Great 3/4 Game !!

[Gray Mule]

Hawks vs Cavs. Hawks were right there. No doubt about

that. Check the scoreboard. At the end of each quarter,

the score was as close as anyone could imagine.

While there was a timeout between the third and fourth

quarter and while the T.V. cameras were off and we were

watching commercials, I suspect someone sneaked onto the

Hawks side of the floor and installed an invisible lid

on the Hawks goal. They must have. With less than four

minutes left in the 4th. this Hawks team, who had been

right there, had scored exactly -0- points.

SLEEPWALK !!

Surely not. We're recovered from that sickness, right?

Apparently not. It was right there - rearing it's ugly

head for all to see.

Finally, when it was too late to make a difference, the

shield was removed and scoring resumed. The Hawks

managed eight points for the remainder of the quarter.

Apparently, just to prove that they had been toying with

their visitors for the first three quarters, James hit

two long three point shots near the end, when the

invisible shield had been removed and the Hawks scoring

had resumed. Two shots and he had scored almost as

many points as Atlanta in the entire quarter.

The Cavs have beaten the Hawks so many times now that

most, if not all of these current Hawks weren't even

on the Atlanta roster when the streak began.

Oh well, at least we had a great first three quarters.

Some day, we're going to have four great quarters in

the same game. Some day we're going to find a cure

for this disease - Until then, we dream on.

Go Hawks !!!!!

[macdaddy]

This team only has one shooter: Delk and he went down. You won't win many games in the nba with no outside shooters. With all the talk of getting versatile players this seems the most glaring weakness that all our guys have. I hope a trade comes soon to address it.

Despite our promising rookies we are still not a competitive team. I know its a rebuilding year, but there is no one on this board who can really claim they knew we'd be this bad. I'm not just talking about record I'm talking about bad offense, bad defense, and not even being close to winning at the end of the game.

But, it may be deliberate to get us a lottery pick. I'm pretty sure BK and Woody had good jump shots so I know they know how important that is. I'm fine with losing and getting a high pick, but we need to show a little more promise.

[Kaviar1]

You are exactly right Macdaddy, that is why the Cavs were able to play lock down defense in the 4th. I am anxious to see what Donata's jumper looks like. Otherwise they need to really go after a SG in the FA market ot Trade route (NOT the Draft), and whoever starts at PG will HAVE to have a jumper.

So let's see: they need a starting Center, Back-up PF (either Al or Josh starts here), Starting SG (Chill off the bench until he finds a 'J'), starting PG. The Hawks sort of remind me of the story with the man and the soup bone, just throw in the meat, potatoes, and vegetables, and that bone will make some wonderfull soup.

The good news: BK has the tools (trade, FAs, Draft), to the get the meat, potatoes, and vegetables before the start of next season (whenever that is), and amazingly be a playoff team in the East next season.

[Nicholasp27]

trade walker for dalembert

draft pg

sign casey jacobsen

sign swift

paul/jacobsen/smoove/al/dalembert

with swift/chill/ivey/drob/danta/diaw off the bench

maybe keep delk or lue as well if price is right...

get chandler instead of dalembert if possible...

[tmac13]

"The good news: BK has the tools (trade, FAs, Draft), to the get the meat, potatoes, and vegetables before the start of next season (whenever that is), and amazingly be a playoff team in the East next season."

Unfortunately he had those same exact tools last off season and this is still the worst Hawks team in history..Passing over Deng is a glaring mistake..Passing on Damon jones is a glaring mistake.(yeah, we chose Kenny Anderson over Damon)He couldn't convince anyone to take our money last offseason, what makes people think he will be able to do it this offseason. Usually, teams need some success on the floor to lure free agents. We are not Denver of last year, we are much more like the Cippers of years past, a laughing stock.

So far Billy Knights one success as GM of the Hawks was being completely lucky that Josh Smith was still around at 17.

[Kaviar1]

I hear you Tmac, but it could be different this go around. Swift and Watson will not resign with Memphis, I think there could be hard feelings with Swift (maybe Watson) and the Grizz cannot comit to any more long term deals. Since BK brought them both to Memphis, and more pro athletes live in Atlanta than any other city, I think he has a real decent shot at both of them. Also, he will have a better draft position (what if he had had #1/#2 last year)?

Now the trading part scares me a little, like I have mentioned before, BK does not always get equal value back in trades.

As for Cilldress, I really still think it is too early to tell who will emerge the best draft pick 5-10. I know Deng is the easy choice, but Josh has different upsides that we have not seen somewhat because of the Hawks personnel (I'll keep it general here...don't want to get the Groupies riled up). But, he has to learn to get the dann ball in the hole or all bets are off for him.

[TheDude]

i more inclined to get Kwame now.

[emeans]

I have to agree. Not drafting Deng was a mistake. Even if you had to trade Deng because of a long jam at the Forward position, his value is much higher than Chillz right now.

We have absolutely no consistent outside shooters. Walker is our best outside shooter and he is very streaky and he is not our SG.

With the exception of Drobs, our Centers are just taking space on the court and contributing little in defense and offense.

We haven't solved our PG situation yet (Delk, Ivey, Lue, KA) are serviceable but not the true answer we want at PG.

We have a lot of gaping holes on this squad. We have to solve them in this offseason, no excuses. We will have the No. 1 or No. 2 pick this year and we will have tons of money to spend.

[Nicholasp27]

if deng was drafted here, he prolly would look like a bust, as he'd not get the playing time behind al/toine...

and this offseason we have more chances to get what we need...perfect would be:

draft paul/jack/felton/gilchrist

sign/trade for one of chandler/dalembert/kwame/curry/nene

sign swift

sign joe johnson (can play 1 or 2) or jacobsen (great outside shot)

[KBatPCSOM]

I disagree on Deng over Childress. Childress fits better with the direction Billy wants to take this team than Deng. Deng is not a good defender, nor is he the ball handler that Childress is. Plus, Deng can't play shooting guard at all.

Childress is the more versatile player, is the better defender, and is the better athlete. His scoring will come, and his game will improve. With Deng, I believe what you currently see is what you will get from him over the long haul.

[Gray Mule]

[Gray Mule]

Tried to post a long one before work and all that made it was

Question. How can a team of professional players miss

that many shots, including free throws, in that

length of time, as the Hawks did in the start of the

fourth quarter?

Sure, they had some shots that were not great, but they

had some open shots that were missed also. They even

managed to miss a couple of free throws during that time.

I know. Hawks don't have a group of players that are

battling for starting spots in the all star game. We

may not even have a player who makes the squad.

Seriously, a very good high school team would not have

missed some of the shots that the Hawks did. The Hawks

missed some difficult shots - no doubt about that, but

they wewen't all THAT difficult. Yep, I know. That

high school team would have been easy for these pros

from Cleveland to run out of the gym with their scoring,

but, given the same shots, I'll bet they wouldn't have

been shut out for all but less than 4 minutes of the

quarter.

SLEEPWALK !!

I don't understand it. I don't know how or why it

happens. It just does. Not just once. Time after

time we see it happen. Great 3/4 game.

Can we please have a full game of great basketball!!