There are positives for our Hawks

[coachx]

Just for some balance lets look at positives for the Hawks going foward.

- We get a 2 time allstar (Al Horford) back next year who is in the prime of his career.

- 1st round pick around 16-19 which should equal a pretty darn good player and possibility a legit NBA center. This is the deepest draft in years and is loaded with big men.

- The ASG went into the luxury tax this year. ( I believe only 5 or 6 teams in the entire NBA did this).

- The late 2nd round pick, which was sold to help cover the tax penalty and loss of profit sharing, is not that big of a deal considering we own the Suns 2nd round pick which should come about 10 picks earlier. After all.........there are not many teams who have two 2nd round picks, in the same year, that make their roster.

- Jeff Teague is a young and up and coming PG with a plenty of potential. Loved seeing him come back with new found NBA 3 point shot added to his game.

This concludes this public announcement. Now you may carry on with doom and gloom of the Hawks franchise.

Edited March 16, 2012 by coachx

[thecampster]

Just for some semblance of balance lets look at positives for the Hawks going foward.

- We get a 2 time allstar (Al Horford) back next year who is in the prime of his career.

- 1st round pick around 16-19 which should equal a pretty darn good player and possibility a legit NBA center. This is the deepest draft in years and is loaded with big men.

- The ASG went into the luxury tax this year. ( I believe only 5 or 6 teams in the entire NBA did this).

- The late 2nd round pick, which was sold to help cover the tax penalty and loss of profit sharing, is not that big of a deal considering we own the Suns 2nd round pick which should come about 10 picks earlier. After all.........there are not many teams who have two 2nd round picks, in the same year, that make their roster.

- Jeff Teague is young and up and coming PG with a plenty of potential. Loved seeing him come back with new found NBA 3 point shot added to his game

This concludes this public announcement. Now you may carry on with doom and gloom of the Hawks franchise.

Other positive - we have played 7 more road games than home. We have 15 home, 8 away left this season. Our record could/should improve. The 3rd seed is not impossible at this point.

[HawkItus]

No too mention, we have clearly distinguished an offensive hierarchy. We play through Josh. No matter how you view that it means 2 things.

1. Joe and Al with defined roles should see more productive touches

2. Teague is not great at running the offense. His game is best as a slashing/penetrator

[coachx]

2. Teague is not great at running the offense. His game is best as a slashing/penetrator

He is not a conventional PG but he is the only starter who can slash in the paint at will. You have to have at least one guy on the floor who can do that........especially when your playing without a offensive post option.

I still think he is a pretty good pro and will only get better. After finding his 3 point shot I hope his focus is on improving his defense moving foward.

Edited March 16, 2012 by coachx

[Swatguy]

He is not a conventional PG but he is the only starter who can slash in the paint at will. You have to have at least one guy on the floor who can do that........especially when your playing without a offensive post option.

I still think he is a pretty good pro and will only get better. After finding his 3 point shot I hope his focus is on improving his defense moving foward.

It just dawned on me, your definition of Teague's game is similiar to D. Rose in style. I think Teague is fine and ligit. He should continue to improve.

[nitte]

Now that we are talking about positives, let me share mine, too:

-It seems like Josh has a character that refuses to lose and a team follows its leader. In the games when Josh was the only star, we never gave in to opponents like Thunder, Bulls and Heat. We either won or lost by fighting. No blowouts. During this injury plagued season, Josh showed that he can lead this team.

-Zaza hit the bottom last year. This year when Horford was out, he was like pre-Horford Zaza. An important gain (forget about the missed game winner)

-Unlike last year, we get a big help from our bench. Willie, Pargo, t-mac, Vlad, Ivan, Capt Kirk. They all had good moments at different times throughout the season.

[DJlaysitup]

Positives: We seem to be keeping better track of that bird...and the clocks are working more consistently!

... After all.........there are not many teams who have two 2nd round picks, in the same year, that make their roster...

Yes but will we pick the right one? Remeber, the last real quality draft pick we got was JSmoove, and he was our 2nd first round pick that year.

(no offense to Horford)

[coachx]

Yes but will we pick the right one? Remeber, the last real quality draft pick we got was JSmoove, and he was our 2nd first round pick that year.

(no offense to Horford)

No offense to Horford ?..............why even say such a thing ?

Most would have to argue that a 2 time allstar is a "really quality draft pick" and snagging Teague at around pick #19 looks pretty good too.

Also...............nit-picking 2nd round picks is ridiculous. What are the percentages of drafting a legit starter in the 2nd round ? Perhaps 5% ?

Edited March 17, 2012 by coachx

[Buzzard]

The positives:

Josh is stepping up big with Horford out and has shown improvement.

Teague has improved and his ability to penetrate and shoot the three is a great one two punch.

ZaZa is playing his best in the last two or three seasons.

Hinrich is showing me something with his ability to defend both the 1 and 2. I always thought he was over-matched at the 2 defensively, but not so far this season.

Since coming off his minor injury, JJ has stepped up his game.

I don't see anything positive about our draft slot yet. If a good player drops then we can talk. The centers are there but so many GMs go with size over talent, I am not sure anyone with 1st round ability will be left when we pick.

The upside of that is maybe a good scoring SG/SF or even a PG may drop...have to wait and see.

Edited March 19, 2012 by Buzzard

[Diesel]

Mr. Positive here.

You guys forgot this one....

IVAN

and

Return of the Mac set to start showing in the playoffs.

[macdaddy]

Hinrich may be underrated. In fact, he may be more important to us come playoff time than Jamal last year. For example:

“I like playing with Kirk,” Teague said. “He is going to help you out on defense. He’s going to knock down shots. He raises the level of intensity on the floor. It makes me pick up my energy because I see him playing so hard.”

This is the type of leadership we have lacked.

The biggest positive to me is that Sund managed to assemble a bench off the scrap heap that is far superior to any other we have had. Either he got a little lucky or he has started to understand what this team needs in terms of players.

[benhillboy]

Kirk has been looking good lately. I slighted him yesterday when giving Joe credit for shutting down ooposing 2 guards when in fact Kirk is starting in that slot, holding the last two (Crawford and Parker) to 12 points, although they both defend well next to each other. He's starting to show that All-Defensive team moxie, pestering guys full-court, blocking shots from behind and what have you.