What would change with a new coach???

[Highpozt]

I have been speaking about a new coach since they hired Stotts --- but when I ponder the thought of what would change, I am not certain I or anyone has a positive concrete answer. If Doc, Nique or a veteran coach like a Brian Hill came on board I do think instant respect would be gained from their achievments in this league and I don't think Stotts or Kruger ever had that. But then it comes to actual game play and I am not certain if a new scheme and coach would make SAR, Theo, Terry and the Hawks win games. I know for a fact over the last three years there are teams with less talent and a better record --- look at the Jazz --- they almost have no real ballers short of Kerilinko?? and they are much better than the Hawks and competitive every night is that coaching or scheme or what??? Who knows but these Hawks are a disaster new coach, trade players where do they turn??

[Boondocks]

I'm happy to wait untill the onwership change is done with the i's dotted, but yeah, players seem to have lost confidence in Stotts while in Utah they don't get the chance to not believe in Sloan anymore since if you don't play hard you don't play at all.

[Highpozt]

We have not had a tough coach in Atlanta --- just think Fratello may be the toughest we have had and he got maybe the best results --- just think Stotts, Kruger, Lenny, Weiss all were soft spoken teacher types and the teams had that personality. Even Van Gundy is tougher than the aforementioned --remember him wrapped around Alonzo leg. The Hawks I think need a motivator a coach with a tough demeanor to change the face of this team.

[KB21]

Hubie Brown was a tough coach.

Fratello is a Brown protege. The word going around when Fratello was let go by Stan was that Stan had to let him go to keep the players from having a mutiny.

[Weez]

It's like I sid before...I don't know what to make of Stotts yet, good or bad, but I don't think that he's had a fair shake simply because I'm becoming more and more convinced hat this group of players cannot win on a consistent basis.

Take last night for eample: in a aclose game, on two consecutive possesions, we drive down and jack jumpers early in the shot clock with about a minute to go, Reef never touches the ball, we miss both shots. We come down andohter time get the ball to Reef, he does his thing, spins, scores. That simple. What do we do on the next possessions? Avoid Reef and jack jumpers.

JT can't run the point, and that may be the primary problem that this team has. If he could be traded to a team for a truer sg and we handed the reigns to JV/DD...then perhaps we'd see what we have.

But as is, things won't work...and a coaching change won't help things much if at all.

[Highpozt]

Stotts not having a fair shot may be true --- but I am wondering particularly with this group of players did they ever have respect for him. With the egos on todays player if they think you have not made achievments in this league as a player or coach then I think you have a tougher task to gain players respect. They are not playing smart or hard for 48 minutes under Stotts.

[Diesel]

I think that there are a lot of difficulties in evaluating Stotts because Stotts is not consistent. He doesn't seem to have a true offensive game plan and he doesn't seem to have true control of this team.

A Stronger coach would garnish more respect but I don't know if the results would be that much better. As I read the post on we need a tougher coach... The person who came to mind is PJ Carlisimo. He was definitely a motivating kind of coach, but I don't think that is the way we should go.

I have some thoughts ont he moves that the Hawks need to make.

First, Terry must go. When new ownership move in, their first order of business should be to find a good trade for Terry. If they can't find a good one, we need to make a move that will help boost Terry's stats so that he can be traded in the offseason. Terry not being a good point is a problem. We should give DD a good look at PG but at the same time, I a proponent of picking up Stoudamire in the summer. He is exactly what we can use. A guy who can distribute and run the offense while at the same time he can get his points when he needs to.

Secondly, Theo should be traded now. Even if we don't move Terry, if we can find a deal for Theo that would bring back either a strong 2 or a Bulky C, we should do it. Reef needs to play beside a bulky C who can get points. Damp would havebeen a perfect pickup for us. Right now, Adonyl Foyle is not a bad option either. I would get him for his low price and somebody else. If it were possible to do a three way with NY/GS..

Give Theo

Get Ward/Foyle. I would do it.

I don't know if Foyle will be available any time soon, I know he had surgery on his knee, but I would take the chance because his contract ends anyway.

I would play:

Ward/JT/Jax/SAR/Nazr.

Reason. Ward is a true PG. JT needs to build up stats to be traded, Jax too, Nazr is a capable C until Foyle comes off the IR. I might be tempted to offer Foyle a three year deal worth 5.5 Million after the season. I don't thinnk he has shown enough to warrant Big Money and that's good. He's still 6'11 265. Next to Reef, he's a shot blocking, rebounding monster. I would further build three trades and draft picks.

next year, the team in transition will look like:

Stoudamire, SG, SF, Reef, Foyle.

It would be nice if we could get one of these Draft picks like James... But I don't know if Next years draft will be that great.

I guess you can put Diaw in the SG spot...

In the draft, I would hope for Josh Smith or Hakeem Warrick plus a good vet in a trade down.

For instance if we had the first pick and Seattle had the 5th pick, I would trade down with them....

and Take Warrick plus Murry.

Stoudamire, Murry, Warrick, Reef, Foyle.

or something like that.

[Packfill]

I like the idea of trading for Foyle. He replaces Theo in that he still provides the Hawks with a defensive presence in the paint. If he were only healthy . . .

Best course for the Hawks may be to position themselves for a high draft pick and, if Foyle is in the fold, go for a ing player like Smith or Deng (I am not yet convinced Warrick will develop the ball handling/shooting skills necessary to be a perimeter player in the NBA - but if he does then he is an option also).

As for point for next year, might as well give Dickau some minutes and see what he can do. Dan might work with Boris in the backcourt because Boris can help with ball handling and pick Dan up defensively. In turn, id Dickau's shooting comes around (wasn't he a good shooter in college?) then he could pick up some of the scoring void created when JT is traded. I don't think Stoudamire is the answer on the court and he brings too much off the court baggage to warrant anything more than a one year low dollar deal.

If the Hawks don't do a Foyle/similar deal this year, then package Theo and JT (Theo should be movable b/c of expiring contract and JT's frontloaded deal will be reasonable for the next two years) for a legit big man.

[Diesel]

One thing is this...

True Cs are few in this league. I think Foyle is not what he is expected to be, but I think that he is still some good. GS will release him anyway this summer.

If Theo/Jax is enough to get the Knicks to give up Ward/Thomas... Then we send Thomas to GS for Foyle...

I like Foyle because he's big but what many people miss is that he is just as good a shotblocker as Theo except he has true C size. I say get him, let him recoup, resign him next year at a lower price... (3 year 6-7 million) is what I would offer (just enough to evade the vet min)... Then play him with Nazr....

I am not in love with Ward, but if we are building JT's value, I think Ward is a good PG to do that with.

I think I would try to send JT to Seattle, Utah, or LAC in trade.

AS FAR as the draft, I haven't seen enough of Deng to know. I think he's a fairly good shot blocker but I don't know. What I know about Warrick is that he reminds me of Marion at UNLV. He's very athletic, but Warrick has a shot to his game. That's good. He's like the next level of Josh Howard. I have to watch a little while longer, but I do like Warrick's one on one defense. We have to see what happens as the season goes on.

In the Second round, if Duhon is around, I take him.

[Highpozt]

Thank You PJ Carlisimo --- I forgot about him he would actually be a good coach for the hawks --- because I still believe that the Coaches personality and the team personality runs parallel kind of like a father and son. PJ toughness should be reflected in the Hawks play. I like the Dampier better than the Foyle for Theo trade --- Dampier is not great but he brings a decent offensive game while Foyle almost brings none. Dampier is also a big body a real Center and he is a power rebounder that would stop all the second chance points. I am one of the few still believing in JT with the right coach and the right players. Something should happen after January with money becoming available from the Brandon deal. The starting future lineup would be JT, Diaw, Jackson (should be traded now with Theo in a two team deal with the Warriors), Shareef and Dampier --- Diaw hopefully will lessen some of JT ball handling and assist responsibility --- Diaw just needs time and a jumpshot. The first 3 off the bench would be Dickau, Glover, Nazr. PJ is coaching --- for some reason I think a coach like PJ would make a drastic difference in what we see. The players have expressed they don't think Stotts always knows what he is doing and that ain't good for a NBA coach.