Who's happy / Who's not?

[terrynoonan]

I just wanted to get this going.

[Guest Walter]

I believe this team remotely as designed is destined for AT BEST mediocrity. All the moves this offseason suggest that's all BK is intent upon. That is unacceptable to me.

W

[DrReality]

It's not either/or. I'm happy and I'm not. No one expected us to be 500, but since we started great now everyone is pointing fingers. I think this is part of what they have to go through to learn how to win. It's part of the process, not to mention they have been without one or two of our key players. Key thing is they learn from this and get better.

[vdunkndunk]

To be honest, I'm happy when we win. And I'm upset when we lose.

Since we've lost 3 tantalizingly close games in a row, I'm not happy at the moment.

But I suffer from occassional freakouts when the losing gets to me, and I suddenly want to clean house even though most of the time I agree with the general approach the Hawks have taken.

Still, right now I'm about ready to jump on the "trade Josh Smith" bandwagon. And it's becoming more and more painful to watch Deron Williams turn into an incredible PG right before our eyes, along with Chris Paul...especially because their replacement (Speedy) has been hurt most of the time and awful the rest of the time, and Marvin hasn't been on the court to show us what he's got.

[AtLaS]

Our team is the youngest in the league by more than THREE years. Last year we were the youngest team in NBA HISTORY. How can you say we are designed for mediocrity when have nothing but cap space and young, very attractive and tradable assets (if we decide to go that route).

How do you know Marvin will not become a star? Smoove? Shelden could become a force. Zaza's pretty damn good for a 22 year old center. Solomon could break out. Childress is getting better EVERY game. We are a few missed free throws away from being 7-1 (the REAL reason we've lost 3 straight). Pretty much every good team starts with a bunch of young players until someone breaks out and they make the playoffs. And when they are ready make a big signing or big trade, and we DEFINATELY have the assets for one.

[gsuteke]

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I just wanted to get this going.

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there is a middle ground.

if you would have posted a poll asking if we as fans would have been happy with a .500 record 2 months ago the positive response would have been overwhelming.

now that the Hawks are at .500 after losing a few the response on this board is overwhelmingly negative.

of course.

take this pool in March.

[vdunkndunk]

I'M VERY HAPPY WITH...

-Joe Johnson

We brought him here to be an all-star and he's playing at an all-star level.

I'M HAPPY WITH...

-Josh Childress

He's playing great basketball off the bench right now and seems perfectly suited to his role for this team. Seems like a great teammate and he's fun to watch. He may not be matching Luol Deng statistically, and he may not have created the buzz of someone like Andre Iguodala, but I really like Chill and he was a huge part of our early success this season.

I'M CONTENT WITH...

-Zaza Pachulia

Has to be one of the best bargains for a big man in the entire league. Basically, you couldn't ask for more from a former third-string center getting paid $4 million a year. (To be honest, though, I wish he could be a backup to a really dominant center...but at least he's making the most of what he's got.)

-Tyronn Lue

Like Chill, Lue is playing great off the bench and providing leadership, scoring, and outside shooting when we need it most. Definitely couldn't ask for much more out of Lue right now.

-Lorenzon Wright

I think he's been a good signing. Like Zaza, he's not setting the world on fire, but he's got a reasonable contract and he goes out and plays hard and gives us quality minutes off the bench. Basically, we have two top-notch backups at center.

A MIXED BAG...

-Shelden Williams

He's already proven he can rebound in the NBA. And he tries hard and dones the little things. And the team tends to do fine when he's on the court. But where are the blocked shots? Why does he look so clueless on offense, except for his baseline jumper and his foul shooting? Right now it's hard to see how he'll prove worthy of a top 5 pick, but he at least he looks like he can play in the NBA. Maybe we can hope for a Josh Childress-like adjustment period and learning curve.

-Josh Smith

Watching him play basketball is an emotional rollercoaster. You get thunderous dunks mixed with blown layups...excuciating turnovers mixed with savvy assists...incredible blocked shots and hustle plays mixed with poor on-the-ball defense and mental lapses. Will he ever learn to handle the ball well enough to attack the basket? Can he develop a post game? Will he ever be a consistent shooter? What position does he play?

INJURY REPORT

-Marvin Williams

Up until he broke his hand I was very happy with Marvin. I liked everything about his summer and his work ethic, I thought he looked great in open practice and in the summer league from the games I saw (not to mention his statistical output)...but unfortunatley he's hurt, so it's hard to be happy about how things have gone for him. Hopefully he'll get healthy and prove that he was the right pick at number 2, which I don't see as an impossible task for someone with his talent. At the same time, though, we all know how well Chris Paul and Deron Williams are doing...

-Speedy Claxton

Injuries have prevented us from seeing the "real" Speedy. But at the same time, he gets hurt so much that maybe this is the real Speedy...fragile and achy and missing games. So far he's shown flashes of good perimeter defense and the ability to penetrate...but can he finish around the basket? And can he hit a jump shot? Most important, can he stay healthy?

[Popeye]

Good breakdown [applause].

[TexasPete]

Great post Vdunk, I'm right with you.

[Gray Mule]

Of all the reasons stated here - Good stuff.

Our portfolio is full of assets - Maybe not all we

had hoped for - It never is.

Really happy to be @ :500. Sad because we missed the

opportunity to be much higher.

Heretofore, we knew we couldn't be THAT good. Now we

feel that, with a few more free throws, we could very

well be on top of the standings.

What a difference!!

With all his wonderful, natural ability, we begin to wonder

about the basketball I.Q. of Josh Smith. We know that

Woodson is continually talking to him and encouraging

him and teaching him during every game. Can he think and

play at the speed necessary? Sometimes, we know he does

and sometimes we wonder, does he REALLY get it?

Much discussion has covered his age / maturity. His

physical maturity is apparent now. Hopefully, his

mental maturity is coming around.

With all this time off right now, Hawks have time for

our injuries to heal somewhat. With three key players

hurting, we're still ever so close to getting there.

GO HAWKS

[Packfill]

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Our team is the youngest in the league by more than THREE years. Last year we were the youngest team in NBA HISTORY. How can you say we are designed for mediocrity when have nothing but cap space and young, very attractive and tradable assets (if we decide to go that route).

How do you know Marvin will not become a star? Smoove? Shelden could become a force. Zaza's pretty damn good for a 22 year old center. Solomon could break out. Childress is getting better EVERY game. We are a few missed free throws away from being 7-1 (the REAL reason we've lost 3 straight). Pretty much every good team starts with a bunch of young players until someone breaks out and they make the playoffs. And when they are ready make a big signing or big trade, and we DEFINATELY have the assets for one.

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I would argue that most of the really good teams are built around one young star and usually a veteran all-star with veteran supporting players. Looking at some recent champions:

Miami - young star Wade surrounded by veterans like Shaq, Walker, Payton, Williams, Mourning, etc.

Detroit - I guess Prince is the young buy, but the rest were vets.

San Antonio - Young guns Parker and Ginobili put veterans Duncan, Bowen, etc.

Lakers - Young star Kobe coupled with vets Shaq, Fischer, etc.

[Guest Walter]

Everybody SHOULD think we don't have NEAR the "assets" we should...

You say,

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And when they are ready make a big signing or big trade, and we DEFINATELY have the assets for one.

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While JC, MW, JS, and SW are "assets" they are not better assets than Iggy, Paul or Deron, and Roy. JS is perhaps the only player that can be argued to be a greater trade asset than the obvious choices that followed his selection (with Nelson the only, minor contradiction). All the other individuals drafted by BK had OBVIOUS, now better alternatives (with Childress close to Iggy and Deng but not better, especially in terms of trade value which pertains to this discussion).

So, we have valuable pieces. What half-decade lottery team doesn't? Do we have anywhere near the value we should? No. THAT is the crux.

W

[AtLaS]

Miami was nothing but young players (just like our team) and Wade emerged and became a great player (who's to say one of our players won't, we dont even need a Wade we have JJ already), then they made the playoffs, then the next year they TRADED for Shaq. Wasn't Sheed the missing link in Detroit? Didn't they TRADE for him?

BTW what was traded for those players? A 17th pick for Sheed. Odom, Butler and a LATE 1st for Shaq. What was traded for VC? Baron Davis? Phoenix got the biggest steal ever, they signed a 2 time MVP outright, for less than the MAX! We could have easily gotten Iverson this offseason.

Fact is once you make the playoffs, have a young attractive team, players WANT to come there. When players WANT to go somewhere and you have the cap space/tradeable assets to get them you will land someone big. Stars are traded for way less than value EVERY year.

Look at Denver, they were worse than us NOW for about 10 years straight. Noone would EVER want to go there. Then they get Carmelo, make a gamble offer to Miller, make the playoffs then make the biggest signing of that offseason (K-Mart) who at the time was a big time free agent.

SA was just lucky D-Rob went down for the year or they would have never gotten Duncan.

Lakers were EXTREMELY lucky to get Shaq, it wouldn't have mattered what team Shaq went to at that time, his team would have became contenders.

[AtLaS]

Iggy is WAY overrated, I don't see why everyone considers him a good player. His defense is overrated, and he will never be more than about a 13 ppg player. In college he only averaged like 10 ppg. Childress is more complete and is MUCH more efficient.

Please quit arguing about Roy, he's played all of three games, now he's injured and all you can do is bring that up. At least give him time first.

I agree completely about Paul, Deron or Felton, last year's draft was considered a great PG draft, we needed a pg, and we took Marvin, who I thought was overrated anyway. Either way whats done is done and I hope Marvin turns into a great player.

Either way we're the youngest team in the league, have cap space, and TONS of tradeable players who could become great land us someone great. Just look at some of the trades for big names recently. All we need to do is make the playoffs, and it will start from there.

Tell me, WHAT TEAM makes the playoffs and is instantly a contender the next year without adding something to their roster? NONE. There MAY be a few exceptions, but for the most part it doesn't happen.

[Popeye]

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Iggy is WAY overrated,

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I posted that Chill is a little better than Iggy on Philly board and they accepted it. They said that Chill is a great player. I am sure they go by the stats cause most of them don't watch Chill play, and the best part about Chill is watching him play do little things, being smart, busting his ass off for the loose ball. Taking high percentage shots playing good D and all that good stuff.

Chill > Iggy, but they are really close.

[terrynoonan]

Looks the opposite to me. It is black and white BTW. If we were talking about why we couldn't win in the playoffs with a good team, I would agree with you. This is another thing all together. We're talking about losing 3 in a row at home. In a make or break year for the coach, no less. There are a number of black and white issues that you have to recognize just to become a winning team. I fear the Spirit does not get it. Why should Woodson be on the hotseat? He's the same crapppy coach he was last year, and the same crappy coach he'll be next year. It's like they arbitrarily give you 3 years. BK's "vision" is a dream. A bad one. This is really for another thread. Everyone knows how I feel about Woody. I just wanted to gauge the apathy. Seems 7 years of this has really led to acceptance. We play like an AAU team. We haven't been a team for years. We won't be a real one until we get a real coach. Real teams win the games we just lost.

[gsuteke]

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Looks the opposite to me. It is black and white BTW. If we were talking about why we couldn't win in the playoffs with a good team, I would agree with you. This is another thing all together. We're talking about losing 3 in a row at home. In a make or break year for the coach, no less. There are a number of black and white issues that you have to recognize just to become a winning team. I fear the Spirit does not get it. Why should Woodson be on the hotseat? He's the same crapppy coach he was last year, and the same crappy coach he'll be next year. It's like they arbitrarily give you 3 years. BK's "vision" is a dream. A bad one. This is really for another thread. Everyone knows how I feel about Woody. I just wanted to gauge the apathy. Seems 7 years of this has really led to acceptance. We play like an AAU team. We haven't been a team for years. We won't be a real one until we get a real coach. Real teams win the games we just lost.

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now you reveal your intentions were not genuine.

[terrynoonan]

What are you talking about? I genuinely wanted to know what everyone thought. I waited a day to look at the responses. I really don't get what you're talking about. He is losing this season right before our eyes. I would love to drink your Kool-Aid. I threw mine up.

[gsuteke]

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What are you talking about? I genuinely wanted to know what everyone thought. I waited a day to look at the responses. I really don't get what you're talking about. He is losing this season right before our eyes. I would love to drink your Kool-Aid. I threw mine up.

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LOL

what's with the hostility? your intentions were not genuine due to you wanting a specific answer to come of that poll so you could start Woody bashing. you don't need a poll to bash Woody.

what Kool-aid are you talking about? please share.

[Eddielives]

We are a few missed free throws away from being 7-1 (the REAL reason we've lost 3 straight).

This is very important for people to remember. Thank you AtLas for pointing it out. We really could easily be 7-1 and Woody would be the early frontrunner for coach of the year. Anyone who has followed the Hawks for atleast 10 years has to realize that this team is, thus far, better than any team we've had in a long time...probably since Mookie and Smitty. I am happy with our team and think we're really going to surprise alot of people.

And it's funny how the naysayers are raising their voices again now that we've hit a bad stretch. They sure were quieted while we were winning.