tremor

I'm also optimistic, just not third best team optimistic. 4-5 seed isn't bad either.

He might have lost some fat but add muscles thus losing not so much of his weight. He looks better, you can tell the difference right away.

One of the greatest dunks ever.

Getting Melo means hitting critical mess for Nets. After moving to NY they'll easily bring another star and some veterans next year to complete roster. Maybe even Chris Paul. I don't know, Cats are half court offense, well defending team.

On OS overall ratings of starting fives were posted: starting fives ratings Hawks are rated as follows: Bibby 73 Johnson 88 Williams 66 Smith 83 Horford 78 9 players are rated higher than JJ. Marv's rating is brutal.

That's just great: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Znnoebfh6VI Dude deserves his own pinned thread IMO.

After release of the demo the game has excellent reviews. Some already dubbed it as the best basketball simulation ever. Nearly every aspect of the game improved since 2k10. Elite 11 is Live rewritten from scratch, and seems to be not finished yet. Reviews are devastating, although some players like the new control system, which has steep learning curve unfortunately.

Which for me translates to one regular season credit of (almost) unlimited trust and patience. Unless teams totally collapses I'll be behind him this season. The play offs is what I'll judge LD on.

With those teams being stronger there won't be Fab-Four in the East anymore, but six team competing for 1-6 PO spots (or five teams battling for 2-6 if you will) and several next competing for last 2 spots - Bobcats, Knicks, Wizards, maybe 76ers. I believe that Hawks will take either 4th or 5th spot but they are always rated lower that their actual potential by so called experts.

Finally I know how to pronounce his name. I'm excited about this signing because that's something unusual, a mystery, and bold move from Drew. You can tell from this move that new coach has strong personality (while being also nice person, which is rare). Both our rooks can play on the both side of the ball and are hard workers and are well suited for fast paced offense with exchangeable roles (Teague fits the bill too). One thing's sure - Pop got the contract because he showed tremendous dedication. And that's what makes talented players great. We just don't know yet how talented is he.

That's surprising move, not in Hawks management style, but it's positive surprise. All our three youngsters are able to play at least decent D, another good sign.

Ethan actively supported Obama in his campaign which might be actual reason for the invitation. He was also present at Sikh youth mentoring lunch at the White House. You should find this interview interesting. Very sensitive guy with good taste in RAP IMO. This anti death penalty article is well written too.

He has some talent.

I wouldn't draw conclusions from single game in which Gortat got 2 quick fouls. In rematch in Poland: Zaza: 8 (1/10 FG) pts, 7 rebs, and 0 blocks (0 in first game) in 32 minutes Gortat: 17 pts, 8 rebs, and 4 blocks (2 in first game) in 35 minutes Stats from 8 games: Zaza: 15.8 (48% FG) pts, 7.5 rebs, and 0.5 blocks in 28 minutes Gortat: 18 (65.5% FG) pts, 8.9 rebs, and 2.3 blocks in 35 minutes

The book got very good reviews and has sold out. Can anyone post a sample poem?

This signing makes me question even more former acquisition of by far the worst Hawks player in recent years - Jason Collins.

Actually JJ is one of the best (the best last season) in the league when shooting off the pick'n'roll situation.

Same here but I believe outside of Atlanta Boozer is considered as better player.

Every Hawks would agree. Bosh and Boozer's numbers will drop. Former will have less opportunities to score and later will play alongside with well rebounding C and shoot first PG, neither is half a defender Josh is.

I think it's pretty fair assessment of how Josh ranks in the league right now. The good news is he still has potential and time to improve his game.

Have Hawks peaked? Maybe. They won't win East? I guess so. But they finished 6th (ex equo with two teams in Western Conf.) last season and qualified to second round of play offs along with other 7 teams in the league. 15th rank is actually huge drop and the only reason given is because Chicago and Milwaukee got better and assumption that West is always better than East. I would argue that the only two teams clearly better than Hawks in the Western Conference are Lakers and Mavericks. Suns (no Amare, aging Nash), Nuggets (aging Martin and Billups, chemistry issues) and Jazz (Boozer > Jefferson) actually got worse, Trail Blazers (health?), Thunder (growth from within) and Rockets (healthy Yao) might compete with Hawks record wise but I'd give our boys benefit of the doubt. Anyway, even assuming that there are 6 teams better in the East and 5 in the West we're still at 12th not 15th spot in rather pessimistic prediction while 9th record seem to be more balanced prediction.

Josh played vast majority of his minutes at PF last season. He used to play SF early in his career. Usually you'll see him listed as PF/SF (e.g. at Yahoo) or just PF (ESPN). I can't recall him to play any guard position even one single time. BTW good luck to Lithuania in upcoming FIBA World Championship. Interesting group. I expect your team to win 3 games (Lebanon, New Zealand and one of France/Canada).

Jamal Crawford The Difference? I like him but c'mon. This team won 47 games season before and had second round exit despite numerous injuries throughout, and won 6 games more and had unforgettable performance in play offs with Craw on the board. He's not the answer to Hawks issues (I believe also a little overrated by some fans) so if trading him can bring valuable assets I wouldn't hesitate. And Al's top priority, no discussion here.

Neither do I. Learning comes with mistakes and those have to be allowed for the team (esp. young players) to progress. Actually I expect below 50 wins in RS. I'll judge Drew not earlier than after offseason. Players trust him, I hope he'll be able maintain authority in long run.

They don't have to copycat MJ and Scottie to succeed. The issue here is to agree on who what role plays (and what roles are to be played). One time they'll choose Dwane, another James. What's the problem with taking such decision? Opponents will have to choose who should be guarded by their best on-ball defender. My son has PSP and I admit - I played Tekken 6 but there wasn't any second unit in it. I might have used wrong term (which is usually used to describe set of 5 players that are reserves for 5 positions on the court) but you don't have to act like that. Imagine, I did it because of laziness, not ignorance. What I meant (and you could have guessed) is the time when majority of the players on court are reserves and given team's best scorer is on the bench (in Hawks case last season it was usually Josh (+ Marvin/Mike) + Jamal, Zaza, Mo/Jeff. So, our reserves which, according to some, gave up too many leads in second half, might face this season Heat's reserves (Arroyo/House, Miller, Haslem, Anthony/Howard) lead by James/Wade. To have tools is one thing, but to use them is another. Good ball movement is needed to find open man when playing against zone. Miami will have to learn to do this (or will grasp this instinctively). Here's hoping that with new offensive system Hawks will learn too.