What if ???

[Gray Mule]

What if the present hawks roster, with the { Hopeful }

addition of Jason Terry, is all that Atlanta has for the

opening of the season?

It would be necessary to have three warm bodies signed

to make the mandatory 12, naturally. Assuming they

are three useless, minimum contract people who can't

be of any use to us, what do we have?

We have our two draft picks. Some have voiced the

opinion that neither was worthy of the pick that we

spent on them and we should have picked someone

else. Second guessing is always in season and no

matter who we picked, we would hear this from someone.

Two rookie draft picks who must learn the N.B.A. game.

They have some talent -- They will contribute, although

right now, we can't be sure, until we see them play,

just how much we can count on them.

So, for these two, it's "Wait and see." One is a guard,

the other is a guard/foreward.

At center, Hawks have Theo Ratliff and Nazr Mohammed,

with Alan Henderson being the third option. Solid,

if not spectacular.

At power foreward we have SAR, A.H., and C.C. which

pretty much covers that position.

At guard, Hawks have J.T., Dan Dickau, Travis Hanson

and Boris Diaw. Again, solid if not spectacular.

Now, we encounter a problem. We have four positions

covered and we just ran out of players. Big Dog's spot

on the floor, which, when he wasn't playing, was

covered more than adequately by the departed Neuble,

we didn't mention.

If all our nine players are completely healthy, which would

be a major plus for us, since the Hawks have had so

many players miss so many games over the last few

seasons, what can we do?

The rookie Boris Diaw and Cris Crawford are the two

who must now cover the other foreward position. If

C. Crawford is completely healthy and Boris Diaw can

live up to his potential, we might not be as bad off

as some fear but this is two big iffs.

SAR

C. Crawford

Boris Diaw

Dan Dickau

Travis Hanson

Alan Henderson

Nazr Mohammed

Theo Ratliff

Jason Terry

3 warm bodies

That's our current roster. Not N.B.A. championship

material, but not entirely destitute either. When people

look at the Hawks, this is the players they see {Because,

right now, that's all we've got } and no one knows who

the three warm bodies will be or if they will be of any

benefit whatsoever to the cause.

With some teams already with several players over the

limit of 12 with guaranteed contracts, Hawks have

three openings. Who will fill these???

[Traceman]

big time with that assessment at this point Mule. JT, DD, Diaw and Hansen could be the WORST combo of guards in the entire NBA. AT BEST, I think that combo is below average. I'm trying to think of a group of 4 guards on another team worse than that RIGHT NOW but I can't come up with any. Diaw, DD and even Hansen COULD turn out to be solid but they could all turn out to be backup material as well. JT is the only proven commodity in the group and the reason he doesn't have a contract offer right now is because there are question marks regarding whether or not he can be successful as a PG on a winning team.

[Gray Mule]

Killjoy!!

Then how about, "Pretty good, but not terrible!"

Terry - "A man without a country (position)"

Dickau - "Can't shoot worth a darn, but slow."

Diaw - "Non-scorer, but can handle the ball (Maybe)"

Hansen - "Unproven second round rookie."

Over enthusiastic? Heck yeah. They are our players,

they are all we have and at least we have someone

to fill the slots, so we are solid there.

He's my hound dog. He may not hunt very good and he

may not tree worth a darn, but, by golly, he's my hound

dog, so don't go kicking him.

They may not be the best but they are ours. They are

all young and, except for J.T., have very little experience

in the N.B.A. They may all fall on their face, but I would

hope not. I expect them to turn out to be a solid

foresome for the Hawks.

[Traceman]

up attitude." I have to say that in these difficult times, I am not nearly as optimistic as I have been about our beloved Hawks. At any rate, keep the faith!

[dickaufan12]

FYI- Dan Dickau can shoot. Probably better than half the team (which isn't saying much). Any calibur player needs 2-3 years to adjust. Don't call him out because he is unproven, to either the good or poor side, thus far.

Just thought that I'd get involved.