RedDawg#8

TRUE, BUT the questions was are we a lottery team w/o Joe, not will we make it out of round 1. Im sure we probably will have a hard time in the playoffs but we wont be a lottery team. Also, neither of those guys is as good as Joe, but still made a huge impact on their team making the playoffs. If we lose Joe, those are the type of players we will look at to bring in. One other thing, we still have 2 All-Stars left on our team. And Jamal is just as dangerous of a scorer as anybody in the game. We wont be hurting. We will need another wing to take scoring/ball handling pressure off of Craw but we will be fine.

The Moe Evans idea actually makes sense. He gives us D, spot up shooting, and HUSTLE on the starting unit. I like it

Even with Joe here we never played consistently from night to night. Whether he stays or goes, if this team ever played with 100% concentration and effort each night, we would be a playoff team. Look at the Bobcats as a prime example. Not including Joe we are possibly just as talented. They just play hard every night. What we need most, more than a star player, is a star effort from our young studs. the Blazers (injuries), Bobcats, and Bucks are great examples of teams that won with heart over talent most nights and made the playoffs. The Rockets werent far of either. They are whowe need to imitate if we lose Joe.

And....tho I would never fault a guy, esp. a fellow young African-American male, for getting his education, as I believe it is crucial in our society. But when Marv finally is done with school and can actually focus completely on improving his game during the offseason, I think he could actually reach his adjusted potential. not #2 pick potential however.

Whats crazy is that in that video the announcer at one point says how Marvin is the most talented player on that team (Marvin, Sean May, Rashad McCants, Raymond Felton, Jawad Williams), and until recently he was right. Of course Raymond Felton has proven himself to be a more productive pro, but it was close for a while. Marvin still has a better overall skillset but where it counts, heart, Feltons got him. McCants and May have fallen off the map. Jawad never stood a chance. I think ALL those players were hyped up too much at that time, but I guess winning a ncaa title will do that (cough, cough..Kentucky).

I feel like T. Allen would be a bit redundant. We would then have 3 combo gaurds in addition to 2 pg's, but none that can defend the 3. If we sign another wing not named Joe Johnson he needs to be in the 6'6 to -6'8 height range. Salmons and JChill fit that profile well.

Heres a bright idea, why not just start the best player? Its a catch 22: If Jordan is as ready to play as you say then then we wont be losing any fire power off the bench if he assumes Jamal's old role. If Jordan isnt as ready to play then he needs sit his butt on the bench and learn Im sorry, but how do you explain to the veteran Jamal that youre gonna start his rookie clone instead of him, assuming he doesnt get injured or get outperformed?

Ive been searching high and low to find any info on Pape Sy. All I got was that he played on the Le Havre's junior team, and avg like 5.4 pts. I know that our front office believes he could be a diamond in the rough but I really think if they wanted him that bad, he would have still been there in FA. One thing that worries me is that he is listed as skinny 6'6 wing, but LD said he could play some Center??? Did he by chance confuse him with another player they worked out

53 Wins, yes, I can appreciate that. But often the best player on the floor....naw. He led us in scoring overall, but how many games did you go," Wow, Joe really played great tonite?" I remember a thread this year about how JJ almost never won player of the game honors, it was always Al, Smoove, or Craw. Thats because Joe rarely did anything impactful other than get his or pass out of a triple team to a wide open teamate for an easy dime (if he passed at all). And why cant we singe out one guy for saying that he doesnt care about the fans, then giving a piss poor performance the very next game. Would you rather we cheer that kind of performance? The fans want the team to win, more than the players it seems sometimes. We pay big money to see a winner, they get paid big money to play, not even win. But Joe could care less if we came...smh

I believe Teague can avg more than 5 assists per game. He probably will have less points but each game I can see him having any combination of points and assists that add up to 20. 15-5, 14-6. 13-7, 12-8, etc.

Confidence goes a long way in a players game. I dont think Drew believes Teague is the messiah at point, but he knows that he lost confidence after the stellar preseason he had, and he is trying to bring it back back being vocal in his support of Teague. Teague when he see's these articles and listens to the interviews cant help but feel energized about next season and natural feel better about his own game.

I have always thought we had the talent on this roster to succeed. I feel like against every team we can win (and we proved it by beating every nba team this at least once except OKC) The only thing is consistency. Can we beat those same teams in the playoffs, or on the road??? With our best player/s injured (like Portland). My answer: We can win a title with this lineup, but its gonna take more than talent to do so.

There isnt much room to keep going up when you get 50 wins, Drew does only have to tweak things here and there to make a good thing better. Coaching changes are 2-fold, Players must like their new coach, and the coach also must like the players. We know our roster is flawed as constructed. Why bring in a new coach who will have undoubtly wanted his own players to fit his own style, and would have used that as his excuse for the next 3+ seasons as to why he couldnt succeed when we have a guy who believes he already has the pieces to be successful, knows how to motivate such players, and already had a plan for how to use them and make them better than they were before. Again: 2010-11 Atlanta Hawks= not rebuilding, plan on keeping the same players from 53 win team. Drew= Best person available to evaluate the problems of a 53 win team and help maximize the potential while not disrupting chemistry and the things that got them to 53 wins in the first place. If Drew and or Hawks prove that this team cannot get it done as currently contsructed, we CAN rebuild in the future.

No matter what coach we hired there would have been pros and cons, Drew is no different. BUT the biggest fear concerning him is that he will be the same as the coach that was not brought back after a 53 win season and 3rd best team in the east record wise???? People need to realize that this team is not and was not planning on rebuilding. Therefore there only needed to be tweaks made, not wholesale changes. You take the same roster from a 50+ win team, and bring in somebody who can get better results from those players. That is the goal of the Hawks new coach regardless if he may have worked on the last staff. The advantage that Drew has over any candidate that we could have brought in is that the players he will be coaching in a few months already RESPECT him, Enjoy the scheme he ran in practices, and want him to succeed. Where as any new guy would not know where he stood with this roster until midseason next year Add to that he already KNOWS where the problems are and has been probably planning solutions to our deficiencies for years. (Woody: I dont give s--t about offense." Drew: well, there goes all the work I put into this years new offensive sets, maybe I'll get to use them one day") The thing ppl arent seeing is that Drew's hire is another litmus test for this team which I already stated is not rebuilding RIGHT NOW. Managemnt will see now if Woody was really the problem or if this roster needs to be blown up someday. In which case a brand new coach can be brought in, bring in the players he wants for his system instead of being forced to make it work with somebody elses players. The best thing about this deal is that we arent obligated alot of money to Drew, SO EVEN IF HE DOES FAIL, we can let him go with not much burn.

True, thats quite possible...

a good coach knows how to take advantage of his players strengths and minimize their weakness, and just like every NBA player, Marvin does have some strengths. his weaknesses: Offensive creativity and finishing at the rim were what held him back in the Iso-O. With a structured offense that creates for him, he can effectively be more effective on offense (if that makes sense)

They actually have the video posted on nba.com along with the article about his hire. I like what he did for 2 reasons: 1. It shows that he KNOWS he cant be a Woody repeat and not have an offensive system in place, and he will focus on making that difference clear with the team next year and 2. By using Teague he was demonstrating that Teague has the capapility to run an offense, he has confidence that he can be taught the new system, and he will in effect actually be used next year. Both are things we as fans wanted in the new coach an Offense Somebody to develop Teague

I dont think Ive ever noticed our workout schedule this organized before, its literally: shooting gaurds, forwards, combo gaurds, power forwards, Wings, small forwards, power forwards, then 2 even teams of 4 with 1 C, PF, SF and PG on each side. Our staff will get a great head to head look in these workouts as the talent seems matched up very well size and skill wise.

I agree, his game is not built for an ISO system, He has a hutslte and tenacity about him and I know he was frustrated having to sit on the bench alot of the game and watch other players half *ss it on the court. You dont have to be an all star coming of the bench to be effective, just be active and hustle, look at Glenn Davis, Reddick, Dragic, etc. I think ppl have been fooled by the Woody mindset, that if a player isnt a proven vet, with iso skills, they cant be trusted on the court. A real coach gets the most out of a player like Evans.

I believe that any player will increase his effeciency when there is an actual system in place that takes advantage of his strengths. I also think that the best players HAVE to be able to be creative once the original play fails. JJ was one of the leagues best shooters in PHX, and once he came here he became one the the better 1 on 1 guys (something he didnt do much of PHX). So in a system that is designed to get him OPEN shots on a regular basis, I would say he could be even better than he was under Woody, because even if he isnt able to get open he has shown the ability to create shots for himself. Basically combining his strengths from his past two systems by not making him work hard every possession to score a bucket, until cruch time or blown plays.

Its funny that this question is asked, because as I watch the playoffs, the more I am convinced that the difference between us and the teams still playing isnt based on talent. Far from it. Our problems are intangibles, things like heart, hustle, leadership, toughness, agression, IQ, preparedness, and adjustments. The players that I see making a difference on other teams wouldnt even have gotten playing time on our roster. Dragic, Glen Davis, Reddick all play with great intangibles. So to answer the question, I wouldnt change the talent we have wholesale like some suggest. We still have one of the most athletic rosters top to bottom. We have youth on our side as well. In particular: Horford- may be out of position but is a keeper all the way around Smith- has all-nba talent and athleticism, needs to get his head on straight before its too late, keeper unless we can get a difference maker at Center for him Williams- solid all around game, needs to add aggression and confidence to his game, keeper unless he can be moved for a big/pg JJ- All star, would be hard to replace Bibby- has more left in the tank than we give him credit for. His defense would not be such liability in the right system (zone) Crawford- great 6th man, definately a keeper in the same role he had this year Teague- has the talent to be the pg most ppl here want, just needs the chance. ive seen too much potential to think otherwise Morris- Played very well this year and DESERVED to get more playing time, I blame Woodson for that. Did anybody else notice how much he improved but me? West- Since he first made the team I believed he should have gotten more PT. There doesnt need to be 5 scorers on the floor at all times, but since there was no offensive system and at any random moment every player had to be able to score he couldnt get on the court, even though he plays better defense with more heart and energy than anybody else on our team. ZaZa- im dissappointed in his year, but hopefully he bounces back, he is under contract regardless. all are keepers, just need more direction

Of the first five teams picking in this draft, we know 2 them will select a big in Favors and Cousins, that means we may be able to trade for one of that team's current centers. Washington Philadelphia New Jersey Minnesota Sacramento we know that Wall will probably go 1, so of the remaining teams who will likely select 1 of the 2 bigs mentioned, we could trade a second tier player for their following players: (in parenthesis are their other centers who we are very unlikey to get from them, unless say we package Smoove) 2.Philadelphia: Maurice Speights- 6-10, 245, seldom used poor mans Al Horford (Samuel Dalembert) 3.New Jersey: Yi Jianlian- 7-1, 250, needs no description (Brook Lopez) 4.Minny: Ryan Hollins- 7-0, 230, great length, not very productive (Al Jefferson) 5.Sacramento: Jason Thompson- 6-11, 250, young athletic center who could develop into a beast (Spencer Hawes) Now me personally, I would love to get Jason Thompson. Him or the centers I coveted in another thread, Javale McGee, and DeAndre Jordan. They all have 3 things in common, SIZE, Youth and Athleticism. Paired with Horford we would still have a young and athletic frontline, but now we would have the SIZE we have been missing with the Smoove/Horf combo. Over time we could be a dominating post team. If we are able to keep Smith, then him and Horf along with one of the other listed bigs would be a great rotation as well.

Im in favor of trading Smoove for a center, mainly because of despite his physical superiority, he is very limited mentally and it continues to show. I really like Javale McGee, esp in the last game we played them in Was I really like the physical attributes of DeAndre Jordan, dude is like Dwight Howard-lite at this point in his career, they would be fun going up against one another and next to Horford we would have a formidable front line. Those would be my top 2 centers to trade for if we could get them and a throw in player for Smooth. They both bring MORE size as well as athleticism to our center position.

I thought I was the only on who noticed this. Josh probably attempted at least 5 3-point shots against the Bucks, after only attempting 7 all season.

The Magic's defense is very underated. Their defense is the reason we were blown out this year. It wasnt like we were in a shootout and they ran away with it, they stopped us from scoring and ran away with it. That said, we cant be afraid to challenge Dwight, and we can not turn into a jump shooting team whenever he gets physical with our bigs because it will happen and we wont always be able to hit from the outside. We cant expect JJ and Craw to shoot out their minds this series because as history shows, whenever we need jumpshots this year, we tend not to get them. We arent very clutch shooters (not 4th quarter clutch, but 1st half we need a big 3 to keeo the score close clutch). My opinion: Feed the ball to Smith/Williams in the paint EVERY possesion, let them operate in the post and find the CUTTER (something we havent done much of this year). Let Horford stand in his midrange area ready for the pass. Let Bibby spread the D. Whichever players dont have the ball, they need to be driving the baseline and slicing the lane. If we cant cant manufacture easy baskets, we will fall behind fast. WE DONT NEED TO RELY ON THE OUTSIDE SHOT. Let the outside shots come to us, they will be more in rythym. Most importantly, get defensive stops and RUN. Even If Dwight dunks, RUN back down the court while he is pounding his chest. RUN RUN RUN Hawks. Something we havent done as much lately.