Seano

Man.....it seems like we just have the misfortune to be historically terrible in years when there's not a consensus #1 player who is clearly head and shoulders above everyone else.

Therefore, it's more of rolling the dice, crossing your fingers, and hoping you picked the right guy.

Congrats to JJ, and may this just be the first of many to come.

Ok, well I believe at this point you're just being foolish and arguing simply for the sake of argument, so I guess you'll have to wait for Diesel to come back online in order to get your need for conflict filled- cause I got neither the time nor the inclination to do so.

No, it's a very simple and straightforward equation. You've been in the league for 5 years, that makes you a vet. 5 years = veteran player.

I'm not sure what his points per game 3 years ago has to do with it?

I don't feel it's a huge deal either way, and Lebron has never struck me as being particularly arrogant- in fact he seems to have his head on his shoulders and feet on the ground pretty well despite all the hype and hoopla surrounding him.

I really doubt he meant it in a derogatory or negative way. If he doesn't want to participate, then fine- don't participate. No biggie to me, but it is indicative to me of the loss of luster that the Slam Dunk competition has suffered over the years. It used to be like this star-studded, huge deal back in the day- and the best and most exciting players in the league wanted to participate. It's fallen a long ways from the days when you'd see players like Dominique, Spud, Kenny Walker, Larry Nance and Shawn Kemp participating in the competition.

Sounds like a player to keep an eye on.

JJ's young in terms of age but he's a veteran in terms of service and experience. You've been in the league for 5 years, that makes you a veteran irregardless of your age. Not to speak for Diesel or anything, but I believe that is probably the point he was getting at- and it's a valid one in my opinion.

Oh I would definitely do that for the right guy. Youth has already been more than served on this team, now it's really time to get some experienced players in my opinion.

I don't know why Delk is kept inactive, even when we're shorthanded. That seems to defy logic, so maybe there's some hidden reason that no one knows about with the exception of those on the inside. Maybe there are personal reasons, maybe they feel Delk has a poor attitude or doesn't try hard? It's impossible to say, it's very strange though.

True enough. I think these end of game meltdowns probably have as much to do with a lack of experience as anything else. These guys just haven't quite figured out how to seal the deal yet, but I think they will.

A bit of it has to do with coaching as well IMO. Some of the moves and substitutions Woody makes during games just leave me scratching my head if not outright throwing my hands up in the air, and those type of things just get magnified that much more at the end- especially when you lose.

But, I don't know. I hope and believe these guys will learn together, grow together, and with experience figure out how to win the bulk of those games in the end rather than continually letting them slip away. I mean that's what good teams do, they intrinsically understand how to close games out.

But we're getting there. Like I feel that despite our poor record, this team is WAY more competitive than any Hawks team has been in awhile.

If we were to trade Al for expiring contracts and a pick (or picks), I would be *wicked* pissed.

What the hell good would expiring contracts do us at this point in the process? We've already got money available under the cap, and as we have all seen- free agents aren't exactly beating down BK's door wanting to play in Atlanta. So what good does having additional cap-space do you?

And enough with the picks. We're full-up on youth here, we need to get some actual established players- hopefully that will be here for a few years.

Not sure he really fills a need for us, but I really like that guy and his style of play. Didn't the Bulls just re-sign him to some kind of an extension, or did I imagine that.

Agree. There is no doubt in my mind that he wants out of here, so therefore- it is vital to trade him for the best possible offer we can get. Though we might be better off waitilng till the summer and doing an SNT.

I feel very confident that a competent point guard able to feed them quality passes would automatically make those two better scorers. They are definitely athletic enough to be so.

Not sure there are even any Delk fans left in the building. He has truly become the invisible man.

Absolutely. That's really all I ask as well. If we can keep on doing that, then sooner or later we'll start getting some of those breaks and the victories are sure to follow.

Diesel's makin' a list

He's checkin' it twice

Gonna find out who's naughty and nice

Dee dee dee dee deedle

Dee dee

Aye yi yi, somebody stop me.

We played great against a really good team. I agree this one was winnable, but ahh well. This still shows the potential this young team has, and offers hope for the future.

Not to mention an episode of Seinfeld.

Yuck, seems to me kind of like trading garbage for garbage (nuttin against any of those guys personally, I just don't think they're all that good). Hard to see how this trade really helps out either team all that much.

Only problem being that it bumps all the current threads off the front page.

Dang Diesel, what is up with resurrecting all these threads from the dead?

The Pacers are bumming, cause Artest is just destroying whatever trade value he had left- and judging by the fact that they were willing to trade him straight-up for an old and declining Peja, I would guess that value was not all *that* great to begin with. I guess teams just really don't want to deal with the headache or risk having him go nuts again, and that is entirely understandable.

I can imagine that Larry Bird probably feels like wringing Artest's neck with his bare hands right now. What a creep!

Mess is putting it mildly. You'd think that would have to screw with Peja's head, knowing his team no longer wanted him. As far as Artest, he is the stereotypic turd in the punchbowl, and I'm afraid he always will be. Sort of reminds me of Terrell Owens that way. Such great talents, but such total creeps. What a waste of talent...

Well, the point is that as an UFA, if BK thinks he'll be unable to re-sign Al for whatever reason either his own or Al's, then it would behoove him to try and trade him either before the deadline or this summer in an SNT- and he'd damn well better do so as opposed to letting him walk away with zero compensation in return. I personally feel that Al is a goner, and I can't say as I blame him for wanting to go.

I'm pretty well disgusted with BK at this point, so I won't be holding my breath on that one.