Watchman

Few people are as inept as Isiah Thomas. Al already has gimpy knees at age 25. If others on this board are to be believed, we don't gain anything when Al is on the floor. He bogs down the offense, plays terrible defense. I can't imagine anyone wanting 6 years of that.

Who in the world would be stupid enough to give Al a six year contract anyway?

We'll probably get Stephen Jackson back. He is the right height you know.

at least had a set of tangible blueprints off of which they proceeded. Billy has told us not one thing about what his supposed "vision" of the team is. All we see is that he likes tweener forwards. How many DECADES is this "rebuilding" process going to take? Since no Al trade was made, I guess Billy has shown us that he really likes a team consisting of 6'7" - 6'9" forwards. I look forward to next year's draft when we get yet another small or tweener forward.

Phoenix improved greatly in one season. They signed a free agent point guard. Not Shaq. All I'm saying is "where's the blueprint" that everyone keeps talking about? It certainly isn't very apparent to me. It appears to be win by having 12 6'8" guys. Not much of a blueprint if you ask me.

I was just pointing out that Smith has a pretty low shooting percentage for a 4. Everyone knows Smith is a better defender than Pachulia.

Everyone on the board says so. He certainly doesn't rebound or have a low post game like a 4.

maddening inconsistency? I watch games, do you? We squeak out a good win against Detroit, then suck against two of the worst teams in the league. If the losses had even been close, it would have been understandable, but they weren't even close.

Earlier someone trashed Pachulia for only shooting 42% as a big man. Guess what, the "power forward of the future" shoots 42% too.

Quote: I'm looking for what we will be long term, and the future of Atlanta Hawks basketball is very bright. On what do you base this conclusion about the Hawks' future. We look like what we are: a bargain basement team full of 6'8" kids, with no balance between veterans and youth. The players we drafted last year have not improved, and if anything, declined. What looks so bright about that to you? "Teams" are not constructed of 12 small forwards. Quote: Turnarounds don't happen that fast in reality. Uh, see Denver, Phoenix, Memphis, et al. The bottom line is, it does happen, just not for us because our front office continues to be clueless.

Quote: Griffin is a nobody. He would just take minutes away from Smoove who is already better then he is. ROTFL - where do you get this stuff? Uh, last time I checked Griffin rebounds much better than Smoove and blocks the same number of shots in seven less minutes per game. If Smoove is going to be our power forward, he needs to learn how to rebound, and fast.

with losing for more than a decade before we finally make it to .500. If the players have now are not capable of winning, why would we conclude that year after year of drafting "projects" who play positions that we already have an overabundance of now, are going to become winners. I could care less whose "regime" was responsible for the losing record. Considering that the team was gutted, all this "potential" was obtained in the draft, and we paid $70 million for a supposed superstar, we should be closer to .500 now. A reasonable win total for this year would have been 35 to 38 wins. I would have been content with that, and will be if we make it there. However, this team has looked like a bunch of clueless idiots from the time we drafted Jason Terry. It's like the organization simply does not know how to win anymore. The new "regime" has done nothing to change that. If you're thrilled with 25 wins, I'm proud for you. However, I prefer a resumption of this team's winning heritage. It should not take this long to rehabilitate this pathetic franchise. We are the laughingstock of the league - "Clippers East." How embarrassing. Seven years of losing is long enough. Regardless of which incompentent GM or coach we have.

I really take issue with the condescending "instant gratification" jabs. We have sucked for seven seasons in a row now. Prior to that time, we had seven straight years over .500, and thirteen of the last fourteen. During that period we had eight seasons with a winning percentage of .600 or more. I have been a Hawks fan since the early 70s, and I don't call expecting them to return to that level of play, after all these years of stinking up the joint, "instant gratification." Everyone complains about how bad the Atlanta fans are. This long-term run of bad teams is not helping that at all. I think if they had a good team, attendance would improve. If we suck too long, there will be no fans at all, and it wouldn't surprise me to see the franchise moved to another city. Which brings us to another question. Let's say we end up in the lottery again. We end up with yet another small forward project. We still never address our needs, and we cannot get equal value in trades, because there is a glut of tweener swingmen in the league. After a while, we have got to get some veteran players to balance out the youth and to provide leadership. We don't need more and more "project" draft choices. We have not significantly improved after signing a "max contract" player. We need more high quality players "max contract" level players, not the eternal wait for some more kids to prove whether or not they were worth the pick. By that time his rookie contract is up, and he moves on to some other team, and finally decides that he can play. So yes, I expect considerable improvement, after six years of the team being just plain lousy. I think BK needs to get his butt in gear and get some people in here that actually fill team needs. We need point guard leadership and interior defenders (read shot-blocker) and rebounders. We don't need more 6'8" tweeners.

he might make it to the elite status of Bob Sura. JJ is a good player, but I am beginning to think Belkin was right. We gave up way too much to get him. Is he really a max contract player? Al puts up similar stats, but would you consider him a max contract player? Diaw always had the abilities he shows now, he just had an idiotic coach who could not get it in his thick skull how to properly utilize his skills.

Dominique Wilkins and John Drew lived off of their own misses too. Many players do.

Dang, we need to play Batista more!!! He's the only player on the team with a positive score!!!!

KB, you sound just like Linus in "the Great Pumpkin." "One day you'll see. The Great Pumpkin will rise out of the pumpkin patch..."

Pachulia is the only person we have right now. No one else on the team even comes close to being a good rebounder. Pachulia does not defend well, nor block shots, but he is the best we've got in terms of rebounding. As for Olawakandi, he got his big contract and sat on his butt just like Dampier. I was really impressed with him in his "contract year," but once he got his contract, he has been worthless. As for Billy Knight being a genius, when is he going to reveal something that will enable us to know that. He has assembled a mismatched team full of small forwards, no point guard and one backup center. He also hired the biggest idiot for a coach since Lon Kruger. Hard to say between the two of them who is the most inept.

if someone scores their points off of offensive rebounds or jump shots? Two points is two points. Their offensive production and rebounding numbers are pretty similar on a per minute basis both this year and last year. About "Smoove" being only 19, Abdur Rahim averaged 18 points a game at age 19 in his rookie year. I would at least expect that much from a so-called future "superstar." Also, I personally prefer that my PF scores on the inside rather than standing around on the perimeter hoisting jump shots. Since "Smoove" can't put the ball on the floor anyway, I wonder where you come up with all that "he can create his own shot" crap. I haven't seen him "create" shots for himself too much. He cannot throw alley-oop passes to himself. He depends on someone to make the pass first. On offense, he is a one dimensional dunker. I will give him credit for being a good shot blocker however.

Quote: Childress was invisible as usual. When he gets the ball on the wing he doesn't do anything with it. He just holds it over his head. His defender could have his eyes closed and it wouldn't matter. 31 minutes and 5 pts. Nice job. What about "Smoove"? 40+ minutes and only 7 pts. Why have two sets of standards or be hypocritical?

Actually you can listen online on 790's website. Since 790's signal is so week, I figure this is the only way most of us will be able to listen, unless they add an FM station.

I hope to be able to go, but I may have to work. Just wanted to make sure you were aware of the opportunity. It is taking place at Woodward Academy in College Park at noon. Doors open at 11:30.

Childress has a far better all around game. Smith dunks and Smith blocks shots. He can't create for himself, he has poor handles and just generally is not in the same league with Childress. So basically, you think that whether a guy can actually play well or not, it doesn't matter, because he won the dunk contest, and the stupid Atlanta fans would be upset because they associate dunking with good basketball. Is that the gist of it?

Again, for his career, not specifically one particular season or another, he gets .216 rebounds per minute. At 40 mpg, that amounts to 8.6 RPG. By contrast, Smith got .222, and Childress got .202 rebounds per minute. He blocks .025 shots per minute. Good shot blockers average at least .04 per minute. Really good shot blockers get more than .05 per minute. Statistically, Nene doesn't really impress me. If you're 6-11 and you don't rebound and you don't block shots, hopefully at least you score extremely well ala Curry. To the best of my knowledge he does not score all that well either. Again, I'm unimpressed, and I for sure would not give up Childress to get him.

I know some of you are stat haters, but I do find it interesting that at 6-11, Nene, for his career, is not as good a rebounder on a per minute basis as Smoove, and is not a lot better than Chillz. He isn't really that much of a shot blocker either. I was really surprised to find these things out, because I had expected greater production from him. I must admit I've never seen him play, so may someone can enlighten me on what it is that he does do so well.