niremetal

Every single NBA coach just spit out their margarita and started laughing.

Mid 20s in the modern NBA is a hard sell - doubly so in the East. Only four players averaged more than 24ppg last year. I think the main benefit for JJ of playing in Brooklyn is that he'll get to go back to being off the ball like he was in Phoenix. The lower defensive attention should make him slightly more efficient from the field. Unlike in Phoenix, he'll get more touches - probably ~16 FGAs per game rather than ~14. I think 18-20ppg with about a .530 eFG% (and ~.570 TS%) will be about right.The main benefit for the Nets, however, is that JJ off the ball means a much more efficient and fast-paced team. We used JJ as the de facto PG on at least a third of our possessions for the past 4 years (and more like 50% of possessions before that). That made our pace slower and resulted in a lot of rushed or low-percentage shots at the end of the shot clock. That won't happen if JJ is only initiating the offense on relatively rare occasions.In short, I think that JJ himself will, on paper, look about the same next year as he did this past year. But playing off the ball will give an efficiency boost to his team. That will make him a "better" player in the ways that matter most, even though it won't show up much on the stat sheets.

I don't think Ferry is planning on building this team up for the next year. If he was, he wouldn't have traded a 6-time All-Star for spare parts. That made it pretty clear that his focus is clearing cap space for 2013, with a secondary goal of stockpiling future draft picks. So I don't think he is "scheming" anything. Listening to offers for our remaining tradeable assets, but that's it.

I'm of the opinion that the importance of the PG is way, way overrated in the modern NBA. But Devin Harris > CP3 as a PG (whether here or anywhere else)? That's

We're rebuilding. Taking shots away from our young players is not a good idea.

Comparing Iverson and JJ is like comparing apples to oranges...or at least Red Delicious to Granny Smith. They were asked to play different roles and took very different approaches to the game on both ends of the floor. Like the debate over who is GOAT, it depends on what you're looking for, who the player is surrounded with, and the type of system in which he's playing.I don't see how Iverson could have fit in with the Hawks' roster over the past 5 years. I would venture a guess that if you just did a straight swap-out, the Hawks would have done worse with AI than with JJ (yes, even the AI in his prime). Especially considering how much the Hawks would have been destroyed on backcourt defense.Then again, put JJ on the '01 Sixers and that team doesn't come close to the Finals.So yeah....don't see much sense in arguing over this.PS: Red Delicious >>>>>> Granny Smith.

How many guys made 5 or more All Star teams for the Hawks? Six players:Bob Pettit (11)Dominique Wilkins (9)Lou Hudson (6)Joe Johnson (6)Cliff Hagan (5)Lenny Wilkens (5)If you're excluding players who led miserable teams, the Hudson era Hawks didn't get past the second round and got worse (rather than better) as his time with the team went on.It's borderline given how strict the Hawks are with their banner standards, but I say yes.And whoever said Pistol Pete has got to be kidding. Great college player who didn't do jack shit with the Hawks.

Ferry was hired by the Spurs, went to the Cavs, and then was re-hired by the Spurs. Anyone who the Spurs hire twice is probably a pretty damn good basketball man.

Like I said in a similar post in "Trade Ideas": We basically acquired the pick with the same conditions that the Nets received when they acquired the pick in the Terrence Williams trade. Assuming this is accurate, the pick is actually a lottery protected pick from 2012-2016. If the Rockets are in the lottery every year through 2016, then it becomes an unprotected second round pick in 2017 plus cash.

You see synergy. I see two guys who would take the term "enabler" to a whole new level.Oh, and Josh is not a good post defender. He's a great help defender and a mediocre post defender.

I like the idea of going after D12. But frankly, I can't fathom how Josh Smith will ever have a significant role on a championship winning team here. He needs a major mindset adjustment, and that will never happen as long as he remains on this roster, facing no consequences for constantly trying to prove that he's a perimeter player.Maybe some people look at that photoshopped picture and see the core for a contender. I see the core of a team where Josh spends even more time on the perimeter shooting more jumpers and throwing more ill-advised passes than he ever has before. One that makes it no further than the one we had the past three years.

The best Hawks player since Nique.Rebuilding time. Again.

Why did people bother responding to him after he confirmed this?

Fun fact - the guy who "abused" the laissez faire regulations of the pre-Stepien Rule era the most by trading mediocre veterans to the Cavs in exchange for lottery picks? The then-young GM of Dallas, Rick Sund.In September 1980, he traded Mike Bratz to the Cavs for the Cavs' 1984 1st round pick. That turned out to be #4 overall and Sund used it on Sam Perkins.A month later, he traded Richard Washington and Jerome Whitehead to the Cavs for the Cavs' 1986 1st round pick (ended up being #7 overall - Roy Tarpley) and a 1983 1st Round pick (from Atlanta, which ended up being #11 overall - Derek Harper).Finally, three months after that, Sund traded Geoff Huston to the Cavs for their 1985 1st Round pick. That turned out to be #7 overall and was used to select Detlef Schrempf.Not a single one of the veterans Stepien acquired from Dallas had even a memorable season after the trades. All of the picks acquired turned out to be lottery picks that were used on solid NBA players, with Schrempf becoming a borderline Hall of Famer and the rest becoming borderline All-Stars. The Mavs made the playoffs 5 straight years starting in 1983, the first year one of the draftees played. The drafted players all played significant roles on the Mavs team (led by Mark Aguirre and Rolando Blackman) that came within 1 game of the making the NBA Finals in 1988 (lost to the Lakers in the WCF).The Cavs were useless in the early-to-mid 80s, only turning it around after they acquired the #1 overall pick in the 1986 Draft - a pick that was itself the product of a two-step-Stepien. The Sixers had acquired the pick in 1979 from the Clippers in exchange for Joe Bryant, and then traded the pick to the Cavs of Draft Eve in exchange for Roy Hinson. Both Bryant and Hinson had unremarkable careers after their respective trades. The Cavs used the pick on Brad Daugherty, who (like Tarpley and everyone else in the 1986 Draft Class) saw his career cut depressingly short.Which once again proves my theory - Germans love David Hasselhoff.

Why would we build around a Portuguese baseliner who went out in straight sets to the #126 player in the world in the first round of Wimbledon? Yeah. Great examples of guys to build around there. Even if Doc was an example. Which Doc isn't because HE WAS DRAFTED.

He was the frontman for one of the most underrated rock bands of all time.Oh, you mean the athlete?He had a wicked splitter but wasn't very durable.Oh, you mean the basketball player?I have no clue.

Who the hell has gone to Phillips to see Smoove play? The Hawks were 20th in attendance this year, 22nd last year, and haven't been higher than 18th since Smoove came to town. Casual fans don't give a rat's ass about Smoove.

Pros: Pau Gasol gets 20/10 without hurting his team by taking bad shots. He's efficient. He's a better on-ball defender than Josh and gives us flexibility against opposing big men (muscle them up with Al or bother them with Gasol's 7'5 wingspan). He's a better passer from the high post, and much better off the pick and roll. He has the best low post repertoire in the league aside from Tim Duncan.Cons: We lose out on help defense, highlight reel plays, and...I'm out.Don't kid yourself into thinking that if the Lakers do this, they're doing it with any thought of keeping Josh past next year. They'd be acquiring his expiring contract. That's it. Delusional Hawks fans are the only ones who think that this would be a one-sided deal in the Lakers' favor. Bingo. And once Josh's athleticism slides, I don't see how he will avoid a brutally quick slide as a player.

Good. The best type of owner is one who tells his GM: "Here's your budget. I'm going to leave now and let you do your thing. I'll check in about, oh, once a month just to make sure you're not being a complete dumba**."

Now there's an image I could have lived without.

Using a baseball term to praise a basketball decision. I suppose it's not a mixed metaphor per se...more a funny choice of metaphor. But "funny choice of metaphor for $500" doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

I'll take mixed metaphors for $500, Alex.

Hindsight re: the Dwayne Casey hire. That was in 2010. Sund was hired in 2008. And other than blowing draft picks on big men, Sund hardly had a bad reputation coming in the gate. He was the guy who built the Mavs into a 50-win team in the West (and 1 win from the Finals) on a shoestring budget, rebuilt the Pistons into a 50-win team after the post-Bad Boys collapse, and stole Ray Allen from the Bucks in exchange for a declining and overpaid Gary Payton. I certainly don't recall reading anything saying that he was persona non grata after his tenure with the Sonics. That was a team going down a financial sinkhole that was hardly his doing...which is why it found itself halfway across the country a year later. I would love to see an article saying that.We found out in the summer of '10 that he wasn't the real power, but again I challenge you to find me anything saying that he was brought in as a "yes man" or that he didn't have real front office power before the Casey/Drew debacle.Even now, the fact that the Blazers were interested in him is a sign that he's well-respected around the league, the incompetence of the owners he's been stuck with notwithstanding.

I think we won't know what it means until at least the end of the summer. It might simply be that the owners saw a chance to hire probably the most coveted potential GM in the league, figuring that regardless of whether they end up "holding" or "selling," having perceived better management at the top will increase the team's value. Ferry doesn't seem to be the type you bring in just to be a rubber stamp.The problem is that I thought something similar when they brought in Sund, and he turned out to be just a yes-man. If Ferry is just looking to cash a few pay checks and hit the beach while Gearon runs the show, it'll be more of the same.

Tennis will be interesting. Olympic Gold is the only major title that Serena and Roger have yet to win in singles. It's probably the last real chance for both to complete the "Golden Slam." Nadal will be defending his gold medal and Djokovic will be looking to take his dominant play there.The Americans have a legit chance at the gold in men's doubles with the Bryans, who got the bronze in '08.