spotatl

Personally I don't blame the team for not wanting to pay the luxury tax for a MLE player. This team is not a MLE player away from taking the next step. And I do think the team would be willing to pay the luxury tax for a true superstar. The harder decisions for me would be on someone like Billups who would be a dramatic upgrade and would really help the team but its also not clear that he really puts the team into the mix for a championship.

The Hawks have a flawed roster and I don't htink that coaching is the reason the Magic beat up on the Hawks. Fans here bitched about Woodson but he got good production out of a deeply flawed roster. Now a new coach put in the offensive system that many people here wanted and the offense has gone into the toilet. Maybe you think thats going to magically turn around in the playoffs but I do not. I'll be shocked if the team makes it back to the second round. And I say this as someone who did think that Woodson had to be fired. I just have said since it happened that I expected the team's offense to take a big step back and for turnovers to shoot way up.

If the Hawks lose in the first round I still don't think people would give Woodson any credit for the success he had.

"We care more about Money than Wins"

If the Hawks were willing to trade Josh Smith they could get Carmelo. They could have traded Josh Smith at the deadline last year if they wanted the caproom plus picks. Its a ridiculous thread- Not matching Josh Smith would have been the worst move on your list.

You can't be serious... Are you under the impression that the Hawks wouldn't be able to trade josh Smith today if they wanted to? Even if the GM wanted him gone why on earth would they let him go for no compensation rather than matching him and trading him? Think about it.

I think that its pretty illustrative to look at how the number of shot attempts changed from last year to this year at different spots. Since the team pace is pretty much unchanged from last season this is an apples to apples comparison. I'll list last year's stats first At Rim 25.5 vs 20.3 <10 feet 11.8 vs 10.9 10-15 feet 6.1 vs 6.7 16-23 feet 21.8 vs 22.7 3 pointers 17.7 vs 18.5 ------------------------------------ Totals 82.9 vs 79.1

Niremetal. I'd bet heavily the Hawks don't win a second round game this year. The offense is less predictable in the sense that there are more times when the offense goes completely into the toilet but I don't see that as an improvement. The offense is less effective this season. I do think that Woodson got a ton of production out of a highly flawed roster. With a different approach the team is using a method that many fans were clamoring for and getting worse results. I just think its funny how far people will go to try and say that the offense is better this season even though the results aren't there.

Last season the Hawks were 13th in the league in Defense, this season they are 13th in the league in Defense. Last season the Hawks were 3rd in the league in offense, this season they are 15th. Last Season the Hawks were the best team in the league in turnover rate by a big margin, this season they are 13th. Last season the Hawks were a top 5 offensive rebounding team, this season they are in the bottom 5. I just don't see how anyone can think this team is better than last season. I do think that Drew's job is safe. No way will the ASG pay 2 coaches during the lockout.

Jamal Crawford also tore his ACL and its been a non-issue since. ACL tears are pretty much completely out of a players control and don't seem to have any lingering effects anymore.

Nene tore his ACL which has become a very routine thing to fix in the NBA. Its not like he had microfracture surgery. IF you won't deal with guys who tear an ACL then you are cutting off a whole lot of people who would be big assets to the team. And I don't think testicular cancer is something that is prone to recurrence.

Thankfully its against Charlotte. THey don't really have anyone who can exploit this.

Nene had 1 non-recurring Knee Injury to miss time. He also had non-recurring cancer. I don't think that either one of those make him "injury prone".

niremetal... Rasheed was already an expiring contract. The Hawks traded Rasheed for the best draftpick that they could get without taking any longer contracts in return.

Not sure you guys have insider access but I thought it was a really interesting article from ESPN a couple years ago that went through all the different picks and different spots in the draft and gave you an "expected" player that has been taken at that spot. http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft2009/insider/news/story?id=4206291 Basically just showing how quickly the value in the draft plummets as you go further down. Then they looked at the chance that a second round pick was a "scrub" and it was around 90% even at the top of the second round.

Harrington isn't a BYC player. Its tough to talk about these trades without 2 questions being answered. 1- would Nene resign with the Hawks? He can opt out of his contract at the end of the season so without assurances he would resign then he isn't worth a ton to the Hawks. 2- are the ASG willing to commit to playign the luxury tax next season to keep the team together. I think that BIllups and Nene would be spectacular for the team, but if the team isn't going to be willing to pay the tax then it doesn't matter how much they improve the Hawks if its only for the rest of the season.

I think that in reality Billups is goign to be gone next season. But it just doesn't make sense to keep him under the circumstances. He is definitely worried about being traded somewhere as cap relief where the team wouldn't pick up his team option but when it comes to down to it I think he will gladly go to a contending team.

If I were the GM and I traded Carmelo then I would also start the rebuilding and trade Billups. Since I don't think that the Nuggets GM is a total idiot then I'd assume he would do the same. Just because you haven't heard that the Nuggets would be looking to move Billups if they traded Melo doesn't mean anything.

I think they might do it because They want Lawson to be the starter and BIllups is guaranteed 4 million next season. That 4 million isn't likely to be paid by them, Because of the right of setoff the Nuggets likely wouldn't owe close to that amount of money but still if Billups isn't in the long term plans then it would be better for them to have that 4 million wiped off. I think it would make mroe sense as a 3 way trade- but honestly its tough to find a landing spot for Crawford where he would make sense and who has expiring contracts (plus something Denver wants). Indiana is about the best fit I can find but its not clear what they would be willing to give up in assets to acquire crawford.

With 1.5 years in the league and just half a season until the Hawks have to pick up Teague's 4th year team option I don't see much reason to believe that Teague will develop into a starter than I did with Acie or Salim. Plenty of people here said that Acie and Salim hadn't been given enough time. There are some people who still think Acie just hasn't been given the right opportunity yet. Personally at this point I would treat it as a bonus if Teague can turn into a quality backup. But trading him doesn't at all change the hawks long term outlook at start PG because Teague hasn't shown me anything to make me think he will be able to fill that role. Teague was the 7th PG taken in the draft? This is probably just an expectations thing. I always thought if he could have turned into a qualiyt backup PG that it would have been a good job of drafting but that for him to turn into a starter it would be a longshot. I just haven't seen anything to make me change my mind.

How does keeping Crawford put the Hawks over? he doesn't but I think that the team is significantly better with Billups than with Crawford. And who cares about their ages when Crawford is an unrestricted free agent? And I don't think that any fan here would be happy with any realistic trade for a Center that would be an upgrade at the position. So I think that you improve where you can. The Hawks worst position is PG- this gives them a massive upgrade at PG for a guy who very well may be gone next season anyway. And I think Billups is going to age very well. He is a good shooter who is big for his position and is a very strong help defender. He can easily play off of the ball when the Hawks have Joe, Al, or Josh initiate the offense. I think he is about the perfect player for the Hawks. I really don't see the difference between Acie, Salim, and Teague. For all 3 players the fans here were shouting that the players weren't given enough of a chance or that they were just being misused. But Acie and Salim have both had many other chances and keep getting discarded. Time will tell with Teague. I just think that this is the old "drunk looking for his keys under the lightpost thing" Just because under the lightpost its easier to look doesn't change the probability that the keys are there.

Just because Teague is on the roster does not mean that the Hawks have a young PG to develop. Its not at all clear to me that Teague will even have his fourth year team option picked up. I don't see the ASG being excited to pay Teague 2.5 million for 1 season.

Which one? Both would be dependent on the Nuggets trading Melo and going in a different direction. For the first trade they woudl do it to make Lawson the starter and to get a young backup PG. I do think there is a chance that they would do it since I don't think they would pick up Billups' salary for next season. For the second trade that would Save them 5 million dollars in salary this season (and another 5 million in luxury tax). OF course the problem is that the Hawks would be paying that luxury tax which probably kills the deal. I picked a trade where Denver couldn't easily just sub in Harrington for BIrdman since thats what they would prefer to do. But I'm also sort of assuming that JR Smith isn't going to be back with the team... not sure if that is accurate or not. Teague is mostly just filler to balance out rosters. He would be a backup in Denver and third string in Atlanta so it makes sense to include him. I think that Denver would easily prefer Atlanta's first round pick (or Jordan Crawford) if you want to keep Teague that badly as a third string PG. No chance the Nuggets put Lawson into the deal.

Crawford and Teague for Billups would be spectacular. The Hawks would have to pay the tax but I think Denver would do Billups, JR SMith, and Birdman for Crawford, Bibby, Evans and Thomas.

thanks niremetal- I just knew that Kroenke had to sell. Didn't know that it was because the NFL made him do it. That makes far more sense.