Seano

Nique was way up there, but I still say Doctor J was the greatest dunker I have ever seen. He's the one that revolutionized it all. I will never forget being a litttle kid and watching him go airborne just past the half-court line, and stay airborne all the way to the basket- where he slammed it. That was a first. Man, what a player.

Wowsahs. That's a big 'un. Not sure what else to say about it other than that.

Quote: I don't know what the deal is with Darko but I expect he is lazy in practice. He is lazy. He's got a bad attitude, and he's allowed himself to fall out of shape because he's pissed that he never gets a chance to play. The Detroit Free Press said that in their article today. That's not to say that he couldn't have a future somewhere else, given the opportunity. But it's not right when you're being paid all that money to get pissy, pouty, and worst of all let yourself fall out of shape simply because you're not playing. That's not the way to go about changing things, it's stupid, immature and extremely counter-productive. If you want your coaches to let you play, then work your ass off all the time. Practice harder than anyone. Work-out harder than anyone, and keep yourself in tip-top shape all the time. Keep a strong attitude, show the burning desire that you want to play and basically give your coaches no choice *but* to play you simply because you're working your tail off to earn that privelege. Darko was willing to do none of those things, so good riddance to bad rubbish as far as the Pistons are concerned.

My questions about Nene are still the same, and they're big ones. The first obviously has to do with his health, and his rehab. He didn't incur just a small injury back in November- he basically destroyed his right knee, with a complete tear of the anterior cruciate ligament, a complete tear of the lateral meniscus ligament, and a partial tear of the medial collateral ligament- so that's two completely severed ligaments, and a partially severed one. This, after he severely sprained his left knee last March. So here's a player that's had very recent and major problem with both knees, and there's no telling how successfully he'll be able to come back from that, there's no telling when, and there's no telling if he'll ever be the same player again. In fact there are a lot of doubts. So, IMO that makes trading for him a big, big risk. The second question has to do with his pending FA status. I know he's a free-agent after this season, but am still not clear as to whether he's a restricted free-agent or an unrestricted one- and how those scenarios would fit in if we were to trade for him.

^^^^ Steve Francis is definitely in play. Orlando is trying very hard to move him, so that part of the rumor is true. As far as us being involved in any way in that, I believe that's just fans being hypothetical.

Well how bad is his foot? The article mentioned he had a broken bone in it, but frustatingly enough, failed to offer anymore information on it than that.

Quote: One possibility is that they may be holding on to Delk to include in an Al Harrington trade. That's kind of what I was thinking. I would not be at all surprised to see them packaged together, Delk being that little extra bit of sweetener that will hopefully get us that much more in a package deal.

It couldn't hurt to just release him, provided we couldn't get anything for him in trade. It's just pointless keeping him around, taking up a roster space to sit on the end of bench and continue piling up DNP's. I mean we're not even making an effort to try and get him minutes just to showcase him for any teams out there that might be interested in his services. So, maybe just releasing him is the more likely outcome.

Quote: Wouldn't it make sense to trade him now as opposed to after the season because his value is likely to decline - assuming the young guys take his minutes over the second half of the season they his value in a sign and trade goes into the toilet after the season. I dunno. According to what Chad Ford and others think, BK believes that he might get the best value by waiting to deal Al this summer. But with Al getting a physical to have his knee checked out, maybe that's a harbinger of a trade soon to come. Who knows?

It was a big win. It's always a big win when you beat the Lakers.

Quote: I really don't like Salim. He's not basketball smart. He's just that guy that's going to shoot everytime he gets it. I don't feel comfortable with him in the game when we have a lead because he will squander it with quick shots. I don't feel comfortable with him in the game when we're down because he's going to play outside the design of the offense. Right Now, I would see what teams would give for Salim because I don't like his style of play. I love the fact that he can hit the three, but at what cost?? Well, none of those are fatal flaws in my opinion. All of them can be resolved with proper teaching and showing him how to play within the framework of the game- to not always be heaving up shots, to look to try and involve his teammates, to show patience and better awareness of what's happening on the court around him, all those things are correctable and teachable in my opinion. He's still a very young player. It's proper for all of us to expect him to improve his game, and I believe he will.

I feel it's highly obvious that Salim's future in this league is not as a PG, and probably not even as a starting player. He seems destined to be a 6th man, gunner-type shooter off the bench... which is fine. Every team would love to have one of those instant-offense type players. He just doesn't show the ability to direct the team, which is something that just seems to come naturally to Ivey.

Oh yeah, and T. Delk still can't buy his way into a game, so this is just getting silly at this point. Time to trade him for whatever we can get. I would think that would be the best for the Hawks as well as Delk.

Strong road win, excellent showing all the way around. It sucked losing Lue, but I'm very happy to see R. Ivey finally getting a chance to play, and have some success. Could be that we'll look back at the Lue injury as somewhat of a blessing in disguise, cause I really like the way Royal Ivey plays ball.

Quote: This is what gets me about some Hawks fans. They want to make trades seemingly just to make trades. As the deadline approaches, it will get worse here. LOL. You've gotta be kidding me, man. That complaint might have some merit were it coming from anyone but you, but c'mon. You post far and away more fantasy trade idea threads on this board than everyone else combined, so pot meet kettle, eh?

I dunno. You read the negatives in his scouting report, it makes it sound like Batista would find it hard to be an NBA player. Weaknesses: Quickness and athleticism are far below average ... Not a huge leaper ... Older player, so the assumption is his upside is limited ... Lacks great speed in the open floor, more suited to a half court team ... Foot speed is extremely slow which limits his ability to grab rebounds out of position and get to loose balls ... Lacks much presence defensively due to his physical shortcomings (quickness and athleticism) ... Doesn't show much range as he scores most of his field goals within a few feet from the basket ...

I agree. To me it sounds like a great plan- if it would all only work out that way.

Interesting on Collins. Thanks for the heads up....

How to get a big man is the great question, and one that's gonna have to be answered one way or the other. I don't know that Aldridge is the answer either, but I hope he is. It really is a difficult question though, and one that has cost more than a few NBA general managers their jobs. The eternal riddle and search for the big man. It is a tough one. Wish I had a better answer than that.

Wow, I didn't realize he was already 25 years old. Time to bring him over here!

Quote: Teams should never, never draft a player based simply on need. You build teams that will make a quick exit in the playoffs by doing that. A draft approach should always be to draft the best player you can possibly get. If that player happens to play a position of need, then that's fine. You NEVER pass on a player that is considered the best player in the draft to take a player that is rated considerably lower just because he plays a position of need. Agree completely. You always take the best available, and then if need be you can make a trade later on.

My opinion is that Marvin blows away Morrison as far as pure athleticism goes, but Morrison is ahead at this time as far as basketball skills go. But again, Morrison is two years older than Marvin and is in his third season as a starter in college ball.

Nice call on Marcus Williams. Yeah, to me this draft doesn't look to have a whole lot of star power to it, but ya never know. This could be one of those drafts where a few unheralded guys come out of nowhere. Hopefully we will be able to find one or two of those guys. I feel relatively confident in our scouts and in BK's talent and player evaluation skills, so I'm hopeful for the best.

Quote: Morrison couldn't guard you if he had a badge and a gun. I would have to agree. It's interesting to me that he patterns his game after Larry Bird. His game is very 'Bird-like' in my opinion, except for the D. And I'm not sure that's he's as good a passer or has quite the court vision that Bird did, but then again very few players do. The questions of health and durability also can't be ignored, but it will be very interesting to see how he does on the next level. I wouldn't bet against him to at the very least become an excellent offensive player.

I'd love to get Przybilla back, only partly cause I'm a grad of the University of Minnesota. Gotta support my Gophers, but I still believe Joel left school too early, and thus his first three years in the league were pretty well wasted ones cause he clearly wasn't ready. Same thing with Rick Rickert and Kris Humphries- all those guys should have stayed in school.