Tomorrow is the big day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hotboyj]

I know most of you are saying for what.

It is the first game of Hawk's Summer League Action.

And what a coincedence we are playing against the team who selected the player many believe we should have taken with the second overall pick.

That player is Deron Williams.

I know it is summer league which according to most of you means nothing, but I do expect Marvin to play better.

If he doesn't I'm not going to say we wasted our pick, but I along with the rest of this board would be a little dissapointed.

After Marvin I'm most interested in how Diaw plays, since he has all the skills to be a great player, only if he knew it.

Maybe this is the year he breaksthrough, and we make the playoffs.

Let me stop before I get everyone's hopes up.

We can't forget that we still are the Hawks.

[Nicholasp27]

i'm looking more at diaw and smoove and chill than marvin

this is marvin's first pro game, and he was injured as well, so may only play a few mins

i also wanna see salim's shooting!

the news that would please me the most after the game is that diaw did well running the point

[jezmund]

Yeah, b/c as Childress showed last year, if you struggle in the Summer Leagues, you aren't worth a darn in the regular season.

[emorystar]

I read a quote from Woodson that he is going to let the Sophomores loose, but keep a leash on the Rooks. Hope we get to see JSmoove put up some #'s.

[1524]

Woodson isnt coaching the team, he had to go home to attend to a family issue...Larry Drew is coaching, not sure if he will let the rooks play...I hope he does

Summer League Starters:

Diaw

Chill

Marvin

Smoove

?(Would have been Randolph Morris before he screwed us)

[hotboyj]

Along with the rest of the rookie class.

Everyone wants to talk about how Devin Harris and Shaun Livingson underachieved, but in reality they were the only rookies who had real competition for the starting job.

Howard

Okafor

Gordon

Chillz

Deng

Iguodala

were all basically given the opportunity to prove they were good players.

And don't forget about how some players were given the opportunity after key players were traded like J.R. when Davis left, and Nelson when Mobley left.

There has to be something said for the players who earn their minutes like Jefferson, Ariza, Nocioni, and even Smoove. Whose come a long way from "guilty pleasure" to the face of the franchise.

What I'm saying is yes it is great that Chillz and Smoove were given the opportunity to show their stuff and took advantage of the opportunity.

But at the same time they were playing for the Hawks, who started the year off with Diaw as the starting sg.

Let's not forget how at the end of the year Walker was gone and Harrington was hurt, so Smoove and Chillz got to impress.

At the same time Lue and Ekezie impressed, while in other situations they wouldn't see 3mpg. Or be playing in the NBA period.

Ok what i'm getting at is that summer league usually gives a good impression on what kind of season a player will have if given playing time.

Chillz is an exception since thanks to Diaw he was given his job.

I know everyone is going to talk about what happened to Skita, but like I said it depends on playing time.

[Lascar78]

Quote:

---

I know it is summer league which according to most of you means nothing, but I do expect Marvin to play better.

If he doesn't I'm not going to say we wasted our pick, but I along with the rest of this board would be a little dissapointed.

---

First of all, you expect him to play better than when? He's played great throughout his career whenever he's been on the court. Or do you mean you expect him to play better than Deron?

Marvin is a long term pick. He is ready to contribute, but he probably won't look as good as Bogut or Deron right off the bat. If he does, it's a bonus.

Also I don't think the rest of the board would be disappointed. I think most understand that he needs time to work on his game. Sure there are a few vocal posters who will be up in arms about it, but I don't think that represents "the rest of this board". Most here were in favor of drafting Marvin, and we all know he's not as ready as the other top players.

That being said, I can't wait to see what happens and to watch the game!

[thesheedera]

Look for Marvin to grab boards and get to the line, especially if they're playing him in the post. He'll do everything he's told by the coaches in order to help them win, because frankly, that's all the kid cares about. He's the kind of player that won't take credit for personal accomplishments, if you see that as a weakness, then you have your own problems.

He converts from the line at an 80+%, and it seemed like most of his double digit scoring games came off of 5 or more foul shots made. At UNC he was almost exclusively relegated to the post, since we were so thin down low and so loaded on the perimeter.

If he gets a chance to play on the wing in the summer league, I have no idea what to expect. He could go off, but I would expect him to be pretty messy at first if he's trying to take guys off the dribble for the first time in real games since high school. The kid's gonna take a while to get his sea legs I would think. But if he's been polishing his perimeter game, who knows? maybe he'll go off.

His ability to draw fouls comes from his aggressive nature with the ball down low. He has a lot to learn about getting clear shots down there so more of his attempts go in, but his ability to draw contact made up for his impatience and rawness in the post all season.

He converts the free throws, and puts other big men in foul trouble. Once the season starts and fouls count this part of his game will pay more dividends as opposing players are sitting on the bench a lot, but we still should see some benefits to it right now when he's going 5-6, 7-9, 8-10 from the line.

I can't wait to see what he does, but if he struggles early, don't freak out. His learning curve is steep.

[thesheedera]

And don't forget, he's still the youngest player on this team, even the summer league squad.

[hotboyj]

When I saw him in the final four it almost made me sick to see a player with all that talent and skills to play so horribly.

His shot wasn't falling, and he was horrible in the low post.

That is what made me want deron or paul, for the simple fact they do everything they can to win.

He kind of made up for it in the Illinois game, but after watching Jawad Williams take the spotlight against Michigan State, I always thought that could have been Marvin.