Should the Hawks fear the Wizards taking their 4thspot in the East?

[Blunt91]

I was looking at some of the GM predictions on NBA.com and they have the Wizards as 2nd in the SouthEast division. Then I looked at their roster as it stands now and they may very well give Atlanta all they can handle for the 4th position. Plus the have a pretty good coach in Flip Saunders.

http://www.nba.com/wizards/roster/

[Packfill]

I was looking at some of the GM predictions on NBA.com and they have the Wizards as 2nd in the SouthEast division. Then I looked at their roster as it stands now and they may very well give Atlanta all they can handle for the 4th position. Plus the have a pretty good coach in Flip Saunders.

http://www.nba.com/wizards/roster/

I don't think fear is the right word, but the Wizards have the type of talent where, if (big if for sure) it comes together, they could certaintly challenge for the 4th seed.

I wonder about Toronto as well with the addition of Turkoglu.

[lethalweapon3]

Raps too.

But I'm not gonna get too concerned about seeding, as I see the Hawks faring well against a first round opponent regardless of seeding. Whether they can depart from their Jekyll-and-Hyde approach to games on the road will determine how important being a 3-4 versus 5-6 will be.

Decent depth, plus Mike Miller, a gung-ho offensive approach and healthier starters will have DC back in the mix. But like the Hawks last season, the Wiz have several key players that will need to mature quickly if they expect to be anymore than a first-round exit... Oh, and they have some young players too. :)

~lw3

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Fear the Wiz taking our spot? No.

They'll take it anyway, if we don't start winning more consistently on the road. That should be one of the top goals for this team this season. I would love to see this team win 25 road games, but 20 is more realistic.

I will say this about the Wiz though. During this preseason, Gilbert Arenas has played Chris Paul like, in the playmaking department. He's also not relying on his jumper, and taking the ball to the hole.

Now if he does this during the regular season, the Wiz definitely becomes a team to watch. If he changes his mindset from trying to be the NBA's top scorer ( by jacking up a bunch of jumpers ), to trying to become the league's to assist man, the Wiz become VERY DANGEROUS.

Hopefully, this is just a phase that Gil is going through.

[Buzzard]

The Wizards by getting Gilbert back will be tough as long as they stay healthy. Raptors will be much improved also. Going to be a race and lets not forget Miami, if they stay healthy and that is a big if, Miami will be in it as well.

[RedDawg#8]

the Wiz have much more to prove and improve than we do. Yes we have to improve winning road games, but they have to improve winning games period.

[BeeSwatter]

I was actually thinking about this why watching the Wizards' Real Training camp on NBATV. For some reason I like the additions they have made. I also like Flip a lot. Watch their training camp and then compare it to ours. There was a world of difference. I think the big question mark for them will be chemistry and health. I thought Brendan Haywood looked really good on NBATV. He looked in shape.

[capstone21]

I was actually thinking about this why watching the Wizards' Real Training camp on NBATV. For some reason I like the additions they have made. I also like Flip a lot. Watch their training camp and then compare it to ours. There was a world of difference. I think the big question mark for them will be chemistry and health. I thought Brendan Haywood looked really good on NBATV. He looked in shape.

The Wizards improved their team with adding Miller, Foye and basically Gilbert. They will be a playoff team this year but I don't know if they are as good as us. They have a terrible defensive team. I don't think they have a strong rebounding team either. They are going to be fun to watch though.

[warcore]

Does anyone else see the Bulls as a threat next year? I know they lost Gordon. But, Luol Deng will be back and I think James Johnson is going to be one of the rookies that surprise.....not to mention Derrick Rose with playoff experience.

[jy23]

We're an overall better team, they made some nice additions but they didn't really fill a need on their team. They just added more players, we needed a scorer/creator off the bench (we got it with craw) we needed frontcourt help (Joe Smith and Jason Collins) we needed some more veterans (pretty much every player we added fits that) plus we got teague out of the deal.......................they'll be fun to watch but they won't be a better team than us.

[sillent]

All in all like said above the Wiz are a great team(on paper). Caron can play D and so can Gilbert and Haywood(Don't sleep on Blatche either) but although their offense will definitely be great will they defend well as a team. The top/great teams play good defense and at the moment I see the Wizards being an average defensive team. The Raptors are pretty soft and Turkolu did not make them any tougher(on D).

[ATLSmith]

Man, the East is getting better and better with the Raptors, and Wizards improving. Not to mention the Pistons, Heat, Bobcats, Bulls, 76ers, and Pacers will steadily improve (unless Miami nukes the team this off-season and releases Wade). I guess even the Knicks are making progress and should be a tough team to beat next year if they play their cards right. Boston might be struggeling to make the playoffs in a couple of years... Ha. The East is becoming the new West...

Right now the biggest advantage the Hawks have over the Wiz is size. Sure, we're undersized a little at center but overall we are a tall team. Most of the apposing coaches admitted to this last year.

[AHF]

The Wizards and Raptors will have to show me because I see the overall increase in talent on both squads but I see additions to last year's roster of a bunch of scoring swingmen (some of whom don't score efficiently) who struggle playing defense. I don't see much strengthening defense, rebounding or the interior play of these teams (although the return of the mediocre Hayward will be big for them -- which speaks as much to their total lack of interior depth as Hayward's talent).

For the Raptors, you have to also add in the fact that Bosh may be checked out already for this season.

I think we should remain better than both these squads and I look forward to the prospect of facing one of them in the first round of the playoffs.

[ATLNY7]

I don't see the wizards as a threat.

[Joker]

The Wizards have to stay healthy, were closer to the Magic than the Wizards are to us. But they are close to us if they stay healthy.

[bonethugz]

anyone watch the wiz and cavs last night? i only watched the first half. arenas looked like what he is, been away for a year. he really need some time but the rest of the team look pretty good. plus the have some good size. mcgee and blatche were both impressive.

[buckeye242424]

The Wizards by getting Gilbert back will be tough as long as they stay healthy. Raptors will be much improved also. Going to be a race and lets not forget Miami, if they stay healthy and that is a big if, Miami will be in it as well.

That's the thing, they haven't stayed healthy. Until they do, I don't "fear" Washington as a major threat to any team. The Raptors are intriguing. Hedo was in the right spot in Orlando, he flourished there. I don't see the Raptors making a huge jump with his addition, with the fact Bosh is looking for a payday. If Toronto starts out slow, they'll fade. Philly could surprise people - IF Brand - stays healthy (same boat as Washington). I like our chances keeping home court in the first round. I'm not dismissing we can't sneak into that three spot either. I predicted 50-54 wins, that could snag a three seed.

I also think the Hawks should fear nobody. We can play with any team in the league....

[HawkItus]

after watching us in preseason I think we have nothing to fear. Hawks look deep and confident. This team I think would beat last years team 8 out of 10 and the 2007 team 9 out of 10.

[Gray Mule]

:temperature:

All teams improve every off-season. We will be better this upcoming season because _ _ _ _ _ _ .

Do we EVER read where any NBA team admits, "We won't be as good this year as we were last

season because _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ."

I'll bet that there's not a single NBA team that doesn't expect to win more games this upcoming season

than they did last season. Why? Because, we're better than last year's team.

Now, the real question is, if the Wizards take over #4 in the east, Who, of last season's top three will

have to move down to #5? I expect the Hawks to end up ahead of the Wizards!!

:thumbsupsmileyanim:

[Diesel]

I think that the Hawks should definitely recognize that the league has gotten better and teams like Washington and Toronto and even Detroit are going to bring it. However, I don't think that the Hawks ought to fear anyteam.