shug94

Hey everyone, my name is Cameron Smith, and I live in Western Australia. I first came to this board because it was the one place where I could get free insider reports on the NBA(any chance that I could take a look at a transcript of the Bill Simmons chat wrap?). I have always been a fan of basketball first, and individual temas second. As I was not born in the US, nor did I spend a large amount of time in any of the towns I have always chosen my favourite teams based on the way they played basketball. I used to love the Dominique Wilkins led hawks. They were soooo great. Then came a long period of being a pacers fan, because Reggie Miller's last second heroics were the most dramatic thing in the NBA. I also kinda jumped on the Rockets chamionship bandwagon those two years where they won the title. But after that my fandom became more about just going for the underdog. I would pretty much support anyone who played the Lakers, and so I loved the Finals last year. This year, however there is no clear 'bad guy'. I feel like I will be ecstatic no matter who wins this year. Because I love all the remaining teams in the finals. In the last few years I have become very interested in the rebuilding teams, and so this leads me to be once again interested in the Atlanta Hawks. I loved the Dunk Contest. I think Josh Smith put on a great show, and will be a great piece of our future here at the Hawks franchise. But the other reason that I am interested in your rebuilding process is that you guys might draft Andrew Bogut. And as an Australian, I am extrememly excited about what this young guy can do. I have seen him at the Olympics, and the world U23 championships. And he is a great player. The other team that excites me, as far as (re)building goes is the Bobcats. I think they are really a cool team, and will get a lot better this offseason. In fact, even though I am enjoying the finals so much I cannot wait for the offseason. The lottery, the draft, the crazy deals, and the uncertainty of who will be picked where. It is a huge part of basketball. My question is this: "If you look at it from Andrew Boguts perspective, which team will he fit best with? (Out of Atlanta, Charlotte, Utah, and New Orleans)"

MVP - Steve Nash - He was the undisputed star of the all star break, and he is the MOST important element on that team. COY - Eddie Jordan - They sucked forever, now they are in the playoffs for the first time in a long time. Part of this was Jamison, but mostly it was the coach. ROY - Emeka Okafor MIP - Bobby Simmons 6th Man - Ben Gordon - 4th quarter, and he is the second player you think of. 1st team - Duncan/Dirk/Marion/Wade/Nash 2nd team - Amare/KG/Lebron/AI/Allen 3rd team - Yao/Brand/Pierce/Miller/Parker

Out of those four I would take Andrew Bogut. I am an Australian, though, and so I might be a little biased. However, from watching the olympics, he was great then, definitely a world class center. Then he played for another college season at Utah. So he is better now than he was at the olympics. When he played for australia, he did very well at setting high picks, rebounding, and finding the open man. These are skills that will translate well inside the Hawk's offense. Another player I saw at the Olympics, though, was Rudy Fernandez. He played for spain, on the same team as Pau Gasol. And when you were watching the games, you could tell that they were the only two NBA type players on that team. No-one thought Gasol would be an NBA star, but he is now. I think that we should give Fernandez a chance. Either take him with our second round pick, or trade to get a pick in the last half of the first round. This kid is really special.