The Hawks Are In Trouble

[hotboyj]

If the rest of the year is going to be anything like the past three games, then I would have to believe Smoove is our best player. Recently he has been the only consistent Hawk. Two games ago he led all Hawks in scoring. This is just a mockery. If Al and Antoine don't get their acto together, there is no reason we shouldn't package the two anywhere. For any good point guard and center. At least Smith will be in the Rookie Challenge.

[Employee8]

Sadly, I agree with you there.

Hopefully it won't continue this way since there are plenty of games left to play. But that said, I lay all the blame on the feet of Coach Woodsen for having ZERO KNOWLEDGE of something we call "Offensive Sets". All I have seen are Isolation-this and Isolation-that.

[Plainview1981]

Billy Knight should be blamed the most. He put this team

together. While I understand he wanted a high lotto pick

he could have added one more scorer to make things alittle

easier.

[Vafan]

Everybody knew this was going to be a rebuilding year. Rome was not built in one year. Be patient, we got some gems being develop. Who do you prefer, Babcock or Knight? There is a plan. When you combine Smith, Childress, Harrington, high draft pick, and a couple of free agents next year you will see a difference. Let's say we pick up Swift, Dalembert and Chris Paul. That is a team to be reckon with.

[Diesel]

I agree... This is a rebuilding year with a totally new system and new players. One thing that get me is to see the success of teams like the Bobcats. They don't have a Walker or Harrington. However, all of that means nothing. I think it's in our best interest to work on developing J-Smoove and J-Chillz...

Unlike many, I can see us trading Harrington and Walker. Harrington and Smoove plays the same game. Walker is in the last year of his contract and may not want to be on a rebuilding team. That being said, I'd try to work out a three way with NY.

I just think the more draft picks and cap space we give BK, the better this team will get.

[Plainview1981]

I'm aware this was supposed to be a crappy team. But they

could have added another scorer to ease the load alittle

bit. There is no excuse for having Tony Delk as your 3rd

leading scorer.

[Diesel]

I think it's easier said than done. BK would have had a hard time getting a scorer that he didn't overpay for...

[Admin]

This team could desperately use his scoring and as far as I can tell, he hasnt been picked up by another team even though he was having a career year.

There is probably a little more too the reason that he is unsigned, but the guy can absolutely light it up like nobody on this team is capable of.......which we really need.

I think the guy deserves a shot. He could be just what we need.

[Weez]

everyone talks about developing Smoove and Chill...thus picking up someone like Eddie house does not good, he plays the 2 exclusively!

-yeah, we're missing Pryz right now. Not only for the complete lack of an inside body when playing D (see Rasho's floating out of the lane, not using the new rules well in terms of at leat trying to float...)...but also because of his ability to rebound and thrown an excellent outlet pass. I harped on this earlier in the summer, in wanting to resign him.

Think about hwo well we can run the floor, even wo a pg, with athletes like Chill, Smoove, Harrington...if we hada C who could rebound decently and throw a quick effective outlet pass....

[sd79]

Eddie House signed with the Bucks a couple of days ago.

[JTFan31]

I didnt expect this team to come out this year and make a runf or the playoffs. Yes we do have some nice pieces but we definitely arent there yet. We need to have a good pick next draft and a very successful summer and then we will talk but till now just continue to watch the Hawks to see Smoove's, Chill's and Ivey's growth as NBA players, thats what I am doing, watching the games to see those 3.

[Blunt91]

I have to agree with Hotlanta on this one, Woody isn't to blame it is Billy Knights doing in putting the team together. On the other hand, I feel the Hawks will make some changes soon even before the trade deadline if we continue to play this way. I look for some type of signing or trade next month.

[Nicholasp27]

i don't blame woody or bk...we are RIGHT ON TRACK, if not ahead, for rebuilding

we have smoove, al, chill, ivey, diaw, danta....we have a backup center in drob...we have whatever walker gets us...we have a lotto pick this summer...we have cap space to sign some of swift/dalembert/kwame/chandler/redd/johnson...

bk got us great young talent in smoove, al, chill, ivey, diaw, donta...he also got us flexibility...woody got those rookies to improve very quickly...yes we aren't winning, but the future is bright when we have 6 young future players, cap space, a backup center, and a valuable asset in walker...

we wouldn't have but about 5-7 more wins so far if we had kept last year's team...and we'd be missing smoove/al/ivey/donta/drob...and the asset of walker...

we're fine...the sky is NOT falling, chicken littles

[Iman]

Most of the teams in the NBA are just a player or two away from being contenders. Many cant make that transtion due to already being over the cap, having fundamentally weak key players, etc. That had been the Hawks. Even the Nique for Manning year, you had to figure we didnt have enough depth to make a playoff run (although I wish we had been able to see where Nique would have taken us). The moves for Lorenzen Wright and Reef, and poor drafting, etc just left us with no chance to even be a solid playoff team.

I think if we had kept Pryz and Chris Crawford had not gotten hurt, we would have been a playoff contender this year. I'm actually glad that didnt happen. If it had, no way our rookies would have gotten this much PT. According to Jaywalker hints, a Barry trade is coming, probably for Skita, maybe with another player for Nene. Ivey and Chill have looked bad the last few games, they'll turn it around. I'm with Diesel, I'd move both Harrington and Walker to make room, I think BK will too. At the very least Walker will be gone for capspace and a pick.

This year we finish decent, win 20 or so. Next year we're just as young, but win 30 due to fitting the pieces together better. From there it'll just take some tweaking and lotsa jumpshots in practice for the rookies and we'll be tough a contender every year. If no one we draft gets great, at least we have capspace. We'll be fine!

[Sage11]

I have to agree, rather than point fingers and blame BK, I think it is wiser to wait and see what we do in the next phase of our rebuilding program. The needs of the team are becoming painfully obvious, I think BK will move to address them without handicaping us. I am not expecting "wonders" this season, however I expect vast improvement in next years team to the one currently playing. We will have to wait and see what BK does.

[TheDude]

i think everything is about on schedule. Maybe a couple wins short of what I expected. BK has done an excellent job in my opinion. We are well under the cap, have some solid young talent and even have an above average (close to star) SF in Harrington.

We will suck this year, get a high draft pick again, and have cap room to sign a solid free agent. Walker at the trade deadline will get us more picks or solid young talent.

Guess what, next year we'll probably suck again, albeit not as bad. As long as we see our team getting better.

[macdaddy]

I agree that BK has done a good job. I disappointed in Woody, but that's what you get with most first year coaches. I think he will be good in the long run and that's what we are working toward. If we had hired Fratello we may have a few more wins, but still not a playoff team. So letting the coach learn his first year has the added benefit of producing a high draft pick. He'll have it figured out by next year when it matters most.