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i would agree that solomon will be sent down for playing time. while salim has not played much so far, i did notice that woody put him in for the last play in regulation against cleveland, definitely a crucial spot. shows to me woody has confidence in him. im glad to see boze and fridge getting the minutes, but id like to see esteban and royal and salim get a little exposure to see what they learned over the summer.

maybe it is a coincidence that the defense has just happened to come together now. but i like the addition of these two guys. the defense in the old days started with mookie. this is the first time since he left that we seem to be able to bother the other teams' point guard, and take them out of their set. shelden knows what he's doing. it will take him a while to learn a new league, with the best players in the world. but he knows his footwork, and how to keep position. and he's strong enough to do it. he knows how to give help in the lane without losing track of his own man. these smarts are going to help josh smith, if he's watching. the energy and intensisty of these two guys has got to be helping the coaching staff get the message through. when some are working their butts off, its contagious, just like the opposite was last year. when and if claxton develops a midrange jumper, we will have mookie back. the guy can already finish in the lane. i like it.

ok that makes some sense. as much as they valued that pick when the time came to draft, it makes you think the deal for joe surely didnt depend on including it. we sure could have used it - they didnt need it.

where we were when phoenix sold its first round pick, with rondo still on the board? that kid would be nice to have around, especially if speedy gets hurt (again). did we not have the available cash? were we asleep?

the only problem with this thing dragging out is that it gives something mildly interesting to hang on the edge of our seats about. usually, this time of year, we would be relegated to debating the minutes that each guy will get, at which position, and voting in the definitive poll on how many wins next year. not to mention whether shelden's standing reach trumps his wingspan, and whether solomon jones will get any pt in the big league. instead, we are prevented from commencing all that excitement because we are holding our breath over whether donnie will agree to our deal, which of course he will. (maybe he can trim 500K off the cash we get). he wants al, and al wants him. we are being reasonable with them. they'll agree to our deal, but there is absolutely no hurry to anybody concerned. there is nothing else going on, and they already know pretty much what is going to happen.

ill predict that the hawks will rejoin the playoffs before the braves do.

quote: while I agree that they are enthusiastic they do not appear to be the sharpest group of executives out there. lol. if they somehow can pull out of the legal mess they made, all they will have to do is sign the checks. wont require a lot of careful thought. billy is doing the thinking for them, and seems to be handling things pretty well for the time being.

yeah. right now. id like to see a banner in philips. maybe kg, but maybe not. maybe yao. i think howard is going to be quite a player. i would dearly love to have him. i think he will learn to shoot.

im not really clever enough to insinuate stuff. but they did let all those guys go to teams that were willing to pay them. my point is that i have a lot more confidence in the "remaining" members of the atl spirit, if they can end up with the team, to build a winning franchise in the right way, than i do in the corporation that presently owns the atlanta braves.

i dont agree with you. no need to get in a braves argument here tho. suffice it to mention maddox, glavine, millwood, furcal, jd drew, farnsworth, jaret wright, sheffield. not just andruw. the owner will not spend to keep its good players. not in the last 4 years or so. that team is crashing and will burn.

right now i would take timmy

it has been said on this forum that the hawks are in shabby shape compared to the two other franchises in atl - the braves and the falcons. but the hawks are actually in better shape than the braves. the hawks are on the rise, and are actually one court decision away from a good ownership situation, with enthusiastic, fan-friendly owners apparently willing to spend money to field a good team, and the patience to bring it about in the right way. the braves, on the other hand, are owned by a senseless corporation operating on the cheap, content to piss off its star players by shopping them on the sly. that team is in a free fall, and has a long way to go before it hits bottom. one little nod from the court of appeals in maryland, however, or possibly another assist from the commish, and the hawks look like they are in good hands. maybe in need of a fresh legal team...

that is true. but it doesnt have to be a superstar. dallas came real close to the trophy last year with damp and diop.

i dont see anything wrong with the name, but it dont fit joe johnson (wheres the grammar guys when you really need them?) jojo white was a darn good player, quick as hell, a heck of a shooter. he has all my respect. but that name is for a small, quick water bug. doesnt fit joe johnson. for him, whats wrong with just calling him "joe"?

interesting that arn has put the muzzle on al (changing the cell number). al DEFINITELY didnt help the process by blurting that the hawks werent interested in re-signing him. of course arn himself is the apparent source of the pre-draft info that we were locked in on shelden. im sure billy let him hear about that, and mebbe he learned billy likes to deal hush-hush. much better way to deal.