Huge game for Bogut

[CBAreject]

Posted 33 pts, 16 boards, and 5 blocks against Colorado St. Who knows if CSU has any good bigmen?

At any rate, a big game.

[capstone21]

With so many FA centers that can meet our needs (Brown, Dalembert, Swift) I think our focus should be on getting that elusive point guard in the draft. Especially since there are some real quality ones potentially coming out in the draft this year.

[tmac13]

Very few point guards(Devin Harris) make any impact before there 3rd or 4th year, a good bigman can have an immediate impact(Howard, Okafur)..I would rather sign a developing point guard(maybe like Earl Watson) than to pay huge money to a mediocre lazy playing big man(Brown, Swift, or Delambert). Draft Bogut

[emeans]

Exactly tmac13. We would be crazy not to draft Bogut. As a matter of fact I am hoping we get the 1st pick of the draft this year so we can get Bogut. He is exactly what we need with our 1st pick. The kid has all the good and plays excellent defense!!

I would feel better getting a big man with our 1st pick rather than a Point Guard. Point Guards go very deep in this draft. You can get a point guard deep in the 1st round that may do just as well as Paul is going to do.

We need to pick up another 1st round pick however with a trade. I am hoping we can get something with the trade of Walker or whoever that will net us a point guard either through FA or the draft.

[Inside_Man]

BK's modus operandi is to sign lengthy players at every position. Look at who we picked for a point guard last year. Royal Ivey is 6'5". There's lots of better point guards, but they're all 6'3" or shorter. Sure, Ivey will probably be a perenial back-up and some of these others like Paul will be NBA starters. But BK doesn't want defensive missmatches, which is why he'd have loved to have Shaun Livingstone from last year's draft.

I say take Bogut with that high pick.

But anybody who's paying attention as no regrets about drafting Chill. None, Zip, Nada.

[Diesel]

There are two forces at work here...

PG is the hardest position to play in the nBA

C is the hardest position to find.

however, you have to look at the level where each player is playing. I'm glad that BK gets to do that up front.

Who is to say that it's not a case of Kaman vs. Hinrich?

Also, that statement that you made:

Quote:

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Very few point guards(Devin Harris) make any impact before there 3rd or 4th year

---

I take it you're talking about good PGs since you mentioned good Big men...

Well, let's look at the record: Centers vs. PGs...

2004:

Okafor, Araujo, Swift vs. Gordon, Livingston, Harris

2003:

Darko, Bosh, Kaman vs. Hinrich, Ford

2002:

Ming, Nene, Wilcox, Ely vs. Jay Williams

2001:

Curry, Diop, vs. No PGs..

2000:

Chris Mihm, Pryz vs. Dooling

1999:

Redojevick vs. Francis, Davis, Miller, Terry.

1998:

Olowakhandi, Lafrentz, Doleac vs. Bibby, Jason Williams,

Now... with the thorough understanding of draft history... back to 1998... we see clearly that the trend is that more PGs are higher impact than Cs... BUT obviously it's case by case... Still, the two that we will never know about are Jay Williams and TJ Ford... Although Ford was making an impact until he got hurt.

The moral of the story is finding these positions are hard so you don't want to pass up the next Jason Kidd by drafting Big Country...

[KBatPCSOM]

It is true that you have to give a point guard time to develop. Look at Dan Dickau. It took him three years, but he's gotten to the point that a lot of people expected him to get to. He's getting playing time, and he looks like a poor man's Steve Nash at the least. It took Steve Nash around three years to develope as well. The only question about Dickau at this point is his defense.

Big men are just hard to find. There are a lot of complete stiffs with jobs in the NBA simply because their is a severe lack of quality big men available. Some big men tend to be overrated when draft time rolls around because of this. Basically, if you are a seven footer and can walk and chew gum at the same time, you have a chance to get drafted high.

[emeans]

BK made some very excellent picks last year with all four of his picks (Chillz, Smooth, Ivey and Donte). All are going to stick with this team for a while.

BK just can't pass on Bogut and take a 5'10" point guard who struggles with taller players.

Lets look to get Jack or Gilchrist later in the 1st round.

Bogut is a safe solid pick at #1.

[ATL_BALLER]

Yes, take the sure thing in Bogut with that top pick - but let's also position ourselved to move up to nab Felton.

I would be ecstatic with that draft!

[CBAreject]

I think Felton will go to high. I would like to get the 18th or so pick so we can have our choice of Jack and Gilchrist.

Felton, Paul, and maybe Deron Williams will be lottery choices. Doncha think?

[ATL_BALLER]

We could package #18 with one of our players for that 10 spot, with the assurance that we could land him.

I will say - I'd much rather have felton than Jack.

[ATL_BALLER]

Oh, I see now - I misread. We don't have the 18th pick. The question is: Would you trade Al to move up and grab Felton?

[Vol4ever]

Well Delambert is a restricted FA and in my opinion soft. He can't even get it done in Philly, what makes you think he would play any better in Atlanta

Swift is a PF and I would like to have him on the team, but as a PF. He is maybe 6-9 which is not NBA center material

Brown - Washington WILL NOT give up on him this soon.

Bogut has to be the pick IMO.

[Admin]

I seriously doubt that Philly would match a large offer for a guy that the coach doesnt even really like. The problem is that Dalembert is a lot like Theo (only bigger) in that he likes to get weakside blocks and he doesnt play the style of defense at the C position that the coach likes. Fortunately for us he plays exactly the type of game that Woodson likes from his C and would fit in perfectly here.

[Packfill]

Quote:

---

There are two forces at work here...

PG is the hardest position to play in the nBA

C is the hardest position to find.

however, you have to look at the level where each player is playing. I'm glad that BK gets to do that up front.

Who is to say that it's not a case of Kaman vs. Hinrich?

Also, that statement that you made:

Quote:

---

Very few point guards(Devin Harris) make any impact before there 3rd or 4th year

---

I take it you're talking about good PGs since you mentioned good Big men...

Well, let's look at the record: Centers vs. PGs...

2004:

Okafor, Araujo, Swift vs. Gordon, Livingston, Harris

2003:

Darko, Bosh, Kaman vs. Hinrich, Ford

2002:

Ming, Nene, Wilcox, Ely vs. Jay Williams

2001:

Curry, Diop, vs. No PGs..

2000:

Chris Mihm, Pryz vs. Dooling

1999:

Redojevick vs. Francis, Davis, Miller, Terry.

1998:

Olowakhandi, Lafrentz, Doleac vs. Bibby, Jason Williams,

Now... with the thorough understanding of draft history... back to 1998... we see clearly that the trend is that more PGs are higher impact than Cs... BUT obviously it's case by case... Still, the two that we will never know about are Jay Williams and TJ Ford... Although Ford was making an impact until he got hurt.

The moral of the story is finding these positions are hard so you don't want to pass up the next Jason Kidd by drafting Big Country...

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Excellent post D. There is no guarantee at this point that Bogut turns out any better then Chris Kamen or Raef LaFrentz.

I think alot of you guys discount the value of a truly exceptional point guard. There are so few of them that if you have the chance, you grab one no questions asked because they make your entire team better. Add Steve Nash or Jason Kidd to the Hawks and they immediately improve by 15 wins. Granted, a great big can do the same, but you get the point - if you think one of the points has a chance at greatness then you take them over the big guy who you are not sure has a chance at greatness (and vice versa).

Now, I don't know enough about any of the draftable players to say one or another is a guarantee. I just don't see a Shaq, Lebron or Patrick Ewing.

[tmac13]

You missed the point..The comparison was not the quality of highly drafted CENTERS vs highly drafted pg's. It was a simple statement that a GOOD BIG usually developes quicker than a GOOD PG. It was also not just limited to centers, but big guys in general..(I notice you left Howard off last years comparison).

Look just at last year:

Howard, Okafur vs Livingston, Harris..The big guys have a more immediate impact.

If a guy is a bust like Kwame or Jay williams, then it really doesn't matter.

[Wretch]

Is take it case by case. Going into the draft with the mentality that you have to take a certain type of player, for whatever reason, is the quickest way to shoot yourself in the foot.

I don't think Knight is going to go into the draft with that mentality. The fact that he drafted all those swingmen with our already glutted frontline is proof enough. He's going to evaluate each of these guys individually, regardless of position, and decide on the player he thinks will help us most.

[emeans]

The answer is NO. I would not trade Al to move up to get Felton. No way I do that.

If we can keep Al and/or Walker I am keeping them at all cost. If we have to trade one of them I am trading Walker because of economic reasons. I don't want to spend too much on Walker, but I would spend something reasonable on him.

Bogut is our man with the 1st pick however!!! Hopefully we can get a late 1st round pick to get Jack or Gilchrist.

[Wretch]

For the simple fact that in Felton, you have a prospect that is locked up for at least 5 years, with the option to match whatever offer he gets. Harrington is also a good prospet, who'll contribute now, but we're only assured he'll be a Hawk for the next year and a half.

Yeah, I'd do it.

[Inside_Man]

BK made some very excellent picks last year with all four of his picks (Chillz, Smooth, Ivey and Donte). All are going to stick with this team for a while.

I wanna make 2 points..

Someone said that it was known that Dickau would eventually be good. Well sure, and he went late 1st round. A good C will not go late 1st round.

Someone else wrote.

Quote:

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BK made some very excellent picks last year with all four of his picks (Chillz, Smooth, Ivey and Donte). All are going to stick with this team for a while.

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Look, you have to be happy that BK is our man makiing the selection. You have to like the job he's done so far. We can play second guess all season long, but I'm completely comfortable knowing that he's in charge, and compare that to the Babs years, when Mr. Clueless was running the show.