Endy9

Just makes me think "here we go again. Someone we'll never see come back." I hope I'm wrong.

I don't see Detroit as something to fear. On paper they might have that talent. Even though I was a Josh fan and didn't want him to leave, I expect to see him pouting in the corner when Brandon starts hogging the ball. If the Hawks fall, it won't be because some other team picked up an FA or two, it will be because 1. Ferry got rid of a lot of good to strong players 2. Potential draft picks don't live up to potential 3. We find out Budz should have stayed an assistant. Not predicting any of those things, but those would be the reasons we fall, not Jennings going to Detroit.

The Braves and Falcons don't have a problem attracting FAs so it's not the city. It's the perception that Atlanta fans really aren't that into basketball, compared to Celtic, Laker, etc. fans.

Sorry, I was being a smart alec. Anderson is when I quit getting the least bit excited about a "great prospect stashed overseas". Decided a play like that was about as valuable as stock options instead of pay raises. <grin>

Is that guy Anderson still stashed down in Australia? Another overseas center hopeful. I've been waiting on that guy that was raved about by many for what 5, 7, or more years now? Is it soup yet?

I know many here won't like it, but for me finally a sign Ferry isn't asleep at the wheel. Letting a young man in his prime walk off to Milwaukee is about as low as a franchise could sink. Might as well just play all scrubs and never try to get better.

I understand the doubts people are feeling. I try to never condemn someone before a game has been played so doubts I have won't matter if Ferry somehow has us winning. I'm one of those guys happy if we win 46 or more games and are competitive in the first two rounds of the playoffs. I thought Ferry made great moves last year by adding needed pieces to an already good core. He just got killed with the injury bug. But this year he is taking a different approach. Let most of the core go and replace a little bit of it. So of course some of us doubt. But I'm always hoping he makes me look dumb for doubting and wins more than expected.

Sorry to be a negative Nellie, but, if we couldn't talk Howard or CP3 into coming this year with DF doing the talking, I just don't see us ever talking a big name FA into coming here. I think a lot of it has to do with how we (the fan base and ATL media) treated Joe Johnson. Very poorly IMHO. The best we can hope for are guys who used to be great and still have about half a tank left, like when we got Moses Malone in the 80s or Walt Bellamy in the 70s. Building thru the draft, do you really think we'd be in the top three of the East, if BK had drafted slightly differently (not saying he didn't make some hugely stupid moves)? Personally I think we might have drafted CP3 and then traded him 3 years later. It's what we seem to do.

Good luck to Josh. I think Houston made a mistake not getting him to support Dwight and Harden. He could have easily been that strong steady defensive and rebounding pressense that Rodman, Bosh, etc. fill on championship teams.

Those 90s teams had real stars who had a shot at a title. The Mutumbo, Mookie team gave the Bulls a good run in 96. And until they blew it up, that team didn't look to deal anyone who had a good year and might want more money. I think if any of these draft picks do pan out, the Atlanta Spirit will get them out of town as fast as possible to avoid paying them.

Oh, I still have high hopes for Mr. Ferry. But having lived through what they did to Lenny Wilkins constant playoff team and then a decade of losersville by breaking up a team that wasn't quite good enough to win it all, I have my fears when I see it happening again. We've been competitive since 2008. Waiting to see some moves that make me believe we will be in 2013.

Who can compete with our 7 man lineup?? <grin> Watching Danny Ferry, boy genius at work. Still hopeful he will pull a rabbit out of his hat though.

When I started following the NBA, Havlicek was a starter. I was going to nominate Havlicek's replacement, who was consistently a winner of the 6th man award when it was first created. Paul Silas with the Celts.

I'm only scared because I had such high hopes for the last coaching experiment. Lon Kruger. Didn't go well.

The highly praised Knicks did no better against the Pacers than our short handed Hawks?

When I was stationed in Denver, some of my Marine buddies decided to ride down the main strip with a Raiders flag hanging out of their car after the Raiders came to town and beat the Broncos around 79. They got three gunshots that broke out their windows and luckily didn't hit any of them. They do take that stuff seriously <grin>

Another article on Hawks targeting Van Gundy. http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/05/10/report-hawks-targeting-stan-van-gundy-as-possible-head-coach-and-yes-theres-a-dwight-howard-connection/related/

I did notice that several teams between that 7th pick and our pick of Josh made some very bad choices instead of taking Josh. Thanks for all the replies, I must have missed all the childress bashing.

For years we've heard over and over about the Hawks missing on Chris Paul and some of the other blunders like drafting Sheldon Williams period. But one that sticks in my mind and I never hear mentioned as a mistake is back to 2004. Even at the time and not knowing he would bolt for Europe, I thought we should have picked Luol Deng instead of Childress. What do you guys think?

Seems like the officials are giving the big calls to the home team. That's the big difference in the first two games. Josh isn't handcuffed and Hibbert and West are.

I don't feel good about Indy or the Nets. We haven't shown we can play with either. But then Miami or the Knicks would be worse. Let's just hope our guys get really hot. Reminds me of Orlando a few years ago when they lived and died on their hot or cold 3 pt shooting.

I find this play encouraging. I still remember a late 80s series with Boston in which Dominque dove to the ground to grab a lose ball, Larry Bird walked over stepped on his stomach pulled the ball loose and passed for a fast break, no foul. Maybe this means the days of super protected can do anything superstars is passing. It didn't make me more a fan of NBA ball. I've always preferred the college game where stars don't get special foul treatment.

This team has already exceeded my expectations. I thought Ferry had blown them up so good and brought in such a mish mash of players that we would win in the 30s never winning more than 2 or possibly 3 in a row.In this 5 game streak I've seen the potential this team has. Maybe Ferry knows more than a thought and this won't be a throw away year :)

Since we hire LD on the cheap, we can use the rest of the money we should have used to get a "real NBA coach" to hire Blatt.

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/09/12/report-hawks-may-go-after-david-blatt-as-assistant-coach/related/