Seano

Ughhh. That's not good. For some reason I feel the longer this drags out the less likely it is to happen, either the Suns will keep Johnson or they'll trade him somewhere else. It's already been way delayed, for all we know the whole deal may be dead or close to it. It'd be terrible that when we finally have the opportunity get a good player who actually wants to PLAY HERE, we turn him away. There's no excuse, and if that's what happens then this franchise probably deserves to be where it's at.

Yeah I can understand the talk about Chipper too, cause of his health, his age, and the fact that his contract is gonna become even more of a huge drag on a team with an ever shrinking payroll. BUT, he's also pretty much the face of the franchise and when he *is* healthy he's still one of the best hitters in baseball. I personally hope he retires a Brave and never plays a single game wearing another uniform. Just have to hope and pray he can stay as healthy as possible. It's looking over these past few seasons like his body is starting to break down, which would be a terrible shame at this stage of his career, when he can still hit like this....

Quote: If BK doesn't show up, wait until Lucinda talks to all her friends.. Yeah, he talked a good game but in the end, he couldn't even get the keys to the car... I know, and Lucinda is a major biatch. Once she starts talking smack about ya to all her friends, you may as well just fuhgeddaboutit. That ho can ruin your reputation forever, and you'll never get another date!

He's a fat rat, so we need a Big Cat. Where's Andres Gallarraga when you really need him?

Ratto is a rat!

Quote: The implication is clear - Hawks' ownership does not have its collective act together and BK is NOT free to make decisions as ownership has previously stated. Situations like this thoroughly undermine BK's ability to get the job done. I agree. They should not have announced this trade until ALL systems were go and ALL sides were in full agreement to the deal. The alternative is what we have- some kind of dissension, some kind of holdup somewhere along the line, and the Atlanta Hawks as an organization looking once again like a bunch of freaking amateurs. If the deal falls through, the embarrassment won't lie in that fact- because deals fall through all the time. The embarrassment will lie in announcing it as a done deal, to the point where it was all over the sports pages. That's just lame, and there's no other way to put it.

Quote: Like having a date with a pretty girl. You show up. She's not there. She doesn't call. No one knows where she is. You worry. You fret. What happened? She's just "Not available at this time" leaves you wondering where you stand. Very true. It's the lack of information more than anything that's so frustrating and/or worrisome to some. What's going on? What's the holdup? This lack of any hard info quite naturally leads to speculation and questions, and for the more pessimistic set it feeds into their fears and pessimism even more. I'm not all that worried, but if we're gonna do it I'd just as soon stop farting around and get 'er done.

Quote: It means having a long reach for their height. A player can be 6'2 and considered long if he has long arms, but he wouldnt be considered tall. Ah ok, thanks for that explanation. I just figured it was a wannabe clever euphemism for tall. I hear Hubie Brown saying it all the time, which may be part of the reason for my bias against it as I think the Hubester is an absolute idiot.

Quote: Long, athletic, and versatile. My questions are, when did the word 'long' replace the word 'tall' in NBA vocabulary, and is there any way we can just go back to the old days of calling players tall? This 'long' business just kind of irritates me for some reason.

Quote: Can't blame it all on Billy, although he has a curd style No whey! Sorry, just kidding...

Quote: "Sam will be in Philly whether it is at our number or a number that someone else sets," King wrote. "HE WILL BE IN PHILADELPHIA ONE WAY OR ANOTHER." Interestink, very very interestink. I find it very odd that King would show his hand that way, unless it's just bluff and bluster. But if that's the way he wants it- then offer Dalembert the max. We've got nothing to lose by doing that. At best we'd end up with Dalembert- at worst we'd be hamstringing another Eastern Conference competitor's payroll.

Quote: guys who've ridden the bench for the last three years (rodney white, NT, darko) are perfect for the hawks. we should be giving them a chance..... I don't know what the deal is with Skita, but am pretty shocked to see people getting upset enough about him to start cursing and levelling personal insults at one another. I mean c'mon fellas, this is Nikoloz Tskitisvili we're talking about here- not Tim Duncan. Skita was always considered a huge project, apparently he still is. As far as Darko, he ain't going anywhere according to Joe Dumars. The bottom-line is that he was drafted with the intent that he'd be sitting for awhile, and that's exactly what's occured. He was your stereotypic pick for the future, a guy in which you sit and let slowly develop his game over the course of a few years, and with Sheed, Ben Wallace and McDyess ahead of him on the depth chart the Pistons have had the luxury of doing exactly that. And that's really not reflective of Darko's tools nor his talent, as the Pistons are still very very high on him and insist he can still shoot, dribble and pass better than any player his size or age. The kid just turned 20 years old! Darko ain't going anywhere.

Quote: I applaud BK for talking to the premier guys on the market. You can't undersale yourself. If you don't try you'll never ever know. He probably knew they wouldn't sign. He just wanted to let them and everyone else know that he's not afraid to talk to them even given the state of the Hawks right now. Absolutely. Great point, and I couldn't agree more. If you want to be a player in the free agent game, then act like a player in the free agent game. I hope BK talks to EVERYBODY out there he's interested in, no matter how big a star they might be or how unlikely it might be they'd ever sign here. You have to show that you're commited to making steps towards improvement, and you never know. You just might be able to get one of those free agents. You just have to sell them on why they should come here, sell them on the city, the nightlife, the new arena, the fact that the Hawks seem like a very stable franchise right now as far as ownership and management go, and sell them on the fact that this is a very young team with some seriously talented players on it. Maybe one of those big free agents out there will be willing to take on the challenge of signing here and taking a leadership role on this team. Who knows? Anything is possible....

Interesting indeed, but just for the sake of being clear- it should be noted that the ESPN message boards have about as much credibility as the National Enquirer. In other words, take everything you hear there with an enormous grain of salt.

Wow, that's actually very cool that ESPN is taking that step in order to strive to be as objective as possible. That's a pretty big deal, and I'm glad they did it. The only part of your post that I disagree with is the 'spam' part, as spam is considered rude and somewhat of an internet no-no. I know I personally hate being spammed in my email, so that's not something I'd do to anyone else. As an alternative, I'd suggest that you or anyone else that has issues with Ford or ESPN's coverage of the Hawks in general, just send this dude an individual email detailing why you feel that way and offering specific examples that support your case. That would seem to me a much more personalized and effective way of getting your point across, rather than flooding the guy's email with a spam form letter. I personally could give a rip what Chad Ford or anyone else thinks, says, or writes about the Hawks. You know what they say about opinions.... People are entitled to their opinions, I'm entitled to agree, disagree, think they're completely full of crap, or not have any reaction at all. That's what makes the world go round.

Quote: Any chance that Chicago used this "heart problem" as a way to keep Curry by blowing it up so nobody wants to take a chance? Definitely possible, but I would assume that any physical would reveal the exact extent of it- so one way or the other they'll determine his health condition before even thinking about acquiring him. You have to, it'd be insane not to.

As a University of Minnesota alumnus, I would LOVE Przybilla back.

Whether or not Stoudamire can be a starting PG for us is sort of beside the point for me. It would be wonderful if he could, but if not- then I can live with the player that was unanimously regarded as being the best shooter in this draft. At the worst you're looking at one hell of a 6th man, someone who can come off the bench and just start lighting it up. I like the comparisons to Vinnie Johnson, who in my opinion was one of the best 6th men ever. But I believe that Stoudamire has even more potential than Johnson did as a shooter, and how many games did Johnson win for the Pistons over the years by coming off the bench and making huge clutch shots? It is very valuable to have a player like that, and I'm really happy we have one now. The only question in my mind is passing up on Ukic at that point, as Ukic is a true point who would likely step in and start for us straight off. But that's a judgement call, and I will trust BK's judgement on this one. In any case, Stoudamire does help fill the huge need we had for a shooter, so I'm not gonna complain one bit. We need the help, and we'll use him. Now about a point guard...Earl Watson? Jason Williams?

Yeah Marvelous Marvin. I'm very excited about him being here. Can't wait to see him play!

Agree. I appreciate Diaw's defense and versatility a lot. As far as his lack of aggresiveness offensively, I don't really understand it- whether it's a result of a lack of confidence in his offensive skills or whether he's just that unselfish a player where he'd rather try and feed it to others than take the shot himself. It's a tough call, but I'd be inclined to keep him. I would be pretty resistant to including him in a trade for a draft pick, because Diaw does have experience in this system, and that is valuable in and of itself. And I don't particularly want to see a team filled with *too* many first and second year players. That's exciting and everything, but you need to have a proper mix between veterans and youth. Somebody's got to show all these young guys the ropes. So if Diaw were part of a package for an already established NBA player at a position of need for us, then you'd at least have to consider it. But for a draft pick and yet another completely unproven player, I wouldn't do it.

Very true post. It's all a game of what if.

Quote: that is a horrible reason to draft a player Yep, good old nepotism. Reminds me of when the Braves drafted Jonathan Schuerholz Jr. out of Auburn in the 6th round a few years back, when he was projected as being a 30th rounder or lower. And Schueholz Sr. rightly took a lot of criticism from Braves fans over that obvious bit of nepotism. Not to say that Sean May is anything like Schuerholz Jr. May is a good prospect and will probably become a good NBA player. But just having the issue or appearance of possible nepotism, it doesn't look good in my opinion.

Felton kind of reminds me of Robert Pack. Faster than hell and loves to aggressively push it up the floor at all times, but often out of control with the result being too many turnovers, mental mistakes and poor shots. I'll take a steady and reliable point guard any day of the week. I don't need a jet back there, you don't have to have that in order to be a quality point.

Quote: If that happens I swear as much as I love the Hawks ( have been a fan since I was born) I will just completely give up on them. That was my immediate reaction too. I mean it's like what's the point. Why even bother being a fan of a team that it sometimes seems doesn't even try to get better. May as well just become a Clippers fan. It couldn't be any more painful, and the dumbass nature of this rumored trade totally reminds me of something the Clips would do.

There are probably about 1000 different trade scenarios out there right now. I would have to say that this one would be the most disappointing to me personally. It makes me wonder what's the point of going through that terrible season, landing the #2 pick and the opportunity to draft a star quality player, only to trade it off for more question marks and mediocre players. I would not understand such a move, and in fact it would really really piss me off.