Superman’s return!
Superman has put the entire league on notice with his performance in these playoffs.
HAWKSVILLE - Next time I’ll listen.
In the wake of the Hawks’ being swept out of the Eastern Conference semifinals against Cleveland, people that watch NBA basketball as much and as hard as I do kept warning me that Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic would end the reign of the King (LeBron James).
No one was more vocal about it than Tracy Johnson (Joe Johnson’s uncle) of Little Rock, Ark. He warned me several times, and he actually started during the Magic-Celtics series, not to put too much stock in Cleveland’s four-game demolition of the Hawks in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The “matchups” would carry the Magic, he said. And he was right. The Cavaliers never did find an answer for Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu. I’m not sure they made a sincere attempt to find an answer.
Well, there is no answer, at least not a one-man answer, for Howard, who has stolen James’ thunder as the youngest and most promising NBA talent in these playoffs.
Tracy’s warnings went beyond the playoffs, though, extending to the Hawks’ issues in the Southeast Division – if you haven’t noticed already, there’s a big bad bully on the block now in the division and the Eastern Conference and it’s not the King (who remains the most mercurial talent of his generation).
It’s Howard.
Even worse for the Hawks and everyone else, there is no Mickael Pietrus for Howard. Pietrus effectively harassed James long enough on the defensive end to allow the Magic’s other matchup advantages to swing the series. And when given a choice between defending the Magic’s 3-point shooters or double-teaming Howard … the phrase pick your poison doesn’t do it justice.
Now, the rest of the division, the Eastern Conference and perhaps the league (depending on what happens in the NBA Finals) must figure out how to build a team capable of beating Howard’s Magic.
YOU WON’T FIND A SOLUTION FOR HOWARD IN THE NBA DRAFT. No one stacks up physically, shoulder to outlandishly buff shoulder to the former Southwest Atlanta Christian star.
And the measurements from the NBA’s pre-draft combine in Chicago made that abundantly clear. Our friends at DraftExpress (one stop shopping for all things draft) were kind of enough to compile and share this handy chart for our viewing pleasure. To say this draft is light on big bodies would be an extreme understatement.
By my count, there are only 12 players that measured a legitimate 6-9 or taller. Just 12. That’s not exactly a smorgasboard of options for teams in need. The bigger question is where have all the big boys gone?
That shallow pool of bog bodies makes the prospect of locating a quality big man in this draft extremely difficult for teams picking outside of the lottery (teams like the Hawks).
Chasing a big man in the draft can be a dangerous proposition. Exhibit A, Shelden Williams.
Still, I’m hearing rumblings that North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough is one of this draft’s risers right now. The Hawks are in need of help along the frontcourt but I was thinking someone bigger than Hansbrough. Still, if they’re on the board at 19 and have Hansbrough rated higher than any of the point guards available …. it’s happened here before folks (Shelden Williams over Brandon Roy ranks up high in the draft gaffe Hall of Fame). You know it as well as I do. NBA executives always tend to value size over anything else, to their own detriment most times.
My two favorite point guards in this draft, North Carolina’s Ty Lawson and Syracuse’s Jonny Flynn, are nearly identical in every department (a shade over 6-foot, a couple ounces over 195 pounds depending on what they ate for breakfast that day). I’m a lot less interested in their combine numbers than I am in what they do when the big lights come on. And both of these guys get it done come game time.
IN ADDITION TO THE DRAFT CHATTER, FREE AGENT AND TRADE TALK IS HEATING UP around the league. That’s always a good thing for us, since the prospect of something that’s virtually impossible always seems to generate a greater response than anything remotely possible.
The Hawks won’t be the only team scouring the NBA landscape for frontcourt help this summer. Apparently the team that vanquished them in the playoffs is in need of a little updgrde up front as well, per my man Bob Finnan of the News Herald in suburban Cleveland.
One player mentioned in Bob’s story that will no doubt be mentioned in many others as the summer drags on is Hawks reserve center Zaza Pachulia.
Every playoff team in need of a depth along the frontline is going to be interested in a player like Zaza, for obvious reasons (he has the size, experienced and ability needed to play a vital role for a contender plus he’s going to be affordable for most teams because he’ll command a salary around the mid-level exception over the course of the next three or four years – similar to the four-year $16 million deal he just finished up with the Hawks).
The Hawks can ill afford to lose a quality big man like Zaza Pachulia in these trying economic times around the NBA.
Pachulia’s an unrestricted free agent, meaning the Hawks will have to compete to keep him. And I’m not sure he isn’t there most crucial free agent they need to retain because of the dearth of quality and affordable bigs on the market.
I know several of the Hawks’ competitors in the Eastern Conference are interested, I’ve spoken to executives from four teams that have brought his name up in our conversations over the past two weeks.
There are other guys in that realm with higher profiles (guys like Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess, Chris Wilcox, Joe Smith and others) that are a bit of a risk compared to Pachulia because they’re older and perhaps will command a bit more money (in the case of Wallace).
I thought Pachulia was a monster bargain when the Hawks snagged him initially. The expectations were raised after his first season with the team, when he was thrust into a starting role and flourished after Jason Collier’s sudden and tragic death. Pachulia for anything near the same price right now is an equally monstrous bargain.
I know everyone is always interested in upgrading. But sometimes it’s not nearly as easy you might think to get a better bang for your buck. And whatever you think of Pachulia, he’s a good bargain for a player with his credentials.
BACK TO THE DRAFT BUZZ, the one player’s name that keeps coming up in all the conversations I’m having with people is Jrue Holiday. The UCLA point guard, who has yet to cement his draft situation by hiring an agent, is following in the footsteps for former Bruin and Oklahoma City standout Russell Westbrook.
Both players played alongside a pretty good point guard in his own right (Darren Collison) and both played in the ultra-structured system of Bruins coach Ben Howland, so like Westbrook, there’s likely a lot more to Holiday’s game that we haven’t seen yet.
Holiday’s work at the pre-draft camp, coupled with his fantastic size (6-4 and change and a solid 200 pounds) and tremendous ceiling (he’s just 18) has done wonders for his stock with NBA types. If he decides to stay in the draft, he’s all but worked his way out of the Hawks’ range at 19.
Holiday's stock is on the rise after impressive showings in workouts and at the Chicago pre-draft camp.
While the buzz about Holiday intensifies, the buzz about fellow California teenage point guard Brandon Jennings appears headed in the opposite direction. A less then stellar showing in Italy this past season didn’t help the preps-to-Europe trailblazer’s cause, though I can’t imagine what anyone expected of him making that kind of transition (I’ll be curious to see if their are similar, oversized expectations placed on Ricky Rubio if his first year in the NBA is next season).
Jennings reportedly spurned an offer to work out at the Reebok Eurobcamp (their version of the pre-draft camp), sending NBA executives scurrying to find answers as to why he would pass up an opportunity to “compete” in front of the assembled brass. But what more do you need to see from Jennings to make an adequate assessment of his game?
If you need more on the draft crop, though, check out the athleticism test results from the pre-draft camp (courtesy of our friends at nbadraft.net, yet another fabulous site devoted to all things draft).
SPEAKING OF EXPECTATIONS GONE AWRY, I CANNOT BELIEVE FOLKS ARE STILL groaning about the Marvin Williams-is-not-Chris-Paul madness.
I know it hurts for some of us to do this, even after all these years, but it really is time to let go. Just throw darts at your Billy Knight poster for the rest of your life. But let it go.
And for the record, Marvin wasn’t the No. 1 pick in that 2005 draft. That honor belonged to Milwaukee’s Andrew Bogut, who has yet to distinguish himself as anything other than a wanna-be-dominant NBA big man (I’d argue that Toronto’s Andrea Bargnani is looking like a better pick these days).
Marvin’s first four years have been respectable and far from bust material (anyone seen Darko Milicic in a uniform lately? Anyone. Anyone. Bueller?).
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
552 comments Add your comment
Big Ray
June 7th, 2009
8:57 pm
“I gotta laugh at anyone who puts up stats as the measure of what a player brings to the table. Come on.”
Hee hee…hee hee hee…hee hee hee hee….bwaaaa ha ha ha hah ha ha haha haaaaaaaaaa! *breaths in*….bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaa! Oh, I’m gonna crack a rib! If we manage to avoid that, Sekou’s blogs won’t get more than 100 posts per blog. And most of us won’t have anything to say besides what Clyde usually does: one-liners.
But I DID need that laugh.
JerryWest
June 7th, 2009
9:08 pm
[quote name='DrReality' date='Jun 6 2009, 08:13 PM' post='387850']
When I was in Turkey I played in one city, same team for six years…
…At 25 and six years into your NBA career… [/quote]
Zaza was at most 13 when he started his pro career. Did he play in any other place? He must have played in some local league before a Turkish club picked him up.
Zaza was the on hiw way to become Wilt/Shaq as a in his pre-teen. What happened?
niremetal
June 7th, 2009
9:20 pm
Melvin,
Agreed. Why would he risk disrupting the flow of a team that had been playing championship-level ball for the last few weeks?
Mike is back
June 7th, 2009
9:30 pm
Stewart Scoot makes u sick on stomach the way he over-hype every stat that he reads…u would think that this cat never sat feet on the asphalt, hardwood, foot ball field, whatever!!!
I probably eat crow on this one…but I’m calling a win for the Magic to nite!!!!!
If I’m Vangondy I would have stayed the course and kept Nelson inactive…we will see how this all turns out.
I want waste my time with the refs.
O'brien
June 7th, 2009
9:36 pm
nire, you said “I think JJ left Phoenix because he didn’t see himself as a fourth option on offense and thought he could play a bigger role on a winning team than he could if he took lower pay to stay in Phoenix (and four years out, whaddya know – JJ was scoring 21ppg and was the only member of that Suns starting 5 that was still playing in May)”.
So JJ left to come to team coming off a 13 win season? The Hawks were so far from a winning team, that it was in JJ’s 4th season when we had a winning record. So I disagree with your reasoning. Why would JJ leave a winning team like Phoenix, playing with Nash and those guys, to come to ATL, coming off a 13 win season, where there was no star, and a no name head coach? I think part of why JJ left Phoenix is because he felt disrespected. If I’m not mistaken, JJ was willing to sign a contract extension with Phoenix prior to his last season with them. But the GM and owner decided to make him wait, and at the end of the season, they didnt offer him what he felt like he was worth. Sure, he wanted to resurrect the Hawks, but a big part of his reason for signing is he felt disrespected by the Suns (and he’s from Arkansas, so this was closer to home).
Chills felt disrespected too, because he heard that signing him and Josh would be the Hawks priority, but yet Sund told him to go find an offer, and Sekou said Rick Sund talked a salary range with Chills, but they never made him an offer. Chills said there were winning teams who wanted him, but the Hawks didn’t like their offers. And I believe Chills. He waited for the hawks to make a contract offer, and they never did. And the were’nt going to do the sign and trade (which is understandable), but by the time they made an offer, Chills had already felt disrespected.
Mike is back
June 7th, 2009
9:41 pm
Put the College of Charleston in the dam game!!!
Mike is back
June 7th, 2009
9:42 pm
AKA Anthony Johnson…save Jameer for next season!!!!
Melvin
June 7th, 2009
9:43 pm
At what point will Rafer drive the ball to the basket??? And some complain about Josh jacking up jumpshots… My goodness….
Najeh Davenpoop
June 7th, 2009
10:03 pm
I can’t stand watching this Magic team… people can diss LeBron all they want, but I still think the Cavs are a better team and would have made this a much more interesting finals. This is an ugly game.
Big Ray
June 7th, 2009
10:06 pm
Najeh,
Stop Magic-hatin’.
O’brien,
The perspective on disrespect appears to be a matter or convenience, eh?
Stirrin’ the pot…stirrin’ the pot…
Melvin
June 7th, 2009
10:13 pm
When Dwight Howard learn how to spin left and finished with the left hand, he will be unstoppable…
Sautee
June 7th, 2009
10:18 pm
Nire,
about this: “I don’t believe ANY salary-based reasoning is a good way to compare players.”
ok, so that’s what you think. BUT………
When you were posting to Melvin a couple of days ago you said “The league is littered with overpaid and/or mediocre PGs (Beno Udrih, Luke Ridnour, Daniel Gibson, Jamaal Tinsley…Speedy…), ”
So exactly what method did you use to make that “overpaid” assertion? hmmmmm………
Melvin
June 7th, 2009
10:22 pm
I guess Van Gundy has lost faith in Rafer (can’t argue with that) as he going with Reddick in the backcourt.
Melvin
June 7th, 2009
10:26 pm
3 questionable calls on Orlando in a row…
Melvin
June 7th, 2009
10:28 pm
I’ll repeat:
Melvin
June 7th, 2009
10:13 pm
When Dwight Howard learn how to spin left and finished with the left hand, he will be unstoppable…
Najeh Davenpoop
June 7th, 2009
10:28 pm
I didn’t see the atrocity that was Game 1, but this game has had the works — awful officiating, way too many 3-pointers taken, inconsistent-at-best ball movement, and stupid mistakes by both teams. The Magic in particular run one of the most hideous offenses I’ve ever seen — stand around and jack up jumpshots and hope your dominant big man rebounds the misses. The fact that it’s actually working for them only shows how eager the Lakers have been to shoot themselves in the foot in this game. With their talent, every game the Lakers play in this series should be a 25-point blowout.
Last year’s Celtics or the Parker-Ginobili-Duncan Spurs in their prime would have CRUSHED both of these teams. After a great playoffs, this is shaping up to be a really horrible NBA Finals. Sorry for being a hater, but I’m calling it as I see it. I’d rather see iso-Bron all game than this travashamockery.
Najeh Davenpoop
June 7th, 2009
10:29 pm
I agree with Melvin though… Dwight Howard is the one player on the Magic I like, and he’s only a post move or two away from becoming unstoppable.
Melvin
June 7th, 2009
10:31 pm
Najeh,
If you’re going to say that then I would like to raise the issue that I wish KG wouldn’t have gotten hurt b/c it would be the Celtics in the finals and KG would’ve punk Gasol, Bynum and Odom. And Paul P. would have own Ariza…
Melvin
June 7th, 2009
10:34 pm
Hedo or Hero….
Melvin
June 7th, 2009
10:36 pm
Najeh,
Just read your 10:28 post, agreed…
Melvin
June 7th, 2009
10:39 pm
Lakers got away with alot contact on defense during that possession. I hope the game don’t end on a touch foul by the Magic…
Melvin
June 7th, 2009
10:39 pm
Hedo or Hero…
O'brien
June 7th, 2009
10:56 pm
so JJ Reddick is getting big minutes in the NBA finals? Courtney Lee gets a play called for him with a chance to win? So that’s what it feels like when a coach has confidence in his players, (not just the star players).
Sautee
June 7th, 2009
10:57 pm
O’Brien,
So we don’t have that?
The Truth
June 8th, 2009
12:11 am
Orlando Magic Coach, Stan Van Gundy coached his azz off (in game 2) and they still loss because his players did not execute. He made some nice adjustments but these Magic Players have shown (so far), that they are not really ready for prime time. They are playing with no swagger and as if they are star struck about the moment. They are playing with no real believe that they are going to win the series. They are looking more like a Cinderella story instead of the Eastern Conference Champion they represent. They remind me of our Hawks when they beat Miami in the first round. In round two, they laid an egg because their goals had been met.
Big Ray
June 8th, 2009
12:34 am
Najeh,
I was just kidding with you. I know you wanted the Cavs to win.
The Truth,
Wow. You’re right, though.
niremetal
June 8th, 2009
12:46 am
I can’t say I agree with that assessment. The Magic looked no more “star struck” than the Lakers did tonight. Hedo made one of the most impressive defensive plays I’ve ever seen by funneling the most dangerous off-the-dribble player in recent NBA history into the heart of the Magic defense and then blocking his shot from behind. Rashard Lewis turned in a hell of a game. Dwight Howard did too – grabbing 16 rebounds over Bynum/Odom/Gasol takes more than just athleticism. The rest of the team was just plain awful on offense, but they harassed the Lakers all night on the other end.
I would agree if this we were talking about Game 1, but tonight I did not see a star struck team. I see a team that busted its butt and came up short on the road against the team that’s been favored to win the Finals pretty much all year. And Van Gundy did call a great game (although I STILL don’t get why Nelson is playing so much so quickly…they seem to stall whenever he’s on the floor), and his players did fail to execute all too often (on offense at least). But that happens sometimes. Even Malone and Stockton occasionally messed up the pick-and-roll. I bet that they’ll have their swagger back at 100% once they get back home.
Ye of Little Faith
June 8th, 2009
3:37 am
Get Josh Smith’s twin Charlie Villanueva.
Draft ANOTHER point guard after failing to develop the last one.
Fail to resign Zaza and Flip.
Do these three things and you are certain to lose this fan.
I.MUS WRITE- INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY
June 8th, 2009
10:07 am
Jeez -Nobody ever said Butler was a better player than JJ…….. When the guy plays he puts up numbers -20 a game which is right at what JJ avg’s…….. Okay If not Mcgee then Heyward….
Caron wouldnt be an upgrade over JJ but -Caron,Heyward,#5(Evans/Curry) certainly would be. All this man love for JJ is turning my stomach-the guy is a good not great player…… Hell the man was MIA for atleast 4 months of the season…….. 11 points a game in the playoffs -Just say’n the stats dont lie.
I.MUS WRITE- INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY
June 8th, 2009
10:22 am
Good 12:01 post Sautee……… Thats basicly where i wuz going….. Good player but not Max Money type……
! JJ- “Im a jump shooter, and i almost never get to the rim when i drive. Also i dont like contact,but I do luv to pound that ball. Hey theirs 3 seconds on theshot clock i better pass to Josh”
Little early morning humor……
The Truth
June 8th, 2009
10:45 am
niremetal
What game were you waiting? Stan Van Gundy certainly wasn’t pleased. In his postgame interview, he wondered how the game made it to OT:
Orlando Turnovers = 20
Guards Shooting % = 6-26
Team Shooting % = <42%
Courtney Lee missed a game winning layup
Ariose
June 8th, 2009
10:51 am
LOL @ I.MUS
But, you know JJ absorbs contact like a sponge and never gets the call….
I mean if y’all want to trade JJ for those other players fine. Tell Sund, maybe the move won’t set the franchise back another ten years……anything is possible.
The Truth
June 8th, 2009
10:52 am
niremetal
Question Correction:
What game were you watching?
bigdave
June 8th, 2009
12:08 pm
you guys are loosing it talking about any deal for Caron involving Joe… haha… wow… and start another rebuilding process… Caron is nowhere near the player of Joe Johnson…
Joe is the 3rd best SG in the league… he should be a Hawk as long as he wants to play here…
bigdave
June 8th, 2009
12:09 pm
correction: “losing it”
niremetal
June 8th, 2009
12:10 pm
The Truth,
Read my post, man. I admitted that the non-Big Three players were awful on offense and didn’t execute well. But you can’t tell me that they harassed the Lakers on D. Lee’s missed layup was not exactly an easy shot…it was from behind the backboard while falling out of bounds. Come on, man.
niremetal
June 8th, 2009
12:10 pm
*That they didn’t harrass the Lakers on D. Heh.
jhan
June 8th, 2009
12:25 pm
Why would you even consider trading a 3-time all star for a broken down SF, unproven center & a pick. Lunacy!
I would trade Marvin & our #19 pick for those guys. Not a proven commodity like JJ.
I like the fact the Jackson & Van Gundy have made changes to their offense & defense for this series. Both, especially Phil, have stated over & over again that their bench players will determine the outcome. Nice to know some coaches realize that bench utilization is key.
cp
June 8th, 2009
12:40 pm
Joe is the 3rd best sg in the league? Huh since when?
I.MUS WRITE- INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY
June 8th, 2009
1:10 pm
Come on big dave -you cant believe that……. JJ the 3rd best sg in the league….. Heres 3 to start with-Wade,Kobe,Ginobilli
I totaly forgot Devin harris was a free agent. He would be a nice pg for us …i’d rather have him than -Sessions,jack,Ridnour-uuuuugh etc….
Then again in our offense he would morph into a stand still jump shooter and not the one man fast break that he truly is. Yeah dump bibby and offer Harris 10 mill a year
Sautee
June 8th, 2009
1:42 pm
Niremetal,
You must have thought this question was rhetorical. It wasn’t, so I’ll post again:
Nire,
about this: “I don’t believe ANY salary-based reasoning is a good way to compare players.”
ok, so that’s what you think. BUT………
When you were posting to Melvin a couple of days ago you said “The league is littered with overpaid and/or mediocre PGs (Beno Udrih, Luke Ridnour, Daniel Gibson, Jamaal Tinsley…Speedy…), ”
So exactly what method did you use to make that “overpaid” assertion? hmmmmm………
Melvin
June 8th, 2009
2:16 pm
IMUS,
I agree Kobe and D.Wade are 1 & 2 but I’m not sure if Ginobilli is better than Joe. I think Joe would put up better number than him if he played alongside Duncan and Parker….
Also, its been awhile since you went undercover to get some Hawks inside info….
Nire,
I thought that was a tough shot that Lee took at the end of the game as well, especially with Kobe pulling his jersey prior to him jumping for the alley oop….
Sautee
June 8th, 2009
2:38 pm
Jhan,
Good point about the benches. Phil went 12 deep in Game 1 and 10 deep in Game 2. VanG went 10 deep in both games and called a play for his #5 option for the crucial play of Game 2.
What about that MYTH that coaches shorten their rotations as the stakes get higher?
I guess that goes for coaches with NO self-confidence. And no faith in their second tier players.
dap01
June 8th, 2009
2:41 pm
Do you think Woodson would have drawn up a play other than to say “shoot a 35 footer” to JJ?
Great call by Van Gundy.
Sautee
June 8th, 2009
2:44 pm
Melvin, and Nire,
about Lee’s “tough shot”…..
I think he made it harder than it had to be by outrunning the pass. He did a poor job of adjusting to the ball in flight. Had he slowed down JUST A BIT, he’d have had a bunny. Plus, he might have drawn contact from Gasol and gotten a foul called.
Astro Joe
June 8th, 2009
2:56 pm
Phil has 5 players with 38+ minutes in the OT game and he gets applauded for utilizing his bench? SVG shows “confidence” in running a play for a starter who only received 12 minutes of playing time in a game with 53 minutes?
Spin doctors are most definitely in the house today.
Had that been Woody on either bench, we would have heard…
“Why is he playing 5 guys for 38+ minutes or 4 guys for more than 40 in this game… doesn’t he realize that he can’t do that in the 100th game of the season for these players?”
Or, “why would he run a play for a guy who only took 2 shots previous to the last second shot? That makes no sense, he obviously has no clue how to run an offense if he thinks that anyone can just make a pressure-filled shot like that”.
Sheesh!
I.MUS WRITE- INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY
June 8th, 2009
3:17 pm
Melvin…. Whats Up, “Ahhhh yes watch them as they file in one by one, as the NBA finals turn into long boring months of Baseball -Sekou’s blog is the only refuge for the Basketball Junkie,Arm Chair GM’s and Subject Matter Experts”
You may be right about JJ vs Ginobilli – I guess im just getting tired of the JJ show -I will pass on anything I find out -itz going to be a long summer
Melvin
June 8th, 2009
3:34 pm
Sautee,
I’m not going to criticize a guy who’s attemping to finish a difficult alley oop play with less than a second on the clock. Would it been a different outcome had the Refs call Kobe for holding his jersey? Go back and look at the play again. Kobe held Lee so bad on that play until he pull his jersey out of his shorts. Maybe that’s what thru Lee timing off preventing him from catching the ball in a better position to finish the play…
Hoops
June 8th, 2009
3:47 pm
Niremental,
After July 1 the Hawks will be roughly 18M under the cap. My understanding is that they can go over the cap to resign their own FA’s. If this is true, then any trades that they plan on doing should be done before Flip, Bibby, or Zaza are resigned if they are planning on resigning either of these players. Correct?
Ariose
June 8th, 2009
4:00 pm
Melvin, I agree. Kobe got away with that one….