Blunt91

Well BHD After Shaq the talent level at the center postion falls off drastically.

Camby played more than 3 games this past year unlike Theo. I forgot about guys like Brad Miller and Big Z. I would have Brad at the 10th postion, and Battie at the 11th spot.

Well since Diesel didn't make this list I will. 1. Shaq- This is a no brainer.Enough said. 2. David Robinson- Good rebounder, can score if need be, Not as though as he could be but he did better this year in the playoffs,Especially in the games that Duncan missed. 3. Vlade Divac-Good rebounder, scores well for a center, and a good passer. 4. Dikembe Mutombo- I know he is older now and not the great shotblcoker he use to be, but he still makes guys think twice about coming down the lane. He is also a good rebounder.He is very Durable player, doesn't miss many games due to injury. 5. Marcus Camby- I know he isn't tough but he still is a good defender, Blocks shots and rebounds. 6. Theo Ratliff- If he can just stay healthy he could move up to the 3rd or 4spot. 7. Elden Campbell 8. Alonzo Mourning- Oh how the mighty have fallen. He is no where the player he use to be. He will still play hard for about 25mpg. 9. Michael Olowakhandi- Keeps getting better each year. Could become the top center in the league in about 5years. After Shaq leaves of course. 10.Toni Batttie- Yes Toni Battie, he impressed me in the playoffs. Better player than people think.

I emailed Babcock about the latest on Ira Newble and general questions about Dion Glover and Chris Crawford. Dion has had a good and healthy summer...he was voted the MVP in the Boston summer league....I cannot tell you if he will stay healthy, although we all hope so. Chris reinjured his knee this summer, but is expected to be back by the start of the season....time will tell. Last night we began to make some progress on Ira Newble's contract....it has been a slow process, but we all want him back. Pete Babcock -----Original Message----- From: BluntDavisX@aol.com [mailto:BluntDavisX@aol.com] Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2002 10:29 PM To: askthehawksgm@turner.com Subject: Ask the Hawks GM Hi Mr. Babcock I have some questions concerning the health of your players. First of all I would like to know what kind of treatmeant has Dion Glover went through since the end of the season till now to help strenghten his body? Did he see the same specialist that Theo worked with? I know you can't predict whether a player will stay healthy, but in your opinion will Dion ever stay healthy enough that he can become the player he is capable of? Futhermore how is Chris Crawford coming along? WIll he be ready by the season opener? My last quesion is how are things coming along in talks with Ira Newble? Are both sides coming to some sort of agreement or have talks completley died out. Thank you for your time. Jessie

and see if the Lakers will pick him up.Samaki Walker isn't getting it done. I am pretty sure he can help out the 4spot,plus he has a good chance to get a Ring before his career is over.

Yeah I will agree Theo looks in good shape,although we can't see much of Nazr to get a indication on what shape he is in.I am pretty sure he is keeping in shape as he likes to return to the University of Kentucky and work with the coaches there on his conditioning. BTW SHareef is the one who looks like he woke up on the wrong side of the bed. The Brotha needs a shave bad.LOL!

OK Hotlantadude Shareef & BIg Dog might not be flashy players like a VInce Carter or Kobe but win the Hawks start winning games more people will come out to Phillips arena.If we can make it to do playoffs and make it past the 1stround, people will start to look at the team in a postive way.

I emailed Babcock today and asked him how things went at Big Dog's court hearing. Here is his response. His hearing was yesterday and eveything went well....there is still some work to do, but it will not effect his playing for us at anytime to the best of our knowledge. Thank you for your question. Pete Babcock

I was over at NBA.com and they had a link about the Hornets unveiling their new look Jerseys. To me there isn't any difference in the new ones than the old, the only thing is that the new ones says NewOrleans and not Charlotte.

1st of all, if this is our 2ndround draft pick his name is David Anderson not Richard. He is from Australia but plays for some team in Italy.

I think that it is all about respect. When Phil Jackson 1st came over to the lakers everybody on the team knew he was a winner.They knew if they wanted to win a title they needed to listen to this man because he has been at the championship level. The guys that were on the old" Lakers team like Van Exel didn't respect Del Harris, although I think he would have respected Phil. A coach has to get the respect of his players or he will never accomplish his goals.

Well as far as the part about it being stupid that is your own opinion. If you had of watched it last night you would have seen that there was some hard hitting,maybe not as much as you would want but there was some. It isn't "Smashmouth" play like the XFL, they are catering more to the flashy Dunks and sweet shooting and passing than anthing else. The show is only on for 1hour on Saturday nights at 8p.m. and a replay at 12midnight.I guess if a persong thinks it will be a full contact sport then they would be dissapointed but it to me is still entertaining. My favorite team is the STEAL. They have two guys who could be the Steve Nash and Michael Finley of Slamball. One is a great passer and the other a great Dunker.

I think some of youshould rethink your opinions about Slamball on TNN. I know when I brought up this topic a few weeks ago the general agreement was that it wasn't good. Well I wasn't too inmpressed with it the 1st week,in particular the 1st game in the show but the show has started to pick up in the last few weeks. Some of you don't like it because you are comparing it to regular basketball,which is wrong to do. It is a blend of Basketball,Hockey and a little football in one. The best player to watch is Stan Fletcher, he has some crazy Dunks.

at the Exhibition game for the World Championships. How does a guy 7'5 296lbs only grab 5rebounds? Yeah he had 17pts and 5blocks but his rebounding effort was pittiful. Another thing is how does he let a guy who is 6ft6 push him around in the paint? It clearly looks like it will take him a good year or two to get used to the physicality in the NBA. I think he will turn out to be a pretty good player but it won't happen immediatly.

Why does everyone think Chad Ford is making up these statements? What does he have to gain by lying? Maybe some of the statements were taken out of context,but I believe that these comments are true. The Hawks staff isn't going to tell the average person all of there feelings about the team or a player,just like they wouldn't want people knowing before hand all of the potential moves they are gonna make. BTW Jay what happened with Kasten and Billy Knight on your list of front office personnel?

It will mean nothing unless Jason Terry can prove he can handle the pointguard postion EFFECTIVELY for the season. He will not get a contract extention this summer, they want JT to prove he can run this team. It is not about how much they like JT as a person or how much the fans like him,but can he become the pointguard they want him to be.

I don't know guys,some of the information Chad Ford is giving might be true. Maybe Babcock and Lon can't be trusted to a certain extent. I will give an example. Remember Hawksfreak telling us he had spoke with Arthur Triche about Ira Newble while attending camp. According to Hawksfreak Arthur Triche stated that the chances of Ira Newble signing back with the Hawks are probably none,but yet Lon makes statements at the press conference that Ira will be one of the guys along with DIon & Dermarr to compete for the 2guard postion.Is Lon just postive they will work something out with Ira or is he just trying to keep the fans optimistic about the Hawk's season?

Nique you said Sar can hit the 3pointer but he only shot around 30%last year which was an upgrade from the year before but still not great. Secondly if Shareef is out on the perimeter who is doing the posting up in the paint? Theo Ratliff isn't that good at posting up despite the remarks Big Dog said in that both Reef & Theo will require a double team.It will be either DJ or Dion. Newble can come in an spell Robinson if he can't guard his man.

Nope Mike Bibby's father is just as light as his son. That is probably who he took his complexion after. While we are talking about mixed race players did you all know the rookie Drew Gooden was half German? His mother is German while his father is black.

Well Ira better hurry up and make up his mind because he only has around 2 weeks before Babcock starts to look at other choices.

My Choices would be Alex English and Mark Price. I don't know much about Mike Evans other than he has some age on him along the lines of Gar Heard. I just feel that since English and Price are still relatively young that they can relate to the players better, plus Price would be a excellent tutor for Dickau and Terry. English can tutor our small forwards, Gar Heard can take over as the main guy to work with our Big Men.I remember Mike Glenn stating in one game that Heard told SHareef he needs to demand the "Foul" by taking the ball to the basket strong or stronger. In this game the refs were not calling alot of obvious fouls on Reef.

Yeah I agree we really don't have another slasher on the team besides Dion. Terry is quick but he is also weak. Dermarr is weak and a poor dribbler.I think everyteam needs someone who can create his own shot and take it to the basket strong.

Hey I am digging the new Logo for the Hawks on the cap Big Dog is wearing!

No body has mentioned Dion GLover. Dion GLover can handle the ball and has played sparing minutes at the point. Someone mention that if JT got trapped at midcourt he wouldn't have anybody in the starting linup that could handle the ball, well Dion might be the answer. By all means I would like for DJ to be the starter but if not then Dion gets the call. Dion's defense isn't as bad as some make him out to be. Remember he was playing good Defense at the beginning of the season but seemed to loose his concentration or was hampered by injuries later in the season which might have ben the cause for his weak display of Defense. I also hope Dion can continue his great shooting he displayed last year,especially at the beginning of the season where he at one time was over 40% from behind the arc.

Jeff Mcginnis reportedly signed a 3year deal with the Portland Trialblazers today.