Post your ideal starting lineup for next season

[Dexmethylphenidate]

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

Zaza maybe a Top 20 offensive centers in the NBA but I don't think he's the overall top 20 centers

---

name 20 better centers

---

Boston - Jefferson

New Jersey - Kristic

New York - Curr

Toronto - Bosh

Philly - Dalembert

Charlotte - Okafor

Miami - Shaq -

Orlando - Howard

Washington - Haywood

Indiana - O'neal

Milwaukee - Bogut

Chicago - Wallace

Cleveland - Big Z

Detroit - Webbe

Memphis - Gasol

New Orleons - Chandler

Houston - Yao

San Antonio - Oberto

Dallas - Dampier

Seattle - swift

Portland - oden

Denver - Camby

Utah - Okur

LA Lakers - bynum

LA Clippers - kaman

Golden State - Beidris

Sacramento - Miller

[Mutombo_55]

PG: Speedy Claxton

SG: Joe Johnson

SF: Josh Smith

PF: Al Horford

C: Zaza Pachulia

I realize this is probably an unpopular and improbable projection because the Hawks have publicly said that Josh Smith is their starting PF.

I realize Smith has played his best basketball of his career at the PF position, but even so.. I just like Horford more at PF than I do at C. I see Horford as a beast and a more traditional big man than Smith.

I'm 99.9% sure this won't be the opening day starting 5, but I hope if something happens Woodson will tweak his line-up and give Horford a try at PF.

[Nicholasp27]

miller isn't anymore; miller 3 years ago definitely

i have doubts about oberto as well

i'll give u camby/shaq/z/webber for now, tho all of them will be too old in 2-3 years to be in consideration for that

not sure kristic is any better...just has luxury of playing with a real pg

haywood isn't better

bogut isn't better at this point; better prospect tho

swift isn't better; if he comes back from injury, he may be a better prospect; but he needs to come back and prove it this year first

damp is an underachiever; only better when motivated

while bynum is a better prospect, i don't think he's proven he's better consistently yet

[Nicholasp27]

Quote:

---

PG: Speedy Claxton

SG: Joe Johnson

SF: Josh Smith

PF: Al Horford

C: Zaza Pachulia

I realize this is probably an unpopular and improbable projection because the Hawks have publicly said that Josh Smith is their starting PF.

I realize Smith has played his best basketball of his career at the PF position, but even so.. I just like Horford more at PF than I do at C. I see Horford as a beast and a more traditional big man than Smith.

I'm 99.9% sure this won't be the opening day starting 5, but I hope if something happens Woodson will tweak his line-up and give Horford a try at PF.

---

so even tho smoove is PROVEN to be better at pf than sf...even tho smoove is PROVEN to be the better player so far in the nba...even tho horford played CENTER in college...u still hope that we play smoove at sf where he will not do nearly as well and we play horford out of position at pf (he's always been center; only projected pf by most due to height, but he's a center thus far)

[Buzzard]

PG: LawSpeedyLue

SG: Joe JohnsonChilzSalim

SF: MarvinChilz

PF: SmooveShelden

C: HorfordZaZaShelden

I think this 11 man rotation keeps the ball in our best players hands and gives us our best chance to get into the playoffs.

Someone slacks off or they make great strides; time for experimenting is over. If Woody wants the win and save his job, the best five need to play most of the minutes and the best 2nd team needs to get the rest of them...

[Mutombo_55]

1. Horford played Center in college?

2. I like Smith, but he isn't a true big man. He is still lacking offense in the post. I hope he develops some though.

[Nicholasp27]

1) yes, he played center while 7' noah played pf

2) smoove is working with Hakeem all summer so should have some post moves this fall!

[TheDude]

Speedy/Law/Lue or AJ

Joe/Salim/Chill

Marvin/Chill/JSmith

JSmith/SWilliams/Solomon

Horford/Zaza/Williams

i really would like to see how Solomon looks this season..if it looks like he gained some muscle, i'd like to see him get more minutes...IF (and that's a big if), both Shelden and Solomon develop to their potential, we would actually be extremely deep at the big positions..would any of them be 7 foot, no, but who cares....

Woody better be doing his homework right now to see the different lineups he can put on the court based on the matchup..extremely versatile group we have...

[shug94]

Starting lineup:

PG Law

SG JJ

SF Smoove

PF Shelden

C Horford

2nd unit:

PG AJ

SG JJ (he basically has to play all of every game)

SF Chillz

PF Smoove

C Zaza

[DJlaysitup]

Quote:

---

...

I realize Smith has played his best basketball of his career at the PF position, but even so.. I just like Horford more at PF than I do at C. I see Horford as a beast and a more traditional big man than Smith.

I'm 99.9% sure this won't be the opening day starting 5, but I hope if something happens Woodson will tweak his line-up and give Horford a try at PF.

---

OK...Here's the scoop for anyone who watches games. Josh Smith is by FAR the best athlete and defensive shot blocker in the league...period..

None of the new guys are close. JS can block EVERY shot Oden takes (not manning up - helping). He's that good and he's 21. (1 year more or less). Oden can't get within 8 inches of JS's jump - and JS can time it. JS Blocks EVERYBODY. When there is a medium-long reboung in the paint there is no question who will get it. No question.

Some fools want to trade him.

He can take over games and intimidate.

Not only CAN he - I've seen him do it on more than a few occasions.

[Buzzard]

Quote:

---

Starting lineup:

PG Law

SG JJ

SF Smoove

PF Shelden

C Horford

2nd unit:

PG AJ

SG JJ (he basically has to play all of every game)

SF Chillz

PF Smoove

C Zaza

---

No playing time for Marvin? Seems like a waste of talent to me. Even if you are a Marvin detractor, he has to be worthy of a 2nd team selection. Basically you are giving up on a guy that averaged 14 and 7 the last six weeks of the season.

Secondly, I see no way Marvin is a Darko; but if you as a coach treat him that way, you can pretty much expect to get Darko value for him. Which was pretty much nothing...

[shug94]

Not no playing time.

These are the two main units that I will sub in and out of the game, with other guys still getting some minutes but the majority going to these guys.

Once BK trades Smoove midseason there will be plenty of minutes for Marvin.

[AtLaS]

Quote:

---

Once BK trades Smoove midseason there will be plenty of minutes for Marvin.

---

[Diesel]

This is my squad as of today with no trades...

Law/Speedy/Aj

JJ/Chillz/Salim

Marvin/

JSmoove/Horford/Solomon

Shelden/Zaza

However, if we traded Marvin for Yi...

Law/Speedy/Aj

JJ/Chillz/Salim

Yi

JSmoove/Horford/Solomon

Shelden/Zaza

If we made a few more trades: Lue/Lo/Shelden for Dalembert.

Law/Speedy/Aj

JJ/Chillz/Salim

Marvin

JSmoove/Horford/Solomon

Dalembert/Zaza

or Lue/Lo/2nd 2008 for Heywood

Law/Speedy/Aj

JJ/Chillz/Salim

Marvin

JSmoove/Horford/Solomon

Heywood/Shelden/Zaza

or Marvin/Zaza/Lue/Lo for Gasol

Law/Speedy/Aj

JJ/Chillz/Salim

JSmoove

Horford/Solomon

Gasol/Shelden

[TroyMcClure]

While no starting lineup with our current roster is "ideal", here you go:

Zaza/Horf/Solo/Shelden/Lo

Shelden or Horford/Smoove/Zaza/Solo/Marvin/Lo

Smoove/Marvin/Joe/Chill

Joe/Chill/Law/Salim

AJ/Law/Speedy/Lue

6th man Marvin Depending on matchup, 3 or 4. Smoove can slide.

Chill

Horf or Shelden

Law

Lue

Solo

Speedy,

Salim

Lo

I want to see how Solo has progressed and how he matches with Horford. I really like him, and think he may be able to contribute more than Horford. I also think Shelden, while not being worth the #5, has been given a raw deal with Woody. This is why I was against the Horf pick.

I also want to see if Law is ready. I think he is. Still, Aj may be our best pg. I don't see how Speedy could fare well against AJ in practice. Law may be better than both right now. We'll see.

This is the third year in a row that imo, we have a playoff caliber squad. This is also the 4th year in a row that we have Woody. I have no confidence that we will have the best squad on the floor at any given moment.

I'm just hoping Horford and Law can step up and be excellent. Maybe push the others(Speedy, Shelden,etc).

And OMG, we need to trade quantity ( Lue, Speedy, Marvin, Chill, Zaza, AJ ) for quality ( Gasol, JO, etc ). We have way too many players and not enough minutes. We need a leaner rotation. Playing maybe 8 or 9 guys at most. We can't play 12 guys.

[drzachary]

Quote:

---

My ideal lineup for the Hawks next season - list by mpg at each position not level of play:

Law/Speedy/AJ/Lue

JJ/Chill/Salim

Marvin/Chill/Josh Smith

Josh Smith/Shelden Williams/Al Horford

Al Horford/Zaza Pachulia/Shelden Williams

Deep bench/inactive/trade bate: AJ-Lue (one or the other is trade bate as a desirable bench player and expiring salary), Lorenzen Wright (rooted to bench), Solomon Jones (gets significant minutes only with an injury).

Things are looking better in the ATL!

---

AHF, yours is IDENTICAL to mine.. except that my hope is that Shelden breaks out and becomes the super-sub for PF and C, relegating Zaza a little further back (or traded.)

[Nicholasp27]

yeah; chill is our super-sub at 2/3 and shelden our super-sub at 4/5

2/3/4/5 could all be all-star caliber players

1 is set for now with healthy speedy/law plus aj/lue as insurance

long-term, we'll need to find a suitable backup to law...but backup pg is pretty easy to find

[drzachary]

Quote:

---

yeah; chill is our super-sub at 2/3 and shelden our super-sub at 4/5

2/3/4/5 could all be all-star caliber players

1 is set for now with healthy speedy/law plus aj/lue as insurance

long-term, we'll need to find a suitable backup to law...but backup pg is pretty easy to find

---

Also, in my deranged fantasies, Paul Westhead is coaching us, so we need -- what ever do you know -- athletic (often smaller) players who play multiple positions. Run them out of the gym!

[Traceman]

That said, I think a little healthy competition is going to be GREAT for these guys. I can envision a number of starting lineups on opening day.

It will be interesting to see who comes back with the greatest improvement. I honestly expect to see SIGNIFICANT improvement from Smoove, Marvin, Shelden, Chillz, Zaza and Salim from last year. I think they will all come back stronger, smarter and more experienced. Unless a team blows our doors off with a trade offer, I think we should hold tight and go to camp with the roster we have.