KWAME LOST!! NOOOOOO!!!!!

[BlackHawkDown]

First the Hawks win and now Kwame loses to Bill. This is a disgusting week for entertainment.

[BlackHawkDown]

The Hawks needed dynamic new leaders not a bunch of old real estate developers that want to brag to to their buddies that they own a basketball team. We need the Trump model a man who wants big things. We need celebrity like what Bob Johnson brings. And the kind of pockets Cuban has. THE HAWKS ARE DOOMED. Billy Knight is our only hope.

[Plainview1981]

Yeah, Billy Knight has done so many great things since

becoming the Gm. He can't even put together a team that

will lose properly and so he doesn't seem like he accomplished

his own goal. Even Pete Babcock could dump salary if he

wanted so I'm not going to applaud Billy Knight for that.

[BlackHawkDown]

I dont think that it is Knight's fault. He put the worst team he could field out there and they just started winning to make their individual stock go up. The players just hate the franchise so much that they refused to lose. Stotts probably got them riled up to spite Knight for assembling them to lose. Knight lost on purpose, Babcock lost because he was a baffoon.

[Plainview1981]

What has Billy Knight built? He has nothing but probably a

"too late" 6th pick and a 17th pick aswell as a 2nd round

garbage picks. Alots of cap space that players don't want.

The best you can get is Q Richardson and he's a 39% shooting

scrub. I wouldn't want Q just for the fact he's such a

poor shooter.

Sure Knight is better than Pete...But that's not saying much.

[OGRat]

You're fooling yourself to say that players don't want the money the team can offer. Veterans who have a history of losing looking for a team already winning may not want it (many of whom we should not want anyway), but talented young players going into FA'cy looking for an opportunity to shine do (see Stephen Jackson).

[Plainview1981]

Well, the problem is your not going to win anything paying

up to the likes of Stephen Jackson. He's a role player and

not a main guy on a team. The Hawks can't attract guys like

Tmac/Kobe. They may get a few third rate players like Jackson/

Richardson....But that isn't good enough.

[Plainview1981]

I don't blame the players for competeing because that is

what they are supposed to do....However, I feel Billy

didn't put together the worst team. The reason is because

he knew all these guys contracts were up this season. Most

of them had something to play for.

[TROUBLEMAN69]

Quote:

---

Well, the problem is your not going to win anything paying

up to the likes of Stephen Jackson. He's a role player and

not a main guy on a team. The Hawks can't attract guys like

Tmac/Kobe. They may get a few third rate players like Jackson/

Richardson....But that isn't good enough.

---

Yeah tell that to the Pistons. Name one first rate guy on their team? Rip Hamilton? Chauncey Billups? Ben Wallace? Rasheed Wallace? Please, none of those players are what I would call first team All-NBA. Tell that to Memphis. They don't have a first rate player either, hell they don't even have an All-Star player. It's all about chemistry, and acquiring the right pieces.

This is not going to be an overnight process. We have two first round picks in the upcoming draft. I don't care where they are located, mgmt has to use the picks wisely. It has been proven time and time again, that players can be found at any part of the draft, no matter how weak people think the draft is.

Last year's draft wasn't supposed to matter after the first 3 picks. Well, there were quite a few good players picked later, and even contributors in the 2nd round. The year before Amare Stoudemire was picked 9th, Tayshun Prince was picked 23rd, Carlos Boozer 35th. The year before that, Richard Jefferson was picked 13th, Troy Murphy 14th, Zach Randolph 19th, Samuel Dalembert 26th, Tony Parker 28th, Gilbert Arenas 31st, Mehmet Okur 38th.

My point is, people are criticizing the Hawks before the damn draft. Billy Knight, if nothing else acquired an additional first round pick in the draft. If we kept the Hawks intact from the beginning of the season, that team would have still finished in the lottery, and we wouldn't have the additional first round pick. The Hawks also wouldn't have the salary cap room going into this offseason, that we have now. Give Billy Knight a chance to put this thing together, before you clowns start criticizing his moves.

TROUBLEMAN

[Nicholasp27]

i will criticize knight for one MAJOR mistake

he thought the portland trade was "good enough" and didn't get portland's pick

that is another LOTTERY pick we lost

in fact, there is a chance that it could be a TOP 3 pick!

think about us trading mil/jt for a lottery pick

think about portland getting into top 3

think about atlanta getting into top 3

howard/okafur/smith all drafted by atlanta!

or howard/smith/pg

[TROUBLEMAN69]

Yeah, and keep dreaming. lol I can see your point, but maybe Knight did ask for a 1st round pick and was denied. If he would have held out for the lottery pick, is possible we would still be stuck with Shareef, Theo, and everybody's favorite garbage point guard, Dickau. I also believe Portland would have made that pick lottery protected anyway.

TROUBLEMAN

[AHF]

Quote:

---

Yeah, and keep dreaming. lol I can see your point, but maybe Knight did ask for a 1st round pick and was denied. If he would have held out for the lottery pick, is possible we would still be stuck with Shareef, Theo, and everybody's favorite garbage point guard, Dickau. I also believe Portland would have made that pick lottery protected anyway.

TROUBLEMAN

---

Troubleman is right. There is no way Portland would have traded a lottery pick or unprotected pick to us. The best we would have gotten is a protected 1st or a young player like Woods.

[Plainview1981]

Yeah tell that to the Pistons. Name one first rate guy on their team? Rip Hamilton? Chauncey Billups? Ben Wallace? Rasheed Wallace? Please, none of those players are what I would call first team All-NBA. Tell that to Memphis. They don't have a first rate player either, hell they don't even have an All-Star player. It's all about chemistry, and acquiring the right pieces. "

Already had a team like that....Remember? How many championship rings does Detroit have? What did that

kind of team win the Hawks? Nothing but regular season

games and winning alot of regular season games doesn't

mean alot because not many people even care about the

regular season.

[TROUBLEMAN69]

Say what you want about the Pistons, but they are in position to contend for a championship, and that is without a superstar player. The Hawks haven't had a team as deep as the Pistons since the mid to late 80's. The Pistons have used their picks (except the Darko pick) and acquisitions correctly, and they will have cash in the offseason. Having a superstar helps, but chemistry is much more important. Build a team correctly and the superstar(s) will come.

TROUBLEMAN

[Plainview1981]

No they aren't and neither are Indiana. They play in the

worthless Pee Wee conference. When was the last time a

team without a top 5 player won the title?

Celtics-Bird

Lakers-Magic

Spurs-Duncan

Lakers-Shaq

Rockets-Hakeem

Detroit-Zeke

Bulls-MJ

Team that Deep? You consider guys like Williamson depth?

Stephen Jackson isn't that good anyway and you'll figure

that out when he's not playing YMCA style again. Q Richardson just play out sucks. Only thing he does well

is rebound.

[Diesel]

Quote:

---

The Hawks can't attract guys like

Tmac/Kobe. They may get a few third rate players like Jackson/

Richardson....But that isn't good enough.

---

Funny is the fact that both Kobe and Tmac were drafted in the lottery. How do you dismiss our ability to get a Kobe or Tmac out of the lottery??

[TROUBLEMAN69]

You just named one. I guess Zeke was better than Magic at the point, huh? Zeke was not better than Bird, Magic, Jordan, Dream, Malone, Barkley, etc. Hall of Famer? Yeah. Top 5 player during his era? No.

TROUBLEMAN

[TROUBLEMAN69]

Quote:

---

Team that Deep? You consider guys like Williamson depth?

Stephen Jackson isn't that good anyway and you'll figure

that out when he's not playing YMCA style again. Q Richardson just play out sucks. Only thing he does well

is rebound.

---

Yeah, "Big Nasty" does provide depth. How many teams have a deeper bench than Detroit?

Stephen Jackson is better than you think. Is he a superstar? No. But he is a guy that can start for many teams around this league, including last year's champion Spurs. I don't think anyone on this board ever said Jackson was someone you could build around, but he is a very solid piece to a puzzle that hopefully Billy Knight can put together.

TROUBLEMAN

TROUBLEMAN

[OGRat]

I do not blame the players for not winning, but the coaches and the system they had to play in.

[OGRat]

I would not have minded even a late first round pick. That's where we got Diaw.