I don't want to see Dion pass...

[skaughtybee]

He has no idea where anybody else on the court is when he drives. He lowers the shoulder and just plows to the basket. He leaves himself 3 options:

A) Offensive Foul

B) Bad Pass

C) Brick

He's never gonna learn.

-Skaughtybee

[Traceman]

He's not turning it over and he's rebounding too.

I'm so sick of these guys getting punked on the boards that I don't know what to do. THITREEN offensive rebounds for LAC in the 1st half! THIRTEEN! They had 4 more offensive rebounds than they did defensive rebounds! That is unacceptable. Theo and Reef are getting manhandled AGAIN in the paint. We are so soft that its pathetic. That is why I was so disappointed when Ekezie went down. At least he would put a body on somebody.

And if Stotts puts JV and JT in the game together one more time...what am I saying, of course he will. None of our coaches seem to be able to see what is painfully obvious to everyone else. We were up by 7 when Dion went to the bench in the first. We got 2 quick steals and stretched the lead 11. 2 minutes later, the Clips went up by one after a 14-2 run. TWO minutes of JT/JV was all it took to blow a nice lead! Then JT went out and Dion came back in and we were up by 8 a few minutes later. Go figure!

And don't get me started on the turnovers! 11 in the first half. We just CAN'T stop turning it over 20% (66% to43%) and still be DOWN at the half?

We should be KILLING the Clips but we're not because we're soft and stupid! Why am I still up! ARRRRRRGGGGHHH!

Okay, I'm through venting. Now let's go out in the 2nd half and kick some butt!

[JTFan31]

I agree totally. We CANNOT sit here and start blaming players, basketball is a team sport and basically last night against the Clips we were outworked and outhustled. Our defense was soft and our big men was soft. No one stepped up and said, thats it no more O. Rebounds for them. A freaking 2 guard was killing us inside getting O. Rebs. It was pathetic. We need to make some trades and get some muscles in there, Hopefully Hendu will be back soon and I sure wish we had Ekezie right now, because Theo, Nazr and Reef and being manhandled by 2-gaurds on the boards.

[shoutime72]

i agree with you. it seems that dion is in his own little world at times. i wonder if he even thinks about his other teamates. i'm not knocking his game 'cause the boy gots skillz but this is not one on one basketball. it's a team sport and it's important that you play as a team in order to be successful. and until the hawks can function as a team they won't make it very far this season.

[Gray Mule]

We get just what we needed, a huge inside player who

could do, as the old Timex commercial, which ran before

your time, "It takes a licking and keeps on ticking."

Then before the season even gets under way, we loose

him to a season ending injury. Terrible for Ekezie and terrible for the Hawks.

Henderson is the best we have now but he is out with a

sore, stiff back. We have no one. We really need

someone. The 12th man on the roster will do. Not a

high priced, starter type, although that would be all

right. There are players out there, probably sitting on

someone's bench, and we need one of them.

Ekezie, we sure could have used you last night.

[Playmaker0017]

Ekezie?!

Come on you guys... you know better. Ekezie is a bench scrub. Worse yet, a deep on the bench type of bench scrub.

This guy sat the pine for the Vancouver Grizzlies, of all organizations. He only saw playing time because Big Country decided to retire early.

Carl Massenberg started in front of this guy.

Ekezie is god-awful. Sure, he had a nice preseason... so what? That's preseason. This guy is not and was not any solution to any part of the puzzle.

Everyone runs around calling us soft because we had one [censored]-poor rebounding game. Reef is getting pushed around in the paint this year... WHATEVER! The guy is muscling down 10 RPG. He had an off-night. Theo has NEVER been a rebounder. It's hard to rebound when you have your back to the basket.

JT, Dion and Jackson are so busy running the floor that they completely forget to rebound ... which leaves their men on the glass.

We had a poor night rebounding. That's it.

No one else has come close to that.

It is something we need to work on.... but saying Ekezie would have helped is stupid. The problem was NOT so much the inablity to rebound, it was that NO ONE committed to boxing out. Ekezie couldn't have blocked out 3 guys. Sorry.

Play.

[Plainview1981]

I find it funny how you guys look to blame everyone besides

JT/SAR. Dion has actually been the teams most complete

player other than shooting percentage but he's the one you

guys are attacking. If JT could run a d@mn team Dion could

work on being what he is....A scorer and a rebounding guard.

80% of the blame has to be thrown on Reef/JT and Theo.

They don't get the job done. NONE of them defend, and

not of them do what they are supposed to do.

[Playmaker0017]

Did you just say that Dion was the most complete player? Wow. What game have you watched?

Granted he is playing better than expectations, but that wasn't a hard thing to pull off.

The blame has to go to the coaching style and to the coach putting JT in at PG. JT cannot flourish or do anything at PG.

Anyone that dribbles can score or try to create for themselves. So Dion doing this is as impressive as Jackson... it just isn't a good thing. That is what I guess you don't understand. Taking shots before the shot clock gets a chance to burn is stupid unless it is on a fast break.

Play.

[Plainview1981]

The blame has to go to the coaching style and to the coach putting JT in at PG. JT cannot flourish or do anything at PG. "

It's the coaches fault! It's the coaches fault! blah blah these

players just suck. Quit making excuses for these piece of

crap players. THEY SUCK. JT CAN'T PLAY SG...HE CAN"T

PLAY SG. You think the defense is bad now? What do you

think happens when you put him at SG? Some how you

guys would still find away to blame the coach.

Did you just say that Dion was the most complete player? Wow. What game have you watched? "

Well he's a better defender than Jax or JT(even though that

isnt saying much) he's the best rebounding guard on the

team...He's the best passing guard the team has....He's

like 3rd on the team in scoring.......Yeah sadly enough

he's the teams most complete player.

Some of you live in a fantasy world. It's not the coaches

fault that this is the leasted talented and most flawed

team in the league. It has no future, no guys that can

develop, no rebouders, no defenders...

All it has is a overpaid Forward, a undersized SG, and a

weakside shot blocker. A coach doesn't win with this

crap.

Put the blame were it belongs....Reef/JT/Theo. If Jt

could do what he was drafted to do alot of the teams

problems wouldn't exsist. Instead, he's become a bust

for a lottery pick. Reef? Leadership? When other players

around the league like Cliff Robinson say it doesn't seem

like Reef competes enough there is a problem.

[Jester]

RE: JT, Dion and Jackson are so busy running the floor that they completely forget to rebound ... which leaves their men on the glass.

I too have been wondering what the f#*k? with Hawks running across court while the other team is under the basket rebounding. I am glad you brought this up.

[macdaddy]

New coaches always preach the same thing. Push the ball. but these aren't the kind of players who can handle pushing the ball all game. When you got guys who turn the ball over a lot you don't really want them getting too creative.

It may be boring but solid defense and controlled half court sets win games and its the only way to win in the playoffs.

SAR, JT, Dion are looking bad because Stotts isn't controlling the plays.

Against the Clippers we ran up a big lead with all those guys out of the game. JV, Nailon, Nazr played most of the 2nd and ran solid plays and knocked down open looks.

But our bench players aren't talented enough to hand the team over too. Our starters are but they need to know what they are doing on offense and crash the boards or one by one hit the pine.

Just look at the Hawks coaches. Those who preach 'exciting' fast break b-ball: Bob Weiss, Lon Kruger, Stotts(so far)

Those who demand D, and run pick and rolls and post ups all game: Mike Fratello and Lenny Wilkens.

The records speak for themselves.

[macdaddy]

These guys have enough talent to be a successful team if you make them put in the effort. Reef is great in the low post but he is never there anymore. and the few times he is the others just stand around and watch.

If its a choice between rebounding and getting berated and benched everyone of these guys are going to choose rebounding. There are no Sprees here. These guys will respond to that. After 3 years of this crap they don't know that's the way you play for 48 minutes.

Why don't any of these guys foul out? Theo is the only one who fouls out and its on whimpy little touch fouls. If Nailon and Nazr haven't used all their fouls then they haven't been playing hard enough. Giving up off rebouds is one thing but just letting layup and dunk all game? Make them earn it at the strip

[Traceman]

get more rebounds than ANY other team in the NBA except SA and their numbers are skewed because the MVP has been out. In addition, our rebounding differential is 3rd worst in the league behind SA and MEM but again, the MVP has been out in SA so that will change too. Who is going to change it for us? Hendu?

Face it, we are soft as Charmin in the middle and it's not going to change with Theo at Center and Reef at PF. I've been saying it since early last year and I have seen NOTHING from that combo that makes me think we will EVER win consistently with them at Center and PF. If we have to keep both, I'd try to play Reef at SF and bring in a PF or Center with size who can shoot the midrange J. A guy like Brad Miller would have been fine. We might have had to play a halfcourt game but we couldn't possibly be worse than we are now.

[Playmaker0017]

Trace,

We should be playing for the halfcourt game as it is. We don't have the skill to run the floor and push the ball. I thought we did, but we just don't.

Reef is getting his rebounds. He's worked the glass efficiently every night except last night.

Theo is blocking a lot of shots and challenging a LOT more... and that means he is going to have his back to the basket. He won't get many rebounds that way.

Our gaurds and SF need to help box men out. It isn't just the lowest men who need to do it.

Reef at SF is the worst idea ever. He isn't a SF. He can't hit the jump shots well enough. But SF is just a name.

If you bring in a stud center, move theo to PF and reef to SF but run the offensive sets with Reef at the PF, you'd be okay. But thew problem would lie in that Theo can't consistently hit a jumper.

Play.

[Diesel]

Before you go blasting Ekezie, you have to forget about the past...

For instance.

With Miami Brent Barry was the biggest scrubb that ever played.

Also for Miami Jamal Mashburn looked like the second biggest scrubb ever.

For Seattle, Murry was a deep on the bench player.

For Washington and Orlando, Ben Wallace was bad news... Just a guy who failed to reach his potential.

You can never just take a guys past and used it to discredit his present. IN the present for the Hawks, Ekezie was a rebounding machine. JUST what we needed. Reguardless of what he was for VanCouver, what he was doing for us was pretty encouraging...

[Playmaker0017]

You forgot to add...

"in the preseason"

Play.

[Gray Mule]

Playmaker0017 said above: "Saying Ekezie would have helped

is stupid."

Since this is the first time today that I have been called

stupid, I must defend my stupidity.

What Ekezie did with his other teams, I know nothing

about. What he brought to the Hawks, even, as you pointed

out, was in the pre season, was exactly what I felt that

was sadly lacking in last night's game.

Hawks desperately needed a huge body under the boards

last night where the present Hawks players were, to

be kind, ineffective. Being shoved around, pushed out of the

way and apparently intimidated by the big, strong men

wearing the opponent's colors, Ekezie showed IN THE

PRE SEASON that he could have made a difference.

Whether or not he could have continued to do in the

regular season what he was obviously capable of doing

IN THE PRE SEASON, we never got a chance to find out.

If he wasn't physically able to do that, I thought that he

was. He has the right size and his attitude was right

IN THE PRE SEASON. Too bad we won't be able to find

out this season.

[Playmaker0017]

Gray,

I certainly wasn't calling YOU stupid, just the notion that Ekezie would have contributed over the long haul. That's all. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Play.