Terry Ready for Stardom, Winning, and the Playoffs

[jaywalker72]

Jason Terry has heard the criticism.

He has heard all the national talking heads say what he is and what he isn’t.

He has heard them say he can’t play the point.

He has heard them say he doesn’t play defense.

And he has heard them say what he has done so far means nothing because he plays for the Hawks.

RealGM's Jason Walker talks to Terry about national perceptions about him, his defense, the point guard position, his contract, and that playoff guarantee.

Read the entire article:

http://hawks.realgm.com/index.php

[Gray Mule]

Jason Terry expresses what we here at Hawksquawk have

been saying all along.

They sound ready to take on the world. Apparently, from

all we read everywhere else, we here are the only ones

who really believe. How many times have we read that

the Hawks need to get a point guard? Or, that Dickau

and JT will be starting together??

Good article, Jaywalker72

Gray Mule

[Guest]

He went alittle too far with the"championship"

comment.Noway we even come close to winning

the title.As much as I'd love to see it the problem

is that it isn't possible.I like the confidence in

himself,but I think he might have alittle too much

confidence in the team.

[Guest]

Does JT really believe the team has what it

takes to get to the finals?Judging by the

look and feeling you get do you think JT

really believes what he says?

[Gray Mule]

If you don't believe in yourself, who else is going to?

I beleive we might make it to the playoffs and loose in

the first round. How does that sound? Sounds like

"I give up" before season starts.

Some of the national media believe that the Hawks are

doomed to failure. Jason Terry believes we will be a

very successful ball club. As much as we admire the

great athletic ability of all the N.B.A. players, who

wouldn't be in the N.B.A. if they didn't have this, the

mental drive to be a successful team, not just an

individual success is very important. The Hawks have

this mental mindset for the upcoming season and it will

be a great asset to them.

Gray Mule

[jaywalker72]

He was saying that the bar isn't just set at the playoffs, that a championship is the ultimate goal.

What Terry does believe is that the Hawks have the talent and the mindset to go all the way. Now, he may change his tune after the season, or he may find that he was right, but when he said that, he was indicating that just making the playoffs was not the ultimate goal....and it shouldn't be.

[Diesel]

THe east is very unstable these days.

For the past three yrs we have had three different Champions of the East. And NJ was like a 29 win team before last season. We have some pretty good pieces on our team. I would even say that aside from the 2 gaurd position, we are better than the Philly team that went to the championship Finals a few yrs ago.

The question is coaching. IF Chuck Daly was our coach, I would say we will win it all. Now that we have Billy Knight on board in the FO, maybe getting Chuck Midseason might be possible??? However, Lon is at the proving grounds right now. We kick off tonight but we have to start winning early. we have too much talent.

What about the West?

Well, if we make it to the finals, anything is possible. I will tell you this...

We'd be the team that the media hates!!!

[Traceman]

more talented than we are. There is not a single team in the conference that I look at and say we just can't beat them in a 7 game series. That being said, there are at least 9 teams in the conference that have about the same amount of talent that we do. In my opinion, we are as talented as any team in the EC with the possible eexceptions of NJ and Indy and I don't think either of those teams are significantly more talented than we are. The bottom line is that we COULD go the the Finals just as we COULD miss the playoffs. I think the race in the EC is going to come down to which teams stay the healthiest, which teams gel the quickest and which coaches do the best job.

[Diesel]

Orlando is a team that we have to be able to handle. They have no C. They have 2 good star players but so do everybody else in the East. IF we are to be a championship quality team, we have to be able to manhandle teams like Orlando, Detroit, and NY... and we have to be able to win on the road... and we have to be able to keep pace with Indy, Milwaukee, and NJ.

[Traceman]

I damn sure don't expect us to blow out a team that has McGrady and a healthy Grant Hill on the floor. McGrady is arguably the best SG in the NBA and if healthy, Hill is arguably the best SF in the NBA. You could put ANY NBA caliber players beside those two and have a chance to win. In addition, that team made the playoffs last year WITHOUT Hill. They won't be a pushover.

I think Detroit made a mistake by trading Stack but they still have everyone else back plus they upgraded at PG with Billups. That team will play hard EVERY night and we definitely won't manhandle them either.

I don't think the Knicks are on the same level as those two teams, even if McDyess is 100%.

I don't think MIL is significantly better than ORL or DET and I think both ORL and DET have a MUCH better coach than IND. I think all those teams (and us) will be battling each other all season.

[Diesel]

Orlando especially because they are a weak team in the frontcourt and our frontcourt should challenge for best in the East... Indy?

So, we should manhandle them (literally) that means take the ball to Reef and let him work the post until there's no more post to be worked.

[Traceman]

have a HUGE advantage on the wings. McGrady is 20x better than Ira and if Hill is healthy, Big Dog will be pressed to hold his own.

McGrady and Hill might not be Jordan and Pippen but if Hill is healthy, they won't be too far behind. Jordan and Pippen had a little more help in the front court but then again, they had better competition than the EC has right now too.

I agree with you that we need to take it to them on the inside but I don't think we are good enough to blow Orlando out (at least on most nights).

[Guest]

Well Trace I'd think we should be able to

beat them sometimes.But realistic this

team isn't going to win a title and the

Hawks probably never will win another

title.The west is where it is at and it

will stay that way til Shaq retires.