True or False in Hawksville!
What's Joe Johnson going to do, take the Hawks' extension offer or leave it? No one knows because the Hawks' quiet All-Star and captain isn't saying.
HAWKSVILLE - While we wait for this week’s transaction(s) to be completed, why don’t we dive into a quick game of True or False-Hawksville style.
True or False, Joe Smith is going to sign with the Hawks?
True. And it could happen any day (if you haven’t leaned by now how critical that phrase is around here, I can’t help you). So what’s the hold up? Well, these contracts don’t work themselves out magically. They have to be negotiated and fine-toothed by agents and attorneys and whoever else has a stake in them. It’s not rocket science on this one, a one-year deal at the veteran’s minimum (of $1.3 million). I’d tell you to be patient and that things will work out but you’ve been doing that for weeks now. Again, the deal could be finalized any day now, so stay tuned.
True or False, the Hawks are interested in adding Jason Hart to their point guard mix?
False. It was reported somewhere that the Hawks were one of three teams in the running to add the veteran to their mix. I’ve since found out that someone got it twisted. The Hawks were never in the market for Hart (or any other point guard they were interested in adding). They’ve got Mike Bibby, Jeff Teague and veteran safety net in Jamal Crawford. If the Hawks were going to add another 6-3 point or combo guard to their mix they could have retained Flip Murray rather than hitting the free agent market for someone else. And before you ask, no, they do not have designs on bringing Flip back (that’s right, no more FlipMo Squad references around here).
True or False, the Hawks will add another veteran big man or two in addition to Joe Smith?
True. And we’ve already discussed two guys in particular, Johan Petro and Jason Collins, that could be in that mix. And that doesn’t include rookie behemoth Garret Siler, who will be on the Hawks’ training camp roster. But all of those reasonable fears about this team’s size and depth on the frontline could be wiped away with the addition of any two of these aforementioned larger humans.
True or False, the Hawks’ ownership feud is officially over?
Not exactly true or false. But things took a decisive turn with Monday’s court ruling in favor of the seven-man Atlanta/Washington, D.C., contingent. The options for the other partner, Boston-based Steve Belkin, were mapped out in today’s paper. One more option Belkin has that wasn’t listed: he can just walk away from his initial investment in the teams. He wouldn’t have to pay the $25.8 million in cash calls he’s missed during the litigation but he would also have to forfeit his 30 percent ownership stake. It will be interesting to see where things go from here.
True or False, the Hawks will sign Joe Smith before Joe Johnson agrees to a contract extension?
True. Barring a sudden change in the tone I’m hearing from folks in the know, Mr. Smith will definitely beat JJ to the punch on this one. In fact, no one seems to know which way JJ is leaning since the Hawks extended their offer for an extension. We’ve already talked about the figures (4-years, $62-$64 million range). It’s a huge decision and JJ has time, it’s not like he has to decide this minute. So I didn’t expect his process to be sped up just for our sake. If nothing shakes (one way or the other) by the start of training camp … then it might be time to start wondering what the heck is going on.
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528 comments Add your comment
HawkKingBibby
August 20th, 2009
12:45 pm
As Hawks fans I think we must extend our Woody. We shouldnt be playing with our Woody. We need our Woody if we are going to reach our climax in the playoffs.
HawkKingBibby
August 20th, 2009
12:49 pm
Sekou on the real alot of Hwks fans dont understand why Woody is still here. I cant understand why Woody hasnt been offered an extension. He has brought them from the ground up, actually he has brought them from the earths core up. We need to extend him for continuity sake.
Daniel
August 20th, 2009
12:54 pm
kmjice- you actually made a few decent points in that crazy long rambling post. I would highly reccomend you proof read if you want your own blog.
The idea of trading Mo Evans and ZaZa for Jared Jeffries is a horrible idea and not realistic. Also, if you think that keeping Randolph Morris on the bench brings ANYTHING to the team you have not been watching. I get what you mean with Mario, every team can use a hustle/defending guy at the back of the bench, but lord have mercy Randolph Morris!?!?!! gimme a break.
Slow down man…. you will wear yourself out.
kmjice
August 20th, 2009
12:58 pm
sorry for the mispelled words and others eras..lol.. i had to write it quick
dap01
August 20th, 2009
1:00 pm
This year will be a very telling year for our Woody.
Will he utilize his deep bench? Will he develop an offense, not just “iso Joe” and “throw it up Bibby”? Will he not stunt a rookie’s development? We he effectively rotate the players? Will he let his greyhounds run? Will he design an offense that allows Josh (a big man) to NOT be standing in the corner at the end of a shot clock? Will he design any offense? Will he actually draw up a play during crucial timeouts? Will he not look puzzled on the sideline? Will he have a defense that has other looks other than the “switching”?
The question at the end of the year should not be “has our record improved every year?” The question should be “can we get someone else to more effectly lead the Hawks?”
Melvin
August 20th, 2009
1:07 pm
Not sure if I would have put Artest in the top 5 but the other players I agree with. I would replace Rudy Gay with Artest.
http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=13628
Melvin
August 20th, 2009
1:08 pm
I meant replace Artest with Rudy Gay….
kmjice
August 20th, 2009
1:10 pm
well.. not randolph morriss.. i said trade him!!! garett sellers and joe smith or jason collier is way better then him.. i was sayin if they keep him.. thats the only reason to keep him.. i dont think he is worth keeping.. but i was just saying if they do then that is the reason!!! and i wasnt sayin you gotta trade them for jerrad jeffries.. i was jus sayin they got a lot of power forwards just like houston.. houston has like 5 of them.. all of them cant play.. we can get at least one of them, and add randolph morris in that trade and zaza some how.. cause joe smith and jason collier are both better then zaza.. gotta make room.. all of them cant play!!!
Ken Strickland
August 20th, 2009
1:10 pm
DOS HAWKQUIS-if that’s your criteria for your willingness to let JJ go, then I guess you’d be willing to allow LeBron James to walk, since that’s been the knock on him as well? It was also the knock on Michael Jordan before Scottie Pippen arrived? It was the knock on Dirk Nowitzki after his NBA finals meltdown, even though he won the league MVP that yr. People expect JJ to match the exploits of players like Kobe, DWade and LeBron. JJ lacks the quickness, apeed and athleticism of the aforementioned players, but he takes excellent advantage of what he does have. He’s an excellent ballhandler, passer, defender and shooter, with range, and has an excellent basketball IQ.
JJ is strong, physical, can post up and has an excellent gm within the paint. If Woodson had a clue, he’d post him up more and take advantage of him being double teamed in the post, instead of having him trying to beat double/triple teams outside the key. With JJ in the paint, Bibby, Marvin, Teague and Crawford could have the equivalent of open shooting practice during gms. JJ’s problem in critical situations is teams will double/triple team him no matter what because they just don’t respect any of the players the Hawks have teamed him with. It’s obvious Flip, Bibby, Acie and Evans haven’t scared teams enough to force them to back off JJ. LeBron hsd the same problem until last yr when the Cav’s took the pressure off by bringing in Mo Williams.
This whole debate over whether Flip or Crawford is the better player is mute. The issue should be which player is the better fit for taking the pressure off JJ. Crawford appears to be the better fit because he’s a better open jumpshooter than Flip and doesn’t need the ball in his hands to be effective.
I don’t expect everyone to agree with me, but it should be plainly obvious the Hawks braintrust seems to think so.
Daniel
August 20th, 2009
1:33 pm
jason collier and joe smith are better than ZaZa? what have you been smoking?
kmjice
August 20th, 2009
1:59 pm
marvin williams is going to be the hawks scottie pippen and joe johnson is going the michael jordan!!! watch and see!!!
Tim
August 20th, 2009
2:00 pm
Sekou,
Iv heard rumors that if the Hawks can’t complete a deal with JJ, that the Hawks may trade his expiring contract for Rip Hamilton. Any truth to this?
kmjice
August 20th, 2009
2:03 pm
they are better then zaza.. zaza sucks, he is too slow to keep up wit the rest of the hawks.. and he is not big enough to guard big men the right way… what good is he… he gets lucky rebounds.. thats it… so yes since joe smith is more athletic, he is more viluable on the hawks, a athletic team.. and jason collier puts up better numbers… so yeah.. they are better then zaza pachulia!!!
GeeMack
August 20th, 2009
2:14 pm
Ken Strickland,
Those are some interesting points. I agree with you on this…Crawford could take more pressure off JJ than Bibby and the others because he is a legitmate scoring threat. Too bad they won’t be on the court that often together.
doc
August 20th, 2009
2:25 pm
truth mario doesnt look 6 ft 5 to me when he is next to kobe or d wade. i think he is a bit shorter than that.
ariose i guess that was my point as well. i wouldnt have said it three years ago either just jj has morphed more into a 2/3 than anything close to a 1/2. d wade is more the latter as is roy. he is still special just not kobe special as he has still not shown the drive or ability to consistently game after game take the team on his shoulder, maybe a quarter or two just not for games. he is also not an efficient scorer as he doesnt get to the line enough to make his time with the ball that effective. marvin is better at that than he is. say great team player, cool, superstar, not yet. still want him just not for the bank.
Daniel
August 20th, 2009
2:37 pm
kmjice- you have lost all basketball credibility.
Khao$
August 20th, 2009
2:37 pm
Tim, where did you hear this rumor? I wouldn’t do it. JJ brings more to the table (defense) that Rip Hamilton. Plus, I’d rather Joe take the last shot at the end of regulation over Rip any day. That said, I guess you’d have to consider it if JJ isn’t going to resign. You have to get something.
GeeMack
August 20th, 2009
2:39 pm
One of the best moves the Hawks could make this summer is find some way to move Al Horford to his natural position PF. I personally believe that we are stunting his growth by continuing to play him at five. At the 4 you will see his ppg rise to 15 to 18 & his reb 9 to 12. Josh or Marvin needs to come off the bench at the 3…preferably Marvin.
owl hunter
August 20th, 2009
2:45 pm
I think you’re talking about Jason COLLINS. Jason Collier, unfortunately, died a few years back.
Yahoo
August 20th, 2009
2:47 pm
I would caution everyone to “stand-down” the expectations with this Hawk make-over team. This particle team including Crawford, Teague and Joe Smith less Flip has never played together before. Already folks have claimed them “much” better than last year team. Not so yet, because they haven’t played yet. On paper they should be better but that’s fantasy basketball nothing more. These arguments should be tabled until after the season is over. It kind of reminds me of the 86-87 76ers when they acquired WORLD B. FREE (similar to Crawford) who was also a scoring machine. On any given night he could also go off. The expectation was high that they would repeat another Championship since they also had Doctor J, Charles Barley, Andrew Toney, and Maurice Cheeks (just to name a few). Well, they had chemistry issues and they are still waiting on that 2nd Championship.
We keep overlooking the chemistry factor. On paper stats are one thing but playing together as a team is totally different.
JSS
August 20th, 2009
2:48 pm
Via Cell phone from Berlin…
Usain Bolt just became the first human being to go under the magic 19:2 mark in the 200 meters
19:19… Out 2nd gold, 2nd WR in 5 days
Anakin Joe
August 20th, 2009
2:53 pm
Yahoo, so does the same hold true for Orlando, Boston & Cleveland? Let’s face it, the 4 top teams from last season in the Eastern Conference have added at least 1 player to their top 6 guys. So all of them will need to go through some adjustment. It should be easier for us to incorporate Crawford than it is for those other teams to incorporate Vince Carter, Rasheed Wallace and Shaq O’Neil.
Anakin Joe
August 20th, 2009
2:56 pm
JSS, I understand that Bolt, Sammy Sosa, Floyd Landis and Roger Clemens are headed to a nearby restaurant to celebrate.
Ariose
August 20th, 2009
3:01 pm
Ken Stric, 10:57am article is on point.
Doug, We ALL understand what our trying to do. But just let the naysayers be. It’s starting to reflect poorly on you from the outside looking in. You seem to have resorted to Flip-bashing in order to prove your point. Flip didn’t got to Shaw because he didn’t get offers from big name schools. On the contrary. He went there because he spent too much time on the hardwood and not enough time hitting the books. He said so himself. While the reasons for letting Flip walk(teauge’s deveopment&No Bird rights) outweigh our need for a Big PG at the momnet. That doesn’t change the fact that those issues are still there, and the people calling for FLip just wants whats best for the overall success of the team. Not just whats best for Jeff Teauge. Just let them be.
Melvin, Yes. Good O beats Good D everytime. BUT Good Stifling D non-stop over 48 minutes will get your team a victory more often than not.
Doc, Agreed. Do you think 16-18mill per is too much for Joe? 8 may be a bit much to start his deal off IMO but 16 per seems about right.
Yahoo
August 20th, 2009
3:01 pm
Anakin Joe
You’re right, that’s only natural that teams will need to make adjustment when they add players. I’m talking about the “bravado” like behavior of the folks who post here not the team.
Ariose
August 20th, 2009
3:04 pm
LeBrick and the Cavs are on NBA TV right now. His play only solidifies my theory that we need a longer SF to back Mo up(like Sekou and others have stated as well.) G.Green, Rodney Carney, and Korolev. Come on Rick. Be Smart. Get these cats to our Taining camp this fall.
Sekou Smith
August 20th, 2009
3:05 pm
Haven’t heard that Tim. Again, there is plenty of time for Joe and the Hawks to come to terms on an extension, so I wouldn’t worry yet.
Daniel
August 20th, 2009
3:09 pm
Yahoo- Your right, fans should always remember that you can’t make predictions or have expectations about your teams upcoming season because it hasn’t been played, yet. Yes, we all must temper our excitement at the possibility of a good/better team, because other teams in the past that people thought would be good turned out not to be. (sometimes they do turn out to be good- but that is beside the point)
You are right having hope, expectations for a team and forming opinions about off season moves are not a good thing to have. They are detrimental, because sometimes the team doesn’t live up to them.
This is shocking and startling information. I would have never realized any of this without your sage advice on how I should feel.
Thank you so much for waking me up.
You are right, in fact we should shut this blog down, because there really isn’t any point in discussing any of this until the season has been played. Or at least until Yahoo deems it appropriate.
Get a life
Daniel
August 20th, 2009
3:11 pm
Ariose- Korolev will surely be in camp.
Ariose
August 20th, 2009
3:11 pm
kmjice, Jason Collier??? LOL (R.I.P)
I think you meant Jason Collins lol.
Jones
August 20th, 2009
3:12 pm
On the signing of Flip last year and Joe Smith this year, it’s not that the Hawks wouldn’t sign them to multi-year deals for the minimum. The problem is that those guys have no incentive to sign that deal. Guys that good can always get the minimum. It’s a lot smarter for them to wait and hope that they do better than the minimum next year — especially when the economy is so bad this year.
By the way, why don’t the Celtics sign Flip? He would be a perfect fit there, and they need both a back-up PG and some scoring off the bench. Basically, he is what they were trying to get out of Marbury last year (but not getting). You’d think he’d be worth at least the bi-annual exception to them.
Ariose
August 20th, 2009
3:13 pm
Doc, I meant *18 to start may be a bit much…
Daniel
August 20th, 2009
3:13 pm
Ariose- I think he is high
Daniel
August 20th, 2009
3:15 pm
Jones- Flip would seem to fit with the C’s, but there is no way it would take the Biannual to get him.
Ariose
August 20th, 2009
3:18 pm
Doug, I think i’ve said this before. Flip HAS gotten offers this summer. He just doesnt like them. He wants to sign a two year contract at the least; But I guess with 2010 right around the corner, teams arent willing to put that on the table for the nomadic combo guard.
No doubt in my mind that IF the Hawks WERE offering him a deal, he’d come back here rather than going someplace else. We’re a lot closer to a title and a more solid lock for the playoffs than the likes of Miami and Philly.
Ariose
August 20th, 2009
3:19 pm
LOL@ Daniel, either that or he’s sipping too much of the funny juice hehehe!!
Yahoo
August 20th, 2009
3:24 pm
Daniel
Your sarcasm is amusing. Nice score. How many points do you have now? I’ll let you win if it means that much to you and makes you feel better.
GeeMack
August 20th, 2009
3:24 pm
Sekou,
Whats the buzz around the team? Have you spoken to any of the guys about the moves that’s been made during off season? What’s the excitment level? Are they just as excited as the fans? Just curious.
Daniel
August 20th, 2009
3:25 pm
I do feel better. Thanks for posting such an obvious target for sarcasm and ridicule.
Yahoo
August 20th, 2009
3:30 pm
Daniel
Why? Please elaborate so I’ll know not to do it again.
Thank you
Ariose
August 20th, 2009
3:32 pm
Jones, The C’s just Drafted a Flip Murray Clone. His name is Lester Hudson:
http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Lester-Hudson-5065/
Dos Hawkquis
August 20th, 2009
3:40 pm
DANIEL,
Don’t get me wrong. I like JJ, but if he doesn’t accept 4yr-62mil on a playoff team he is nuts!! Where else can JJ go and not show up during the playoffs and the fans and media be okay with it? What other teams would JJ consider, if not the Hawks? What team in their right mind would give him more than 62mil?
NEW YORK? Oh the media would eat him for breakfast, if he goes for a 12 game stretch avg. 12 pts and getting 16mil per. The fans will boo the hell out of him. Missing a key free throw to send the game into overtime against Boston would not work in a media market like New York.
He is not going to Lakers, San Antonio, Portland. Why would he go to the Clippers, Golden State or Milwaukee? He needs to re-up with Atlanta. I am sure that Crawford and Teague can put up JJ numbers for less than 16mil per yr.
Daniel, you act like JJ puts up Lebron and Kobe numbers, nightly.
“I don’t always watch basketball, but when I do, I prefer the Hawks. Stay thirsty my friends.”
O'Brien
August 20th, 2009
3:53 pm
What is Mark Bradley talking about on his blog? He says that adding Joe Smith will have little effect on his blog. Clearly, Mark does not watch Hawks games.
BA
August 20th, 2009
3:56 pm
Daniel + Yahoo = MANLOVE
Ariose
August 20th, 2009
4:04 pm
Yahoo, This is right around the time where you should Grab your package(a frim tight grip, make it look convincing), Look Yahoo staght in the eye and say, “Yeeeaaa I said, What? 0_o” The crazy eye is important, make sure you sell it lol.
Of course this is the Net but you get the Idea hehehe…
Ariose
August 20th, 2009
4:06 pm
*look Daniel Straight in the eye.
Sautee
August 20th, 2009
4:09 pm
Since this blog was a true / false about the Hawks, let me posit this:
Mike Woodson is a good enough coach to take this team to the Championship.
True, or False?
No rejoinders, just TRUE or FALSE.
I’ll start.
False.
Ken S., you don’t have to respond, as I already know.
Daniel
August 20th, 2009
4:12 pm
BA- dang, you figured it out. Ariose, no you should make sure you have the wide stance with the foot tap.
DosHawkquitos- I don’t not think JJ is Lebron or Kobe, that is why he should not be paid 25 mil a season, like those guys. But, clearly he should get 16-18. I do agree that he would be nuts to go somewhere else, but then again I am a Hawks fan. But, the Hawks need to be careful that after Wade, LeBron and Kobe all get extensions then those teams like the Knicks, Nets, Phoenix, etc. that have been clearing space and selling that they will get a big free agent to their fans, will go crazy after Joe (and probably overpay!)
Daniel
August 20th, 2009
4:13 pm
Sautee- True(please don’t throw anything at me)
Daniel
August 20th, 2009
4:16 pm
Yahoo- don’t worry about it, I just get upset with pompous overstatement, and I show it by being pompously overstated.