ATLHawks6

But would any of us be suprised if it came down to the wire even with those guys out? Wasn't it last year's MLK game against Sacramento when it was much closer than it should have been? And Happy MLK Day too by the way guys.

If that first point is true, if I'm Rick Sund, I also think about upping the offer and making it two years for Watson. I just think it's a sneaky trait of championship-caliber teams to have a solid backup veteran point guard. If we were able to get him, we could use Hinrich expiring contract as trade bait, as one poster already said. That could get us some value in return, and I'm not sure there is a major difference between Hinrich and Watson's abilities.

Yeah, they go back to their Seattle days, so there is a connection. I'm wondering though, if Watson is signed, does that make Kirk expendable (when he gets healthy)?

And now from Alex Kennedy from HoopsWorld (an actual reliable insider, even if he doesn't have the name recognition of a Broussard, Berger etc.) "Earl Watson is leaning toward signing with the Atlanta Hawks, according to a league source." There is that back-up guard that everyone has been talking about. I think Earl Watson is the consumate back-up point guard, he has made a career of providing solid 12-18 minutes every night.... I just saw HawksFan87 posted the same thing. I would delete the post, but I don't know how. <-------------- New guy.

From Ken Berger of CBS Sports: "In addition to Pacers, who've spoken with David West's reps, several non-room teams have inquired about FA forward: DAL, Spurs, MIA, ATL.... Hornets willing to let West go in sign-trade if it will get to contender and bring back an asset or two, sources say." Who knows how realistic this really is, but what are your thoughts here?

Take this with a grain of salt: But based on 2010-2011 winning %, the Hawks have the second easiest schedule in the league, behind only the Bulls. (According to ESPN.com's Tom Haberstroh)

Two Back-to-back-to-backs: Jan. 5-7= Miami, @ Charlotte, Chicago Feb. 23-25= New Jersey, @ Washington, Utah Something interesting I saw too.. Out of the 66 games, the Celtics will be on National TV of some sort for 31 of them.. OVERKILL.

http://www.nba.com/hawks/schedule/

I have read that some schedule changes were made as late as this afternoon, so even those leaked schedules are probably not 100% accurate, but I guess we will find out in about T-Minus 20 minutes.

That's a great point, during these times all you hear is "sources say this" or "sources say that", but all of it needs to be taken with a grain of salt. I read some further elaboration on the Y! Sports article about this, and all I could really gather is that the Hornets would like to get something done by Friday (start of free agency/training camp). Also, the Rockets and Mavericks were listed but as serious longshots, no mention of the Hawks.

This is from Yahoo! Sports minutes ago: "New Orleans strongly engaged with CLIPPERS, WARRIORS and CELTICS in trade talks for Chris Paul on Tuesday, league sources tell Y!" And.. "Paul has indicated Clippers and Warriors could raise chances of keeping him long-term if they sign center Tyson Chandler too, sources say." A full article is expected shortly, I'll let y'all know if I catch something more in there. But it seems more and more likely that the Hawks are falling behind in the race for Paul, but as some have said on this board, all it takes is one juicy deal to be offered up that might sway the Hornets.

And my apologies if you have (or if this is the wrong forum), but, via Adreian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.... " Josh Smith(notes) hasn’t changed his mind on a future with his hometown Atlanta Hawks: He believes he’s probably run his course with Atlanta. Without an owner committed to making the changes to push this team past its second-round Eastern Conference ceiling, sources said he’d still welcome the team putting him into a trade." AND.... Rival executives say GM Rick Sund has told them everyone is available for deals, although Sund’s most reluctant to move Al Horford(notes). There had been serious discussions between Atlanta and the Minnesota Timberwolves for Smith around the NBA draft, but they never materialized. Not really "news" considering Josh Smith, but if Woj' sources are correct, I find it crazy that Sund is putting EVERYONE on the table in discussions.

I also saw that the Celtics have "No interest" in Smoove, either. So unless there is a hidden team, it looks like it's either the Magic as a trading partner or nothing, I saw a rumored three-team deal that also had the Mavericks involved that would have netted us Haywood as well, but I think that was nothing more than a Twitter rumor. I don't know what to think in how legitimate these trade talks are, Smoove seems like he's "almost" been dealt 4-5 times in his career. I will say, though, that Ken Berger is very legit and well-respected, so if he says this one has some legs to it, you gotta believe him.

I just found this on a late night YouTube binge. It's a game I'm sure many of you remember, the Sacramento Kings (the up-and-coming Kings at the time) came into the Highlight Factory on December 12th, 2000 sporting the best record in the NBA in the early 2000 season. The Hawks (beginning the Lon Kruger era) started off at 4-16. This is the first game back from injury for Jim Jackson (who sat out the previous 8 games with a hurt shoulder). The game is broadcast on TBS Tuesday Night (remember that?) with Kevin Harlan on the call with John Thompson and Danny Ainge. Just click this link, and follow all the ensuing links to get through the entire game (if you so choose, it takes about 2 hours). Just sharing this with you guys as we begin the long, hard off-season. Hopefully we can find more of these.

DeAndre Jordan would be a nice pick-up but the Clippers have found their franchise guy with Blake Griffin, and Blake's best friend (on the team anyway) is DeAndre Jordan. The Clippers have to do whatever is possible to keep Blake in L.A. whenever his contract does come up, and giving away when of his closest people on the team wont help matters so I really can't see the Clips moving DJ unless we were to WOW them with an offer. But I like where all of our thinking is at on this board, it's our job as fans to "Squawk" back in forth during the off-season about moves that could help make this team better and make them a legitimate championship contender. I enjoy seeing everyone's progressive thinking in order to get this job done, this board has been very intruiging to read in the past few days.

It goes without saying, but all of this would be contingent upon New Orleans knowing for a FACT that there is no way CP3 would re-sign with them (a la the 'Melo saga with the Nuggets). To lose a franchise player of that caliber would deal a big blow to the Hornets relationship with their fans. It would have to take Paul to publicly state that he's not coming back to New Orleans, or at least privately telling Hornets management that was the case.

Damn, I missed this the first time around. This is awesome man, if this doesn't get you pumped up for tonight and what lies ahead, nothing will. Great stuff. (And thanks for the bump, DieHardHawk or else I would have missed this.)

According to Arthur Triche's Twitter, the NBA realized their mistake and have now given him 3 blocks for last night.

As an out-of-state fan, (living in Colorado) I was interested in how the city of Atlanta and the state of Georgia are responding to these Hawks. Have they begun to captivate the area? Is it the major point of discussion at work, at the store etc.? I know that region of the country is trying to rebuild from those vicious tornadoes, so I was hoping that the Hawks run might have added a piece of comfort, and give the people down there in the south to rally behind and cheer for.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2011/columns/story?columnist=wallace_michael&page=magic-hawks-110425 Check this link out if you're looking for a little bit of positive spin for these Hawks from the national media. A pretty good read. One more W, lets Go Hawks!

So you're saying that if you only play 7 players on the back end of a back-to-back against a team that is well rested at home, that your players are going to get tired and get ran past in the integral moments of the game? "No way!" says Coach Drew. It's not like me to bash a head coach on any message board. But this is so ridiculously inept, if the Atlanta Hawks weren't an afterthought in the NBA, the entire nation would be laughing at Coach Drew. I say the people of HawkSquawk take over the job for the duration of the season. We might all be dumb couch potatoes, but at least I feel like we have a grasp on substitution patterns, which is probably the biggest job of an NBA coach on gameday.

Wanted to get a pulse on what everyone thinks after the trip....

MC just put on Twitter that Sund says the team will not pursue any of the waived or bought-out guys.

Per MC's twitter: Hinrich is a game-time decision with a calf injury so the starters will be Teague, Joe, Marvin, Josh and Al. And for the Nuggets, Gallinari has been ruled out with a toe injury, and Denver's beat writer Chris Dempsey says Wilson Chandler will start in his place. So I'm assuming K-Mart will play and start. So I'm guessing their starters are Lawson, Afflalo, Chandler, Kenyon and Nene.

I don't mean to knock on the fine people of Atlanta, but don't you think some of this road success/struggles at home can be attributed to the below-average crowds at Phillips? These guys are competitors, and when they go into an arena that is fairly packed, it just might bring out the best in them. It is probably very discouraging to the players when they come back home and see that their games are sparsely attended, even though they have made the playoffs the past 3 seasons.