Why Chris Paul Wouldn't Have Fixed Our Problems

[vdunkndunk]

OK, I know many people here are tired of the Chris Paul debate, and I am too. I just wanted to point out for the last time that, while Chris Paul is great PG and would have probably made more sense for the Hawks because we already had Smoove, Chill, and JJ, nevertheless Chris Paul would NOT have made us a playoff team last season or fixed our most glaring need, because scoring wasn't our problem.

To do this I'm going to cite a portion of John Hollinger's preview of both teams, were he points out that the Hawks offense was actually much, much better than the Hornets. Here's what John Hollinger said in his review of the Hawks today on ESPN, pointing out that the Hawks offense was actually pretty good and their defense was terrible:

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Despite the holes at point guard and center, Atlanta was a very solid offensive team, a fact that might surprise a lot of people. With scorers like Harrington and Johnson and several complementary players capable of putting the ball in the hoop, Atlanta ranked 12th in the NBA in offensive efficiency. A particular strength was offensive rebounding, as Pachulia, Smith and Childress excelled.

Instead, defense proved to be the Hawks' undoing. Atlanta ranked 27th in opponent field-goal percentage and 28th in defensive rebounding, so if they didn't force a turnover they were in big trouble. Partly, this was a reflection of Atlanta's youth -- players like Smith, Williams, Childress and Salim Stoudamire were learning on the fly, and after many opponent baskets you'd see a lot of bewildered expressions and confused pointing. But Atlanta's interior defense was also a major weakness, as the Hawks' lack of size and strength put them at a disadvantage nearly every night.

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Compare that to what he said about the Hornets, whose offense was actually much WORSE than the Hawks:

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Unfortunately, that still didn't make the Hornets a good offensive team. With no low-post threat and tepid outside shooting, New Orleans/Oklahoma City (the club's inconvenient moniker until it returns to the Big Easy full-time) ranked just 26th in the NBA in offensive efficiency.

Of particular note was the team's inefficient shooting. The Hornets ranked second to last in true shooting percentage at 51.5 percent -- only Portland was worse. New Orleans/Oklahoma City didn't shoot the ball well, ranking 26th in the league at 44 percent, but what really killed the Hornets was a lack of 3-point shooting. Not only did the Hornets rank 25th in terms of percentage (33.8), but they had trouble just getting a clean look from outside -- only the Clippers shot a lower percentage of their shots from beyond the arc than the Hornets (13.8).

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[macdaddy]

Look. I don't care about your "facts" or "objective" "opinion". Chris Paul would have turned the Hawks into a championship team last year, and Marvin has already proven to be the biggest bust in league history. Expect CP to win the MVP this year and Marvin will be trying out for a Slam Ball team in Long Beach next summer.

Sorry.

Take this totally outside of the Chris Paul debate (if there is one). The important point is that our offense was good. Other teams, especially in the East, had trouble stopping us. We improve to just a decent defensive team this year and we are a much, much better team.

[Swatguy]

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Look. I don't care about your "facts" or "objective" "opinion". Chris Paul would have turned the Hawks into a championship team last year, and Marvin has already proven to be the biggest bust in league history. Expect CP to win the MVP this year and Marvin will be trying out for a Slam Ball team in Long Beach next summer.

Sorry.

Take this totally outside of the Chris Paul debate (if there is one). The important point is that our offense was good. Other teams, especially in the East, had trouble stopping us. We improve to just a decent defensive team this year and we are a much, much better team.

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I will be celebrating as Marvin thrives will you change your screen name.

[Packfill]

There is one fundamental flaw in your theory.

That flaw is that Marvin does not fix the defensive problem anymore then Paul, but the minutes give to Marvin at forward will likely cut into the minutes given to Sheldon and Smoove. Sheldon and Smoove, more then any two players currently on the Hawks roster, have the chance to improve the Hawks interior defense (Smoove as a shotblocker and Sheldon as a rugged interior defender).

For the record, I would have picked Paul, but am not throwing wood on that fire today. Rather, my point is that the Hawks interior defense will only improve by getting players on the court who have the potential to play good interior defense. Maybe Marvin will show he can play good interior defense this year - thus fortifying your initial theory, but we didn't see it last year (you can make a very strong argument that we didn't see it from Smoove either for what it is worth).

[CBAreject]

So Bogut was our man. Too bad he didn't fall to us.

[CBAreject]

Pfffft. Facts are meaningless. You can use facts to prove anything.

[Diesel]

Paul would have indeed helped the Hawks...

If not last year, then definitely over the next 10 years.

Getting to the playoffs isn't our only goal. We want a championship calibre team.

For that you don't need a PG by committee. You need strength at the PG Position.

[OGRat]

I wanted Deron. Paul was too much of a defensive liability.

[vdunkndunk]

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There is one fundamental flaw in your theory.

That flaw is that Marvin does not fix the defensive problem anymore then Paul

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My theory isn't that Marvin helped us more than Paul, it's simply that Paul wouldn't have helped us as much last season as the national media seems to think...I've read over and over that we could have been a playoff team if we'd have drafted Paul, and I just don't think that's true.

[vdunkndunk]

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Paul would have indeed helped the Hawks...

If not last year, then definitely over the next 10 years.

Getting to the playoffs isn't our only goal. We want a championship calibre team.

For that you don't need a PG by committee. You need strength at the PG Position.

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I agree with most of what you're saying here, but I don't see it as a direct response to my initial post. Maybe Paul would have been a better pick in the long term, but it's still too early to say.

Again, my only point is that Paul wouldn't have significanly improved the team last season and almost certainly couldn't have led us to the playoffs.

Paul's main contributions come on offense, but we actually had a better offense than the Hornets last season. What we needed (and still need) was defense.

Of course, acquiring a great PG for years to come wouldn't have hurt, but it just wasn't our biggest need like the national media says over and over again.

Basically, I think the fact that we needed a PG more than a SF at draft time has tricked nearly everyone in the world into thinking that PG was our biggest need, when clearly it wasn't (and the stats back that up).

[Packfill]

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There is one fundamental flaw in your theory.

That flaw is that Marvin does not fix the defensive problem anymore then Paul

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My theory isn't that Marvin helped us more than Paul, it's simply that Paul wouldn't have helped us as much last season as the national media seems to think...I've read over and over that we could have been a playoff team if we'd have drafted Paul, and I just don't think that's true.

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I don't ever remembering reading or hearing anyone suggest that the Hawks would have been a playoff team last year with or without Paul - the team was just too young and inexperienced.

With Paul, you have a great backcourt for the next 6+ years along with a strong forward rotation with Smoove, Sheldon and Childress. Something to think about.

Perhaps Marvin will explode this year and make all this discussion moot. I hope he does, I just am not sure it will happen.

[bird_dirt]

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I wanted Deron. Paul was too much of a defensive liability.

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you aren't alone.

this is pathetic how long this cp3 thing is dragging out. EVERYONE in the nation had bogut at 1, marvin at 2. bk said if we got the first draft pick, we would've taken bogut. if he would've taken a pg, it would've been deron williams anyway, largely due to his size. no one is saying anything about utah taking deron over paul, why can't people let the chris paul thing go? LET IT GO! cp is good, marvin is good. it's sad when a player you want wasn't picked, but there is still some room for being happy that at least we did get a good player. there's no telling what would've happened if cp was here--it's pure speculation and conjecture. for all we know, he may not have meshed with the rest of the players, he may have gotten hurt, he may have spent significant time on the bench his first year, he could've gotten arrested late night in buckhead... ANYTHING could've happened and people could just as easily been b!tching about why did we take chris paul and not deron, or marvin, or whatever other ROY candidate may have stepped up in that alternate universe. LET IT GO YOU WALTER SHEEP!

[Diesel]

You can never be too good on Offense!

Haven't you learned anything from Phoenix??

As far as our offense being "good".. I would say that if we had Paul, the "good" would have bene good enough to get us to the playoffs in the east.

For as good as we were, we lacked offensive leadership. That's something that Paul gave to Charlotte. Defensively, we would have had our woes, but our offense would have overshawdowed them much like Phoenix 2 years ago.

[CBAreject]

I also think it is ridiculous that no one says anything about the Jazz taking Deron over Paul, even though there was some debate at the time over which PG to take 3rd. There was no debate whatsoever about who the top 2 picks were.

[Popeye]

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I also think it is ridiculous that no one says anything about the Jazz taking Deron over Paul, even though there was some debate at the time over which PG to take 3rd. There was no debate whatsoever about who the top 2 picks were.

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Deron plays defense, I didn't watch Paul play that many times during the season, but i watched the team USA and he got manhadled by opposing PG. Hinrich is far more better defensively. If he can't play D on international pg's than how can he stop Nba players who are waaay more stronger and quicker.

[bonethugz]

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You can never be too good on Offense!

Haven't you learned anything from Phoenix??

As far as our offense being "good".. I would say that if we had Paul, the "good" would have bene good enough to get us to the playoffs in the east.

For as good as we were, we lacked offensive leadership. That's something that Paul gave to Charlotte. Defensively, we would have had our woes, but our offense would have overshawdowed them much like Phoenix 2 years ago.

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Diesel, didn't you say you want a championship calibre team and how we need strength at the pg position a little earlier? and now you think chris paul is good? did you want him as your backup or as a starter?

and OGRat and bird_dirt. i wanted deron too. damon stoudamire(i'm not comparing cp3 and the mighty mouse as players here) did make some impact too. but helping a team to be a championship calibre team is more important.

[Diesel]

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Paul's main contributions come on offense, but we actually had a better offense than the Hornets last season. What we needed (and still need) was defense.

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Look at the cast of Characters that Paul had at NO.. then Look at our team. They almost made it to the playoffs in the West. However, we have much better players.

Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, Josh Childress, Al Harrington and Zaza are much better than any player that N.O. could have put on the floor...

And yet you believe that we wouldn't have been in the playoffs...

Again Look at the Suns. They proved that an overwhelming offense can win a lot of games...

Our offensive efficiency is better than NOs because we have better players.

If we went back in time and exchanged Paul for Marvin... we would not have been concerned about the Lottery because we would have been in the playoffs!

[Johnnybravo4]

It will be interesting to see how CP functions without Speedy backing him up. He was up for sixth man of the year for a reason.

[terrynoonan]

Don't waste your time with someone who thinks Marvin sucks.

They have obviously never touched a basketball.

Generally it takes at least two or three years to say someone is a bust. Just saying that keeps him out of any honest discussion.

[Diesel]

I think the biggest error that NO made was getting Chandler. That could prove to be good or bad depending on what they do with him. I think West is still the bread and butter. I want to see what will happen with a shooter like Peja and a low post guy like West playing on the same floor!