thecampster

Mike, Darn good post. You're starting to write a ton better and comparison, informed opinions and effort will get you a bunch of respect....These type of posts will get you there. On the respect train, I think Nov 12th is when that boat docks. The Hawks start the season as follows: Oct 30 Wed @ New Jersey - Probably a loss.. (no way the nba let's last years EC champs lose on opening night.) 31 Thu Utah (Winable) Nov 2 Sat Chicago (Winable) 5 Tue @ Denver (Winable) 6 Wed @ Phoenix (Winable) 8 Fri @ Utah (Winable) 10 Sun @ Sacramento - Probably a loss. 12 Tue @ L.A. Lakers - and here's the respect game. We will probably go into the L.A. game 4-3 or 5-2. But have a winning record. Theo will have issues guarding Shaq and I could see the big fella going for 30 plus except for game flow. The Hawks start 3 players that require Double team rotations. (Terry, Robinson and SAR...potentially Glover). None of these 3 are guarded primarily by Kobe and Shaq, meaning the defensive doubleteam assignments will fall to them (or risk letting these 3 play one on one). Teams that go stong at the 5 or 2 get taken apart by the lakers...but teams strong at the 1,3 or 4 give them fits....When Kidd was in Phoenix they would compete nightly against Phil's boys. Making the lakers play shifting Defense takes the wind out of their 2 big boys sails and makes them beatable...If we get the win or at least play to within 5 points on Nov.12, the national accolades will start.

Speaking of Uniforms, I'm not sure if it's league policy that coaches where Jacket and Tie, but I really liked the Hawks golf shirts in the Coaches photo. I think it'd be tight and a true show of team unity if the coaching staff dressed like that for games. Red for away and white at home. Shirt and tie doesn't belong on the basketball court...I should write this up at "ask the gm"...coaches showing hawks pride would be cool and send a message to the nba about team unity.

STop it....With that frontline of SAR, Robinson and Ratliff, I'd take Mookie as the backup PG. Mookie was a good distributor who was asked to shoot too much. Henderson/Laettner and Mutombo didn't scare anyone down low on the offensive end and that required Smitty and Mookie to put up too many shots with too many hands in their collective faces. But Mookie as a Backup...better than Hardaway and better than most of the backups in the league. He was and still is an excellent PG defender and can get the ball inside as well as most midlevel PG starters. Would I want him as the starter over JT? Hell no! But IF Hardaway was as good as Mookie right now, I'd take him as a backup. Point being, Hardaway is a solid backup PG now too. He'd be an upgrade over Email if all we're looking for is a guy to run the offense. Now all that said, this board really seems to be discounting Dan Dickau. I am extremely interested to see how the rook does in the preseason. WHY? Because I saw something in the summer league I really liked. Summer league told us alot. Outside of Demarr and Dion, Dickau was playing with mainly scrubs to pass too. Mainly retreads that won't make rosters in the fall. But when he handled the rock, the other players moved without the ball. Most of the assists Dan got were because of players trailing and moving to the right spots to receive those passes. This tells me something about Dickau...players on the floor trust him and Dickau runs his sets to create space..space enough for the other players to function. But even this wasn't what I saw that impressed me. It was the soft catchable passes. Just like Mike Vick needs to learn to throw catchable balls to receivers, a point guard has to deliver catchable passes to allow for momentum to the basket. The players Dickau passed to were catching the ball in stride and none were bricking off their hands...You can't teach that fellas....You can't teach making passes that make scrubs look good. Is he a better option than JT...not at all, but he might be the best peson in the world to push JT. To make JT become that true point the team needs...Dickau makes better passes and if JT is any kind of a competitor, there's no way he'll let the rook be better than him at any facit of the game....especially the one so important to the point guard position.

Who's LA's third option? Thought so....a committee. Defense is not any one player but chemistry....playing on the floor together over time and trusting the other guy to watch your back. But let's not be silly. Ratliff/Nazr at Center is one hell of alot better than Nazr/anyone we trotted out last year (leon/hanno/Cal). Defensively the swap is this Ratliff for Nazr 30 minutes a game. Nazr for Hanno 18 minutes a game. That is a serious upgrade allowing defeders to go after the ball in the front court more often and cheat to the passing lanes a couple of times a game. Also, we also trade a healthy Henderson for Hanno or Strickland 15 minutes a game at the backup power forward spot. Though over paid, I'd take Hendu defensively over Hanno....he just has more defensive court sense and rebounds better. Defense isn't just blocked shots and steals but denying the entry pass and denying the offensive rebound to the opposition...stopping the fast break and not letting the other guy behind you. A healthy hendu is a vast improvement over Hanno as is Ratliff. IF those two play 65 healthy games a piece this year, I'd say it's worth 5 points on the defensive end and 3 on the offensive end in transition or 15 wins. That doesn't count GROB's offense. Which brings me to my next point. GDAwg on the floor creates space to operate on the offensive end which means better looks, a higher shooting percentage and less defensive possessions defending the transition game...GDawg helping the offense is paramount to our defense...Making the other team work defensively allways slows them on the offensive end.

Diesel, Did you even read the rest of my post. There is no such thing in the NBA as "A true Point guard" anymore. Never again will you see the 4 points/12 assist a game player in the NBA. They don't exist. Here's why. The NBA athlete is bigger than he was 15 years ago, faster, stronger. Limited Zones are allowed. Offensive and Defensive encampment in the lane isn't. Scoring isn't what it was 15 years ago. The league is not run and gun. Tons of half court sets. Point guard no longer push and pass in transition, but instead walk it up and create in the half court. This requires a different kind of athlete. One that is a threat off the dribble. John Stockton might have been the first of this kind. He could dribble and create space and then pull up to shoot. This caused the defenders to draw in to his body and allowed Stockton to use one move to create space and a passing lane to the basket. Defenses would have to draw to him to keep him from popping the short J and this created space. During the last 15 games or so JT started to do this. Instead of taking everything to the front of the rim and getting in too deep amongst the trees he would create space with that great quick first step and then get in position to pull up to shoot. This would draw a defender and he would pass to the open man. This is why the assist numbers went up over the last 15 games and no other reason. He learned the spacing of the game. The best at this today is Andre Miller. Miller works the area around 15 feet better than any other point in the game and JT was feeling that at the end of the season. Now even though JT hasn't proven this to you yet, what you must understand is that it takes a very special athlete to be able to do this. To even try to learn it. Because JT is one of a few that not only have the handles to drive and dish but the quicks to create space and the shooting eye and talent to draw other defenders you give him the money. I'd go the full 7 at about 7.5 million/year. Say first Year at 6 mil and the last year at 9 million with the salary going up a half mil a year. The only scenario where a prolific athlete is not necessary at the point with the scenario the Bulls were in in the 90's. The had 2 men at the 2 and 3 that could handle anyone off the dribble in MJ and Scotty. In that scenario the point didn't have to create the space as much as MJ and Pippin could do it on their own...Few NBA teams are so lucky. Kobe and Shaq make their own points look real good...These kind of Offensive weapons we don't have. We don't have Reggie Miller which is why Jamal Tinsley would have struggle here last year. We don't have Robinson and Duncan which is why Tony Parker would have struggled. One on One I take JT over either of those guys every time....EVERY TIME. Try to tell me that will Reggie Miller at the SG and Jalen Rose at the Small Forward, and JT couldn't have averaged 9 assists a game. Get off JT...wait till we're 10 games into the season before hatin the guy. At least watch the preseason.

As a pg no better than Brevin Knight...you've got to be kidding Me. The argument that pg don't have to score is ludacris. This isn't the old NBA. Quality Points either need to score or need a prolific 2 guard to off set it. The days of run and gun with 4 scorers on the floor are gone. The half court set is now the main stay of today's game. In order for a point to be productive he has to not only be the creator but also a threat with the ball in his hand. JT put's up 18-20 a game and changes the way the defense approaches the Hawks...No disrespect intended Diesel but JT will silence the critics this season. Now where is the 6-8 million minimum gonna come from to sign JT...Expect Henderson and possibly Crawford gone by midseason...traded to a title contender needing added depth. All the Hawks promissed to do this year was make the playoffs...they didn't say they'd make noise when there...our real year we're gunning for is next season. JT will be signed and we will most likely sign and trade for one of next year's big names....

sorry guys, just keeping this at the top for a day or two...just ignore

If you guys still frequent the board, we need you to visit the Yahoo "Hawksquawk Fantasy Football League". We need you to play your roster or let us know you plan not to play...also, Dickau's Dominator's needs to change his settings to let the commish edit his team if he isn't going to play Guys, we're gonna try to run this for a couple of days till these two show up...Please don't rain on anyone who bumps this back to the top....We need these guys to show up. Their lack of presence is hurting the league...

hatldude....if you're not excited about having Reef than go be a grizz fan....really...it's getting annoying.

First of all, thanks to the 10 total Hawksquawkers that met the challenge of doing this fairly. It's the hardest thing as fans to do. To do something fairly without knowing why when you're favorite team, or in this case usually "teams" are involved. Alright. there are 15 teams in the Eastern conference. That's 14 teams at 5 positions for the Hawks to match up against. The Hawksquawkers see this matchup as: 48-17-5. You guys believe we win 48 out of 70 matchups...are equal in 5 and lose 17. You believe our bench wins 10 and loses 4 matchups. You don't believe in our coach who I said wins 1 matchup and no one else saw one he won. overall we're 57-34-7 out of 98. If these numbers played directly into wins over an 82 game season and we split the ties 50-50 that's 51-31 or good enough for the central division lead (by one game) and the 2nd seed in the playoffs. We rated our players against the league as such. JT - 3rd best PG overall DJ - tied for 11th best SG overall GR - tied for 2nd best SF overall SAR - 1st overall (hereby ending the "best power forward in the east arguement I hope). Ratliff - 5th best center in the east. Bench - 5th best. Coach - tied for 13th. So as Hawks fans, we believe our only weakness is our coach and the youth/play of our shooting guard. So based on these posts and stats, I'd say we have the 2nd best chance to win the East. If anyone has any desire to finish this by comparing the West I'll do so too. Just post your impression of that west coast team. Utah and Portland have been done.

the results. Washington - unfortunately this is one of my lesser knowledge teams but I'll give it a shot. I'm using a couple of games in April and a little knowledge here to explain. Whitney vs. JT. JT adv hawks Alexander vs. Johnson. even Defensively plays him to a standstill. Hamilton vs. Gdawg. Gdawg adv. Hawks Laettner .vs SAR. SAR adv Hawks White .VS Ratliff. Ratliff adv Hawks Bench Lue, Simmons, Thomas, Haywood, Brown, Jordan, Nesby. Any bench with Jordan on it is a win...adv Wizards. Coach - Collins .vs Lon.....though I hate Doug, he gets the edge till Lonnie proves himself. 4-2-1 Hawks .vs Cleveland Wagner/Bimbo .vs JT. adv JT Davis .vs Demarr. even, Davis isn't better. Miles .vs Gdawg. adv GROB...The kid is good but only developing still. Hill .vs SAR. adv SAR. Ilgauskas .vs Ratliff. Given both will miss 75 games due to hang nails and water in the ear it's Mihm .vs Mohammed...we still win. adv hawks. Bench - slight adv hawks. The cavs starting five sucks but at least they don't get worse in the next five and they can shoot. Full of workmen like Murray, Boozer, Person and such. Coach - Lucas .vs Kruger....Holy Crept, Lon wins one....Lucas has never been a consistent winner anywhere...only a couple of good but not great seasons in college and he doesn't get anything out of the little talent he has. 6-0-1 shortly to follow the totals and what it all means.

3 more guys...Detroit, Cleveland, Washington. I'll do the last of the group when done.

Almost there guys.....Let's get the last 5 done...if you've done one and you're familiar with one of the last 5 go ahead and do one more.....I'm spreading it out to avoid individual bias...I'm doing something with this I swear. Still need from the East Indiana, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland Washington. From the west we have the Jazz and Blazers, but I wanna wait before doing the west.

I'm gonna do something with this, I swear. Still need from the East Indiana, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Toronto Boston, New Jersey, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia and Washington. If you wanna do the west o.k. but do an east too so we can compare the results in conference.

We all agree it's the dead season. So for all of us this constant trade JT, Screw DD, let's ride Ira's jock talk is redundant. So here's my challenge. Let's logically and without bias compare the Hawks individually to each team in the league. Each squawker take a team you're rather familiar with and break them down against our Hawks. I grew up in Chi-town so I'll take the bulls (plus it's easy to homer there). In your subsequent messages, just list the team in the subject and try to follow my format. PG - Williams .vs Terry ADV Terry. Williams is raw and developing. Still has something to prove in the NBA. Minor advantage Terry. SG - Rose .vs Johson or Glover. ADV Rose. Johnson is probably my favorite player on the hawks, but I'm not blind. SF - Eddie or Marshall .vs Glenn. ADV GRob. could be a different SF here instead of Eddie Robinson like Donyell but it doesn't matter. There's only 5 or 6 small forwards even in GDawg's League. PF - Chandler .vs Sar. ADV SAR. One day, Chandler might be one of the best big men in the league...not this year. C - Curry .vs Ratliff. ADV Hawks. Very similar production wise. Bigger upside and bigger body with Curry but Ratliff is a better defender now. Minor Advantage Hawks. Bench - I'd typically list them, but Chicago's bench is suspect...ATL - DD, Glover, IRA/CC, Hendu and Nazr. No group coming from their bench matches that. Coaching - I like Lon. He gets alot out of his players and isn't afraid to make a change. He's not intimidated by the high priced athelete, but I prefer Cartwright. He's been in the trenches as a warrior. Stars sells tickets, warriors win games. He's got a fantastic basketball mind. I do like our assistants better. Hawks win 5-2. Given this number, I say we have a 5 in 7 chance of beating them on any given night. NOW, Who's next. What other team do you know and could compare the Hawks to?

You guys are killing me with the IRa talk. In 30 minutes a game, IRA gave up 8 points and 5 rebounds on an injury depleted team. In only 18 minutes a game, Chris gave us 7.6 points and 3.6 rebounds. Chris Crawford dang near gave us more, playing SF in less 40% less time. He's a better passer and we're already set at the Shooting Guard. We have DD, JT, Email, Dion and DJ to play the 1-2. We don't need another SG which is what IRA is. AS a small Forward, a healthy Crawford is a better defender...yes better and far superior offensive player. Chris can take it to the rack and shoot. Chris is not only the backup, but IF I told you we would get a 15 - 18 minutes backup this year who would give up 8 points and 4 boards at the small forward spot, most of you would be o.k. with that. Secondly, Ira would not beat out Johnson or Glover for the 2. Glover is too strong and Johnson too tall. Both cause matchup problems for opposing shooting guards on the offensive end. Our whole goal as an offensive squad this year is to make defenses pick their poison. Double JT or GRob and leave a capable player in Johnson or Glover alone to cut to the basket. Double SAR and leave either GRob or Theo alone. Putting Ira on the floor on the offensive end stagnates our offense. Some on this board tried to blame the lower scoring in the second half on Terry...not true. Having Ira on the floor gave opposing defenses room to double and rotate. Ira may be able to front 6-5 guards as well as anyone but his game is incomplete and his presence isn't needed....We need another big body to throw in for fouls and clog up the middle and that's it. We have 4 players on the roster right now who can play the 3. GRob, DJ, Dion, CC. We have 2 glorified PF's playing the Center in Ratliff and Mohammed. A banger to take the steam out of the big boys in small spurts would be golden. That's Ewing, Christopherson...Hell Conkak would do...Just another big body off the bench for fouls....I'd take Bowdler back if he'd come...we don't have enough size on the roster to compete with the west but we have enough of everything else to win the east.

In a recent Shareef argument between Hotlanta and Diesel I sided heavily with Diesel...but here again I go confusing everyone. Hotlanta is dead on here and Diesel has issues. O.k. the boy can pass but the NBA is about spacing. dribbling to a spot with space to create lanes to pass and drive. If there was ever a way to break down basketball, this is it. Penetrate, create space, shoot or pass. 5 Players doing it at once with the most important of the 5 being the point guard. Pure Basketball at it's best is just that. 5 people creating a little space in the passing, driving lanes by moving their bodies and getting to a spot on the floor first. That's it. Now how do you do this. Athleticism. Terry has it, Dickau doesn't. IF you could put Dickau's vision in Terry's body you'd be perfect. But to be an effective point guard in this league, you've got to be able to beat the opposing pg off the dribble. Dan can't or at least won't be able to for a while. There is a huge difference in the college game to the pros. The PGs are all quick...super quick and bigger. They take away space and lot's of it. Ask Scoonie Penn who was the man off the dribble in College. He was considered an excellent college point guard. But once he got to the NBA he was too short and too slow after the first move to create real space...that's why he's played in Europe and not the states. Dickau looked good in summer leagues, but in the milwaukee game, you may have noticed he couldn't shake the defensive minded backup point guard for Milwaukee. That will be the norm in the NBA. He isn't ready and won't be any time soon. He'll be a backup and a decent one at that...but never a real starter..Never. JT on the other hand can beat most NBA points off the dribble. Improved court vision will come. His scoring will go down a little (to about 15 -17 a game) as he passes more but his assist will eventually push 9-11 a game. The real beneficiary of this...Demarr Johnson. The point always draws the 2 in Double teams leaving Johnson open..alot. He'll also create tons of backside cuts for Demarr. You'll see SAR around 21-23 a game with Terry at the point. GRob at 19-20. Ratliff at 10-12 and Terry himself at 16 ish a game...but you'll see Demarr flourish at 12-14 a game and getting better as the season rolls on. This team is designed for success as is.

I guess I was wrong when I told him in the football league my 14 year old wanted to beat him up for all the trouble he created in there. By the looks of him I think my 9 year old could take him.

I firmly agree. Hell if you want to get crazy and if he gets his weight under control lineup like this JT Dog Reef Kemp Theo Bring DD, DG, DJ, Alan, Nazr off the bench. Try handling those 3 down low. That's a big freaking team and who'd handle Reef at the 3. Don't know if Glen Robinson could handle the 2 spot but it'd be fun finding out. It gives you CC and Email as bench warmer towel boys. Most teams would take that. Just ask Kemp to Rebound and put back. But now that I said I agree let's remember the 2 big concerns...his weight and a past drug problem. If either got in the way it'd kill team chemistry.

coach in me. I don't see Demarr spotting up as much as you all see it and frankly, I see the offense differently than most. Demarr will be our combo player. Yes he'll spot up, but he'll be being fed by the backdoor screen alot. The mid lane cut and be expected to drive baseline and rotate the ball out. DeMarr found the 3 so much from the wings last year because he was playing the SF. He was trying to draw the defending SF out of the play to free up the feed and drive lanes. GDawg now does this more effectively. I see Theo posting weakside, SAR posting strong side (Right). I see JT bringing the ball up and veering to the right of the circle. I see Glen on the right in the corner. DJ is high left. In this set, the best 3 defenders on the other squad are all right side (Guarding SAR, GDawg and JT). Further more, the opposing center is leaning to offer help. JT drifts right with a slow pg dribble. He looks like he's going to take the other pg to the rack drawing in the "D". DJ cuts to the middle of the lane and receives the pass. Either DJ takes it to the hole or the opposing center comes front to challenge. DJ then drops the pass to Ratliff for the easy Lay. This play works, because the player guarding DJ this year will be smaller...much smaller. It'll be the SG. The SF will have to guard Gdawg or he'll just shoot over every SG in the league. This gives DJ a tremendous size advantage should he post or cut. In the above play, should the "D" read it properly, the SF would have cheated center. Dj would stop short catching the cut pass around the charity strip and kick to the corner to GDawg who can shoot the jumper or dump in the post to Shareef or rotate back to JT. There are 4 players on this squad who can get to the front of the rim on their own (all but Theo). Although DJ seemed clumsy at times doing so last year, he was also drawing the SF with the longer arms defensively and being asked to drive not cut. This yields tons of freethrows a game and garbage baskets (extra shots per game). So I see the breakdown as such. Theo 12ppg, 5-10 FG, 2-3 FT. (10+2=12) Sar 20ppg, 8-17 FG, 4-5 FT. (16+4=20) GDawg 20ppg, 6-13 FG, 2-5 3pt, 2-3 FT. (12+6+2=20) DJ 13ppg, 3-7 FG, 2-5 3pt, 1-2 FT. (6+6+1=13) JT 17ppg, 4-10 FG, 2-6 3pt, 3-4FT. (8+6+3=17) - 8 apg. Bench 23 ppg, 7-16 FG, 3-8 3pt (14+9=23). This adds to 23+20+20+17+12+13 = 105ppg. I think not only is this highly reasonable. But with Hendu, DD, Dion and Nazr as the bench players that's less than 6 points a piece for each. Highly unlikely. So although theses numbers may be a little off, they aren't by much. This year will be fun.

Uhm no, they're real rough. Sound fake at times...I was just commenting on Milwaukee commiting a cardinal sin. Never trade within your division...especially if the player your dealing makes your opponent stronger. Just plain dumb. But hey, our gain.

If any of this is misstyped, please forgive me but I can't stop laughing after reading that set of posts. I wonder if Milwaukee realizes they not only traded away the 17th best scorer in the league (based on last year's stats) but traded him to a division rival. Bob Rathman: Terry drives left, quick dish to Sar out to DJ rotated back to the corner for a three....oh my goodness 34 for GRob. Stinger can you see the look on George Karl's face. Stinger: I sure can Bob...Ha Ha ha. Bob Rathman: Glen Robinson is lighting up here in the 3rd quarter. He might drop 50 on these guys before the nights up. He's obviously got a vendetta. I mean what were these guys thinking trading him to a team in their own division. A team they'd have to play 5 times a year. Stinger: Maybe Karl wasn't thinking Bob...Ha ha ha.

Ira,Strick,Hanno,Cal,JV gone will this affect us?* Oh my god, yes~! It's great. I'm a firm believer in stats/game. Most people say...well he only scored 3 ppg but he also played 10 minutes a game or if given 30 minutes, 9 ppg. So let's compare this years newly departed to last years casualties and base it on what they did per 48 minutes. Comparing points, rebounds, assists, steals and turnovers. Basing solely on last year's stats and not best season. (the "f" stands for full as in points per full game ppfg). Stats are per 48 minutes. Ratliff vs. Bowdler 15.3 ppfg, 9.3 rpfg, .53 apfg, .58 spfg, 4.1 topfg, 4.69 Blocks. .vs 9.35 ppfg, 9.4 rpfg, .85 apfg, 1.5 spfg, .89 topfg, 1.23 Blocks. Now given this wasn't Ratliff's best season (only 3 games) and his numbers from Philly were much higher. But safe to say, that Ratliff's 6 more points and 3.46 blocks makes Ratliff a clear winner here despite turnovers. Hendu vs. Hanno 16.28 ppfg, 10.95 rpfg, 1.18 apfg, 1.2 spfg, 2.4 topfg. vs. 13.79 ppfg, 9.48 rpfg, 1.72 apfg, .69 spfg, 2.44 topfg. except for 2.5 ppg and 1.5 rpg better for Henderson, they are identical. So henderson wins. Toni vs. Strickland 18.78 ppfg, 7.02 rpfg, 6.83 apfg, 1.54 spfg, 2.28 topfg. vs. 15.21 ppfg, 9.46 rpfg, 1.35 apfg, 1.39 spfg, 2.07 topfg. although he rebounds a little less, it seems obvious that with 3.57 more ppg and 5.48 apg, Toni is more productive. Crawford vs. IRA 19.51 ppfg, 9.24 rpfg, 1.8 apfg, 0.74 spfg, 3.67 topfg. vs. 12.67 ppfg, 8.40rpfg., 1.7 apfg, 1.43 spfg, 1.85 topfg. Crawford turns the ball over nearly 2 times more a game and IRA gets 3/4 of a steal more but Chris goes for 6.84 more points and . 84 more boards. slight edge Chris. Dion vs. Vaughn 20.38 ppfg, 7.10 rpfg, 3.44 apfg, 1.88 spfg, 3.16 topfg. vs. 14.02 ppfg, 4.25 rpfg, 9.13 apfg, 1.68 spfg, 2.91 topfg. I'd call this a tossup with Dion scoring more and rebounding more but vaughn with a ton more assists. That said, Dion's size makes for better overall defense. The totals. The wounded vs. the replacements 90.25 ppg, 43.61 rpg, 13.78 apg, 5.21 spg, 15.61 topg. vs. 65.04 ppg, 40.99 rpg, 14.75 apg, 5.69 spg, 10.16 topg. so 25.21 ppg, 2.62 rpg, -.97 apg, -.48 spg, 5.45 topg. I'd say we can afford to lose the others even with 5 more turnovers. Each steal, rebound and turnover are worth 1 point (since with 3 pointers, 40% fg% and freethrows, most teams average around 1 point per possesion and assists are worth 2. So the points add up like this. 25.21 + 2.62 + (-1.94) + (-.48) + (-5.45) = ppg lost to injuries. That's a difference of 19.96 ppg. Now the hawks lost 40 games by 20 points or less. So assuming the Hawks had these players all season and assuming the ppg changes would have changed the outcome of half of these games. That's 20 wins. Now I might be exaggerting the difference or I might not...but injuries kill seasons....Just ask sacramento if they would have liked to have had Pedra during the Lakers series. So the Hawks in my formula would have had 53 wins and 29 losses instead of 33 and 49 and the top seed in the EAST. The only problem here is DD is actually switching with JV so the assist number is skewed a little. but so what. This is a small vision of what the injuries cost us last year. Instead of Bowdler as the backup and Mohammed as the starter, we'd have had Ratliff start and Mohammed backup...that is where the numbers come from. So this shows the "Total cost of player over 48 minutes".

I hope this comes out o.k. put a family photo on my own webspace so I could link to it. http://personal.atl.bellsouth.net/atl/d/a/...on%20family.jpg She ain't that bad...is she?

c'mon buddy, this is your chance. you signed up yet. you've obviously got tons of time on your hands here. prove you are wise beyond your years. Play fantasy football with real Hawks fans. If the other hawks fans are doing it, you should be too. just 2 spots left.