TheNorthCydeRises

And that's EXACTLY why you're not the GM of an NBA franchise. LOL @ your Memphis trade. Why in the hell would the Griz trade away Warrick? They LOVE Hakim in Memphis. Fans need to realize that whatever trade proposal that they come up with on realgm.com or any other of these sites, isn't necessarily feesible . . even if the numbers work. Most of the trades proposed for Al, doesn't improve this team by leaps and bounds. So it's really no sense in doing some trade for an overrated player or a bunch of scrub players, just for the sake of doing it. We'll do "something". But whatever we do, it's not going to drastically improve this team. The players that we do want ( like Camby ), aren't going anywhere.

LOL @ that article. UN-believable!! And LMAO at that lineup. Why in the hell does the guy think that the Celtics obtained, not one, but TWO PG'S this year? It's obvious that Delonte was NOT the solution in Beantown, yet, he's the next leader of the future Hawks? LMAO !!! And the Kenyon trade? Good Lord. It's like I've been saying for weeks now: (1) people who follow/watch this team have absolutely NO CONFIDENCE that Joe Johnson can become a star or even an elite player in this league (2) they also think that our kids have no shot at improving in the near future. If they did, they'd realize that their potential is more valuable, than any marginal player that we can bring in to possibly replace them.

A lot of us "fans" tend to forget that the Hawks don't necessarily sell out every game either. With that being the case, you just can't expect the organization to go all out, spend all of their allotted cap money, and make the few thousand of us "loyal fans" happy . . while getting killed at the box office. People have to remember that the NBA is a BUSINESS, as well as sports entertainment. It makes no sense to bring in a contract like a Troy Murphy, if it isn't a guarantee that his presence will make us a serious playoff and championship contender. I've always preferred to "roll with the kids", and see what they can do. That worked for Chicago. It was only when they got to be a playoff team, that the organization actively went out and tried to make the team better by adding expensive free agents.

Ex . . while I'll agree that Howard is a tad bit overhyped RIGHT NOW, you need to look at what you're saying. To say that he has to develop a mid range shot or become a better post player to average 20+ ppg, pretty much proves that you haven't watched enough of this kid . . especially since the Francis trade. If Dwight keeps doing what he's doing right now, and NEVER develops a mid range jumper, the kid can EASILY average 20 ppg. Why? Because he'll get more touches, with the departure of Francis, and with him now being the focal point of the offense. Jameer will get him the ball in the right spots, and Dwight will continue to use his athletic ability to get to the rim. One other thing you need to realize. He's going to get to the line A LOT next season. A whole lot. That in itself will help him become that consistent 20 ppg scorer . . perhaps even a 20 - 24 ppg scorer. IF he EVER develops a mid-range game, this league better look out. He'll be better than David Robinson. Right now, I'll compare Dwight to what Amare was after his 2nd season in the league. In Year 3, we saw Amare damn near become an MVP candidate. Don't be shocked if the same happens to Dwight next year, if Orlando gets on a roll.

Quote: If we suck enough to get a top 10 player in 2008 I will shoot myself. This is the mentality we have to change with Hawks fans. We shouldn't be excited because there are guards available in 2008. We are done rebuilding. What in the *uck are we going to do with a HS/College freshman point guard rookie when we are supposed to be EC contenders by then. We are set at point guard. We have 4 point guards all in their 20's. In fact we are set at every position now. All I want to see added to this team are role player specialist...namely Another scorer (ala Jerry Stackhouse type) A defensive specialist (ala Bonzi Wells type) I don't want any more damn rookies, or developmental players. This is our team Speedy/Lue JoJo/Salim Smoove/Childress Marvin/Shelden Zaza/Lo Extended bench: Este, Solomon NBDL Rep: Ivey That's it. We are done..that's the lineup. With the exception of some fine tuning BK's vision is complete. Best post of the week. When I saw the title to this thread, I immeadiately thought the same thing you were thinking. As far as that defensive specialist you want, Ruben Patterson would've been a guy that could fit in well here, seeing that he can defend both the 2 and the 3. I tell you what though. Bonzi Wells would immeadiately send Smoove or Marvin to the bench ( depending on which guy Woodson plays at the 4. ) Bonzi has always been a big time talent. He's just a little crazy like Artest. And his crazyness overshadows his talent at times.

I'm not worried at all about either of these guys leaving. For one, the Hawks own the Bird Rights to each player, so if we wanted to, we can go over the cap and even into Luxury Tax land to keep them . . if we're a playoff team. Second, we don't have to worry about Marvin until the summer of 2010. I'm sure he'll pretty much show what he's about by then. He'll either be a decent starter . . or a superstar type player. Third, the Hawks should be in no hurry to sign Josh Smith to any long term contract. Let the kid show if he can really elevate his game on a consistent basis. If he can, then pay the man. If he can't, he'll be treated like a young Al Harrington, and earn somewhere around 6 - 8 million on his next deal. This core players on this team is pretty much set in stone for at least the next 2 seasons. Let all of this play out, before we decide to start trading people or giving people boatloads of money.

I was talking about Paul Pierce leading the C's to the ECF. JJ's game is similar to Pierce's . . . with the potential to become a Clyde Drexler type player ( without the flash ). You provide adequate interior defense to the Hawks last year, and we easily win 35 - 40 games last year. That's why the league, including your Bulls, better hope that Shelden comes along slowly in his rookie year, and the rest of our bigs don't show any improvement. If they do, we're definitely going to be a factor come April.

Quote: Untouchable is a label that some players get. JJ is not an American Hero like GI JOE... but how untouchable is he? For instance, if Orlando was to offer us: Hill and Howard for Marvin and JJ would we say No? Or is it that deep down in our hearts we all want to see: Howard/Shelden/Smoove/Chillz/Speedy take the court? IF Toronto were offering Chris Bosh/Alvin Williams for JJ would we have to turn them down? Joe isn't an American hero? Tell that to Team USA today. As one poster said on the ESPN board about 2 - 3 weeks ago, people should be calling Joe . . . "CAPTAIN AMERICA" One of those under the radar type superheroes who was never flashy. All he did was kick azz whenever his country needed him. That's Joe in a nutshell. By the way, you rarely see stars in their prime, traded for other stars in their prime. When you look at that, Joe IS untouchable. Call him Captain America . . or call him Elliott Ness. He's untouchable.

I know how good Howard is. And he may very well have more potential than JJ. But I have to question whether Hawk fans know how good JJ is. People keep comparing JJ to Ray Allen. If I were JJ, that'll be a slap in the face, considering that JJ can do a hell of a lot more things than Ray. JJ may be a better shooting version of Paul Pierce, a guy who can do it all. When he had adequate help, he helped the C's get to the ECF.

At least I'm glad to FINALLY see that the NONE - I LIKE OUR ROSTER section of the poll has taken the lead over Orlando. Good Lord. As much as KB seems to be over the top on most of his posts, he's the only one that 1) give JJ the credit he deserves as a guy who can literally take over a game ( scoring or playmaking wise ), which makes him a potential MVP candidate IF he gets the shots to put up big numbers night after night . . and 2) would ONLY take Orlando solely because of Dwight Howard, who is becoming a demon in the post. No one doubts that Howard will be an All-Star in a year or two. But when you look at the rest of that lineup, does ANYONE outside of Jameer Nelson impress you one bit? At best, Jameer is the 2nd coming of Damon Stoudamire, which is a big compliment to him. This board is so curious though. One minute, people want a 19 ppg - 7 rebs guy who can definitely provide offensive punch, but no defense, in Al gone FOREVER . . . while the rest of the NBA thinks we're crazy. Then you have some proclaiming that Marvin can be a top 3 - 5 MVP candidate in the future. And we all know who the "Josh Smith will be a superstar" supporters are. And almost all of those guys love those two, over the guy who basically gives us any hope for the future in the first place, in JJ. You would think the entire fan base would be right behind JJ, like they were behind Steve Smith back in the day . . . but they're not . . even though JJ put up 20 ppg and damn near 7 assist playing a position he's played only ONCE in a two month stretch back in Phoenix. But when viewing the Hawks collectively, those same people have no confidence in this team as a whole. Oh well. Winning cures everything. I just hope those people that don't believe in this team as a whole, don't act like they proclaimed a 40 - 50 win season right from the jump.

It's amazing how many people on this board think that those other teams have better rosters than ours. But I guess I should expect from our fickle and highly critical fan base. Do you guys really think that those other teams have more potential on our roster than we already have now? People act like Smoove is the 2nd coming. And Marvin is the next great foward. And JJ is already a damn Olympian. Yet, some of you are choosing to go with another roster instead of what we have now? If Dwight Howard is a future MVP candidate, what does that make Joe Johnson? Get behind your team people.

Then you toss an offer at Lorenzen Wright to give us another quality big man. Potential lineup G - Claxton G - JJ F - Smith F - M. Williams F/C - ZaZa Bench G - Salim or Lue ( whichever one is still here ) G - Hassell G/F - Childress F - S. Williams F/C - Wright With Hassell, you could now legitimately play JJ at the 3, when you want to go with a defensive lineup: G - Claxton G - Hassell F - JJ F - Smith F/C - S. Williams

Send Al to Minnesota for - Trenton Hassell - a filler type player ( maybe a Mark Madsen . . he won't see the floor though ) - and a 2007 1st round pick. Then look to deal either Salim or Lue to a team that needs a backup PG or a scorer off the bench. Hassell would immeadiately give us another guy who can guard the athletic 2's and 3's in the East, and a guy who can knock down the mid-range jumper. Why Minny would do it? Minnesota lineup with Al: PG - Mike James G - Ricky Davis F - Al F - KG C - Mark Blount Not your best defensive team in the world, but that's a damn good offensive lineup to throw at people. Then add the young guys like Foye to the mix, and they may be right back to contending for a playoff spot.

Billy should just keep doing what he's doing. Whatever we get from Indy, it's not like it's going to help us this year anyway. And if all else fails, just re-sign Al to a 6 - 7 million ONE YEAR CONTRACT, for insurance purposes ( in case one of the kids isn't ready to step up yet ). Then when the trading deadline comes, trade him to a contender and get a good young player in return.

Anybody actually know who b-ball princess is? If she's a "sista", then I have an idea of who she might be. I won't divulge that info though.

LOL . . Good Lord. Diesel has lost it. While Ty Lue isn't the best PG in the world, he's certaintly more valuable to the Hawks, than Chris Mihm would ever be. If you trade Lue, then you must have all the confidence in the world in Salim possibly running the team. Either that, or you're satisfied with JJ still logging major minutes at the point. ( I didn't see you on the JJ at the point bandwagon too much last year ) Give Lo Wright the 1 - 2 year deal, keep Lue for the rest of his deal, and go from there. But leave that LAKER TRASH in LA

Gotta love that article.

LOL . . I did that too, for about 3 seconds. Then I read it again. The Pack need a little more than AJ Hawk. He should be a good player for them though.

I was about to say . . . I'm surprised no one had mentioned Duane Ferrell yet. Duane was instant offense, on those occasions when Nique or one of our main rotation guys were out. He had a real nice mid-range game and could get to the hole and draw fouls. LOL @ Eldridge Recasner . . . or as I used to call him "DJ Cas". It's funny, this current Hawks team resembles those teams of the early 90s, as far as depth, young talent, and potential talent. LOL . . and I see no votes for Rumeal Robinson ( the modern day equivalent of Marcus Williams, if you ask me. )

LOL . . Smoove bet not EVER take 25 shots in a game, if he's missing like that. I think the 2nd option on this team, will be whomever has the hot hand. Until somebody steps up and proves that they can consistently hit big shots when called upon, the 2nd option will be the guy who is "on fire" at the time. If Marvin can get to the line at 75% of the rate he got to the line during Summer League, then he would have to be the candidate for 2nd option. Even if you're not hitting shots, you can score points if you can draw fouls. If Marvin is the best guy who can do that, he'll be the #2 option. As far as Speedy being the #2 option . . . NO CHANCE. One of the things that most of you will find out about Speedy, is that he doesn't have the best jumper in the world. Lue is a far better shooter than Speedy and Salim is a better jumpshooter as well. Speedy can get to the hole though, which is an asset for us when the outside shots aren't falling.

Walter, I have to agree with the rest of the guys, when they call you a "hater". LOL @ Dirk can post up . . but he doesn't. He'd rather shoot a fadeaway 20 footer than to bang it up on the inside. Amare didn't play last year. And because they had Nash, they could toss it all around the floor. If you haven't watched any Hawks games, it's similar to what we did last year on a smaller scale. LOL @ don't want to be a "Chicago". So far, you've avoided the whole low-post offense question, with "other" reasons to why those teams succeed. LOL @ one word . . Kobe. Still another omission. Big Z does not post up regularly. The guy is 7-3 and damn near 300 lbs. With how weak centers are today, he'd be averaging over 20 ppg if he posted up regularly. He wants to be more like Brad MIller, than Chris Kaman. Jamison is exactly like Harrington. A guy who has the ability to post up, but would rather stay on the outside and shoot 15 foot jumpers. He's most effective when he can face you up, and take you off the dribble. The problem with guys like you is that you don't see anybody else on this team improving. Like we're going to stay the same way for years and years. JJ will be vastly improved this year, and a much more efficient scorer. And Marvin may be the guy who can play the 4 spot, but be more like a Diaw or a Jamison . . a guy who can take you off the dribble and get to the hole. Hate on, hater.

I think a lot of you totally miss the point about how this team is constructed for next season. People say that we don't have a legit low-post offensive player, but I can name about 5 playoff teams that you can say that about. - Dallas ( because Dampier and Diop were virtually useless unless someone passed them the ball at point blank range to the rim ) - Phoenix ( and no, Diaw didn't post people up . . he took people off the dribble from 12 - 15 feet on out ) - Chicago ( the team that we probably most resemble now. Sweetney is their premier post up guy . . ooooooo ) - Washington ( unless you count Brenden Haywood and Etan "the Hulk" Thomas as formidable low post options ) - Cleveland ( because Big Z would rather shoot 12 - 15 foot jumpers, instead of mixing it up on the inside. Gooden tried to be that presence on the inside though. ) - LA Lakers ( Kwame played well only because Diaw was guarding him. And even then, he'd find ways to blow lay-ups ) OK . . my bad. That's 6 teams. The point is this. Even without a legit post player, the Hawks can be a very dangerous team next season. What we'll lose in the post, we'll gain via fast break points with Speedy leading the break. This team could become a very scary fast break team, with Smoove and Marvin filling the lanes . . even Childress for that matter. Can Chill, Marvin, and Smoove make up Harrington's 19 ppg and 7 rebs. LOL . . absolutely. Even if we get numbers like 6 - 8 ppg and 5 - 6 rebounds from Shelden next year, that'll go a long way into covering up for Al. It's funny though. Everytime Al has been "injured" at the end of the season, the Josh's have seemed to taken their games to that next level. Let JJ do his thing with the great spot-up shooting and the drive and dish game he displayed last year. The Olympic experience should make him an even better player next season. Let Chill and Marvin attack the rim every chance they get, and get to the line. Let Smoove play his game, whether it be the "look at me, I can knock down the 20 foot jumper" or the "you better watch out because I'm coming down the lane to dunk on your head" game. Let ZaZa do what he do . . shoot the ball, miss, get to the ball off the rim to pad his rebounding stats, miss again, get another rebound, and put the ball in the hole or go to the line. Let Salim be the deadly spot up shooter who looks to score 13 points in 8 minutes. Let Lue be Lue . . . the pretty damn good shooter from 18 feet on out, and get inside the lane on occasion and dish to the open man. Let Shelden be the ultimate garbage man, grabbing the critical rebounds that we seemed to not get to last year. Shelden was too good of a player in college to be a non-factor for us next season. He'll be ready to go to battle on the court. And let Speedy live up to his name, and run people to death while getting in the lane for easy lay-ups and finding our shooters, who are very good when open. ***************** The ONLY thing that concerns me about this team, is the interior defense. Offensively, we're going to be a damn good team overall, and a more efficient offensive team. And look for this team to get to the FT line a lot more this year too. And for God's sake people . . let Marvin PROVE TO YOU that he can't play in this league, or be a very good player. One season has NEVER made or broken a high lottery pick. Dang. Even Darko gets the benefit of the doubt these days, seeing that he played halfway decent in Orlando. Yet, people are doubting Marvin on every turn. They'll be the same people wearing #24 jerseys to Hawk games in the coming years.

While I don't disagree that Wilcox and/or Cato would better fit the needs for this team . . to say that we don't have any need for Wells is inaccurate at best. Wells was pretty DOMINANT in that San Antonio series in which the Spurs ( not even Bruce Bowen ) had no chance at stopping the guy. I know a lot of people on here are stuck on Josh Smith and Marvin being stars . . but Bonzi is better than both of those guys right now. A backcourt of Claxton, Johnson, and Wells would be a FORMIDIBLE one in the East. And you can always move JJ to the point, and put this lineup on the floor. - JJ - Wells - Marvin - Smoove - insert big man here Bonzi is a proven scorer, a good defender, and a tenacious rebounder for a guard. I'll tell you this. Adding Bonzi to this team would equal more wins, than adding a guy like Cato to this team.

And I think some of you are forgetting about Oliver Miller on that Arkansas team. LOL . . we all forgot about Miller and Day, probably two of the most popular players on that team. Damn, that just shows you how deep that Razorback team was.

LOL . . that's crazy how people forgot arguably the most popular and hyped up Razorback . . Todd Day. Even I couldn't remember who that missing starter was, until you typed the name. Wow . . talk about a bust in the NBA. With the way he and Scotty Thurman shot the ball, you would've think that they would've been in the league for 10 - 12 years.