Sekou working on an out from AJC?

[tmac13]

I agree, it really not fair to Marvin to make him respond to a Billy Knight mistake. This interview should have been with BK but its unfortunate that BK doesn't have the guts to address his mistakes. Instead, he leaves the player dangling.

[Diesel]

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I agree, it really not fair to Marvin to make him respond to a Billy Knight mistake. This interview should have been with BK but its unfortunate that BK doesn't have the guts to address his mistakes. Instead, he leaves the player dangling.

Let me ask you a question.

The other day, I laughed hard at Steven A. Smith.

He was talking about Kwame Brown being traded to Memphis and he said "this man is a bonafide scrubb!!"

watch it hear...

He also said that Kwame doesn't have the heart or the passion to be good.

Is this the GM who picked him fault??

When Jordan looked at Kwame, he saw a 7 foot guy, about 270 who was young and skilled. Is it his fault forever that Kwame never played up to his potential?

When is the right time that you can criticize a player for not having the heart or the passion to live up to his potential?

[Packfill]

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Really, what do some of you want him to say? This is a guy that no matter how well he plays, he gets criticized endlessly by a bunch of fans who don't know what they are talking about. Fans that completely make up criticisms such as your clumsiness comment or the recent idea that Marvin cannot create his own shot.

Marvin just came off a game where he scored 20 points on 50% shooting, but you didn't hear a damn peep out of any of you who constantly are berating him endlessly. Let him make one mistake on the floor though, and the guy is the worst player this league has ever seen.

That's why I kind of went off the deep end last night during halftime of that Warrior game. All of that BS about JJ not being this or that. Then he has one one of the best halves in franchise history, and there's hardly a peep about that. But let him miss a few shots and have a few stupid turnovers, and they come out the woodwork to whine and cry and belittle the guy.

It's happened to every single player on this team, outside of maybe Acie. Acie has gotten a pass from the majority of Hawksquawk, including myself.

But here's a legit question about Marvin's situation. If he were in Milwaukee, or New Orleans, or Utah, would he be a better player under a different system, coach, and teammates?

Conversely, what would a Deron look like under Woody? Paul? Personally, I think Paul would be OK. He wouldn't be a potential MVP candidate, but he'd still be good. Deron though, Deron might be a mess in Woody's system. It took a while for Deron to take control in Utah, so there's no telling how Woody would've treated Deron. And Stockton worked with Deron after his rookie season. Who would've helped Deron here? Spud? Morlon Wiley?

Players have to be in the right situation, in order to maximize their potential.

The vast majority of #2 picks are thrust into being one of the main guys right off the bat. And they usually don't have to compete for their starting job. It's usually already open or handed to them.

Marvin, Darko, and Tyus Thomas were all guys who had more talented guys playing in front of them in their rookie years. The GMs on those teams are more to blame for their lack of development, than anybody else.

If Marvin is drafted to replace Harrington, then get rid of him right off the bat . . like Seattle did with Ray Allen concerning Durant. BK pretty much wasted a entire year of development with Marvin at the 3, and frankly with Josh Smith at the 4, by keeping Harrington around as long as he did.

I mean, even look what happened with Horford. His constant improvement is due to the fact that he was thrusted into the starting lineup right away. God forbid that Zaza was healthy to start the year. Woody may have suppressed Al, in favor of going with Zaza for 25 - 30 minutes a night.

That's exactly what happened with Acie, with him not playing signifcant minutes behind AJ and Lue. If he's the starter from the beginning, there's no telling how far along he'd be right now. We might not even trade for Bibby. But with Bibby here, his development may also be slowed, and his ultimate potential may not be realized.

Meanwhile, Conley is getting valuable minutes in Memphis, even though they lose on most nights. This time next year, people will be talking about how good Conley looks, compared to Acie, who will be Bibby's backup. They made sure they got rid Damon's azz, so that Conley could develop as fast as possible.

Marvin is in an unfortunate spot. He gets so much heat from the fans and press because he is, unfortunately for him, the poster boy for Billy Knights screw-ups. Fire BK and the heat gets turned down on Marvin quite a bit.

[Diesel]

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Marvin is in an unfortunate spot. He gets so much heat from the fans and press because he is, unfortunately for him, the poster boy for Billy Knights screw-ups. Fire BK and the heat gets turned down on Marvin quite a bit.

Until we play N.O. or Utah.

[tmac13]

Thats easy. I watched Marvin at UNC and he was happy taking a subordinate role to the teams older stars. Thats simply who he is. He has never played with a "star mentality" and he never will. He is a backseat player. BK thought for some reason that would change with the Hawks and it hasn't. JJ is the same way, BK thought he would come here, be given the keys to the team and become a superstar. That one didn't work either. A players mental makeup is every bit as important as their talent. Jordan wouldn't have been Jordan without the attitude. Ditto for Bird, Magic, Dominique, or even LeBron. Great players have to want to be great players. A decent GM could have looked at Pauls play at Wake compared to Marvins play at UNC and determined which guy would be willing to take the burden and which guy would be happy being a 3rd option.

[hawkman]

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Thats easy. I watched Marvin at UNC and he was happy taking a subordinate role to the teams older stars. Thats simply who he is. He has never played with a "star mentality" and he never will. He is a backseat player. BK thought for some reason that would change with the Hawks and it hasn't. JJ is the same way, BK thought he would come here, be given the keys to the team and become a superstar. That one didn't work either. A players mental makeup is every bit as important as their talent. Jordan wouldn't have been Jordan without the attitude. Ditto for Bird, Magic, Dominique, or even LeBron. Great players have to want to be great players. A decent GM could have looked at Pauls play at Wake compared to Marvins play at UNC and determined which guy would be willing to take the burden and which guy would be happy being a 3rd option.

Excellent points T Mac. In the end, the player has to WANT to be great. That's what separates Lebron James from Tim Thomas. I have no doubt that Marvin CAN be a great player, but he also has to want it. I just can't feel sorry for Marv right now. He's been given a starting role and "core" status on this team and he needs to play like that. Now if 15 and 5 is enough to satisfy some of you out there, that's fine, but please don't make it seem like that was what everyone had in mind when we drafted the guy. We passed on strengthening a position of need to go after a potential superstar, or at least that was the reasoning I remember hearing the most. Now the PG's we passed on are All-Stars/MVP candidates and are showing no signs of fading anytime soon. Although that is hindsight, that still doesn't excuse Marv from living up to his advanced billing. Show me something besides the nice mid-range jumpshot and the occasional highlight reel dunk. This team NEEDS Marv to play up to his potential right now. I don't want to see him fail. I want this guy to be the player that so many believe he can be.

[AtLaS]

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He also said that Kwame doesn't have the heart or the passion to be good.

Is this the GM who picked him fault??

When Jordan looked at Kwame, he saw a 7 foot guy, about 270 who was young and skilled. Is it his fault forever that Kwame never played up to his potential?

When is the right time that you can criticize a player for not having the heart or the passion to live up to his potential?

Billy Knight is the idiot who took an SF when we had 5 (including 3 that were 1st rounders), BK is the idiot who took a player who didn't even start, and only averaged 11 ppg. BK is the idiot who took Marvin despite him not having a winning HS record.

Please don't make excuses for BK's HORRIBLE drafting resume, it's absolutely horrible and noone can defend it. Anyone who knew anything KNEW that Marvin just wasn't that good.

[AtLaS]

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The reason Marvin Williams was a CONSENSUS top 2 player in that draft is because of his skills. He's 6'9" with a great jump shot, ball handling ability, and the ability to put the ball on the floor going to the basket.

What ability to put the ball on the floor going to the basket? If you mean ability to go to the hole and get his lunch packed, the YES, you are correct.

And what is this ball handling ability you speak of? Marvin can't dribble at all, that's not even questionable.

[Johann]

Bush league article. What a rehash of tired crap. Worthy of many of the posters here, but not a "journalist."

I don't blame Marvin. Think of something to say, parrots. Quit squawking the same BS.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

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Let me ask you a question.

The other day, I laughed hard at Steven A. Smith.

He was talking about Kwame Brown being traded to Memphis and he said "this man is a bonafide scrubb!!"

watch it hear...

He also said that Kwame doesn't have the heart or the passion to be good.

Is this the GM who picked him fault??

When Jordan looked at Kwame, he saw a 7 foot guy, about 270 who was young and skilled. Is it his fault forever that Kwame never played up to his potential?

When is the right time that you can criticize a player for not having the heart or the passion to live up to his potential?

Hell yeah you blame Jordan. 1) because he shouldn't have picked Kwame in the first place, and 2) they didn't throw that kid into the fie right away. When your picking #1, you damn well better be picking a guy who is not only ready to play right away, but also have damn near guaranteed minutes waiting for him.

That 2001 draft, I think, had Kwame, Curry, Chandler, and Diop going in the top 10. All 4 of those guys were high school players. Meanwhile, you had a young, established European big man ( Gasol ), a dynamic wing player who had a won a National Title ( J-Rich ), and a Duke guy that everybody loved for his solid, all-around game ( Battier ) who were immeadiately ready to play.

But he chose probably the worst big man of the class in Kwame. Hell yeah that's Jordan's fault. He proved that he couldn't properly evaulate talent, with the Morrison pick.

Marvin definitely isn't beyond criticism. He can be a much better ballplayer if he continues to work on different aspects of his game. He needs to decide what kind of a player he wants to be. If he's going to be a Glen Rice type of player, he has to add tthe 3-ball to his game. If he wants to be a slasher, he needs to get even stronger and learn to finish a little better in traffic . . something he was doing well in the beginning of the year.

[Diesel]

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Thats easy. I watched Marvin at UNC and he was happy taking a subordinate role to the teams older stars. Thats simply who he is. He has never played with a "star mentality" and he never will. He is a backseat player. BK thought for some reason that would change with the Hawks and it hasn't. JJ is the same way, BK thought he would come here, be given the keys to the team and become a superstar. That one didn't work either. A players mental makeup is every bit as important as their talent. Jordan wouldn't have been Jordan without the attitude. Ditto for Bird, Magic, Dominique, or even LeBron. Great players have to want to be great players. A decent GM could have looked at Pauls play at Wake compared to Marvins play at UNC and determined which guy would be willing to take the burden and which guy would be happy being a 3rd option.

Excellent points T Mac. In the end, the player has to WANT to be great. That's what separates Lebron James from Tim Thomas. I have no doubt that Marvin CAN be a great player, but he also has to want it. I just can't feel sorry for Marv right now. He's been given a starting role and "core" status on this team and he needs to play like that. Now if 15 and 5 is enough to satisfy some of you out there, that's fine, but please don't make it seem like that was what everyone had in mind when we drafted the guy. We passed on strengthening a position of need to go after a potential superstar, or at least that was the reasoning I remember hearing the most. Now the PG's we passed on are All-Stars/MVP candidates and are showing no signs of fading anytime soon. Although that is hindsight, that still doesn't excuse Marv from living up to his advanced billing. Show me something besides the nice mid-range jumpshot and the occasional highlight reel dunk. This team NEEDS Marv to play up to his potential right now. I don't want to see him fail. I want this guy to be the player that so many believe he can be.

15 and 5 doesn't even positively compare to what we were getting from Al Harrington. Al was giving us 18/8 and all that we heard was complaint complaint complaint. Now Marvin is become satisified with 15/5 and all we hear are excuses, excuses, excuses. I would almost swear that our offense worked better with JJ and AL than it does with Marvin and JJ. One of our resident stat heads can crunch the numbers. Moreover, Marvin is not much better defensively either.

[Diesel]

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He also said that Kwame doesn't have the heart or the passion to be good.

Is this the GM who picked him fault??

When Jordan looked at Kwame, he saw a 7 foot guy, about 270 who was young and skilled. Is it his fault forever that Kwame never played up to his potential?

When is the right time that you can criticize a player for not having the heart or the passion to live up to his potential?

Billy Knight is the idiot who took an SF when we had 5 (including 3 that were 1st rounders), BK is the idiot who took a player who didn't even start, and only averaged 11 ppg. BK is the idiot who took Marvin despite him not having a winning HS record.

Please don't make excuses for BK's HORRIBLE drafting resume, it's absolutely horrible and noone can defend it. Anyone who knew anything KNEW that Marvin just wasn't that good.

Oh... I'm not making excuses for BK. I'm saying now that we have Marvin (with his star potential) at some point he has to want it!!

[AtLaS]

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Oh... I'm not making excuses for BK. I'm saying now that we have Marvin (with his star potential) at some point he has to want it!!

I just don't see the star potential in Marvin, never have. What does he do exceptionally well other than having good form on his bricks? He's just not that good, I don't think it's his motivation (although that can definitely be questioned) so much as it is his lack of skills. He's just not that good.

[hawkman]

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Oh... I'm not making excuses for BK. I'm saying now that we have Marvin (with his star potential) at some point he has to want it!!

I just don't see the star potential in Marvin, never have. What does he do exceptionally well other than having good form on his bricks? He's just not that good, I don't think it's his motivation (although that can definitely be questioned) so much as it is his lack of skills. He's just not that good.

I'm not willing to give up on him yet. There's no way that he can be satisfied with his game at this point. He can be so much more for this team. Why doesn't he just crash the boards with Horf and Smoove? He has to have a size and athletic advantage over most of the SFs out there. We should be DOMINATING the boards right now. Honestly, what does Rudy Gay have that Marv does not? He just has to put it all together.

[Guest Walter]

...when MW made us forget about Chris Paul and Deron Williams according to you.

Of course, you didn't, then did want SW because you thought BK didn't, then did want him.

When you get a mind of your own you can criticize, but BK and MW have enough blame to go around on this. BK [censored] up by drafting YET ANOTHER forward prospect, one that those who watched him (but were not particularly UNC fans) knew was more about hype and lack of desire than "POtential", when two franchise Pgs were available. MW hasn't been working as hard as he should, much less can, choosing rather to return to school, do pilates, and have the assistant coaches make him "work on his game" in the offseason despite his early exit necessitating remedial basketball education in the offseason. Frankly, KB, you, BK, and MW DESERVE EACH OTHER.

W

[AtLaS]

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Why doesn't he just crash the boards with Horf and Smoove?

Crashing the boards should not be the concern for Marvin. If it is, than that's just more proof that he has failed miserably as a pick.

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We should be DOMINATING the boards right now. Honestly, what does Rudy Gay have that Marv does not? He just has to put it all together.

Comparing Marvin to Rudy? Rudy can actually create his own shot, post up, has 3pt range, and can finish inside. Rudy is also MUCH more athletic than Marvin, and can actually handle the ball. It's not a matter of Marvin not figuring it out, it's a matter of Marvin not being as good as Rudy Gay.