thesheedera

I wanted to see all 4 suspended for the simple fact that they's lose 2 starters including their best player. But part od me is relieved as we would have been EXTREMELY thin without Marvin and Zaza. Say what you will about Marvin's lack of offense in this series, the very fact that we have 2 SFs capable of starting is what gives our team some quality depth. At no other position is our backup even close to our starter, and in this series our backup has clearly been more effective. And Zaza's not hurting us, which is a huge change. Without them we'd have: Bibby vs. Rondo Johnson vs. R. Allen Childress vs. Pierce Smith vs. Powe Horford vs. Davis (Though Posey may replace Powe at PF with Powe playing C) Then on the bench we'd have Law, Salim, Mario and Solomon. None have played major minutes, none are very dependable at all. They'd still have Cassell, House, T. Allen, Posey (or Davis, maybe), and PJ Brown. They still have frontcourt depth, we have none. They still have more than one option at SF, we don't. The only positions we'd have some depth are in the backcourt, and while I'd take Bibby/Johnson over Rondo/Allen, their bench combo of Cassell/House/T. Allen is much stronger than Law/Salim/Mario.

http://www.legendofcecilioguante.com/

I'm one of the biggest Marvin fans on this board, but I have to admit that we played a LOT better without Marvin on the floor last night. In game 3 I thought he got his composure back and he made a very positive contribution to the game, helping us get the win. Last night he was more of a liability, he was forcing it too much, he looked like a very young, inexperienced guy. Please don't use this thread to trash the guy (and yes, I know how dumb it is to start a thread like this and expect people to be nice) as we very well may need him at some point in this series to help us stay competitive. Childress is no offensive wizard, but he provided exactly what we needed from the SF spot the last two agmes. He's getting more minutes, and I have to admit that I was much more comfortable with him on the floor. Props to Chill, and props to Woody for recognizing that Josh was giving us more of what we need, even if it meant sitting Marvin down for more bench time than he's had in a long time. Less than 25 minutes in back to back games - kind of shocking. Keep your head up Marv, we need you to stay determined and give us some good games!

I have to admit that I went to the game last night assuming I had already missed "it" because I couldn't go on Saturday. After the horrendous start to the game it was pretty much confirmed in my mind that we were in for some nasty payback. I was still proud of them for their performance Saturday, but I had no expectations that we'd pull it out. I was hoping we'd get back into the game for at least some portion of time. I was completely satisfied at the half that we had won the first quarter and held the lead through the second. Honestly we could have lost by 20 after that and I still would have felt proud, excited, and that my money had been spent well. That was the most fun I've ever had at a professional sporting event. This is a GREAT sports town when we have something to be proud of and excited about. I just want to slap people right now. Just want to slap all the critics across the country that have talked enormous amounts of sh*t about our fans for so long. The "lowly" f-ing Hawks!!! Incredible.

Quote: Point Blank. The Celtics will throw a haymaker at the Hawks today. It's coming. Bibby is our most playoff tested player. As the on court leader, we need for him to have a good shooting night. If you can't do that, you must be an effective distributor. We need for him to show up. If he can guide this team, we'll be in this game. His 9 assist in game 3 made a bigger difference than people are giving him credit for. He's due for a decent shooting night. He's gotta get hot at some point.

Quote: Sam Mitchell and or Mike D'antoni will be cut loose both coaches style would be perfect for this team Avery Johnson another great coach may be on his way out also D'antoni would be incredible. I just wonder if any high profile GM or Coach could get past our ownership situation.

Quote: There is also one today sponsored by 790am. On Phillips Drive. Probably the one I heard about. Anyone go on Saturday? Good time? Did they have food options?

I heard a rumor that there would be some kind of a block party tonight around the arena with traffic rerouted and open containers allowed? Is this legit, or complete bs?

Isn't Al also in the Nike family?

Quote: There's no way I see Horford winning this. If anything, Nike might even pay the NBA to dub Durant rookie of the year just so they can have some thing to talk about next year between Durant and Oden still. If anything, the NBA should be looking to market Horford and Oden instead of Durant and Oden. I don't think there's a conspiracy going on here. I think this playoff exposure will help catapult Al further into the limelight, and the shoe/apparel people are gonna be pushing him as hard as they can. They have nothing to gain by keeping him covered up, they only gain by hyping him up more and selling crap. He's a pretty marketable dude, he's very polished and presentable, and his show of emotion (not to mention gaudy numbers) in this series will absolutely continue to raise some eyebrows. One thing to do it on a stacked NCAA team, another thing to do it on an underdog NBA team facing a bohemoth opponent. He's gonna be a big NBA star, no doubt about it.

Quote: Quote: Quote: "I'M NOT SAYING THAT WE SHOULD GET HUGHES AND BLOUNT, but i think something along that line could make us a pretty good team that would look a lot like the Phoenix Suns teams from a year ago." 1st of all, you do know that Hughes and Blount don't play on the same team! Secondly if you are making the inconsistent argument against Marvin, Larry Hughes is the epitome of inconsistency plus he is injury prone with a huge contract! So your argument makes no sense! Yes I do know that Hughes and Blount are not on the same team, that's why I made sure to say...... "I'M NOT SAYING THAT WE SHOULD GET HUGHES AND BLOUNT....." The reason for the post wasn't to advocate the signing of Hughes and Blount, but to think about taking another route other than trying to find a starting Center when the pool of starting quality centers is so low. Could the Hawks get a backup center without trading Marvin......SURE!! That's not out of the realm of possiblity. But the truth of the matter is, if the Hawks are going to be able to bring in another player who is capable of being a game changer, one of our current players is going to have to be moved. Maybe your idea would have received a better reaction if you hadn't given a suggestion for which center we'd get, and then say, "I'm not saying we'd get him." If you offered up a suggestion that you think would be worth moving Marvin for, some discussion may get going on this. I'm all for trading Marvin, but a center the caliber of Blount ain't gonna do it for me either.

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Quote: Quote: He played excellent D last night. He got run over by Pierce on one play, but Pierce was completely out of control and dropped his shoulder, it was a weird play. He was below average in the first two games but had a good game last night. He didn't get any run in the 4th, but in the first 3 quarters had a very positive impact on the game. Why do you waste your time with a guy with Smith in his user name? There isn't a single guy on this board with Smith in his or her user name that will be objective about a Hawk player especially name Williams or Smith! Just posting what I saw. I just rewatched the game and actually found myself thinking "thank God Marvin's looking more focused tonight", then I come here and see this crap, and it's hilarious to me. All around good effort on d, kind of weak in the post on many possessions, but other than that it was good team defense, and good team offense.

Quote: I don't think Paul Pierce wants any part of Al Horford. He knows that Al isn't scared of him, but Marvin may be a different story. Marvin may become the new target of Paul Pierce and may focus on his suspect defensive skills and mild-mannered personality. Marvin has shown he looks lost out there and not really focused, and the Celtics may gear more of the 'gameplan' around exploiting Marvin's clumsiness as a defender and passivity on offense. Is Marvin able to give hard fouls on Pierce and STAY FOCUSED and still produce on the court, like Horford? Marvin can't be the 'weak link' out there for Game 4. He has to bring it as well. Horford's actions have escalated the situation in a good way, but his teammates GOT TO TAKE THE HORFORD CHALLENGE.. and plays mart, play hard and play together... He played excellent D last night. He got run over by Pierce on one play, but Pierce was completely out of control and dropped his shoulder, it was a weird play. He was below average in the first two games but had a good game last night. He didn't get any run in the 4th, but in the first 3 quarters had a very positive impact on the game.

Quote: This is an excerpt from the Boston Globe: The Hawks wanted to post the ball more, force double-teams, and kick out for threes. They did that. Horford made himself hard to move out of the post and when he got the ball and was met with a double-team he passed it out. The Hawks then skipped the ball around the perimeter and made 10 of 18 3-pointers. Woodson said before the game he wanted his team to share the ball more and make sure the first pass was not the last pass so they could get better shots. His team got the message. The Hawks had 28 assists on 36 baskets. In the first two games of the series combined, Atlanta had just 26 assists. "He felt the first two games we were coming in and having one pass, then a shot, one pass, a shot, and we weren't really sharing the ball," Horford said. "That extra pass made the difference tonight." Not sure if "Play Smart, Play Hard, Play Together" originated with Dean Smith or not, but it was the underlying philisophy of his entire coaching career, and all his disciples have passed it along to their players fellow coaches. Great book on leadership: http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/sports/m-baskb.../012704aad.html "Our basketball program at North Carolina certainly had a strong philosophy and mission, which produced extraordinary results over a long period of time, thanks to the terrific players and people we attracted to our program. We believed in following a process instead of dwelling on winning or worrying about consequences. We asked our players to concern themselves only with things within their control, so our mission statement was: Play hard; play smart; play together. We knew if we did those things, we would be successful a large percentage of the time. We wanted the players' focus and attention and tried to help them avoid distractions. In addition to winning hundreds of games, our players graduated and went on to great careers, and while at Chapel Hill they proved to me, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that when talented individuals sacrifice for the team, everybody wins."

Quote: I thought he played hard, smart and well in both games. Actually, I thought both he and Smoove were very good in both games. That is some impressive stuff from a 21 yr old and a 22 yr old. Seems like there's been a correlation between the team's good stretches and Marvin's good stretches. I wonder if Marvin plays better when the team plays better, or if the team plays better because Marvin's playing better. Probably some of both. Either way, it's a lot more fun to watch when we're winning games and he's giving us what we need.

Quote: Just a a clarification, Tayshaun Prince got a total of 50 minutes playing time in the combined months of October, December, January and then followed that with a total of 79 minutes in February. He did not play right away for Brown. In fact, he came on huge for Detroit in the playoffs which is why some people remember it differently. Overall, he played 435 minutes over 82 regular season games his rookie year and 382 minutes over 15 playoff games. He then played 2700+ minutes every regular season for the next four years. I didn't know he played so little as a rook, but he was a huge part of their core from his second year on, and he was still a young guy. Larry would require that every player (JJ and Bibby would probably get passes) prove himself all over again starting from scratch. The only guy I see that this could cause a problem for is Acie if he couldn't produce at the level Brown would expect.

Quote: I don't want him. He is the one who taught Woody to shaft younger players. I'd rather have Jeff Van Gundy. Is the "young player" issue really accurate? Tayshaun was played immediately, and developed into a huge part of a championship team as a young player under his watch. Nate Robinson and David Lee got tons of PT as very young guys while vets like Marbury and Francis got extended bench time for the first time in their careers. When he got the job in Detroit he was considered by NBA GMs as the BEST coach when it comes to developing young players. http://www.nba.com/preview2003/gm_survey_031013.html I think this characterization started with Darko, who clearly wasn't the talent everyone thought he was, or he had too fragile a psyche to survive in the NBA. I might rather have JVG, but I just wanted to touch on this part of the LB debate because it is so important to our team. Here's my hypothesis: Larry Brown likes any player that will run through a brick wall for him and do exactly as he says. Usually good character vets are more coachable than young or veteran renegades, or than immarture young players. Guys like Childress, Horford, Marvin, Johnson and Acie all strike me as guys who are extremely coachable. Guys that Larry would love. I don't know enough about Bibby yet to know, but being a coach's son and a guy generally perceived as a good guy, I think he and Brown would love each other also. Smith's the wildcard. He has an image of being a malcontent, but I think it's WAY overblown. No way he's more complicated for a coach than Iverson or Sheed. Sheed had the UNC connection with LB, but I think the real reason he and AI had such great seasons under Brown is that they were above all else extremely competitive guys that play with fire. Josh Smith has that in him I think, and LB could be the guy to tap into it and harness him into a truly great player. I think it could work, I just wish LB was 10 years younger.

Quote: Quote: "You never know what that dude is going to do, and that's what makes him so good," Williams said. " Seriously, he has supreme confidence in himself. And if you tell him he can't do something, he'll prove you wrong." Smith can't hit a 3 smith can't hit a 3 Ok now I expect 2 made 3's vs. the 76ers too ! Hope it works. Seriously though. He is a freak of nature. He has the ability to be a top 20 player no doubt and eventually a top 10 player if ever gets a more consistent perimeter game. He was playing some good position defense vs. one of the best PF in basketball last night. I really don't mind Smith taking 3's from the corner. Those are like 2 feet closer in then 3's from the top of the circle or from the angular wings. Those corner 3's are what Bruce Bowen and many other players live on. Bibby's game tying 3 was from the corner too. Of course Bibby and JJ have the range to shoot from damn near half court but Smith just does not have that extended range yet. . I've never had a problem with Josh (or anyone) taking 3's with a shot or game clock about to expire. He is clutch in those situations. I would prefer JJ or Bibby to take them, but Josh would be my third (or fourth if Salim counts) choice.

Y'all are crazy if you think Stern will go against his own officials in an effort to keep the hawks down. First of all, there is no conspiracy against the hawks, especially one that would be in favor of the raptors (china is the growth market, not canada). And second, even if there were, Stern's more loyal to his officials than he is to any other group. His #1 priority is the public perception of his organization, and the refs are a direct extension of his office. He'll protect them to no end.

Quote: Quote: That is my entire point. He gets so little PT now that they haven't seen him enough in order to snap a Getty picture to put on the website in a month.....to which I conclude he really really sux. Considering there are only 450 players in the whole NBA, anyone on a team doesn't "suck". Who would you rather be....Sheldon Williams, playing basketball for $3 1/2 million a year or "Johnny Bravo". Obviously the context JB was using was sucking compared to other NBA players. He has a point. If Shelden were a great player his bio would have been updated immediately. Because Shelden's so far under the radar (due to his sucking, presumeably) no one involved in the website at NBA.com thinks it's a priority to update his picture. If here were pulling down double doubles every night you can bet your bottom dollar his picture would be updated.

The results are really no different than Woody's rotation. I guess that's at least one thing he's doing right.

Quote: if the offense dictates that you hang around the perimeter, and you have a wide open shot at the 3point line, what are you going to do, not shoot YES!!! If you're bad at something and doing it hurts your team, you should NOT DO IT when the opportunity arrives. Come on JB, you're not dense. Pass the ball and make a cut or set a screen.

Quote: You only believe that that is what we are arguing if you can't read. My only argument is that we complain too much on this board about Smoove's 3 pt attempts. That is his one of his smallest flaws...what is more important is why he cant take more than 3 dribbles without fumbling the ball. Actually it is important. When your power forward (one of your 2 main sources of rebounds) is throwing up a 3 he won't make you have two problems - 1) a poor shot was selected with a small chance of success and 2) one of your primary rebounders is out of position to fight for a rebound. It may help a little that so many of his threes brick all the way back to the perimeter, but if it doesn't bounce to him it likely starts a fast break. Josh would be a GREAT player RIGHT NOW if he stopped taking long jumpers and spent all of his time in the post where he's most effective.

Quote: Actually Wade's game is more of an attacking style. But the point is that he takes a similar amount of 3's and has an even worse percentage. But no one would [censored] and moan about Wade shooting 3's as we do about Josh Smith. Josh Smith takes 3's pretty much only when he is open. It isn't like he crosses half court and then chucks up a shot. Did you even read my post? Smith and Wade don't shoot a smiliar amount of threes when compared to the time they're on the court. Smith shoots 3's almost twice as frequently. And Wade is an attacker BECAUSE he knows he's not a shooter. He doesn't settle for long jumpshots.