Zaza Pachulia

[shock]

I don't think he gets enough respect or recognition on this board.

How old is he? 21? 22? He's only getting better each year. Do you guys have any idea what his fair market value is in this league??? We've got him for 3 more years at 12 million dollars, which is a freakin steal.

I also don't see him being out of the starting lineup. I honestly think he is too good of a player and Marvin just isnt quite ready, YET. I look for our opening day starting lineup (pending no injuries) to look like this: Speedy, JJ, Smoove, Shelden, Zaza.

Alot gets said about Marvins, Smooves, and Sheldens potential, but not much about Zaza's. Don't mean to rant, I just think he deserves a little more credit than he gets. He played tons of minutes and took a hell of a beating for us last year and im glad we drafted Sheldon to give him some help.

[swolehawk2]

I agree...the only reason u here anyone complain is because of our defense...bu t really out performs his contract, and I expect him to improve. He needs to rebound defensively a little better...but it is about time we had a find in free agency like ZZ.

[chillzatl]

well said. People talk about him like he's 32, not 22. As if he can't improve anything any further. I'm as interested to see how much he improves as I am anyone on the team.

[GMyrberg]

I think Z gets plenty of respect here, especially for his contract and tough play in an era of, shall I say it, "Foyle-like" contracts. He mostly takes some, IMHO, pretty accurate hits on his defense. Some are not inclined to play D, some are not athletic enough to play it well. In my mind, Zaza is more of the latter type. Would be great to see Solomon develop as he seems to have both the desire and the raw ability.

[Duff_Man]

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I don't think he gets enough respect or recognition on this board.

How old is he? 21? 22? He's only getting better each year. Do you guys have any idea what his fair market value is in this league??? We've got him for 3 more years at 12 million dollars, which is a freakin steal.

I also don't see him being out of the starting lineup. I honestly think he is too good of a player and Marvin just isnt quite ready, YET. I look for our opening day starting lineup (pending no injuries) to look like this: Speedy, JJ, Smoove, Shelden, Zaza.

Alot gets said about Marvins, Smooves, and Sheldens potential, but not much about Zaza's. Don't mean to rant, I just think he deserves a little more credit than he gets. He played tons of minutes and took a hell of a beating for us last year and im glad we drafted Sheldon to give him some help.

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I absolutley love Zaza. I don't know why people rag on him, but I go to another post to see posters trying to trade for Adonal Foyle. Zaza has a pretty high ceiling and I think he can be a 15/10 guy depending on how things pan out. He really did all he could last year and for god's sake, he hit his free throws. His passing improved and he was aggressive and fought hard for boards. Gotta love the way he got things done.

[shock]

Exactly. He did everything we asked of him to the best of his ability and did an exceptional job considering his experience and contract. In time, things like his shot, defensive spacing, passing, will improve. I dont know if it will be a moderate or an extreme improvement though, only time will tell.

[Plainview1981]

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I don't think he gets enough respect or recognition on this board.

How old is he? 21? 22? He's only getting better each year. Do you guys have any idea what his fair market value is in this league??? We've got him for 3 more years at 12 million dollars, which is a freakin steal.

I also don't see him being out of the starting lineup. I honestly think he is too good of a player and Marvin just isnt quite ready, YET. I look for our opening day starting lineup (pending no injuries) to look like this: Speedy, JJ, Smoove, Shelden, Zaza.

Alot gets said about Marvins, Smooves, and Sheldens potential, but not much about Zaza's. Don't mean to rant, I just think he deserves a little more credit than he gets. He played tons of minutes and took a hell of a beating for us last year and im glad we drafted Sheldon to give him some help.

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I absolutley love Zaza. I don't know why people rag on him, but I go to another post to see posters trying to trade for Adonal Foyle. Zaza has a pretty high ceiling and I think he can be a 15/10 guy depending on how things pan out. He really did all he could last year and for god's sake, he hit his free throws. His passing improved and he was aggressive and fought hard for boards. Gotta love the way he got things done.

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It's called defense. When your big and don't play defense it hurts the team.

[shock]

Sorry Hotlanta, your opinion doesn't count. We know how you roll.

You seem to really be into music though. Maybe you should spend more of your time on music message boards where constant negativity and criticism, no matter how absurd, is widely embraced and accepted as fact.

[Plainview1981]

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Sorry Hotlanta, your opinion doesn't count. We know how you roll.

You seem to really be into music though. Maybe you should spend more of your time on music message boards where constant negativity and criticism, no matter how absurd, is widely embraced and accepted as fact.

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You get entertainment from watching cars going around on an oval for 3 hours. You opinion doesn't count for much. Go watch TURN LEFT NASCAR. You know those little wheel things that animals in a cage get in and go round and round in... That's what NASCAR is... The human version of that.

You might be an expert on the WWE on 4 wheels... But you're not enough of an NBA expert to talk about others opinion when it comes to basketball.

The Hawks give up 102PPG. That's not going to just go away without addressing the bad defensive players.

[exodus]

So what specifically does Zaza do so well? He shoots free throws reasonably well and can handle contact well. He certainly rebounds his own blocked shots well. He can get by most bigs off the dribble.

Other than that pretty much everything he does is weak. He doesn't shoot jumpers well. He can't finish inside well. He gets his shot blocked all the time and turns it over a lot. His defense and defensive rebounding both suck.

The only way he can really become effective offensively would be if he could hit that 15 foot jumper consistently and force guys to come out and play him. Then he could drive by them.

Any team could have signed him last year. The Bucks could have matched but chose not to. They decided to pay Gads $6 million per year instead of paying Zaza $4 million per year, which should be self explanatory.

[Plainview1981]

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Sorry Hotlanta, your opinion doesn't count. We know how you roll.

You seem to really be into music though. Maybe you should spend more of your time on music message boards where constant negativity and criticism, no matter how absurd, is widely embraced and accepted as fact.

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Furthermore, I'm not saying that ZaZa should be stuck on the bench and not play... He seems like a 25-27MPG type of player that you bring off the bench.

Marvin Williams is the 2nd pick in the draft. You got a team that's not winning.... You got to let the guys you expect to become franchise players play...

ZaZa may or may not improve... But Marvin's development is WAY more important to the Hawks future. Why draft Marvin Williams over a position of need if you're going to keep him coming off the bench just because you got another player on the cheap side?

It just doesn't make alot of sense. Moreover, considering you're likely to lose one of the following: Childress, Smith, Marvin Williams.. you need to find out which ones you have to keep.

It's senseless to have a 2nd and 6th pick coming off the bench for a 11/7 guy that doesn't play good defense. You got to tell you're high potential guys to take a shyt or get off the pot. They got to play and see if they can cut it.

Just because ZaZa averaged 11/7 doesn't mean he should keep the starting job. It's about improving and winning. Lots of NBA guys can post stats. But the Hawks need improvement on the defensive side of the ball and the young players need to develop at the same time.

The Hawks should be starting this team.

PG:Speedy Claxton

SG:Joe Johnson

SF:Josh Smith

PF:Marvin Williams

C:Shelden Williams

Shelden will backup the PF spot so ZaZa can still get 25MPG.

the problem with ZaZa seems to me is that he's not only a bad defensive player... But his offensive is VERY unpolished. Is that about right? I did see the first few games off the year and that's the way he appear to me.

He scores, but in a very unpolished way. Which I'm not sure is something you want when the guy plays bad defense.

[Duff_Man]

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So what specifically does Zaza do so well? He shoots free throws reasonably well and can handle contact well. He certainly rebounds his own blocked shots well. He can get by most bigs off the dribble.

Other than that pretty much everything he does is weak. He doesn't shoot jumpers well. He can't finish inside well. He gets his shot blocked all the time and turns it over a lot. His defense and defensive rebounding both suck.

The only way he can really become effective offensively would be if he could hit that 15 foot jumper consistently and force guys to come out and play him. Then he could drive by them.

Any team could have signed him last year. The Bucks could have matched but chose not to. They decided to pay Gads $6 million per year instead of paying Zaza $4 million per year, which should be self explanatory.

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And Zaza had 11.7 points and 7.9 boards. Gadz had 5.2 and 3.1. Great deal for the Bucks there, I assume. Not to mention Zaza is 6 years younger. We paid a guy a very reasonable contract who is on the upswing of his career. His D will get better with time. Zaza was a workhorse. I like where his career may go.

[exodus]

How many points do you think Zaza would score with the Bucks playing behind Bogut and Mags?

Zaza's shooting is lame for a center because he can't finish in the lane worth a crap. When there is someone on him he just leans into them and throws up a shot from his hip hoping to get a foul.

[Duff_Man]

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How many points do you think Zaza would score with the Bucks playing behind Bogut and Mags?

Zaza's shooting is lame for a center because he can't finish in the lane worth a crap. When there is someone on him he just leans into them and throws up a shot from his hip hoping to get a foul.

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Well, he averaged better than Gadz while they played together so I guess better than Gadz who gets $2 million more?

Zaza showed a very nice upside, heart and grit in there. Let's not kill him for being thrust into a defensive situation he was too young/raw to handle. I really think he can make a big stride this year after having to match up with a lot of centers last year.

[AHF]

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How many points do you think Zaza would score with the Bucks playing behind Bogut and Mags?

Zaza's shooting is lame for a center because he can't finish in the lane worth a crap. When there is someone on him he just leans into them and throws up a shot from his hip hoping to get a foul.

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Well, he averaged better than Gadz while they played together so I guess better than Gadz who gets $2 million more?

Zaza showed a very nice upside, heart and grit in there. Let's not kill him for being thrust into a defensive situation he was too young/raw to handle. I really think he can make a big stride this year after having to match up with a lot of centers last year.

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Agreed. Zaza is very young and has shown some ability and some real tenacity on the court. At $4 M a year we should be loving him.