thecampster

no, he has a check. They didn't pick up next year's option. He's still a member of the team this year and it's next year that he's a free agent. Since they declined the option, the hawks can sign him for up to the 3 million hi would have been owed. but he is getting paid thru the end of this season.

Watching it on T.V. I saw some very encouraging things. We bumped into each other alot on Defense...meaning we were moving our feet and held the Jazz to 98 despite not knowing or trusting each other yet. In time we'll have a feel for where our team mates are on the floor and defend the lanes better. We defended the pick and roll well...meaning we are coachable. Smart athletes are better than pure athletes any day. Big Dog likes catching on the move and works well with JT. A couple time JT hit Glenn Moving Right and forward a couple of times (something Cassell couldn't do because he's a right hand heavy ballhandler and doesn't think pass first. At times JT was looking for his own shot too much but all in all he was creating and it showed. Shareef didn't get frustrated. Utah tried make the hawks beat them from the outside as teams tried to do last year. They still doubled Reef holding him down in the first half. But he just did soldier work and got off later when Utah was forced to spread the D to the perimeter...Reef is sharing which was a bigger concern for me than Big Dog sharing. There were a couple of things that troubled me. We got very frazzled by the press...We couldn't handle it. Instead of spreading the floor some, They pulled Ira and Glenn to 1/4 court to try and help on the inbound...we've gotta figure that out quick or the west coast teams will kill us. No killer instinct. Although we were up by as much as 17, we never issued a knockout blow....the killer Jam/the backbreaking 3. We allowed Utah to climb back in and I think that's what Barkley was talking about after the game. After getting up, the defense slacked off. We miss DJ here. There's no Lock him up pressure guy on the floor. Ira is a great team defender/floor space denial guy but DJ official took a player out of the game by denying his shot. Shutting them down at the end of the 3rd would've made this a blowout. Email was horrible again. Every time someone on Utah made a jumper it was because of slow rotation or a bad risk taken by email....He's awful guys...He stopped us bad last night...Dion needs to get healthy now to get this guy off the floor.

you're standing next to 6'2" JT in that picture and don't even approach his Neck and skinny as a rod. If I'm doing my applied Geometry right, you're about 4'8" and 65 lbs. Please tell me that photo is like 4 years old.

Let's not kid ourselves fellas. No one here is just shooting for the playoffs or respectability. Everyone here want's a championship. Everyone here want's to see good fundamental basketball from these Hawks. So putting the Hawks in my "Championship-o-meter" I thought I'd try and guage their end probability. Great teams of the past had a couple of things. The dominant 1 or 2 guard. On this team that's JT at the 1. The question you have to ask yourself is, "Is any one point guard in the league capable of going one on one with JT and embarassing him?" I say no...not embarass. There are 3 or 4 better players at the point in the league (notice I didn't say point guards, but "players" at the point). But in every matchup he get's involved in, JT will have the ability to hold his own. Great Teams of the Past Had a dominant post game. Hakeem, Shaq, Russell, even the Spurs, Pistons (thru Rodman rebounding and Lambeer stretching the floor) had that dominant post game. The Bulls got by here by having Pippen/Jordan/Grant-Rodman all crashing the boards. We have Ratliff down low to block shots and our interior "D" has looked better than average in the preseason but in order for us to win this dominant post game as a team we are going to have to rebound. In the preseason, Robinson seemed to get that. He led the team in rebounding from the SF position. This kind of effort is required from all 5 starters...especially when we start playing the bigger west coast clubs. Winning those games means everything for playoff positioning. All great teams of the past had a 3rd option...a go to guy off the double team. The bulls had Armstrong/Kerr/Paxton for 3. The Pistons had the microwave. Even the Lakers need that 3rd option on the floor....and this is also why the Jazz have never won. On this team, JT needs to be that guy. Shareef needs to be the 1st option, Robinson the 2nd and JT needs to be the guy to pick up the slack. Focusing his offensive attention first on the point and being the 3rd option offensively. I honestly believe he'll score more as option 3 on this team than option 1 being the main guy to pass to out of a double team. Basketball 101 says, "Double in the post and force the shooters hand." For this to all work, JT has to be the one to swallow the leadership pill and be a distributor first. Lastly, all great teams have "a coach that gets it". The bulls won it all when Collins left and Jackson took over. Why, Jackson let his players star. In his interviews, he consistently spoke about what his individual players did well and protected their not so wells. The NBA is a players league. The teams are made of individual men. There may be no "I" in team but there is in winner and champion. Kruger needs to stop pandering to the bench players and start pushing his stars. If JT is a star, than he needs to challenge him privately and praise him publicly. He needs to stop sissying on Dion and get his [censored] name out of the paper unless he's going to talk the kid up. Dion has real potential and will never be anything if taken to task in print by Lon. If this is to work, Lon has to stop sticking up for "the team" and start sticking up for the players. That means getting ejected once or twice for Reef and getting in the face of any 6-10 stiff trying to get his own shot to pad his numbers. Make the euro's and stiffs set a few hard picks and earn their keep before doling out minutes and Lon can take this team to the land of the finals. This team has the pieces and the ability fellas in my eyes. It has the shooters, the distributors, the defense and the post game to compete with any team in the NBA...yes, any team. I say if Lon is ejected at least once before game 20 and JT goes for more assists than points in at least one game before game 20...then this squad get's it..if not, we'll bump and go in the first round.

This is the nba, not high school. There are a couple of reasons you don't see the full court press that often and see the half court trap more. 1. The game is longer, meaning more minutes for the starters, The rotations are shorter (8 man rotations on most teams), and the players are older (19 years olds playing 2 games a week have limitless energy compared to 35 year olds playing 4 games in 5 nights). Teams just can't press for long periods of time and keep their legs. 2. The game is quicker than college. In college there are 2 superior athletes on both teams that break or make the press. If the press is broken those players get back quick enough on the scrubs to make a play. In the NBA, if you break the press with a good pass it usually ends in a 3 on 2 at the other end. 3. Big salaries. Pressing creates injuries...turned ankles, player collisions. Few high priced athletes are gonna go for full court pressing more than a couple of times a game. It greatly speeds up the open floor play and has too many big uncoordinated bodies flying around. 4. More shooters in the NBA. The best way to kill a trap is have shooters on the floor (not dribblers). A team will not commit 3 players to pressing the ball as it leaves only 2 men to guard the other end of the floor. 2 men can't guard the Middle and the wings...3 can, 2 can't. All it takes is one shooter who isn't a ball handler (like GDawg) to make a club pay for pressing. In this situation for example, JT and Dion would be in the back court with Dion inbounding to JT...Robinson alone at half court with 2 deep defenders. A defender on the inbounder, 1 on JT and another playing Center Field. If Dion gets the pass in successfully, the man guarding the inbound must decide whether to trap or not. IF he stays with Dion he's left JT 1 on 1 with an NBA point in the open floor. JT and DD win this battle as most PG would. They drive the ball straight up the floor...and because of the intended trap the defense has no time to get set leaving JT time to create on the fly...this is bad basketball. If the man guarding the inbound leaves to trap, it leaves Dion alone to receive a return pass. The third man playing center field then has a choice..confront the new ball handler "Dion" or fall back into a break away zone...confronting the dribbler leaves robinson alone within 15 feet of an easy jumper. Dion just throws it ahead at that point and let's the shooter work. You see, in college the best shooters are also typically the ball handlers...this is not necessarily the case in the pros where up to 4 people on the floor can typically put the ball on the floor. Dion is a decent ball handler (though awkward) and is a reasonable pinch option....if someone goes on the I.R. we find the talent elsewhere. But we have 2 roster moves to make here folks, not 1. First, ditch Email. He's slow and not a threat to break anyone down...the offense stagnates under him. Replace him with a player such as "mookie blaylock" or a young player like "Cookie Belcher". 2nd, CC is most probably headed to the injured list to start the season. He will need a roster replacement. So the question of AJJ is do you put the extra Center on the roster freeing Ratliff to play some PF in rotations or keep a player like Rod Grizzard and see if he develops.

The people were real excited but mainly because it was free professional basketball. That vast majority in the crowd were JT fans it seems. When they announced his name the place went nuts. Obviously more than for any other play. When they announced Dickau the girls in the place squealed. At times Harry and the inflatible Harry got more attention and after the game everyone rushed the floor for autographs. Mainly the locals were in to the game though..Place got loud on the 2 blocks and the 2 dunks. On one play SAR led White on a break about about half the place stood up. Separate note, Dickau hit 2 shots out of 5 or 6. a layup and a 3 pointer.

Hey guys. It was a good time. Excuse me if this isn't totally accurate or rambles but I was there with my rambunctious 9 year old. They played 6 minute quarters. White Jerseys against Black Jerseys but the players changed teammates during the game. JT, Dion, GDawg, SAR and Theo started for white DD, Nazr and Hendu, Ham and George Williams led out Black At the end of quarter 1, Black was actually beating White 16-10. Much like a college game they were just out hustling White. Particularly Nazr who in my opinion was the star of the game. The score could have been more but Dickau had 2 passes brick off Hendu's hands on good scoring ops....What else is new. During the 1st quarter intermission the Brookwood cheerleaders entertained with 3 quick routines that included a number of high flying throws (the 9 year old appreciated the skirts flying up). To begin the second, White stayed with the same lineup except they inserted a fresh Ira for Dion. Black sub'd in Email/Shirley and Harvey. Harvey looked pretty good. Lazy but smart. Email was horrible. God is he slow. After watching JT, DD and Dion fly up and down the court in the 1st, it was like watching grass grow. Email should not be on this team...I was not impressed at all. Shirley is a grocery bagger...pure and simple. He took 6 to 8 shots in the game showing he can brick from inside and out. There's a reason he's not on a roster. White dominated this quarter. Theo Rejected a soft hook into the bleachers, IRA took a Terry pass on the break and threw a 2 handed half windmill out front then tornado'd off the rim counter clockwise. The score after 2 was White 26, Black 20. Third quarter saw DD and Nazr and Hendu change sides and Theo take a permanent seat. He was very intimidating in the middle and his work was done. JT stayed with DD and Dion Swapped to Black with Robinson. The scoring for the quarter was fairly even. Dion showed his skills on a squad without a point taking forward off the dribble and drawing 3 fouls in this quarter but couldn't defend either Jt or DD at the other end. DD also showed his youth in this quarter getting trapped twice on the right sideline by taller players. IN the 4th White ran away with it but that isn't the story. Nazr continued to dominate as the only good player left on the floor with Dickau. Dickau Dominated Email in this quarter but was severely hampered by Shirley, Williams and Ham on his squad. On one break away 4 on 2, DD drove Center with all 3 in front of him...instead of Fanning and cutting the 2 Lawn rakers tried filling the lane where Ham was already on the left side. Dan actually yelled something to the effect of "Get out of there". He tried to bail and was stripped and looked to the bench for Hendu...no can do he was done for the night. When playing with any of the top 9, DD looked great but when playing with subpar talent he looked bad. Final score was white 44, Black 34. Things I learned. Dickau will be just fine as the backup point guard. JT was obviously better than him one on one but the rook held his own and more importantly barked out orders like a general. Nazr is definately stronger. He outmuscled everyone when he got down low on them...even Theo. Only Theo's athleticism gave him the advantage. Robinson isn't a bad defender, just a smart defender. I caught him more than once baiting the weaker players to pass off around him only to emerge and steal. I counted 4 steals for Glenn and no one really score on him all game. He seems lazy because he doesn't get up on anyone. He seems to prefer to let the opponent shoot and takes away the baseline and the hooks and curls. Playing off makes him look lazy. A shooter will kill him, but a Dion/slasher type has no chance. Theo can still jump. on his one block, Theo's hand was a good foot over the rim. On the first shot of the game, Theo was called for Goal Tending. On the Block off the backboard, his fingers hit the backboard over the shooters square. Email should be bagging groceries with Shirley.

How does Nazr/Hendu for Spree help NY...The 4 best big men for NY after the McDyess injury are: Michael Doleac, Travis Knight, Kurt Thomas and Othella Harrington. Nazr and Hendu are better than any of the 4. This team was counting on McDyess to resurrect their game inside 12 feet. Now they're horrible...absolutely horrible. But the team has Eisley, Anderson, Houston, Ward and Weatherspoon...they can afford to let Spree go...this team is a poor man's Buck's in desperate need of a low post game and better chemistry...but if all that isn't enough, room for Lebron James. Without Spree this team is officially the worst in the NBA and has a real shot at the LeBron James for saviour sweepstakes. I wouldn't want to give up both Hendu and Nazr for him but you said what's in it for NY. Plus remember, we get Spree and sign Alvin Jones in the deal. In my humble opinion, what's wrong with Alvin Jones is "Larry Brownitis". He's killed more young players than anyone....Lenny included. Alvin will never be a star in the NBA but a 7 foot leaper is impossible to find...he should be blocking reserves shots all day long and pulling boards against small NBA backup centers in bunches. We have ton's of offense on this team now...but a defensive stopper on the second unit would be fantastic and being a reserve would give him the freedom to play extremely agressive. I think I'd do this deal.

For those not familliar with the scrimmage, the Hawks rotate venues yearly in a "FREE PUBLIC SCRIMMAGE GAME". Last year's was at a private school near Marrieta and this year's is at "Brookwood High School" in Snellville. There are no tickets to buy it's an open venue. Just walk right in. What the hawks do is have the dancers, Harry, Skyhawk walking around...they give out freebee's (banners and things) and use the event to promote season tickets for the upcoming season to different parts of town. You could even buy your season tickets right there. The teams are divided equally (9 on 9) and they play a full game (believe it's 10 minute quarters) with staff assistants coaching the teams. Yes they keep score and yes the dancers perform at the half. It's like a free preseason game but you get to root for both sides. NO they don't play starters against the bench or anything like that. Lot's of dunks, and tons of backdoor fun plays....no hard fouls (less a grocery bagger get a quick trip home). I had a blast with my 2 sons last year and was geeked when I heard it was during the week and close to home this year. After the 3rd or 4th game is when they start making cuts. So it's kind of a gift to the grocery baggers who won't be on the team next year and a tool to boost attendance in the regular season.

Here's 3 configurations it works....Looks like Alan Henderson (or Demarr Johnson) would have to be in the deal to make it work....not sure I'm o.k. with that. I'd rather give up Nazr who has the longer contract. My thoughts in doing this are to help us resign JT. I do not want to lose JT....period. As far as Hotlanta Dude goes. You have to make sacrifices to get anywhere. Latrell is a player....rather you would "want him" here or not, he's a player...a real player. You would have to give up something to get something...New York doesn't want him...not because he's a bad player or even because he's a bad influence but because they have a copy of him in A.H. They need other players and to rebuild. Atlanta trades: PF Alan Henderson (5.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 0.4 apg in 16.2 minutes) C Nazr Mohammed (9.7 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 0.4 apg in 26.4 minutes) Atlanta receives: SF Latrell Sprewell (19.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.9 apg in 41.1 minutes) Change in team outlook: +4.2 ppg, -7.9 rpg, and +3.1 apg. New York trades: SF Latrell Sprewell (19.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.9 apg in 41.1 minutes) New York receives: PF Alan Henderson (5.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 0.4 apg in 26 games) C Nazr Mohammed (9.7 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 0.4 apg in 82 games) Change in team outlook: -4.2 ppg, +7.9 rpg, and -3.1 apg. TRADE ACCEPTED Due to Atlanta and New York being over the cap, the 15% trade rule is invoked. Atlanta and New York had to be no more than 115% plus $100,000 of the salary given out for the trade to be accepted, which did happen here. This trade satisfies the provisions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Atlanta trades: PF Alan Henderson (5.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 0.4 apg in 16.2 minutes) PF Chris Crawford (7.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 0.7 apg in 18.7 minutes) SF Dion Glover (8.9 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.5 apg in 21.0 minutes) PG Emanual Davis (6.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.3 apg in 26.7 minutes) Atlanta receives: SF Latrell Sprewell (19.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.9 apg in 41.1 minutes) Change in team outlook: -9.0 ppg, -9.2 rpg, and -1.0 apg. New York trades: SF Latrell Sprewell (19.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.9 apg in 41.1 minutes) New York receives: PF Alan Henderson (5.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 0.4 apg in 26 games) PF Chris Crawford (7.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 0.7 apg in 7 games) SF Dion Glover (8.9 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.5 apg in 55 games) PG Emanual Davis (6.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.3 apg in 29 games) Change in team outlook: +9.0 ppg, +9.2 rpg, and +1.0 apg. TRADE ACCEPTED Due to Atlanta and New York being over the cap, the 15% trade rule is invoked. Atlanta and New York had to be no more than 115% plus $100,000 of the salary given out for the trade to be accepted, which did happen here. This trade satisfies the provisions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Atlanta trades: C Nazr Mohammed (9.7 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 0.4 apg in 26.4 minutes) PF Chris Crawford (7.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 0.7 apg in 18.7 minutes) SF DerMarr Johnson (8.4 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.1 apg in 24.0 minutes) PG Emanual Davis (6.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.3 apg in 26.7 minutes) Atlanta receives: SF Latrell Sprewell (19.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.9 apg in 41.1 minutes) Change in team outlook: -12.7 ppg, -13.7 rpg, and -0.6 apg. New York trades: SF Latrell Sprewell (19.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.9 apg in 41.1 minutes) New York receives: C Nazr Mohammed (9.7 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 0.4 apg in 82 games) PF Chris Crawford (7.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 0.7 apg in 7 games) SF DerMarr Johnson (8.4 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.1 apg in 72 games) PG Emanual Davis (6.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.3 apg in 29 games) Change in team outlook: +12.7 ppg, +13.7 rpg, and +0.6 apg. TRADE ACCEPTED Due to Atlanta and New York being over the cap, the 15% trade rule is invoked. Atlanta and New York had to be no more than 115% plus $100,000 of the salary given out for the trade to be accepted, which did happen here. This trade satisfies the provisions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

I saw the scrimmage last year in Marrieta...It was worth the drive (live in Dacula). This year it's right around the corner and I'm going. Weaseldom, talk your folks in to letting you go. It was a good experience last year...Both my kids enjoyed it.

I'd like to throw a new wrinkle into this fray. Sign AJJ cheap. Why? Because Jason Terry's contract is up soon and he will command the money. Trade Nazr! Why? Because the Hawks are overpaying for a backup center. Where do I trade this Talent? New York. The Knicks are desparate for big players right now...I say trade Nazr/CC for Spreewell. Despite the possibility of trouble from Spree there is enough presence right now with SAR, Ratliff and Terry to allow Spree to do what Spree does best. Fill the passing lanes, make steals and score in Transition. That frees up a roster spot for AJJ who is a better defensive presence than Nazr and Spree's scoring/defense replaces anything you got from Naz or Chris. Regardless of Spreewell's past, he's a BIG 2 that can play both ends well and can share ballhandling duties with JT...most 2's can't. The starting 5 of: Terry, Spreewell, Robinson, SAR and Ratliff is scary and a bench of DD, Glove, Newble, Hendu and AJJ is pretty good. If you're gonna win championships you have to to do 2 things, Guard Bryant and Shaq at the same time. Spreewell can guard Kobe (at least limit him) and Ratliff/AJJ/Hendu is a better defending/foul monster than most center groups. Lastly, on this team Latrell would share the ball because it gives him his first legitimate chance at a championship...this is what every star player wants. A championship would vindicate him in his mind....I'd take it too.

My thoughts on the game: Grant Hill -28 Minutes McGrady - 29 Minutes Garrity - 25 Ekenzie - 19 Vaughn - 18 a total of 119 minutes for their starters: (this does not include the 43 minutes doled out to Armstrong and Miller) Robinson - Out Glover - 23 minutes SAR - 23 minutes Ratliff - 17 minutes Terry - 24 minutes a total of 87 minutes (or 32 less) for our starters. Of those, Davis got 20 and Ham got 31 while Hendu/Nazr and Ratliff got less than 20. We seemed to treat the game as a throw away game. Given that Glen Robinson and Ira Rewble the probable starters at the 2 and 3 did not play in this game and McGrady and Hill were a couple of minutes away from regular season starters minutes I say this is a helluv an effort. We lost by 12 but they treated it like life and death....Guess the previous loss the previous night hurt their ego pretty bad. We played House, Carter,Williams, Shirley, Harvey a total of 44 minutes or a total of 18.33% of the available minutes in the game...these are players that won'm make the Hawks roster and probably won't play in the NBA this year getting 18% of the floor minutes. Conversely, the Magic played less than 10% of their team minutes this way. Without DJ, Robinson or Newble we held a team with Hill and McGrady to under 100 points again and that's encouraging. My only concern is that this shows how important Robinson is going to be to our offense. He obviously makes a huge difference and without him on the floor teams can collapse on the middle. Ratliff sounded good again in limited minutes with 2 blocks. Considering we played without 2 main parts of our rotation, DJ is out for the year and our starters played an average of only 21 minutes for the game I'm very encouraged.

that was a great statement. Basketball is so much about momentum and confidence and nothing will kill a shooter more than knowing he has to shoot. When a shooter believes that dumping a pass in low will result in a turnover or a missed shot he will try to do too much to make something happen and rush or take bad shots. The truth is substantial here. Robinson/Ham/Newble/SAR/Hendu/Ratliff/Nazr is a hell of a lot more intimidating than Kukoc/Newble/Bowdler/Strickland/Hanno/Nazr/SAR. a hell of a lot. Everyone keeps talking about Robinson not being a good defender but the trade off here is Robinson for Kukoc...Ham for Strickland....Hendu for Bowdler...Ratliff for Hanno....That is a heckuva defensive front line improvement when you take all 4 players into account....Funny part is that all 4 are an offensive improvement. We are much stronger down low now...much stronger. Not only is the front line of Ratliff/SAR/Robinson top 3 in the league but the Subs of Nazr/Hendu/CC might be the best backup frontline out there too. These groups are gonna make JT and DD look aweful good.

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.