Brokentree

My prediction. Packers 31- 24 Packers start off quickly and use the short passing game to move the chains and a big play or two for touchdown strikes. Neither team can run the ball and Ben Rothwhatever struggles early. Steelers defense is largely negated by Rogers quick reactions to the pass rush. Packers look like they will win easy but the Steelers make a comeback in the second half but fail to get that final touchdown.

Just my opinion but it looked to me like Al took all the impact in that fall. I think Griffin was out on the floor like that not because he was hurt but because he saw Al was. He probably felt a mixture of embarrassment and guilt and just didn't want to stand up too quick and make it look even worse. A bit of the sceptic in me.

"We should not underestimate (Insert team here)"

The more I look at this play the more I think JJ was fouled shooting the ball anyways. I think when they watched the replay they figured it was fairer to call it a jump ball.

The only way I trade Marvin for Artest is if its a multiplayer trade and other names such as Pau and Gasol or Lamar and Odom are involved.

Haywood for Marvin might be interesting. The length of Haywood's contract is a bit scary though. Channing Frye might be worth a look seeing as how the Suns have Gortat and he's been playing so well. That would have to be a multiplayer and maybe involve a draft pick to make it worthwhile for the Suns.

Joe/Al Josh Joe would be top but I put Al right up there with him when you consider cost to benefit ratio. Jamal is great at what he does but he is one dimensional. He's a scorer that brings absolutely nothing to a game if his shot isn't falling.

It's not so much how well he plays at each position as much as it how well we think he should be able to play at each position. I think right now he should be better at PF. I think he has more upside at SF. He needs to learn now to fake some of those jumpers and drive to the hoop. At the very least if the fake doesn't get his defender to bite then they might burst out laughing and he can go by them.

No I'm not talking about +/-. Its the PER for Josh at whatever position he is playing vs the PER for whoever is playing the same position on the other team. It doesn't look at who is guarding who for each play. Good team defense and good team offense is going to affect these stats. I'm not saying that David Lee is anything close to Josh defensively, but how good the team you are on certainly will make these production stats look better or worse.

Using this logic Bibby is a better defender than Curry. Production isn't a player stat. It's determined partly by the rest of your team and your opponents. Heck Golden State has played 23 games against .500 or better teams comparted to 17 for the Hawks. A better team is going to have better numbers so its really hard to compare players. The only real way to do it would be to put them on the same team and see how they do in place of each other. I think Lee has the maturity and higher basketball IQ while Josh has more athleticism. Lee has shown more growth over the first few years of his career while Josh is basically putting up the same numbers he put up 4 years ago. Lee is averaging 17.5 points on 55% shooting with 9.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists in January. It's his first year with his team and he missed most of November. He also spends quite a bit of time at Center. I'd rather have Josh on the Hawks right now, but I have to admit I'd be more hyped about what Lee might do NEXT year. I've basically given up on Josh playing any better than he is.

[ Woman: Can I see your grill?

Josh: And I was like.. whoa Marvin, calm down.

Powell: You ever see that movie "Little Miss Broadway"?

Jamal: Would you like to dance? Woman: I would love to... but I have this horrible pain in my arm... Jamal: Oh no... run ITS THE CLAW! Woman: NOTHING CAN STOP THE CLAWWWW!

Three guys in the background Ok, look natural... look natural... ok NOW grab his watch.

Teague played well when he was in the game early with Bibby in foul trouble. When he got a chance to play with Joe, Jamal, and Horford. Teague played badly when he was in the game late. When he got the chance to play with Evans, Pachulia, and Powell. Too bad for Teague what most people will remember about this game was the ending. I wonder how Teague's development is affected by the Hawks bench and Drew's substitution patterns. If he's on the court with the rest of the bench his game is going to be drastically different than if he is playing with 3 or 4 starters. I'd really like to see Teague starting. I feel like the 4 other starters can compensate for whatever he is lacking. Bibby coming off the bench would make me feel better about them too. Someone that can take a shot other than Jamal.

Every time Zaza fumbles away a pass to him he looks at his hands. I think I saw him do that at least 2-3 times tonight. It's actually kind of comical. Yes Zaza your hands do indeed suck.

Teague Crawford Evans Powell Pachulia Thats our line up against Dirk and company. So our 1 point lead is gone. Why does this ever happen?

It probably won't happen but I think its time. Bibby Jamal Joe Josh Collins Teague plays major minutes off the bench backing up the pg and sg spots. Zaza plays bigger than usual minutes backing up the 4 and 5. Mo spends some time at the 3.

Diesel suggested in another thread that maybe we don't need a starter and I agree with that thought. Our bench, with the exception of Jamal, is horrible. If any two bench players not named Jamal are on the floor at the same time I cringe because I know the Hawks are going fall apart until the starters get back in the game. Even when its bench against bench we generally lose momentum. Evans seems to be playing better lately but unless someone is injured he won't see much playing time since he'd likely steal minutes from Crawford. What this team is lacking more than a PG or a Center is a quality back up that can spend time at the 4 and 5. Diesel mentioned Reggie Evans. I'll mention Carl Landry. Someone that can come into the game and not make me wince. The Celtics have Glenn Davis.. the Lakers have Odom. We need a guy off the bench of that type of caliber. A type of guy that can fill in when a starter is injured and the team hardly misses a beat. Of course this doesn't really answer your question so I'll say Center. If the acquisition doesn't involve Marvin then it would move him to a bench role where he could fill in at the 2, 3, and 4. I don't think Marvin would get us much in trade anyways.

Dwight Howard scored 18 points on 5 fg attempts in the Magic's game against Philly the other day . He shot 4/5 for 8 points and then hit 10/22 free throws. If he had hit all of his shots he would have had 32 pts. Makes me wonder what the record is for most points scored per fg attempt. Only 1 current Hawks player has every attempted 20 free throws in a game. It probably isn't who most think it would be. Here is a hint. Quack. The Hawks have been a fairly good free throw shooting team going by %. Its a shame they don't make more of an effort to draw fouls and get to the line more often. Fouls not only lead to free points but can also disrupt the opposing team by forcing them to make substitutions.

Oo oo where is that pot and kettle picture.

1a. The Hawks have a tendency to lose to bad teams and not win against good teams. The Hawks schedule has been among the easiest for the first half of the season. Lost twice to NJ by 6 points in one game and then 15 the next (the fact that they lost by more in the second game really burns), got blown out by 23 pts against the Pistons, lost to the Bucks by 17. The only good teams the Hawks have beaten this year are the Magic (2-1), the Heat (1-1) and the Jazz (1-1). If you count the Knicks we're 1-0 against them too. Our record vs teams above .500 is 5-9. The fact that we've only played 14 games against winning teams so far is scary. In the remaining 39 games we play 20 more. Plus there was that whole second round series last year after squeaking by the Bucks. 1b. Three part answer to your thoughts on Horford. First, he is really good. We know he is good. But when we watch espn we don't see a whole lot of Al Horford. We have Joe and Josh and Jamal taking up most of our alloted screen time. We don't get alot of national games on tv either. Second is demographics. The short explaination is.. Texas. The longer version is that everyone in Texas and the surrounding area can vote for 2 centers that play in Texas. Yao Ming, the top vote getter, and Haywood. San Antonio doesn't have a center on the ballot. 300,000 or so voters in Texas didn't feel right voting for someone that is out for the season so they voted for their (as they see it) only other option in Haywood. Third is the fact that Horford is competing for votes with Dwight Howard who is not only the best center in all of basketball, but is also from Georgia. You only get 1 vote at center. 2. The Hawks are 10-3 in the second game of back to backs. The sample size here is small so its hard to come to any conclusions but of those 10 wins 7 were against sub .500 teams. It kind of goes back to the Hawks strength of schedule. Another interesting thing is that in 4 of those 10 wins the Hawks had lost the first game of the back to back. Perhaps the memory of losing the night before added some motivation during the second games. In 13 back to backs the Hawks won both games 6 times (momentum?). Lost both games 2 times. Won the first game and lost the second 1 time. Lost the first and won the second 4 times.

Horford should make it in. Dwight Howard, Al Horford, maybe Andrew Bogut. Josh has the stats to make it in but has the most competition. I don't think he makes it. Lebron James, Amar'e Stoudemire, Chris Bosh, Paul Pierce and either Carlos Boozer or Wilson Chandler make it in. Only reason Boozer is a maybe is because he's played so many fewer games. Joe I feel pretty confident will make it in. He was out with an injury and came back early and is now playing at an elite level. Even considering his below normal stats for November and December his stats for the year with exception to his 3pt% is just about back to being average Joe. Other guards that might usually be his main competition like Iggy and Arenas are having off years. Dwyane Wade, Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo, Joe Johnson, maybe Raymond Felton. If they have 3 centers then Felton is out. If they have 2 then he is in. Crawford has no chance. He's fun to watch. I'd rather watch him than Dwyane Wade personally, but he just doesn't have the stats or star power to make it.