When it is all said and done...

[Buzzard]

we are still a post up player short. MWill, Smoove, and JJ can become exactly what we want and expect (our best three scoring options) but until we get a real deal post up player, we are still going to lose.

I love ZaZa for exactly what he is, a great team player and a awesome player to have coming off the bench. Shelden is not our center of the future. A decent PF possibly.

This is all on BK. He makes the deals, breaks the deals, and it is time is held accountable for not getting the job done. If 4 straight years in the lottery is getting the job done, then anyone can do his job just fine!

Hell, I already got his business plan down to a science. Trade away your 1st or 2nd leading scorer every year and just stay in the lottery while keeping your payroll down.

So we need to just hire anyone and save the damn money we pay him. That is a idea, instead of keeping our players salaries low, lets spend some money on a player or two and just hire the cheapest GM we can find.

New Hawks business plan: Team 1st; GM gets the left overs...

[CBAreject]

That's what this sounds like to me. People think the tank contingent wants the team to lose. Couldn't be further from the truth. We want the Hawks to win, but we don't believe we can do that without a dominant 4 or 5 (prefer a 5).

This is the year to get that player in the draft. Saddle up and ride the tank train. Might get unlucky, but I'd rather have a chance than none at all.

[PlayaPat420]

How about you start "quitting" now? quit supporting the current players, quit watching the games and quit with the crazy post. Tanking doesn't guarantee us Oden, Durant, Noah or anything. And even so, we still need free agent veterans to play here. I doubt they would come to a team full of sub 25 yr olds and one that is banking on a unproven (though very talented) college freshman. Sound familiar? No one knows how any of these players will pan out, so why plan the future on one of them? You win NOW and LATER by finding a style that would work for our current players. Then after finding that style, you get the right coach, then after the system is in place, go after accomplished players, do not bank on the draft.

[Nicholasp27]

how many of the top prospects are actually legit 2-way CENTERS? just oden?

i loved noah last year, but can he really play center full-time?

we have pg/jj/marvin/smoove/c as our long-term lineup

chill backs up 2/3, shelden backs up 4/5, zaza backs up 5, solo backs up 5

we don't need to draft a pf with a top 3...it needs to be a center...not a pf that can play center...a center

is oden the only one that fits that description?

i like indy's pick for a pg to groom behind speedy/lue

we have 2/3/4 locked up including depth...we have depth at center with zaza/shelden/solo...we just need a starting center

[CBAreject]

"Tanking does not guarantee anything"

I must've heard it hundreds of times by now.

What's funny is that your ideas are

"WIN NOW"

-Um, I'd like to do that, but we can't

"after the system is in place, go after accomplished players"

-Um, with what cap room? We can't afford a max deal now. We certainly can't after we sign Smoove/Marv/Chill. If you're counting on a trade, don't. Superstars don't get traded often (contrary to ridiculous opinions on this forum). When they do, they've become disgruntled and past their prime most of the time.

"do not bank on the draft."

-nobody wants to, but nearly every team that has won a championship has been built through drafting superstars in the top 5 picks. If you want to go through them with me, we can.

[CBAreject]

My board goes like this:

Oden

Durant

Crittenton

Thabeet

Noah

#1 and #3 are players that we NEED.

#2 is a player that we couldn't pass up. I would follow that with a trade of Marvin to get Crittenton, Thabeet, or Noah.

[MoonKnight]

I don't see him as a 5 at all but more of a 3/4 tweener. He is way to light to play in the post and he not overly physical. I see him as an high energy player with some offensive upside....very similar to the South American dude from the Cavs (can't remember his name). IMO, Noah is not the answer to our post woes.

[Nicholasp27]

u didn't answer the question...

i'll rephrase it:

give me a list of the top 3 players in this draft that are CENTER prospects...not that CAN play center, but that are projected to be quality NBA centers...next to each of the 3 names, mention if they are mostly effective offensively, defensively, or are a 2-way center

[Guest Walter]

Quote:

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give me a list of the top 3 players in this draft that are CENTER prospects...not that CAN play center, but that are projected to be quality NBA centers...next to each of the 3 names, mention if they are mostly effective offensively, defensively, or are a 2-way center

---

I'm not sure I get your point. If it's the fact that only Oden is a proven two-way center. Fine. Dwight Howard wasn't even one (many thought Pf, questioned his offense, etc.) so great point. Centers don't come as finished products anymore or if they do they are poor products.

Does any of that make ZaZa anywhere near as good much less better than Thabeet (AND ZaZa)? No. And we do need better. It's not just about a center, BTW. Durant is a freakish franchise-player. Get him and you have a wide range of talent and flexibility to make deals. If you don't like any of these options, trade the top 3 pick! Do you think ZaZa could get us a top 3 pick in trade? HELL NO!!! Well then, how much better could the center we would get in trade with the top3 pick be than ZaZa? I'd say worlds better.

You act like we would be STUCK with a top 3 pick. How silly. I'd rather be STUCK with it than this team.

W

[Diesel]

The Suns proved that if you are willing to run, then you can forgo having a offensive post player. Moreover, that's not our biggest concern anyway. It would be nice to be a halfcourt team and play that way, however, that's not playing to our strength. It's like Asking a cheetah to draft a wagon up a hill.

What we should be doing is taking advantage of our ability to run and just running all the time. When we slow the game up and try to be this halfcourt team, we look bad... mainly because teams can easily force us to shoot from outside.

Now if you want to talk about what went wrong last night... before you start talking about post offense, you need to mention free throws and 3pters. We shot low sixties from the charity stripe. We missed 10 free throws. We were also 1-9 from the 3 point line. They outpointed us in the paint, but that's not a great part of the story. Mainly because we had as many rebounds and them and both team shot a horrid %.

Our main concern should have been fast break points. We only converted 4 times on the fast break. For a game, that's terrible. We have to start getting into the high teens, twenties if we want to start winning some games.

Mainly, we need a difference coaching philosophy.

[Nicholasp27]

i haven't said any point

i'm just curious to know who the top 3 center prospects are

is it only oden that can play center? do we really wanna draft noah or thabeet or others if they can't play center? i'm not saying they have to be a 2-way center...just curious who are actually legit center prospects...i'm not sure that i wanna draft another forward...i'd be more inclined to trade the pick for a center if possible, or use some pieces to move up to get a center or trade down for the 2nd best center prospect

can anyone list the top 3 center prospects?

1) oden - 2way

2) ?

3) ?

[Nicholasp27]

ok, looking at nbadraft.net, it looks like they are:

1) oden - 2way

2) thabeet - defense

3) gray - offense

is there someone else better than gray that i'm missing that could play center effectively next to

pg/jj/marvin/smoove in the lineup?

from what i've seen, we'd want oden or thabeet or just prolly trade out...or maybe draft noah or durant and then make some trade to get a center

but to get a center out of this draft, it's oden or thabeet...otherwise, we could just draft a center prospect with indy's pick (gray, gasol, visser, etc)

[CBAreject]

It depends on who comes out and who you consider a 5, obviously. If Hawes comes out and Noah is a PF (I think he is), then the board looks like this:

Oden

Thabeet

Hawes

After that, it's

Gray

Visser

I was responding with my top 3, because it seemed like you were saying we would have to draft a C top 3. I would only draft Oden in the top 3. Thabeet I would take if Crittendon doesn't come out.

[Buzzard]

Quote:

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This is the year to get that player in the draft. Saddle up and ride the tank train. Might get unlucky, but I'd rather have a chance than none at all.

---

I am not on the tank train man. I am part of the train that firmly beleives we are not a playoff caliber team. I also think that there is only one player who may be in next years draft, Oden, who could make us a playoff caliber team.

This post stated my opinion that the draft is not going to make us a whole lot better next year. Our only chance at rising to the playoffs is via a trade and/or free agency. If BK cannot get that done, then lottery here we come again...

[hawk25]

once again either we make a trade and get a all-star player or get what we need through the draft which is a big man and point guard... if neither happens then the gm needs to be gone really he should be gone now

[Buzzard]

Quote:

---

The Suns proved that if you are willing to run, then you can forgo having a offensive post player. Moreover, that's not our biggest concern anyway. It would be nice to be a halfcourt team and play that way, however, that's not playing to our strength. It's like Asking a cheetah to draft a wagon up a hill.

---

No post player in Phoenix. Try telling Amare that. Marion to be a SF is not to shabby himself. The Suns have proven that if you have a all world team, you can pretty much run any offense you want.

When Phoneix runs and they get stopped before the basket, they just kick out to one of the three or four 3pt shooters on the floor and pop a three. I do not want anyone other than JJ and Salim shooting a three, every trip down the court, if the dribble penatration is stopped.

That is what Phoenix does. Its not just that they run up the floor quickly; but they have a rule that they must shoot the ball quickly as well. Dribble pentatrate fails, kick out, shoot the three, and do all this within 15 seconds or so. They have two great rebounders in Amare and Marion to gather a second shot or two as well.

A lot of people talk about running Phoenix's offense like all you have to do is run. Their offense requires them to clear the boards almost to perfection, have a all universe PG, and some great three point shooters. Of those three types of players, we only have the three point shooters, Salim and JJ.

Bottom line, whether we are a half court team or a run, gun, and shoot team; at this time in our rebuilding, we do not have the talent pool to be great at either.

[hawk25]

we dont have a point guard to play a run and gun offense like the suns if we had chris paul then maybe i could see that