macdaddy

I can't see anyone wanting Jax since he signed with one of the worst teams in the league for not much money. That means that was the best deal he could get. If the spurs want him I say send him and nazr/glover for ginobili. but that'll never happen. Jax for Willis that might be fun.

Playmaker is right. Knight says the team hasn't established an identity, but that's Stotts job not the players. I think Knight is just covering for Stotts because he can't fire him until the new ownership is approved and he feels he can't make any trades either. (not that he has a lot of options). Stotts seems to have a plan but his results are really worse than Krugers. If we are going to salvage this season the change has to be now. I'm sure we will play 500 ball in the second half but we will be way out of the playoffs by then.

That would be great for Utah. It would leave us with no good players at all and praying that our pick would materialize down the road.

Playmaker is right about identity and Knight says so himself in the ajc article today. He doesn't know if its a running team or defensive team or shooting team, but he knows its not the coaches fault. What the [censored]? Isn't the whole job of the coach to establish the teams identity? The only identity that will work with this team is a half court 'boring' offense. Post up Reef, jump shooters in position, and hit the offensive boards. On defense the coach has to demand not only effort but physical play. No dunks, no layups. If we have guys foul out, good! There is no way these hawks will be successful pushing the ball all the time because they can't hang on to it. There is not one real good ball handler in the starting lineup and you need at least 3 to push the ball successfully.

We only have 2 players that have any trade value: Reef and Theo. We could trade JT but wouldn't get much in return. Reef should be untouchable unless we are going to start from scratch. That makes Theo our only tradeable player and we would need another center in return. Did anyone notice that 3 of our 5 starters were free agents that no one wanted and signed with us right before training camp. That's a bad sign if you are trying to trade those guys.

Chillzatl your dreaming. Players in the 80s may have been more disciplined, better coached or play better as a team, but just like all sports players just get more talented as time goes by. How could they be getting worse? Watch a game from the 80s. Open 15 foot jumpers are there for the taking. Players take position on the low post without 300 pound guys pushing them out to the 3 point line. The game is so much more intense so much more difficult to score nowadays. These Lakers would run over any team from the 80s. And I hate the Lakers.

They may get beat but you can't say that any 2 of these guys: Eddie Jones Van Exel Elden Campbell Rick Fox Robert Horry Are comparable to havin Payton and Malone. Even so I think they are beatable. I love JT mainly because he says stuff like this after every loss. He's one of those guys that forgets that the other team wants to win the game too. Remember when he was suspended for throwing a punch and swore that he didn't even though they had it on tape.

I agree with JTfan. And let Diaw bring the ball up.

Everyone's mad about Crawford's contract but he deserves more minutes than Dion. He's a better defender has a better short range jumper and drives to the basket better. He can't play 2 but let him have some of Jax minutes and it will make Jax better. The reason we have big contracts tied up in CC and Hendu is that they were solid contributers on a winning team. Only Jax and Theo can say that and their teams dumped them.

I hear ya. I think some players should be forbidden to attempt a 3 and if they do the team should fine them. It would be nice to see an offense run as if the 3 point line wasn't there. That's part of the reason teams like the Hawks rebound so poorly is that their 20 feet from the basket. 3 pointers should only count in the last 2 minutes of the half.

Smitty and Mookie also did it over 40 minutes a night. JT and Dion just don't play good defense but they will if they are forced to. I agree about Fratello. He would get this team winning. Doc is one of my all time favorites but I always thought he was overrated as a coach. Not that he was bad but everyone thought he was a miracle worker. Remember Fratello coached Nique and Moses on the same team and while they disappointed a lot of people they were still a [censored] good team.

You can't let them go for 50 though. Toronto and Philly aren't the Lakers. You force someone else to beat you and if they do you leave satisfied. Especially Toronto. If Carter is going to get 50 he better be doing it from the line with some bruises on his butt.

Dion definitely needs to go to the bench. Sometimes you need a guy who will go to the hole but not 40 minutes a night. Every game he looks like he doesn't know the offense. He just gets the ball and drives wildly. I know that few agree but if you played Crawford 20 minutes a night he'd become really valuable. Sure he's made some dumb plays this season but he has barely played in 2 years.

No one's mentioned Nique. At least he'll follow his shots. And he's available...

No one's mentioned Nique. At least he'll follow his shots.

Yeah. This is major bs. At least show a tape delay or something.

We could bring back Cadillac and Pig

I was agreeing with you 100% then I checked the name and saw Diesel. Just kidding. You are exactly right on this one. Most of our problems are fixable but none of these guys are going to start rebounding just out of the blue. But we have no one to trade really.

He should do the multi-color thing like Rodman and try to rebound like him too. Then everyone's happy.

Like it or not Shareef is the team. And he is [censored] good. Just because he doesn't wag his toungue all the time doesn't mean he has no heart. Notice he still gets a double team everytime he touches the ball in the post. That's respect. JT has some problems but defense is all about effort. He can improve defensively if he is forced to. When teams aren't playing well it looks like the players suck, but when they play hard and control the ball suddenly they look like all stars.

I agree Diaw can't run the point right now either. But its no crazier than letting DD gain experience at the expense of winning.

Why give Dickau minutes in the hopes that with experience he may be as good as Vaughn. Vaughn is already as good as Vaughn. It was a mistake to cut Vaughn last year and then draft Dickau. You just replaced an experienced backup small point with an inexperienced backup small point. Why not give Diaw time at PG. At least he creates matchup problems for the other team.

These guys have enough talent to be a successful team if you make them put in the effort. Reef is great in the low post but he is never there anymore. and the few times he is the others just stand around and watch. If its a choice between rebounding and getting berated and benched everyone of these guys are going to choose rebounding. There are no Sprees here. These guys will respond to that. After 3 years of this crap they don't know that's the way you play for 48 minutes. Why don't any of these guys foul out? Theo is the only one who fouls out and its on whimpy little touch fouls. If Nailon and Nazr haven't used all their fouls then they haven't been playing hard enough. Giving up off rebouds is one thing but just letting layup and dunk all game? Make them earn it at the strip

New coaches always preach the same thing. Push the ball. but these aren't the kind of players who can handle pushing the ball all game. When you got guys who turn the ball over a lot you don't really want them getting too creative. It may be boring but solid defense and controlled half court sets win games and its the only way to win in the playoffs. SAR, JT, Dion are looking bad because Stotts isn't controlling the plays. Against the Clippers we ran up a big lead with all those guys out of the game. JV, Nailon, Nazr played most of the 2nd and ran solid plays and knocked down open looks. But our bench players aren't talented enough to hand the team over too. Our starters are but they need to know what they are doing on offense and crash the boards or one by one hit the pine. Just look at the Hawks coaches. Those who preach 'exciting' fast break b-ball: Bob Weiss, Lon Kruger, Stotts(so far) Those who demand D, and run pick and rolls and post ups all game: Mike Fratello and Lenny Wilkens. The records speak for themselves.

I agree Hendu has the fundamentals of blocking out and getting in good position. There is now way that Nazr out rebounds Theo. The rebounding on the offensive end is a problem because Theo and SAR play out of position. They should never be out at the perimeter. That also causes them to turn the ball over a lot.