tmac13

Yeah Diesel, your are talking about the guy from argentina, huge, but couldn't move a lick...You almost have to wonder though,, a guy that is 8'3", if you could just stand him on the defensive end with his arms straight up what kind of influence he could have on a game..Get a ball hog like Kobe who doesn't need anyone to pass the ball to anyway and play 4 on 5 on offense..Of course, I also have a theory that you could get you a 700 pound Jerry Springer show reject, pad him up and put him in goal for hockey..So what do I know.

I hope at the 17 we take one of these 2..Humphries was one of the best players I watched last year in college..He is a true 6'10'' and has a great all around game. Al Jefferson is also 6'10'' with a huge wingspan.. He might be a true center before he quits growing, and he already has a nice low post game.

AHH, so the more incoherent her appears, the more confidence we should all have in him,,,,,Well, it works for the president might as well work for BK.

You think we would draft 2 natural small forwards when we already have Diaw who also seems to be most suited for the 3?

In order for BK's way to work, we needed the 1st or 2nd pick..He obviously didn't get the word to the team to tank to assure this. Instead..we have nothing, and this is as bad as any year I can recall for free agents, just not much to chose from. Besides, what team has built a champion by blowing the team up?..Other than San Antonio who got the 1st pick in a year where a franchise guy was there. Not the Lakers or the Pistons..Both were average teams that drafted, signed, and traded shrewdly.

Well, ok 5, but you have to admit, its hard count Hendu as a player..

Patience...we have sucked for 5 years..Enough patience..Enough bonehead draft choices( I know BK had nothing to do with that)..Enough bad coaching..Enough with the "we too honorable to tank games or hide people on the injured list crap"..The NBA is a business,,the purpose of the business is to fill seats and win games..The Hawks have sucked on both accounts..There is no top secret plan BK has that is gonna suprise the competition..If Babcock had done the same exact things as BK, we would all be calling for his head even louder than we normally did. If he had gutted the team to lose, gaining nothing but a mid 1st rounder, then not been smart enough to make sure we actually lost, we would all be calling for his azzzzzzzzz.

We suck, we suck, and we suck some more. We trade away most of the team and in the end receive one mid 1st round pick. Then we aren't quite smart enough to pull off the tanking of games to get a better lottery chance so we end up 6th. Then we all still hold out hope that mid 1st round pick we so cleverly acquired for most of our team along with our not so smart win at the end number 6 will be traded to get us number 2 and some hope. Then,,the Clippers, the team that WAS smart enough to tank and got that 2nd pick screws us again....NOW, We have 4 players, no coach, and some top secret plan that Billy Knight has in his head..Thats all we have...It sure makes it hard to shell put again for the season tickets when the Hawks give you NO HOPE. Nothing to look forward to..I am about sick of BK working so damn hard not to reveal his top secret plan while others are moving and giving themselves a better shot..At least name a damn coach so free agents might start crossing us off their list.......

I am not saying that we shouldn't go for Howard, but the Chicago experiment, trading a proven talent like Brand to pin all your hopes on 2 highschoolers developing has not worked yet.I just think we need a balance of young talent and proven vets..Indiana has proven you can be very competitive while developing young guys..Being all young and bad, hoping for more good draft pics hasn't worked so well for Chicago, the Clips, Boston or Washington. San Antonio and Orlando are the only teams that have really benefited from being bad and getting completely lucky twice in the lottery, and they both had 2 overall 1st pics with consensus can't miss guys coming out.

As hard as I try I cannot get very excited about drafting 1 or possibly 2 highschool players and crossing our fingers hoping they develope..I know some of them turn into LeBrons and KG's..But some turn into to Darius Miles and Kwame Brown..They may take 3 or 4 years to have any impact..I, am TIRED of the Hawks sucking..I don't wanna wait 3 or 4 years to compete for a playoff spot. I would be very happy to see us trade both our 1st picks, 6 and 17, to move up and take a talent like Howard..But we shouldn't kid ourselves, Howard is not a LeBron, he is not an immediate impact player. He is a great talent who plays a little soft for his size..In 3 years he may give us the same kind of numbers that SAR gave us the past 2 seasons. I say move up. grab Howard, then still go all out for KMart, he is atletic, plays tough D, is battle tested, still young and wants to win..His attitude and ability are exactly what the Hawks need.. Then resign Jax, Sura, Pryz, and Collier..Use the 2nd rounders on point guards to see if we can find a gem..

Mourning was a very similar player college, and about the same exact size..Okafor looks like a real 6'10'' guy to me, and thats big enough, especially in the east..Hakeem, Mourning, and Moses Malone are all 6'10" guys with long arms like Okafor that have done pretty well.

I have been a Hawks fan since the early 70's and I have to say Nique seems to become a better player every year since he retired.. The truth...Nique was a high scoring no passing ball hog who NEVER won anything of consequence and NEVER made those around him better and NEVER had the respect of the other great players in the game..I remember a Charles Barkley quote before a Philly/Atlanta game..He said"any team with Dominique as its goto player is never gonna win anything". I know Charles is a big mouth but he only said what everybody already knew..Nigue should never be mentioned in the same breath with the great ones, cause he simply was not one of them. He was a great athlete, a great scorer, but he was also a dumb basketball player, who played mostly for his own stats. I know I will get flamed for this dose of truth on the ever growing legend of Dominique, but it is the truth. Anyone who watched him game in and game out, saw the reactions of Doc rivers and Mike Fratello to his selfish play, saw the total lack of respect the likes of Magic, Byrd, Jordan, Isaiah, and Barkley gave Nique, know exactly what I am talking about..

It seems alot of people on this board are sold on the Hawks drafting Dwight Howard if we have a chance..There are a couple of people that even want us to trade current guys to get 2 draft picks in the top 5 and draft 2 highschoolers..My question is, how long do we want to wait for players to develope? I am from Atlanta and got a chance to see Dwight Howard play a couple of times this year..He is a dominating highschool player, no doubt..He is not a skinny kid, and he moves fluidly..The player that kept coming to mind as I watched him was Danny Manning(before the injuies).. That being said, he is not remotely in the same class as Lebron James in skills..His competion the 1st time I saw him play was a 6'5" slow footed high school junior..The 2nd time was an athletic 6'4" senior who gave Howard a few fits because of his quickness. The point is I am wary of a 6'10" 250 guy that prefers the "Danny Manning" style of play against guys that are not remotely as big and talented..He may be a great NBA player, but we shouldn't kid ourselves that he will do for us what Lebron has done for Cleveland. There is also the chance he might be more of a Kwame Brown as opposed to a Kevin Garnett in the long run.. Kevin Garnett..top 5 NBA player..True Superstar..really came on in his 2nd season.. Kobe Bryant....same as above Lebron James...best 1st year highschooler ever Amarie Stoudimire..probably the 2nd best 1st year player Jermaine O'Neil..very good player..took about 4 years to develope Kwame Brown...Considering draft position..has to be a bust Eddie Curry...see above..remember the "Baby shaq" stuff..lol Desagna Diop..an even bigger bust than the rest..I remember people on this board wanting him, calling him the "Shaq stopper"..lol Tyson Chandler..the Bulls traded Elton Brand for this guy..so far not so good Leon Smith...mental illness..its not just a condition..its an adventure Darius Miles..remember how bad we wanted him..career backup..bust I know there are a few I forgot..But in the Howard or Okafur debate, I would at least consider who has had more impact on the league..Kenyon Martin( a very similar player to Okafur), or Kwame Brown?

We have a hardworking group of players with a little talent that when rested can compete with anyone..However, we are so thin(8 players) we will never win back to back games and really can't get on a roll.. So, in essence, we will be fun to watch part of the time and tired as hell the rest the time.

What is the 1st year price for a max salary play(Kobe type)?

After we draft 2 1st round picks how much are we gonna be under the cap?..

If we can't land a Kobe ...Could we land a Dampier and a Payton? Then resign Sura, SJax and Pryz?... We would have a team of.. PG..Payton, Sura, Rookie SG..JT, Sura, Diaw SF..SJax, Diaw, Crawford PF..Crawford,(Okafur,Howard..if we keep losiing and get lucky), Hendu C..Damp, Pryz I think this team could be decent in the east. Then, in the next offseason we have the Hendu/Crawford money to go after a superstar. Thoughts?

Its very true that you aren't going to win many games with only playing 8 people..JT, Sura, SJax, Crawford and Pryz all had good games but logged way to many minutes to have much left in the 4th.

I remember all the griping about Jon Koncaks 6 year 13 million dollar deal with the Hawks, and deservedly so..However..I believe Hendu's 7 year 40 something million dollar deal has to be the worst financial decision in the Hawks franchise history..Never has a player in Atlanta been paid so much for so little.

It only figures, in the one year we are gonna have plenty of money to spend there is very little to choose from. The more I look at it, the more I think that SJax may be the most appealing guy available after Kobe and Sheed. He is only in his 3rd season, keeps getting better, and looks like he is on the verge of becoming a 20 point a game guy. A backcourt and small forward combo of JT , Sura, SJax, with Diaw backing up all 3 positions may not be a bad thing. I also really like Pryz as a defensive pressence..He is also a very young player..We might be wise to try to draft a couple of power forwards, resign SJaz, Sura, Pryzand and a backup center, then make a real run at Tmac next year..Thoughts???

Agreed, there is no way the Hawks are gonna lose enough to get the good odds at the 1 or 2 pick..They are not as bad as we gave them credit for and most of them are playing for their next contract..Even considering how bad Philly is without AI the Hawks are clearly playing much harder than they have all season..I really like Pryz, Sura, and Rebraca..All 3 might be keepers according to how free agency and draft position work out.

Just not sure the big name is gonna sign with us..Kobe is very remote at best, we had Rasheed and let him go, and I am not thrilled about an aging AI coming via trade..We may have to become respectable next year then let the Hendu/Crawford cash lure the big name.

There is alot of irony going on here..Just as we know that JT's days as a Hawk are probably numbered, we finally get the backcourt player that can compliment him..Sura is the perfect compliment to JT..We get a glimpse of what Crawford can be with playing time and health..We get a throw in guy like Rebraca that might be the best offensive center this team has had since Moses Malone...We may need to rethink the complete throw away and think instead of using our cash for a Jamal Crawford and a Stromile Swift..Then sign Sura and Rebraca for depth, along with our 4 draft picks..Suddenly, we are a deep and talented team.

Always read..but have been too depressed about the team to post..Its good to back.

Cause...JT sucks, Diaw is potential only so far, and its extemely doubtful we get lucky enough to get a Carmelo type talent with our lottery pick.