Where is the love?

[Jdawgflow]

The hawks have once again been one of the main movers and shakers this offseason, yet no one(outside of hawksquawk) seems to be excited about the team's upgrades like last season.

Does anyone have an opinion why the expectations for the hawks havent been raised in the media like they were last year?

The reasons I can see are as follows:

1. big dissappointment last year when we got the hype

2. the Big Dog trade was somehow warped to the point that

we may have gotten the bad end of the deal(HOW????)

3. most people dont think of the healthy players we got back

from last seasons IL(ex. Theo, Hendu)

4. think we will have too small of a backcourt w/ DD and JT

(how do people still not understand that JT is the point, it

is very frustrating)

Aside from these reasons(I can only kind of understand the first one), people should be talking about the hawks in the same sentence as playoffs and EC finals(have a legitimate shot at this).

Please respond with thoughts or feelings on the national media's and mediocre fan's skewed thoughts. Thanks.

[capstone21]

We have been talking about the trade until we were blue in the face. It got to the point I think that we analyzed it and the team now as much as we could. The wait now is probably for IRA to resign and for training camps to start so that we can have something to talk about again.

[Guest]

ALot of people REALLY question our bench/theo's health/our

defense/how will JT handle the PG for a full season/can Lon

coach?/time to gell/lack of experience in the prime time and

a host of other things.

I get this feeling from alot that they want to put us in the

top 6...but they don't because all of the questions we have

and we still have alot of them.

[Diesel]

People haven't and won't give us our full credit because of Big Dog. Whenever a player has personal life problems, somehow, the media feels that that action devalues the player on the court????

For Instance, when JKidd had his spousal abuse problem, it led Phoenix to pull the trigger on a deal because all the sudden instead of being the bEst PG in the game, Jkidd became a Wife beater with a bad FG%. The same happened to Pippen in Chicago when it came back that he was 1. carrying a gun. 2. haven't paid child support. The media came down on Pippen and people wondered weather he should be a dreamteamer.

Well the same has happened with Big Dog. Big Dog had his Personal issue. NOW all the sudden people have forgotten that he has been a 20,6 player his whole career (even on a team loaded with Hands). People have forgotten that he has probably the best midrange shot in the game. All people know is that he's a woman beater with bad defense.

However, like Kidd, I expect Big Dog to shut up the critics and the media....

[Gray Mule]

1. Can the Hawks find a point guard? Yep, got that one

covered pretty well, I think. Jason Terry and the rookie,

Dickau, should be able to handle that.

2. Can the coach and his staff win in the NBA? Many think

that our coach can't win in this league. He has been very

successful in college, but they think he is not smart enough

to win here. Question - How did he go from being smart

as a college coach to being so dumb as an NBA coach?

Also, he now has very good people around him, more and

different than he had before, maybe not better, but different and more of them.

3. Do the fans care enough to support this team? A

quote, "Build it and they will come." applies here. If they

start winning, more and more fans will come out. How

many people came to the Braves games when they

were in last place for so long? How many now?

4. Can the roster stay healthy? This is the big one.

Hawks lost so many players to the IR last season. Who

lost more than us last season? I think we were the

team with the most games lost by players being injured.

I know what I believe about the Hawks. The only thing

that concerns me is #4. If we can stay healthy, we can

and will win, and win often. We almost immediately

have to take a long trip into the west. To come back

home with a few wins will be very encouraging but if

we are not winning half the first 10-12 games, don't

panic. {Unless we loose them all, which won't happen}

Gray Mule

[Diesel]

1. PG is still a question mark. However, with another scorer on the team there is less emphasis for JT to put up 20. With that being the case, it should make it EASIER for him to do those other PGing things. IF he can't then moving him is a possibility.

2. Our Coach was not the best choice for the job. I still hate his subing patterns and I don't think that many of the moves credited to him were what he had in mind. All that said however, this yr, win lose or draw, his job is on the line. He must win.

3. A Franchise don't really need the fans. We need to win. Wouldn't it be funny to see the Hawks in the NBA championship with a Philliphs arena that's half full? :lol It would speak volumes about the greatest city in the world. Actually, if we made it that far, there will be full arenas.

However, what Atlanta would get behind is a GIMMICK. It sounds funny but AtLiens are people attracted to LIME LIGHT. I know what I'm talking about... Take the Falcons.

When Hammer made 2 Legit to Quit, ATLiens adopted that song, Made it their theme, got behind the Falcons.

When Jamal Anderson created the "Dirty Bird", Atlanta adopted that Theme, made it theirs, got behind the Falcons.

The same is true of the Braves. For many years, the Braves had little fans. The departure of Murphy brought empty seats. But along with Change, Turner advertised the Braves. Fireworks after every win. But more importantly, the team won many fans when we were outnumbered against Barry Bonds and the Pirates. Going into the bottom of the 9th. Game winning heroics. That wasn't the only time, but those pennant races were spactacular things that drew fans to the Bravos. No more Cheif Knockahoma.

[Sage11]

Thanks for the post. I expect the Big Dooggg to put up big numbers also. We tend to forget that people are human and we all do stupid things when stressed too much.

[Inside_Man]

Well, as far as dog's personal problems go - we may be able to give Babs big props for the scoop of the Dog - the fact is domestic problems are a lot different from drug problems, so while a drug problem likely signifies a player who shouldn't be touched - a domestic problem does not have the same necessary effect on the court - on the other hand, the bad print that comes with the incident means that player MUST be traded at any cost - so it's reasonable to assume that Bab's noticed the Net's made the scoop of the year with JKidd and he's doing the 2002 version of the JKidd dance - good for him.

But THE question mark for the Hawks is Theo - look - at the start of last year, there were two camps, those who said theo was THE SCOOP and those who said he was soft and would barely play - guess who was right - i want to believe that theo will be there for us this year, - but i have to see first and believe second - once burned, twice shy. the Hawks will be AWESOME if theo is anywhere near 100% and plays more than 70 games this year.

Last year I posted a poll before the season- how many games would Theo play? that number 3 - was probably the most imporatant stat of the Hawks not making the playoffs. 'im rooting for theo and the hawks - i'm not going to dump on him or call him soft, but i need to see the proof - i need to see minutes in a hawks uniform.

[Gray Mule]

More is better? In the Hawk's plans for the future, I hope

that is what it is. We have moved to bring in more

personell and given 'Nique more to do. We lost some

very good assistant coaches from last season but they

were replaced with what we hope will improve our team.

Kruger's rotation of players improved in the second half

of last season. There was two reasons for this. One

was the return of some of the IR players which gave him

better, more experienced players to work with and the

fact that the other players used in the first part of the

season had gained valueable game experience.

The second reason was that our coach had himself gained

another half year's experience as a coach. He is still in

the learning stage of NBA coaching and his maturing

process is not yet complete, but with what he learned

last season, I believe he will be a much better coach

this season.

Our luke-warm Hawks team, neither hot or cold, had to

be torn down and completely rebuilt. Making it to the

playoffs but never advancing, getting there but then

not being good enough to compete resulted in us having

luke-warm fans. I believe we now have the parts of the

puzzle to have a great team. Their voluntary workouts

in the off-season should go a long way toward making

the different parts of the puzzle begin to fit together

nicely.

Winning will help draw fans to our games. More and

better publicity will have a big effect also. Atlanta

T.V. and newspaper coverage of the Hawks have been

on the back burner for so long that our luke-warm team

and our luke-warm fans haven't had much to cause them

to heat up, publicity wise.

This is where the "Gimmic" part of the equasion comes

into play. We desperately need this, as Diesel has said.

"The Dirty Bird Dance" brought Falcon football much

free publicity. Almost free season tickets has brought

a lot of publicity to this year's team. Hawks need

something to get the news media involved. Any one

have any ideas?

The key to our winning this year still comes down to

the health of our players. Give us our present roster,

add one player, hopefully Newbie, and keep us injury

free and we will be a playoff contender this season.

Not, "Just make the playoffs" but "Win!"

Gray Mule