JETSET

Al/Dwight > Josh/Dwight

Truthfully, if Dwight signs here we need not expect a superstar. Because I think this year showed that he simply isn't that. If he signs here with the intent to "be the man" he and this team will fail. We need some shooters to play with him and Al is a great stretch PF of sort.

Harden/Al/Dwight would have been really good.

Surround Howard with a competent 4 and some shooters and he will put up 22+ points, 13+ rebounds, and over 2 blocks per game. Those are superstar numbers.

If you actually think there's a chance Dwight would come here your nuts. There are s many signs indicating he has no interest in joining the hawks. This isn't the first article that Dwight hasn't mentioned Atlanta. Move on and get cp3.

If we are able to convince CP3, Howard will be easy to persuade.

What is going on in league? Miami Bosh all star PF, Dallas Chandler all star center, Dirk HOF PF, Lakers Gasol HOF PF, Bynum at the time All star center, Lakers Shaq HOF center, Boston Garnett HOF PF, Detroit Big Ben HOF PF/C Sheed all star PF. Spurs Duncan HOF PF

Everyone wants to talk about how much the leagues is changing. At the end of the day,how many champions have there really been with lightweight, short, fast, outside shooting bigs?

Ben Wallace HOF?? Say what

I don't think Paul is a championship player in his prime. He had everything he needed to make something happen this season yet didn't, but their front line and the coach get all the blame while the best player and leader leaves unscathed. Past All-Stars and highly decorated players all over the damn place. I don't even see him as a complimentary piece later in his career. He's a sneak diva, way overpriced due to his "arguably best PG in the league" title, injury prone, and a shell of himself athletically from when he first came in the league. His three ball is average at best (awful from straightaway) coupled with his average rim finishing ability. I remeber he routinely dunked on Bigs his first two seasons. He's damaged goods IMO. Who wants to pay max for that? You think LeBron is gonna allow his little ass to stand in the way of winning if he's the best player on a team after losing to the Grizzlies who have nobody remotely comparable in superstar status? In short, no. The Chris Paul overration has to stop. He's approaching Steve Nash status with the "Hall of Fame PG Not Good Enough To Lead His Team To The Finals...Ever" tag.

You obviously didn't watch the series. In the first few games Paul did what he usually does, to his own detriment, which is sacrifice his shots to try and get his teammates involved. The Clippers are a terrible team. They have ZERO post defense. Jordan and Griffin also provide ZERO post offense. The rest of the team is a bunch of has-beens in Crawford, Butler, Billups, Odom, Turiaf, Green. Barnes is older but he actually stepped up in the playoffs and played well.

Chris dominated the Grizz in the last two games. He scored 63 points on over 50% shooting against the best defensive team in the league with no one to help him on offense. He is a top 5 player in this league and this would be obvious if the Paul/Horford/Howard trio happens.

Chris Paul isn't overrated. Your problem is you are overrating his non-existent supporting cast.

Actually, Dwight Howard said in a recent interview (can't find the article at the moment) that the fifth year really isn't that important because most of the time, the fifth year is a PO and most players forgo the fifth year anyway. Players want a legacy and have many other avenues to make money.

Take away the fifth year and add in the fact that California's state millionaire tax is the highest state tax in the country and the difference isn't all that great. They pay 13.3% state income tax in California. Georgia's rate is 7%.

So take away the 20 million for the 5th year and include the 3-4 million they will save on paying less state income tax and they will lose about 6-7 million over a 4 year span. This is less than 2 million per year. Win a title in ATL and they will easily recoup that money in endorsements.

I wouldn't want to have to rely on having both Jenkins and Korver as starters. I would prefer to go after a guy like Francisco Garcia to start at the 3. We can use our 1st rounders to go after an athletic playmaking wing even if it means trading both to move up some and get the player that we want. Paul has already proven that he can excel as the primary playmaker if need be though. He got to any spot on the floor that he wanted to against the Grizz and they are as good as it gets defensively.

I think this rotation would be perfect:

Paul/Lou Will

Korver/Jenkins/Lou Will

Garcia/Korver/Ivan

Horford/Ivan/Scott

Howard/A vet Center who provides defense (ie Dalembert)

We use our first for a playmaking wing if one is available. Use the other on a Post player. This lineup would give us plenty of shooting and we would be able to use a variety of guard lineups. (Paul, Lou Will, Garcia), (Paul, Jenkins, Korver),

Something feels different about these rumors this year. Previously, the players either would not be rumored to the Hawks, or the media would be stating that we do not have a legitimate chance to get them. Now, the talk is about how the top two free agents have been talking about teaming up in Atlanta for a while now.

What feels different is the fact joining forces in ATL is the most logical choice to form a title contending team for each of them. A Paul/Howard/Horford trio is the best chance they have at winning a title. They also both have ties to the area and we are the only organization that can offer two max contracts. Sure it's a longshot, but it's a realistic longshot. This can and will be done if both players primary goal is to win.

I don't see how people are upset about these rumors. This offseason has barely started and this is the most enjoyable offseason I have had as a Hawks fan already. We, for once, have a chance at being elite instead of stuck on a treadmill.

The money that it takes to acquire Lopez or Jefferson (basically a max) is Ludacris (ooh ooh) when they provide nothing on defense.

I will more than happily take Zaza as a backup on a 4 million deal over one of these 1 dimensional clowns any day of the week. Atleast Zaza will leave us flexibility with the cap and not stuck on a treadmill for the next 5 years.

Why would you be happy with mediocrity when he have dealt with it for the past 7 years?

Lopez was at fault for Game 6 ONLY. He was busting Noah's azz the entire series, up until that point.

But even with that, the Nets aren't even in the playoffs, without the play of Lopez throughout the year.

But go ahead and dog that dude, and act like he isn't a good player that is an overall asset to a team. I guess fans like you value the "toughness" of Zaza over the production of guys like Lopez and Jefferson.

Some of you better keep in mind that it's not like we have some dynamic scoring guard or wing on this team. We're going to have to get scoring from somewhere. I'm just tired of the "chuck and duck" offense that was supposed to be leaps and bounds better than anything we had here, but couldn't even average 100 ppg throughout the year, and got completely shut down in the playoffs.

Take it back old school, and run the offense through the big men, instead of trying to set up inconsistent jumpshooters.

What about game 7 where Noah had like 24 pts and 14 boards? Brook is slow and cannot defend the PnR and this killed the Nets throughout the series.

Horford had his best game of the year that night, so once again you are helping to prove us right with your own posts. Jefferson went off that game, on a undersized Horford, and they still lost because he allowed Horford to get any shot he wanted that night. This is exactly what we are saying. Jefferson can put up a statline that will make you say WOW but his team still loses because he provides no defense.

As for Korver. Here's a little pro-tip: The Center position is the most important position on the floor defensively. Korver not playing good defense has a far less effect on the team defense than having a Center who can't play defense. and I don't even care to have Korver back unless we get Dwight.

By bringing up Lopez, you are actually helping to prove our point. This so-called "elite post scorer" couldn't help his team win a series against a depleted Bulls roster that was missing 2 of its best 3 players and was down to their 3rd string PG.

The same type of people who dog Al Jefferson, are the same type of people who were dogging Brook Lopez. Lopez has his flaws in certain areas, but there is NO DOUBT that he is an elite scoring center ( in today's NBA ). And those types of players are not easy to come by.

Not around here though. People would rather spend 6 million to retain Zaza, than to spend 13 million to get Jefferson.

Did you even watch the Bulls/Nets series? Lopez's lack of defense was one of the main reasons the Nets lost. They ran the pick and roll with Noah non-stop and Lopez was too slow to guard either side of the pick-and-roll. Once again, another big man who looks all nice and shiny on offense but will never lead his team to winning anything significant. There is a lot more to this game than post offense.

Northcyde. You need to go back and watch our first game against Utah this season. Jefferson is as bad as it gets on the defensive side. He is a stat-padded that doesn't translate stats in to wins because his defense is so atrocious. Jefferson would be a waste and we would be right where we started. A 4-6 seed treadmill team.

I really think our chances of getting Dwight go up every single day... I believe Dwight would love to play with Josh again although that means either Horford is gone or Paul is staying a Clipper. I vote for Paul staying in LA, resign Teague, and pick up a serviceable SG or promote Jenkins/Korver. Just something about having a Howard/Horford/Smith frontcourt sends gets me excited for Hawks basketball. Howard under the hoop collecting rebounds, Horford finally getting to be our stretch 4, and Josh over at the 3 which he excels at. That is a 50+ ppg frontcourt; a very good team that's second best in the East and would give Miami a run for their money every year. Go Hawks!

LOL no. Dump Josh and sign Paul. We need maximum spacing if we are going to get Howard and who would create shots for people with the lineup you mentioned. It would be left up to Teague to be the facilitator and he likes to disappear in games far too often. Pau/Horford/Howard with shooters and a solid defender on the wing is a much better starting 5.

Can someone explain why they can't sign both? or give me a link that explains signing free agents and staying under the cap?

That does not free up any cap space for this offseason, so I do not see the point of this. It is just buzzwords that people do not know how to use, just like EXPIRINGS and CAP-FILLER. Maybe I should FRONTLOAD this reply?

What is the rule on that? Are you not allowed to sign max players if it puts you over the cap?

I think this was already known. They would still have to take a major pay cut in their first year though.

It just comes down to if they would rather play with a 36 year old 7 ftr who has elite offensive skills but provides next to nothing on defense or play with a young well-rounded offensive player who has elite defensive skills.

How many more years can Dirk play before that large frame of his has had enough?

Moving Horford can bring you back another piece. You aren't thinking about this as a whole picture thing. For example, you can't trade Josh for Rondo right now. But you could trade Al for Rondo and keep Josh.

So ask yourself. Is Rondo/Josh/Dwight better than Teague/Horford/FA? This is a complicated mess of who can you get to take our money and how much of it do you have to give up to get them here and if you build around Horford you don't have tradable assets. If you build around Josh you get Horford as a tradable asset. If you trade Horford for a comparable PG/SG/SF, you now have the goods to sign Dwight. Don't think of it as comparing Josh and Al...its a puzzle, not a straight up comparison. By letting Josh get to free agency and letting all your talent get to F/A...the only assets you now have are Horford, Teague and an injured Williams. Even Jenkins, Scott and your two draft picks aren't real assets at this point thanks to Drew barely playing developing the rooks.

Because of the difference between the cap and the LT you can't just sign 70 million in talent but you can trade for it to fill in the gaps. Building your roster into a contender is easier building around Dwight and trading Al than letting Josh walk and hoping to sign the best of what's left after Dwight/CP3.

A trio of Rondo/Dwight/Josh would never sniff a title so I would rather keep Horford and let Teague walk. Bring in some scrubs on 1 year deals and tank for a high pick in the starstudded 2014 draft. I don't see why people keep insisting on Rondo/Howard/Smith. How do you not realize that this is a terrible combo? This would be like the Nets. The cap would be maxed out and you wouldn't have a shot at a title. Terrible position to be in. I'm tired of being a treadmill team and I don't see how every one doesn't feel the same. I don't want any part of Jefferson or Mayo either.

and who says the Celtics would trade Rondo for Horford in the first place?

We could still space the floor with Korver and Jenkins

LOL at one player providing enough spacing for a team. Rondo, Smooth, Dwight and Allen would be rendered useless on offense because the defense would just crowd the lane and dare them to shoot jumpers. That grouping would fail hard.

CP3 is tough and motivated but Rondo does more on defense and on offense, Rondo is as good a in game manager as CP3. CP3 definitely shoots better but when you match Rondo's in game management and his lockdown defense, he's smarter. He plays passing lanes better. He forces his opponent to where he wants him to go. CP3 vs. T. Allen should have been a wake up for anybody.

Are you talking about the last 2 games of the series where Paul looked for his shot early instead of spending the first half looking to get his teammates involved? Tony didn't have much of an answer for Paul in those two games as Paul scored 63 points on over 50% shooting.

Bring out the broom man. Miami by 8 at Memphis and by 18 at Miami in their only two regular meetings.

I think you are confused. The Grizzlies beat Miami by 18 @ Memphis and lost to Miami by 7 @ Miami. So the Grizz have outscored Miami by 11 on the year. Miami was out of their minds from 3 in the game they won as were the Grizz in the game they won.

This will be a tough series if it does end up being the Finals matchup.

Miami will run Memphis off the court. I honestly don't know who can beat Miami now with Westbrook gone and the Spurs once again showing their age. GSW is fun and they have both the big man play and the speed on the edges.

The Knicks and Pacers are pretenders though NY had Miami's number in the regular season. If I am betting on a cinderella this season. its GSW.

Miami will not be running Memphis off the court. That series will go 6 games minimum. They will put up a better fight than OKC did last year, that's for sure.

I want no part of Mayo. Dude is as overrated as it gets. Carlisle was ready to choke him out by the end of the season.

I think Memphis deserves more credit that yall are giving them. This is the best team defense in the league and their bigs can score on anyone. I would probably give the edge to OKC if Westbrook was healthy but Memphis is no slouch. I do think that Memphis is a tougher challenge for Miami than OKC would be due to their style of play and their bigs.

Smith will get at least 12m per season and I see Korver getting 5m per season.

If we want to fit them all in (and I do) I think we need buy in from Howard and Paul to accept 15m per season instead of 17m.

Howard and Paul are not going to take 15 million and it would be a bad idea to keep Josh.