Somone who IS doing their job...

[Wretch]

BILLY MNFN KNIGHT!

ZaZa, Salim, Chill, Smoove, JJ, Harrington (for Jax whom we picked up for scraps)...we've got a solid young core here. Despite the 0-3, I REALLY think we've turned a corner. It may take a major move of a certain player or bringing in the right coach, but this "unfinished home" is starting to take shape.

Speaking of coaching...

I'm gonna go ahead and get on the side of the fence that's a little concerned (or more) with Woody at the wheel. I know, these guys are young, they don't know each other...blah, blah, blah... I'm just not feeling that Woody's gonna be the guy to get them over the hump.

[phoostal]

Right now this team has no direction. I'm not sure Knight knows what he is doing. We have a bunch of athletic guys running around and playing out of position.

[Wretch]

It isn't his job to direct the team. It's his job to assemble it. The the "long, athletic, running around out of position" peices that he's added are outstanding peices.

[Plainview1981]

Billy Knight done a great job? Are you kidding?

Smooth/Marvin/Childress have all three looked mediocre

in 2 out of the 3 games atleast and Smooth and Childress

are clearly very flawed players.

Great job?

[phoostal]

Adding the same piece year after year is a good job????? Maybe he should try to trade some of these pieces he has stalk piled for positions we need. No, that would be the obivious answer.

[Wretch]

No, I'm not kidding.

I'm not going to condemn Chill (or anyone else for that matter) 3 games into the season after a tremendous second half of the year. That's just silly. Same goes for Smoove, who had a great game tonight.

Mostly though, I'm looking at what he did this summer. Joe Johnson is an incredible player. He's what we've been looking for and eventually people will start to see it. I see it now though. He's a difference maker, not a sidekick.

ZaZa looks VERY good and we got him for a great price for a few years. He's big and he's young, and he's gonna grow with this team.

...and Salim? Man, have you been watching the games? Not only does he have the stroke (which put my jaw on the floor MORE than once) but he has that tenacity going to the basket.

Say what you want, but the core of this team is NICE and BK has done his job.

[Wretch]

You might be right. But then again, that's better than having mediocre peices to deal now isn't it?

[swolehawk2]

How about we let the young guys play more than one year before we trade them away for some mediocre big men. What would be nice, is if we had vet coach to get the most out of this years team...I don't feel like that will be done this year.

[phoostal]

It doesn't mean a think until he makes a trade, right? What good is it to have it, if you aren't going to trade it for something of more value?

[phoostal]

Why would we trade for mediocre big men? Then billy knight wouldn't be doing his job. Unless these guys that we are hyping up aren't that good and all he can get back is average players. Knight should be able to get something of value than just an average big man. He is a good gm right?

[Plainview1981]

Blah blah blah... "They played well the second half of

last year"

Here is a clue... THAT DOESN'T MATTER.

Why?

Because, when you are 13 win team nobody is taking you

seriousally the 2nd half of the year and the stat padding

starts. It happens every year. EVERY YEAR. Does it ever

carry over to the next year? No.

JJ is no better than a Alan Houston.

No need to be in denial.

[Duff_Man]

The only one I am the least bit worried about is Smoove. He seems to have become the personalization of what everyone thinks he could be...not a good thing. He is trying to go out there and make every play instead of letting things happen for him. He needs to lay off instead of rying to hit every shot.

This team needs a leader in a big way.

They are making progress...and I think Slim has ROY all over him.

[swolehawk2]

According to most people here the kids they want to trade are no good...and can not get any better...so what team is going to give you a good big man for some no good 21 year olds who can't get any better?

[phoostal]

Who said they were no good? Everytime I'm on this site Childress, Smith, and Williams are budding superstars. Harrington is a young star. So we should we get mediocre big guys? Everything I read on this site says we should get someone decent.

[Wretch]

Y'know, I'm not a blind optimist and I'm not a doomsayer. It's easy to dog on a team that isn't winning and in turn pass that whole thing down to every single player.

But I watch the NBA, not just the Hawks and not just the good teams. I've seen squads turn everything around with one player, one coach, a couple of moves... I've seen teams turn sh!t around at the allstar break with absolutely no changes.

Joe Johnson = Alan Houston...lol Yeah. That's real accurate. It doesn't matter what a player (a rookie no less) sustains for the better half of a season...what matters is what he does during the 1st 3 games of the next. Damn 2nd round pick just lighting the basket up from all over the floor, a little guard just takin' to the rim (and against one of the league's better swatters)...oh, but to not credit for the GM...

Wow. Whatever... This sh!t is comical to me. Sorry, I just don't see the gloom and doom. I see a f!ckload of talent waiting to mature and be groomed. I'm sticking by my guns. Not to say I told you so, but because I see something in these losses. We got some GOOD peices and no amount of shortsighted trolling can change that.

[Duff_Man]

Quote:

---

Y'know, I'm not a blind optimist and I'm not a doomsayer. It's easy to dog on a team that isn't winning and in turn pass that whole thing down to every single player.

But I watch the NBA, not just the Hawks and not just the good teams. I've seen squads turn everything around with one player, one coach, a couple of moves... I've seen teams turn sh!t around at the allstar break with absolutely no changes.

Joe Johnson = Alan Houston...lol Yeah. That's real accurate. It doesn't matter what a player (a rookie no less) sustains for the better half of a season...what matters is what he does during the 1st 3 games of the next. Damn 2nd round pick just lighting the basket up from all over the floor, a little guard just takin' to the rim (and against one of the league's better swatters)...oh, but to not credit for the GM...

Wow. Whatever... This sh!t is comical to me. Sorry, I just don't see the gloom and doom. I see a f!ckload of talent waiting to mature and be groomed. I'm sticking by my guns. Not to say I told you so, but because I see something in these losses. We got some GOOD peices and no amount of shortsighted trolling can change that.

---

My take as well. Thank you for being level-headed.

[Plainview1981]

The talent that was drafted appears to be overrrated.

Josh Childress- No handles, No defense, No shot and

but rebounds good for a swingman and can slash alittle

bit.

Yeah, that's 6th pick in the draft stuff right there.

Josh Smith-Got alot of hype winning a dunk contest with

no creative dunks and now all of a sudden he has superstar

potential? Rebounds ok, and blocks shots... But he can't

create for himself and has no handles, but he's still a

SF anyway. He's a slacker on top of that.

JJ-Can shoot some, but can really defend and isa decent

enough player. But 70 million? he hasn't done anything

in his career to earn that.

The problem is that some of these guys could be good for

a better team, but none of them are feature players and

that's the problem the Hawks have.

These are pieces that good teams can probably use, none

of these guys are players that you should try and build

your team around.

The players have been exposed. I don't need to see Childress get his ankles broken over and over again to

see that he's slow footed and is better fit as a 25MPG

swingman off the bench.

[Diesel]

Wretch I agree with all that you said.

I think BK wanted to give Woody a chance... also, I think he wanted a young coach for a young team. However, now that we have started to make some major moves, Woody has to step up. He won't be allowed to experiment with JJ costing so much. Woody has a lot of pressure to produce. If he hasn't done it by Dec, I wouldn't be surprised to see himmoved..

There's still a Vet coach without a job who could turn our furtunes...

I'm calling it now.

If we're still slumping by Dec, Paul Silas will be the new head coach of the Hawks.

[phoostal]

I'm not a doomsayer. This team is flawed. I never said they didn't have talent. They need to get people at positions they need instead of stockpiling the same player and having them play all five positions. Knight needs to get PG and a C. Use all these same guys and get these positions of need. What good is it going to do having all these guys play out of position? Stop sitting around and waiting for things to happen, go out and make it happen.

[Buzzard]

Quote:

---

BILLY MNFN KNIGHT!

ZaZa, Salim, Chill, Smoove, JJ, Harrington (for Jax whom we picked up for scraps)...we've got a solid young core here. Despite the 0-3, I REALLY think we've turned a corner. It may take a major move of a certain player or bringing in the right coach, but this "unfinished home" is starting to take shape.

Speaking of coaching...

I'm gonna go ahead and get on the side of the fence that's a little concerned (or more) with Woody at the wheel. I know, these guys are young, they don't know each other...blah, blah, blah... I'm just not feeling that Woody's gonna be the guy to get them over the hump.

---

I agree 100%. We have talented players. Last nights game is pretty much what we can expect. GS and the Clipps are better teams than us right now and should win 40 or more games this season.

Portland is in a similar boat as us with their one true star in Randolph. We should have beaten Portland and with Al we would have. Al and JJ would have been the difference if both would have been on the floor.

I am not sold on our coaching either and as long as I see players standing around or dribbling and holding onto the ball to long my opinion on that will not waiver.

I do think Woody is in a bad spot with Al not playing and if anyone thinks coaching without one of your top scorers is easy...look no further than Friday night and GS getting beat at home by Utah Friday night without Davis.

I think with Davis they win easily and with Al we score over a 100 and beat Portland.

Reality check for me this week. We are young and talented. We are not going to beat any bubble playoff teams on their home court but provided we are healthy we will win a few road games against bad teams.