Our Chances with Knight....

[Diesel]

Knight is the GM going into the offseason. WHat are our chances with Knight making the call on trades and draft picks? Well, as far as draft picks these are the ones I know he oversaw or helped oversee.

IN Vancouver...

Pau Gasol (3rd)

Shane Battier (5th)

Will Solomon (33)

Stromile Swift (2nd)

In Indy.....

Vonteego Cummings (26)

Al Harrington (25)

Austin Croshere (12)*

Eric Dampiere (10)*

Mark Pope (52)*

Travis Best (23)*

Fred Hoiberg (52)*

And as far as trades go, this man lives in the blockbuster....

1. Reef/Tinsley for Gasol/Wright/Knight.

2. Mike Bibby for Jason Williams.

3. Possibly Davis for Oneal

4. A. Davis for Bender.

5. Somebody for M. Jackson

6. Somebody for Jalen Rose.

Knight has engineered some interesting trades. I think the best thing about Knight is that he put together a great team in Indy that went 6 in the finals against the Lakers.

[Guest]

I see no reason to get rid of him at all.I think he

deserves a shot.It looks like Doc Rivers isn't going

to happen...So just keep Knight and bring in Paul

or Mike to coach...If its Dunleavy,I'll be a little

dissapointed...but I don't think it will be that bad.

[Diesel]

I don't have a problem with Knight. I wonder about the new coach.

Fratello, Silas both sound good.

I think Stotts would be a bit of a disappointment simply because he didn't do anything. I don't buy the down the stretch. It's the same down the stretch that made Lon look worth keeping last year. The truth is down the stretch we have an easier schedule.

Dunleavy... why is it that some of you guys are down on him.

His track record is not a bad one:

He took the Lakers to the Finals. He took Portland a long ways with a whole lot of bad attitudes. He has a good track record as a players coach.

However, there's one name that hasn't surfaced in a while!

NOLAN Richardson.

He was interviewed by the Hawks before they got Lenny. He's very forceful. He teaches defense. The question is... Was Lon Kruger's failure that he was a college coach or that he couldn't command respect?

[KB21]

The Hawks won't go with a college coach again, especially one like Nolan Richardson who is nothing but a racist.

Dunleavy is not a very strong head coach. He road Magic Johnson and James Worthy to the finals in 1991 or 92, whichever year it was, and he then road the talent that Portland had. In between, during his time at Milwaukee, he did nothing because he had a bunch of young players that he couldn't get to play well.

I don't mind getting Dunleavy for a management position, but I'm completely against him as the head coach.

And why in the [censored] are you mentioning Alvin Gentry's name? That guy completely sucks as a head coach and should never get another opportunity after failing twice when given the chance.

I don't care if you think the games that Stotts won were meaningless. There was a definite change in the way this team played basketball once he took over.

If we can't get Silas or Fratello, I'd just as soon keep Terry Stotts.

[Diesel]

http://www.hawksquawk.net/forums/showflat....amp;o=&vc=1

This thread tells the truth about this forum and the Hawks. Every year, Terry comes on at the end of the season, simply because we are playing easier competition and we get HAPPY. However, just like the start of this year, we never can put it all together against the good competition we face on that immediate Western road trip and we get our butts handed to us.

So don't credit LON. Don't Credit JT. Don't Credit Ira... Credit the Schedule makers. Otherwise we will always think:

Ira is the man.

JT is the man

Stotts/Kruger is a good Coach.

DJ/Glover is the most improved player.

However, watch what they do. Kruger never defined roles. Never stayed consistent.

Stotts has a bit of a problem with Consistency as well.

That's the determining factor.

[coachx]

Or is the reason we started so poorly the last 2 year a direct cosequence of lack of stability that gives the Hawks no chemistry early in the year the past 2 seasons.

2 years ago the Hawks had a new coach and new star, Reef and Terry trying to play point than moving to 2 guard. No stability, you expect a slow start. These guys had to learn to play with one another and the new college coach's system

(i use that term lightly)

This past year the Hawks have Theo and Dog, 2 new starters. Time must be given here again. A slow start is expected. Reef missing the first couple of games to a sore back did not help either.

Diesel your point is well taken but the re-occurring theme for this team is lack of stability. If the team is kept together with same coach, they will be ready to compete from day 1, there will be no more valid execuses of having a learning curve or needing time to gell.

[KB21]

We beat New Jersey. We beat Philadelphia. We beat Milwaukee. We beat Orlando. We played Detroit extremely close and should have beaten them.

All of this was during the last 2-3 weeks of the season, so the easy schedule and playing meaningless games arguement is a bunch of [censored]!

Terry Stotts had this team playing together offensively. They were playing much better defense. The team was doing what Stotts wants, which is to get out and run on offense while playing hard nosed defense. And they were winning at the end of the year against playoff teams.

[jjjohns3]

I think we should give Stotts & Knight a chance.

~Peace

[Diesel]

In reply to:

---

We beat New Jersey. We beat Philadelphia. We beat Milwaukee. We beat Orlando. We played Detroit extremely close and should have beaten them.

All of this was during the last 2-3 weeks of the season, so the easy schedule and playing meaningless games arguement is a bunch of [censored]!

---

First off, all of those games were home games. NJ was in the midst of a 5 game slide when we beat them. And we didn't have problems with Philly and Orlando all year long. So what's left is a Loss to Detroit and a win over Milwaukee. Big Deal. If you want to say we shouldn't loss to Detroit, the tit for tat is that we shouldn't have beaten the Wiz at Home when Reef Pushed off and made the LUCK shot.

Like I said... Easy Schedule.

[coachx]

Diesel at least admit the lack of stability and continuity in the organization are part of the reason for slow starts.

[Diesel]

Namely... Starting from the Coach.

I think Lon did a horrible job with this team in terms of defining. He defined NOTHING. From game to game, we didn't know who to look for for Points, leadership, etc. That's why everyone says we have no identity. Reason being is Lon's trying to run the team like a college team and we'll be happy to get it from whoever's hot that night. Well, in the pros, things don't work that way. In the pros, if you win, you have a goto guy. Duncan, Shaq, Webber, KG... When that is defined, then the rest of the structuring is easy.

The second problem was Babcock's blueprint. He put together this talented bunch with no leadership at the point. I like JT as a Player, but as far as him being a playmaker/running the offense, I think he fails misraebly. Again, back to Lon. He never took the time to really work JT out at PG. I think his backup plan was always.... We can goto email at OG. However, email was not that good and then email got hurt. There was no Vaughn or Toni to bail us out.

In the second half of the season, down the stretch, there were a combination of things that worked together.

1. Schedule became easier. With all the stronger teams passed, we played some weaker and mediocre teams at Home. We are a good home team.

2. Defense got better. This is the 1 advantage of Big Dog being out. We became a better defensive team. Still though... we didn't win any games that we would have lost had he played. Our defense was better because we traded a weak defensive player for a defensive specialist. BY that same token, our offense got weaker.

3. Glover played better. This is not because of Big Dog, this is because Stotts showed confidence in Glover. For 2 1/2 years, I have been saying that Glover could be the best natural talent we have.... meaning he has the most potential. He's strong and he can score. You teach him defense and how to handle the rock and he's better than a lot of SGs in history. He has shown that he can score also. When he played Summer league... he dominated that summer league talent. It was all for waste when he'd come back and LON would bench him because "dion didn't give me what I wanted". Well, Stotts stuck with Dion and found that Dion is a good ball handler and shooter.

4. SAR's Back got better. SAR played hurt most of the season. If you watched you could tell that he wasn't 100%. Well, down the stretch, he got better.

5. Theo got into basketball shape. In the beginning Theo was a foul magnet. I said he would be. Teams will still challenge him. But in the end of the season, he got his wind and he played good.

All these things are good, BUT I wouldn't take them into next season the same way.

#1. Our Schedule won't be easy.

#2. Offensively we will struggle if Ira is playing SF and Dion is playing SG.

#3. Defense doesn't win games in this Era in basketball. NJ is on their way to the finals with a possible Sweep because Defense is not the way to the finals anymore. It's offense.

[Guest]

While I agree that Lon had problems defining roles and probably didn't bring JT along properly. However, I can't sit here and listen to this crap anymore ~ how quickly we forget the terrible barrage of injuries we had that season. It was pretty much impossible to define roles when most of the players weren't on the roster for more than two weeks at a time or missed significant parts of the season?

Stability would be nice.

[Guest]

#3. Defense doesn't win games in this Era in basketball. NJ is on their way to the finals with a possible Sweep because Defense is not the way to the finals anymore. It's offense.

"

NJ is not a offensive team...That can't hardly even score

in the halfcourt.Have you watched these horrible games

between NJ/Detroit?

If the league is built on offense why aren't more teams

averaging 105PPG or more?

[Diesel]

Let me answer...

first off, NJ is built on Offense. Transition offense. They are probably the best transition team since Showtime Lakers.

Secondly look around... Some of the best defensive teams....

Miami, N.O., Houston, Seattle and Utah.... Where are they?

Offense rules... Look at Dallas.

Ranked 17th in defense this year.

Sacramento ranked 16th.

Minn ranked 18th.

The Lakers ranked 23.

However, offensively... #1, #3, #4, and #7 respectively....

Offense means a whole lot more than defense right now. These Pistons are as defensive as the original Bad Boys... But it's not enough.

Playoffs... read and weep:

Team Scoring Team Defense

Team Pts/Game Team Pts/Game

1 SacramentoKings 107.9 1 DetroitPistons 87.7

2 DallasMavericks 107.7 2 PhoenixSuns 90.5

3 PortlandTrailBlazers 101.3 3 Philadelphia76ers 91.2

4 MinnesotaT-wolves 100.5 4 SanAntonioSpurs 92.3

5 LALakers 100.2 5 NJNets 92.7

6 NJNets 98.5 6 NOrleansHornets 94.5

7 SanAntonioSpurs 97.8 7 OrlandoMagic 94.9

8 MilwaukeeBucks 97.8 8 BostonCeltics 95.2

9 BostonCeltics 94.6 9 IndianaPacers 96.8

10 UtahJazz 93.0 10 LALakers 100.0

11 NOrleansHornets 92.8 11 PortlandTrailBlazers 100.3

12 Philadelphia76ers 92.1 12 MilwaukeeBucks 102.2

13 IndianaPacers 91.2 13 UtahJazz 103.6

14 DetroitPistons 90.8 14 SacramentoKings 105.6

15 OrlandoMagic 87.6 15 MinnesotaT-wolves 106.8

16 PhoenixSuns 85.2 16 DallasMavericks 107.2

Dallas is in the WCF and they give up 107.2 ppg.

[Guest]

It's hard for me to call any team offensive that

averages under 100PPG.NJ has a stale offense

that can only score in spurts.

I thought Minny was a better defensive team than

they are....

The only two offensive teams are Dallas and Sactown.

The best defensive teams are:

Spurs

Detroit

New Jersey

Boston

Stats don't show you everything.What about the Magic?

Miami doesn't have enough talent

Utah is not a defensive team.

I think there is a difference between defense and

just slowing the game down.Slowing the game down

is something that Utah does very well.But nobody on

their team is a good defender.

Seattle?Who do they have at PF and C?

Stats don't show everything.

And look who Dallas played...No wonder they can give

up 107PPG and still be in the WC finals.

[Guest]

Kidd's a fantastic open court fast break player. That's they're offense ~ where they struggle is when Detroit forces them into the halfcourt sets. but D, don't ignore the fact that while Detroit was the #1 team in points against, NJ was right there, number 2! You combine that with the fact that they score on half breaks quite a bit (aka, earlier in the shot clock) the other team will get a decent number of possessions in a game.

you underrate defense so much it's rediculous.

[Diesel]

Check again?

In this years playoffs... Dallas is giving up 107.2 ppg. They are statistically the worse defensive team in the playoffs...Overall. Yet...they are tied 1:1 going back to Dallas in the Western Conference Finals. Sac-town and Minn have the same kind of case....

The truth is that since the rule changes a couple of seasons ago, Stern has rewarded offenses teams and has especially rewarded teams that can get the ball up and down the court. That's why you see the rise of NJ. The fall of Philly. The rise of Dallas. The fall of Utah. The rise of Sactown. The fall of Miami and NY. Stern put an end to the days of Halfcourt defense being all a team needed to be good. Now above everything else, you need guys who can score.

[coachx]

the rule changes were meant to help defenses, not hurt them. Adding the zone is just another wrinkle defenses can throw at an offense.

The 8 second shot half court rule was meant to speed up the tempo of the game.

[Guest]

Oh please.Utah has got old and nearly no depth and

that's why they slipped from 1st to 6th.Get real

Miami and NY?Did it ever occur to you that they lose

because they have next to nothing in talent?

"Dallas is giving up 107.2 ppg. "

Because they played againest the also no defense

Kings and Portland isn't that good of a defensive

team either.

"The fall of Philly. "

Philly fell because they went from a team built around

Iverson to a team that doesn't rebound or play defense.

They went from the defense of Ty Hill/Lynch/Theo/Deke

to KVH/Coleman and Todd Mac.

The rules have made next to nothing in changes in the

games.They are still the non scoring lower percentage

shooting ball games.Watch the Nets/Detroit series and

show me all this scoring New Jersey is doing...It isn't

there.

When more than two teams is averaging 100PPG

then we'll talk about how you win with offense.

[Guest]

Additionally, the Mavs take a lot of quick shots and don't board all that well leading to a lot of fast breaks/quick scores for the other team and, more importantly, a lot more shots per game in general.