thesheedera

I was hoping it would be for $35 or $37.50, but $40 is definitely within reason. Seems like everyone involved - players, staff and management - really wants to keep the core intact and add as opportunities come along. There is something to be said for stability, as long as it doesn't lead to complacency.

Sucker for torture.

I feel like that monster thread had a lot of gnashing of teeth over something that at the end of the day, I think both sides aren't too far apart on. Let's see.

His conditioning issues and injury issues are one and the same. He's a guy that will put in the work to stay in shape, but when injured the weight piles on fast. For the right price he's worth a shot, but it could take him a while to get into game shape. One thing's for sure: He can score in the post. Also extremely high bb iq.

I've been mostly absent for so long that I thought I'd lay it all down in one post. Sorry for the inevitable repeats: Questions: 1) Are we involved in any summer league? If not, where are our guys playing. 2) Is there a mobile version of the squawk for blackberry users? Thoughts: 1) Despite being a card carrying marvin nuthugger, I'm intrigued with a starting lineup of bibby (or teague when ready), crawford, jj, and then either horford and a new center, horford and zaza, or smith and horford. Also like it with marv and horford, or marv and new center. We're at a stage in our development where our "pet players" truly need to take second stage in our individual minds to the overall good of the team. I hope the smith nuthuggers are in agreement with that. 2). I'm starting to buy into the stability line of reasoning. I think we need more post depth, but what was once a toxic lockerroom environment now seems to be a olace that our guys want to return to. We do have room for organic growth, and with some more bigs I feel comfortable going back at it with much the same cast of characters plus crawford. 3) woody remains my biggest fear

That's actually pretty darn funny.

very very interesting glad to see him get some good press

I was really asking the question more than stating the position. I assume that when Teague and Ish were on the floor together that Ish was playing much of the time as PG. Thy may have just had a combo backcourt with both in the game. Don't we have a resident Deacon around here to paint the picture? The A/T scares the crap out of me. It may be though that I was so spoiled with the anomaly that is Ty Lawson. That kid played faster than any PG I've ever seen, but had an A/T ratio of a half-court tactician. My hopes are largely hinging on what I saw of Teague AGAINST Lawson. I think Lawson was among the better college PGs I've ever seen, but head-to-head Teague had a clear advantage on that particular day. Teague looked like a Jason Williams (of the dook variety) type player that day. He not only played out of his head but he played wth an edge you usually only see with guys who are headcases and can't back it up or who are legitimate phenoms. Actually Jason Williams may be a good comparison? Jason had a bulkier frame but not the explosive ups. Jason was probably a better defender by a decent margin. He played with a better PG than Teague did, but like Teague he was clearly the superior talent compared to the "other" guard, and was needed to provide scoring moreso than to distribute. They were both "pg"s who played more like "lead" guards in college. Jason's last season he had a 1.4/1 A/T ratio and for his career he was 1.5/1. He avg 19 ppg in college on 45% fg and 39% from 3. They both played with no fear and a helthy dose of attitude. Jason was a flat out champion and had a lot more on his team to work with. I guess there were doubts about his ability to run an NBA franchise, but for the most part I think a lot of people believed that he could do it.

Remember that Law guy?

Yes!

I watched some Wake games over the last two years, but not a lot of them. Ish Smith is a true and capable PG (probably cause he's not a true "scorer") and played 32 mpg in Teague's freshman season and 22 mpg in his sophomore season. - When they were on the floor together, what were their roles? - Is it possible that we would have seen Teague become more of a true PG if not for the presence of Ish, or if there had been more capable scorers surrounding Teague? It seems like out of the guys he's most often compared against, he was the only one who was in the unique position of playing alongside a veteran PG. - Ish averaged 3.4 apg. - On VCU Joey Rodriguez was #2 in assists with 2.5 pg - no idea if he played any at the 1. - Ellington and Green avergaed 2.7 apg each, but neither played any time at the 1. The only time Ty wasn't the pG was when a backup was letting him rest. - I guess Jrue was in a pretty similar situation to Teague, and they probably have similar doubts but are comforted by his height. Thoughts?

Diesel - I understand your point about Crawford being a starting level 2G and I don't disagree. My question is: do you like this move for us? Not the transaction (obviously a huge win for our front office), but the direction(s) it leads (or could lead) us in? I'm on the fence. Love the deal itself, not sure about what it means for us. Bibby (or a newly acquired or drafted PG) Crawford Johnson Smith (sometimes Marv perhaps) Horford ...with Marvin (or Childress), Zaza, Flip coming off the bench??? there's a TON of versatility there and it actually looks like a lineup where pieces fit. I want to like it.

Had we picked Shelden at #19, he may still be a backup big on our squad. I'm not sold on TH as an NBA player, but I believe he'll always have a spot in NBA rotations, and if he's on the bench , he's #6 or 7, not 8 or 9. At 19 I think he's a no-brainer. Prefer to go PG if we think a starter is available.

Awesome breakdown. I haven't considered Wayne at all up until now but it is an interesting thought to me. Did he really measure out at 6'5"??? I disgagree somewhat with this: "but it's clear that he is a catch-and-shoot player only" That was an area on the college level that he struggled with early, but by this season he really became a guy that could create his own shot and score in a variety of ways. Now the NBA level is obviously a brand new start, but I expect him to have at least some success with the ball in his hands making plays. He's a very good passer as well. Wayne has a good balance between having the mentality of a gunner, someone who wants the ball late, combined with the mentality of being team-oriented. I think growing up playing alongside Gerald Henderson made them both into rare combos of part alpha dogs and part role players. He's a silky smooth guy more than he is a power burst guy, and he can finish difficult shots. Out of highschool he was looked at as a guy that could run the point if necessary, but that was never fostered at Carolina. The more I think about it the more I would be excited about pairing him up with JJ in the backcourt.

Lawson didn't actually get a DUI. He blew below a .08 but since he was 20 at the time he may have received some kind of related charge. Regardless, he was by no means "drunk", which doesn't mean he didn't make a mistake, but I think it's an important detail. He did have his windows down and got a noise ordinace violation and a suspended license charge for having a suspended or revoked license or something. As a UNC fan, Ty is a good kid. The thing that scares me about him is that he seems to be less mature than a lot of guys who make as positive an impact on their team. By that I mean that he absolutely was the difference between UNC being good and UNC being champions. He was never an issue off the court (except for the isolated event above), and his on court play was incredible. While I believe his play/determination/will led us to a championship, I don't know if he's a natural leader. It really seemed to take him a long time to accept that role. So is the process complete and he's a leader forever? Or was it a temporary stretch for him during this season. Other thing that scares me is when he was injured last year he came back so tentative that it seemed like he was trying to preserve his health for his pro career. What we didn't know was whether he was holding back, or if it was 100% the injury holding him back? I want to believe in him because of how amazing he was this season (and I don't think I'm exagerating), and how much he improved along the way. But I have a sliver of doubt that makes me uneasy. I think he's more than a great kid, just not sure if he is teh ideal PG leader for the long term. Felton was such a warrior and I have no doubt about his intangibles. If you combined Felton's heart and leadership with Lawson's game, quicks (yes, he's quicker than Felton) and strength, and add another inch or two, you'd have a perfect PG. All that said, at 19, he's a given.

I haven't been posting much lately but I'm still lurking, and it seems to me like most of the criticism on going to a more moderated forum is based on what the poster anticipates will happen rather than on anything that has actually happened. It seems like some posters are basing their opinions on experiences at other sites. I think it would be good to wait for something negative to happen before you start complaining about changes. This forum has always been WIDE A$$ OPEN. In many ways that's what makes it great, but when the insults and the vitriol get out of hand, there's never been something to rein it in. In my opinion that has been the only thing holding it back from becoming a great forum. With a little accountability and order, I think the quality of posts and poster will only improve. If ANY poster thinks this is about to become a heavily policed site they're being delusional. Chillz is clearly hands off. He allows us to use this site at his cost and never comes around like he owns the place (which he does!). He never lets ego get involved, when I'm certain that most forum owner/administrators would. Dolfan has always seemed very much like a regular guy too, donating his time and expertise so that we can all benefit. He is more likely to get into it with another poster, but I've never seen him abuse his administrative duties. And if he did, after he cooled off I'd be shocked if he didn't admit he was wrong and then do what's necessary to right his wrong. These aren't guys looking for a power trip, if they were, it would be obvious by now. I've always thought they were suprisingly reluctant to be more controlling based on what I've seen from mods/administrators at other sites. And as for the new moderators I think the three guys who were picked have clearly proven in the past to be level headed and able to remain above the fray 99% of the time. That's whey they were voted for. Give them a chance. I think everyone needs to be patient. The mods will almost certainly make mistakes and people will be treated unfairly a few times. Allow the mods to make up for that when/if they do. Eventually they'll have a better understanding of their new roles as moderators and if they suck at it, I bet they'll be removed. My guess is that they handle it pretty darn well. Thanks for all the time, money and effort you guys contribute.

One thing I think would hurt Marv in a 3pt contest is how high he jumps when he shoots from long distance. Joe and Bibby don't put as much into the jump part of the jump shot. marv would wear himself out quickly. I don't think he should NEED to jump as much as he does with his height, but right now that's the only shot I've seen from him. If Joe got hot in one of those contests it would be lights out.

Ice cold shots by JJ and MW. Not so bad from Flip from the line to finish it off. Huge for Marv's confidence to hit 3's like these at the end of big games. Nothing but business as usual for JJ of course.

As good as we've looked, I'm having trouble imagining true disappointment in any stretch of games that "only" ends in 67% wins. And .500 really won't bother me much at this stage. Hell, if we "only" win half our games going forward and end up with 44 wins I'll look at it as a successful season. 44-38 would have been good enough for a 5 seed in the east last year. I have my hopes up, but don't want to get my expectations our of whack.

I would define Dolfan as cautiously optimistic, not fickle, and I think I'm in the same boat that he's in. Peoria's reading too much into two quotes that were made in different conversations in different context. It's still VERY early. The Hawks look nothing short of awesome so far, but it's VERY early. If we have two horrible games in a row it will change how I feel about the progress of the team. With such a small sample size, every game is a big factor in how we perceive the team. So if the team is consistent, our opinions are likely to be consistent. If the team isn't, then expectations may bounce around with some volatility. Personally, I won't completely rule out the possibility of this team contending for a championship, but I don't expect that by any means and certainly won't be disappointed AT ALL if we end up somewhere in the 4-6 range of the East seeds. That would be fantastic! Some fans seem fully convinced tat we're already "there". Personally, I don't believe we're "there", but for the first time in the last decade I'm convinced we're truly on our way. Until we show that we will focus and compete for a SUSTAINED period of time, I'm not gonna assume that we're a contender. 7 games shows a really good indication of where we are and to me it does prove that we're gotten a lot better. But I need 15-20 games of this level of play to be convinced we're a top tier team. Until that happens, I may seem fickle, but it's just a result of a small sample size in my opinion. At the beginning of the year I expected 40-44 wins. A few games in I starting thinking .500 is the minimum, or it's a really disappointing year. Now I'm thionk under 45 wins would be disappointing, and 50 is possible. If we lose 4 straight, thatw ill probably adjust back to .500 expectations.

Overall a good defensive game. Many of Durant's points came on shots that are impossible to defend. No one on their team shot for better than 50% other than Wilcox and Swift - both at 1-1. We also forced a lot of turnovers with pressure and Horford's 5 blocks are the epitome of "stepping up" in Smith's absence. We were just inconsistent. During a few stretches we lost focus and looked horrible on D. But we had enough stretches of excellent D to make up for it. Itw ill take time to adjust to life w/o Smith on defense, and in the end it will likely make this team much better all around. Flip was enormous, JJ looks as good as at any time he's been a Hawk, Horford is my favorite Hawk in years and makes an enormous impact even when shooting poorly and only taking 6 shots. And Marvin was very solid. He's looking aggressive on O, on the boards, and very good on D. He (and the rest of the team) had several shots rim out that would have made for a very different game had they dropped in. What were his 3 TOs? One was a crossover on the left wing that must have been a carry but looked clean to me on the replay. He had a feet shuffling one closer to the top of the key I think that was the right call. Can't remember the 3rd. Good news - they were the results of being aggressive and forcing the issue. Bad news - his dribble drive still needs some polish. He flat out when STRONG to the hole a few times, which is definitely new/refreshing. Not nut hugging, just discussing my (now) second favorite Hawk.

This is the way it's always been since I first logged in. If you post something along the lines of "Player X played well tonight" when the guy had a just decent game, then you get internet crucified for nut hugging and having low expectations. If you say that when he had a great game, you get internet crucified for only speaking up on the blue moon he has a great game. But if you bash the players Y and Z who didn't play so well, you get resounding support from the masses. This goes for every player not named Joe Johnson. It's a very negative, argumentative board. It ain't gonna change. Even if we start winning for real, it ain't gonna change. We won't ever be good enough (even after a title) for the toxic nature of this crew to turn positive.

This is one of the more ridiculous "headline stories" I've ever seen. I'd love more stories like this, maybe is someone mentions that the ac was turned on too high in an arena, or that the Bobcats have rough towels in the locker room. Or maybe one of the players can't stand the in flight movie selection across the continent. Silly attempt at getting readers to be drawn to "something".

It's called respect. They've earned it, over and over and over again. Our franchise keeps giving people reasons to NOT respect it.

To quote the dude from Lenox financial, its the biggest no brainer in the history of earth. Another point: Long 2s are just as dangerous as 3s are in creating transition opportunities for the opposing team. So go ahead and make it worth it by taking the one that gets you 150% of the points in return that the other does if you make the shot.