nathan2331

They won't win anything is true, the problem is, we are now trying to win the tanking championship. They take us out of that as well.

You really think a core of Jefferson, Marion and Horford plus a bunch of scrubs isn't a lottery team. Now that I look at it maybe it isn't

Why do that? It would kill our tanking and it would make us a 1st round out. Remember, Contending>>>>>>>Tanking>>>>>>>In the middle

I agree with that, however I feel like it we pay Jefferson 20 mil, get Dallas 13th pick along with Marion, that's a team that won't win anything. Then we can sign a bunch of scrubs and overpay role players for a run at free agents next year.

What if this season we front load some contracts this season for some cap relief next summer. Say we value Jefferson at 15 mil per season couldn't we do 20 this season and 10 the next. This could also help with tanking since we'd be overpaying for good but not elite talent.

Would the Mav's pick put us out of the running for Dwight or force him and CP3 to take a pay cut to sign here?

It depends on what type of player he wants to be but if he ends up 6'11" can you imagine him trying to be a ball handler and trying to drive past one of these quicker smaller guards? Sometimes it works out and they don't lose that skill, like Paul George did, but you can see in these highlights where he is already working hard to dribble past these little guys, now just imagine if those guys actually had any skill how hard it would be for a guy 6'11" to dribble the ball all that distance from the floor to his hand level and not have it stolen.

Good point. Either way, I think drafting him in the first round would be a mistake. It seems from the tape I've seen of him that anyone taller than 6'0"can be a star in that league.

I'm worried about the kid ending up being 6'11 or so and not having a natural position. At some point you're going to be too big to play guard or even SF. There are plenty of reasons not to draft him and some of those reasons have big time potential and have a much more proven background. The Spurs haven't gone out on a limb and drafted guys with super high upside and little proven experience against legit NBA players and I really don't see the Hawks doing that either.

Not trying to sound ignorant, but what's wrong if he grows two inches. As long as he keeps developing as a small forward, I see it as a height advantage not a deterrent. Still think we should stay away from him though (I don't trust the league he's in).

Truth is that this thread had nothing to do with Smitty.. just some tangent somebody brought up. Proclaiming DF as making great moves right now is just like Claiming Babcock as having done a great thing trading Nique for Manning. Sure you traded your "declining" superstar. Sure you got out of his salary. But If you looked at that trade the day after it was made, plenty of people were probably excited about moving from mediocrity and getting younger and having more capspace. BUT.... What was the longterm ramifications? That's where I am now. We don't have a Danny Manning like prospect to show for the Joe traded EXCEPT.. just like Manning, those players we did get are on the last year of their deals. It's too early to Judge Ferry.

Those two trades can't be compared like that. If I'm not mistaken the Hawks were the top of the east when they made the Nique trade. Dumb move. Contenders don't take risks like that. When Ferry made that trade, we already hit our ceiling. Getting out of that contact gives us the opportunity to become something greater. Besides I think we are doing very well without Lou Williams. We've been hurt a lot this season.

I love Teague but there were several times on the PnR last night where a PG with good vision could have found Al rolling to the basket off of the pick and Teague didn't even come close to seeing it. I said to myself that if Josh had been the one with the ball he definitely would have seen the pass and probably have made it successfully. What worries me about losing Josh is that if we don't replace him with another point-forward type with excellent vision, it's going to really hurt our offense.

I may be the only one who still this this, but I believe that Teague, Horford, and Smith can thrive together. I blame Josh's jumpers on Drew. If Drew really has told Josh to stop taking those shots and he still continues what does the coach have to do? Take his butt out the game. But that never happens. I have a feeling that if we got a coach who is adamant about Josh staying in the post then Josh would listen. It doesn't appear to me that Drew minds Josh's shots (if he did mind them then he has the weakest backbone ever) and that'd why I don't like him as our head coach.

I think Horf is the ideal complement to Dwight. I think Ferry may believe he has a shot at Dwight no matter what Josh does. So, no I wouldn't move Horf even if it meant more Josh at 3. Josh is going to take the kind of shots he takes no matter what position he plays.

Well if we did get Dwight in here, then we would have someone in the paint to collect all his misses.

I still think Ferry believes he has a legit shot at Dwight for whatever reason.

I think he still does. If the Lakers don't make the playoffs this year (which is a strong possibility) and we make some noise in the playoffs (which is less probable) I think Dwight might give us a second look.

Is there even such thing as a bandwagon Hawks fan? I know we all love our Hawks but come on. This team has no superstars or championship history to hold onto. Now if we got Dwight Howard in here...

Joe was signed before any amnesty provision was known. This was not a Sund move anyway, it was clearly Gearon Jr.

I don't think we would have amnestied him until there was about 1-2 years left. His contract was too large for the ASG (let alone most owners) to pay without getting anything back.

I hated Joe and both of his contracts. Just my two cents. Look no further than Brooklyn's identical number of losses to us yet their + $20 million payroll to see his impact.

I don't see how your HATED Joe Johnson. Even though he never will live up to his contract, he is still a versatile SG most teams in the NBA would love to have. Like it or not, he just wasn't the player our team needed him to be. But he was able to keep this team relevant. And the reason why they're doing not much better than us despite payroll is because that team has overpayed for players in order to assemble a team that can at least win a few games. This isn't like baseball where having deep pockets means you can sign whoever you want. Once you go over the tax line you better have your most important pieces in place or making moves to get those players gets a whole lot harder. Billy King has dug that team a grave that will be hard for them to get out of. Who pays Humphries 12 million, Joe Johnson 20+ million, Wallace 10 million... the list goes on.

That's why I think that he's been taking these jump shots this year. He's probably committed himself to growing that part of the game so that when his athleticism does go out he can have that to fall back on... I just wish he would wait before he really starts to decline

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Thank you so much. I wouldn't have figured it out myself.

I agree with you on the point that he would be a much bigger contributor on this team if he would learn how to work around the paint, but that's not where he sees himself growing a player. To be honest, on a team full of jump shooters you would think that going to the paint would be the logical move for him but that's why he's Josh. I'm fine if he when he takes those 3 pointers but those long 2s should be restricted to Horford only. Sorry I'm not relying properly, I'm on a phone and have no idea how to reply directly to a comment.

At the end of the day, nobody can question your fan hood except yourself. If you support the Hawks like everybody else on this board, then it doesn't matter what anyone says. Besides, have you ever heard if a bandwagon, fair weather Hawks fan. Anybody who is willing to associate themselves with a franchise that has never won anything and continues to fail is a die hard fan in my eyes. No matter what I'll always support my team.

Could it be possible that Josh is actually trying to improve his game. It's obvious that the with jumpshots he's taking, he may actually be trying to grow as a player. Not that I'm ecstatic about that or anything, but if he really wants to become a jumpshooter then he needs to work on it a lot more. That may also be why LD doesn't take him out when he takes those shots. The league average for 3 pointers is .358% so he's not to far off at .348%, just saying.I also don't think Josh will get a max contract under this new CBA. With the repeater tax penalties a team will be less willing to overpay for a player. Especially one who has never made an all-star game.

I don't think that we will have to give Smith a Max contract for him to stay here. Just because he said he thinks he deserves one doesn't mean he won't settle for less. If we can get him for around 14 mil, bring in Howard and resign Korver and Zaza, that team could challenge the Heat in a playoff series