Hawkmoor

I got ONE stat for you. Name ONE player that the Hawks have had on their roster SINCE Dominique that is anywhere NEAR the value or talent he brought to that team...........Nique carried the Hawks for years and the team never recovered from trading him away.

Everybody in this thread that commented on Lebron STATED that its the league and media that goes overboard about Lebron. Also, Lebron isnt the only athlete who has good character and gives off the court. Its MARKETING FOR THE LEAGUE, period. The more popular basketball is, the more money everybody makes, the media, league, teams, etc. What people dont like is the result of that: forcing players on the fans. Dominique wasnt one of their chosen ones to MARKET. Thats what this thread is REALLY about. When they made that top 50 player list, it was all a popularity contest. Heck, the list that was posted by ESPN in this thread is STILL a popularity list.

Good point. Regardless, i still say let Lebron get his. Sap has no business playing on ball defense on the wing because the Hawks NEED him on the boards, since Horford doesnt wanna play in the paint. Sap gets worn out. Sap IS the modern day Dominique for the Hawks because of the fact, as you pointed out about his defense on Lebron, Sap is asked to do too much because of lack of talent around him.

Rememember the game in the playoffs where Sap came out to check Lebron on the wing, and he blew past Sap and Korver ran out of the way for the Lebron Dunk?? lmao You DONT check Lebron on the wing. You back down to the paint and DARE him to shoot the ball. If he comes into the paint, you PUNISH him.

One more thing. What you just said about Lebron, ive always said the same thing, let him shoot the ball. DONT double team him. When you double team him, he kicks out to the 3 point shooters and Thompson and Mosgov grab the boards. You LET Lebron get his 30 points, and dont let the rest of the team get anything. Then, you bring Cedric Mack into the game just to ELBOW dellavedova or whatever his name is, in the mouth and sideline him............lmao

Dieselputer blew a circuit..........................

Everytime i turned to the game, Dennis is either being trapped on the baseline or throwing up a air ball. If he had a better game than what i saw, my bad.

If you cant rebound or defend the paint, you BETTER be a talented bunch, and the Hawks are not. When Sap went out, that SAPPED the Hawks........lmao Dennis and teague, BOTH are garbage. Teague is sometimey ( is that a word?), and Dennis cant shoot, dribbles too much etc. etc. korver is a bench player. Splitter is garbage. Horford is playing point guard. Scott has turned to garbage. Hardaway is garbage. Hawks are a 8th seed team. I hate to say it, but Barkley was right about the Hawks:

Excellent short clip with Fratello talking about Wilkins: http://omnyapp.com/shows/siriusxm-nba/mike-fratello-goes-off-the-dribble-on-appreciating

EXACTLY. The NBA and media MARKET Lebron. Its all about MONEY......He was crowned King of the NBA BEFORE he ever took his FIRST dribble in the NBA..........Thats one of the MAIN reasons i cant stand the NBA. Its one step away from WWE wrestling.....

See, thats my problem with people who dont KNOW what the situation with Nique was in Atlanta. Dont take this personally, but you DONT KNOW. Most people get what they know from the media. First, you are correct about the tools Nique had to be a excellent defender. When Nique first came into the league, especially his rookie year, he was a MONSTER on the defensive end. He was blocking shots, along with Dan Roundfield, left and right. With that leaping ability, he was a BETTER defender than Josh Smith. I saw those games. He was a EXCELLENT on ball defender. Seriously, the ONLY player i saw player as TOUGH and HARD as Nique on both offense and defense was Allen Iverson. They were hustling MACHINES. I know it because thats how I PLAYED THE GAME. I saw it. Mike Fratello made a conscious decision to INSTRUCT Nique to concentrate more on his offensive game and CARRY THE HAWKS ON OFFENSE. With that scrub team he played on, the scoring HAD to come from Nique. Red Auerbach was the ONLY coach who set the record straight about Nique when he said that Nique's defense was VASTLY under rated and he never got credit for it. NOBODY is slamming CarMElo, NOBODY is slamming Durant, and we can go on and on. These players are prima donnas on offense, but nobody slams them about their defense. Honestly, Nique is TOP 3 small forward of all time and top 20 alltime player. He was THAT great. If he had played in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, etc. it would have NEVER been put up for debate.

Lot of people will disagree, but Nique is TOP 5 all time at the small forward. The ONLY small forwards on that list that you can make a legit argument about being better than Nique are Bird , maybe Durant and maybe James. Personally, i think James is overrated, but he is the media darling......... I watched Erving play, he aint better than Nique, just has the reputation and was on a better team than Nique. Durant dont make anybody better around him, a argument that was always thrown at Nique. I feel Nique is better than Durant because of his offensive rebounding. NOBODY could keep Nique off the offensive board. Lebron just has that bullrush to the rim that people cant stop because he as big as a NFL lineman......

Bud IS trying to be the smartest guy in the room. He is NOT running the Spurs system set for set. He is taking the Spurs system, and EXPANDING it to the wings with his bigs. Some "coordinators" are MEANT to be coordinators and not head coaches.......Bud appears to be one of those. Like Josh Daniels up in New England. Great offensive coordinator, but he cant LEAD a team. He CANT make adjustments as the head coach. Thats bud all the way....

But but, its the SYSTEM the Hawks run. They dont need superstars or allstars.............

And Portland wished they had drafted Jordan instead of Bowie.............

Hey, Hawks need a wing.....................lmao ON a serious note, WHAT a wasted talent this dude was. Just wasted it..............

Hawks DEFINITELY need toughness. Its a shame that Cleveland has a GUARD, a GUARD that brings them toughness along with Mosgov and Thompson, while the Hawks sit back and LET Sap get manhandled every game. They dont want Howard, neither one of the Lopez brothers, ill throw another name out there. ZEBO. The Hawks play small up front anyway, why not have a REAL banger up there helping Sap.

Patterson looks like the better player. In fact, Holiday would be getting some minutes too. I like guards that can create off the dribble.

Now, i will say this, in my opinion, Teague's lack of play is what makes the knicks better. If Teague played up to his potential every night, i would say the Hawks have the better roster. A poster mentioned it above and i agree.

To me, Arron Afflalo puts them over the Hawks roster. Didnt the Hawks even LOOK at him back when he was a free agent last year? If they had signed him, the Hawks shooting weakness from the wings wouldnt be there this year. Just destroyed the Hawks the other night.

Which is what Barkley kept saying and people didnt wanna hear it. He predicted BEFORE the season started how this would play out. I was upset about him being down on the Hawks, but he was right. Without a big time move to acquire talent, it is what it is with the Hawks. A good, but not great team.

Turn it on?? They couldve gotten beat by a terrible 8 seed Brooklyn team and were one Horford rebound from losing the next series.

Which brings me BACK to the talent question. For some reason, San Antonio has ALWAYS gotten labeled as a team that wins with its system. Nothing can be further from the truth. Its the combinations of TALENT and that system. The Hawks have the system, but they dont have players that can create and take pressure off having to hustle 100 percent in that system. San Antonio can have effort off nights, but still win on talent. Thats the difference.