A good few days

[niremetal]

I was out of commission for the last few days. Was pleasantly surprised to see our recent roster moves, especially the signing of Green. As for the people complaining about the cutting of scrubs, I get it to a certain degree. I remember being pissed after the last lockout, when the Hawks cut Shammond Williams and Scot Pollard but kept Mark West. But in reality, it didn't turn out to matter - while Williams and Pollard were better than most second round picks turn out, they still wouldn't have made a damned bit of difference for us in the years that followed.

In any case, right now we don't need to keep scrubs on the roster on the prayer that someday, maybe, possibly, one of them will develop into something more than roster filler. Second round and undrafted guys rarely do. The smart move for a playoff team facing a packed 4-month schedule is to fill out the roster with guys who have shown they can play. We kept respected veterans (Stack, T-Mac, Pargo) along with two guys who have specific roles (scoring guard Sloan and high-energy Johnson) that we sometimes lacked last year. On top of that, we added another gunner to come off the bench when need be.

Most important, our roster seems shockingly balanced by our standards - we actually have warm bodies to fill holes should injuries happen, unlike in past years. I have a feeling that'll become necessary at some point with 66 games in 17 weeks before the playoffs.

I'm actually cautiously optimistic, and with the emphasis on "optimistic."

[xhawk]

Agreed. These were definitely the right cuts. Hawks management and coaching staff were waiting for those guys to step and make a statement. Only Ivan Johnson did and the others did not.