The thing that jumps out at me is...

[GST]

We have no defensive presence at the 4 and 5. Al and Zaza will occasionally make a good defensive play, but there's no consistent production. We are going to continue to struggle until we get a real interior defense. People can talk all they want to about how we should have picked Chris Paul instead of Marvin, but the PG situation is not our biggest problem right now. The fact is, we shot 54% from the field tonight and still lost the game.

[mrhonline]

Quote:

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We have no defensive presence at the 4 and 5. Al and Zaza will occasionally make a good defensive play, but there's no consistent production. We are going to continue to struggle until we get a real interior defense. People can talk all they want to about how we should have picked Chris Paul instead of Marvin, but the PG situation is not our biggest problem right now. The fact is, we shot 54% from the field tonight and still lost the game.

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I've been agreeing with that for a month. The 4/5 spot is the biggest problem on the Hawks. Followed closely by everything else under the sun, but still...

Here's hoping the Hawks get Aldridge next year.

[Peoriabird]

Quote:

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We have no defensive presence at the 4 and 5. Al and Zaza will occasionally make a good defensive play, but there's no consistent production. We are going to continue to struggle until we get a real interior defense. People can talk all they want to about how we should have picked Chris Paul instead of Marvin, but the PG situation is not our biggest problem right now. The fact is, we shot 54% from the field tonight and still lost the game.

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I totally agree!

[exodus]

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We have no defensive presence at the 4 and 5.

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Actually they do. When it gets down to the end of the game Josh Smith has to be in there to guard the rim. He is the only one who can and he wasn't playing the last few minutes.

[dalamchops]

i registered just to say that im FURIOUS that idiot woodson benched Smith for hitting 4/8 shots. HE WAS BENCHED FOR MORE THAN A QUARTER IN THE 2nD HALF... wtf is that? There's no interior defense w/o him AT ALL.

[Nicholasp27]

smoove needs to get mins at pf, at least on defense

and what about batman? he could develop into a nice bruiser for us...he did well on jermaine and hasn't played since

[TheNorthCydeRises]

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smoove needs to get mins at pf, at least on defense

and what about batman? he could develop into a nice bruiser for us...he did well on jermaine and hasn't played since

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I agree totally. Whether if he can guard them or not, he needs to be in the game regardless, just for the threat of a block.

But it's a delicate balance with Al. We need his offense, but not his defense. We could take Chill out and put Smoove at the 4 and Al at the 3 . . but he'd just get burned by the 3's in the league.

So the other alternative would be to take ZaZa out the lineup, and put Al at ( gasp ) the 5 and Smoove at the 4.

Or we could try to rotate JJ down to the 3 - 4 spot on defense somehow, and have Salim/Lue and Chill/Ivey on the guards, with Smoove and JJ on the forwards and ZaZa/Al on the 5. In Phoenix, JJ has guarded some 4's for short periods of time.

LOL . . damn. We need a Big 4 or 5, a PG, and a BIG or defensive minded 2.

Call Spree and see if he wants to play with the Hawks for about 1.75 million for this year only.

And call Randolph Morris and tell him "ummmm . . the NCAA isn't letting you go back to Kentucky, so you might as well come down here to ATL and sign a rookie minimum contract for a year."