If the ATL can't get Jamal Crawford, who's next?

[nique27]

The free agency period has begun and we have plenty of small fowards and shooting guards, but we still don't have a NBA caliber point guard, not even a legitimate "back-up" guard.

Derek Fisher signs with Golden State. Troy Hudson resigns with Minnesota. Brent Barry signs with San Antonio. Ginobli will resign with San Antonio.

The Hawks did a good thing in signing Harrington, but who is going to lead this team... as our PG?

If we can't get Jamal Crawford, then who? The list of "candidates" are slowly dwindling...

I don't want to WRITE THIS SEASON OFF, but if we don't get some playoff calibur guards, not necessarily "All-Stars", then we are in for a another long frustrating year.

Do we try to get someone like Travis Best or Kenny Anderson or maybe a Jamal Tinsley. They are getting up there in age, but they have experienced the playoffs and knows how to set up their teammates better than Jason Terry.

We are NOT going to win with Jason Terry as our starting point guard.

The talk about Dampier is great, but we need a point guard badly... Having Dampier won't do us any good if we don't have PG's who can get the ball to him and direct the team.

[Plainview1981]

I'm sure Jim Les or Donnie Boyce is out there aswell as

Matt Maloney. These have always been the Hawks type of

players. I honestly expect Billy Knight to sit and do

very little else. Mike Woodson is expect to use 3 or

4 SF's as PG's I guess.

[nique27]

I hope Billy Knight find a real point guard (actually TWO), but if he doesn't the ATL may have a hard time winning 20 games next year...

This team is more athletic, but our basketball IQ will be worse than last year...

Diaw is not ready to be a NBA point guard, not even a backup guard...

I have never been a big fan of Nick Van Exel, but the Hawks may have to get him and/or guy like Travis Best with experience to help this team.

the hawks can't go into next season with Jason Terry as our "lead guard" for another year...

[Plainview1981]

Billy Knight seems to see something in JT that most

people don't see..... As long as you have JT starting

you aren't going to have a team that plays with a high

BASKETBALL IQ.

[cyman3]

good quality PGs are just as rare as good quality centers THESE DAYS. that being said, replacing JT will be VERY HARD...

so unless u find a way to trade JT for a BETTER PG...

JT is the way to go...

[KB21]

How has the basketball IQ of this team decreased?

If anything, this is a much smarter team than last year. Look at the players in the summer league. They have already taken to Mike Woodson's defensive methods and are sharing the ball offensively with few turnovers.

You can't get much lower on the basketball IQ totem pole than Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Theo Ratilff, and Stephen Jackson.

[ATLien_]

You have got to be kidding me right? Well why don't we just make JT into a paper weight and put him on Dominique's VP desk. Then we can sign a scrub like Derek Fisher and he will lead us to the promised land. Sometimes I wonder if you guys know anything about basketball. How many true pg's are there now? Jason Kidd is the only great one. Andre Miller and Nash are above average, but I dont know if I would call Nash a pure PG.

After Jason Kidd IMO the rest of the pg's are in the same boat. They all have their strenghts and weaknesses, but other than that they are all near the same talent level. Some are just in better situations than others. I'm talking about pure pg's here.

The league is ran bye guys like Baron Davis, Steve Francis, Marbury etc......... Unless Jason Kidd has a son thats about graduate that I don't know about; where is the better PG that you speak of?

I have already made up my mind I want JT to get traded to a contender and we get back some scrub PG, so all you so called experts can eat crow. Players production is relative. You will see a perfect example this year when

Kobe is without Shaq.

[Nicholasp27]

this team will have HIGH bball IQ, not low

jt is the only one with low IQ

once he's gone, it should be high across the board

but even now, it's better than before, with only jt now to bring the average down

[Lascar78]

well except maybe for the 2 2nd rounders. I really know nothing of their basketball IQ. And right now one of them is our backup PG

[DominiqueWilkins]

I doubt Billy Knight feels Jamal Crawford is the guy for the Hawks, or he would of went after him already.

Point guard is one of the biggest keys to a championship, if not the biggest, and Knight may feel Jason Terry is the best thing for right now.

This years free agency didn't hold the point guard to fix the Hawks problems, so it is just best to wait another year.

[Packfill]

Let's be honest here folks, Crawford is no better a point guard than Jason Terry. There is a reason why the Bulls have spent high picks on point guards despite the presence of Crawford on their roster. He may have some upside as a shooting guard because of his youth, but he does not shoot particularly well and does not play good defense. I think he is over rated.

[Blunt91]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Jacque Vaughn signed again to a 1year deal. Heck little Mike Wilkes can be had for cheap. We don't nor will we get a toptier point this offseason. Knight will go with Terry, Vaughn/Wilkes or Ivey and see how that Trio does. Lookes like SUra is out of reach. Since he wants to sign with the Heat. Diaw, Ivey or Childress will try to fill SUra's void.

[ATLien_]

If pg is such a big key to a championship then name me the last team that one the championship with and Very good pg? The last team I can think of is Detroit with the bad boys with Isiah Thomas.

All you need is a servicable pg and two superstars to win a championship. Pg is being overated on this board. I really can't think of hardly any championship teams where their pg was even the second best player on their team.

[Lascar78]

it's not a matter of having a star PG.

It's a matter of having a smart PG who knows how to distribute, who makes smarts decisions, who doesn't turn it over, who controls tempo appropriately, who can play good defense, and depending on your team, who can hit a shot.

Fisher, Billups, and Parker can all do those things. JT can not. Being a great scorer is nice, but it's really just an extra for a PG. Billups modified his game to be a better distributor and succeeded.

You might notice that the Francis/Davis type scoring PGs haven't won a title recently.

[macdaddy]

ATLien is exactly right. PG is not our problem. JT is better than he gets credit for here and Knight knows that. We can't trade him because he is our only proven nba scorer.

[OGRat]

I agree Lascar. I believe having a solid PG will be even more important on a rebuilding team to serve as a stabilizer for the young bucks. The type of PG I would be looking for would be your Avery Johnson and Eric Snow type of guards.

I don't think you would want a guard who is still out there trying to prove himself (JT), but you would need someone willing to defer to the cause of developing the young cats by putting them in the right situation for them to be successful.

With that in mind I don't see how both JT and Crawford would work for the Hawks. Neither is the calming influence that we need right now.