And the newest Hawk is...

[dickaufan12]

Jacque Vaughn!!! Which is a surprise to no one here, considering the info we received earlier. So, who's up for SNT-ing JT?

[swolehawk2]

If we do not sign JT...I would rather poke my eyes out than watch the Hawks.

[dj_me]

Why... Why... WHY!!!!!!!

Jacque Vaughn, he was worse than Brevin Knight. Did the Hawks miss the memo that Wilkes was no longer with the Wolves? D*mn man, why are the Hawks so f*ck*ng stupid?!

[hds428]

Aside from his well publicized shooting slump JV was an excellent player while he was here. Not a great basketball player, but still a very good point guard, I was a huge JV fan and disapointed to see him go to Orlando. His offensive strengths are his speed, ball handling, and court vision. On defense he was more of an Ira Newble type, slow hands means he won't pad any defensive stat columns, but he will stick to his man. I'm glad he's back but it makes me wonder who's not performing, Dickau or JT, to warrant carrying 3 point guards. Logic dictates that Dickau should be worried right now, but this is the Hawks, so suspend logic and think about the most likely Hawks scenario. I think it's not such a stretch of the imagination that they'd (stupidly) let JT walk for nothing just like they did that 6th pick (you know who). So while I'm happy that Jacques is back, the potential debacle just waiting to happen that his signing represents really kinda ticks me off.

[CHORO44]

No offense to JV but we already had a go around with him and he did nothing to impress. I'd much rather sign someone who's hungry like Rafer Alston. If we are going to suck let's at least put some excitement on the floor. Am I the only one who thinks we need a shot in the arm with talent and excitment. I mean come on Jacque Vaughn?

[capstone21]

I don't care who the point guard is. It is not what the Hawks are in need of. We have two pgs in JT and DD. Our focus should be on SF/SGs. Basically all we have there is Diaw and he is a rookie. I don't count Hansen because I don't think he is going to be anything more then a bench warmer.

We need shooters and slashers who are 6'5 or taller. I don't know why our first priority was to get JV. A decent point guard but nothing more then that. I am dissappointed.

[KB21]

If Rafer Alston was hungry, he would abandon his playground antics and start trying to be a real basketball player. The guy has no future in the NBA until he comes to the realization that street game doesn't work in the NBA.

[Guest]

The NBA is streetball.... Look at Jason Terry and Antonie Walker.

[KB21]

Wrong!

The NBA is not street ball, and it is getting farther and farther away from the street ball game with the addition of the International players.

Street ball is all about dunking and showboating. Winning in the NBA is about perimeter shooting, the mid-range game, and fundamentals. The two styles mix like oil and water, meaning that you can definitely tell a difference.

[Traceman]

season. Look at their stats:

Alston:

20.9 mpg

7.8 ppg

4.1 apg

2.3 rbg

.81 spg

.32 bpg

42% FG

69% FT

39% 3pFG

Vaughn:

21.1 mpg

5.9 ppg

2.9 apg

1.5 rbg

.80 spg

.03 bpg

45% FG

78% FT

24% 3pFG

Vaughn shot a higher percentage from inside the arc and he's a better free throw shooter but other than that, Alston outperformed him in EVERY other significant category IN LESS TIME.

Alston DOES need to continue to reign in his game to be more successful in the NBA but he does have the POTENTIAL to get better. JV is as good as he's going to get and Alston is already at least as good as JV and I think he's better.

[Guest]

Street ball is all about dunking and showboating. Winning in the NBA is about perimeter shooting, the mid-range game, and fundamentals. The two styles mix like oil and water, meaning that you can definitely tell a difference"

Teams still shoot very poorly. It isn't like Peja shoots 50%

or something. Streetball is also about one on one and

throwing up shots without running an offense. That is the

NBA.

[KB21]

Jacque also had the best year of his career with the Hawks two years ago where he averaged 6.6 ppg, 4.9 apg, and had a 3 to 1 assist to turnover ratio in about 22 minutes per game. He also shot 47% from the field that season.

The thing about Jacque is that he is a caretaker. He isn't enough of a playmaker to start long term at point guard, but he takes care of the basketball and can get his team into an offense. You rarely see him get out of control.

I want to see what the Hawks do from this point on. Are they going to say the heck with it and do what Orlando did in 1999?

Remember. Doc Rivers is a free agent coach at the end of the season. Stan Kasten asked for permission to speak with him this year, and it will not surprise me to see Kasten decide to start all over and bring in Doc this offseason as his free agent magnet.

[Traceman]

ass out of town! I don't have a problem with rebuilding, I just hope we don't let players who can be a part of that process walk for nothing. I'd love to see us bring in Doc next year after poor Stotts is set up for failure.

As for JV's ability to get a team into its offense, if we don't bring JT back, we won't HAVE an offense. The offense will be throw the ball in to Reef and let him try to beat the triple team or kick it back out to no-shooting JV or no-shooting Diaw. Oh God, I'm getting sick just thinking about that possibililty.

As for JV's best year, he STILL didn't score as much as Alston did and his assist numbers were only slightly better. And that was his BEST year.

I too want to see what the Hawks do from this point on because so far, every move we've made has been absolutely TERRIBLE. What's next, let JT walk, trade Reef for an ending salary (and nothing else) and trade Theo for an ending salary (and nothing else)? They way things are going, that wouldn't shock me.

[KB21]

No! Every move they have made has not been terrible.

You still clinch to this impression that Glenn Robinson would have made any difference other than him disrupting chemistry. Getting rid of him was a great move. Addition by subtraction, as I have contended from the get go.

Drafting Boris Diaw was a good move. No, he isn't a scorer, but he does everything else well. He defends, has great court vision, rebounds, and makes players around him better. Why do you think Tony Parker is scoring so much for the French National Team? Because Boris Diaw is playing more of the point role than he is, allowing him to concentrate on his scoring.

The game against Germany that France had. Boris scored only 9 points. He had 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, and 1 blocked shot though.

But I forgot. Glenn Robinson was the best player on this team, and we are going to go from 35 wins to 15 wins just because we dealt him.

[Diesel]

I just noticed in your statistical treatment of 2 PGs, that you failed to mention Turnovers.

I took the liberty of looking up those numbers and Normalizing them to 48 mins.

Alston - 4.67 t.o. per 48

Vaugh - 2.81 t.o. per 48

Now, I don't have a dog in this fight. I think both players have ability and disabilities. However, I think it's unfair to miss out on this very important stat for PGs.

Secondly.... What's up with Alston's FTs? 69%? Does that mean he can't shoot?? Does that mean that a lot of his FGs are layups??

[CHORO44]

I'm not saying Rafer is the answer I'm just saying I think he's more of an answer than JV. JV has no room to grow at least Rafer does.

[Traceman]

plays. He does a good job of protecting the ball and he can initiate the offense but he doesn't create for his teammates. His low risk style of play makes for fewer turnovers.

But even if that is the case, his assist to turnover ratio was 2.4 to 1 last year (JT's was 2.4 to 1 as well) and Alston's was 2.2 to 1. Not that big of a difference. I'd take Alston over JV because he can make plays and he has the skills to get better. I think JV has maximized his potential.

[Traceman]

If they had decided to move Dog and bring in another player who they thought would fit better such as Spreewell or even Van Horn, I wouldn't have necessarily liked either guy better than Dog but I would have understood the change for chemistry reasons. The Hawks didn't trade Dog thinking addition by subtraction. The Hawks dumped Dog because they did not want to pay the luxury tax. Period!

Dog was the logical guy to go for a number of reasons, one of the biggest being the number of naive fans like yourself who think they moved Dog for the good of the team. Whatever. They can't fool me. Think about it. If they moved Dog because he didn't fit with JT and company, why haven't they signed JT? Why are they trying to low ball him?

As for the drafting Diaw move, time will tell. I think Billy Knight was in charge of the draft and drafted Diaw to play in the BACKCOURT with JT. At the time, I don't think he anticipated that Dog would be traded. Something changed though. I don't think Billy Knight had anything to do with the Dog trade. I think that was all Stan. Stan said late in the season that he thought the team played better without Dog. If Knight was doing the deal and had any say, why was Billy King (Philly's GM) calling Stan DIRECTLY, asking him to stay home from the Braves game so they could work out the details?

Diaw would have been a decent draft pick (I still would have taken Barbosa) if Dog had stayed around but with Dog gone, he needs to be able to score at least a little and he can't. He MIGHT be able to score down the road but I don't think he'll help us much right now. What is he going to do when we don't resign JT and the only good offensive player we have left is Reef? 5.4 ppg like he scored in summer league won't get it done.

Why do I think Tony Parker is scoring so much for the French National Team? Because he is CLEARLY their best player! If Diaw wasn't on the team, he'd still be putting up huge numbers. He is getting his assists too! When he scored 32 in the loss to Sweden, he had 8 assists to go with all those points.

As for the number of wins you predict, don't laugh. Right now, I think we are headed a lot closer to 15 wins than we are to 35. I bet Philly wins more than 35 though and I'll bet Dog will be a big reason why. Dog is going to be fine now that he has a pass first PG in Snow and and a good ballhandling SG in Iverson. We MIGHT have had a similar situation here with JT and Diaw but we'll never know.

[Traceman]

Well him or Mike Wilks. ANYBODY but JV.

http://www.nba.com/heat/news/heat_signs_alston_030904.html

I sure as [censored] would have rather had Alston than JV. Look at the end of the article and see what he did in the only 4 games he started. Alston averaged 20.3 ppg on 45% shooting, 7.8 apg and 6.3 rbg. JV has NEVER had a stretch like that in the NBA.

JV has NEVER had a 4 game stretch of production like that in his life and never will. That's what I mean about potential.

[cyman3]

guys we're arguing about a backup PG. They are about even w/ their own abilities and disabilities (like Diesel said)... i mean- one play isint significantly better than the other.

so in other words- STOP CRYING over spilled milk!