latest article from AJC

[Blunt91]

Surprised no one has posted this but here is the article.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 10/27/05

CUTS MADE: The Hawks cut free agents Anthony Grundy and Ajani Williams before Thursday night's game, leaving their roster at 13 heading into next week's regular season opener at Golden State. The Hawks still have to roster spots available before reaching the league max, which means they'll be scouring the NBA's waiver wire in the coming days to find the quality big men they seek. "I don't have a timetable on it," Hawks general manager Billy Knight said. "We'll just have to play things by ear. Ajani and Anthony were good players for us, they did a good job for us. But at the present time, we had to make the moves to get our roster down to the 13 guys we have."

ANYTHING GOES: Knight wouldn't rule out a trade or any other possibility when it comes to filling out the roster. But as is his usual, he declined to get specific about the Hawks' plans. Hawks coach Mike Woodson wouldn't name names either. But he has a feeling the Hawks will be pursued as much as they will pursue talent. "I have a feeling Billy's phone will be lit up the next couple of days with people who are interested in filling those spot," Woodson said. "I don't think there's any question we need one more big and another one more athletic big. So I'm sure Billy will be busy until we get something done."

[emeans]

This is exactly the reason I was saying we should have taken a chance on Curry. Now look at us......running around with our heads cut off desperately looking for another big man. Now we are desperate for a quality big man!! Meanwhile Curry is doing great in pre-season with the New York Knicks.

You have to take chances (roll the dice) when you are a sorry team and we were not willing to do that. Now we are waiting for a quality big man to get cut. Most likely that will not happen!!

[capstone21]

10 million per year is a big chance for a guy who does not play any defence and is notorious for being out of shape. Throw in a heart condition and we would be screwed with our cap if he couldn't play. ITs good that we didn't get Curry.

[Hawkzzz21]

The signs right now would point to Dallas. It's possible, but very doubtful that Dallas will keep all their big men. I think the Hawks will have a Dallas Maverick Center.

[macdaddy]

We're lucky not to have Curry. Can you imagine what it would be like for him and the team after what happenned with Collier. If the guy falls down they'd be rushing paramedics out on the court.

[emeans]

From what I have seen this pre-season Curry has had a huge impact in New York. They are tons better with him out on the floor.

They play tonight on ESPN. Before everyone start spilling this anti-Curry retoric, take a honest look at him tonight against NJ and then objectively come back here and tell me we shouldn't have taken a chance on him. I doubt you will say that once you see him in action. He is exactly what we are missing in the middle.

Zsa Zsa and Curry would have made a very nice combo!!

Yes it would have been a risk, but a risk Larry Brown was willing to make and to me that says a lot.

[Lascar78]

I agree all the way. I think Curry was a gamble we definitely should have taken. It should be interesting to see what kind of shape he's in tonight

[Hawkzzz21]

Keep in mind, that Curry didn't really want to play here. His main goal was to stay in Chicago. He didn't even stay for his entire visit, and he first came out, and said he wasn't even going to Atlanta. He used us in leveraging with the Bulls.

Yes, I would have took the gamble on him.

No, I wouldn't have wanted him here, since he really didn't want to be here.

[Blunt91]

They had something on ESPN about 3weeks ago on the Eddy Curry Knicks/Bulls ordeal. It was stated that no other team other than NewYork wanted to take a chance on Curry. So don't feel bad we weren't alone. Paxon Defiantley stood by his judgement in trading Curry.

[Diesel]

Is it me or does the AJC have more grammatical errors nowadays?

Is everybody just looking for the red line on the spell checker?

[Diesel]

I'll say Ivey for Podkolzine!

[Blunt91]

Well Podklozine was a late first rounder so I doubt they want to give him up just yet. What about Donta Smith for D.J Mbenga? Mbenga seems athletic and he would be cheap. I think Donta has more upside so I would want dallas to give us a 2ndrounder along with DJ. I would send Ivey but believe it or not Dallas has more guards than they do forwards. Don't know if Donta would receive much playing time but that wouldn't be our problem. Dallas is one of the most deepest teams in the league. If they were in the Eastern Conference they would probly be a top 2 or 3 seed.

[1524]

BK is not afraid to take chances, he has done it twice in this offseason alone. One, by giving 70 Mill to JJ. And two, by taking J Chill's word for it and taking Salim 31st without even working him out. BK wants a defensive Center, a guy to block shots and grab boards...Eddie Curry does not do that. I am confident that BK made the right move here because he made the a similar one at the end of last summer when he didnt throw a JJ like contract at Erik Dampier, and we all know how Damp did in Dallas last year.

[mudderfudder77]

Quote:

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BK is not afraid to take chances, he has done it twice in this offseason alone. One, by giving 70 Mill to JJ. And two, by taking J Chill's word for it and taking Salim 31st without even working him out. BK wants a defensive Center, a guy to block shots and grab boards...Eddie Curry does not do that. I am confident that BK made the right move here because he made the a similar one at the end of last summer when he didnt throw a JJ like contract at Erik Dampier, and we all know how Damp did in Dallas last year.

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As a side note, it is not uncommon for a second round pick not to work out with the team that drafts him. And it's not like Salim was an unknown player - hell he had been featured in SI, ESPN the magazine, and Sportingnews.

[emeans]

By no means am I saying that BK takes no chances. JJ is a huge chance that could back fire. So I know BK definately takes chances and I love what he has done so far with this team with the exception of BIG men.

Secondly, it is very hard, damn near impossible to get a big man that can do everything on offense and defense unless his name is Shaq. You have to settle with what you can get when it comes to big men and Curry is a pretty good settle. A Shaq will come every 30 years.

I just hate to know we had a legitimate chance to get two quality big man for now and the future (barring health) and we passed and let of all places the Evil Empires "New York" and "Los Angeles" take the two big men I thought we would try and get..... Kwame and Curry.

Curry, Kwame and Zsa Zsa would have solved all of our Big men worries for now and the future.

Yes BK takes chances but he is failing (with the exception of Zsa Zsa) with Big men!!

[Nicholasp27]

he's not failing with big men

maybe he doesn't like what kwame has shown

and we all know that curry is too much of a risk

zaza = 10/8 with low contract and low risk; could be an above average starting center in this league

curry= 15/5 with high contract and huge risk; could cripple our future if he gets injured/dies

zaza is the better choice...we have offense; zaza will be better defensively and on the boards than curry...and he's 6mil/year cheaper and 1/100th the risk

[emeans]

I am not comparing the two. I am not looking for an either/or situation. You need much more than Zsa Zsa to win. What if Zsa Zsa goes down...then what??? I am saying why not have all 3 on the same team. All 3 were obtainable and all 3 were obtainable at reasonable deals.

You could have gotten Curry for far less than 10 mil and a shorter contract. Chicago had played its hand and Curry was all but done with the Bulls.

Kwame is from Georgia and would have taken any cut to get out of Washington.

Yet we let both of them walk to the two evil empires and biggest markets in the NBA......"New York" and "Los Angeles".

And you don't call the signing of John Edwards and Jason Collier failing at the big man spot?? While Jason was an excellent person, both of these guys were/are NBDL talent and having 1 servicaeble big man in 3 years is not good, no way you spin it.

[1524]

Quote:

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By no means am I saying that BK takes no chances. JJ is a huge chance that could back fire. So I know BK definately takes chances and I love what he has done so far with this team with the exception of BIG men.

Secondly, it is very hard, damn near impossible to get a big man that can do everything on offense and defense unless his name is Shaq. You have to settle with what you can get when it comes to big men and Curry is a pretty good settle. A Shaq will come every 30 years.

I just hate to know we had a legitimate chance to get two quality big man for now and the future (barring health) and we passed and let of all places the Evil Empires "New York" and "Los Angeles" take the two big men I thought we would try and get..... Kwame and Curry.

Curry, Kwame and Zsa Zsa would have solved all of our Big men worries for now and the future.

Yes BK takes chances but he is failing (with the exception of Zsa Zsa) with Big men!!

---

Actually, there is a big man that we have a chace to get that can play offense and defense. His name is Tiago Splitter. I'm sure you all know who he is, and probobly think we will be too good this year to get him(did I just say that? lol). But what you guys may forget that we will have a lottery pick and a pick right outside of the loterry(Boston's). Not to mention this years projected #1 pick is Andrea Bargnani, who is not close to being ready to contributing in the NBA due to his serious lack of strengh for a guy of his size. Anyone who gets that first pick in my oppinion will be looking to trade it, and BK I am sure BK will be calling. We give our two first for the first pick where we select Splittter, and in the words of Jon Madden, "BOOM" we got a big man. This is not from a serious source, but just a logical situation that I believe will happen.

I also think BK rounds out our 06' Draft by taking, Pops Mensah-Bonsu. He is a guy who I am sure BK was hoping stayed in the draft last year to take at #59. After the draft, I think BK sees we are a possible playoff contender and goes out and uses the rest of our cap by bringing back Harrington, and bringing in young players like Nene, Ariza, and Welsch. My Free Agent wishes may be a bit much, but I deffinetly dont think they are unrealistic.

Joe Johnson/Tyronn Lue/Royal Ivey

Josh Childress/Salim Stoudamire/Jiri Welsch

Josh Smith/Trevor Ariza/Daunta Smith

Al Harrington/Marvin Williams/Pops Mensah-Bonsu

NeNe Halario/Tiago Splitter/ZaZa Pachulia

[Diesel]

I'm tired of wishing that draft picks will save us.

We need a meaningful trade...

I say #1/Josh Smith for Dwight Howard!

Or Maybe #1 overall for Chris Bosh!

You get my drift?

[Hawkzzz21]

Hmmmmmmmm......didn't we trade some draft picks for JJ.

Hey Podkozlin stock just rose! Or actually lowered. So maybe we can land this guy cheap.

DALLAS (AP) -- Dallas Mavericks center Pavel Podkolzin could miss up to four months after a stress fracture was discovered in his right foot.

Podkolzin, traded to Dallas after Utah selected him 21st overall in the 2004 draft, is scheduled to have surgery next week.

The 7-foot-5 native of Russia played in just five games last season and made just one preseason appearance this month.

I SAY WE GO FOR IT!!!!!!