Not everyone is so optimistic about the Hawks...

[hotboyj]

well, certainly not foxsports.com's Charley Rosen

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/4923306

Atlanta

The guards — Tyronn Lue can chase the ball on defense, nail treys when his feet are set and run hard in transition looking for screens. He has trouble playing half-court basketball, can't finish in a crowd and is frequently out of control. Strictly a second-rate point guard, but fortunately the Hawks are a third-rate team. Royal Ivey and Donta Smith are young and erratic. Joe Johnson is good but not nearly good enough to make an appreciable difference.

The forwards — Josh Childress can jump to the moon; his problems are legion, however, when he's not airborne. Like shooting with range, handling, passing, and playing defense. Al Harrington needs to step up and deliver tough points game after game.

The centers — Jason Collier is a 7-foot jump shooter. Zaza Pachulia gets pushed around and is a barely adequate backup center. How much does Kevin Willis have left?

The coach — Mike Woodson is a nice man and a capable coach. Can he survive until the youngsters mature into productive NBA players?

The outlook — Atlanta's journey to nowhere continues. The Hawks may top 20 wins but will continue to battle the Hornets and the Bobcats to stay out of the cellar.

(He wasn't too much nice to anyone else either)

If you are looking to read a very negative outlook on teams in the Southeast, than this is a must read.

There is also a preview on sportline.com, which gives a bettter idea on the stories the season will tell.

http://sportsline.com/nba/teams/preview/ATL

[emeans]

This dude is clueless again. I think he meant to say Josh Smith instead of Josh Childress. Smith is the Josh that jumps to the moon and both Joshes can play good defense. Childress handles and passes the ball pretty good. Again this dude doesn't even know who the hell he is trying to describe!!

[mrhonline]

[Yeti]

What a bozo. Not only did he get the two Josh's mixed up, he didn't even mention the rookies. Marvin will be a big story whether he soars or busts. If it were not for the JJ reference I'd think he wrote this at the end of last season.

Figures that it's Fox.

yeti

[vdunkndunk]

Last year Charlie Rosen ripped the Hawks for signing Travis Best, even though he meant Kenny Anderson. This year he didn't mention Josh Childress except when he confused him with Josh Smith, didn't mention Marvin Williams or Salim Stoudamire at all, spent all his time breaking down our backup pointguard and barely mentioned Joe Johnson, and then wondered how much gas a center that's not on our roster has left in his tank.

Besides, Charlie Rosen is totally negative about everyone. His typical review of someone like Shaq would sound like this: "He's a purely one dimensional offensive player who doesn't defend the pick and roll, can't shoot freethrows, and is barely an adequate shotblocker and rebounder." Basically, if you didn't know Shaq was the most dominant center in the league you would think he was total garbage from reading his review, and that's how all his other scouting reports are: start by minimizing the positive, then put a spotlight on the negative.

[Weez]

not to mention the fact that he characterizes Lue as being able to, "chase the ball on defense."

Honestly. Ok, I will grant that most people who semi-follow basketball will picture Lue as the 'defensive aggressor' that he played in the 2001 finals against the Sixers (and AI).

BUT...if you watched any Hawks basketball last year, one would instatnly recognize that Lue typically played HORRIBLE defense, that opposting pg's routinely tore us a new one (even the un-established ones) and that Lue biggest contribution was being able to create his own shot and generally be 'quick on the floor.'

Yes, he's a very nice pg to have as your bu, and I'll second the earlier thread that he is one of the better bu pg's in the league...but this 'review' of the Hawks is awful.

[Devon]

Yeah...

The dude seems like a "glass is 1/2 empty" kind of guy.

He didn't mention Al, JJ, or Marvin.