Looks like NBAdraftnet. got it right this time

[Blunt91]

They updated their page today and we get our boy Smith at the 6th pick plus two more picks I would be pleased with as well.

http://www.nbadraft.net/index.asp

[Weez]

I "guess" at this point I may end up being "happy" with a couple of things that would normally tear me up ~ both Telefair and Deng coming out, neither of who should be. I sorta understand Sebastian...who has banked on this throughout hs, got his shoe deal etc...but he won't affect the Hawks (I don't think...though you might be surprised....he could be there when we pick 16, though I doubt it).

Deng. Big mistake and, while not knowing all the details, I don't think he needs the money at this point...but he certainly needs more skills that he probably won't get in the pros. boy can barely dribble for a guy that lacks much of an outside shot.

What's any of this have to do with the Hawks...well I almost hope that we get the 6th pick now. Not higher...and certainly not lower. cause I want Smith...and don't want any of the temptation of taking of the even bigger "safe?" gambles available above him.

If anything....and I can't believe I'm saying this, if we got the 1 or 2, I'd try to figure out a way, if possible, to trade down to get Smith (this would ahve to be done during the draft most likely) while packaging our 16 pick to move up in order to get Telefair....but I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with that...but man, the media'd be flocking to phillips...that's for certain. we'd be on the map, playing up tempo...but it'd cost us SJax....yet allow us to for certain trade JT and be over and doen with that debate.

[Blunt91]

I still would at least like to get lucky enough to get the 3rd pick in the draft that way we don't have to worry about the Bobcats or the Clippers taking Smith. We still don't know if Livingston is coming out or not. If we don't get in the top 3 we better hope Livingston comes out because it would better our chances to get Smith. The clippers probably would pick Devin Harris instead of Joshua Smith because they already have Maggette at the 3spot and drafted D. Miles out of highschool which didn't work. They need help at pointguard and next to Livingston(who wouldn't be able to run a team his 1st year) Harris is the next best on board.

[Nicholasp27]

telfair and deng coming out is great news for us and does affect us

it means that there will be more options at our picks than there woulda been

if we get 6-9, we still have a chance at smith because someone above us may go with deng where they woulda gone with smith had deng not declared

and both should be gone by our #17 pick, but due to them coming out, it's like it's a #15 pick

in other words, all of our picks after those 2 go move up 2 spots! and our first pick prolly moves up 1 spot due to deng!

[Diesel]

I think the teams ahead of us will be able to see through Deng and they might be inclined to go for Smith. IF we are at #6, here's my list...

1. Joshua Smith.

2. Shaun Livingston.

3. Andre Iguodala

I think that's all of them.... Let's look at how the draft could fall:

1. Okafur.

2. Howard.

3. Josh Smith

4. Shaun Livingston.

5. Devin Harris.

If this is the case, I want Iguodala. Why Diesel?

Deng didn't impress me, I don't think he has the handles to be a big time pro. If Harris is not 5th, I don't want him because we have JT already. I think Harris is JT in the making. Gordon... See Harris. Ben Gorden is just like JT too. Biedrins, I don't know enough about but I don't want a project at PF offensively. If we took a PF, I would want somebody who can score. I wouldn't even want Okafur because at best, Okafur will be a 12/8 PF. I would love Howard. Otherwise, we can get Humphries at 17.

Iguodala matches what we already are trying to build. He's very athletic and explosive. I see him as swing man, if we sign Jax or not.

Best case scenerio though is that we get Josh Smith at 3 or Howard at 2.

[Lascar78]

Livingston did declare he was going NBA the same day JR Smith did

[JTFan31]

I do have a problem with the picks NBAdraft.net put together. I see Splitter, Jefferson and Humphries are available at the 17th pick and I would take any of those 3 over Telfair. We need bangers and size with talent not under 6 foot players with talent.

[Blunt91]

Yeah JTfan the people are really going to come and see Humphries, Jefferson and a foreigner named Splitter. Telfair might take a a couple of years to learned the pro game but he could end up being something special down the road. The Atlantians want to see some flash&dazzle and that's exactly what Telfair will bring.

[JTFan31]

No people might not want to come and see Humphries, Jefferson nor Splitter, but they will sure as he11 come and see Josh Smith.

If we get Josh Smith at the 6th pick, most likely our lineup will look like this

JT

Jax

Smith

Crawford

Pryz

We wont have a PF that can bang and pull down rebounds while having some flow in the inside game and can score. I do not want to go into the season starting CC at PF, although CC played great after the trades, scoring wise, but he wasnt grabbing many rebounds.

We will have Sura playing also some major minutes, most likely at the PG and SG. We will also have a chance of drafting Duhon in the 2nd round and I wouldn't mind at all to bring Duhon for PG minutes.

We need a talent at PF and we have a chance to draft Jefferson, Humphries or Splitter. According to Knight he wants to play that kind of style of basketball, run and gun and also mentioned about needing a banger inside. The 2 right guys are Humphries and Splitter, we do NOT need telfair.

[Blunt91]

I found an article from monday that stated Livingston will "Test the NBA waters" he declared for the draft but didn't hire an agent so he has until June17th to withdraw his name from the draft if he is unsatisfied with his draft projection.

http://www.pjstar.com/sports/topsports/3higmfn072.html

[Lascar78]

I agree, but I think that JTFan, being a fan of JT, will not. Basically, are we set on keeping JT for years and years? If so, our best bet is not Telfair for the sake of the franchise. If, however, our prime interest is getting people back in the stadium and talking about the hawks, telfair could be the way to go. It depends on how the ownership and Knight look at it

[capstone21]

It will be a couple of years before Smith is starting. Bank on that.

[Blunt91]

I honestly don't think Terry will be around to see the end of his 3year contract. If he is not traded this offseason he definitely will be in the 2005 offseason. Jason Terry will be 27years old in September. He is getting to that age where he wants to play for a championship contender. If we don't show any true signs of improvement the best thing to do is trade him for a younger player. BTW I didn't know Terry was a year older than Mike Bibby.Bibby will turn 26 somtime this month.

[Lascar78]

I hope you're right. I mean I think the whole JT-Reef experiment failed for 2 reasons: JT and Reef. Reef is talented enough to be a superstar, but lacks the desire and intensity. He's gone. JT can make some unbelievable plays and has great speed, but is clearly a tweener. Too short to play the 2, and he just doesn't know how to run an offense. I mean he barely knows how to run a fast break.

His individual game can be brilliant at times, but I can't see him being a leading PG on a great team. ever. so he's got to go at some point. I mean you could see how quickly having a good passing guard (Sura) in our offense improved our team play. JT is clueless when it comes to that. All he knows on offense is the pick'n roll. Maybe it's Kruger and Stotts' fault for not coaching him appropriately. Either way something's gotta give, wwe need to re-build this team right.

Now I'm not sure that Telfair is the answer either, but he would put fans in the seats. All I know is somewhere down the road we need to acquire real PG unless we're planning on having Diaw as our PG.

[Packfill]

I agree, if you get Smith early then the next pick should be a big man because the biggest hole on this team would be power forward. The bigger question with getting Smith is do you resign Jackson? They play the same position so you could argue that having Jackson around would hinder Smith's development. You cannot play the two together if Terry is the point guard because there is no second ball handler - Diaw or Sura would need to be on the floor.

The other scenario is where the Hawks win the lottery and acquire Okafor or Howard. In either case, resigning Jackson works because we need scoring from the 3. Now if Jacksons asking price gets too high then things become more interesting. One scenario I was thinking was if Howard is the top choice, then it may make sense to trade the 17th pick for a young veteran - theory being you don't want to rely on two rookies. So, you can trade the 17th pick for a guy like Jonathan Bender (I know, it is a risk) who has talent and could develop with some playing time. A Bender like player would be better positioned to contribute early. The trade would fill the void at small forward or two guard (Diaw, Sura and new guy each get 30 minutes). Use the Jackson free agent money on a Mark Blount like free agent big man to serve as a body guard for Howard while he develops. A team of Terry, Diaw, Bender, Howard and Blount most likely does not score enough in year win to win much but some nice young pieces are in place for the following season with a more attractive free agent class. Hawks still have plenty of money and with a developing Howard, Bender, etc. would be an attractive up and coming team for a Ray Allen like free agent.

So in two years (I feel like diesel):

Terry

Allen

Bender

Howard

Blount

with Diaw, Sura and whomever else off the bench.

Food for thought.