Discussion Topic #1- Why consider blowing up team?

[TheDude]

What is the reasoning behind the rumors or thoughts of blowing up the team? I know we're doing pretty bad but correct me if I'm wrong, we have some good talent, we just need to switch some pieces or trade a piece or two to get better fitting pieces. There is absolutely no reason to completely break it down. Also trading Dan Dickau would accomplish nothing either. For one, I myself would like to see if indeed he does turn into Nash part 2. He's only a rookie and he's done decent for that, especially since he's missed some games. We have to keep in mind he's a rookie learning the point guard position which is probably the hardest to learn.

But we have many of the pieces in hand, so why get rid of them all?

[swolehawk2]

Hawks management consists of a bunch of [censored]' idiots. They don't need to give all our talent away for nothing....cap space will just mean we will go after the top free agents...won't get any to sign...then use our money to over pay for 2nd tier players .....then we will be in the same situation. We need to get a guard like Alvin Williams or Snow to play along JT and a coach with experience to coach them....we put talent together...then after for 40 games with two coaches who are suspect at best...we blow the team up because management went and promised the playoffs...[censored] idiots. I hope u all realize that if we had not promised the playoffs...it would be just another rebuilding year...and everyone would be saying that the Hawks have put together a nice core...and they will use this year to gell and develop chemistry ...look for the Hawks to be contenders in the near future. That would be what the media would be saying.. but that playoff promise BS has us giving talent away for nothing!

How many of you think if we trade for cap space...we will be able to land a top free agent?

[SWISH9061]

In my mind it comes down to this - do you want a ring or are we happy just competing for the 8th seed?

Sure we can patch up this team with Eddie Jones, Spree, or Payton but no way would either of these guys make us a championship squad. In my mind any GM who's goal is just to squeak into the playoffs doesn't deserve a job

This team MUST BE "blown up" if we're ever to compete for a championship and adding a vet to the the current roster isn't going to get us there.

[TheDude]

what can a team possibly need to win the ring, that we don't have...what are we going to do? sell all our talent to get HOPEFULLY some really phat center like Shaq and win that way? we HAVE talent. we have some of the best talent in the league. Yes, if Gary Payton comanded our team, I think we could dominate once we gelled. We have talent.

What consists of a ring team? Think of past years. A phat center is a key component so should we trade the rest of our players looking for this mysterious center? Look at Sacramento or Dallas, they don't have a dominating center but they have the other pieces.

Let me ask you this then...Let's say we blow this team up as you'd like to see happen. If you're GM what possible scenarios can you come up with to bring in the players for a championship? How are you possibly going to just sign SUPERstars and win the championship? It's not going to happen. You can't just think you're going to do what the Yankees do and Arizona Diamondbacks did and Dallas Mavs do now and just basically buy every player. Heck even these teams had foundations of young talent and just added some pieces.

We have young talent. Sacramento didn't do as well as they are now when they first got together but they had the talent. They've added some pieces but not blow it up. You don't just get a talented young group together and if they don't make the playoffs first year, give up.

Reef is like 26 years old. Jt a few years younger. DJ and DD even younger. These guys play together for awhile and they will get to that championship level.

I tell you this and hope EVERYONE hears me: IF WE BLOW THIS TEAM UP, TEAMS WHO PICK UP OUR REEFS AND JASON TERRYS ARE GOING TO SAY HOW STUPID ATLANTA WAS! IF WE BLOW UP AND GET RID OF OUR VERY GOOD TALENT FOR NOTHING, WE WILL BE MORE OF A LAUGHINGSTOCK THAN EVER BEFORE!WE CAN'T JUST BANK ON GETTING A LEBRON JAMES!ONLY ONE TEAM WILL GET LEBRON BUT MORE THAN ONE TEAM WILL MAKE THE PLAYOFFS!REEF GOES TO SEATTLE, HE DOMINATES AND WE'RE STUPID. TERRY GOES TO MINNESOTA, HE DOMINATES AND WE'RE STUPID.

take no offense to my ranting, but to blow up this team after they just played together for a small amount of time is the worst thing a gm can do as part of a master plan.

[Guest]

We have young talent. Sacramento didn't do as well as they are now when they first got together but they had the talent. They've added some pieces but not blow it up. You don't just get a talented young group together and if they don't make the playoffs first year, give up."

This team can't touch the Kings talent.Vlade/Webber/

Bibby/Christie/Peja are the passers that JT/SAR/Theo/

Puppy Dog are not.

All this team has is a couple of scorers that have no

go-to moves and have nothing in common.

[SWISH9061]

First of all you need a plan to get your team to a championship level and Babcock has never had that - from where I sit.

I agree that you can't just sign superstars because there aren't that many of them and they want too much $$$. You have to build through the draft and granted that's a risky proposition but just imagine the talent we'd have if Babcock hadn't signed Lo and traded for Reef and Big Dog. Q Richardson or ??, Wilcox/Butler or ??, Gasol/Griffin or ?? Also, let's not forget the year he blew the 4 first rounders. No problem with JT but Posey and George would be nice to have.

So let's we had drafted some of these guys and teamed them with DJ and JT - which gives us a nice core. We'd then have cap to go after a vet like GP, or EJ to help stabilize the team. And of course we'd need to fill our hole in the middle but we'd have money to get one of the Davis boys for that.

If I'm GM I build through the draft first and conserve $$$ for free agency. I'd stay away from trades unless I could pick up a young guy with star potential.

Most importantly, you need a coach. Someone with a defensive philosophy who also understands the players and the game.

I'm sure there are holes in this theory but my main point is that you need to build with young guys in the draft, augment them with FAs and hire a coach who knows what to do.

I've been a Hawks fan longer than most of you guys...actually watched Lenny play when I was growing up in the Looie...so I'm not willing to settle for an 8th seed team as most of you want to do...it's time for somebody to start talking about rings.

[TheDude]

so reef sucks? so jt sucks? so big dog sucks?

no, no, no....we have talent...do we have the right talent to work with each other? also no...

but there's not reason to draft a guy who is only a year or two younger than the guys we have...

we should at least keep jt and reef..as much flack as reef gets, he's 26ithink years old...we just need better fits..get rid of dog if needed and get a point guard. we need a phat center..but babcock got some good talent here, just not the right pieces..

look at the other teams making the finals who had LESS talent than we have...they had one superstar and role players...we just need some pieces...

we don't suck cuz of talent..we suck cuz not the right combination of talent...babcock did the right things to assemble this current team, but he didn't consider the situation of combination and chemistry...

man if we blow this team up AGAIN and start over AGAIN we are stupid...every "expert" continues to say they don't know why the hawks are losing or if they have a reason, it's never, "they dont' ahve the talent"..it's chemistry..

let's be logical about the talent we have and what we need to be contenders...let's not freak out and just blow it up...we have some of the pieces...

[SWISH9061]

I don't either of these guys suck they all have skills and I'm sure that every team in the league would want them - at the right price. However, they're just good, but not great, players.

There's more to the game than scoring and that's what these guys do best. In the NBA, championships are still won with defense, rebounding and ball security - all things which we're lacking. None of our "great" players provide any of this so that's why we're in trouble. The Mavericks are a perfect example of this - great record but in no way are they a championship team. Sure they're exciting and they'll win a lot of games but do you honestly think they have a shot at winning it all??

What's the point in playing if you can't compete for the ring? Granted, not every team will but at least have a plan that will allow you to compete at that level...

[Traceman]

contenders. The problem is that we have no way to acquire GP without giving up Reef. If we could lineup:

Theo

Reef

Dog

JT

GP

we would DEFINITELY be a playoff team and I think we could win the East. GP embodies most of what this team is missing at the guard position. He brings size, smarts, toughness, defense, offense, basically anything you could want in a PG (or SG). He's a superstar. Interior D would still be a problem but that could be alleviated quite a bit by playing Reef and Dog together less as the game goes along.

I think we have some good pieces in place, we just need to figure out a way to maximize what we have. Unloading a player of Reef's caliber for capspace would be a dumb move. If we move Reef, we had better get back a talented young player or a veteran player with All Star ability. Really, the same goes for Big Dog, Theo or JT because unless we trade TWO of the four of Reef, Big Dog, Theo and Hendu, we will not have enough capspace to do anything anyway.