i just wondering if the Hawks can be competitive..

[f_town]

...this season

i dunno about you guys but its been a tough road with this team the last couple years

im just wondering if they could make an improved version of the JT-based style from a couple years ago that sometimes did ok...

this isnt to the hardcore guys, but mainly to the regular fans on here...hehe

[dj_me]

...we keep JT and Glover returns, I think so. I was a firm believer in the whole addition by subtraction thing, so my hopes for this year are good. I would have loved to get Wilkes back during this off-season, but hey, a guy can't have everything he wants.

With the current lineup if we can add a SF and a third string PF/C to sit on the injured list. I think we MIGHT be able to make it to the post-season this year. I'd really like to give DJ a little more time to try and return.

JT/DD/Vaughn

Glover/Hansen

Diaw/DJ

SAR/Hendu

Theo/Nazr

I'll admit, it doesn't sound to spectacular; but, you have to figure in the fact that JT, Glover, Hansen, Diaw, Hendu, and Nazr are, or will be, able to play multiple positions. DJ would be able to but I would want to give him a year or so before giving him a lot of minutes.

[Guest]

Not likely.... Miami/Cleveland/Orlando. IT seems like everyone in the east has improved other than the Hawks.

I think the real hope will have to come next year.

[dj_me]

Cleveland want be THAT good for a couple more years. Orlando made it last year so yeah, whatever. As for Miami, I'm not too sure. I think it will still be a close finish for the 7th-8th seed in the East.

As of now...

01. New Jersey

02. Detroit

03. Orlando

04. Indiana

05. Philadelphia

06. New Orleans

07. Boston

08. Atlanta

09. Washington

10. Miami

11. Chicago

12. Toronto

13. New York

14. Cleveland

15. Milwaukee

I don't know, maybe I'm being a little harsh on the Bucks. Na! I almost leary of Atlant at 8. I really think with the addition of Arenas, Washington is going to be in it. Anyways, it's going to be close.

[swolehawk2]

Unless we get a veteran swing player that can shoot and provide scoring off the bench...or a starter that can score and let Glove come off the bench ...I don't think we can make it to the playoffs.....but hey ...defense and busting your asss can get you the 8th spot.

[capstone21]

We need some veteran leadership here in the lockeroom. That can be provided by someone like Steve Smith, especially now after he has won a championship. That would be invaluable.

I think our biggest lost from last season is Ira Newble. What he did for the team did not show up on the stat sheet but he came every day and played hard. He was a key piece to this team and after JT the FA I wanted the Hawks to resign.

We did get some ball handlers in here which will help and hopfully Diaw can bring us Iras hard work and Defence. If so we can definetly be a contender in the East.

We return our core of SAR, JT and THeo not mention a healthy Hendu and Nazr. That is a strong front line. Glover really showed signs at the end of last season of really getting it. I would not be surprised if he is our third leading scorer at around 14 ppg this year. The big question mark is Diaw. We need him to come in and do the little things and to have an impact...not as a scorer but as a defenive force, distributer and ball handler. If he can do that I think this team has a legitimate chance at the 8th spot. Who knows, no one thought the Suns were any good and look what they did last year. Anything is possible.

[cyman3]

"I was a firm believer in the whole addition by subtraction thing"

- i said this all along and im gonna say it again. the 8th spot in the EAST is wide open for anyone. who knows, maybe there will be a Golden State like team in the east just waitin to get some nba respect. if GS was in the east last year, they woulda made playoffs.

I have - Detroit, NewJersey, NewOrleans, Philly, Indiana, Orlando, Boston going to the playoffs.

1 spot left... right now, i would give it to two teams

-Miami (Grant is one of the best rebounders in the League, can anyone check me if hes best rebounder after Wallace + Oneal in the east?). Odom will give u that Point Forward game that adds a whole new identity to that team. Butler is a year strongly, Jones is Jones. Wade is NBA ready, he'll do fine. Zo wasnt there last year, so him leavin doesnt have any impact.

-NY... word is that McDysse will come back this season and if so, him + houston is a deadly combo. If KVH works out and jells with the team, they're in.

But like i said, anyone can take the 8th spot. I still wouldnt count James in. I mean, they barely won w/o him and now that hes the main addition- i doubt it. in 1 year? they got talent, but i dont see it happenin... they pull some upsets here and there but in the long run- they gonna have an early vacation.

Toronto has Vince "get ur head in the game" Carter. Seems like everyone forgot about him since the emergence of Tracy McGrady. Davis will be Davis, but are they talented enuf?

Chicago is still too young and i doubt Curry can dominate like he did durin the last few months on a consistant basis yet, so they wont do anything.

Washington could make some noise, but MJ couldnt take them to the playoffs so i doubt Arenas can.

Bucks are too young and are clearly rebuilding. No Sam Cassell or Gary Payton means no playoffs.

- all in all, we got the talent and if its true that GROB did more harm than help... we will get that 8th spot. But if GROB was more help than harm, we wont. I guess we'll just have to find out.

[Guest]

Chicago will be better than you guys are giving them

credit for....

[Gray Mule]

Will the Cav's make it? I don't think so.

I do believe they will win some games and will be

pushing the second tier of teams in the east.

#10 in the east is not out of their sights. And, if you

can hang around #10 toward the end of the season,

you may never know what will occur.

Hawks still aren't sure who they will have on their

roster. They have spots to fill. We might see a trade

or two now that the ownership thing is out of the way.

If DerMarr is close to healthy, I sure would like to

have him be given an opportunity to come back here.

Hawks had some veteran players out last season who

should be able to contribute plus the addition of our

two draft picks, with Stotts here from the start gives

the Hawks hope for the coming season.

Optimestic ?? You bet. So far, we're undefeated !!!

Go Hawks !!

[Diesel]

It depends one what we do.

New ownership has breathed new life into Atlanta.

Still, we are the same teams as last season.

That means that we are a bad road team.

We lack good ball handling.

We lack many three point options.

What Atlanta needs desperately is a SF/SG who can handle the ball, shoot from three and play defense.

There are a few names that come to mind, however, I like B. Barry. I think we need to offer up Nazr and maybe a future protected first for Barry. The reason is that he does everything we need. I would then play a three gaurd set with Dion playing Sf.

All that said, I believe that it will take more than Nazr alone to get Barry. Namely, Seattle is looking for somebody to take the lame duck contract of Booth...

So here's the deal I propose:

Hendu/Nazr/1st (protected through 15 for 2 years then to 10 then to 3)... for Booth/Barry/Radmo

Will Seattle do it?

I think so. They have Booth locked up to 2006. He sucks.

They don't really have a position for Radmo for as good as he could be. They have a good team:

Daniels/Allen/Lewis/Collison/Potapenko.

Nazr could probably beat out Potapenko at C.

Collison is getting good reviews.

Allen and Lewis are a dangerous combo

However, what we would then have is:

JT/Barry/Radmo/SAR/Theo

With

Vaughn/Glover/Diaw/Booth off the bench.

[Guest]

It's not just about them being better. You see, last year

we couldn't swept Cleveland 4-0... This year they might

have improved enough to where we can only beat them

4-3. That already gives us 3 more losses than last year

in one series.

I had Chicago taking 8th seed.... However, with the addition

of Odom and depending on how well Wade plays... They could nail down 8th seed since they are alot better defense

than Chicago.

[KB21]

Paul Silas is a good coach, but he isn't a miracle worker. That team is going to look a lot like the Chicago team that had Curry and Chandler as rookies. They will win 15-20 games tops and will be in the running for the top pick again next year.

This Atlanta team may not be worldbeaters, but I have no doubts that under Terry Stotts for a full season, this team can push 40 wins and make a run at the 8th playoff spot.

The only teams I consider a lock for the playoffs in the Eastern Conference are:

New Jersey

Indiana

Detroit

Orlando

Boston

I see these teams battling for 3 playoff spots:

Philadelphia

New Orleans

Toronto

Miami

Atlanta

New York

Chicago

I see these teams as teams that have no chance for a playoff spot:

Washington

Cleveland

Milwaukee

Philadelphia lost the one person that could keep that team together and keep Allen Iverson happy. Not only will they have to deal with weak coaching in the form of Randy Ayers, but they are going to have to deal with the imminent chemistry problems that will occur on the court between Iverson and Robinson.

New Orleans has a former head coach who was a complete failure, and their two best players are injury prone. Will Tim Floyd be able to keep that team together if Baron Davis and Jamal Mashburn miss any time this year. Those two getting hurt at some point seems to be a guarantee.

Toronto is going to be the interesting team. If Vince Carter is healthy, he's good enough to carry them to the playoffs. If he misses any time, all bets are off. They have enough good role players around Vince that they can make the playoffs in the East, but they won't go very far.

Miami will be another interesting situation. Will the Eddie Jones situation become volatile at some point? Can Lamar Odom keep his nose clean off the court so the Heat can count on him on the court? They are still weak in the post, but if Odom comes to play and Dwayne Wade has a rookie year that resembles the year Caron Butler had last season, this team can make the playoffs.

Atlanta is a team that had the 4th best record in the east after the All-Star break. They are the only team to finish in the top 12 in both offensive FG% and defensive FG% that didn't make the playoffs last year. They have a solid core in Jason Terry, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, and Theo Ratliff. The play of their role players and the bench will determine if the Hawks make a push.

New York is similar to the Hawks. They made a push late in the season for a playoff spot, but I don't think they have the core of talent that the Hawks have. Everything seems to hinge on the health of Antonio McDyesse and Allan Houston, who both won't be healthy at the start of training camp.

Chicago added a veteran leader in Scottie Pippen to a good young core of players. If the young guys listen to Scottie and learn how to win, they can push for a playoff spot. They must make a decision on Jamal Crawford and either play him or trade him though. That is a potentially devisive situation.

[Guest]

If McDyess is healthy the Knicks will make the playoffs. The

combo of Allan Houston and Dice are better than JT/Reef. KVH is better than Dion Glover..... Kurt Thomas is atleast

as good as Theo Ratliff.

And I didn't say Cleveland would contend for a playoff spot.

I said they will be more competetive than they were last

year and therefore instead of sweeping them we might win

the 2-2. The east will be more tougher than it has been

the last two years.

[Diesel]

In reply to:

---

Paul Silas is a good coach, but he isn't a miracle worker. That team is going to look a lot like the Chicago team that had Curry and Chandler as rookies. They will win 15-20 games tops and will be in the running for the top pick again next year.

---

I have to disagree.

Silas is a much better coach than Tim Floyd. Therefore, this blue collar team he has put together in Cleveland will shock some people. I expect maybe 30-35 wins (depending on Big Z).

However, expect Ollie and Newble to have strong roles as supporters. Expect James to be 1/2 of what he will be. Expect Davis to continue to grow. And Miles and Boozer? Who knows. Boozer could wind up being a great steal of his draft.

[Gray Mule]

Hey, I didn't say the Cavs would be great.

I believe they will push for #10 in the east, which is only

a short distance below #8, the last playoff spot.

If they can hang out around # 10 in the east until

near season's end, who is to say what will happen.

They weren't very good last season. In fact, they

were downright bad. They will be the most improved

team this year. They can do all that and still not be

a great N.B.A. team this upcoming season.

When you are down as far as they were, the only direction

is up, and they will be climbing. Who will they step on

when they climb out of the cellar? I'll leave that to

you, but, if they end up # 10 in the east, just remember,

"I told you so!"

[Vol4ever]

There are a lot of factors that go into a playoff team. The Hawks don't have the perimeter scoring besides JT. They need a legitimate shooting guard and that guard is not on the Hawks Roster. 2nd I think Shareef and Theo are just plain lazy in the latter part of the games, it happened over and over again last season.

The team needs a motivator as coach. I like Terry Stotts but I just don't think he carries the weight of motivation of a Mike Fratello, etc.

If the above things come together then the Hawks have a slight chance of the playoffs, but I think it's more like lottery city...............

Too many problems with ownership this offseason and no player movement to speak of to impove the club.

[Guest]

I agree, motivation is key. Stotts will work as coach...as long as the new mgt. is smart in it's hiring of assts.

The best example of this I can come up with is Bird and the EC Champ pacers from '00. Not completely accurate, for many reasons, but with Carlisle as head asst., the team had a disciplinarian and motivator at the top of the coaching ladder, just not the very top.

It's why Carlisle succeed immediately upon leaving Indy, why Indy struggled without him as it's coach, why he's back there now, and why Bird retired without him at his side.

Their are many holes in this comparison, but simply put, the mgt. needs to provide Stotts with a min of two assts. The first should probably be someone more in the style of Fratello, Carlisle, etc...a fiery motivator that also provides disipline. The 2nd needs to be someone that that the players respect, probably a former player. Whether that person should or should not be Nique, I'm not certain. IMO, the jury's still out on him. I'm unsure of his desire to truly coach, to put in the dirty time watching film, and wonder if he wouldn't be better suited for mgt. if he wants to stay involved in basketball. Alex English will be missed. Kareem should be considered.

More coaches are certainly acceptable, and probably needed, though I'm not sure which I'd rather have at this point, more coaches or a larger scouting dept (both for prospects and against other teams). Best of both worlds would be a third coach and slight expansion of scouting, compromising for the time being.

[JET]

They dont have a chance, they will never make it to the playoffs. Everyone on that team wants to be MJ and put up 50 a game. No one will give up the ball, specially LeBron. I gurantee you that team will revamp next year after they realize they cant make it with their ball hogs. If LeBron runs the point, he will score tons of points, but once he gives it up, he aint gettin it back. Fat Chance.