Tonight's win inexcusable...

[CBAreject]

You have to take these gimme losses when you can. There will be other nights when it's hard to lose (like playing Charlotte in back-to-back at the end of the month). Those nights, we'll wish we had lost this game. Detroit is a good team, and we had every opportunity to lose.BTW, I don't get the "this was a big win" talk. The only thing it did for us is blow a chance to make-up/gain ground as both Philly and Charlotte won. How many times will they both win on the same night?What this means is the back-to-back against Charlotte in 2 weeks is critical. We need to get swept, but a split would be acceptable. Going 2-0 would be a terrible blow.

[SmooveTheFuture]

Shut up man you play you to win the games.

[Guest Walter]

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Shut up man you play you to win meaningless games...

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...not championships.

If you wanted to ever win a championship with the likes of this team you've gotta do more than repeat the Bobby Sura Doctrine Montra "you play to win games (and get triple doubles)". Can't always hope your team screws itself out of a franchise player.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

lol you might want to look at our next 15 games or so. if this team plays 500 ball, they're back in the playoff hunt.

[gsuteke]

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Shut up man you play you to win the games.

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LOL

[f_town]

with the Hawks draft luck, you expect the balls to bounce our way?

not a chance in hell

get over it and get the hell out if you cant support our crappy home team

[CHORO44]

I think we should play to win. The whole lottery and franchise player hope is fool's gold. I'd rather be mediocre and make the playoffs every year with a chance. Then tank in the hopes you can land a franchise player. I have yet to see the balls bounce our way in the lottery.

[Lascar78]

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with the Hawks draft luck, you expect the balls to bounce our way?

not a chance in hell

get over it and get the hell out if you cant support our crappy home team

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BINGO

It's like all these people haven't followed the hawks before. I guarantee that if we finish anywhere between dead last and 4th last, we will get the #4 pick and give it to the Suns. That's just how it is. Pull this up after the lottery. The year to tank was the Dwight year, not a year where you lose the pick altogether if you're not lucky. We're past tanking. Unless we're going to blow this whole thing up (I sure wouldn't), we need to learn how to win, and look for the right trade to balance out our roster.

I mean this isn't that different from the phx_suns troll cheering when Marvin gets injured. If you're pissed when we beat a really good team, what are you doing here? Our young guns need to learn how to win, they're not going to just magically know how to next year, after years of losing. It takes time and effort to learn how to grind out the tough wins. I don't want a team full of losers who hate each other because they're so used to losing together. I want a team that has fought hard for every win and is learning how to close some games out.

They seemed to have no fire for the past 2-3 weeks, but I'm sure glad to see it back.

Go hawks!

[Gray Mule]

[Gray Mule]

Well said.

Anything else should be the talk of our opponents,

hoping we would swallow that line.

What does winning the lottery really guarantee?

Not as much as winning every game possible. If we

learn to loose and be satisfied, can you turn THAT

mindset around and become a winner? Probably not.

Go Hawks !!!!

[DrReality]

Truth of the matter is that the other teams in the bottom 4-5 also won, except for Memphis.

[Guest Walter]

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If you're pissed when we beat a really good team, what are you doing here?

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...then you are in the right place, but would be much happier watching college ball where 30 wins comes closer to meaning or means something. You are satisfied with 30 win seasons as you have no plan with which to win a title and history is set against us in our current position. I am not satisfied with 30 win seasons and my plan is SHORT-term management resignation for LONG-term franchise elevation. There is no need for the "unpatriotic fan" rhetoric here. You've seen where that level of rhetoric gets our country concerning the problem of Iraq. It has no business here unless your ego is at stake.W

[CBAreject]

Duuuuh! I'm so stupid, right? I guess I didn't know that!I know probability far better than you ever will, so stop running your mouth when you can't even back it up.I will take a 64% chance at a franchise C or PF waaaaay before a far lesser chance at acquiring such a player through crafty trades (by BK? lol). We can't sign one, even if there were one available...but there's not, so it's moot.No, let's just try to win something gross like 30 games. That way, we'll be almost certain to lose our pick and have no way to improve. Our CEILING WILL BE A 45 win team in 2-3 years. That's if MW/Smoove develop into stars. Forgive me for not jumping out of my skin at that prospect.You are not a real fan for wishing sustained mediocrity on our team. You should be ashamed of yourself.

[TexasPete]

Our luck with balls is terrible. Our owners don't have any balls...which leads to too many ping pong balls...which leads to BK sctraching his balls when he blows another selection.The result? Fans and season tix holders getting a swift kick to the balls.

[Guest Walter]

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You are not a real fan for wishing sustained mediocrity on our team. You should be ashamed of yourself.

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The "unpatriotic fan" rhetoric cuts both ways. Thankfully the "tankers" have odds and argument on their side leaving the non-tankers with but "rhetoric". Good to know we're stock-piled with rhetoric too just in case.W

[CBAreject]

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The whole lottery and franchise player hope is fool's gold

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You heard it here folks. Fools gold. Let's look at the division leaders in and their best players:East:Cleveland (#1 pick LeBron)Orlando (#1 pick Howard)Toronto (#5 pick Bosh)WestDallas (#9 pick Nowitzki)Phx (Nash, but what about #9 picks Marion/Stoud)Utah (#3 pick Deron)How bout other good teams besides division leaders?San Antonio (#1 pick Duncan)Houston (#1 pick Yao)Minnesota (#5 pick KG)Denver (#2 pick Melo)The teams that seem to go against the trend of drafting a franchise player? Did they improve without help of top 5 and 10 picks?People think Detroit, but they're just thick-headed folk with poor memories. Detroit drafted Stackhouse #2 and traded him for Rip Hamilton. They drafted Hill #2 or #3 and traded him for Ben Wallace. Wallace has since left, but Detroit built its capital through the draft and traded that for the team they have now.Washington? They signed Arenas. However, they traded a #5 pick for Jamison and a #1 pick (Kwame) for ButlerIndiana? Most people think so, but Indiana traded a #10 pick (Davis) for O'Neal (their best player).LA Lakers? Yup. That's your one exception. Gosh. Sure does sound like fools gold to me.

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I'd rather be mediocre and make the playoffs every year with a chance. Then tank in the hopes you can land a franchise player.

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Wow. There you go. He said it folks. He wants to be mediocre. Newsflash: you have no "chance" in the NBA when you're mediocre. It's not baseball. Besides, all those "mediocre" teams I listed, in addition to the really good ones built through top-10 picks (save the Lakers).

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I have yet to see the balls bounce our way in the lottery.

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That is flat out ignorant. First of all, it's stupid as hell to believe this sort of thing. Since we haven't gotten lucky in the past, we won't get lucky ever in the future? That shows clear innumeracy (inability to deal with numbers and percentages) on your part. Second of all, we actually haven't been that unlucky in the lottery. We've only been one of the three worst teams once, and that year, we got the #2 pick. Last year, I combined all the lotteries and figured out that we'd had a 51% chance or so of getting at least one #1 pick over the years. So it was a coin-flip and we didn't win it. That doesn't mean we're inherently unlucky.

[Guest Walter]

[CBAreject]

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I guarantee that if we finish anywhere between dead last and 4th last, we will get the #4 pick and give it to the Suns.

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This is dumb. If we're worst overall, then there will be a 35% chance or so of that happening. That's a significant possibility. If that happens you will say "See I told you so". If it doesn't happen (the most likely scenario), you will say "Well, I was just going by our history" and shrug off the responsibility of your guarantee.If you think that the fact we've had some bad luck (which is questionable) in the past means we'll continue to have bad luck, you're clearly thinking like an innumerate. I know you're not an innumerate, so I'm confused.File this sort of talk ("with our luck") away with the conspiracy talk and other superstition.

[Lascar78]

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I will take a 64% chance at a franchise C or PF waaaaay before a far lesser chance at acquiring such a player through crafty trades (by BK? lol).

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You know damn well you are making two wildly invalid assumptions. #1 is that tanking will automatically result in the worst record (as if no other teams will be tanking for Oden). #2 that Oden/Noah whoever else will come out. He says he is not coming out. I think he will end up coming out, but it is far from a certainty. Anyhow I think #1 is the more relevant point. Tanking does not give you a 64% chance at a franchise C anymore than trying to win gives you a title. When multiple teams try to tank (which will be the case), not all of them get the worst record.

[CBAreject]

In this draft, Durant, Oden, and Thabeet are all franchise big men. The worst record is a 64% chance at landing 1 of the 3. Thabeet is the most tenuous of the 3, but it seems he is Mutombo with better hands and speed, btw. His 9 and 10 block games in the first 17 games of the year say he's the sickest defensive presence to come up in the last 15 yrs. Even Ratliff didn't do that, esp. as a frosh.