What this loss means....

[CBAreject]

Hawks are now 18-30 after a loss. Seattle won and Philly won, but Charlotte lost. We are tied with 2 other teams for the 4th fewest wins in the NBA (Charlotte, Seattle). We are 1 win ahead of Philly for the 3rd fewest wins.

How this pack of 4 teams (Charlotte, Philly, Seattle, ATL) finishes will probably change fortunes for some of these franchises. All have some good pieces. All need help. The difference between 3rd and 6th is 1 win at this point.

Philly is the team on the list that is the best right now but needs a top 3 pick the worst. They don't have a go-to guy on that team. The Hawks are the team that needs a dominant center the most on the list. Charlotte has a good core. Seattle needs to rebuild pretty much completely.

[Guest Walter]

Doesn't every loss improve our chance of a top 3 pick by 2% (or something to that effect)?

[DrReality]

Going on the west coast trip will not be an easy road to hoe. There has been a lot of talk about getting the number one pick. Gotta say that number 2 or 3 would be enough to turn us around. Would be a couple of bigs at that pick and a pg with the Indy pick.

[ecc423]

we will get the #3 pick this year....itz our time 2 get lucky...damnit.

[Iman]

Nice posts guys, tank talk but not all the garbage about having the worst or next to worst record. I'm not jumping on the tanking train but I will admit, I didnt mind this loss much at all. Much like I actually didn't get mad leaving the game after some of our bad early close losses like Miami, Chicago, of even Utah. I wish Chillz woulda taken that ball to the hoop on that last play, even if he had failed he would have learned from the experience. What really makes me not hate this loss was that Joe sucked and Smoove missed alot of the game on bad foul calls and we still almost won. The loss gives us more ping pong balls also. I still think we win 30 or so games unless Joe goes down. However, it is starting to appear that 25-30 wins may get us in the bottom 5 or so with still a shot in the lottery. Now I'd really like to see a close game against Phoenix.

[CBAreject]

That's based on several years of stats. This year, every loss is more important because of the bunching of teams at the 3-7 spots. The difference between being 3 and 6 is 1 win. Just 2 wins separate 3 and 7.

We are 60% through with the season and 1 win separates 3 from 6. The team out of these four (ATL, PHI, CHA, SEA) that tries to win a few more games for pride may very well screw itself out of building a dynasty.

If we finish up this streak of 10 games at 2-8 as I predict, we would be 20-39. At that point, there should be no discussion about this team's best course. Once the board starts to come to the dark side, you better believe nobody will ever say the tank contingent was right. They'll just say "it wasn't right to tank back then, but now it is"

[exodus]

Realistically i don't think we can "catch" Memphis and Boston. Memphis already dumped Eddie Jones and is looking to deal Gasol. Boston has their best player sitting out with an elbow infection (how exactly do you get one of those?).

I think the best case (for you tankers) is that the Hawks finish with the 3rd worst record.

I look at Hawks losses differently than you. While you are counting lottery balls i am thinking that this losing will force BK and the Spirit to face reality.

I think they came into the season thinking that Speedy really is the answer to the pg problem and that Zaza really is a starting calibur center. Now those fallacies are being exposed and therefore will have to be addressed. This is what i tell myself to help me tolerate losing.

I don't think about the lottery balls. As far as i am concerned our pick is the Indy pick.

[CBAreject]

That's another positive. If we win 34 games or something, somebody might start thinking Woodson is making progress and deserves another season. They get warm fuzzies about Zaza. They think Lue/Speedy is a good tandem at PG.

I also want to know that we had a fair chance at the best C to come out since Shaq/Mourning.

[Guest Walter]

Quote:

---

I don't think about the lottery balls. As far as i am concerned our pick is the Indy pick.

---

...player and you believe that more than the chance we'll get a top 3 overall pick if we tank and that top 3 overall pick will be impact player. I mean come on. Why believe in what is less probable and less significant?

W

[AHF]

Quote:

---

That's based on several years of stats.

---

In a given year there is not a linear relationship between each loss and a % increase in the lottery.

[CBAreject]

Why do you do it? And you're one of the smart ones.

That's what I was saying. The linear relationship is derived from 10 years or so of statistics. In this year, due to the congestion of teams at 3-6, each loss becomes worth more due to the huge difference in percentages for the 3 and 6 teams.

What are you arguing against? I'm saying the same thing you are.