tmac13

"The good news: BK has the tools (trade, FAs, Draft), to the get the meat, potatoes, and vegetables before the start of next season (whenever that is), and amazingly be a playoff team in the East next season." Unfortunately he had those same exact tools last off season and this is still the worst Hawks team in history..Passing over Deng is a glaring mistake..Passing on Damon jones is a glaring mistake.(yeah, we chose Kenny Anderson over Damon)He couldn't convince anyone to take our money last offseason, what makes people think he will be able to do it this offseason. Usually, teams need some success on the floor to lure free agents. We are not Denver of last year, we are much more like the Cippers of years past, a laughing stock. So far Billy Knights one success as GM of the Hawks was being completely lucky that Josh Smith was still around at 17.

If Smoove is only 6'8", then Walker and Harrington are only 6'7" or 6'6", because he is clearly taller than both of them.Anyway, outside of that its not about height, its about wingspan and leaping ability. People are just hung up on Smoove being the replacement for Nique that they are not seeing his true game, he is and will be a 4, I'll bet ya.

That Al and Smoove are both 4's. To me it is obvious that Al is out of position at the 3, and I see very little shooting or ballhandling skills from Smoove. I know he is just a baby, but his shot is poor and he has absolutely no handles..I keep reading here how Smoove will develope a good shooting touch and ballhandling skills, but I don't ever see NBA wing type potential there for him. I see many college freshman with much better shots and ballhandling. I think he will get bigger, develope a more short range game and become a dominant 4. Everyone here wants so bad for him to become the next Nique, they ignor the fact he is actually much closer to being the next Shawn Kemp type player.I hope people don't take this as a negative post, but Smoove just looks much more like a 4 to me..

He was released by detroit today..Read over at real-gm that Larry Brown called 4 coaches(including Woodson) to recommend him..He is young(23), tall(6'3'') and plays good D.Might be good to get Parker and release K.A.

He is a rare player..Some see him as a future highflying 2 guard, some as a natural 3, some as a 4..I actually think he is gonna be a very athletic 4/5..We may already have our big man..While he is not 7ft and 270, he plays long..He is listed at 6'8'' or 6'9'', however when he stands side by side with Walker and Harrington, who are listed at 6'9'' and 6'8'' respectively, Smoove appears much taller..You combine that with his long arms and leaping ability and he may become a dominant interior player. Even if he gets beat by stronger, bigger players, he is so quick and long he blocks and alters shots from behind. There seems to be a lust to turn him into the next Nique, but to me Smoove is a very different kind of player.. He is already a much better defender and shotblocker than Nique was..He is also taller than Nique..He may in time develope the offense, but at this point he is the ultimate athletic, defensive, garbage player. I would love to see Woodson start ..Lue, Chills, Harrington, Walker, and Smoove.....The 2 thru 5 positions are almost interchangeable with this lineup..My point is, Smoove needs to be patroling the middle, with Lue hounding the ball..Its not like any of our current centers rebound or play a lick of defense..Willis plays well if he gets about a weeks rest in between games, Drob is decent offensively but is absolutely nonexistent on the defensive side, and Collier is just awful..

If nothing else Lue will be our best on the ball defender..Guards penetrating straight to the basket have killed us..Diaw can't keep up with the quicker guards, Ivy is learning but his inexperience shows, and Kenny Anderson is the worst defender in basketball. We got Lue for a guy we weren't playing anyway..Lue is also a decent ballhandler, which can't be said for Diaw.

What do we have that Washington needs?..I really don't wanna trade Walker, he plays so hard and wants to win. About the only thing we have that might tempt Washington would be this years 1st..The question is, would Kwame be better than what we could draft with a top five type pick? He is still a baby, has flashed brilliance, also flashed immaturity..I for one, might do it..We trade our 1st for Kwame, basically getting our number one early, then use all the cash we will have to go after a point guard..Thoughts???

Looks and plays alot like Shawn Kemp in the early years, before he bulked up and freaked out.

PG..Diaw SG..Harrington SF..Smoove PF..Walker C...Collier Just heard Woodson say he wanted to shake things up..Guess we will see how it works..

I could agree with you on Willis, but Kenny Anderson is not a leader..If anything he is a great example of a player whose lack of desire and leadership kept him from living up to his potential. I agree on Butler, release McCoy and have a young big man with potential as opposed to a late 20's big man with none.

1..Release Kenny Anderson..He is done, doeesn't play a lick of defense..Sign Troy Bell.. 2..Start Smoove at center..I know, I know, he is undersized, he will get abused by a few of the bigger centers pounding on him..However, he is our only good help defender, has a 7 footers wingspan, and might help keep the Travis Bests of the world from going unimpeded to the hoop. He does not seem to have a personality that will be affected by getting beat up a little by larger guys, if anything he will respond by playing harder and tougher himself.I bet starting at the 5 he is a 10 point, 10 rebound, 2 block guy immediately. 3..Start and play Chills significant minutes every game..Install a few plays for him, concentrate on his inside strengths. 4..Switch Walker and Harrington..Let Al play the 4, Walker the 3. Get Al to be a more agressive, assertive player.. Just a few thoughts....

Pathetic...No defense, no offense, no game plan, no desire, no offensive sets, no zone defense, no wins..Not only are we losing by 30 to the Wizzards, but we are losing by 30 playing Kenny Anderson, Tony Delk, Kevin Willis, Jason Collier, and John Barry..If we are gonna lose by 30 to mediocre teams why don't we shed the vets, sign a few more young players with potential from the NBDL and lose by 30 with the kids getting a ton of minutes.

Where has the effort gone? After the 1st west coast trip we actually played 3 or 4 games with great defensive effort..Now, we play like we just don't care. As pathetic as this team is at least they could play with some pride and try a little on defense..Surely the Hawks ownership can't be pleased with this dog effort game in and out..

No, I liked the Walker trade.

I have gave very little credit to BK for the dismantling and reassembling of this team. I still question some of his draft choices and personel moves but he does deserve credit for putting together a hardplaying team with a toughnosed coach. For the 1st time in awhile there seems to be hope with this team....What we know so far.... DRob..better than advertised, deserves to start and play as many minutes as he can bear since we really need his offense. Walker.. is a true allstar..He plays hard every game, will play all 48 if asked, puts up the stats despite a poor shooting percentage, and seems to be the team leader. Ivey..start him, he has good handles, plays tough defense, and might turn into a pretty good shooter. Harrington..Our only source of toughness, plays hard, maybe a little shelfish and out of control, but always hard. He and Walker are a very complimentary combination..They seem to reverse some of the traditional roles of the pf and sf position. Chills..Better than I originally thought, looks like he has good promise, maybe not an allstar but at least solid..I like his game around the basket much better than I like his outside shot..I still think he is a much more natural 3 than he will ever be a 2. Diaw..I have no idea what he is..A 1, a 2, or a 3? He plays decent defense, but is so tentative on offense I question if he will ever be a solid starter..Chills needs to start over Boris. Kenny Anderson..Way past his prime, has about 1 good game in 5, needs to backup and mentor Ivey. Collier..decent backup, is obvious DRob is better on both ends of the floor. Jon Barry..exactly what we all thought he was, a shooter that brings energy off the bench..Still plays out of control sometimes even at his age, is not as good as a healthy Sura, not nearly as good at running the team and nowhere near the rebounder that Bobby is. Willis..Hope he stays on the bench, playing a 42 year old painfully slow center will not help this team develope..He does have a great attitude and can help the youngsters. Smooth..I hope he takes Willis's minutes, maybe some of Colliers also..This team is desperate for some shotblocking and rebounding.. Those are mostly athletic attributes as opposed to learned attributes..I honestly think a few minutes a game at the 5 spot would help both the team and Smooths developement. Delk..should really help this team, as we need offense badly. McCoy..a waste of a roster spot, activate Donta and give Smooth the inside minutes. Thoughts?

Of his arrogant attitude and poor results...Let see, drafting Chills over Deng, trading SJax for Harrington....Maybe the Hawks should fire him too..Imagine a 2, 3, 4 of SJax, Deng, and Walker..That would not be bad.

Like MoonKnight said, the only reason we were leading was a very fortunate half by Drob. I honestly don't see how we will ever actually win a game with our interior defense. It is the worst I can ever remember..I bet we have set a record for the most layups allowed in a 4 game stretch..In my opinion we should end the illusion of competing. Send Anderson and Willis to the IR, sign whatever young center and point guard we can find(Rashard Wright,etc..) and go completely with the kids..If we are gonna lose, lets lose watching the kids, I don't need to see anymore of Willis and Anderson.

If it was only last night I could maybe agree, but we consistantly got blown out, not just beat but blown off the court for most of the preseason also..We are awful at 3 positions.. There is just no excuse for any team to be awful at 3 positions..If this were Babcock instead of BK, he would be being blasted by the same people that make excuses for BK.

Please, point out all of the bright spots on this team? Besides Josh Smith, and Josh Smith, maybe Josh Smith? At least at the end of last season we played hard. This teams effort is pathetic.

Any of those correctly describe this team. Billy Knight has assembled a team that might very well challenge the all time worst record in the NBA. He traded a shotblocking defensive minded center and a 20/10 power forward for the 17th pick and capspace...He could have kept Theo and SAR and still had the same capspace after this season. He wasted the sixth overall pick on a guy that might possibly be the slowest 2 guard in the NBA. BK gets a pass because he says " Its gonna take time". Playing to get lucky in the lottery is a losers game(see the Clippers). Being awful and trying to lure free agents with all your capspace is a losers game(see Kenyan Martin). The biggest flaw with this team the past few years was the awful point guard play of JT..He needed to go. Billy should have replaced JT with a decent point guard and see where that got him. He still would have had the same space to sign free agents this next offseason. Dismantling a decent 4/5 combination and replacing it with nothing is just stupid. .......OK OK, Time for all you BK excuse makers to come to his rescue..Lets see, its only one game, you can't give up on this team yet, Chills is just a rookie, give him time, Kenny Anderson will learn how to play defense, Jon Barry will quit making stupid passes, DRob will come around, Boris is the next Pippen, and all will be well. Or, if we only end up winning 10 or 12 games, maybe will will get the 3rd or 4th pick. BK could cleverly draft yet another 6'8" swingman, who will after all take a few seasons to develope....... and on and on and on.............

Last season we won 28 games, we may not get close to that mark this year. We only have 2 players that are capable starters on any other team. Outside of Walker and Harrington we have a large collection of iffy bench players , NBDLers , and injury prone older players. While I hate to be harsh on the younger players, Chills looks bad. Being slow and being a bad shooter doesn't usually translate into being a successful NBA 2 guard. Kenny Anderson is an injury waiting to happen, Delk is already out, Willis is 65 years old, Collier is a decent backup center, DROB is awful(this is the dumbest move yet by BK), Diaw is a guy that plays 3 positions poorly, but none well, JSmooth is 3 years away, Donta and Ivey seem like the exact same player..both might be defensive point guard types in 2 or 3 years, Barry is another decent backup....Unless BK can find a gem in other teams discards, this is gonna be a long long season.

This is just stupid...Even if its just to fill out the training camp roster why not bring in someone with at least a tiny bit of potential..Pig sucked 5 years ago, why even bother........There would have to be a 100 guys that are available that are better...

There is no doubt that Eddie Griffen has serious issues..That being said he is only 22 years old, is a proven NBA player, has good size(6'10" 240), and could immediately become the best center we have.. If Woodson could turn his head around he could be a real impact pickup. We had people wanting Swift and Dampier, in my book, a straightened out Eddie Griffin is better than either and only costs us giving him a chance.

Diaw can't remotely play point guard..You guys need to get a clue..Sure Diaw can handle the ball well when being guarded by other forwards, but he can't be consistantly bring the ball up against quick point guards....As far as his shot goes,,its bad and tentative..He is one of the least confident offensive players I have ever watched play.

It was to clear up cap space so we could sign free agents..Lets see..We did sign Chris Collier. It was to get long atheletic types that were good defenders..Lets see..We did trade for that defensive machine. Drob It was to gut the team so we could lose and get a top 3 pick.....Lets see...We were too stupid to lose so we have got Childress instead of Livingston, Howard, or Okafur So far, BK's only ability seems to be trading for guys with expiring contracts..Which does absolutely no good when free agents won't even consider signing with us..BK has also managed to cower the media..I love Jaywalker but it is easy to see he is intimidated by BK..He won't write anything that could remotely be considered negative..Bk also seems to lack to ability to recruit players..So far he is batting zero..I remember how you guys were all excited about BK and Niques ability to land free agents..I remember some of you guys saying Nique was Kobe's all time favorite..We weren't even in the game for Kobe..We were never even considered..BK couldn't even keep last years 2nd round pick because he didn't communicate with him..It is sounding more and more that todays NBA types aren't quite as in awe of BK as some here are..