Seano

The questions I have about Bargnani are: What is the likelihood of him getting out of his Euroleague contract, and when could he be realistically expected to arrive over here? If we can't get him immediately, then maybe he'd be worth waiting around for- but I'd almost prefer getting someone who can play right away.

Good stuff. It's nice that these young guys have such supportive fathers.

Good post. I don't know about Splitter, to be honest with you. It seems for every good report on him, there are just as many bad ones- though how reliable any of those reports are and whether they're based on actually seeing him play, I don't know that either. If we're in a position to draft him this summer, it seems like that might be a very difficult call to make. I'm glad BK has to make these decisions, cause I sure wouldn't want to do it.

Quote: We should be trying to win out. Well, we should always be trying to win out. That much goes without saying. To give less than full effort to winning in an effort to secure a potentially better draft pick is just wrong under any circumstance in my opinion. It cheats the fans and it cheats the players currently on the team. You always have to try to win.

Quote: It's interesting, because sans Aldridge, the players that the Hawks could use are either mid-lotto or late-lotto... Or not even lotto, like Mardy Collins.... Depending on where we end up obviously, this might be a good draft to try and trade down in IMO.

Smoovin' on up to the East side to a deluxe apartment in the sky Yeah, we're smoovin' on up deedle dee dee........

Quote: Hard to believe NBA players would actually vote on "worst NBA coach"? Not very good form in my opinion. Yeah, that seems kind of bunk to me too, and somewhat uncalled for.

Yeah, this was another positive win for us- especially with GS off and running and going up by 12 points on us a few times in the 1st quarter. That could have turned into a game where we got blown out of our own building, but it didn't. Guys kept playing hard, kept working at it, didn't give up, and eventually got the win. You have to like that. I think it's a very positive result. And hey, if you can't stop them- then just outscore them.

Oh if he won, this franchise would be in trouble. I have absolutely no doubt about that. He made very clear the fact that his number one priority as owner of the Hawks was the bottom-line and to make money, and that he valued profit above and beyond the product out on the court. That was more important to him. He is a definitely a snake of the worst kind, and obviously incredibly stubborn. I'm really shocked he's still pursuing this and still trying to fight it- I thought they'd come to an agreement last summer and that his buyout was just a matter of time. But he's not giving up, and that really sucks. All these court costs and legal fees are just draining money out of our owners pockets, which is that much less money that might have been put into the team.

Damn is he a fool. I was kind of operating under the assumption that the reason he backed down and agreed to sell last summer was because Stern had promised him a shot at owning a team or having a stake in one at some future point- but with behavior like this? No freaking way, Jose. He is really an almost unbelievable douchebag.

Quote: If Salim isn't shooting a high percentage he is NO good. I still think you're being far too harsh on the rook, so I wouldn't say he's *no* good when his shot's not falling. It's still way too early to determine what his ultimate value might be. But I do agree that his primary value lies in the fact that he's a shooter, so when the shot ain't falling then you've got some problems. But it's not like that was a big secret when we drafted him. I mean everyone knew that his best attribute by far was his ability to shoot, and the rest of his game was not nearly as complete. He could improve with NBA experience and become a more complete player as well as being a shooter. Or he could be strictly relegated to a bench/6th man type role where he's relied upon to provide points and maybe even instant offense the way Vinnie Johnson used to do- and FWIW Salim's rookie season to date he is substantially outperforming Vinnie Johnson's rookie year in Seattle. Now that might not mean much, but neither does the fact that he struggles sometimes- I mean, it happens. That's an inevitability. There's this temptation to try and provide instant analysis and try and label him as a 'bust' or what have you- but that ain't realistic at this point in time and that's not the way it works. He is what he is right now, a young player with a good shot, some attitude questions and some areas of his game that could definitely use some improvement. But the fact that's what he is now does not necessarily have any bearing on his future or what he might become. Some of that will be determined by outside factors (coaching etc etc), but much of it will be up to him, how badly he's willing to work to become a good player. It is silly to write him off at this point in his career, and Hotlanta1981 you do that all the time.

Oh yeah and Villanueva- holy crap is he an impressive looking player. Not bad for a #7 pick, not bad at all.

It's nice to finally beat Toronto too.

Somewhat shocked that this game turned out to be as close as it did, cause statistically we killed them almost across the board. We shot better, had 10 more assists, we killed them on the glass both offensive and defensive- 14 more rebounds, and we murderated them from 3-point land. But we did turn it over more than them, and allowed them to hit a high percentage of their shots. I guess those were the keys that kept us from winning this thing in a rout.

Quote: He's a lockeroom cancer and a bust. Maybe you should talk to your Dr. about getting on Prozac or something, because if your demeanor is anything in real life like it is on this board....yikes. You are exceedingly pessimistic and negative to the point where I sometimes wonder if you're even a fan- or if you are a fan, then why? Why even bothering continuing with something that seems to make you feel so miserable?

Quote: please stick Salim Stoudmire in the minor leagues. He's a waste of a roster spot. He isn't an NBA caliber player... A busted draft pick by Billy Knight. Wow, talk about your premature analysis. Yes, he has been struggling and has had some attitude issues- but every rookie in the NBA struggles at some point in the season, hell every single player in the league does. To expect otherwise is to be unrealistic, and to write Stoudamire off as a failure at this young stage in his career is just ridiculous. It's foolish. Absent a really great crystal ball, you have no way of knowing what kind of player he might eventually become.

Quote: I like Foye. He's a big, strong, tough kid who from what I have seen would make a nice fit here. Randy Foye Joe Johnson Josh Smith Al Harrington ZaZa Pachulia I wouldn't mind that being our starting 5 of the future. Well, at some point Marvin Williams is going to have to be a starter. I mean he's a #2 pick, with potential that goes through the roof, so at some point he's got to be pencilled into the lineup as a starter lest he become seen as being another Darko Milicic. A #2 pick has got to be WAY better than just being another guy that comes off the bench. That said though and being realistic about the fact that BK really seems to like him, I would not mind Harrington coming back *if* we can sign him to a reasonable extension, reasonable being the operative term there. If he's signed to a reasonable enough deal, he will be easily tradeable and will become that much more desirable to other teams.

Excellent. I have been waiting with bated breath for another Diesel/Luefan #10 brouhaha. Good stuff!

Well, with the release of Delk we still have a roster spot open, right? Or has that been filled and I just missed it? I liked Barry when he was here, and he is a good long-range shooter, but I tend to agree that he'd be somewhat superfluous here, what with Salim being our designated gunner off the bench. But we could do worse than to have Barry back around just for the fact of a veteran presence, something most of us feel we need more of on this team- and at 36 years old Jon Barry is full of veteran savvy. But, that didn't seem to help Tony Delk all that much when he was here either. I dunno. If I were Barry I'd probably just hold out for a bit, wait and hope that some team on the way to the playoffs will give him a call- ala Detroit and Delk.

IMO Morrison will represent the best fit for a team that either doesn't value defense much at all, or a team that's already very strong defensively and so wouldn't be hurt much by having a subpar defender. He is extremely intriguing to me personally. Part of me would love to have him because of the very strong skills he already possesses and the undeniable positives to his game, but I think the larger part of me looks at his defense and says, no thanks. Whether we get him or not though, it will be fascinating to see how he does in the NBA.

Quote: I smelll a victoryyyyy Easy there, big fella. Please do not jinx us!

I hope it isn't true. About the last thing we need are any stinking soap-operas around here.

Quote: Does anyone doubt that he would blast them either way in a situation like that? Oh I have no doubt of that, because he is lazy and intellectually dishonest. It's dishonest of him to continue the relentless negativity while not even making note of the fact that there are also some pretty big positives going on here. As far as he's concerned, it's kind of damned if you do and damned if you don't for the Hawks. It seems that no matter what we do, he's going to find something to bash, and that will probably continue until we can win 50+ games.

Chad Ford is just a lazy and opportunistic creep. Just more cheap-shots at a team that has become an easy target because of our struggles over the recent years. But he obviously doesn't watch the games and in fact doesn't know what he's talking about, else he would see for himself that despite our weaknesses we are indeed an improved team. But, he clearly doesn't care to even bother checking into that. It's much easier just to continue the same old bash.

I don't doubt that we were feeling a little ragged playing our fourth game in five days, but Milwaukee was also playing its fourth game in five days, and they were on the road and on a four game losing streak. So in the past week and a half we've beaten the Lakers in LA and the Pacers in Indianapolis, and lost to Seattle and Milwaukee at home. Why do these things happen? Partly because we are a very young team, and partly because we do have weaknesses as we all know. We are not a good defensive team, we lack a point guard, and we lack interior presence. IMO those things need to be priority one this offseason and draft.