The Hawks are Down

[wasBlackHawkDown]

The hawks have two glaring problems No-true Point gaurd and outside of Josh Smith no interior Defense or presence. Contrary to poular opinion however I dont think the Hawks need to add a dominant scorer to be successful instead build a team around defense and strong interior presence.

What we do have is a few solid franchise building blocks in Josh Smith and Joe Johnson and a potential star in Marvin Williams ( at least everyone tells me he is a future star, I personally dont see it.) And the thhird pick in the Draft.

Pauchullia is a servicable center but he is tooo Toni Kukoc-esqe, a big man more concerned with driblling and passing than in playing solid D and staying on the Defensive boards. Harrington is a solid player but honestly nothing special, he has alot of dimae a dozen qualities, 20PPG and no Defense, he however can garner alot of value in a trade. Childress has alot of the qaulities that we missed out on y letting Diaw go however he is just one swing player to many

Offseason:

We make a move on Samuel Dalambert , he has alot of growing up to do but he is what we need A NON OFFENSIVE, DEFENSE FIRST CENTER. Honestly the best player we have had since Nique was Dikembee because he changed any opponents ability to go inside. Dalambert could easily put up 10RPG and 3.5 BPG and give the Hawks the interior defense that is so lacking. We should also go after Philly's pick in order to draft Patrick O'Bryant of Bradley he is a 7'er that will go in the mid-first round and could be the steal of the century. -------> We can offer Philly Pauchulia and possibly Childress in addition, the salaries dont quite work out but their are ways around it.

Next is another high risk project but it could pay off big we go after DeSanga Diop, Yes I know your saying but before you leave this thread in confusion, look at it this way he was a disaster in cleveland, but he had no BBall experience before he came to the league and a bad foot, however this year he has been rebounding and blocking shots in limited time with Dallas, with PT he could become a huge interior presence and a monster on the boards. He is very young and has potential. -------> if we dont give up childress to Philly we can offer him for Diop and a few future picks.

With the third pick we take LaMarcus Aldridge and for no other reason than the fact that he has huge upside, I know Noah is popular right now but the truth is I have known that kid for a while and I will tell you now he isnt a big man he is a Small Forward that grew 3 inches too tall, his glaring lack of strength will be exposed in the NBA. And Tyrus Thomas will probably be the #1 pick.

The #3 Pick and Harrington would be and attractive offer for KG, but my biggest concern with KG is #1, with him around J.Smith and M.Williams wont really develop as fast/or at all and he is heading into the prime of his career which means the Hawks need to be championship ready now, which they are not. -------> I think we need to keep Harrington for a while until we can figure out how to drop him and see how Diop/Dalambert pan out before we move ALdridge

Let Marvin William play a bit at Shooting Gaurd, it will give him an advantage on the post and let him develop his game.

2006 - 07 Hawks

C Diop...........O'Bryant

PF Dalambert..Aldridge... ( Harrrington , until we move him)

SF Smith........M.Williams

SG M.Williams.Stoudamire

PG J.Johnson..Ivey

We become a team with dept at the center and PF with a huge ability to dominate the paint.

What do you all think?

[CBAreject]

(nm)

[Nicholasp27]

so u play 4 of our players outta position: jj/marvin/smoove/daly and start a career backup and traded away 2 of our best young players while not even trading al yet

not only that, but u are trading chill because he's 'logjammed' while using our #3, chill, zaza and a TON of our money to create a logjam at the 4/5 and play smoove outta position and hurt our backcourt depth

[wasBlackHawkDown]

I see the stardom in Diop that the scouts saw years ago, remember he wasnt the #8 pick , with a bad foot, for no reason, he has all the physical tools to be a superstar center. He just needs experience, its obvious his Basketball IQ has improved.

As for players out of position with Billy Knight around that will always be the case but honestly, having Johnson playing Point in a SG's body, Marvin playing SG in a SF's body and Dalambert playing PF is alot better than the days when we had Jason Terry playing SG in a PG's body. We can overmatch teams with bigmen and play tough in the paint. Look at the Lakers Kobe hasnt done a thing without Shaq because of the intangables a solid bigman brings, with Shaq gone Centers playing against the Lakers can come help in the post, and on D the Lakers dont intimidate anyone in the paint.

[Iman]

I thought Diop might be worth trying to pick up last offseason. After seeing him more and in person last Saturday, I just dont see him as a starting NBA center. He has long arms and that's about it, I cant see him being taller than 6'10 and he seems kinda weak to me. I dont think he's starting in front of Dampier due to skill, I think Dallas likes to bring Dampier off the bench with Van Horn and whereas Diop fits with Dirk better. Btw, Dirk has gradually bulked up and now plays much better defense in the paint, hopefully if we take a risk drafting Bargnani or even Aldridge then maybe the same will happen with them.

[wasBlackHawkDown]

I think Aldridge is a potential star but he needs 3 seasons to become one, he is still a kid. I would draft him, but as for filling our immediate needs he cant. Diop to me is a more ready player, he just needs PT and a self esteem boost, the players out there are pretty much even physically, the difference between a bench warmer and an allstar is mental, players need to have drive and a goal that can only come from confidence, Diop's confidence is up a bit and so is his play, I think if we treated him like he was part of the future he would play like it. Physically he has the potential to have s Shaq like body he just needs to get into a Shaq like workout routine.

[wasBlackHawkDown]

Has anyone seen any legit rumors about teams interested in Harrington?

[Diesel]

"Legit Rumor"

HMM??

[wasBlackHawkDown]

LOL! I know its an oximoron to ask about a legit rumor, but I havent seen any real buzz around Harrington on any trade boards or in any media, yet everyone has him listed as top trade bate.

[Diesel]

I think right after the draft you will have all the spin doctors conjuring up trade fantasies...

The truth is that if it's about Money, I don't think there's a team out other than NJ who will give Al more than 8.

[Lascar78]

it is pretty much known that NY and Chicago are interested in Al for starters. Denver was. Other than that, I'm not sure exactly what is truth or rumor.

There are no real trade rumors right now because you can't trade players right now

[wasBlackHawkDown]

True but the truth is I dont see much out there worth trading for the Hawks have no interior Defense, the only players that can help and are available are Dalambert and Diop.

[wasBlackHawkDown]

NY and chicago dont have alot to offer that we dont already have unless we take Starbury or Franchise.

[chillzatl]

stretching it a bit IMO. The guy rebounds and can get some blocks. But I haven't seen anything to make me consider him a "defensive center". Maybe because that's all he really does. He doesn't have much of an offensive game to speak of. But he's hardly a game changer on that end of the court. We would have to package Zaza + picks or players. He and his contract aren't worth it.

[Lascar78]

Channing Frye and Ben Gordon beg to differ

[wasBlackHawkDown]

Well I agree to an extent as is now he isnt the kind of defensive presence he could be, he has alot of Theo Ratliff qaulities to him, but if he bulks up 20 or 30 lbs and we bring in Mutumbo to coach him, he will be the Defensive player of the year. To me Zaza is hopelessly offensive minded, he behaves like there is no such thing as defense. Ideally I dont want the Center that involved in the offense because it distracts from him playing solid D. Look at Shaq if he wasnt so preoccupied with dcoring he would have been the greatest shot blocker in NBA history.

[wasBlackHawkDown]

Channing Fry is a PF not a Center IMO, and he plays little to no D. Ben Gordon is a forward of which we have 20. Trading Harrington for Gordon only adds to our Logjam at the wing positions.

[Lascar78]

Frye is a 6'11" PF/C loaded with potential, who can block shots, and we could use the hell out of him

Ben Gordon is a PG/SG who could easily bring the ball up under pressure, and let JJ continue to be the primary ballhandler in the halfcourt set. Ben Gordon is no more of a forward than Salim is. Do you watch the NBA?

[wasBlackHawkDown]

LOL! @ Ben Gordon is no more of a forward than Salim is.

Have you ever watched the NBA because Salim is alot of things and none of them are a gaurd except his height. Look if we pick up Gordon then unless we want to continue to be undersized @ PF with J.Smith we need to move either Smith or Williams, we have tooo many wing players, Getting Gordon would only add to our problems.

Frye is like KG we could put him @ Center but he will under perform until we move him to PF.

[Lascar78]

salim is a forward? Salim doesn't have a forward bone in his body. I'd like to know what traits you see that are that of a forward.

Salim is the very definition of a shooting guard trapped in a point guard's body. Which would make him a guard.