macdaddy

Just like I've been saying all along. We need one great point guard, one dominant center, a sidekick center who can shoot and run the floor, and 2 'europussiballers', and some 3 point shooting veteran players to come off the bench. We are only 7-8 players away. It doesn't matter what style you try to adopt. If you make it 2 the post season you better play great D and be able to run a half-court offense. Its the only way to win.

Well said Chillzatl. Detroit may have the ability to push but they are really just old fashioned eastern conference defensive oriented team that knows how to run an offense. That's what Woody is going to try to do.

Quote: We've lost some close ones and I don't think we've been blown out too many times.... I agree that without Walker we'd really be in trouble, but this quote made me laugh. In a way its true. We have lost some close ones. But the majority of our losses have not been close ones. We're getting better though. I think Walker has shown not only that he can still put up good numbers but he can be a leader. He's been better than I expected.

Whether you think he sux or he's misunderstood this article is a good thing for Diaw. The last thing you want from a young guy is for him to accept his role on the bench. I'm glad he still has the confidence and desire to believe that he should be on the court more. I think the negative reviews of his game a a bit exagerrated. We forgive Al's lack of D, rebounding, ball handling because he scores, but for Diaw good D, passing, ball handling gets you benched because you don't score? He's a role player and he has some skills that most on the team don't have. I'm not saying he should start, but if you give him some minutes he could be very useful.

I agree with Lascar. They knew what they were getting. Why would you want a guy who is not a great scorer trying to score . When he could get his teammates better shots. However, I think Woody has put together a lineup that doesn't have a place for Diaw. We don't need a 2 that can't shoot. If we had a PG or 3 that was a pure shooter then we could afford to have diaw in there, but now he's just like having another slower pg out there.

I not wild about this plan either. I don't think DS is much of an upgrade over Lue and I don't see what the fascination with Pryz is. Surely we can find a better big man than that. I like Ekiezie but would hate to start a season with him penciled in at center. I don't know maybe with more PT he'll get better. He's definitely the best we have defensively.

I would think that we would get Rip plus their 1st. Rip would be good on this team. He's a great scorer and Woodson probably realizes that these skinny guys have long, productive NBA careers.

I like BKs moves but what's the difference between trading for a player that you want without an expiring contract versus trying to sign a player that you want in the offseason. Other than for us its easier to trade because the player has no choice. Unless you feel that all existing contracts are bad ones. If NJ offers us Richard Jefferson for AW will we turn it down because he doesn't have an expiring contract?

That's a joke. Maybe we can get Artest, Spree, and that guy the blazers released for cruelty to animals. This trade won't happen because Artest is only a great asset on a team that's already good and Polard would just add to our long list of marginal centers. BK isn't that desperate to lose games. We are doing just fine with that.

I disagree with one thing. McKie would be much better than Diaw. If Philly would do it I would.

We are almost to the halfway point. Who can predict the rest of the season: 1.- Will we have more than 20 wins? 2.- Will we finish with the worst record? if not who will we be ahead of? 3.- Any major trades? My answers are: Yes (barely) We will have second worst record - Charlotte will slip No major trades (I hope I'm wrong)

I hate when posters say 'this is what I've been saying all along' but to me this is obvious. If we are not playing Shaq what do we lose by playing Smoove at C rather that Collier. Nothing! We actually improve our shot blocking and rebounding by a huge margin (which is what you want a C for). Walker with help from Smoove can D most centers in the east, and no 7 footer can hang with them on the offensive end.

That's just one game. The game before he had 4 points, 1 rebound in 27 minutes. I'm not a big Collier fan but Pryz is an ok defender and a poor offensive player. Collier is poor at defense but has a decent shot. I don't see much difference. I'll take Drobs over both of them.

I think you are right about Chill at 2, Al at 3 and Smoove at 4. But, I wouldn't mind seeing Al and Toine traded for a high scoring 2 and an ok center. I'm ready to see if Smoove can become a go to guy on offense. Right now he's mainly just cleaning up the glass. Let's run more plays for him. The thing I thought was strange about that article was they say at the beginning that the Hawks are in desperate need of rebounding help when that is actually one of our strong points.

I think we will let AW go at the end of the year so Smoove can play PF. We don't want Al at 4 because I don't think he rebounds well enough. I disagree with questions about Walker's conditioning. He's playing a ton of minutes and still seems to have gas in the tank to me. As far as the FT% goes just get used to it. It ain't gonna get much better. I'm not saying he can't improve at all but at his age he would've figured it out by now if he was going to.

Not to change the subject of the post but Houston should be way better than they are. I mean they have some players on that team and they can barely hang with NJ. It may be different come playoff time but damn!

Actually that's exactly what I meant.

There's an interesting leading scorer for the Clippers: 86-87 Los Angeles Clippers Mike Woodson, 17.1 12-70

He dribbles just like Antoine except Boris never hits his feet. Its not like he's been in the league for 5 years. He's not going to be a superstar but would you rather have to teach someone how to play d, pass, handle to ball or teach them to shoot more. Its not a bad starting place

Lascar is totally right. If we put him in a Walker trade then thats fine. Otherwise I'd rather keep him. I dont' think you can judge Donta on one blowout win either. He made some bonehead plays too. Diaw is an excellent defender and can handle the ball. This is valuable to us. I don't think Woodson has given up on him. He's just trying to motivate him.

I've had enough of Collier. I'd rather see Willis getting the playing time, but lets give OE a chance. Why not.

Ira is still someone worth having on the team. Boris may not be a superstar but he may be good off the bench. He's a good defender, ball handler, and passer. Basically everything that most nba players are not. He's worth having around. I agree about Chill's minutes. I'm not familiar with his college career but I hope he can shoot better than he's shown. I'm still up for starting him at 2 and starting Walker and Smoove at 4 and 5 (or 5 and 4) against teams without a scoring center (which is most of the East). Walker can D their 5 if he's getting help from Smoove and they could both take most slow centers on the offensive end. I wouldn't recommend this against Shaq but I think it would work against most teams. Small ball seems to be the way these days.

The truth is in between you two. He didn't ask to be traded to a playoff team because no one would trade anything for a guy who's never really done anything in the nba. He asked to be released because he thought he could find some place that would give him playing time on a better team. I don't think it worked out as he'd hoped.

I'd love it. but it seems a little lopsided in our favor. I'd rather have swift that walker and bonzi is much better than delk.

This team only has one shooter: Delk and he went down. You won't win many games in the nba with no outside shooters. With all the talk of getting versatile players this seems the most glaring weakness that all our guys have. I hope a trade comes soon to address it. Despite our promising rookies we are still not a competitive team. I know its a rebuilding year, but there is no one on this board who can really claim they knew we'd be this bad. I'm not just talking about record I'm talking about bad offense, bad defense, and not even being close to winning at the end of the game. But, it may be deliberate to get us a lottery pick. I'm pretty sure BK and Woody had good jump shots so I know they know how important that is. I'm fine with losing and getting a high pick, but we need to show a little more promise.