macdaddy

I'm with you. Reef deserves better. I'm a life long Hawks fan. I loved when we had Moses and of course Nique. But I became a fanatic once Lenny got here. I remember in one of his first seasons and we were playing Orlando. I think it was the playoffs. We were down by a lot of points and mounted a huge comeback based of course on great D. With a couple minutes left Grant Long hit a long jumper from the corner and ran down the court with both fists in the air. It was a great comeback BUT.... we were still down by like 10 points. I can't even remember if we won but I thought 'these guys play hard for 48 minutes no matter the score'

Ever since the Hawks traded Mookie and Smitty they've had the wrong-headed notion of building a championship team from scratch. What Lenny and guys like Fratello, Van Gundy and Sloan know is that you try to put together a solid NBA team first even if it has glaring weaknesses that will keep you from ever beating the Lakers. Once you have a solid team then you try to tweak to get the missing pieces. Lenny could recognize who were solid nba players and who were players with 'potential'. That's why we won with guys like Ty Corbin and Grant Long. Whether Dog hurt or helped at least he is a real nba player. The problem we have now and last year is no solid guards. That makes it hard to win in the NBA.

Whether it Stotts fault or not doesn't matter at this point. Once the players have no respect for you then its over. What he is doing now is right but it is too late. Either we trade most of the team or get a new coach. Its a lot easier to get a new coach. It will be fun to watch too. These guys don't know what an a&& kicking they're in for.

I don't know about that Blount. I think Glover can be a solid player but I don't seem him ever being a starter for anyone. His shot isn't consistent enough and his ball handling can be pretty sloppy sometimes. He looks great coming off the bench though. JT could be playing much better if there was a coach in his ear all the time. He doesn't use his quickness enough and doesn't really but in the effort on defense. But both of those things are fairly easily fixed compared to improving your shooting and ball handling. JT should play more like Nash or when he's at the 2 should try to play like AI. Just looking at play this year you have a case though.

I'm in. How many of us have to sign on to make it happen?

Playmaker, everything you said is exactly right. Sadly it makes me long to see Mookie and Laettner run the pick and roll. We did it too much then too, but at least they could do it and Laettner could knock down the shot.

Right or wrong somebody has to say something. If for no other reason than to make it interesting. He's probably trying to get traded. There really isn't a much worse situation to go to.

Chillllll..... No one said build around Diaw. I just said we shouldn't trade him. Why trade someone who has potential and isn't paid much? I agree that Theo and Reef are the only real trade bait. But someone will trade for JT. The rest we are stuck with.

Building around Reef is definitely the way to go. Everyone else can be traded except for Diaw. JT and even Dion would be decent players for a coach like Sloan, Van Gundy, Fratello. Since the new owners are going to get rid of Stotts anyway at the end of the year why not do it now. Make Nique interim head coach. If he does good keep him. If not move him to President, say that was the plan all along and hire Fratello or Rivers in the offseason. At least that would generate some interest. Also make some trades. We might as well lose interestingly.

I'm missing where there is any indication they are willing to trade Lampe.

I can't see the Heat giving us Jones and Butler just for Theo, but I'd do that in a heartbeat. We should include Dion in the deal. I'd even do Jones and Butler for Theo and JT at this point. Let Jones play with JV and Dickau for this year and see if DD is going to pan out long term.

Maybe I'm biased against Knick players but Thomas/Ward for Theo/JT seems a downgrade in both positions. I will just give us more players that no one wants. I would much rather work a trade for Harpring. At least he brings some good disciplined game.

But he's better than our alternatives. I love Nazr but when he was the starting center it was rough.

I'm totally with you one this Diesel. But before the Lakers it was the Bulls. I agree they were a great team in their own right but MJ got way more help than he needed. Remember when they were playing the Hawks in a regular season game at the Dome with Stern in the audience. MJ lets fly a last second shot to for the win in a tie game and doesn't even hit rim. He thinks he was hit on the elbow (which maybe he was) With the game headed to overtime standing in front of the commissioner MJ berates the ref. Just screaming at him. A tech would have given the game to the Hawks. Its really ridiculous.

Having Allen would be great but finding even a decent center in the east is so hard that giving up Theo without getting a center in return would be tough.

Last week the spurs were in last place in their division and if they had been in the Atlantic they would have been in first. I'm not sure if its still that way. It seems like all the young new owners who have money to burn are in the west. Probably because of the technology boom. Diesel is dead on about the sixers-lakers series. The lakers are great but part of the reason shaq dominates is he's allowed to throw guys around. Not many agree with me but if he was not allowed to get away with so much contact how would he dominate? He's not particularly good at any bball skills. Any contested shot outside the lane is a brick.

The whole point is that you can't blame just the players and you can't blame just the coach. But, it certainly is looking like we are getting out coached in a lot of games. You can't have it both ways. In the first half Stotts is making great moves getting the hot guys in the game and in the second the players suck and he can't do anything about it. Its his job to figure this stuff out. Coaches are measured by results and so far his results are bad.

Diesel is right. Our players certainly didn't look good. but we were leading most of the game and let it slip away. A good coach could do more to prevent that. We went from a decent lead for 2 1/2 quarters to not even in the came with 4 minutes left. I don't care how bad the players are that just doesn't happen often on well coached teams. I'm not talking about losing the game I'm talking about not even being close at the end.

He seemed to play so much more relaxed on offense AND defense. But they were saying on tv that he always plays well against miller. I think Diaw handling the ball just takes a mental load off JT.

Any team could have offered him a contract but only 2 bad teams did. What makes those other teams more willing to have him now than 3 months ago. After he turned down the first SA offer this sure was the best deal. Why else would he come here.

Yeah that's a good point. Look at the Magic. Everyone on that team must REALLY suck. They should trade the whole team. Maybe we can get TMac for Glover.

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.