whats our biggest problem now???

[cyman3]

When Lon was here, it was easy to point out our big problems

1)Defense- being too lazy and getting outrebounded

2)Turnovers

When Stotts took over, it seems like we got the DEFENSE DOWN (both Washington and SA were low scoring games)... but whats the problem now?

1)Offense!

How many times did u see the hawks try to shoot with 1 second left on the shotclock vs the Wizards? There were times when Mike Wilks had to take the shot, but gave it up with a few seconds left (a rookie mistake which is understandable... im sure hes not 100% confident he can play at this level yet... so hes still trying to adjust and play smart..)

Shareef will be our first option but there will be games when hes doubled/tripled team.. then what?

after he has the ball and see the double/triple team, he can pass the ball out... but who then can make the shot?

JT and MR. INCONSISTANT ROBINSON

I get so scared when DARVIN HAM and IRA NEWBLE are in the game at the SAME TIME! Theo's offense isint really there either!

wat do we do?? i think i smell a trade coming up!

[Guest]

You see we have a bad mix of players.We need

a guard that can slash/play defense/shoot and

handle the rock....Too bad Michael Finley is not

up for trade...or maybe Eddie Jones even if it

meant trading JT whom I feel he along with

Big Dog are alot of the Hawks problems..They

don't rotate correctly and they don't play defense.

[cyman3]

for one, hes our ONLY reliable 3-point shooter on our team

two, hes Mr Clutch

third, hes one of the only players on our team that can create for himself...

him and Abdur-Rahim have a nice, two player game... we just need more help on offense that doesnt brick...

[Guest]

There is really only two 6 foot SG's Iverson and David

Wesley....JT is not Iverson and he isn't as strong as

David Wesley...He can't play SG effectively and he

is not worth the contract he is going to ask for...

He either needs to be traded or turned into a Bobby

Jackson type of role.Actually I think Bobby Jackson

might be a better player.....

JT can't continue to play some much as SG and still

get a big contract...

[Diesel]

Our problem now is that we have to learn offense.

Stotts have to go through and teach offense to a team that before relied on Sandlot type play for offense. It's hard to teach Structure and we shouldn't expect much structure in place in 5 days.

I think that after our 5 game homestand, Our Offense should be showing signs of getting better. I think Stotts started with Defense. Because defense is easy. Next is alterations to the playbook. For a few games, our offense will stall we will look unsure because it should be a whole new world for them. BUT... in the end, we should be much better. By mid Jan. we should be hard to beat... After the allstar break, we should be moving up the ranks.

[Guest]

I thought about that...but then I remembered Big

Dog is on the team to hog shots.Hard to run a

respectable offense with a ball hog like Big Hog.

I think Big Hog has to go...

[Iman]

I think at the end of last year everyone thought JT would be fine at the point. I actually was worried we'd have to pay him Bibby type money to keep him. Now he is back as a tweener, much like Bobby Jackson who I agree is probably better than JT. I guess that could be good come contract time, JT gets Bobby money instead of Bibby money..lol. The main negative though is we see that we still need another starting guard that can help run the point or we need to make a trade. When DJ comes back we are no better off, he cant dribble or create either but at least we'd have some guard defense and an outside threat. If we play Dickau with JT and BigHog we better get 20 pts a piece outta them cause that's what they'd give up defensively.

It all adds up to a player move to me. I'd be willing to give up anyone except Shareef and I'd rather keep JT and pair him up with an Eddie Jones type player. What I had rather see is just a small move. We can see what Wilks did to our turnover ratio, now if we can just find a 2 guard who can really handle and playmake we'd be better off, somebody like Smitty or Jon Barry is what I'd like to see. Unfortunately both are fairly critical to their teams and wouldnt come cheaply. There's gotta be some European smaller version of Kukoc out there we can grab up cheap?

[cyman3]

"JT gets Bobby money instead of Bibby money..lol"

- thats how i see it....lol

[Guest]

what's Jackson getting?

[TheDude]

our players' skill levels should not even be in question...shareef is an allstar and will be for a long time..glenn robinson can score at will, even though he's had problems with turnovers...jason terry is nasty, clutch player...

i know we;re all trying to figure out what's wrong with our team, but freaking out because they haven't got a playing identity yet and didn't play defense and getting rid of allstars for other players is a little hasty in my opinion.

david wesley is not even close to the playing abilities of jason terry..not even close...

i think our coach could not motivate our players...that was evident..we scored very well but could not play defense..defense is motivation... it seems that the players are motivated to play defense now...yes we lost to washington but our players aren't going to just forget how to score..

we are fine...what we really need is some stability as far as defined roles and an indentity like kenny smith said...so the team knows what's it's bread and butter is..

i think what we may see is terry stotts saying "to hale" with all the too-short-to-play-sg crap about jason terry...unfortunately the hawks need to make a decision about that so jason can focus on one...but this wilks kid may continue to get the nod at starting pg..but i've not given up on jason terry for point guard yet...i mean hasn'the played that his whole life?

[Playmaker0017]

Everyone,

Stotts offensive plan isn't implemented yet. I am not defending him... just saying that a new offensive scheme will take a while to master. We might look like it is preseason ball for a couple games, because we are trying new things.

HotLantaDude is right though, we cannot run the offense if Big Dog continues to hog shots and ruin our flow. He won't pass and is the biggest black hole ever. He doesn't offer anything for our team, he can't pass and he doesn't create for anyone. The ball goes in... then it goes up.

As for JT... when did he become "Mr. Clutch"? He had one game winner, that hardly means clutch. I love the little guy, but I would hardly call him clutch yet.

Play.

[chillzatl]

Hats off to Stotts. He's already made an impression on this team. I think he has what it takes to be a very successful "new era" coach in this league. In only 3 games he's got these guys to do things that Lon never once got them to do. But that doesn't change the fact that we are a flawed team at the core.

1. We have too many limited (one dimensional) players. I've said it before and I'll say it again. We don't have enough players that can do multiple things. Our defenders can't do anything but defend. Our scorers can't do anything but score. You can try to excuse this by using rebounding. But I consider that to be ancillary. JT is really the only well rounded player we have and even he is limited in what we really need at the PG, floor leadership.

2. Our stars lack the heart to push it to the next level. Yeah i'm sure some of you can't see this. THese guys work so hard, blah blah blah. Whatever. Heart and desire aren't just about working hard to stay at your current level. It's about doing whatever it takes to get to the next level, and none of our stars want to do that.

a. Shareef could be a superstar in this league. As evidence by his performances against some of the biggest defensive names in the game (duncan, wallace, etc). BUt he doesn't have the desire to bring it like that EVERY NIGHT. If he did, he could be a 25/10 guy, a superstar.

b. JT could be a solid defender. He's got the physical tools to do it. But he lacks the heart and commitment to get it done. He let himself get embarassed by an offensively limited player (travis best) on an offensively limited team (miami). The problem is that it doesn't really matter who we are playing, he almost always gets burned by someone that he's supposed to be covering.

c. Bigdog simply has no desire to be anything more than what he's been. If the ball isn't in his hands, he doesn't seem to care about the game. Personally I don't think his conditioning is very good either. He just doesn't look like he's in good shape out there.

------------

We can still make the playoffs with these problems. But we aren't going to go far. Personally I think our two quickest and best options for success are this:

1. Package JT and someone (nazr?) for a moderate level PG who can run an offense and a SG capable of scoring and defending. JT can't run an offense. He can get his assists, but he can't consistantly run an offense and make it run smooth.

2. Trade to get a player (SG or SF) that can handle, score and defend, to play along side JT. The only way JT is going to succeed on this team is if he has someone to help him handle the ball. If he's our only ball handler, we will go nowhere because he can't run an offense. We can't trade Shareef. He's the only inside presence we have. We really need an Eddie Jones type player.

I honeslty never thought I would suggest trading JT. But if we can't get a player to help him where he needs it most, we need to move him for a player that can run the offense. I think we have the players to find success otherwise. We just need someone who can run things and get the ball to the other players where they have the best chance of scoring.

[Playmaker0017]

ChillzAtl,

The only problem with trading Terry is that it leaves the biggest cancer in the city - and that cancer is named Glenn Robinson.

He can easily be shipped off, even with his contract. I think there have to be some teams that could use a guy who can flat out shoot.

Next year we can add Kenny Anderson, who has already stated he wants to finish out in Atlanta. I mean, how open do you need to say you are to playing for a franchise than "I've moved my whole family there in preparation".

He WANTS to play here.

Wait a season to pick up the PG.

Get rid of Big "ball" Hog Robinson.

Play.

[chillzatl]

I think bigdog has plenty of value. He's a 20/6 guy. But he has to be on the right team. If he had a very good point guard I think he'd be excellent. Because then you wouldn't have to rely on him to handle the ball. I think he's a fine player otherwise. He's just being called on and trying, to do something he can't do. We don't have a playmaker that can consistanly find him for open shots.

Apart from that I don't see him as some cancer like a lot of people. But we HAVE to do one or the other. We've either got to move JT for a playmaker or move bigdog for a SG/SF that can handle the ball, score and defend. They dont' even have to be a great scorer, just 14-16 ppg.

[Playmaker0017]

ChillzAtl,

I agree he is being utilized completely improperly. But he will never be what the Hawks need.

He can't play defense.

Read my post on Kukoc vs. Robinson.

I don't think Robinson is without skill or merit... but he isn't what the Hawks need.

He cannot create for ANYONE else. He has arguably the best mid-range jumper in the game. But, the simple fact is, that it doesn't get fouls... it doesn't get double teams ... and it doesn't help others get open.

He is a black hole, of that there can be little dispute. He doesn't know how to do anything other than shoot.

If he were on a team with a strong defense that could mask his weakness, and an offense that set picks... he'd be fine.

Atlanta is not that team.

If we had a healthy Kukoc, we would be the team we were before the All-Star break. He brought SO much to this team.

Another loss is DeMarr... if he were healthy, he might help overshadow Big Dog's defensive liabilities.

Play.

[swolehawk2]

Please get off Kukoc...we definitely don't need Kukoc...he can't stay healthy...and when he was healthy some nights it looked if he just didn't care...we need somebody who brings energy and passion EVERY night. I still say bringing Dog off the bench is better for this team right now...but probably isn't realistic.

[Diesel]

Basically, that's Grob's game. He is a scorer. Pierce is the same way when he gets into scorers position.

What we must do is configure offensive sets whereby we work the game between JT and SAR and then when needed pass out to Big Dog who will score.

However, since early season, it seems like we have gotten into the position of giving the ball to Grob first and then watching him play. Our team offense was derived around too much 1 on 1 play. That's how Lon built it. However, I agree, the offense will take some time to be implemented correctly. That's why we should look forward to the homestand.

[chillzatl]

I agree totally about his game. Which is why I said, if we brought in a PG and SG that could run the offense and score, they would be able to make Bigdog into the spotup shooter he needs to be. Our offense just doesn't flow enough to allow him to catch shots in motion, which is what he needs.

[Guest]

Big Dog is not Pierce, or even close. I really don't know how you can make the comparison. Pierce can dribble, defend a little, shoot the three, and create his own shot. Robinson can none of these things. Not a one.

he's agreat spot shooter, that's about it.

[dimes4life]

No doubt, Pierce is WAY better than G-Rob. Robinson is an offensive threat-when I was watching him play he could definitely his the jumper, but Pierce is WAY more athletic, can pass better, and rebound better. Plus, he gives more effort. And look at his team....all they have is a bunch of complimentary players and Walker who is an all around player. So if you look at both teams on paper the Hawks look better, but who is chalking up victories and who isn't........THERE IS NO COMPARISON. THAT IS LIKE TRYING TO COMPARE REEF TO WEBBER.