People who thought the Hawks had no chance at making playoffs

[AHawks89]

(Saw this on Hawks facebook page)

FOX Sports: http://bit.ly/XJyrrp
Bleacher Report: http://bit.ly/O1SvkU
Big Lead Sports: http://bit.ly/VbewnX
CBS Sports (Royce Young): http://cbsprt.co/PgvXRq
Inside Hoops: http://bit.ly/10kTvpV
IGN: http://go.ign.com/YGsD5i

Fox Sports:

1. Miami; 2. Indiana; 3. Boston; 4. Philadelphia; 5. Brooklyn; 6. New York; 7. Chicago; 8. Milwaukee.

Bleacher Report:

1. Heat; 2. Indiana; 3. New York; 4. Brooklyn; 5. Boston; 6. Bulls; 7. Sixers; 8. Bucks

Big Lead Sports:

1. Miami; 2. Boston; 3. Indiana; 4. Philadelphia; 5. Chicago; 6. Brooklyn; 7. New York; 8. Cavs

CBS Sports (Royce Young):

1. Miami; 2. Indiana; 3. Boston; 4. Knicks; 5. Boston; 6. Sixers; 7. Nets; 8. Bucks

---------------------------------

Funny to see all the doubters out there bail on us after we shipped of Joe Johnson. Improved play from Teague & Horford has been key this season.

Edited March 28, 2013 by AHawks89

[terrell]

(Saw this on Hawks facebook page)

FOX Sports: http://bit.ly/XJyrrp

Bleacher Report: http://bit.ly/O1SvkU

Big Lead Sports: http://bit.ly/VbewnX

CBS Sports (Royce Young): http://cbsprt.co/PgvXRq

Inside Hoops: http://bit.ly/10kTvpV

IGN: http://go.ign.com/YGsD5i

Fox Sports:

1. Miami; 2. Indiana; 3. Boston; 4. Philadelphia; 5. Brooklyn; 6. New York; 7. Chicago; 8. Milwaukee.

Bleacher Report:

1. Heat; 2. Indiana; 3. New York; 4. Brooklyn; 5. Boston; 6. Bulls; 7. Sixers; 8. Bucks

Big Lead Sports:

1. Miami; 2. Boston; 3. Indiana; 4. Philadelphia; 5. Chicago; 6. Brooklyn; 7. New York; 8. Cavs

CBS Sports (Royce Young):

1. Miami; 2. Indiana; 3. Boston; 4. Knicks; 5. Boston; 6. Sixers; 7. Nets; 8. Bucks

---------------------------------

Funny to see all the doubters out there bail on us after we shipped of Joe Johnson. Improved play from Teague & Horford has been key this season.

Lmao. I knew losing Overpaid Joe and sorry azz Marvin wouldnt mean much. Especially after adding Lou and Devin. Heck, I could coach this group to the Playoffs in the Eastern conference. lol

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

All this shows is how closely the media actually watches the Hawks. If they did their homework on us, they would have seen that this is one of the most resilient teams in the NBA. They also labeled us for disaster when pectorAL happened, but we ended up getting in the playoffs as a 5th seed. A lot of folks just looked at Joe being traded as a sign that the Hawks were in rebuild mode when actually ISO-Joe hurt us a lot more than it helped. Joe is given respect because of his size, but he rarely hit game winners, wasn't a great shot creator, and never earned that paycheck of his. Joe was better off of screens, basically played the same way we play Korver now. The Hawks are just that little brother team that just won't go away...

[benhillboy]

A couple had Philly, I'm sure with the assumption Bynum would play, but even then I knew they weren't going anywhere. Without his world-class length, he's just a glorified bum with awful lower body construction and questionable mental makeup. Now with Cleveland, that's just ludicrous, even with Verajao. Kyrie is the man, but his D is piss poor. I had us at slightly below .500, basically in the Bucks spot. Still a few games left to evaluate the whole season, but they clearly exceeded my expectations and almost everybody else. I'm sure even some of them are surprised given Lou going down early. Coach, Ferry, and Al are probably the only ones who probably aren't surprised. Josh believes in himself a whole lot, but I'm not sure he feels the same way about the team. Which is ironic when it's debatable if we're a better team by his sheer subtraction.

Edited March 28, 2013 by benhillboy

[TheNorthCydeRises]

All this shows is how closely the media actually watches the Hawks. If they did their homework on us, they would have seen that this is one of the most resilient teams in the NBA. They also labeled us for disaster when pectorAL happened, but we ended up getting in the playoffs as a 5th seed. A lot of folks just looked at Joe being traded as a sign that the Hawks were in rebuild mode when actually ISO-Joe hurt us a lot more than it helped. Joe is given respect because of his size, but he rarely hit game winners, wasn't a great shot creator, and never earned that paycheck of his. Joe was better off of screens, basically played the same way we play Korver now. The Hawks are just that little brother team that just won't go away...

WTF? Really?

Did you even watch the Hawks last year? The following clips are ALL games from last year. Matter of fact . . . they're all games AFTER the All-Star break last year.

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q49EfMF4GMc

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=NABojcdl8M4

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=taguGDSnJ98

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Shall I keep going?

See . . . this is what I'm talking about. Some of you can dislike JJ all you want, but I will NOT let you get away with disrespecting that man like that . . . like he was a nothing for this franchise the past 7 years.

Hate him because he wasn't a superstar who couldn't uplift his team to that next level. Hate him because he got that insane contract from management. But don't disrespect that man like he was Kirk Hinrich or somebody. That dude won a TON of games for us, without a legit PG here or a legit low post scorer.

Here's the reality. Had the Hawks assembled the type of role players we had now WITH JJ here . . . maybe we could've gone a lot further in the playoffs in the past. Instead, we trade him and have to add 4 - 5 players JUST to stay at the same level.

But no one will look at it like that.

LOL . . this site is funny sometimes.

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

WTF? Really?Did you even watch the Hawks last year? The following clips are ALL games from last year. Matter of fact . . . they're all games AFTER the All-Star break last year.

Shall I keep going?See . . . this is what I'm talking about. Some of you can dislike JJ all you want, but I will NOT let you get away with disrespecting that man like that . . . like he was a nothing for this franchise the past 7 years.Hate him because he wasn't a superstar who couldn't uplift his team to that next level. Hate him because he got that insane contract from management. But don't disrespect that man like he was Kirk Hinrich or somebody. That dude won a TON of games for us, without a legit PG here or a legit low post scorer.Here's the reality. Had the Hawks assembled the type of role players we had now WITH JJ here . . . maybe we could've gone a lot further in the playoffs in the past. Instead, we trade him and have to add 4 - 5 players JUST to stay at the same level.But no one will look at it like that.LOL . . this site is funny sometimes.

All of those examples were very impressive, but that's the nice thing about highlights, huh? How many times did Joe turn the ball over trying to fight through double teams and how many times did Joe register sub-20 pt games? The Squawk likes to hate on Josh for taking long 2's that kill possessions when Joe did the same damn thing with his ISO BS. Joe didn't make his teammates better and if you look at THIS season both Al and Teague are better without him. Even Teague stated that his main job was to just bring the ball up the court and pass it to Joe. And I am not disrespecting Joe nor did I expect him to ever be a superstar or did I blame him for taking that insane contract; he would have been an idiot to pass up the lottery. Just stating that he held this team back and for every game he won us, there was another that he lost. Joe never looked to get his teammates involved or setup the offense. The best thing that Joe ever did was help pull us out of the dark ages.And the Joe trade wasn't made for this season. It was made because this team hit their ceiling, the CBA changed, and a change for the future needed to be made. Joe had the biggest contract, so out the door he goes. That contract also prevented mid-market Atlanta from getting guys like Deshawn, Korver, and Devin. Maybe $100 mil payrolls work for the LA, BRK, and MIA's of the world, but the fan support and revenue just isn't there to justify putting together a tax team in Atlanta. Joe was miles ahead of guys like Hinrich, but don't act like he was Nique either. And the fact that this team is at the same level w/o Joe compared to with him proves that he was expendable. He hasn't done anything since moving up to Brooklyn... And most guys in the league would have loved to have played with guys like Horf, Smith, Teague, and JC11.

[Plainview1981]

Well, for me it depends... I'm pretty sure I thought they would be in the playoffs at the start of the season, but at some point during the season I started to have some serious doubts.

[buckeye242424]

Great posts north....while I agree that getting rid of his contract was a good move going forward, there's no denying what he did for the Hawks. We're in the playoffs for the sixth straight year largely because of him. Although he didn't have a hand this year, he created a somewhat culture of competing in Atlanta.

[Dejay]

Well, I had them at 43-39 and in. As for JJ, I appreciate him for what he did for the team while here. It wasn't his fault that he had an incompetent GM who couldn't draft himself out of a wet paper bag. He would've likely been thought of in a much better light if he had teammates who could actually PLAY riding shotgun alongside him instead of some of the stiffs that BK brought in with his cracked up drafting. With the likes of Marvin, Shelden, Childress, along with handing Craig $25M to wear suits, it was quite easy to parlay having to carry these guys on his back every night into a max deal....especially with the Notorious A.S.G. bidding against each other...

Edited March 28, 2013 by Dejay

[Richesly]

Lol, did you he really just say Joe wasn't clutch? He was arguably the clutchest player in the NBA.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

All of those examples were very impressive, but that's the nice thing about highlights, huh? How many times did Joe turn the ball over trying to fight through double teams and how many times did Joe register sub-20 pt games? The Squawk likes to hate on Josh for taking long 2's that kill possessions when Joe did the same damn thing with his ISO BS. Joe didn't make his teammates better and if you look at THIS season both Al and Teague are better without him. Even Teague stated that his main job was to just bring the ball up the court and pass it to Joe. And I am not disrespecting Joe nor did I expect him to ever be a superstar or did I blame him for taking that insane contract; he would have been an idiot to pass up the lottery. Just stating that he held this team back and for every game he won us, there was another that he lost. Joe never looked to get his teammates involved or setup the offense. The best thing that Joe ever did was help pull us out of the dark ages.And the Joe trade wasn't made for this season. It was made because this team hit their ceiling, the CBA changed, and a change for the future needed to be made. Joe had the biggest contract, so out the door he goes. That contract also prevented mid-market Atlanta from getting guys like Deshawn, Korver, and Devin. Maybe $100 mil payrolls work for the LA, BRK, and MIA's of the world, but the fan support and revenue just isn't there to justify putting together a tax team in Atlanta. Joe was miles ahead of guys like Hinrich, but don't act like he was Nique either. And the fact that this team is at the same level w/o Joe compared to with him proves that he was expendable. He hasn't done anything since moving up to Brooklyn... And most guys in the league would have loved to have played with guys like Horf, Smith, Teague, and JC11.

Why not admit that you straight up LIED about JJ in your original post? That dude wasn't a 6 time All-Star ( with 5 of them being voted in by the coaches ) for nothing. I'm not acting like JJ was Nique. But I'm not the one who said that JJ basically played the same way as Kyle Korver, which is another straight up LIE.

And the reason why people complain about Josh Smith and his jumpers, is because HE CAN'T SHOOT.

And Josh's jumpers are WIDE OPEN SHOTS. He doesn't have to break down people and shoot contested jumpers ( mainly because he can't ). Josh is our PF. We need our PF to rebound and play as much around the rim as possible. Josh does the exact opposite at times.

That's why the fans get on him.

And as far as JJ not doing anything in Brooklyn . . . SMH.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

LOL @ JJ not getting his teammates involved, despite leading the Hawks in assists in 4 or 5 of the 7 years he was a Hawk.. In fact, a lot of Smith's alley-oop and fast break dunks came via a JJ assist. And JJ was the main culprit for years with tossing the ball out to Josh for wide open shots.#keeptellinglies

[Ruckus]

(Saw this on Hawks facebook page) FOX Sports: http://bit.ly/XJyrrpBleacher Report: http://bit.ly/O1SvkUBig Lead Sports: http://bit.ly/VbewnXCBS Sports (Royce Young): http://cbsprt.co/PgvXRqInside Hoops: http://bit.ly/10kTvpVIGN: http://go.ign.com/YGsD5i Fox Sports: 1. Miami; 2. Indiana; 3. Boston; 4. Philadelphia; 5. Brooklyn; 6. New York; 7. Chicago; 8. Milwaukee. Bleacher Report: 1. Heat; 2. Indiana; 3. New York; 4. Brooklyn; 5. Boston; 6. Bulls; 7. Sixers; 8. Bucks Big Lead Sports: 1. Miami; 2. Boston; 3. Indiana; 4. Philadelphia; 5. Chicago; 6. Brooklyn; 7. New York; 8. Cavs CBS Sports (Royce Young): 1. Miami; 2. Indiana; 3. Boston; 4. Knicks; 5. Boston; 6. Sixers; 7. Nets; 8. Bucks --------------------------------- Funny to see all the doubters out there bail on us after we shipped of Joe Johnson. Improved play from Teague & Horford has been key this season.

You can add a lot of Squawkers to this list as well. And it seems even now there are still a few who can't admit we are a better team in a better position now than before.

[niremetal]

You can add a lot of Squawkers to this list as well. And it seems even now there are still a few who can't admit we are a better team in a better position now than before.

I am among the people who doubted we could make the playoffs this year. I was wrong. Teague and Horford stepped up way more than I thought they would. Glad to be wrong about that, because young assets are going to be essential to rebuilding this team into a contender.

Unfortunately, I still don't see who is going to make tough shots for us when defenses tighten in the playoffs. And for the future, we look like a team that, instead of being 1 player away from being a "Final Four" team, is instead destined to be a non-homecourt playoff or high lottery team. So I most certainly don't think we are in a better position than we were a year ago.

Edited March 29, 2013 by niremetal

[Ruckus]

I am among the people who doubted we could make the playoffs this year. I was wrong. Teague and Horford stepped up way more than I thought they would. Glad to be wrong about that, because young assets are going to be essential to rebuilding this team into a contender. Unfortunately, I still don't see who is going to make tough shots for us when defenses tighten in the playoffs. And for the future, we look like a team that, instead of being 1 player away from being a "Final Four" team, is instead destined to be a non-homecourt playoff or high lottery team. So I most certainly don't think we are in a better position than we were a year ago.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't have my preseason uncertainties too. But I had a feeling we would exceed expectations this season and knew without a doubt we would be in a better position now than then. I thought Josh would come around this season but other guys have really stepped up instead.I think the same questions can be asked going into this post season as every season in the past. We have always been the underdog in the playoffs. I hope Zaza is back by then though.

[Wretch]

This is what I said in August:

I have a hard time picturing this as a lock for the lottery. By the same token, I can't picture them higher than a 7 seed in the playoffs. As presently constituted, at best I picture a struggling .500 playoff team coming in on the butt end of the playoffs (7-8 seed) or a not so terrible lottery team picking late (12-14).

This is what I said in December:

I said in the off season that we weren't going to be as bad as some people thought. I mean this team still has Al, Smoove, and Teague - that alone is talent to get us to 500 and a playoff birth. I've had to revise my initial expectations though. I was doubtful that we'd end up in the lottery and if we did, I figured it would be a very late lottery pick. I think we all can see at this point that this squad isn't going to be that bad. What I still wonder is where our seeding is. Initially, I thought we'd be a 6-8 seed. Now, it's looking more like a 4-6 seed.

I thought Rose would have been back by now and I thought Boston would be better. I was pretty sure that we were going to the playoffs, with a skinny chance at a really late lottery pick. As the season picked up, I pretty much wrote off the lottery and figured we'd make an interesting 1st round series...but a matchup with one of the top seeds in the first round would spell our doom.

It'll be a fun post season to watch as long as we avoid the 6 seed. I don't want to see NY or IND in the first round. Not sure what the deal with Rose is, but we don't want to see them in the 1st round with or without him. The team I want to see us play is Brooklyn with homecourt advantage.

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

In my original post I listed three things that I didn't like about Joe:

[*]
[*]ISO-Joe did more harm than good. [*]Joe rarely hit game-winners [*]Joe never earned his contract.

1) Joe looked to get his shot before anything. If not, then ISO-Joe would have never existed. There was no ball movement when Joe was on the floor. The ball would go to Joe and the other guys scattered like ants and then the double teams would come. Assists do not equal getting teammates involved, just as steals and blocks do not equal a great defender. Hell, even Kobe Bryant who is a notorious me-first player averages almost 5 assists per game over his career. And the Smoove oops were yesterday's version of today's hi/low that Drew runs between Horf/Smoove...

2) There is a difference between hitting game winners and being clutch. How many times out of 10 does Joe hit a game-winning/tying with 6 sec left on the clock against the average team? I clearly remember a lot of games in the past 3 seasons being ended on one of Joe's shots clanking off the rim, or him getting stripped, or a floater getting blocked... I admit that the coaching was very predictable in these situations, but Jamal was better in these game winning/tying situations and Al has proved to better this year. I'd say for every game that Joe won or tied on a last-second shot, there were 3 that were lost. When the Hawks needed their 20 million dollar man the most, he didn't deliver. Not saying the man's career was based off those situations and that the losses were his fault, but guy's around the league get a lot of respect off of those situations from fans, players, coaches, and the media.

3) I agree that Joe had a lot of shit talent to play with earlier in his Atlanta days, but the guys he started with during the last 3 seasons were a good group of guys. Horf is a 2 time All Star and Josh is a borderline All Star. Bibby and Hinrich were good veterans at the point and Teague is still growing. Crawford was a sixth man winner. I also agree that ownership and the rest of the FO was shit too and couldn't draft. Childress, Shellhead, Marvin, Law, and Royal Ivey were all busts and we relied on vet mins for years. The point is this team outgrew Joe and was time to move on. The early years were great; the last three not so much. It was the same story year to year...

And to AHawks89, sorry about the thread jack and where this thread has gone...

[cam1218]

I thought we'd make the playoffs. I kinda figured we would be a 6ish seed and the East being weak has basically made more possible. Getting Horford back and getting all of those shooters HAD to be a good thing!As for Joe..people judged him on his contract. The guy didn't force anybody to offer it to him. He was severely overpaid, but to act like he didn't make big plays for us is insane. The guy was really clutch last year. His ISO was annoying, it is kinda like Josh and his threes though. You have to blame some of it on the coach.I'm glad his contract is gone but I do miss Joe sometimes. He was good for us and put us back on the map. I have no ill feelings towards him and will always root for him if he isn't playing us.

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

Oh and put me in the group that believe this team would make the playoffs. I had us as a sixth seed with (I think) 46 wins.