ABout Big Dog.

[Diesel]

It's amazing the stuff said about Big Dog. Mainly, stuff that is said about our end of the year run and not needing Big Dog. Amazing.

I read where somebody said, our squad next year should be:

JT/Dion/Ira/SAR/Theo.

My question is WhY? So that we can put up another losing season?

It's the same experiment we tried with Toni.

Toni is years better than Ira and more complimentary than Big Dog, but obviously, the Chemistry didn't work with him neither? I mean, we had our best Moments two years ago when Toni was coming off the bench... Right. However, for the whole season with Toni, we sucked. Are you guys believing that Ty Corbin Jr is that good? Are you guys believing that DJ made that much of a difference? Are you guys believing that Big Dog is our problem?

Here's the truth. The truth is that while JT has played PG, we have had problems with Turnovers and with offensive stallings. How many games did we lose in the fourth qtr when Toni Played. Many.

Granted, Ira does bring better defense. BUT Ira also creates problems on the offense. There is great inconsistency in Ira's offense. One night he'll get you 20 then 3 nights straight he'll get you 5. That's TY Corbin all over again.

Diesel's word to the wise is to reevaluate what we have. Big dog delivered exactly what we expected. I mean seriously, nobody expected him to be a defensive stopper. So why hark on the fact that his defense is not on par with Theo's? If you want to examine that then you need to look at Reef and JT too. Big Dog gives us a consistent 2nd scorer. Nobody has denied that. He leads our team in scoring. IN the games against Good teams for the most part (I would say 80% of the time) he was one of our lead scorers.

Here's the part that will make some of you mad...

GRob's game is NO different than Dominique's. YOU revisionist of history can try to change the facts if you like, but Nique played the same olay defense that Big DOg plays. Nique also was the same type of ball hog that Big Dog is. The difference is that the team was more consistent than it is now. Doc was a SMART PG. Willis was a BIG PF. Fratello knew how to get the most of all the tools around dominique. AND Fratello also had a design on what kind of team it was. Those Hawks teams didn't try to be all defensive, they were scorers.

SADLY, Dominique's team (except for the one with Theus and Malone) were not as talented as this Hawks team. What the new coach must do is go over the personnell and figure out what he wants. IF he wants to get a team that's all defensive then drop Grob and JT and get some defensve players who will rotate and defend their man. If he wants a team that will outscore their opponents, then add another point gaurd, move to a 2 gaurd set and play Zone defense.

However, to blindly Point at Big Dog and say, he must go because he must go is an admission that we're not smart enough to figure out to incorporate a 21 point 7 rebound player into the offense. The question I ask is .... Would you say that Nique must go if the Dominique of his prime were here instead of GRob? Honestly, you would get the exact same game from Nique.

[cyman3]

okay, u rather have JT go b4 DOG. i respect ur opinion... thats fine.

But name ALL the PGs u rather have instead of JT. Then make another list, the PGs that are available. Kidd better not be on that 2nd list.

U say that JT isint a PG and that we'll never win w/ him as our starting PG. Basketball is changing... theres not that many PASS-FIRST/"im not good at shooting" Point Guards in this league. The only TRUE PG left is Andre Miller.... but do u really want him here? U think he could change this team into a winning team just by trading places w/ Terry?

In my opinion, our game runs smoothly w/o Big Dog. People are cutting to the basket and guys are playing Defense. Ty Corbin Jr (as u call him) even made us forget about Big Dog down the stretch.

This is my suggestion, trade BIG DOG for a starting SG. Terry does have his weaknesses, but he is coming up quite nicely. This season does not reflect the skills our players.

Abdur-Rahim was an allstar before Robinson came here... w/ Robinson taking his shots, SAR isint an allstar. Terry doesnt have to pull up 15 shots to be effective... yet ROBINSON does.

Heres what it comes down to DIESEL.

w/ ROBINSON... all our players play a little worse than normal. w/o ROBINSON... all our players play a little better than normal.

Suppose 11 guys (other than Robinson) averaged 2 ppgs better w/o Robinson. Thats 22 POINTS Diesel. Sure, ROBINSON can provide 22 points... but thats about all. Other than offense, hes useless.

Trade ROBINSON now. I rather have hawksfreak as our 3rd string PG...

at least as a cheerleader he could contribute in a positive way...

[Diesel]

I didn't say I want JT to go first. I said that I would rather have a Ballhandler first than Big Dog to be put out for nothing...

Like this Rice for Big Dog Trade. That's Crap.

WHat I have suggested was Bring in a Second PG and play a 2 gaurd lineup and a zone defense.

What Second Gaurd? Sheez... Let's see. OFf the top of my head.

1. Miller.

2. NVE

3. Chauncey Billups

4. Shammond Williams

5. J. Crawford

6. Bobby Jackson

7. Kevin Ollie

8. Howard Eisley

9. Brevin Knight

10. Jacque Vaughn

11. Jeff McInnis

12. Antonio Daniels

13. Damon Stoudamire

14. Keyon Dooling

15. Mike Wilks

These are some. Some of them will be free agents, Some of them would have to be traded for. I think for the most part, Nazr is really good trade bait for a lot of these guys. Going Big for small. I think also that we shouldn't shy away because of size. Defensively we can play Zone.

However, when we decide to be honest with ourselves, I think we should realize that JT is not a pG but more of a hybrid of Sg/PG and really more SG than PG. I don't suggest we follow this fantasy of Tall OGs to play beside JT because we seriously handicap him....i.e. what happens if the OG gets hurt?? But I think we need to go to a system similar to what Westphaul ran in Phoenix... Where we play SMALL ball and gain an advantage using Speed.

For that reason, I wouldn't mind picking up the high dollar contract of Stoudamire.

I'd trade Hendu/CC/GLover (SNT) for Stoudamire.

You say he's horrible in Portland. NOt really. His game doesn't work with how they play. However, here, him and JT would be ultraquick. I think that his ability to pass and run an offense and JT's ability to shoot and play some PG would be really handy.

By that same token, I would also take a chance on Kenyon Dooling. IN LAC, they have to be looking to get rid of some Glut in order to make space for their FAs. I would trade Nazr/1st rounder this year to LAC for Dooling/Maggette. It would make sense because LAC would be missing Khandi in the offseaosn and Nazr is a west coast kind of C with a cheap Contract. They could resign Odom and Brand and then draft more meat. I would probably try this option first.

I like the idea of:

Terry/Dooling/GRob/SAR/Theo.

Then as GRob becomes more tradable (if he continues to be a disturbance), we can trade him and move Maggette into the starting SF role. But I think that kid out of Missouri (Dooling) would be a good Combo Gaurd along with JT and would help our offense.

[cynic]

Nazr/Indy pick for Maggette/Dooling??

That one, I wouldn't even have to think about. I think LAC would, though. They do need to resign Odom / Brand, and they need to get a center. Khandi might cost them too much, and he's not really much better than a healthy Nazr.

[Diesel]

I don't think LAC would think much about it.

They might ask that it be Dooling and Ely instead of Maggette... and I would consider that as well.

LAC needs a PG and a C. They are loaded at all other positions.

They will resign Odom. He will be their SF.

They will resign Brand. He will be their PF.

They will not resign Khandi... Even if the money is there.

Miller is gone.

I think they will play Jaric as PG.

And they have Que Richardson and Piakwoski as SGs.

Their team is pretty set if they can get a cheap C.

That's Nazr.

He's cheap. Signed Long term.

For us, we take players they don't use... Dooling & (Magette or Ely.) In the draft, they will probably get another SF or PG. And it's all beautiful.

LAC will continue their tradition of training players.

[cyman3]

The Zone will do nothing against guys like TRACY MCGRADY and KOBE BRYANT. They will figure out the zone and have their way throughout the whole game. Even Allan Houston would be drilling 3's all over either TERRY or _____ (insert- a PG).

Sam Cassell and Gary Payton get away with it, jsut b/c Payton is 6'4" and is known to play ALLSTAR DEFENSE.

The KINGS get away w/ it because they are the most talented team. Same w/ Dallas when NVE and NASH are playing at the same time.

I say WE GO AFTER a traditional SG. A sharpshooter. Not necessarily one that can give us 20 ppg. But one that cant be left alone for a wide open 3, passes the ball well, handles the rock, plays good defense.

Ginoboli would be nice, but SA loves him.

[Diesel]

First off, I think a 2 PG offense is our best option.

#1 because we have the advantage of Speed.

#2 because we bring in a second ballhandler.

The 2 PG offense is strickly an offensive advantage. I never said it would be a defensive one. However, I believe that we can outscore teams giving the right circumstance. NOW let's look at this situation.

What if we had Antonio Daniels.

He has size, but he's not exactly 6'5" or anything close. I think we could win. He's a good ball handler. Also he's a good shooter from outside. Defensively, teams wouldn't know how to stop us on offense because you have this great Low Post player (SAR) and you have one mid range shooter and 2 ball handling gaurds who can both shoot from outside. What we would have done is Spread the defense. Then we can do things like Throw the ball in to Reef or Let Grob set up for his mid range shot or find Terry with the three. It would be an offense that takes advantage of all of our weapons. We would actually have three Zones of activity on OFfense.

Defensively, you said that Tmac or Kobe would find a way to beat the ZOne and even Houston would drill threes over our PGs. Well, that might be true... However, I would rather them take the Three than to have them WALK past JT or Grob or Dion on a Switch and get an easy dunk. That's what teams do against us. They get the matchup they like and then they challenge Theo. The problem is that Most times, SAR doesn't rotate. Grob Doesn't rotate but he plays the passing lane, JT doesn't play defense past two steps. When we played NY, after Thomas and Spoon finished having their way with our C/PF in the post, didn't Houston start abusing JT on the low blocks? At least when we play Zone, everyone knows his responsibility. A zone would also help Theo... Because he could sit back and for the most pary play help defense (his specialty).

The point is that the Zone makes it easier to defend and to hide our obvious weaknesses. As far as Superstars figuring out the zone... Cool... However, while they are trying to figure out how to score on us, with improved offense, we would be scoring on them. Again, our motive is to OUTSCORE...

[jaywalker72]

Bring in a ballhandling shooting guard (LeBron would be nice at the 2) and forget the zone defense.

Ratliff told me that a zone only works in spurts in the NBA due to the speed and coaching on this level.

He noted that a coach like Riley ate up the zone that Kruger threw at the squad in less than three possessions and that after that length of time, a zone loses its novelty to an opposing offense and then the tide begins to turn.

Defensively, it would be better to have a player like DerMarr, who has quickness, length, and size to play the two, and if his ballhandling continues to improve (and his health is as good as it looks), then maybe we don't have to go anywhere to get our backcourt answer.

If not, then I suggest getting a legit 2 in here that has some handles and play the game the right way, without gimmicks.

[Diesel]

Our best option would be a Ball handling SG... BUT It's been 4 yrs. Finding a true ball handling SG who can run an offense is about as easy as finding the next Bobby Fisher. I hear the names that come out. Reece Gaines (I was high on this kid until this year) I don't think he can run an offense. Tito Maddux. He went from Big PG to Benched. I bet we can trade Dickau for him. Those are the only two in the last two years. There's also Marquis Daniels out of Auburn. I like him and we should take a chance in the 2nd round if he's there... But he's not ready either.

In the league you got Barry, Christie, Penny, D. Anderson, and possibly Joe Johnson. But there again, that's 5 out of maybe 60 SGs that can run an offense. Finding Bobby Fisher seems easier.

Now, the 2 PG approach works. I went back to KJ/Kidd... However, even now, you have: Nash/NVE, Bibby/Jackson on occassion, Payton/Cassell, and some other occassional pairings. I think Putting JT with another guard who has speed could create another strength for our team.

About the Zone. I disagree. I watched Dallas last night and they have played Zone nearly all season. I can't tell, but I think Detroit slips into a Zone and allows B Wall to patrol the middle. A zone requires responsibility. That might have been our problem. I've watched us play and in regular defense we don't make good rotations and switches.