The One Question that has to be answered is.......

[rascurrein]

I still don't get it. We are judging Al as a "vet", and he is only 25 years old (almost 26 since he borned 02/17/1980). He is not a vet, i could understand if somebody saids that we should trade Al for a vet in his position, but the trade wont solve the problems of the team. We are not playing as a team, and maybe i'm too blind to see how one single player will make us a better team. An argument here is that Al is not a defensive player, and i agree that defense win games, but defense is generated by the team and not by one player. And we can't demand Al to play a deffence game when he plays about 40 minutes a game and we depend on his % on field goals to win. So like i said before, we need a team-play that can support Al's style of play, then we will enjoy his scoring.

Finally, reading the posts around here i believe that the most of you are seeking for a new SIR CHARLES.

[Wurider05]

Good point dude.

[Seano]

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We are judging Al as a "vet", and he is only 25 years old (almost 26 since he borned 02/17/1980).

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Well he is a vet. This is his 8th year in the league, so in NBA or any other terms he's a vet- and by Atlanta Hawks standards he's Methuselah. Still young, but he's very experienced and he is *definitely* a vet.

[kooshdoctor]

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We are judging Al as a "vet", and he is only 25 years old (almost 26 since he borned 02/17/1980).

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Well he is a vet. This is his 8th year in the league, so in NBA or any other terms he's a vet- and by Atlanta Hawks standards he's Methuselah. Still young, but he's very experienced and he is *definitely* a vet.

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so wouldn't this mean we would want to keep al? wouldn't this make him so much better than any other young player out there? we get a player with experience AND potential, when all the younger guys have right now is potential. i think we are all assuming that al is as good as he can get. why can't he improve on defense with coaching? why can't he improve when he's only 26? you can't tell me players peak at 26 because it's not true. i don't think you can get rid of someone with 8 years experience at age 26, for someone who might be good some day, it's just too much to risk for a team that needs to build. the hawks franchise always looks for tomorrow, why not look towards today? he's a proven scorer and rebounder, and he's still fairly young. if you keep trading proven players and getting potential, you'll end up just like the hawks, in the bottom of the league every year

[exodus]

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he's a proven scorer and rebounder,

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Sure he is a proven 18 ppg scorer, but a subpar rebounder. This month in fact he is averaging only 5.6 rebounds. And he has shown zero progress defensively while he has been here.

[Wurider05]

I think that is why the question that needs to be answered. If Al is a SF then the rebounding numbers aren't that bad but rather they are respectable but if he is our power forward then the rebounding numbers suck. Hell Marvin is pulling down almost as many rebounds as AL in way less minutes.

[Diesel]

That's one of the problems that we have with our system. From exchange to exchange, we don't know what forward position Al is supposed to be. If he's on the court with Smoove, then supposedly, he's playing Sf. If he's on the floor with Marvin/Josh C then supposedly, he's the PF.

Who do you lump him in with. I think you have to step away from the stats sometimes and actually watch the games. Talking to exodus is like talking to Bush. Ex doesn't watch the games... He reads the boxscores and the commentary on messageboards and try to re-create what happened.

However, when you watch, you see nothing wrong with Al or Zaza's or Smoove's rebounding. Rebounding is not our weak point unless Ben Wallace is in the House and allowed to go over the back 2 to 3 times without a penalty....

[exodus]

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Ex doesn't watch the games... He reads the boxscores and the commentary on messageboards and try to re-create what happened.

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I watch all the games and no, Al isn't playing sf when Smith is in, even though he should be. He was matched up on Howard in the first half of the Houston game. What position does Howard play? And who was he matched up with against Detroit?

Nice try. I agree that he should be playing the 3 but that isn't what is happening. As a matter of fact after the first Denver game, when he really started going off from the perimeter, I said now it should be obvious even to Woody that he should be playing the 3 and Smith the 4.

It just hasn't happened.

[exodus]

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Rebounding is not our weak point unless Ben Wallace is in the House and allowed to go over the back 2 to 3 times without a penalty

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Actually it is a problem, at least on the defensive end. Our guys do a poor job boxing out.

[exodus]

The Hawks defensive rebounding is even worse than I thought:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/statistics?s...06&seasontype=2

Of course it doesn't surprise me at all that you hadn't noticed this problem.

[Lascar78]

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I watch all the games and no, Al isn't playing sf when Smith is in, even though he should be. He was matched up on Howard in the first half of the Houston game. What position does Howard play? And who was he matched up with against Detroit?

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Agreed.

Whenever Al's in the game he defends the power forward and plays in the post on offense. That makes him the power forward. Smith has not played in the post at all, which I find disappointing

[Wurider05]

So the postion he plays is dependenton whether or not we are on defense or offense. I mean Josh Smith has been taking alot of jumpers but it just seems to me that he needs to be in the post. I am kinda of confused. This idea of interchangeable players can only work when you already have established players. You can't have young players who are trying to learn the NBA playing different positions everynight, it has to stunt their growth right????

[exodus]

On offense I don't think positioning matters that much. It is the defense where it is important and I think most of us would like to see Al defend the 3 and Smith defend the 4 but it isn't happening.

Another Woody head-scratcher.

[Lascar78]

actually I am more concerned about offense. I know Smith can guard real 4's, and will improve with time. My concern is whether he can be our inside scorer once Al is gone. If he can't, we might have a problem

[exodus]

I don't see him playing the post on offense. Basically I see him pulling 4s out with his mid-range game and then getting past them off the dribble when they come out.

He doesn't have good hands so I don't think we will see a lot of post scoring from him. I can only remember one good post move from him all year.

[Lascar78]

well in that case we better get a C who not only plays good D but can score in the post. We already settle for too many jumpers as is, we better get some sort of inside game on offense

[exodus]

With the rules changes regarding zones and hand checking I am starting to think post scoring isn't as important as it used to be. I think the tide is shifting to favor players who can beat their men off the dribble.

They may be able to get by with post play by committee. JJ can score some in the post and I am hoping Smith will be able to play there a little. Hopefully they will get a big who can score there some.

The big key.....gulp....will be Marvin. He will have a height advangage at the 3 almost every night. They keep trying to post him so he must be showing some post ability in practice but in the games he either passes out or forces up a bad shot moving into traffic. Just once I would like to see him shoot a fadeaway just to see if he can do it. He also definitely needs to get stronger.

[Packfill]

Will he have height advantage? Aren't most 3's in the 6'7"+ range? Marvin is 6'8"ish. I am thinking of T. Prince, LBJ, Pierce, TMac, RJ, R. Lewis, G. Wallace, C. Butler, Battier, Deng, Marion, Artest, Carmelo, etc. Marvin would not have a meaningfrul size or speed advantage over any of those guys.

[exodus]

Marvin has a standing reach of 9', which is only 2.5" less than Bogut. Lewis, Deng and Prince are in that area. Most others aren't.

[Packfill]

Yeah, but guys like RJ, TMac, LBJ, Wallace, etc. can jump out of the gym and are great athletes, so no real disadvantage there.