spotatl

I think its much easier to put up good stats on a terrible team that doesn't care if it wins. I think Lopez is a great player but I wouldn't vote him to the allstar team. He would have to be putting up RIDICULOUS numbers for me to vote for him. I have no problem with it if Bosh, Lee, Bogut, Lopez, or Perkins make it in as the backup center over Horford.

Wade has been an MVP caliber player- you people are being ridiculous. If you want to say that you think Wade is going to decline rapidly due to injuries then thats perfectly valid but JJ simply isn't in the same class of player.

Its pretty lucky that David lee wasn't listed at center. He has started every game at center for the Knicks and he is putting up great numbers.

Personally I think if Wade is your best player then you can compete for a championship- if Joe is your best player you aren't in competition for the championship so uncategorically I would prefer Wade even with the injury risk. And I really think people are overestimating how much the Hawks could get in a S&T of Joe Johnson. When so many teams have the caproom to sign Joe outright the Hawks have VERY little leverage. Getting only a TPE is a very possible scenario.

The problem is that if you just subtract Joe off the roster and put a MLE guy in his place then the team takes a huge step back because they aren't going to have caproom anytime soon. (assuming you want to extend Horford) Without Joe this team takes a huge step back. OFTEN teams have felt like they couldn't lose their best player and later on regretted overpaying the guy. But to me if you didn't want to retain Joe Johnson then he should have been traded this past offseason when the team would have more leverage.

EVERYONE would rather have wade than Joe- but Wade isn't an option. If the Hawks let Joe leave then they won't have the caproom to sign another bigtime free agent.

I will say I don't quite understand why teams don't zone up the Hawks more often. Particularly when Crawford is in the game for Bibby I'd think teams would almost exclusively go zone. No post threat to really break it. No bigman who can step outside and play zone buster. I don't think the Hawks have the roster to effectively deal with a good zone defense. When you force the Hawks do do everything with jumpshots they are very vulnerable.

Seriously... with Howard and 4 shooters on the floor the Magic are the last team in the world I would zone up on.

I don't care much at all about 2 regular season wins no matter where they were played. Its just 2 games. I think that Orlando and Cleveland are both better teams- I'd rather face the weaker team. Orlando beat the Celtics in the playoffs last year- that carries a LOT more weight to me than a couple regular season wins.

It makes it a rivalry when you care more about beating that team than you normally would. And it comes from them having something that you want or them denying you something you want. The Hawks WANT to be on the level of the Celtics but until they get there I can't see why the Celtics should consider them rivals. If the Hawks had made the finals last year and the Celtics thoguht that they ahd to get through the hawks to make the finals then it would be different. Put it this way- do you really think the Celtics would rather face the Cavs or Magic than the hawks in the second round of the playoffs? A couple regular season wins doesn't change stuff like that. To be honest if I were them I'd still much rather face the Hawks.

Do you really think the Celtics should consider the Hawks to be bigger rivals than the Magic, Cavs, and Lakers? You don't have 5 rivals... I think its a prefectly valid thing to admit- the Hawks consider the Celtics to be Rivals but the Celtics do not consider the Hawks to be Rivals. I don't see how you can see it any other way.

I wish that mario had gone over to europe for a year. I think it would have done him a world of good on offense.

Its tough not knowing whether teague is not playing because of Woodson or whether he simply isn't ready to help a playoff caliber team. But when it comes down to it, Woodson was a good judge of talent when it came to Acie, Shelden, and Salim so I think he has earned the benefit of the doubt. Earl Watson is the guy I thought could have helped but it turns out that he is now starting ahead of TJ ford so thats out.

I don't know why the Lakers would do that trade...

The problem is that the Hawks don't have a trade exception or caproom in order to just absorb salary. And the Hawks also don't have expiring contracts to use as trade fodder. After the crawford trade all the Hawks have left is Evans 2.5 million dollar deal and minimum salary contracts. (and Evans isn't really an expiring- he has a player option) I can't think of any way for the Hawks to help the Rockets offload 2.6 million without doing major surgery to the roster.

I don't understand how such a must read epic post hasn't been stickied yet.

The real hawks are the 4th seed in the east. With an offense highly dependent on their perimeter players and with no real post threat on the roster. When teams can force them to shoot from the outside and they are cold then the hawks are going to look terrible. When the hawks are hitting their outside shots to open up the inside they are going to look unstoppable.

Nene's just 27- but I agree if we are talking about which player I'd rather have over the next 5 years I'd take Horford because of his age and Nene's health concerns.

I don't quite get where this would be a "failing" of statistics. I think that I'd slightly prefer Nene when he is healthy and he has been healthy the past 2 years.\ Nene is more of a post threat and I think he is better on defense against true centers.

The question is whether Horford can be the centerpiece of an offense or whether he needs to have his chances created for him. Looking at what percentage of his shots are unassisted seems to me to be an awfully pertinent stat. Thats all it is to me- I have never seen Horford have the ability to exploit weak defenders 1 on 1 in the post. I think it would be ridiculous for a Coach to try and run the Hawks offense that way. I want Horford to get the ball after the defense is already in motion.

Buzzard- you post something saying that Horford is most effective on the fast break and in transition and you think that somehow helps your case? This is a simple difference- I think if the Hawks were consistently relying on dumping the ball down to Horford in the post when the defense is focused on him the offense would be MUCH worse. The way the Hawks use him he doesn't hve to deal with being trapped or doubled. He is getting the ball in position where he can do something positive with it. Horford is better in transition than he is in the half court- he needs someone to create chances for him. Look at the link you just sent- he is assisted on 64% on his scoring plays. Of course a big portion of his non-assisted plays are putbacks off of an offensive rebound. He is someone who needs chances created for him. There is nothing wrong with that but thats who he is.

Horford is putting up those kinds of numbers because he is getting the ball after the defense is already unsettled- He has NEVER shown any ability to post up against a settled defense- its an entirely different matter. He simply is not a strong post threat. Even in College he wasn't much of a post threat. Its just not who Horford is no matter how much you want to wish he were. When Orlando's 3's aren't falling they have Dwight Howard inside. When Kobe's shots aren't falling the Lakers have Gasol. Those teams are more versitile because they have more talent on the roster.

The problem is that after the Crawford trade the Hawks don't really have much trade fodder. (once again I wish the Hawks had Flip and 8 million in expiring contracts instead of Crawford)

I think Marvin would be a great fit in Golden State- he seems like the perfect nellieball PF. Maggette and something for Marvin is an interesting starting point. But really thats just because I'd love for the Hawks to have someone who gets to the line as much as maggette does.

He's not criticized for it because the stats about the percentage he shoots on long 2's has not been widely available. Everyone could look at the standard statline and his putrid 3 point shooting would jump out. Its only recently that we ahve started getting more precise information.