terrell

We dont have to start Collins we can start Zaza and that gives us someone active who wants to be in the paint .

Start Zaza against Noah this gives Al a matchup against Boozer who is hurting and josh now has a matchup against Deng who really is not used to playing post players . In other words give the Bulls something they havent seen and get bigger in the lane . This also allows for better more effective screening across the board for both JJ and Teague

The Bulls play Kurt Thomas at backup center when he comes into the game we now move Al to center and we go the high pick and role instead of trying to have Al post up one on one a great post defender.

When Marvin comes in off the bench he is matched up against Deng who played 40+ mpg in the last series the Bulls backup SF is basically Ronnie Brewer or Korver who Marvin both have advantages against in the post .

Agreed. I'd go Teague/JJ/Josh/Al/Collins or Zaza. That JJ/Marvin/Josh/Al lineup has played out. No more of that shizz. Please!

I have the same feeling. Teague is a baller. I hope LD gives him freedom out there and doesnt replace him so quickly. No Dwight so i dont see why Teague cant take it to the hole and make D Rose work on both ends of the court.

Yeah right. LD will yank him faster than you can say JAMAL.

if we're not resigning Jamal....

I'd love to move Marvin in a trade to get Mayo

Better get a sf too, unless you want JJ or Josh there fulltime. If Josh is there fulltime, need a center also. Probably not a good idea.

I guess I am in the minority, since I don't have a problem with Marvin. I like the defense he brings, and I don't mind the shots he takes, he gets good looks, and always seems to be open for a corner three. He hasn't seen the court much this series, but I have a feeling he will be big in the Chicago series (if we get there), putting a body on Deng. I am not gonna judge Marvin based on a series where he rarely sees the court.

Agreed. How can you dog him when he hasnt really played that much? I did see him hit a big shot and get a few key rebounds, so he hasnt really hurt us. Thats why I dont understand the thread. And besides, everyone knows what we're gonna get from Marvin. Decent defense, decent rebounding, a few 3's, a few bricks, a few free throws attempts(makes), a couple of fumbles out of bounds, a couple of falls, etc..... lol! It is what it is. He is a nice role player though. Problem is, he makes starters money. Makes less than Jamal though, so......

LD must truly not be a fan of the arts because he has gone through every trouble to make sure that Etan doesn't see daylight. I wonder to myself whether someone can really be that terrible or if there just is something personal there. I mean he throws Powell out there FFS.

And Dwight starts lickin his chops when he sees Powell at the scorers table.

If we had lost today... would this thread exist?

Everyone seems a bit better after a game 4 win.

"If we had lost today...would this thread exist"?

Probably not, BUT WE WON!

"Everyone seems a bit better after a game 4 win"

Why shouldnt we?

And what else do you expect from your 4th or 5th center? Especially when he's going against the best center in the NBA.

Btw, if you dont like a certain thread, move on. Not that I care or anything. I just hate when I read comments like that.

This makes me sad because it doesn't take a genius to be able to beat the Magic. I'd fire him anyway even if we win this series.

Look at the talent that the Rockets have, and then look at our roster. Just imagine the possibilities.

I have to agree with you. Those home blowouts are hard for me to get over, regardless of how we do against Orlando. He basically turned the highlight factory into the opposing team factory. On the other hand, we had more injuries than we did last year, and we won more games on the road. Tough decision ahead for the dumb SG. With all that said, I'd have to say get us to the Eastern Conf Finals, or your're outta here. lol. Btw, Adelman got a lot out of what he had to work with in Houston. Bad fire, imo.

He's banned so he's incapable of commenting.

How in the heck can you get banned from an opinionated blog? Just curious.

No comment from superiorblogman? Wow!

I dont believe ANYTHING Uncle Larry says.

The nba thinks that joe(5 time allstar) and horf(2 time allstar) are

The NBA is dillusional, like most of us Hawks fans. lol. If hed stop doing dumb shizz, it wouldnt even be close. IMO

I just don't see the downside to starting Teague in the playoffs. Hinrich's defense has just been ok at best and he's in a Jacques Vaughn type shooting slump. Is it more embarrasing to finish with zero points or 1 point? With Hinrich starting that will be one less guy the Magic have to plan for. With Teague at least they have to try to keep him from blowing by to the rim and it'll put pressure on Dwight to help and possibly foul.

The Hawks no longer have any reliable organization or roles so why not just say: Teague/Joe/Smoove/Horf/Twin are our starters for the 1st round. Kirk/Jamal/Marvin/Zaza off the bench.

Because LD is an idiot. He'll prolly put Teague in after we're down 20. And for the love of God LD, JAMAL IS NOT A PG!!!!!! How hard is this to understand?

What is a PG? What would JT have to do to qualify as a PG?

Just curious to really know.

:rtfm:

Me too. Teague is the best PG on THIS team by far

Kirk is looking like a 'lateral move". lol! Teague is clearly better. Do we have a scouting department?

+1 for northcyde on the Jordan Crawford/Monta Ellis comparison. Posters complained in the past about us passing on guys like Louis Williams or Monta Ellis. We actually made the RIGHT pick this time after trading down to save cash and we STILL managed to screw it up in the end. Where else could that possibly happen but here? Are we cursed??? :banghead:

To be fair, Bibby came in trade at the same point during the 07-08 season and the team took off from there. It was like a night and day difference. Heck, Woody was the coach then.

To be fair, that was a totally different situation. I'm sure if Kirk came in o7-08 we would've been a better team too. And I'm not even a Hinrich fan. We were trottin out T "dribble, dribble" Lou, and Anthony "I'm old enough to be your grandad" Johnson at pg, for crying out loud. lol. And Woody was bad, but our players had a role back then. They dont know what in the hell is going on under Drew.

34-23 or 10-13? Not that hard to figure out. Even a slower older Bibby is better than a washed up Hinrich.

So you expect Kirk to come in here and just fit right in with a group as dysfunctional as this one. Wow! It's only been 23 games for crying out loud. Not to mention, the Head Coach is as clueless as they come.

Trading Horford is dumb since he's really the only one that can become a superstar unless it's for Dwight Howard. Trading Smith, we need a superstar in return as a lateral move just won't help us, Chris Paul is likely the only option as we can meet New Orleans demands from last year. Steve Nash could be an option if it's for our 2012 1st and Kurt Hinrich. Those three players are major upgrades. But we can't trade any of our main three unless Dwight or CP3 is in the package. Jamal must be resigned. We just don't have any talent on the bench outside of him and potentially Teague.

Horford? Superstar? I dont see it. Is he a good player? Yes. But superstar? Nada. Hell, Josh coulda been a superstar 2 or 3 years ago, if he'd stop doin dumb shizz, and focus on what he does best. And his faults are easily corrected. Most superstar potential on this team by far imo. Quit hiring these 2 $ coaches and get a respectable name in here to begin with. Not a Horford hater or a Smith lover. Just sayin.

Bad move then, bad move now. Not only do we Hawks fans severely overrate the players on this roster but we severely overrate Rick Sund.

I cant think of 1 person who'd overrate Rick freakin Sund. Are u kidding me? Sund is a yes man. The ASG is running this team. So I mostly base my opinions of Sund from his days in Seattle. I dont know who makes the decisions around here. It for damn sure wasnt BK, so it probably isnt Rick either. How the hell you gonna tell your GM he cant fire the coach that he hired himself? lol

Not as bad as hiring Uncle Larry. Talking bout a bad move.

I'll answer this ? after Playoffs.

He's currently the most polarizing athlete in Atlanta. Some of the criticism is legit but most of it is the result of guys having little else to talk about.

He's the ONLY polarizing athlete in Atlanta. And it's because his shortcomings could be EASILY corrected.

They called Jamal Crawford "The Difference" because his scoring punch off the bench helped jolt the Hawks to 53 victories last season.

Now things are just different for Atlanta's shooting guard.

There are fewer big scoring games that made him a fan favorite and Sixth Man Award Winner last season. There are more nights where he hardly shoots at all, can't find his rhythm when he does or generally appears passive on the court.

Crawford said there's been tension this season between his instincts and his altered role in coach Larry Drew’s offense. He's a natural scorer off the dribble who sometimes has to be a playmaker when he has the ball and seek scoring chances without it.

"He's had a very hard time," Hawks center Al Horford said. "I think Jamal is the kind of player who goes out and creates plays and makes the game easy for everyone. He can score the ball but it's been an adjustment for him.

"He's such a good guy that he's tried to fit into what we are doing but I think he is most effective going out and playing his game."

When the Hawks traded for Crawford before last season, then-Hawks coach Mike Woodson carved out a narrow role for Crawford: Come off the bench and, above all else, score.

The Hawks ran pick-and-rolls and isolation plays for Crawford to that end. Crawford's defense was unsteady as ever but he was so good in his specialist role that he was a net plus for the Hawks.

"I was an attacker, period," Crawford said. "You are putting teams on their heels the minute you come in the game."

Crawford averaged 18 points in just 31 minutes per game in 2009-10. He scored 20 points or more in 32 of his 79 games, and the Hawks won 23 of them. In the playoffs, Crawford's first, he scored 24 points in Game 6 and 22 points in Game 7 as Atlanta rallied to beat Milwaukee in the first round.

"When he is aggressive and knocking down shots like that, he is tough to defend and it makes us a better team," Hawks guard Joe Johnson said. "He just has to stay on the attack."

The challenge for Crawford this season has been finding a way for his style to work in Drew's egalitarian system. It stresses passing and motion over players making moves on their own.

There have been fewer scoring bursts for Crawford this season. He's scored 20 or more points just 17 times, though the correlation with winning has been similar: the Hawks are 13-4 in those games.

Crawford said there are times when he thinks too much instead of playing on instincts.

"Some games I am a facilitator and sometimes I am an attacker," Crawford said. "It's a different role."

There still are the occasional flashes of the scoring runs that earned Crawford his nickname. He scored 12 consecutive points to keep the Hawks afloat and finished with 20 during Atlanta's 88-83 victory over Boston on Saturday night.

The uneven season could mean financial penalty for Crawford, who is in the final year of a contract that pays him $10.1 million this season. He asked the Hawks for a contract extension last summer but was rebuffed and also had his trade request denied.

Crawford said he's not worried that his declining production will affect his value if he becomes a free agent this summer.

"I think I should be commended for not trying to [force things]," he said. "A lot of people on their contract year take a whole bunch of shots. I've actually gone the other way."

We all keep saying Jamal is not a PG but LD insists on him trying to be, seems even his teammates know how effective he is when he is allowed to play his game.

He is "the difference". "The difference" in us having a decent perimeter defense, or an atrocious one. lol! And btw, JAMAL IS NOT A PG. Perhaps that's "the difference" in him being a good player, or just your avg Joe. lol

Why is this so difficult for some folks to process?

Josh Smith is not the player that HE thinks he is and that some people want him to be. He just doesn't have the handles and coordination to be that kind of player. He can hit an open shot, YES. Sometimes, he can hit quite a few of them. Nobody is going to force him to put it on the floor though because they WANT him taking jumpers. In all honesty, they want him taking it off the dribble too - because with a little pressure, he's going to fumble it. He is not a jump shooting, high scoring, proto-forward.

There are a lot of things that this team has to do to take the next step, but getting Smoove to focus more on the other end of the court and getting him closer to the basket is the best chance we have with this configuration.

BTW...who exactly "hates" Smoove? He has many critics on this board, but I don't know if we have as many Smoove haters.

Agree totally. He could be a BEAST if he'd just focus on doin the dirty work. (Blocks, rebounds, steals, inside game, etc..) At times I think he's still trying to prove something. What? Idk? To who? Idk that either. He needs to focus on being more like a Karl Malone or a Dennis Rodman, and not a Reggie Miller or a World B. Free..

I seem to recall we were winning the game until Twin went out with the ankle injury. Am I mistaken?

Call me crazy but I think we're a better team with Twin starting as it at least gives us a chance to get an offensive rebound since neither Horford nor Smith seem to like being down there on the offensive end. If we had a guy who could legitimately rebound and defend who plays physically (basically a much better Twin) I think we could challenge any team in the league. And that guy wouldn't even have to be able to score either, just rebound and defend and take up space and that's it.

Huh? I was talking about risking injury to an important piece of our 1st rd puzzle. Has nothing to do with his play.

We're all waiting to see if Hinrich will prove to be a better defender in games that matter. Moreover, can he convey PG instincts to Teague better than Bibby. All of us are looking at JC2 but the replaced player was Bibby. What has he done so far? Moreover has our defense on Gaurds gotten any better?

Here's my deal, to watch Brandon Armstrong, Jameer Nelson, and JJ Redick have career days on us because Bibby just didn't defend... I'm hopeful that that won't happen.

Kirk isnt much better against quick guards. He is better than Bibby with avg speed guards tho. But does that minor improvement make up for Bibby's clutch 3's? And who's Brandon Armstrong?