Diaw unhappy, may leave...

[Dakin]

geez, lascar chill out, i was being ironic.

[chillzatl]

Hustle players who can play decent defense, play smart and pass the ball are a DIME A DOZEN. Ask Bruce Bowen, Ira Newbill and a host of others. Scoring and the ability to score the ball is the most skill oriented ability in the game, period. Diaw obviously lacks that skill and has ZERO desire to improve it.

IMO a player like him has no place in the league. He's given an opportunity to become part of a team and he thinks that HE knows best how to use his talents? Give me a break. That shows a disconnect with the team concept from the get go. Despite an interview full of hollow "I want to help the team" garbage. He insists that the coach doesn't know how to use him? Give me a [censored] break!

Diaw is now my "Most Loathed Hawk". Way to go Boris!

[Lascar78]

a couple things:

-I am not in any way comparing his talent to the 2 best passers in NBA history. All I am saying just because the typical american viwe is that shooting is the best part of the game, doesn't mean that there aren't players out there who prefer setting their teammates out. I prefer dishing out a pretty pass to making a bucket.

-I don't think he's really blaming Woody all that much. I think his main point is that they're not seeing eye to eye at all, and Woody doesn't understand how to use him as part as the offense. And if that's the case, he may as well go elsewhere, even if that means less money with a european team

-How could anyone not see how much more agressive Diaw has played this year? It's night and day even if it's still not good enough.

-I like Woody's benching of Diaw to a certain extent because it is the jolt Diaw needs to get it in his head. However, Diaw has shown great improvement in that particular area this year, and was not rewarded with any PT, but with a string of DNPs. He's only getting a chance now because of an injury. IF he plays well and then goes back to DNP's, I'll be pissed.

[chillzatl]

That's the problem here. He thinks he has a role and he thinks that the coach doesn't recognize what it is. Does Boris think that he's really helping the team by being a void on the offense? Does he think it really helps when defenders know that they can leave him alone on the outside because he can't shoot?

It just shows how under-developed his game and his understanding of it really is. Let him go back to Europe, he can't handle the NBA.

[Lascar78]

Ok let's look at how much time per shot for the various players on the team:

Willis 5.7 min/shot

Ekezie 5.7

Diaw 5

Childress 4

Smoove 3.9

Anderson 3.9

Ivey 3.8

(Walker at 2.2 and Harrington at 2.8 for comparison)

Ok so Diaw doesn't shoot the most often of anyone on the team. He also isn't the one who shoots the least per time. No one is complaining about Childress or Smoove being afraid to take shots. And yet they are shooting every 4 minutes compared to Diaw's 5 minutes? That's not that much difference. And yet Diaw's play improves every single other player's play, which can not be said of the other players.

Diaw knows his worth and has seen it work when he was MVP and won the french championship. He knows how well he can help an offense run. The system Woody is running and the demands he is placing on Diaw's game are not matching up with his skills. He has shot alot more this year and Woody's response is "you're not good enough, go ride the pine". Diaw is trying and is being more aggressive but is getting no rewards for it. If Woody doesn't understand how to use him, it is within his rights to go somewhere where he can be useful, get PT, and further his career.

It is not his place to define his role, but if a coach is grossly underutilizing him in his mind, it is his place to go get some PT and go showcase his skills elsewhere. Like Hansen did.

[Peoriabird]

Quote:

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Ok let's look at how much time per shot for the various players on the team:

Willis 5.7 min/shot

Ekezie 5.7

Diaw 5

Childress 4

Smoove 3.9

Anderson 3.9

Ivey 3.8

(Walker at 2.2 and Harrington at 2.8 for comparison)

Ok so Diaw doesn't shoot the most often of anyone on the team. He also isn't the one who shoots the least per time. No one is complaining about Childress or Smoove being afraid to take shots. And yet they are shooting every 4 minutes compared to Diaw's 5 minutes? That's not that much difference. And yet Diaw's play improves every single other player's play, which can not be said of the other players.

Diaw knows his worth and has seen it work when he was MVP and won the french championship. He knows how well he can help an offense run. The system Woody is running and the demands he is placing on Diaw's game are not matching up with his skills. He has shot alot more this year and Woody's response is "you're not good enough, go ride the pine". Diaw is trying and is being more aggressive but is getting no rewards for it. If Woody doesn't understand how to use him, it is within his rights to go somewhere where he can be useful, get PT, and further his career.

It is not his place to define his role, but if a coach is grossly underutilizing him in his mind, it is his place to go get some PT and go showcase his skills elsewhere. Like Hansen did.

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I don't know why these guys argue with you and refuse to be educated.

But I guess that is where the game has taken the fans and the players. If you are AI taking 30 shot and making 10 people will rave about the 25 points he scored eventhough the team lost by 20. This is what is now driving the many ball hogs in this league to continually put up forced shot hoping that 1/3 of them will go in so that fan would think that they can play the game well enough to be voted to the all star game. Someone had started a thread asking whether Walker should be in the all star game and I laughed so hard. And then someone attacked me saying that I don't watch the game because I called him a ball Hog when he consistenly takes more shot than anyone on the team regardless of whether he is hot or not. After watching the Detroit game, no one should dispute this issue anymore.

[Iman]

Well, it must be great because I completely agree with all of it. I like Delk but our offense had seemed to be prone to losing all movement when he came on the floor because we had too many shooters. Diaw works perfect, and his size causes other problems. Keep him and play him, even if it takes away from my man JChillz minutes.

[MoonKnight]

last year Diaw was a great defender who could guard three differant positions. This year, exception being the past week, Diaw's D has disappeared. I agree with many here that Diaw has not played aggressively enough on O but I can live with his O shortcomings so long as he continued to be a D force. Last year, I though he was one of our better D players. This year his D has disappeared for the most part. At times he has played with a clear lack of effort. This lack of effort is probably what has upset Woodson. Diaw still has potential (in fact he has the physical skills and ability to be a D stud) but he has to bring the effort every night or he is going to be labeled another french bust.

[jones32]

When Woodson criticizes, I don't think he expects him to score 20 a game, but as a 6'8 swingman with some skills, one would be able to take advantage of mismatches... Diaw apparently doesn't do that enough...

Desmond Mason is a very good defender, but not a very good shooter..however in the open court or if he sees a mismatch, he is trying to "attack the basket" or dunk over someone...

Or someone like a Paul Pierce or Michael Redd: They are generally outside shooters, but will dunk over you if they see the opportunity...

I think thats what Woodson wants out of Diaw...

[Employee8]

Quote:

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Sorry it has been so long since my last post, but I have not had much time recently. I have managed to read most everything, I just have not had time to reply. Anyways, down to business.

I actually got to watch the last few games and I think Diaw has a player that he can be paired up with in Delk. Those two seem to play really well together and it allows the Hawks to keeper a taller lineup on the court. It would be sad to lose a good basketball player just because the coach cannot make it work. Diaw has performed respectably, and I for one, would like to see Diaw and Delk, along with Drobs, to come into the game together more often.

Off topic a little bit here, (and I know I am going to get someone upset with me because of the way things have been around here since Walker came) but I really hope that Walker gets traded before the deadline. I have a feeling that when he gets traded (hopefully) that the team will start playing much better team oriented basketball. I know that he is apparently a great locker room leader and all, but from watching the games, he does not seem to make any of the other players around him better. I would much rather finish the season watching players that will actually run an offense unselfishly and play

without having to constantly scowl (I am actually worried that his face might get stuck like that).

I know this is getting long, but I feel that I need to close by saying that I miss the good old days when I first started reading this site (before the Big Dog trade) and people came here to talk about the team, and not just discuss the life story and inner feelings of one player. This is sad, but I actually miss some of the basketball discussions (or arguments, whichever you prefer) that used to keep my attention and made me want to read every sentence written. Now it seems like I skip at least 25% of posts because I already know the topic.

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He's been doing that for years now.....if it didn't get stuck then, it's not going to get stuck now.

[chillzatl]

Educated that Diaw is a fool? Educated that if he would only do as he asked, do as his talent would allow him to do, we would be a better team right now?

Nobody is asking him to chuck up shots. But you can't have a guy playing 30+mpg taking 5 shots. It's a liability and his other talents aren't great enough to make up for that liability. It's that simple.

[macdaddy]

Whether you think he sux or he's misunderstood this article is a good thing for Diaw. The last thing you want from a young guy is for him to accept his role on the bench. I'm glad he still has the confidence and desire to believe that he should be on the court more. I think the negative reviews of his game a a bit exagerrated. We forgive Al's lack of D, rebounding, ball handling because he scores, but for Diaw good D, passing, ball handling gets you benched because you don't score?

He's a role player and he has some skills that most on the team don't have. I'm not saying he should start, but if you give him some minutes he could be very useful.

[camron341234]

i dont think im ready to part yet with diaw he is young and show promise im just not sure if we want to let him go yet

[Dakin]

his game hasnt improved in a year and a half and he plays timidly and lazily. Id definitely keep donta over diaw.