kelston827

will be his ability to develop an intermediate game a la Jordan, Kobe, T-Mac. It's one thing to stroke threes from a spot-up position, but it's another to hit jumpers from 18 feet with your man and a PF coming at you. The ability to score in traffic and just overall more aggresiveness on offense will ultimately be what propels DJ to the next level. The D is coming along nice. Getting stronger, developing an intermediate game and becoming more aggressive are the next steps DJ needs to take.

JT -- 30 MPG at PG, 10 MPG at SG DD -- 18 MPG at PG DJ -- 30 MPG at SG Dion -- 8 MPG at SG Ira -- 28 MPG at SF Toni -- 14 MPG at SF CC -- 6 MPG at SF SAR -- 40 MPG at PF Hendu -- 6 MPG at PF, 4 MPG at C Theo -- 34 MPG at C Nazr -- 10 MPG at C Leon -- 2 MPG at PF Thoughts??

Jaric/Dooling/Boykins Q/Maggette/Piatkowski Odom/Miles Brand/Wilcox/Ely Khandi/Rooks They have so many trade options its sickening. If only some kind of re-signed JV/Toni/Nazr/1st rounder package could get us Odom and Wilcox or Ely. That would be nice. JT/DD DJ/Dion Odom/Ira/CC SAR/Hendu/Leon Theo/Ely Too bad it will never happen

Williams Butler Dunleavy Jeffries Gooden

Winners: Denver -- Kiki was definitely king of the day IMO. Completely rebuilt frontcourt with Skita, Hilario and Camby. Steals Yarbrough in the second round. A+ NY -- If healthy, McDyess will give SAR some company as the elite PFs of the East. Frank Williams can'tbe as bad as Charlie Ward can he? A Washington -- All talent. Jeffries, Dixon, Grizzard and Juan Carlos Navarro were all solid picks. B+ GS -- Dunleavy, Welsch and Steve Logan. Lotta versatility with these picks. B Clippers -- Solely based on the picks alone, not considering team needs or possible trades, the Clippers had a great draft in Ely and Wilcox. B Hou -- Ming, Nachbar, Maddox. All three could make the team. B Chi -- Jay Williams, Mason Jr., Baxter. Williams may end up being the only one who sticks. B- The team that did the best with the picks they had was definitely Portland. Picks #21 and #43 are not that attractive, but to land Qyntel Woods and Jason Jennings with those picks was an incredible stroke of luck. B-

The private league name is: HawkSquawk2002 The password is: JTisaPG Both need to be typed in exactly as they are above.

looks like RealDray was also able to join. For all those interested, the password must be typed in exactly as it looks below... JTisaPG

has anyone been able to sign-in?? I tried it again with a different screen name and I got that password to work. JTisaPG JT all caps, isa lowercase, PG all caps... sorry for the confusion

did you type it in exactly as it is above?? JTisaPG

predict the lottery game. The name of the private league is HawkSquawk2002. The password is JTisaPG All squawkers are welcome to join. Just thought we could have some more fun with the draft seeing as though we don't have a pick again. http://games.espn.go.com/nbadraft/frontpage

to the Hornets for the #17 pick. This is one of those trades which I think will help both of these teams. The Hornets get a potential backcourt mate for Baron and the Wiz get another mid-first rounder to replenish the talent on their roster. I bet the Wiz covet one of the PGs with the #17 pick (notice it's one pick before Orlando, another team coveting help at the point). They could get Woods, Jeffries or Stoudemire at #11, then take which ever PG they want at #17. Not that bad.

I think alot of people are jumping the gun on this whole "JT is not the Hawks' PG" stuff. As someone previously posted, prior to the draft nothing a GM says can be taken seriously. Like in court where you're innocent until proven guilty, these guys are liars until proven truthful. What I think is that Pete is truly checking out all his options. That's his job. He previously stated, at a time when there was no need to speak in GM-ese, that JT would remain the team's PG unless someone better could be brought in. He then narrowed the someones better down to Kidd, Baron and Miller. Well, I'll take anyone of them in a backcourt with JT. If not, I'll take JT and DerMarr. So what's the problem? I understand the concern about players knowing their roles, and that is a legitimate one. But I also think having these voluntary offseason workouts goes along way in clearing up some of the cloudiness in the team's future. I'm convinced JT will be our future PG. I'm convinced DJ will continue to develop and remain his backcourt-mate. I'm convinced Pete is checking out every way possible to make this team better, through trades, the draft, whatever. Call me overly optimistic, but as it stands right now a healthy Hawks squad makes the Eastern Conference playoffs. I don't think we're quite ready to make a huge splash, but I'll be content with just getting back in the water.

I think this deal is possible, but not probable. The only way it could happen is if the Clips decided not to max out Khandi and they never watched Nazr play D. Kukoc would give them a veteran presence and scoring off the bench that could put them over the top in terms of the playoffs, and could then be turned into cap space in a couple of years. Chances are the Clips will be able to find a more appealing deal for a player of Odom's skill level than we'd be able to offer.

withdrew his name from the draft?

I'd much rather have Marcus Taylor or even Smush Parker or JR Bremer over Tito Maddox and I'd rather have Ryan Humphrey over Yarborough.

Like you, I expect Wagner to fall (unlike in our mock where he went #2). I don't think Skita will drop to #8 though. I don't think Prince will be taken nearly that high. I also think that Kareem Rush at #23 would be the steal of a lifetime. I also like the pick of Taylor for the Hawks. I, for one, don't think we should take a PG at #37 as a rookie BU PG is not what this team needs. However, if I were to draft a PG at #37, Taylor is who I would look for. Not Tito Maddox!!

I've been callling for Humphrey's selection at #37 for awhile now. With his performances in various workouts I doubt he'll still be there at #37, but if he is the Hawks would be foolish not to take him.

The point is that the quality of player we'll get at #37 would not even be close to that of a player we could get at #8. I'd be happy with Humphrey at #37, but I'd be much, much happier with Butler at #8. I think he'll be there, too. Still, I don't think we have what the Clips want.

I've thought since the very beginning that this would end up being an 8-horse draft and it looks like it's going to work out that way. Assuming Dunleavy stays in. Based on everything I've read it seems that the consensus has: Ming Williams Dunleavy Gooden Woods Tskitishivili Butler Wilcox as the top eight. If we could find a way to get #8 from the Clips I would be ecstatic about getting either Butler or Wilcox. A lineup of: JT Butler DJ SAR Theo could be very good in a year or two. But how could we get that pick? The only way I see it possible is if they decide to not pay Khandiman and they like Nazr for some reason (probably for his reasonable contract). If that was the case, I wouldn't think twice about shipping him there for the chance to draft any one of the guys on that list. The realist in me tells me that we just don't have the players to make a trade for that pick, even though the Clips have been reportedly been listening to offers for it.

The thing about our BU PG situation is that we need someone who can step in and play smart, sound basketball. We need someone who is going to distribute the ball, run the offense and not turn the ball over. That someone is not going to be a rookie. And it certainly is not Tito Maddox. In a world without salary caps, the obvious move would be to re-sign JV to be JT's BU. But considering the cap (and also that other teams will most likely offer JV a bigger role), re-signing JV is just not going to happen. You can tell in Pete's quotes that the team has pretty much accepted the fact that he's not going to be back. IMO, E-mail is a serviceable BU PG. He's not spectacular, but we don't need spectacular out of our BU. It would be nice to upgrade there but I just don't see it as our biggest need. Our biggest need is at SF and BU SG. Two possibilities I like at #37 are Savovic and Humphrey.