Hawks near .500; SWilliams making positive impact

[Nurlman]

Maybe BK isn't retarded. Not real warm and fuzzy, but not a retard, either. Haven't heard much about that Roland Rating, either.

So my question is - where is that d0uchebag, Walter? Is he one of those foul weather fans, only comes out from under his rock when things are going badly?

[bootsybug]

Shelden is definitely making an impact. Moreover, I believe he's making more of an impact that anyone who was taken below him in the draft.

[CBAreject]

I dunno. Sene has been pretty damn good. He's only played 23 minutes on the season, but if you look at his total blocks plus total fouls divided by minutes played, he's the rookie of the year.

[BusBoyIsBack]

Quote:

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Maybe BK isn't retarded. Not real warm and fuzzy, but not a retard, either. Haven't heard much about that Roland Rating, either.

So my question is - where is that d0uchebag, Walter? Is he one of those foul weather fans, only comes out from under his rock when things are going badly?

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Walter will be back once we start losing games in the hellish month of December.

Little does he know, we can turn things around in January.

[joannes3000]

I majored in accounting and I must say, I like your line of thinking!

[Guest Walter]

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Maybe BK isn't retarded. Not real warm and fuzzy, but not a retard, either. Haven't heard much about that Roland Rating, either.

So my question is - where is that d0uchebag, Walter? Is he one of those foul weather fans, only comes out from under his rock when things are going badly?

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...NBA champion. Our schedule has been weak. Nobody ever thought that this team wouldn't be better this year relative to last year. We are. I predicted 34 wins. As the year progresses I believe that will still be the number we win. Statistically, SW has not improved the team, and his Roland rating is horrible, suggesting the imporvement of JJ, even JS, ZaZa, the good play of Lue is even more responsible. Still SW isn't a bad player. He was the most NBA ready player in the draft. He was going to come in and help where needed in terms of interior defense.

Unfortunately, he was a 5th overall pick and we needed more talent or more potential and better positions to contend. This year doesn't matter. It's 3 years from now when contention becomes an issue. I don't see SW growing 4" in height or 9" in reach or becoming more than a role player.

Take a long view on this. The long view reads: we have no more draft capitol of any real value, we have cap space but fast dwindling, and our rookie contracts are about to come up with our likely benching both JS and JC - we'll lose those guys if that is the case, and we simply have too little talent at the wonr positions. This is not a negative view but a realistic one. I'd love it if the wins now reflected our having enough talent. They don't. They're nice none-the-less.

I'm not trying to make lemons out of lemonade but too many people find mediocrity to be sugar sweet.

W

[deester11]

Well, I may be in the minority, but I'm still not a Shelden fan. While I can appreciate his rebounding, I think when you draft someone in the top 5 of any draft, they should be making more of an impact. I think Solomon Jones was the find of our draft. That took scouting and research and someone did a good job there. Shelden...the jury will always be out there for me. I just don't think we played the draft right...

[KB21]

This is funny. Shelden is one of the top 3 or 4 rookies in the entire league right now, and there are still people belly aching saying that he wasn't worth the 5th pick.

[AtLaS]

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I think when you draft someone in the top 5 of any draft, they should be making more of an impact

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Who in the top 5 is making more of an impact?

[Gray Mule]

East is weak, as usual.

Playing :500 ball puts Hawks close.

It's not so much, how good is Sheldon doing {Although I

think he is doing fine.} but how good the Hawks, as a

team are doing.

I have to believe we are better because we have Sheldon.

Some believe, anyone except Sheldon should have been

our choice. So be it.

The real question is:

Are we better off with Sheldon or without him??

If we had drafted any one but Sheldon, would the Hawks

be better or worse??

True, he ain't great. But, he ain't awful either. He's

doing what we drafted him to do - - That works for me.

[deester11]

YOu can call it bellyaching or whatever you want to call it, but what constitutes impact? Rebounding? I give you that, but not much more. You're welcome to your opinion and I am mine and I still don't think he was worth the fifth pick. I'll bet the guys picked above him will have more impact long term as will some of the guys after him.

[DrReality]

All of the talk last year was how we played no defense. Shelden has made an impact and we've made strides defensively. Truth be known, I think it is too early to evaluate him given that we are playing with so many hurt guys. When we get Chill and Marvin back I think it will help his game.

I like his presence and what he lacks in height, he makes up for it in girth.

[deester11]

Fair enough. I never called Shelden a bust and I hope that he does exactly what he is doing probably more. For as much as I hate the pick, I do think he can be solid. (And I do understand that we had needs).

[atlfan32]

I just want to see more out of Shelden. I think he can contribute more, he just needs to learn how to stay out of foul trouble. I've watched improve in some areas of his game. I think he will be a solid pick for us.

[Guest Walter]

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This is funny. Shelden is one of the top 3 or 4 rookies in the entire league right now, and there are still people belly aching saying that he wasn't worth the 5th pick.

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I mean come on KB. You are a farce. You vicerally HATED the mere notion of SW as a Hawk's draft pick until it was certain BK would do it. In fact, you might have been the biggest SW detractor prior to BK's "promise". Where did your integrity go?

SW's was the most NBA-ready player in the draft. No doubt there. Over the next three years many MORE players will catch and pass him, including many drafted after 5. Strawman is your specialty, however, KB. That and contradicting yourself because you are enamored with BK.

W

[lifelong]

Putting just an average defensive player in Al Harrington's spot in the starting lineup makes the defense look stout compared to where it was last year.

[chillzatl]

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I'm not trying to make lemons out of lemonade but too many people find mediocrity to be sugar sweet.

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Be a man Walter. All you've been doing for the last year and a half is crying about our draft picks. Here we are, obviously a much better team, and what are you doing? Still crying about draft picks. The above statement by you is the biggest chicken squirt statement I've read around here in a while. If you're going to run around for over a year with pockets full of sour grapes, at least be man enough to admit it. Then again, you've never done it before, why start now right?

[KB21]

Whatever.

Right now, three of the top five rookies in the NBA are rebounding power forwards: Shelden Williams, Craig Smith, and Paul Millsap.

[Nicholasp27]

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Be a man Walter. All you've been doing for the last

2.5 years

is crying about our draft picks.

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fyp

he's been crying ever since we drafted chill

even jaywalker was publicly annoyed at walt's chill posts back in the day

[TexasPete]

Based on what other rookies are doing, and our needs, I don't mind the SW pick nearly like I used to. I still think Roy will be the best in the current draft and wished we had picked him. But Shelden has been a solid rookie. And this rookie class has a few guys who will probably turn out better than SW but they need more time to develop and we don't have the time (Aldridge, Tyrus). Morrison is a one dimensional fraud...his offense is streaky but his defense is just awful all the time.

Roy is a player and will continue to prove it when he gets healthy. But SW is a solid contributor right now. And we needed that...I just wish Woody (the real problem) would play him 30 minutes every night. Its not like he is hurting the team and we need SW to develop ASAP. Woody underplayed Marvin last year as well. I think Shelden is an 8ppg/10rpg guy RIGHT NOW...with minutes.