Seano

I know. It just bums me out that the Hawks don't sign players like that. I mean the guy is getting $3M per, which is NOTHING.

Sorry, dude. Still lots of good players and prospects out there though!

Basketball fights are normally pretty tame, but that brouhaha against the Knicks got a little bit hairy. And you've gotta love a fight against those 'Bad Boy' Pistons teams, with Laimbeer and Mahorn and Jeff Malone and Jeff Ruland (very briefly) and all those guys getting all rough and tumble and basically instigating violent reactions due to their physically violent style of play.

Well he's not a player or coach, but if there were one Hawks related question I could ask, that would be to Billy Knight in reference to his drafting strategy, and that one very simple question would be....."WTF, dude??????"

Ok. I am shocked and highly pleased to find him still on the board (more about that later), so I'm gonna go with Tony Allen all the way, baby. He is simply an ELITE NBA defensive player, and *the* elite perimeter defender amongst all NBA players. I mean he's the best there is. Finished 4th in balloting for NBA Defensive Player of the Year this season behind Dwight, Garnett, and Tyson Chandler after finally getting out of being buried on Boston's bench and getting a full-time role in Memphis. He's not much of a shooter nor is he much of a scorer, which I know for a fact has to do with how he's so often overlooked and undervalued (even within the context of this draft) because people naturally tend to focus on offensive stats first and foremost, but his defense and energy are SO good that the lack of scoring doesn't even matter, because his defensive contributions greatly outweigh his lack of offense. He was the Allen the Celtics turned to in the 2010 Finals to put on Kobe when Ray Allen was being eaten alive by him, and from that point forward he became known as 'The Kobe Stopper'. The New York Times had a great article on him a couple of months ago, which I will post here if anyone cares to read it because it really is a good read. Allen and the Plight of the Undervalued Defender March 8, 2011, 2:48 pm Allen and the Plight of the Undervalued Defender By ROB MAHONEY As much as N.B.A. fans and analysts have made an effort to appreciate individual and team defense, nothing on that side of the ball quite measures up to the sex appeal of scoring. The game itself is structured around made field goals, and basketball observers largely fall into the trap of glamorizing that straightforward act of goal attainment while diminishing the appeal of lock-down defense. The way to win games is to score more points than its opponent, not to hold an opponent below one’s own scoring threshold. It’s all about the game-winning shot, the go-ahead bucket, the overt display of control over one’s destiny by generating points. That’s what basketball is all about, or at least what we’re told by broadcasters, writers, radio personalities and fans. Most will throw in the obligatory “defense wins championships,” yet when it comes to the individual valuation of players and teams, top-flight defense isn’t given its due. There’s a bizarro N.B.A. world out there where defensive influence is valued on the same level as offensive production. In that world, Dwight Howard has multiple most valuable player awards sitting on his mantel, Tim Duncan is held in even higher esteem, and Andre Iguodala is considered a franchise centerpiece rather than fodder for trade rumors. Plus, Tony Allen -– who did an incredible job of defending All-World scorer Kevin Durant on Monday night -– is a household name. Allen is a perfect example of defensive inequality. When Allen inked a three-year, $9.5 million deal with the Memphis Grizzlies last summer, his decision was met with two distinct responses. Some wondered why Allen would leave the contending Celtics for a rotation spot with the middling Grizzlies. A fair question, to be sure. Others pondered whether Allen -– who lacks any semblance of a jumper, and isn’t even a reliable scorer when slashing to the hoop -– was worth that kind of financial commitment at all. That perspective is the more curious one, as just months earlier, Allen was commended for his defensive performance on stars like Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade. A salary of around $3 million a year is modest in today’s N.B.A., and yet a defense-first player like Allen was deemed unworthy of even that sum. On some level, even the Celtics must have agreed, as a comparable salary would likely have enticed Allen to stay in Boston. Relative to the salaries of other N.B.A. players, Allen’s deal is insanely affordable. Watch his defensive work against Durant and try to convince yourself that Allen isn’t worth every penny of his $9.5 million contract: That combination of speed, strength and drive is uncanny. Allen’s unrelenting pursuit of Durant through every step and around every screen is uncommon enough, but he combines that with excellent defensive technique using the physical gifts that make it all possible. This is one of the top perimeter defenders in the game, and yet he grabs attention only rarely -– like on Monday night -– when he also contributes in the scoring column. Allen’s offensive equivalent could be an All-Star selection or a sixth man of the year candidate, but defensive specialists so rarely have a legitimate chance at such accolades. Maybe the difficulties in quantifying defense (steals and blocks alone are hardly an accurate measure) are to blame, but it’s a shame that players like Allen do no receive the notoriety they deserve. As a perimeter defender, Allen is a legitimate game-changing force. He has considerable holes in his game, but the things Allen does well he does very well, and the things he does very well go largely overlooked. And Nicholas is on the clock and has been notified.

Thanks, bud. Appreciate it. I just got home, so give me like 5 minutes to make some coffee and then make my pick.

Hmm, I'm very confused. Am I on the clock? Nobody notified me of crap, and I see that sultan and capstone may have been picking up above on this last page of the thread, and wouldn't that be totally out of order? HELP!!!!

I think Hawksquawkers would be rioting in the streets and Hawksquawk itself might get burnt to the ground if there was no season, as we would all be going loco en la cabeza. :notme:

Hells to the yes, I'll play fantasy football. Doesn't matter to me whether it's Yahoo, ESPN, or any other format either. I'm just hoping there's an NFL season at this point! :beathorse:

Uggghhh, I just read where the NBA has canceled the Las Vegas Summer League already as a byproduct of the lockout, so we may not need to be worrying about Hawks free agents or any other teams FA's for quite some time, as it looks like they may be anticipating and preparing themselves for what could become a very lengthy work stoppage. What a bummer. :angry:

Oh, I didn't even realize that Odom was dating a Kardashian. My personal preference is Kim Kardashian, who Kris Humphries landed. Talk about homina homina, yowzahs! She's a true beauty, and they're actually engaged to be married and are planning a family together, which is always cool to see.

I believe the plan was to pick a roster of 13 players plus coach.

Hmmmm. The unmentionable one was taken back in round 6. Maybe it would be easier for track if we started a new thread, as this one is getting really long and a bit unmanageable?

Apparently! Sheesh, I assumed I must have been in here amongst a group of Greek gods who can get a Kardashian sister at will given all the people turning up their noses at these cheerleader hopefuls. :) Heh, I like the new nick too. Not5Not6Not7, good stuff. :taunt:

I'm right there with ya. I would consider the vast majority of those women to range from being just pretty to being extremely attractive. I'm not super judgmental about looks though, as I'm hardly Brad Pitt myself. I can find beauty in a lot of different places just by opening my eyes and mind and really looking.

Happy B-Day, dude! Oh my fricken word, I was comatose for about a week in Ciudad Juarez in the aftermath of my 21st. I don't know what the hell I did, and I don't even want to know! Sure did party like a very depraved rock star though. Glad those days are over. :) Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Out there jet-setting around the Greek islands while he's neglecting the lockout draft......what the heck is the matter with the guy???? I would sell my first-born grandmother to make sure I'm here for the lockout draft. ;)

Exactly. This would be the role-playing equivalent of that, with the Hawks being Lloyd Christmas and the sexy girl being Dwight. Hey, even a remote chance is better than none at all, which puts us in better shape than all but a very few teams.

I picked Okafor for C, as in my opinion he is the most complete 'true' center out of that grouping, with DeAndre Jordan being the second out of that list. Horford, Jefferson and Bargnani are most decidedly NOT centers, so no. They may have the size, but they just are pretty much completely lacking in the mentality and/or desire to play like a classic 5 would.

Ditto!

I just get the feeling that Dwight wants to go for a stage that is bigger than the one in Atlanta and obviously where he feels he'd have the best chance at getting a ring, and that's why I just can't escape the feeling that he is going to end up in royal purple and gold out there in LaLaLand. Who knows though? Only Dwight knows what's most important to him and what he wants to do.

If he left in the type of situation where we got some kind of good player or player + picks in return, I could live with that. If he left where it was just basically us trying to rid ourselves of his salary, in other words a trade motivated primarily by a straight salary dump, then I wouldn't feel too happy about that. Overpaid or not, he is our best player, and to consider trading him also requires you to think about how you're going to replace him. How do you go about replacing your best player, and who either currently on the team or that you might acquire in trade could step up to help fill the void that a departed Joe would leave behind? That's what I wonder anyway. On the one hand, I'm very wary about his high salary and how that escalates as he gets older, and what that could mean to us and how it might hamstring us most terribly assuming his productivity will fall as it does for every player as he gets older. On the other hand, he is our best player and in that regard I support him 100% even though he has flaws and limitations just like everybody else. I don't know. I guess I'd be torn. It's hard for me to think about Joe not being here anymore, but it's also hard for me to think about the ungodly amount of $$$$ that is still owed to him and that the Hawks are responsible for unless they do trade him.

Ditto. Very good pick. I like the Devin Harris pick too. I'd actually kind of forgotten about him.

Oh jeez, there are about 1000 cracks I could make about the name Mona- however I will withhold, since she's your friend. :P

I've gotta say (and this is NOT to be rude or a jerk about it) that it's very surprising to me that Cayla is in 2nd place, as in my opinion she is among the least appealing of all those girls. I mean she's got great bazoongas and presumably a ripping bod, but facially she just doesn't do it for me. She looks older than the rest of the girls to me, maybe even in her mid 30's (?) and maybe has spent too much time in her life out in the sun or something. That's just me though. Different strokes for different folks. They're all awesome in different ways.

Holy shyster! How the heck are you just supposed to pick 5???? :biggrin: I would probably have to go with Amber (love the redheads), Aurora (WOW!), Jessica H (H as in homina, homina, homina?), Niki with one k and the other Nikki with two, and then Zakiya...but then I feel like I'm dissing all those other beauties. And then I look again and my choices might be completely different. Really tough to choose just 5. In fact I have to abstain from voting, because it's just too hard for me. :shout: