Hawks Squawks: Hawks 116, Bulls 92

ME FIRST !!!!!!!!!!!

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We get big Z FINALLS BABBY.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!

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I think this is slowly becoming Josh Smith’s team………

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Curse this slow connection!!!

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mc love the tid bits man.

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What about the Mario West Dunk?

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Nate Archibald – I agree with that sentiment. Josh is the MVP of this club.

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Good Stuff, MC….

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Anybody got a link to the mario west dunk?

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Josh is the MVP of the week, but we know who the MVP of the team is. He gets no respect from the majority of the fan base though.

As for Smoove, I’m glad he’s really asserting himself on the boards. I always thought he had the ability to grab 10 boards a game, so to see him grab 10+ boards in 5 of the last 6 games, is definitely refreshing to see. His defensive rebounding is very important to the success of this team.

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great win over chicgo but rick sund has to be sick in the head if he fails to get a big man with the current roster. if he wants the hawks to go to the finals he better sign ilgauskas. if he don’t, he needs to be looking elsewhere. he has to be sick to believe they can beat the cavs or the majic with that small front court plus the hawks don’t press and run and gun is what they need to become if he remains small.sund wake up. i know you don’t think the hawks are too good to trade for someone ? if so, you have to be sick in the head

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Najeh Davenpoop:

Thanks for confirming with this blog post what I’ve been saying all year. J-Smoove = Hawks MVP. Getting teammates involved, bringing energy, making big plays, and now you can add locker room leadership to the mix.

Jay Bilas and NBA coaches owe him a public apology.

Amen to that. And yet his contributions will continue to get belittled by some. Ya know, he’s only MVP for the week….

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No belittling. I’m just being real about things. He HAS been the MVP this week. I’m just not going to act like the dude has played at this high of a level all year.

Overall, he’s played better than I expected him to play though. And this week, he’s been outstanding. His new-found toughness is what I like. To rebound like he’s been rebounding lately, you have to have the mindset that you’re going to grab every rebound that comes off the rim.

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Ramon, the team’s MVP is obviously Joe Johnson.

He’s the guy that has been making the tough shots all year. He is the guy that the opposing team gameplan to stop. He’s the guy whose presence on the court, makes life easier for other guys . . . even if he isn’t scoring. He’s the guy that allows Jamal Crawford to go up against a weaker defender, when he and JJ are playing together. ( the other team’s best perimeter defender will ALWAYS guard JJ )

But when he goes to the bench, this team tends to fall completely apart, especially defensively out on the perimeter. It even happened tonight. The run that the Bulls made at the end of the 3rd quarter, came IMMEADIATELY after JJ went to the bench, even though JJ wasn’t having a good shooting game.

Smoove’s February was outstanding.

18.6 ppg
10.0 rebs
5.4 assists
2.3 stls
1,4 blks

55% FG
67% FT

Those are tremendous numbers for Smoove. But I guess people simply overlook what JJ did in February as well.

23.7 ppg
4.3 rebs
4.2 asst
1.3 stls

50% FG
45% 3FG
83% FT

And the guy would even average more points if he got the superstar type calls that other top level scorers get. When a guy can shoot around 50% FGs,when the entire team is trying to stop you, it says something about the level of that player.

People hate ISO-JOE around here so much, that they fail to realize how good of an ISO player JJ is. When that guy is on, he makes Kobe-esque type shots. Every ISO-JOE miss gets criticized extensively. But the ISO-JOE makes hardly get noticed, unless he’s hit 4 or 5 shots in a row off of ISO offense. Fact is, just about all of your top players in this league, are extremely good at isolation offense.

As far as JJ as a playmaker, if Bibby and Marvin would start making jumpers, his assists would jump right back up to over 5 assists per game, because those are the guys who JJ passes to, when he gets doubled.

Both Josh Smith and Joe Johnson are very important to this team. But JJ is the Alpha Dog on this team. That’s not a diss to Smoove. It simply is what it is.

But the fans want Smoove to be “the man”, instead of JJ. I think people are jaded by JJ, because he is quiet, while Smoove is the emotional fireplug of the team. But the national media isn’t calling JJ the “Silent Assassin” or the “Quietiest Superstar in the League”, for nothing.

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People hate ISO-JOE around here so much, that they fail to realize how good of an ISO player JJ is

But the fans want Smoove to be “the man”, instead of JJ. I think people are jaded by JJ, because he is quiet

I think your wrong. When we push the ball and get into our set early, JJ can do an ISO play and still pass with 7-9 sec left. Where some of us get upset is the walk it up the court with no urgency, dribble and then pass with 3-4 sec left. That is dumb play for an All-Star vet. That has nothing to do with being quiet. But your right about one thing – JJ is one of the best in the business when it comes to one on play.

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MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM:

What do you think of Woodson’s quote that the rotation will shorten in the playoffs, but the vets (Joe Smith + Collins) should look out for more minutes. WTF does this mean?

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Mario West SuperMario Dunk video:

http://picasaweb.google.com/burn1cesharpe/SuperMarioDunk#5443989062828451346

If not clear enough, click on “View HQ Video” on upper right of player window.

“Super Marioooooo”. (Chris Weber)

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JeJe . . it means that when we play Shaq and Howard, Woody is probably going to call upon Collins and Smith to help defend against those guys, instead of opting to go with Teague and Evans in the rotation. If we play the Lakers in the Finals, we’ll have to consider playing those two guys as well, to offset LA’s huge frontline.

There will be no developmental minutest wasted on Teague in the playoffs.

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Probably why Sund and Woodson brought back Mario. To keep some semblance of a defensive presence and atmosphere around the team. People are always yelling “need to run(more)”.

It seems a natural outgrowth(voluntarily or not) of a running team is a loss of a defensive mentality. How many “running teams” are good enough to consistently make the playoffs. Or go deep into the playoffs? Or reach the finals? Consistently.

And if the Hawks are not “playing any defense”, how in the world can Woodson be blamed? For the longest, on this forum, there are those who have maintained that defense was all Woody could coach. Now suddenly, he can’t even do that?

“Running Mindset”, no defense.

“Defensive mindset”, good atheletes, enough running will then be there(eventually). Maybe Woody has it right? Actually, he has been, so far.

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Why is this team just so-so???

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Did Josh Smith mean what he said ?

“They didn’t really have a lot of guys that can rebound except for Taj Gibson,” Josh said. “So we felt like we could be aggressive on the boards.”

How about being aggressive on the boards when the opponents do have a lot of guys that can rebound? Surely he meant something else, right? If not, that team is in deep trouble.

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Hi don,

Are you of portuguese or brazilian descent?

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KevinA,

I know how much you drool over Josh and Al and how you apparently think that shooting guards should always think pass-first (which is a bizarre role to expect from them…and btw, Josh is not a pass-first player. And if your PF is a pass-first player, something’s wrong with him). Considering that you said a few weeks back that you think Horford has the potential to be a Tim Duncan-like scorer (which pretty much confirmed that you have zero perspective on the abilities of our frontcourt players), I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by your post. But…

But to suggest that JJ should or will be the third offensive option behind them is just absurd. Neither of them can create their own shot from the perimeter, and neither have remotely close to the type of Shaq-esque power or Duncan/Hakeem/Admiral-esque low post repertoire that it takes for a big man to be the #1 option on a playoff team. And JJ was an All-Star starter this year for a reason.

Josh and Al rarely draw double teams unless they get a severe mismatch in the post. JJ draws them the majority of the times he touches the ball, including when the opposing team’s best perimeter defender is guarding him. Despite that, JJ’s EFG% (.510) and TS% (.544), which are the most complete measures of offensive efficiency, are only slightly lower than Josh’s (.519 and .552) – and this is the first time in their career’s that Josh has been higher than JJ’s at all. And do you think that it’s coincidental that Josh’s increased efficiency has come when he has fewer touches than in any season since 2005-2006?

If we asked him to take on a greater scoring load, Josh’s efficiency would almost certainly drop. That’s the way shooting percentages work, because on average, each additional shot per game taken by a player is less efficient than the last (kinda like the basketball world’s version of decreasing marginal utility). That’s probably the biggest reason why Brook Lopez scores more but is less efficient than Horford, despite the fact that I don’t think anyone can dispute that Lopez is the more skilled offensive player. You seem to think that Josh and Al’s efficiency would not go down if their usage rate went up. But as a general rule, that’s not how things work.

As for Al, as much I love him (he is and remains my favorite Hawk), his offensive game is not even in the ballpark necessary for him to overtake JJ as a lead scoring option. He is a league-elite rebounder and one of the best on-ball post defenders in the league, and has a level of toughness and heart that is unmatched for a player his age. But he’s not Tim Duncan. At all.

I think that Josh is the Hawks’ MVP this year, which is probably just about the only thing I agree with Woody on. But the reason I think that is not because Josh is a better offensive player than JJ. It’s because of his monumental impact on D, ever-improving work on the boards, and increased efficiency on offense. I’ve never understood why you and some others feel that praising Josh and Al somehow requires belitilling other players. It doesn’t.

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Y’all can go over to HS to see some of my posts directed at Northcyde, the HawkSquawk version of Samuel. He goes too far in the other direction, overstating JJ’s abilities and not sufficiently recognizing how limiting and ultimately self-defeating the ISO-Joe offense is.

Hey northcyde, do you understand yet that 3>2?

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GOOD POINT DON

SMOOVE AND HORFORD NEVER BOX OUT ON D AND JUST RELY SOLELY ON ATHLETICISM. SMOOVE COULD BE REBOUNDING EVEN MORE THAN HE DOES NOW

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According to ESPN’s Chris Sheridan, these are the top 10 buyouts

1. Michael Finley
2. Travis Diener
3. Larry Hughes
4. Mark Blount
5. Mike James
6. Wally Szczerbiak
7. Kenny Thomas
8. Ricky Davis
9. Brian Cardinal
10. Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Personally, I would not mind adding either Finley, Thomas or Wally.

Finley may be too old right now and I sincerely haven’t seen him playing recently. I think he a had a pretty decent year last season so it is certainly worth considering.

Thomas is a undersized interior scorer who rebounds well for his size. I think his presence would not hurt at all.

Wally could be a got fit if he has recovered from his injury, in particular as a situational 3 point threat (we lack one) or as an offensive insurance in the event that any of our top scores went down temporarily. Yes he can’t guard his own shadow, however, at his age, Finley probably doesn’t too.

The rest don’t seem worth consideration: James, Hugues and Davis are all malcontent-shot-happy idiots (and James has been around since the pyramids)

Cardinal is pretty worthless right now, Blount’s best days are well in the past.

It leaves out Diener who could probably help at the point and with his 3 point marksmanship, however, I confess that I have not seen him play more than a few minutes and I don’t have any idea if he is any good.

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Easy win for the hawks, now moving on to the next one, The awesome dunk by mario west was the highlight factor of the game.

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Oh, what the hell.

northcyde,

Ramon, the team’s MVP is obviously Joe Johnson.

He’s the guy that has been making the tough shots all year. He is the guy that the opposing team gameplan to stop. He’s the guy whose presence on the court, makes life easier for other guys . . . even if he isn’t scoring. He’s the guy that allows Jamal Crawford to go up against a weaker defender, when he and JJ are playing together. ( the other team’s best perimeter defender will ALWAYS guard JJ )

On offense, yes. But there’s another side to the game called “defense.” Josh is the best help defender in the league, and his on-ball defense this year is the best it’s ever been. JJ is a good perimeter defender, but his impact there is a fraction of Josh’s. Why does JJ’s offensive impact outweigh Josh’s defensive?

But when he goes to the bench, this team tends to fall completely apart, especially defensively out on the perimeter. It even happened tonight. The run that the Bulls made at the end of the 3rd quarter, came IMMEADIATELY after JJ went to the bench, even though JJ wasn’t having a good shooting game.

Well, JJ is usually out at the same time as Josh, and JJ’s defensive replacement (Jamal) is much shakier than Josh’s (JoeS or Zaza). Confirmation bias to interpret defensive +/- without considering that.

People hate ISO-JOE around here so much, that they fail to realize how good of an ISO player JJ is. When that guy is on, he makes Kobe-esque type shots. Every ISO-JOE miss gets criticized extensively. But the ISO-JOE makes hardly get noticed, unless he’s hit 4 or 5 shots in a row off of ISO offense

But how often does that latter bit happen? Much less often than the multiple consecutive misses, I assure you.

Remember, the kryptonite to this team are frontlines who can defend and dominate on the boards.

Actually, equally kryptonitic are quick teams that slash us to death. And that’s not something that is remotely our frontcourt’s fault.

Horford has struggled mightily against big centers all year. He can try all he wants to be that back to the basket scorer. But ever since he declared that he could be a “go to scorer” at All-Star Weekend, he has struggled mightily after the break.

I don’t even know where to begin with that one. The first game after the break, Horford scored 31. The next night, 10 and 9. Then 26 and 11. He’s averaging 17ppg since the break and hasn’t gone below 10 since January. That 31 came against All-Star 7-footer Chris Kaman, and the 26 was against 7′0 Biedrins. His best games before that was 24/16 and 25/19, both against the 7′2 Hibbert. Yup, Horford sure struggles against those big centers.

[Josh and Al's] inability to create AND MAKE shots, is a detriment to the halfcourt offense.

It might not be a good thing if we asked them to shoot 18 times a night, but right now it’s tough to argue that it’s a detriment considering that they have the #1 and #2 EFG%s on our team.

The one good thing about those two…

Uh…the “one?”

Even a forced jumper by JJ ends up being a quality shot, because he can make that shot over 40% of the time on most nights.

That’s funny. Because right now, JJ is shooting exactly 40% from 16-23 feet and 37% from deep. If he’s hitting forced jumpers 40% of the time, he must do pretty damned poorly on the unforced ones. A forced jumper by JJ is not a good shot.

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Well, this is certainly a disappointing list of vets who are available to be added to the roster:

http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/page/dime-100301/daily-dime

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Ricky Davis = no thanks.

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I’d rather bring back Loreenzen Wright than add Ricky Buckets.

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nire,

Nice parry. You beat me to the punch on several of northcyde’s statements.

But here’s another:

“That dribble, dribble, dribble pass at the last minute, usually gets Marvin or Bibby a wide open look. It’s not pretty offense at all, but it does get guys good looks.”

I’ll take issue with the “usually”. To be real, I’d have to say “sometimes”.

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Melvin, you can never have too much popcorn!

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Fundamentals,

The list of available bodies is above on a former post. Not much of an offer… it feels like going to a discount store on a last day of the sales… only broken or really old items available.

I didn’t realize that Thomas’ game had faded so much during the past 3 years. I thought that he could still get a 5 and 4 off the bench every once in a while.

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@ Kevin A,

Your 9:48 post is totally different than your previous assertion that:

“JJ is a great ball player but in reality by the end of the year he should be the third option behind Josh and Al.”

I think most people agree that it is a good thing to involve Smoove and Al more in the offense and that has been happening this year. Their touches are up from last year (even if they don’t always shoot it) and Bibby’s and Marvin’s touches are down. As a result, the offense is more balanced than it was last year and we are a more efficient offensive team overall. If Marvin and Bibby can start making shots again with their reduced touches, this team will be

That said, I can’t envision a scenario where Smoove or Al becomes a higher offensive option than JJ on this team in the next 3 years. MAYBE if JJ slows down in 4 or 5 years but certainly no time soon.

That doesn’t mean that Smoove or Al won’t be “better” players than JJ prior to that time because there is FAR more to this game than offense. Whether either of them becomes better players than JJ remains to be seen.

I think a case can be made that Smoove is the MVP of the team right now because he covers up for so many deficiencies that other players have on this team. BUT, he is NOT our best player in a vacuum. JJ is.

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Gentlemen:

What would be wrong with an old fasioned concept of ‘Team’, which we seem to have, and not worry about MVP oe Alpha dog.
I love what Jamal said about Josh:
“he could care less if he gets 3 pts. but the team wins”.
The mere fact that we argue over who is MVP suggests there is no clear cut one that stands out above the other. This is a good thing.
As far as Alpha dog… we must admit…we don’t have one. It’s not Joe’s personality. Team leader, I think it is quietly Al. Spiritual,
emotional leader, no doubt = Josh. You throw in Jamal and we have
four seemingingly indespensible players. I’m glad we have each one.
Let’s not try to place one above the other. Have a good day my friends.

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Y’all can go over to HS to see some of my posts directed at Northcyde, the HawkSquawk version of Samuel. He goes too far in the other direction, overstating JJ’s abilities and not sufficiently recognizing how limiting and ultimately self-defeating the ISO-Joe offense is.

Hey northcyde, do you understand yet that 3>2?

ISO JJ is a necessary evil for this offense, considering we don’t have a penetrating PG who can get to the rim AND score . . . or a dependable low post option who can create his own shot AND score. It’s obviously something that can’t be ran all game, but you have to run it enough to get the one person who can score in the halfcourt offense, scoring opportunities. JJ has been one of the assist leaders on this team going on 5 years now. I simply trust his decision making, whether he shoots the ball out of ISO-JJ . . or passes the ball out of ISO-JJ.

LOL . . I understand that 3>2 . . . but do you understand what a wasted possession is? Question for you . . which player is the shooter you’d want on the Hawks?

- The Marvin Williams that is a 33% 3FG shooter and a 35% long range 2 point shooter

or

- The Marvin Williams that didn’t shoot threes at all, but was a 45% shooter on long 2 point shots?

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AJ,

Senior night for Clemson against GT tonight. Trevor Booker’s last home game. Check him out

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Northcyde,

Way to frame a loaded question. Marvin is shooting 33.7% from deep, 35% on long twos, and 55% on shots closer than that, and most of his shots now fall in the formermost and lattermost categories. I prefer that Marvin to the one who shot 45% on long twos but rarely ventured inside and never outside the arc. Marvin is shooting a higher effective percentage from the floor now than he did two years ago, so I prefer the current model in terms of shooting from the field, although last year’s model would be ideal.

How about this: Do you prefer last year’s Marvin or the one from the year before? After all, Marvin’s FG% was slightly down last year, but his eFG% was way up. Would you rather have Marvin shoot long jumpers hit them 45% of the time, or 3s that he hits 34% of the time? Hmmmm?

3>2, northcyde. You made a complete fool of yourself on HS trying to pretend like that’s a misleading equation, but I sense you’re about to repeat the error here.

For those who are so bored that they want to see what this stems from, look here:
http://www.hawksquawk.net/community/index.php/topic/342466-why-wont-woodson-make-smoove-quit-shooting-jumpshots/page__st__20

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“Some of you need to watch the other NBA teams. They don’t waste time playing useless players that can’t help the squad. Most teams go 9 deep, if that. Very few go 10 deep. So questioning Woody on why the 10th, 11th, and 12th man doesn’t get a lot of playing time, is kind of silly.”

That’s not the point. The point is that Woody doesn’t use the 7th 8th and 9th guys much or at all. Last night was the firs ttime in a while that he has given minutes in the 2nd half too. HE DOES NOT USE THE BENCH IN CLOSE GAMES. HE IS BURNING OUT OUR STARTER’S LEGS. CAN YOU NOT SEE THIS

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Question: [All you fellas jump in on this one]
If Teaguer Had been playing 16 min. per all season long:
What would our record be?
(Would he have cost us a significant amount of wins?)
How much better/worse would we be right now?
(not record/but from a team standpoint, it’s perception and perspective)

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melvin, nire, northcyde,

I wonder who has been the beneficiary of most of JJ’s assists this year, and who has been the beneficiary of Josh’s assists?

In my opinion, JJ is our best player, but Josh is the team MVP. It would be great if we could simulate games to find out if we replaced JJ with an average SG, what impact would that have on the team?

Now replace Josh with an average PF, and see what that impact is. It would be interesting to see.

Grandad,

Thats a tough question to answer, and it will vary from each camp. In one camp (the camp I’m in), I dont think playing Teague would have cost us games, assuming Woody knows how and when to use him while still finding 16 mpg for him.

In the other camp, they will say he has not looked good enough in games to deserve 16 mpg (especially with that low FG%), and they might even say the Hawks would have lost more games.

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It’s still all about wasted possessions. I’m not talking about Marvin driving to the hole. I think everyone agrees that if he can get to the basket, he should definitely do that. I’m talking about his jumpshot ( which is his major weapon as a player )

Two years ago, he was dang near “automatic” on his long jumpshot, without worrying about taking a 3. Last season, he did seem like he was going to be able to incorporate both the long range and midrange game to his arsenal. This season, he’s a slightly below average 3 point shooter and a below average long 2 shooter, seeing that his looks are almost all spot-up looks via a pass, rather than pull up jumpshots. With his usage much lower than it has been in past years, it’s more important now than ever, that we get quality possessions out of Marvin every chance we get.

Marvin developing his 3 point shot is only good, if he can make 37%+ of his attempts. As a spot up shooter who will get wide open attempts, and as a guy who isn’t going to get a lot of shot attempts, he needs to shoot that high from 3.

Give me “Money Midrange Marvin” any day of the week, than this wannabe 3 point shooter whose shot seems to be off from what used to be “money midrange”.

Here is his 2007 – 08 game log. Forget the fact that he used to almost always get double figures in games, go to the shot chart, and look at where he used make shots from. If we had that player, instead of the one we have now, we’d be so much better off as a team.

Even his 3 point shooting last year, may have been fool’s gold. He had that great November in which he shot 47%. Then he shot 27% in December. Then back up to 39% in January. And back down to 28% in February. He was shooting 33% in March, before he went down with the injury ( missing his last 6 attempts ).

Give me the 45% long 2 shooter, who will convert a positive result almost 1 out of every 2 shots.

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O’B & Melvin:

It’s only hypothetical and just for fun anyway!
I’m with you guys as I think most are.

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Well said, Najeh…

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Hmmm, Just her Woodrow on 790 the zone, and I have to agree with his assesment of JSMOOVE (SMASH). Woodrow stated Smoove was the MVP on this team.

Now can we build around Smoove and Horford?

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Coach Woodson was on 2 Live Stews this afternoon and said Smoove was the team’s MVP. When Josh is playing at a high energy level (blocking shots, dunking, getting rebounds, passing, getting steals) we can beat ANYBODY. This team’s swagger is different. I’m a big Joe fan, but he’s not the team’s MVP this season. He is solid & steady as always, but the engine for the Hawks is #5

-REEtired, yes or Roe?!?

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northcyde sucks.

Prove me wrong on this:

Some of you need to watch the other NBA teams. They don’t waste time playing useless players that can’t help the squad. Most teams go 9 deep, if that. Very few go 10 deep. So questioning Woody on why the 10th, 11th, and 12th man doesn’t get a lot of playing time, is kind of silly.”

That’s not the point. The point is that Woody doesn’t use the 7th 8th and 9th guys much or at all. Last night was the firs ttime in a while that he has given minutes in the 2nd half too. HE DOES NOT USE THE BENCH IN CLOSE GAMES. HE IS BURNING OUT OUR STARTER’S LEGS. CAN YOU NOT SEE THIS

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Dang . . I forgot to post Marvin’s 2007 – 08 game log:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/gamelog?playerId=2797&year=2008

*************

@ rusty

Players who can create AND MAKE shots are a prized asset around this league. The guys who can do that, are the guys who become stars in this league, for the most part. But let’s put it to the test. We all know what JJ’s strengths and weaknesses are. But let’s see how they stack up against the top SGs in the league.

When it comes to guys who create their own shot amongst shooting guards, JJ is in a group with: Kobe, Wade, Brandon Roy, Monta Ellis, and Vince Carter. These are the 6 main guys in the league that see less than 40% of their FG makes being assisted.

In other words . . . these are your main ISO shooting guards in the NBA. ( Crawford sees 42% of his makes being assisted, so I could easily add him to this group as well )

But let’s break it down, and see how Joe Johnson stacks up against those other SGs. All of this data can be found on hoopdata.com:

at the rim%

- Roy: 66.2%
- Crawford: 66%
- Wade: 64.9%
- Ellis: 60.4%
- Johnson: 59.4%
- Kobe: 57.8%
- Carter: 51.6%

( No real surprises here, although people may be surprised at seeing Crawford convert at a 66% rate at the rim. The problem though, is that he only gets to the rim 2.5 times a game. JJ is a little better at 3.7 times a game. Guys like Ellis and Wade get to the rim almost 7 times a game )

<10 feet ( but not at the rim ):

- Johnson: 52.2%
- Wade: 47.2%
- Kobe: 46%
- Roy: 44.4%
- Ellis: 44.1%
- Carter: 42%
- Crawford: 34.9%

( This is the floater folks, JJ’s signature shot. Since JJ doesn’t get all the way to the rim when he goes inside, he’ll shoot the floater. He leads the league amongst SGs in attempts in this area, averaging 3.6 attempts per game. Only Monta Ellis, at 3.3, is close to JJ in attempts in this area. Matter of fact, he’s 5th in the league from this range in attempts, and 4th in the league in makes. He’s one of the best in the league from this area )

10 – 15 FT:

- Crawford: 50%
- Johnson: 49.5%
- Kobe: 49.4%
- Roy: 48.9%
- Ellis: 40%
- Carter: 37%

(( Surprised again? You shouldn’t be. JJ has done this his entire career. And you shouldn’t be surprised to see Crawford shoot 50% from here either. When he blows by people and pulls up inside the FT line, the shot is usually money. Problem is, he doesn’t do it a lot. But this is Kobe’s area. The vaunted short midrange game in which he can absolutely kill people from. At 4.2 shot attempts per game, he and Rip Hamilton ( another midrange guy ), shoot more than twice as much as anybody else in the league from this area. JJ at 1.8 attempts, is tied for 7th amongst SGs )

16 – 23 FT:

- Crawford: 43%
- Roy: 42%
- Kobe: 42%
- Johnson: 40%
- Carter: 40%
- Wade: 38%
- Ellis: 38%

(( Once again, there’s Crawford at the top of this list from long midrange. What drives me crazy about Crawford, is that instead of taking more midrange jumpers, he’ll sometimes settle for wild three point attempts. He’s playing great for us overall, but he could be even better if he just take people off the dribble, instead of settling for the pull up 3 pointer. As for JJ, he’s right there at 40% ( which was as high as 44% before these last 2 games brought his percentage down )

3 Point Range ( eFg%):

- Johnson: 56.1%
- Crawford: 54.8%
- Roy: 52.4%
- Carter: 51.5%
- Kobe: 48.9%
- Ellis: 48.5%
- Wade: 44.1%

Once again, our guys are #1 and #2 in the league, when it comes to ISO SGs.

***************

Crawford has been dynamic for us this year. But since the All-Star break , he’s reverted back into the old “jack it up from 3″ Crawford. We don’t need those wild 3’s from him. Play under control, and get in that 15 – 20 foot range. If you’re open from 3, take the shot. If you’re on fire, keep shooting at will.

While Crawford can make the 3 point shot, what makes him lethal is his ability to take and make midrange jumpers off the dribble. It’s a special trait that only a few guys in the league possess.

Luckily for us, JJ is one of those people. See . . what this fan base doesn’t realize in all of their “pseudo-hate” of JJ, is that this dude is SPECIAL. You guys may not like the methodical way he sets up his shot or goes to the hole, but the dude gets the job done. I don’t overrate this dude one bit. He’s just that good on most nights. When it comes to the midrange game, only JJ, Kobe, and Monta Ellis use it the way it’s supposed to be used. And he’s a good enough 3 point shooter to be respected from that range at all times.

The ONLY thing keeping JJ from averaging 25 ppg, is the lack of foul calls he gets from the refs. If the dude shoots an air ball on a floater, the whistle should IMMEADIATELY be blown, because he simply doesn’t airball that shot. He gets hammered a lot going to the hole, but no foul is called. ( the same goes for Josh Smith ). When JJ finally starts to get “superstar” calls, is when he’ll turn into a legit superstar player.

Respect your Captain folks. Yeah, he can have a bad night. But on most nights, this dude is Kobe Jr, with the amount of tough shots he can make.

Th

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Northcyde easy with the JJ man Crush Homie……..

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I wear ladies underwear, I got big ray sum too…….What is this puss filled rash i have- contrary to popular belief the red light district isnt safe. Anyone know where i can meet a manto run freely through the feilds with.

MC u look just like Anthony Johnson, thats not a good look LMAO

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Ru Paul is my idol i love him so much, we have so much in common,his shoes are feirce and we wear the sam siz too 12

Can sumone turn on the microwave my parents are’nt home and im not allowed…. Yes im back in the basement i bombed in law school now im putting my name on the oj again

Mama: Nirclown did u even look for a job today

Nirclown: yeah ma uhhhm, crack a windo man get this smoke outta here

I wonder if homie Ray can get me on the force so i can get free carwashes and donuts like the rest of the pigs.

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Where are all the suckers who said trade Josh and Marvin? Come out of the closet, bi@tches,
we have a lot of talent, but need to refine it just in time for the playoffs…..”Playoffs”…..my patrionage to J. Mora Sr…….sure glad his punk as…..son is gone. How long did he last in Seattle?

Anyway, still need a center on this club. That’s really all we are missing and a little ole’ lady luck……Championship….”Championship”

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AJ,

“@MC said that he has seen Woody tell a guy how to do something and 10 seconds later that player does something different. Would you give that player extensive playing time if they seem to have problems picking up tactical concepts?”

You must be under the impression that MC is talking about Teague or one of the bench players.

What if that guy is Josh? All Woody would do is go over it again, and try to hammer it home.

What if that guy is Teague? Should Woody keep him on the bench until he is able to successfully execute everything in practise? Whatever happened to on the job training?

And wouldn’t it be worse if one of the veterans were making that mistake anyway? At least with a rookie 2 year college player, some of those are expected, and is a part of growing pains.

I’m not saying that regardless of what mistakes a (sorry) bench player makes in practice, he should still get major PT. All I’m saying is that we still need to find a way to utilize our bench players, especially when our starters are struggling and/or tired.

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I skimmed through the niremetal vs. northcyde showdown on Hawksquawk. Although TS% does a good job showing how efficient someone scores, and niremetal is right that a guy shooting 33% on 3’s is just as efficient a scorer as a guy shooting 50% on 2’s, one thing TS% doesn’t take into account is that a missed 3 almost always ends up in a long rebound and a potential transition scoring opportunity, while a missed 2 usually doesn’t. Moreover, your big men are usually going to get in position to rebound a ball close to the basket, which means the odds that they can rebound a missed 3 are lower than the odds of rebounding a missed 2.

That said, I don’t agree with northcyde that Marvin should go back to shooting 2’s. Like I’ve said before, I want him to do for the Hawks what Bruce Bowen did for the Spurs — space himself well, play lock down defense, and hit open 3’s whenever he gets the ball. A money 3-point shooter on the floor opens up lanes for other players that a good mid-range shooter doesn’t necessarily open.

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AJ,

I’m saying play him, but in the right circumstances. Some examples of what I consider the right circumstances (in no particular order);

1) If the starter is struggling
2) if the bench player played well in his last outing (or in the first half)
3) the starter is tired, especially in the case of back to backs

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As for transition opportunities, I don’t know of a chart that shows that, but my guess is that since long 2s have the lowest OReb%, they probably also have a correspondingly high propensity for leading to transition buckets as compared to 3s.

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Najeh . . that’s all well and good, but what if Marvin simply can’t shoot 40% on threes for a season? What then? Do you still encourage the guy to jack up threes, hoping he can hit a few threes a game? Or do you encourage him to take a shot that he can make a little more frequently?

Nire thinks I’m making a fool of myself by asserting that a long 2 may be better than a 3, but my vision is CRYSTAL CLEAR on this. I’ve watched and played too much basketball, to see how people who THINK they are shooters, can shoot you right out of a game.

Let me give you a game scenario:

It’s the 2nd quarter, and the Hawks have seen Philly go on a 9 – 0 run to cut our lead to 2 points. Crawford has the ball in an ISO situation at the top of the key. His tendency is to not go to the rim, but dribble enough to create enough space to take the jumper.

In other words, even if he beats his man off the dribble, he’s not going to go all the way to the hole. He’s setting up his man for a long jumper.

Crawford shoots 35% from 3 . . . 43% from long 2 range.

Which shot do you want him to take, in order to slow down the run? Give your answer, and explain why?

And this is open to everyone. And NO, you can’t say that you’d rather for him to go to the hole. Your 2 options are to take the pull-up 3 pointer .. . or take the pull-up 20 footer. Which one do you want him taking?

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northclyde…3:37pm

Great post..Maybe you should send that link to Marvin, he had 30 games of 17pts or more. He is a very good midrange shooter, but I need him to be more active on the boards. He needs to find more shots by active.

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HEY YOU GENIUSES AT AJC: HOW ABOUT AN UPDATE ON THE BELKIN STORY

http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-thrashers/hawks-thrashers-co-owner-314924.html

WHERE IS THE UPDATE

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It seem that so much ink is dedicated to explaining why Al Horford is unable to defend the basket. It also seem that when ever his deficiency is clearly exposed many of his “apologists” try to associate him with Josh Smith who is a very good defensive player who is a top 5 shot blocker compared to Al who would be in the the very lowest echelon among center. Josh will be here when all is long go. Josh is not the center of the team. Al is. Stop hiding behind Josh. The question is not whether Al can score a basket. He adequate but nothing exceptional. There are 9 or 10 center in the NBA who score more. The question is not whether he can pick up a rebound once someone else has done the work to cause the rebound. There are 9-14(depending on the most recent games) centers who rebound more. Al is Average in these categories.

THE QUESTION IS….CAN AL DEFEND THE BASKET. THE ANSWER IS NO, EMPHATICALLY. DONT TELL ME WHAT HE DID IN ONE GAME. TELL ME WHAT IS HIS TALENT LEVEL AND EVERY DAY PLAY, NOT THE EXCEPT ON 1 DAY.

WHAT HE DOES EVERY DAY IS PAD HIS STATS PICKING UP BALLS WHERE JOSH HAS CAUSED A MISS OR PADS HIS STATS WHEN THE OTHER TEAMS CENTER IS ON THE BENCH. HEAD UP WHAT AL BRINGS TO THE TABLE IS THE # 24TH CENTER IN BLOCK SHOTS IN THE NB FREAKIN A.

DEFENSIVELY ALL IS A SCRUB!

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northcyde said this: “I’ve watched and played too much basketball, to see how people who THINK they are shooters, can shoot you right out of a game.”

LOL Do you mean like this?:

JJ 6-18 vs. NOH L 96-88

JJ 9-21 vs. ORL L 93-76

JJ 5-19 vs. DET L 94-88

JJ 4-14 vs. MIA L 92-75

JJ 7-21 vs. MIA L 94-76

Shot us right out of those games.

I’m not saying he didn’t save our butts as just many times, but you act, over and over, like Joe’s sh!t don’t stink. Just keep it real, at least now and then. Geez.

Your over-enthusiastic zealotry for Joe makes you lose credibility. Too bad, because you’re a bright guy with some good points.

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This team belongs to Woodson, JJ and Josh Smith! Period

Saltee stop smelling JJ’s sh!t and smell your own!

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Do I hear crickets?

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sautee, i pretty much agree with your assessment of JJ. He is our best player, but he has so much indescision about his role. Some nights he takes the lead in shooting early and then late, then other times he seems to want to facillitate. And some nights he goes back and forth and i am convinced it confuses his teammates. Dont get me wrong, i love JJ and we deserately need to re-sign him, but when he goes Iso and looks so unsure of what he wants to do until the shot clock gets down to 3 or 4 seconds, it is a perfect example of our offense at times. Bibby and Marvin look tentative about half of the time. Josh and Al are often unsure of whether they need to take the bull by the horn, or wait until JJ has taken his obligatory shots. i believe this is why we start so many games and second half’s flat as can be. Until JJ establishes his mood or temperment, our other players are not sure how aggressive to be. Every night JJ is just not sure whether he wants to be the scorer, faccilitator, or defensive warrior. I just wish JJ would start every game and 2nd half by going ahead and shoot or drive 3 or 4 times and get it out of the way. Then everyone else could relax and play off of JJ setting the tone. JJ is just not certain that he wants to be the alpha dog, but thankfully, Smoove seems to be stepping up and becoming the floor leader. Until it’s settled though, there seems to be a lot of standing around on offense with guys not sure who the big dog is night in and night out.

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Since this blog is dying down, I’ll propose a different topic.

On Mark Bradley’s blog today, he suggested that the Hawks would be better off being the 4th seed and playing Cleveland.

Reasons being 1) We’ve played Cleveland close this season and 2) Shaq will not be 100%, because he will just be returning from his injury.

If Hawks are the 3rd seed, then they would probably play Orlando, and as we’ve seen, the Hawks have no answer for the Magic.

What do you guys think?

I think we match up better with Cleveland, but because we are striving for the #2 seed, we may end up being #3 and playing Orlando, who has beat us pretty good.

That being said, I have a feeling that we will do better in the playoffs against the Magic. I think Woody will figure it out, and we will play the Magic toe to toe like the we did the Celtics a couple seasons ago.

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AJ,

Trevor Booker looking good for Clemson against GT. 19 pts, 7 rebs with 9 minutes to go. And keep in mind GT has a huge size advantage

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Sautee, IMO, Joe has handled the Jamal addition very well and has adapted to the rise in offensive production by Al and Josh. His role has changed since Bibby’s arrival (from a combo guard to a pure SG) but I think he still is a willing passer. Sure, he definitely takes bad shots but I’m not sure that there is an NBA player who doesn’t (at least not one who scores more than 10 points a game). And part of leadership is following the direction of the coach. We’ve watched Joe be a good soldier over his 5 years with the Hawks. He has set an example in his work ethic, his ability to play virtually every game and his willingness to defend any and every position on the floor. I’ve seen a little more selfish play this year from him. But I think that has to do with both his impending FA status and the presence of Jamal. Joe knows that Jamal has captured the hearts of many fans in less than a year while playing the same position… and during a contract year. I think Joe is “looking over his shoulder”. But he’s not pulling a Kobe and he hasn’t stopped shooting for a half or refused to pass to Jamal. But it is only natural that he recognizes the vibe around him… in his contract year.

We watched Joe literally carry this team during his first 2 years here. He had to do it all, because Harrington was a BUST and the draft picks were much, much too young. I guess I am biased in believing that even if he shows some selfish tendencies, I’ve seen him work tirelessly for this team when it had very little hope of winning. He didn’t quit on the team then and I’m not quitting on Joe because he dribbles too much, misses an open man or chucks up a bad shot a few times. We’ve lived through worse. And Joe was instrumental in bringing us out of those dark days.

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On ESPN somebody asked what it will it take for the hawks to get over the hump. And just to sun it all up guess what he said…. THE HAWKS NEED A MORE EFFICIENT OFFENSE. He said that the hawks let defenders off the hook when they do these isos.

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Astro,

I missed the Clemson/GT game tonight but you may need to see more game tape on Booker. He atheletic and strong. Has a nice inside and outside game. I think he’s more of a Rodney Rodgers clone without the NBA 3pt shot. I think he would make a good backup PF at the next level.

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WOODSON DOES NOT USE THE BENCH.

DONE IN 2ND ROUND

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“Najeh . . that’s all well and good, but what if Marvin simply can’t shoot 40% on threes for a season? What then? Do you still encourage the guy to jack up threes, hoping he can hit a few threes a game? Or do you encourage him to take a shot that he can make a little more frequently?”

I made that statement with the long run in mind. The big buzz around Marvin last year was that he developed a 3-point shot, but he hasn’t used that consistently to add a new dimension to the offense. Seeing as how there’s no “go-to” aspect of his game at this point, I think becoming a Bruce Bowen-like three-point shooter slash lockdown defender who knows how to space himself within the offense would be the best thing for the team. Making your mid-range shots is nice, but it doesn’t stretch the defense and open up lanes for other players the way being a dangerous 3-point shooter does.

“Crawford shoots 35% from 3 . . . 43% from long 2 range.

Which shot do you want him to take, in order to slow down the run? Give your answer, and explain why?”

If you’re only talking about a 7% difference, of course you want him to take the 3. A 7% difference means that he will miss one extra shot out of 14. Crawford only takes 13 shots per game, and even if you assume 3/4 of those are 3’s or long 2’s (which is probably way too high a number) that means he is accounting for more points and not even wasting one possession per game.

All that said I’m not too big of a fan of these stat-based discussions. Stats are nice tools but they can be twisted. I really just want to see players take good shots, whether they are statistically better or worse. Put it this way — I’d rather see Crawford take a long rhythm 2 than a forced 3.

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Yeah, I heard what Bowen said on the ESPN show. I couldn’t have said it any better.

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AJ & others:

Most mock drafts have Xavier Henry falling out of the lottery.
Supposedly not athletic enough or explosive (sounds like Joe).
This summer we will have some chips [Childress/Marv?] to trade up, perhaps high enough to snag X.H. If so I would jump on that one!
I don’t care if he’s explosive or not, the young man can play.

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Joe’s assists aren’t the problem — it’s his rebounds. He is the biggest SG in the game but his rebounding is abysmal

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What’s this I walk in on??? Assassin?

JJ = a good player? Yep.
JJ = a very good player? Yeah.
JJ = dependable in clutch? Sometimes.
JJ = dependable enough in the clutch to be labeled an “Assassin??” LMFAO!!!

oh I love this…I can stop callin him Kobe and Kobelite now.

I hope we make the finals.. The “Closer” Vs. The “Assassin”

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CAN’T WAIT TIL THE GAME TONIGHT. LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING JOE POST UP PLAYERS AT HALF COURT WIHLE EVERYONE STANDS AROUND AND MARVIN FALLS DOWN FROM NOT TOUCHING ANYONE

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JeJe,

Do you love to hate the Hawks? Just curious.

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Just talked to Dominique. He told me “we need to jump on these guys early tonight”. lol! But seriously, who thinks the game tonight will be a Hawks blowout?

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TRUTH SERUM-let’s put your basketball IQ, or lack thereof, to the test and see if your rants are nothing more than you being a HORFORD HATER.

Everyone with an actual basketball IQ knows the PG is the QB of the team and it’s most important player. Since you have repeatedly listed Horford’s ranking among Centers, often lying about his actual ranking, I’ve decided to take a look at what I see as our biggest problem.

PG MIKE BIBBY’S RANKING AMONG PG’S:

PPG-8.7(23rd) and dropping.

APG-4.3(25th) and ranks #2 on the team, only .02 ahead of PF JSmith.

SPG-0.9(18TH).

FG%-.395(24th tie) and dropping.

3PTGF-.358(25th).

We all know he doesn’t change the pace of our OFF, unless it’s to slow it down. We all know he doesn’t penetrate or consistently create easy scoring opportunities for others. We all know he doesn’t consistently direct the OFF and determine who gets the ball and when. We all know he controls the ball and runs the OFF less than 50% of the time. And we all are aware of his DEF problems and how little he contributes in that area.

AND WITH ALL OF THIS, YOU ACTUALLY BELIEVE C AHORFORD, AND NOT PG MBIBBY, IS THE TEAMS BIGGEST PROBLEM AND THE ONE WHO’S HOLDING THE TEAM BACK. What good does it do to have multiple personalities and/or identities if all of them are STUPID MORONS?

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* ‘04 Pistons.

Ken, you need to calm down. You’ve all but become to Bibby what T-S/Clyde are to Horford, Rod is to Marvin, Publix is to JJ, and hock is to Josh.

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when does dominique say anything different terrell?

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If the “Alien” Big – Z was such a show stopper? Then the Cavaliers wouldn’t have recruited The Diesel to begin with. If Big – Z couldn’t get the job done with “Elvis – The King!” on his team, then what is his value – I mean really!

Sure, it would be nice if the Hawks could land a Center – But Ilgauskas is not a PROTO-TYPE! He drifts out and shoots jumpers for crying out loud! He is not a player that welcomes contact, block-shots, nor does he defend the post fiercely – isn’t that what every team needs – the Hawks not withstanding?

If we do not land Zydrunas, it would be the end of the world – however it would be nice if we got him here. My point, is the Hawks will be fine without him! Besides, what are you gonna do if he feels he has a better chance of winning a title with a team that obviously has no qualms about him “Leaving the Building”

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doc,

co-sign your 10:57. If Marvin is our weakest player, we can hide him. But the PG is too important on offense and defense to be our weakest link.

And not only is Bibby’s price tag high for what he is giving us, but we gave him 3 years, which means we still have him for 2 more seasons after this one. I just hope he finds the fountain of youth this offseason.

Ken,

Even if Teague was our starter and QB, all Woody would make him do is hand the ball off.

For the JJ discussion, in last year’s playoffs, he was hurt, and he only averaged 16.7 pts, 3.8 assists, 2.5 turnovers in 39 mpg. I just hope we have a healthy JJ when we get to the playoffs this year.

AJ,

I looked up the stats for Jarvis Varnado. Considering that it’s the SEC, his numbers are impressive.
His average based on the last 3 seasons are 11.4 pts, 9.2 rebs, and 4.7 blocks per game.

If they are projecting him as late first/early second, then the Hawks could definitely use somebody like him. And he’s a senior, so he shouldn’t be raw.

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Regarding Big Z, it sounds like the spin machine is warming-up

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.HEY YOU GENIUSES AT AJC: HOW ABOUT AN UPDATE ON THE BELKIN STORY

http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-thrashers/hawks-thrashers-co-owner-314924.html

WHERE IS THE UPDATE.

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doc,

Playing Devil’s advocate here, but would you consider Rondo the worst starter on the Celts team that won the title?

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Truth,

Thanks, even if it was in jest.

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Speaking of playing time, based on Woody decisions to give R Morris and Collins hardly any playing time to properly evaluate them, the logical assumption is that they are gone after this season. Also, since Mario is back by apparently popular demand, he will likely be back next year. Based on Joe Smith age, his prospect as a Hawk looks uncertain as well. Since all of these guys came cheap, it will likely set the stage for more bargain hunting discount (vet min) for the frontline replacements. This seemly will set the stage for the same team with the same dynamics next year assuming we resign Woody and JJ. So if we finish below expectation, this could become a problem. The only talking point the ASG could make to the fans (in this case) is more maturation from the core.

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Why do people keep saying Al is the #24th ranked center in blocked shots?

He’s ranked 24th amongst ALL NBA PLAYERS, right?

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And co-sign much of what Nire said. I liked how you brought up that Manu example from a couple years back. I think we see that all too often here with the Hawks. When Bibby goes out after the first 5 or 6 minutes and Woody brings Crawford into the game, there’s no “natural” PG on the floor. So naturally, when we start talking about how the ball stops moving and JJ/JAMAL dominate the ball, people are going to point to the lack of a PG. I honestly feel that’s a fair assumption as well.
Therefore, get JT0 into the fold.

I think that when talking about this years Hawks, everybody talks about the Hawks lack of offensive continuity. I was watching NBA Coast-to-Coast last night, and Bruce Bowen was asked a question about what the Hawks needed to get to the Conference Finals. Bowen responded by saying, “OFFENSIVE CONTINUITY.” He said that the Hawks are letting opposing defenses off the hook when they resort to isolations with limitted player/ball movement. He said opposing teams don’t like to move and play defense for 15+ seconds, and when you resort to ISO’s, you’re doing them a favor. The ENTIRE LEAGUE knows the Hawks lack an offensive system. I don’t know how many games we’ve watched this year (whether they’ve been nationally televised or with Nique and Rathbun) where commentators as well as NBA analysts have noted the Hawks lack of ball/player movement. I can’t seem to understand how we can manage to blow lead after lead and hit lull after lull and not work on some offensive sets. It just seems like denial on Woody’s part. He seems very stubborn about this issue, as if it’s not the reason we hit so many lulls.

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Go watch the Thunder play basketball.

They have a guy like Durant whose also good off the dribble. But go watch them find other ways to get the guy scoring. They actually have him move without the ball, something I don’t see JJ do as much (at least not to stop and pop). He might move without the ball to get to his spot to take his guy off the dribble, but I don’t see JJ moving without the ball as much to get to his spot to get his shot off.

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Ken no one thinks Josh is a small forward. He is amongst the best power forwards in the game and Horford is not as good as Josh!

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Oh, I guess I was wrong.

I thought he was ranked 24th amongst all players.

As far as Horford goes, you guys can’t seriously be having this debate about whether this guy has the ability to defend the basket or not, because ultimately it’s about TEAM DEFENSE. I get that it’d help to have a big guy in the paint to alter shots, etc. But, do you guys really pin the Hawks defensive woes on Al Horford? None of the gaurds except JJ is a good defender. And, I can point to so many breakdowns on behalf of our gaurds that guys like J.Smith and Al Horford are forced to cover up.

How many other CENTERS in the league could switch out on gaurds and actually have success? Because we switch, whatever “true center” the Hawks bring in here would be forced to do some things that Horford is never creditted enough for doing.

For me, it all starts at PG. We are a team that switches on defense, and as a result, it all starts and ends with the PG! We don’t have a PG that can stay in front of anybody and can’t rotate quick enough. I’d honestly say this is of greater concern than Horford’s size at this point. I agree it wouldn’t hurt to get another guy to come off the bench who can bring some size to our frontcourt when we play bigger teams. But, the way you guys debate Horford’s size in here, you’d think he alone is the one peice that’s holding us back from a championship. Some of you may feel this way, but we can agree to disagree.

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@Astro Joe as far as the Hawks bench…I don’t remember no big name players on Miami bench when they push us to seven games in the playoff. Woody was the one that assembled the bench…they took a very deliver it approach…now he gets a pass because the talent is not great…I don’t think so.

Who is the backup PG if Bibby or Crawford goes down…heaven forbid if they both go down…then Woody’s eight men rotation is shot…who is the guy, Teague??? We all know Teague will need considerable more time just to be functional at the PG. I’m not concern with how bad Teague looks…he is going to continue to struggle until he gets some consistent minutes…however, I am concern about his off the ball defense…its terrible…I don’t see him being the guy. What’s the other option Mario. A seven or eight men rotation is fine as long you got a backup plan for your key guys. I am very interested in yours and Big Ray opinion on the emergency backup PG for the Hawks heading into the playoff.

I’m glad Crawford found his stroke…I thought he was pressing doing too much one on one during that stretch when he was struggling. I would like to see Crawford go to back to making a conscious effort to get the ball in the post…the way he did at the beginning of the season. He was instrumental in getting everyone easier looks.

@Nire, I know Josh is putting a lot pressure on ya …especially the way you dogged him with your impervious statistic…BUT DANG MAN…never thought it would pull ya out the closet bro…who da thunk it. lol

Anyway…GO GUYS…AND GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Melvin, I can definitely see the Rodney Rogers comparison with Booker. I don’t see that “off the charts” kind of athleticism but on the other hand, he seems much more polished offensively than I expected..

OB, thanks… Jarvis and not Jason. I’m in the camp that says when picking late in the 1st round, draft for a specific niche as opposed to the best player available. It is obviously debatable… but if we could get a Korver-type shooter who only shoots or a Birdman type defensive ebergizer without any offense… I’d gladly take an excellent one-dimensional player at that slot. And I certainly have a bias toward upper-classmen… again, especially that late in the draft. With our payroll budget, we need someone who can fill an immediate need and not a project. Use the 2nd round for project players.

I also recently discovered that we did NOT get Houston’s 2nd round pick for the upcoming draft. maybe it is in the 20112 draft but it doesn’t appear to be this summer.

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Mike is Back, what was Sund doing if Woody assembled the bench? if Woody were the all-powerful head coach, I’m fairly sure Mario West would have stuck and not Othella Hunter coming out of camp.

And don’t get me wrong… neither Sund nor Woody set the budget for the bench. That came from on high. If you give someone $3 for lunch, the options are fairly limited. But let’s not think that a hot dog and soda from the nearby QT/Kangaroo/Racetrack/7-11/Truck Stop is comparable to the $6 lunch purchased by teams with bigger budgets. Our lunch results in heart-burn. BURP, excuse me.

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Ken,

For the record, I am in the camp that thinks Teague needs more PT. I wonder what Woody would do if Bibby goes down for 4-6 games?

A penetrating PG can help pick up fouls on the opposing guards and bigs when they get in the lane. An opposing PG can get more FT attempts, which are easy points, especially when jump shots are not falling.

And keep in mind that Bibby has TAKEN only 64 FT all year (in 1,628 minutes).

As far as team defense, why do people keep blaming our bigs? Denver became a better defensive team when they traded away Marcus Camby. Why? Because they replaced Iverson with Billups, which is a much better defender.

This is a quote from ajc.com talking to JJ a few weeks back.

“It’s definitely on guys like me, Mike (Bibby), and Jamal (Crawford) to get us all on the same page, especially on the perimeter,” Johnson said. “We’ve had a lot of breakdowns and that puts our ‘bigs’ in tough positions.”

If JJ can acknowledge that defense begins on the perimeter, why can’t we?

AJ,

We need to have a good draft, because Joe Smith will be too old, RandMo will be gone, and Collins won’t cut it. We will need a backup PF, another backup Center, and a backup SF. And I dont see the ASG giving Sund the money to get solid bench players (especially if they pony up for JJ). So it wil be important that we get a good player (although we pick late in the first) who can contribute immediately.

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AJ

That’s a good one. We would otherwise accept the BURPING and farting (from heart-burn) if the $3 was absolutely it. However, when we hear stories asserting (for example) that ASG would make exceptions to acquire Big Z, then there is something wrong with this picture. My first reaction to the news about Big Z being pursued by the Hawks was a Stunt based on the notion that they had NO MONEY. So when they suggested making an exception, I’m puzzled. You mean we can chase prime-rib after all. I’M LIKE DOUBTING-THOMAS ON THIS ONE.

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nire,

I think the key for the Hawks is to not have JJ initiate the offense. Let’s run him off screens, picks, pick and roll, whatever. That way, he can have the defender on his heels. But when he initiates it, the defense is usually ready, and thats when our players do their standing around routine.

JJ is a SG. And SGs are supposed to shoot. When they’re hot, keep shooting. When they’re cold, keep shooting until they get hot. Hasn’t that been the adage for a shooter?

Either way, it says a lot about JJ’s talent because the other team knows the isos are coming. And more often than not, they still can’t stop JJ (JJ stops JJ sometimes too).

Looking forward to the game tonight. Hopefullly Hawks can keep the win streak going.

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Sorry, channeled Paul Reiser for a second there.

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Who’s Paul Reiser? nire, you must be old

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We set picks like everyone else in the NBA. Moving. The refs call about 10 percent of moving picks so therefore we don’t bother to stick to fundamentals. It’s not just picks that don’t get called. The no calls in order are:
1. palming
2. lane violations
3. 3 second violations
4. defensive 3 second violations
5. the Charles Barkley rule
6. discontinued dribbles
7. kick balls

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o’b you have to run to do screens dude. you dont have to run if you stand and dribble.

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If one of the ultimate arguments in support of Horford is “the coaches selected him to the ASG”, then how is that reconciled with Joe being selected by those same coaches 4 consecutive times?

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Remeber the plays we used to run for Randy Wittman? Those were the days. Now that was a disciplined offensive team (except for Cliff Levingston). Maybe Fratello wants his job back. Then we could sign another 5-7 player and he could tell the joke over and over again about not having to worry if he loses his luggage because he can share with Spud or some other short player.

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It was very elegantly pointed out that saltee often makes erroneous statements that rather point to an opinion, than induced fact. I dont engage in conversation with him because he is led by his emotion and folly rather than fact.

“Sautee . . . if you want to dispute anything that I’ve posted today, feel free to do so. I’ll never lose credibility, because I back up what I say with FACTS. If I post an opinion without definitive facts, then the opinion can be debated.”

Speaking of fact and not folly, here is today’s NBA.com list of shot blocking(or lack there of) centers.

2009-10 BLOCKS LEADERS : Blocks Per Game
Displaying results 1-50 of 81 found
Results: 1-50 51-81 Next »

PLAYER NAME, TEAM NAME GP MPG BLK PF BLKPG BLKP48M BLK/PF
1
Dwight Howard , ORL
61 35.1 170 223 2.79 3.81 .76
2
Andrew Bogut , MIL
53 32.3 124 170 2.34 3.48 .73
3
Greg Oden , POR
21 23.9 48 84 2.29 4.59 .57
4
Brendan Haywood , DAL-WAS
58 33.1 124 166 2.14 3.1 .75
5
Samuel Dalembert , PHI
59 25.8 123 191 2.08 3.88 .64
6
Brook Lopez , NJN
59 36.9 113 192 1.92 2.49 .59
7
Kendrick Perkins , BOS
57 28.2 105 170 1.84 3.14 .62
8
Emeka Okafor , NOH
61 29.7 105 173 1.72 2.78 .61
9
Roy Hibbert , IND
60 23.9 103 212 1.72 3.44 .49
10
Marc Gasol , MEM
60 36.0 95 219 1.58 2.11 .43
11
Joakim Noah , CHI
50 31.1 78 158 1.56 2.41 .49
12
Erick Dampier , DAL
39 26.3 59 114 1.51 2.76 .52
13
Joel Przybilla , POR
30 22.7 43 95 1.43 3.03 .45
14
Andrea Bargnani , TOR
57 34.6 81 169 1.42 1.97 .48
14
Andrew Bynum , LAL
57 30.8 81 168 1.42 2.22 .48
16
Jermaine O’Neal , MIA
56 29.0 79 174 1.41 2.33 .45
17
JaVale McGee , WAS
34 11.3 46 49 1.35 5.76 .94
18
Joel Anthony , MIA
60 15.0 80 114 1.33 4.28 .7
18
Andris Biedrins , GSW
33 23.1 44 117 1.33 2.77 .38
18
Ronny Turiaf , GSW
30 20.9 40 71 1.33 3.07 .56
21
Chris Kaman , LAC
54 35.8 67 152 1.24 1.67 .44
22
Ben Wallace , DET
60 29.5 73 118 1.22 1.98 .62
23
Shaquille O’Neal , CLE
53 23.4 62 169 1.17 2.4 .37
24
Al Horford , ATL
59 35.3 69 168 1.17 1.59 .41

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