Dejay

Oh, listening to SAS and Magic on First Take and on 97.5 The Fanatic in Philly lament, scream, and cry like my youngest daughter did when she was two. Oh boy, is this good. It's so effin good. Eating Popeyes' spicy chicken sandwich for the first time wasn't this good...

I suspected that to happen. You can't take everyone with you to the promised land. Folks do drop off in the wilderness along the way...

I'll say this. We've gotten to know each other a little bit on this board and a lot of you have read my past posts over the last 20 years here. What former Hawks draftees have I eviscerated the most who's names aren't Adam Keefe, Jon Koncak, and Marvin Williams? That's right, Josh Childress and Stacey Augmon. Know why? Because they are simply a pair of wing players who violate one of the most basic principles I have of basketball in terms of being on the perimeter who can't fire true from the outside with a hand in his face. I could only imagine what my blood pressure would be reading right now if Ben Simmons was on our team and went out like the Sixers did last night. I would've been hot, livid, apoplectic, to the point where I probably would be serving a suspension from this board. Hell, I might need a baby aspirin right now thinking of him playing in the league much less being an All-Star over Trae. Oh well, he's a 'them' problem. I'd love to see what they would get back if they decide to deal him because the other 28 GMs (not ours, Travis knows better) were watching these games too...

I'll take the Hawks flying under the radar (see what I did there?) and continuing to play with a massive chip on their shoulders. Let the Fox 5 I-Team of the NBA do its work behind the scenes and ask opposing teams the tough questions on camera....

A guy gotta ask. If Doc wasn't set up for success with the Big 3 in Boston, would he be getting all of the praise he gets for being such a great coach? Besides us, Clipper fans are probably laughing their asses off right now...

Of all folks, I'm going to paraphrase Skip Bayless before the Sixers-Hawks series began... 'If they get the first one, ole boy. And don't let them get Cam Reddish back...' If Dre and Bogdanovic were both healthy, the Hawks would've flattened the Sixers in six. But they're not, so... Oh what the hell. Hawks just find a way, like they did last night. I haven't given a game-by-game series prediction (nor watched a live playoff game yet) and will keep from doing so here. 'Don't stop....believing....'

Get Mr. Miyagi on the phone to get Cam, Trae, and Bogdanovic ready. All hands will need to be on deck for this one...

You're not lying. They did some Kasten, Rick Sund-WLOC sh1t by not making the obvious move for Lowry much less Harden. As a guy who openly reviles wing players who can't shoot, I would've driven Simmons to the airport myself if I was a Sixers fan...

Even Koncak makes that one. Augmon dunks that. Tom McMillan and John Bagley makes that shot. Tree Rollins gets it done from there. Hell, I'll even trust Adam Keefe with the ball all alone at that point...

Trae now looking at Embiid, like...

Until the season is over or if they advance, after winning a game in the ECFs. By doing just that, they would've gone further in the playoffs than any Hawks team in Atlanta history...

I've thought this the entire series. He could give a running forearm to Collins like Manny Fernandez back in the day and the refs are going to do their best Helen Keller impersonation. Best believe that an edict was passed down to not kick Embiid or Howard out no matter if they're both playing football on the court. And with Brooklyn losing last night, another one will be sent down not to even call them for a foul tonight in order to save their NE viewership for the rest of the playoffs. A lot for the Hawks to overcome. We'll see if they can soon enough..

The game plan is rather simple: shooting and rebounding well, keep the turnovers down, and defend. See you guys later. You all know why...

Same here, time to sign off of HS, get ready to pick my daughter up from work, then load up my Shield to watch 007 (might watch Thunderball, From Russia with Love, or Dr. No; I'm a big Sean Connery fan). Hope to see you guys on the other side later on tonight with the good news...

I really thought that Acie Law would be a better player and was wrong. And I remember being in a grad school class when they announced Shelden and going off about it on the chat here. Candace was a much better player (probably dunked on him before getting divorced)...

I mentioned that in my original post. He gravy-trained that and getting to ride shotgun next to Glen Rice, Loy Vaught, and Terry Mills into getting drafted high by Babs...

I saw both of them live. The only thing they had in common was size and that's about it. Rumeal couldn't shoot himself out of a wet paper bag but still had a 'gotta get mine first' attitude, which really works well as a point guard (note sarcasm)...

I'm ready...to not watch the game live (still banned). Will be rewatching 007 movies as I did on Wednesday night.

Forgot about Tyrone Hill, who had a solid NBA career. Folks at the time were screaming for an upgrade in guard play from Rivers and Spud without noticing that Kevin Willis also needed some help in the paint as well (Koncak and Rasmussen wasn't it). Rumeal was supposed to eventually be Rivers' heir apparent but anyone with a working set of eyes could clearly see that he was gravy-training his game-winning FTs to win the national title and his ability to hand the ball off to Glen Rice, Loy Vaught, and Terry Mills before getting the hell out to the way. That was especially evident in his senior year at UM after Rice and Mills had left for the NBA. Even back then, I always thought of him as being criminally overrated by Babcock and was proven right...

Not to mention that he is making Dwight Howard look very old when going up against him...

If anyone wanted to know why Nique had no help, why Mutombo and the gang wasn't more competitive in the playoffs, or how Joe Johnson could leverage himself to a max contract extension due to the lack of talent on the roster, the Hawks' draft history has a lot to do with it. Keith Edmondson over Fat Lever, Ricky Pierce, and Sleepy Floyd Al Wood over Tom Chambers and Rolando Blackman Don Collins over Jeff Ruland (a bad man before his knee injuries) Jon Koncak over (insert All-Star and/or Hall of Famer here) Adam Keefe over Latrell Sprewell and Robert Horry Rumeal Robinson over Toni Kukoc, Dee Brown, Elden Campbell, and Loy Vaught Alan Henderson over Michael Finley and Theo Ratliff Doug Edwards over Nick Van Exel and Sam Cassell Josh Childress over Al Jefferson, Luol Deng, and Andre Iguodala (never liked him, as my posts would clearly show) Marvin Williams over CP3 (see Childress, Joshua)

And now Carlisle gets it. Oh boy. What a difference a year makes. All I heard before this postseason was about how the duo of Doncic and Porzingis would make the Mavs contenders for years and how they were doing things the right way. Well...

'Julius Randle an All-Star? Ben Simmons is an All-Defensive team wizard? The NBA I-Team asks the tough questions tonight at 7:30 and you won't believe the answers they give...'

First, Julius Randle gets exposed, then Ben Simmons gets it. The Hawks are the Fox-5 I-Team of the NBA Playoffs. Exposing one fraud at a time...

That was good. As in lobster, crab, and shrimp boil good...