Yahoo's Hawks preview

[niremetal]

It is no secret to those of us who follow the NBA blogs around the 'net that most pundits do not like the Hawks. But perhaps few people have more pent-up wrath for the Hawks than Kelly Dwyer at Yahoo. It's pretty clear that Mike Bibby beat up Dwyer and took his lunch money at some point in the past, because Dwyer has been writing condescending posts on Bibby pretty much from the day he started blogging. He most recently blasted the Hawks for re-signing Bibby, saying that it was "a cop out, a lazy move, an uninspired turn" and that we "bid against" ourselves (nevermind that we re-signed him to contract that ends when he's 33 for well below the going rate for a starting PG) to keep a guy with the "league-worst" defense (has he met Jason Kapono, Sam Cassell, or Luke Ridnour?). He also has called JJ overrated on a couple occasions, and generally seems to think that no good can come from Atlanta.

He should take a cue from his co-blogger, the seriously hilarious J.E. Skeets, who sticks to chronicling the odder goings-on of the NBA world. But Dwyer, for reasons his mother probably only knows, fancies himself an analyst. He's really, really bad at it, but that doesn't stop him.

Last year, Dwyer predicted the Hawks would go 36-46, and said that "even seems like a stretch."

He capped it off with this:

On top of all that mess, you know this Mike Woodson thing just isn't going away. He's had issues with Smith and a few others on this team, and both parties are probably pretty shocked that the other side of the conflict is still around as 2008-09 starts. Throw in what could be some lingering resentment over the Josh Smith contract negotiations, a new GM who might want his own coach, and the usual ownership mess … 36 wins? That's one less than last year, and that still feels like a lot.

One year in the playoffs wasn't horrible, it was worth it, and it was fun to watch. But that might be it for a while.

In case you forgot, the Smith-Woody feud seemed pretty much gone except for one incident about 2/3 of the way through the season, the ownership group seemed to mind their own business, the GM and coach seemed on the same page, and the Hawks improved by 10 games to take the 4th seed in the playoffs while feeling like a team that should have won even more. Oops.

So what do you think he'll say this year? My guess is he'll peg us at 45-37.

[sturt]

Actually, boys and girls, if I'm recalling correctly and I believe I am, Kelly Dwyer once did a guest Q&A session on the old Hawksquawk ezboard... back then, he struck me as a pretty good guy, and one who actually had a sympathetic view of the franchise. I don't think he was with Yahoo, though... for what it's worth.

[gsuteke]

remind me to look this guy up tomorrow.

[niremetal]

I was wrong. He predicted us to go 43-39.

Edited October 22, 2009 by niremetal

[RedDawg#8]

That was pretty bad, I never read so many compliments that were immediately taken back right after. "So and so is good this and can do that, but not likely or not enough." By the sounds of it, we are the worst good team in the NBA. It as if he is afraid to fully commit to us being a legit contender, as if our team has more liabilities than the Senior Citizen Celts, The new and UNproved Orlando Magic, or the H1N1 Scitzo-gaurd Cavalebrons.

What really let me know that this guy was reaching to make us appear worse than we are was when he posted the excerpts to the different blogs and what they said about us, and when I clicked the [more] link on the one from DIME, that entire section was from the part of their article on us that said BASEMENT, they had an entire article saying some pretty good things about us and he chose the section that described our worst potential outlook, not how they realistically expect us to finish.

Some ppl gotta let go of the Early 2000's Hawks and realize it is safe to cheer for this team again, we are in better shape than alot of franchises and we are still on the up-slope. theres no way a team whose core of players are in their mid 20's has peaked, we havent even seen their prime yet.

Edited October 22, 2009 by RedDawg#8

[TheNorthCydeRises]

The only way I could've made sense about his prediction, is if he said that he believed that Crawford wouldn't be a good fit. But if he believes that Crawford is an upgrade over Flip, and that Teague is a nice talent ( especially over Law ), and that Joe and Jason are decent additiobns, how in the world are we gonna win just 43 games?

LOL . . . the logic just doesn't make sense . . unless he has BOTH Miami and Washington winning more games than us.

And I like the way the writers and some of the bloggers say that we've peaked, even before we've had a season showing just that. It's just a lazy analysis to simply say that "we've peaked" and that "we need a top 5 player." You could say that about 25 other teams in the league as well.

If JJ is JJ, and if 2 of the 3 kids improve their game ( mainly Smoove and Marvin ), we're going to be a 50+ win team easily.

The Orlando game tomorrow night will be everyone's 1st look at the "new look" Hawks. I wonder if Woody will coach that game like a regular season game ( at least for the 1st 3 quarters )? I hope he does, and the squad comes out guns blazing tomorrow night.

[bird_dirt]

It is no secret to those of us who follow the NBA blogs around the 'net that most pundits do not like the Hawks. But perhaps few people have more pent-up wrath for the Hawks than Kelly Dwyer at Yahoo. It's pretty clear that Mike Bibby beat up Dwyer and took his lunch money at some point in the past, because Dwyer has been writing condescending posts on Bibby pretty much from the day he started blogging. He most recently blasted the Hawks for re-signing Bibby, saying that it was "a cop out, a lazy move, an uninspired turn" and that we "bid against" ourselves (nevermind that we re-signed him to contract that ends when he's 33 for well below the going rate for a starting PG) to keep a guy with the "league-worst" defense (has he met Jason Kapono, Sam Cassell, or Luke Ridnour?). He also has called JJ overrated on a couple occasions, and generally seems to think that no good can come from Atlanta.

He should take a cue from his co-blogger, the seriously hilarious J.E. Skeets, who sticks to chronicling the odder goings-on of the NBA world. But Dwyer, for reasons his mother probably only knows, fancies himself an analyst. He's really, really bad at it, but that doesn't stop him.

Last year, Dwyer predicted the Hawks would go 36-46, and said that "even seems like a stretch."

He capped it off with this:

In case you forgot, the Smith-Woody feud seemed pretty much gone except for one incident about 2/3 of the way through the season, the ownership group seemed to mind their own business, the GM and coach seemed on the same page, and the Hawks improved by 10 games to take the 4th seed in the playoffs while feeling like a team that should have won even more. Oops.

So what do you think he'll say this year? My guess is he'll peg us at 45-37.

kudos to you for even keeping up with last year's predictions.

[lethalweapon3]

Kelly Dwyer : Yahoo Previews :: Armond White : Rotten Tomatoes Reviews

~lw3

[Plainview1981]

I was wrong. He predicted us to go 43-39.

I think this team will finish between 45-51 wins wins.

Kelly Dwyer : Yahoo Previews :: Armond White : Rotten Tomatoes Reviews

~lw3

Armond White is the guy that likes Norbit and hates some of the best movies.

[sillent]

Some ppl gotta let go of the Early 2000's Hawks and realize it is safe to cheer for this team again, we are in better shape than alot of franchises and we are still on the up-slope. theres no way a team whose core of players are in their mid 20's has peaked, we havent even seen their prime yet.

Agreed!! What goes up must come down and vice versa and we are still a team on the rise. Jamal and Joe are at there prime. Our older vets are still serviceable. Our up and coming stars (Josh,Marvin,Al,Teague) are all 23 and younger. The Celtics and Spurs both have stars past their prime and on the decline besides Rondo and Jefferson(who is in his prime). Lakers, Cavaliers and Magics have a team composed of most who are at their prime or close to the decline with the exeception of each one of their main centers(Having the past, present and maybe future dominant bigs of the league). Of course with Lebron the sky is the limit but Kobe has pretty much shown all he can do and may peak in a couple of years because of age.

Hard to say that we have peaked at such a young age when it takes most players to get to the age of 26-28 before they even get into their prime.Sad we can't put the past behind but seeing is believing so our job is to keep improving.