Lottery Race

[KB21]

Orlando Magic 19-59

Chicago Bulls 22-55

Washington Wizards 24-53

Atlanta Hawks 25-53

Phoenix Suns 26-51

Los Angeles Clippers 27-51

Atlanta has a strong chance at the third worst record.

[Blunt91]

That's only if the Wizards beat someone they aren't suppose to beat and if we lose the rest of our games. My instincts tell me we will win at least one more game before the season is over. It won't do us any good to have a tie with the Wizards because they would win the tie breaker due to the fact that they have a worse record against teams in their divison than we do.

[CBAreject]

I spend all this time listing the odds for each scenario, including the one in which we tie with Washington. Then, you say that it doesn't do any good to tie with them?

It does plenty of good to tie with Washington. While it's true that they get a higher pick IF WE BOTH fall out of the top 3, we would greatly increase our chances at a top 3 by tying.

The lotto balls are divided between all teams, with bad teams getting more than better teams. If there is a tie between two teams, those teams have the same number of balls. So, for our circumstances, the number of balls for the 3 team and the number for the 4 team are averaged, and we get the same number as washington.

[emeans]

Exactly...I see no way we will have the 3rd best record. Washington is not going to win another game. Go check out their remaining schedule. It is brutal!!

Atlanta will probably win 1 or 2 games.

We are slated for the 4th worse record. Our only hope is that the lottery balls bounce our way. If not look for the 4th best player in the draft. I really hope Josh Smith is there at the No. 4 spot, however I think he will be picked 3rd. We may end up with the 7'6 European. You can't pass him up because of his height.

[CBAreject]

Quote:

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Exactly...I see no way we will have the 3rd best record. Washington is not going to win another game. Go check out their remaining schedule. It is brutal!!

Atlanta will probably win 1 or 2 games.

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True we stand a good chance at topping Chicago, but to win another game would require an upset. Washington, on the other hand plays 2 below .500 teams, 2 .500 teams, and 1 top notch opponent. So, you think we will 'probably' pull an upset, but there is 'no way' that Washington will? I would hesitate to say that there is 'no way' that Washington could tie us.

Quote:

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We are slated for the 4th worse record. Our only hope is that the lottery balls bounce our way. If not look for the 4th best player in the draft. I really hope Josh Smith is there at the No. 4 spot, however I think he will be picked 3rd. We may end up with the 7'6 European. You can't pass him up because of his height

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We cannot pick 4th. The Bobcats are slated to pick there.

It's top 3 or 5th.

[emeans]

I totally forgot about the Bobcats. That shows you our luck...I wouldn't be surprised we get bumped to the 5th pick by an expansion team. It wouldn't surprise me at all. Sometimes I really do think this city has a jinx on it.

We can't afford to get the 5th pick. The 5th pick may be one pick too late.

[Nicholasp27]

i really hope we can get howard, okafur or smith

if not, we'll have either go small with a guard or take a big risk on a european big, who most likely will not be a franchise player

if we go small, we may get a franchise point, but we will still have the weakness we have right now, the paint

[Diesel]

JT/1st (late) for another lotttery pick... Preferably I'd like us to get Howard/Smith or Smith/Livingston out of this draft.

Then maybe a Diaw for Swift trade might go?!

[Nicholasp27]

if we get howard, why get swift?

[pathway23]

I'm sick of these trade proposals involving Diaw! I wonder how many GMs out there want him? I'm sure MOST do, and thats exactly why we shouldn't trade him. He does all the little things that don't get noticed, and he fits exactly what Billy Knight wants on this team. He is part of the rebuilding plan and he is going nowhere. Thank GOD Diesel is not our GM.

[TheDude]

if we let jackson walk(which i would hate to see but...)

pg Livingston

sg Smith

sf Diaw

pf whoever

C whoever..

to me that's a young young but high-potential team..actually as you can see it's PART of a team but good building blocks. if we got Howard instead, just make some adjustments:

pg Livingston

sg whoever

sf Diaw

pf Howard

C whoever

then we have free agency to fill in the pieces.

[emeans]

Yeah...Diaw is a keeper. He recieved a lot of experience this year playing heavy minutes. We don't want to give him up, we would want to build with him.

Diaw does not need to be traded!!

[chickenstanly]

really hope we can get howard, okafur or smith

if not, we'll have either go small with a guard or take a big risk on a european big, who most likely will not be a franchise player

if we go small, we may get a franchise point, but we will still have the weakness we have right now, the paint

________________________________________

This is an interesting thought. Why has this board

been so quiet on JR Smith ?

It seems that Howard has become this years version

of Kwame Brown with this group.

Not that Howard doesn't have potential, but that

is doesn't excuse such a fixation on a high school

player.

Just like the draft containing Kwame a couple of

years ago, there are no certain bets like Shaq

or Duncan this year. So it seems foolish to fixate.

Being from Gerogia or Atlanta has no importance

whatsoever.

[Lascar78]

I thought JR Smith was going to college

[Diesel]

Dude, Diaw is a good defensive stopper and he can handle the ball...

However, right now, he doesn't fit our need. If we can get a player who is a better fit than he, why not?

Sorry, but Diaw's 6 ppg in 27 mpg will not automatically turn to 20 ppg in 41 mpg working with Armond Hill. He can work with Hill all summer, everyday, all day... It won't help him.

What you should look at is likely matches not just good pieces. When we had Big Dog, Reef, Theo, & JT, we had good pieces, but they didn't match.

Now, we have:

JT, Jax, and Sura.... Those guys match and compliment one another. IF with got Josh Smith, he'd fit right in to their game. However, Diaw is too much of a half court player to fit in with these guys. If we could trade Diaw and get back a player who fits better, I say do it... That doesn't mean I want Junk or Nothing for Diaw. But I want a fit.

And don't be fooled into beieving that if you offered Diaw, you'd get somebody like AK back?? You have to be honest in your examination of Diaw. He's not Dirk. He's not a AK. He's not a great player in progress. He's a specialty role player.

[Nicholasp27]

we don't need him to be a 20ppg player

and he could improve his ppg a ton over the summer just by learning to be aggressive and more selfish

he does shoot .437...if he took as many shots as baron davis, he'd be an all star

the point with diaw is that he can fit in anywhere...he's the ultimate role player...u don't have to build around him like jt/reef/dawg...he will work with whatever system

and u forget he's a rookie...he can easily improve

and u compare him to christie, who fits in great with the offensive kings...we can only hope we're ever as good as the kings...

[Lascar78]

you act as if we have a team with a clear identity and we're looking for a piece or two to round it out. If you ignore qualifying offers, the only players we have for next year according to hoopshype are :

Boris Diaw

Chris Crawford

Alan Henderson

a team option on Hansen

We know they can't wait to get the two last ones off the books too. So stop acting as if you know what kind of a team we'll have next year. We don't know that JT will be here. We don't know that Jax will be here. Alot of people will be interested. We don't know that Sura will be here

You say we have JT, Jax, and Sura. Guess what, we don't once the season ends. Some of our players might stay, but who knows which ones.

There's a reason we traded our entire team and that's because we're going to build from scratch the kind of team Billy Knight wants. So far Billy's only first round draft pick for us has been boris, so I'm going to go ahead and guess that he fits what Billy wants. He might not fit in with the 10 wildmen playing for contracts right now, but he probably fits into Billy's rebuilding plan.

Once we made the decision to rebuild alot of things changed. One is that we're no longer looking for the one guy who'll turn us to a champ overnight. We're looking for young talented players that fit whatever style it is we plan to play, who given a year or two of growing and good coaching can succeed together. Just like Memphis.

You don't ship a promising rookie because he didn't quite fit in well with all the players you had for a half a season when you decided to rebuild

As for getting Dirk or AK back, of course you wouldn't. That's the point. You have a cheap young rookie, who doesn't cost you much, but could turn into a very good player. Why would you trade him for an average player who won't ever really give you much? It makes no sense. If you ship every rookie after his first year because he's not great yet, you'll never get any young talent.

[pathway23]

I remember Christie torching the Lenny Wilkens Hawks when he played for the Raptors, he is capable offensively but concentrates on defense and rebounding for the Kings, same with Diaw right now, his role is defense and rebounding...he has been more aggressive offensively but for his role as of right now any offense is just icing on the cake, this guy is no Ira Newble/Darvin Ham...he has a nice jump shot, just needs to take it more often and with more confidence, and he is MUCH more versatile than those guys with more length and athleticism.

Every team has this kind of role player...sometimes these role players are stars, sometimes they are just above average player. From Ron Artest and Scottie Pippen to Bruce Bowen or Doug Christie. I think Diaw will be more like Artest or Pippen than Bowen or Christie.

[AHF]

Quote:

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You say we have JT, Jax, and Sura. Guess what, we don't once the season ends. Some of our players might stay, but who knows which ones.

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JT signed a 3 year contract last offseason. We have him just as much as we do Diaw.

[Lascar78]

oh I didnt realize that. Never heard the full contract. I thought there was an option on his contract after this year. Either way, JT needs Diaw as much as anyone