 4th or 5th center on the west, on the east he will be on the best 3 centers, it's top 10 talent and contribute both offensively and defensively.

Works for both teams. Hawks finally get an all star quality center, and the Lakers get a perfect compliment for Kobe on the wing. Joe Johnson is great, but I think a center would be more valuable. Horford and Smith get to play their natural positions, and Marvin slides down to be a huge SG.

Bibby

Marvin

Smith

Horford

Gasol

The Lakers would have

Fisher

Kobe

JJ

Odom

Bynum

The key for the Hawks would be Marvin at SG(gasp!). If his jump shot has improved with the extra practice, I think he could play the position. His size and strength will make him very hard to defend for smaller SGs.

The trade is not bad in terms of talent exchange but it is devastating in terms of team´s impact. I really doubt you are serious about playing Marvin at SG and Smith at SF, you must be joking. I would do that trade if Smith is traded for a star SG wich leads me to think that the real trade should be Smith for Gasol and not JJ.

Well, being that we're playing Orlando who will line up:

Either Bogans or Courtney Lee at starting SG, I guess it's possible to go with the minime backcourt. Especially if Speedy is healthy, but I would much rather look at Smoove at Sf and see what Morris can do at Center!!

If everithing is right, Pietrus will be starting at SG, they signed him for that.

As it means to move Smith to SF I say we pick a SF and leave Smith at PF and Horford at C.

If the question is wich is the right move, that is to trade Smith for a starting C.

Interesting, but somewhat meaningless to me. I know absolutely nil about this guy. Info?

He outplayed Richardson and Luke Jackson on summer league, coming off the bench and on limited minutes. He has size for SG position and really can shot, I think he could do same as Salim did, provide spark from the bench but he has the size to play SG. He showed good percentages, Richardson's percentages were terrible.

For information Summer league stats

http://www.nba.com/media/jazz/2008_team_cume_stats.pdf

Have Spurs Tendered Finley Offer?

Aug 09, 2008 6:45 PM EST

The Spurs have tendered an offer to Michael Finley worth the veteran's minimum of $1.3 million, according to The San Antonio Express-News.

If Finley doesn't remain with the Spurs, it's likely that he'll sign with a familiar team. The Mavericks are reportedly contacted the veteran about returning to Dallas.

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives...d_finley_offer/

Couldn't we offer 2M$ to him and sign him, he would be great from the bench playing SF, much better than Jackson and Richardson. I thought he would be making more money but that is a solid cheap solution

How about Nenad Krstic? Is he headed overseas. don't hear much about him.

He signed a contract with a Russian team, forget about him.

Magloire? It has not much sense as we already have two backups C in Zaza and Morris but clearly need a defensive Center. Perhaps we can trade Zaza to OKC for example for Damien Wilkins.

PG- Mike Bibby 14ppg 6.5apg 3rpg

SG- Joe Johnson 23ppg 6apg 5.5rpg

SF- Marvin Williams 17ppg 2apg 6rpg

PF- Josh Smith 20ppg 3.5apg 9rpg

C-Al Horford 13.5ppg 2apg 10.4rpg

BENCH-

PG- Acie Law 7.8ppg 3.6apg 1.0rpg

SG- Maurice Evans 11.2ppg 2.0apg 3.0rpg

SG/SF- Jeremy Richardson(i prefer him over Luke Jackson) 4.0ppg 1.0apg 1.3rpg

PF/C- Randolph Morris 2.0ppg 0.7apg 3rpg(limited playing time) We'll see what kinda time he gets.

C- Zaza Pachulia 5.4ppg 1.0apg 4.6rpg

I prefer we sign Jeremy Richardson over Luke Jackson. I honestly think Jeremy Richardson can be a great player. He's a KNOCK DOWN 3pt/Mid Range shooter that we never use. Believe it or not I also have high hopes for Solomon Jones. We never used him, and I'm pretty sure we will continue not to use him, but there's something about him that i see.

08-09 Record Prediction- 44-38.

Your predictions for Evans are too high and there is no way we can score 116 ppg.

Gardner outplayed what Luke Jackson and Richardson offered on Summer league. If you need a shooter give him a chance, at least he proved he can produce more than Jackson and Richardson. Anyway we still would have to add a backup SF but for me those two guys really cannot provide help. Go and sign a quality cheap player like Gelabale, Dorrell Wright, Kasib Powell or whoever is there to offer any help. That's why I wanted to sign Walter Hermann he could be a backup SF and PF, same as Nocioni does for Chicago.

Currently we clearly need a backup SF and perhaps another big, I don't know after signing Hunter if we are still searching for one.

For SF I would definately consider Gelabale, he is the best FA available right now. I think we can sign him cheap and can do all we would require, defend, shot 3's. Another option could be Dorrel Wright but he is restricted and probably Miami will match and an intriguing prospect would be Kasib Powell. This guy really can play and showed some flashes last year and on summer league. I doubt if Miami signs Dorrell he would also sign Kasib.

For the big some options we could consider is Fazekas, Solo Jones, Magloire, Elson and Harrington. My take would be Fazekas or Magloire depens of what the coach wants. Currently we have 3 centers so I think probably is better to sign a backup PF than another Center so I would go with Fazekas a PF with size and nice shot, he complements Josh very well.

And if you want a shooter forget of Richardson or Luke Jackson. The guy that showed can shot was Thomas Gardner he was deadly from downtown and in limited minutes he outplayed both Richardson and Jackson.

So the lineup would be:

Bibby/Law/Claxton

JJ/Evans/Gardner

Marvin/Gelabale

Smith/Fazekas/Hunter

Horford/Zaza/Morris

About Bennet he only played well one game but he did so well playing the point that he deserves to be followed, he came wild and won the match alone. Probably Richardson also so I say sign and send them to the NBDL.

Another option I would consider and is not such a strange thing if you consider the situation is Shaun Livingston. The guy can play, has a lot of talent and plays PG one of our weakest position. We coul sign him also cheap as nobody is offering him a contract and we have to take into account that next year Bibby ends contract, Claxton probably will not play much and and Law is unproven. Imagine we sign him 3 years 9M$ and he manages to stay healthy 60 games, he could very well average 12ppg, 5rpg, 6apg if given the minutes. I say is low risk at that money and the reward can be HUGE!! Next year we would not have to worry about our starting PG and will have 15M$ of cap space. I say PLEASE SIGN HIM!!!

he was 233 last year and i'm pretty sure he didn't put on the weight to shoot threes. He put it one so he won't get thrown around like a rag doll everytime he drives. He just chose not to shoot threes last year it's not that he can't reach the rim lol

Guys, he simply put weight on as result of natural maduration, he is a 22 year athlete, it's normal that his body will evolve with the years. The thing I wan to see is if he is still as quick as he was with 233 to play SF, that seems he is. He has very good tools to become special, he just have to believe in himself and drive to the rim more consistently (actually he did last year) and add the 3pt shot to his game, he is working on that. Adding this things and if Woody gives him the role he should be (2nd scorer) he will do well.

I have the feeling that with Childress gone he will play more consistently and finally explodes this year. I allways thought he could have something similar McGrady, show some upside the first three years and explode the 4th. Have some faith in the guy, we already lost Paul and Williams, we won't earn anything of hating the guy, he still can be a top SF on the league and I bet he will be here or out of here! (sadly more likely he will become top SF out of here with all the Paul's stuff he has here...)

I agree that having both Evens and Pietrus would have been better than just Evens.

:no-no: I did not say that, I said that for the same money we offered to Chill we could have Evans a Pietrus or even better Azubuike and Pietrus or even better Evan, Hermann and Brown, even if we did not obtain anything for Childress. That's a different argument. In fact I would have tried to trade Childress to NJ for Boone and Marcus Williams that was really a move that would have improved both teams

Again, I like Evans, but there is a reason he was choosing between the worst two franchises in the NBA - Clippers and Hawks.

No, he was chosing between Warriors and Hawks, he simply choose the better contract and that is why GS matched Clippers offer for Azubuike. GS prefered Evans to Azubuike and Pietrus I suppose as they did not try to resign him.

The difference is how these guys get their offense. The Hawks need someone that can come off the bench and create his own shot. Evens is a set shooter who gets point in flow and off of post doubles. Its no wonder he had a very good year in Orlando with Dwight pulling all those double teams.

Pietrus can score off the dribble and get in the lane. Evens is just not that sort of player. Did the Hawks need what Evens can give, sure, but Pietrus can also hit those threes.

One of the reasons that the Hawks lost so much last season is that no one in the second unit could score. JJ plays 40+ minutes because no one can score. The Hawks needed someone that can come in and give points off the bench to help with the long term minutes and to give the team that lift off the bench.

The argument about GS not resigning Pietrus is a non-sequitar. Orlando didn't re-sign Evens either.

I don't see much difference between both of them. Pietrus makes 5M$ if I remember well, he is more a SF than a SG, I think Evans is better defender and you will not get from him twice the production Evans will give you.

I also liked to sign Pietrus even ahead of Childress and that was because he was a cheaper better fit option but the signing of Evans is also great. For the money we offered to Chill we could have Evans and Pietrus or Evans, Hermann and Kwame, sure we will miss Chill but the production of those players combined can give you is better by far than the production Chill gave. The problem with all this is that I have the feeling that ASG will not make anymore than signing Evans and save the rest of the money and that is the main reason why we will miss a lot Chill this season.

And about GS they prefered to sign Evans to a cheaper deal than to sign either Pietrus or Azubuike, there should be a reason for that, eventhough I don't understand the issue with Azubuike, for me he would have been the perfect fit in Atlanta.

But they signed the 6'6" Pietrus, so that blows that theory out of the water. Pietrus is just a better player than Evans, and was the guy the Hawks should have gone after to replace Childress.

Evans is a nice piece, but to say he'll replace what Childress gave is a little much. He will give the Hawks good perimeter play, which the team needed. But he doesn't give them the baseline work that Childress provides. Again, all we have for Childress right now is a CAP-HOLD, which is worthless.

Remember we dont´want either Evans or Pietrus to start. Agree that Pietrus could be better player but why GS did not resign him? The truth here is that we needed a SG not a SF as both JJ and Marvin can play SF and that a bench player should be a cheap player. If you assess production/price Evans is better option than both Pietrus and Childress, that is a fact and nobody can argue about that. Not looking to not spend money just to have as much money as possible to sign your starters.