So what to make of these Hawks?

Step your game up hawks!

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“I am trying to figure out how come we just can’t do that the whole game? That’s what’s been mind-boggling to me as the coach.”

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!! I CANNOT imagine any other coach in the NBA saying this.

THAT’S WHY WE LOSE EVERY GAME IN THE 4TH. BECAUSE U CAN’T GET THE TEAM MOTIVATED.

WOODSON BASICALLY JUST SAID HE WANTS TO BE FIRED. HE SAID HE CANNOT CONTROL THIS TEAM FOR 48 MINUTES

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Man im done with the hawks,they can’t beat the teams they suppose to smash speaking of the knicks.The hawks are a so called elite team and loose 3 out of 4 games to the knicks.I don’t see them getting past the 2nd round or even the first round for that matter.Joe suppose to be a superstar player i think not just a good player.I would have sent him packing along with bibby atleast i would have got something for him with all the newyork talk.I would have traded him bibby and a draft pick and got bosh or even wade.This team is all hype and no bite.

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Woody cant get the best out of his team for 48 minutes Its that Easy!!!! FIRE WOODY ……..has anybody made a webpage yet???

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… and maybe the GM should just force that kind of hire on Woody if he doesn’t do it on his own.

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Woodson is content just winning more games than last year LOL. He doesn’t care that we have GIVEN away at least 8 games this season.

People say we are like the Nuggets because we throw away games. No — the Nuggets have a REAL HEAD COACH, a LEADER at PG who is CLUTCH and an ALL-STAR, and a SUPERSTAR at SF.
We have a fake star (Joe…Barely puts up 20 ppg LOL), a horrendous fat lard PG (Bibby), a head coach who can’t motivate his team, and an awkward stiff at SF

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What do you really think, JeJe?

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I was at the Garden on monday night. Embarrassing. The Knicks are a garbage team and the Hawks played down to their level seemingly just hanging around for 3’s to go down playing poor perimeter defense. D’Antoni had nothing to work with and found the 5 players that were hot and kept them in the game so he had a chance. Stubborn Woody takes out hot players in lieu of his final 5 (add Jamal who had a bad game) to close the game. Hawks got lucky they got close at the end and had a chance. Only defense they played was in desperation. They let the Knicks have too many easy looks early in the game. MAN UP Hawks and quit taking nights off.

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We have 2 unload marvin,somehow someway.a small foward should b a dangerous weapon.marvin scares no one but hawk fans.cant finish his drives to the basket,cant make open jumpers.and he is always left open,I WONDER WHY,walks like fred sanford.as if his back is killing him.BIbby cant play dead anymore.let alone defense and has the audacity to miss most of his shots.I tell u what.Teague would b my guy.he penertrates and plays nice D.if he played more woody would see we r better with him on the floor.

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Man, I hate reading the stupid Hawks quotes. They have said the same things year, after year, after year, after year… Same crap about losing focus, getting back to what they were doing, blah, blah, blah.

I have lost a lot of faith in this team. They just are flat out not as good as I thought they were. Whatever spark, excitement, whatever they had at the beginning of the year is long, long, long gone. They look slow, unprepared on D, and can’t make a d@mn clutch shot to save their lives. Just sorry….if there was a panic button around, I would hit it.

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Ive had it. I wont watch the hawks again. They are a complete waste of time. There is no rhyme or reason to the madness of the Hawks. They are undefeated against Boston. They are winless against Orlando. They are winless against the Cavs. They are 1-3 against the lowly new york knicks. They lose to golden state and have to almost play a perfect game to get revenge against golden state in the rematch game. It makes no sense to follow the hawks because they are like a rollercoaster up and down. You never know when you are going to see them look great (steller against Boston at 4-0 against them) or you might watch a pathetic performance for 48 minutes (new york knicks game). Im tired of wasting my time watching a product that shows flashes of brilliance, but then when you are expecting a win against a mediocre opponent golden state, new jersey or new york, it doesnt happen. I wont watch them again. The talent is there for them to dominate on most nights and the hawks did that for much of the first 25 games (starting out a brilliant 19-6); but since then they have been up and down like a rollercoaster and I dont think the Hawks are more than a flash in the pan. I think Im going to pass out or have respiratory problems watching the Hawks. The other night against the Knicks it appeared the Hawks had a victory when Horford made his shot at the end to make the score an apparant Jawks victory at 100-99, just before the refs reviewed the play and noticed that Horford’s shot came late after the buzzer and then the Hawks victory was reversed and overturned into a knicks victory. My question is why didnt the Hawks blow out knicks by 20-30 points (say 130-100) instead of purposely making the game a nailbiter. I cant watch the Hawks waste their talent anymore.

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let woody walk after this season

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I wouldn’t panic…yet. I actually think that this team has matured since last year. We won what 47 last year? we’ll probably win 52-54 this year. One thing I’ve noticed is that our highs may not be as high, but our lows aren’t as low. Last year, we lost to Boston early, got in a funk and lost I think 4 in in a row.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but we have far shorter losing streaks this year than last. We bounce back from tough losses when we really want to, but I think the hawks kind of have an attitude in the back of their heads that they’ve pretty much proven themselves during the regular season and they’re ready for the playoffs.

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Because every other team in the NBA knows that the Hawks are limited.

Limited in coaching ability, limited in offensive plays, limited in players who can produce in crunch-time.

When your starting small forward can’t shoot and turns the ball over on a regular basis, you are limited.
When your starting center (no fault of Horford) is small for an NBA center, you are limited.
When your 6th man is your 2nd best scorer, you are limited.
When you continually get outscored in the 4th qtr to lose games, you are limited.

Nuff said.

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Ryan…. how does it feel to be on a island by yourself???

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Pretty good to be on an island by yourself than herded like livestock . Horford is one of the best centers in the NBA. How is that limited? Josh Smith is unstoppable and playing amazing basketball in points, blocks, assists, rebounds, and steals. Every player cant be a superstar. Our biggest weakness right now is Bibby, but Crawford is pretty much the starter so Woodson has minimized that issue.

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They can score and score with anyone. They just have to play solid team defense for the entire game. High energy, getting lots of second chance points, grabbing boards denying good looks and angles. If they concentrate on defense for the next 19 games I think they will easily top 50 wins.

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I have to say I have started turning the channel late in the game if its close and the hawks run one or two iso plays , or take a long jumper without moving the ball around , I say here we go again turn the channel to a sanford and son rerun and check the close loss out on sportscenter the next morning. I bet aunt ester could motivate these guys

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“As we near the playoffs, we’re going to have to get better defensively, without a doubt,” Woodson said. “Because those are the teams that win playoff basketball, the teams that defend and rebound.”

If Woody was really concerned and wants to improve on the defensive end, it’d be good to see him get a guard like JT0 out there to pick up the defensive effort on behalf of our gaurds. Don’t get me wrong, I know he’s just a rookie and I’m not saying that increasing his PT will solve the Hawks defensive problems, but they will surely have a better chance with JT0’s young fresh legs and quickness than they are with Mike Bibby. AT THIS POINT, there’s absolutley no reason for the Hawks not to increase the kids minutes. We’re getting nothing from our PG and the offense often stagnates late in games without any PG play. I mean, seriously, think about it, we just lost to the Miami Heat and NY Knicks again, for the third time against each team. It makes little sense to me at this point not to tweak our approach.

To those concerned about the risk that would present itself if we handed of the reigns to the rookie this late in the season. But, I say to you guys that at this point, the Hawks have a very little chance of catching the Magic or the Cavs playing the way we are. It’s obvious we need a spark or a jolt, so why not let that come in the form of a rotation change? I know this is highly unlikely to happen, but I just can’t get why. This is why I hate lovin this team sometimes.

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When the young, quick guards are destroying us, Teague should play. Bibby cant cover Rondo, Curry, Paul, etc etc

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Nique…They wont have to fire Woody’s non coaching butt…His contract expires at season’s end. They wont renew him. I hope they dont. He hangs his hat on the increases in wins over the last 4-5 years….thats it!!! He hasnt contributed any real coaching ability since he’s been here. Time to get on the next thing smoking Woody!!! Peace out Bro!!

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Enter your comments here

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Did you ever ask why they are still having these 2 minute lapses and are “not in tune to what we are doing” 63 games into the season? Is it lack of efffort, talent, conditioning? Losing 3 times to the Knicks is unacceptable. If this they win at least 2 of those and don’t blow leads to Dal and GS in the last 2 weeks we are tied with Orlando.

Whereas Orlando seems to be getting stronger, we are getting weaker. Marvin fooled us with those 2 double doubles last week and is back down to his pathetic self. MC, from what you see out of him in practice, shootaround, etc. does it at least look like he has the desire to make himself better? Does he feel bad about his sub par performance all year? If the answer to those 2 questions is yes I at least feel a bit better about him maybe turning the corner.

If he doesn’t care though, he will only get worse. Carlos Delfino makes less than half of what Marvin makes and is averaging the same points and boards while also being more consistent from 3. Can you imagine if we had saved 30 million by just signing Matt Barnes instead last year where would be. That guy has the tenacity and fire at the 3 spot that would have really helped this team out defensively and in the locker room. His defense and Crawford’s offense would have been a great tandem at the 3. Alas, Rick Sund’s lack of creativity like many NBA GM’s led him to take the easy route of just re-signing his own guy to a deal worth too much and for too many years despite the lack of offers around the league.

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Bring back J-Chill in time for play-off run!!!!! Hey, it could happen

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correction: from the american workers…

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[...] Cunningham wonders what, exactly is wrong with the Hawks. Included is an illuminating quote from Marvin Williams: “Sometimes offensively, sometimes [...]

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Its amazing I wonder if these so called fans who are through with the hawks admit that this is only going to be the second winning season in almost 15 years yet they want to fire the coach get rid of all the players and start over, understand that this team has gotten better every year no regression and have a chance to make the eastern conference finals. Calm down folks

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MC, does it look like a possibility that Teague could be handed the PG spot next year? Bibby already is just a jump shooter.

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Dominque Wilkins should be the next hawks coach.

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Not being wasted…just putting in his time and learning. If you watch, he isnt quite ready to start. He isnt aware enough on the offensive side.

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“the hawks re-signed Marvin, Bibby, and Zaza. how do you think they are doing?”

They suck, which is exactly my point. The starters have been together too long, and the bench sucks but should get more minutes to relieve Marvin and Bibby (i.e. give Teague more minutes).

And as a beatwriter, you should be more interactive with us, rather than just posting a blog and running away while one of your fellow joke writers like Ken Sugiura takes over.

Thanks

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A paragon of the atrocious AJC coverage is the Belkin case — if he had a week to pay the 2 mil to retain ownership rights of the team (this was THREE weeks ago), why has there been no update on that case?

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Venom, He tries to play one on one too much and he needs to develop a mid range game. He isnt a very good shooter and needs to work on moving with out the ball.

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My Mama always said to be thankful for what we have. Despite our lack of focus, offensive stagnation, and inability to close out games. I am very thankful for this team. They are talented and fun to watch. I look forward to every game despite some of the disappointing losses. I renewed by season tickets despite the 30% increase in prices because they provide a quality product. Call me whatever, but I’m happy to be a hawks fan right now.

Do you remember the joy when we went into Boston and just dominated them? Or when Jamal hit that shot against Phoenix? Or how we bounced back and beat Dallas after losing to the Knicks? Sure there are disappointments, I’d rather be us than the Knicks, Heat, or anyone else that we may have faltered against.

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A player doesn’t get better by sitting on the Bench

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I agree with the first post. The coach has maxed out and the leader has all the skills but no heart. You have to have the attitude that you are willing to die out there to keep from losing (see Ray Lewis he is past his prime but he has will power over his opponents) In sports it starts with tough hard nose defense (Need a center who can rebound and block shots, I proposed Sam Dalembert yes he is over paid but given the chance he is walking with 15 boards and 3 blocks a game. And is contract is up next year. We just needed to rent him for this run) So the bottom line is its exciting basketball with 50 wins and out in the 2nd round. But with Dalembert and a deadly 3 pt shooter in the place of Mario West this team had a chance for a real run at the finals.

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Well, I agree he would probably progress faster by playing, but then you have to deal with the rookie mistakes and the nice ATL fans would run him out of town before he could develope.

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Bibby makes ROOKIE MISTAKES. In the Knicks game he passed the ball to someone in the stands. I mean no one was within 10 feet of that pass. Woody wants to chew Teague out but won’t chew his Butt Buddy Bibby out.

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JEJE,

an investment banker for golman sachs?? no wonder they went under. you spend A LOT of time bloggin’ instead of managin’ folks money. woody can control his players in the 4th qtr. jus’ like your manager can’t control your bloggin’ arse!!

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Woody is the reason why this team is faltering right now. This has been a recurring problem every since this man has been head coach and, only the maturation of Josh Smith, Al Horford, and Joe Johnson has this team been able to improve every year. Woodson still can’t devise a solid game plan much less adjust to whatever the other team is doing well and stop them. He also continues to tire out his players because he won’t (or maybe can’t) bring 5 role players off the bench to give his starters a much needed breather (Jamal, Za Za, and Mo Evans is not enough). Perhaps the biggest issue to me is his refusal to call time outs whenever the opposing team already has built up momentum instead of stopping the bleeding. These next few games are critical for playoff positioning and our window for having homecourt throughout the playoffs is getting dimmer. Lets hope these guys can continue to play inspired Basketball despite their coach’s limitations.

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ant banks,

It’s called a joke, idiot. I type in all caps because I am pissed off this team underachieves

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The Hawks look lazy, tired, un-inspired, always looking for someone to step up and be a leader…………….and, they have the heart of a hampster.
IF they make the playoffs they’ll be gone in the first round.
Totally boring.

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Woodson will always play his veterans. Teague could have 20 points and 6 assists in a quarter and would get a DNP the next game because our coach is a clueless idiot

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MC, I think more than anything it’s the travails of an 82 games season. Teams are going to endure slumps over the course of the season…but in the Hawks case the slumps has come in the second half against lesser teams…which have been very disheartening to say the lease.

I think Woody touch on a key point when he admitted he was trying to hide guys on defense. To me he is finally acknowledging that the switching defense can be a liability because of curtain player’s physical limitation, and that’s putting mildly…why keep deploying it…if that is the case. lol

I also think fatigue is an another key factor for the team. It is time to start curtailing guys like JJ, Bibby, Josh, and Al minutes. I’m not suggesting that Woody randomly take his key guys out of the game at critical times…but when the opportunity presents itself…like when guys are struggling or foul trouble…play one of the reserves not name Crawford.

It is a scary thought to see LBJ resting for the playoff…while our key guys continue logged HUGE minutes.

I hope that this tough stretch of games galvanized the team and help them to refocus…time is running out.

GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I think the Hawks should hire Dominique Wilkins and Patrick Ewing as co-player coaches. The Hawks should buy out Patrick Ewing’s contract with the Orlando Magic as an assistant coach and rehire Dominique Wilkins and Patrick Ewing and get them back on the nba floor to play basketball along with the current group of Hawks. The Hawks have no direction, but these HOF players are young enough to still still have game and play hard, providing enough scoring punch to help the youngsters win. I truly dont know whats wrong with the Hawks. I do know that I believe the Hawks have tapped out their current roster as far as progress, growth and talent is concerned and I dont think they will finish with more wins than last year. From what I saw from the Hawks in the Knicks game, the Hawks should finish right at .500 which means in the final 20 games, im expecting the Hawks to finish 1-18 and just to hit the bullseye and make it to .500. The Hawks need only one win to finish at .500, but I think thats all they are capable of winning for the rest of the year. They are currently 40-23 which means they have 19 games left. The Hawks cant beat anybody if you have trouble against New Jersey, Golden State and the Knicks [the three worst teams in the league]. If the Hawks cant beat those 3 teams or have trouble beating them, everybody else in the league is better than those 3 and Im expecting the hawks to lose almost all of their remainding games. I think the Hawks have showed me THEY ARE SATISFIED WITH 40 WINS FOR THE YEAR. THE HAWKS APPEAR TO BE COMPLACENT WINNING 40 GAMES THIS YEAR. it appears to me that the Hawks think that 40 wins IS ENOUGH VICTORIES FOR THE HAWKS for this season. Why? Because everyone knows in the Eastern Conference you can finish 20 games under .500 (at 31-51) and still make the playoffs. When the Hawks first made the playoffs under woodsen, they finished at 37-43 (a pathetic regular season record) and still easily made the playoffs.

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FIRE WOODSON. That easy. I am tired of seeing this team play the same way. Although we started off with alot of promise, we are reverting back to exactly what happened last year:
-Rookie point guard is not getting any PT and not getting better
-Joe, Al, and Josh are getting tired from playing too many damn minutes so Woodson can pad his regular season stats and try to save his job
-Josh is starting to shoot more and more long jumpers again
-Horford is still undersized and can’t handle decent true centers
-Hawks are still choking in crunch time (maybe because the starters are too tired at the end of the game?)
-The coach still doesn’t know how to use his bench. Joe Smith, Jason Collins, Randolph Morris, Zaza, Teague? Don’t expect to see them unless we’re up by 20 against the Timberwolves.

It’s insane to keep doing the same thing and expect different results.

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Amen BYC!!

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Micheal, because of their lack of intensity, I’m real concerned about getting out of the first round! The Elite teams don’t have the same intensity issues as the Hawks. Look at the so called “bad Loses” there’s way to many of them! What do you think?

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Who cares about 50 wins? Why the F is that still our focus…..you think the Cavs or Celts or Nuggs or anyone else is shooting for a win total?

How about we shoot for a playoff ready team that is peaking at just the right time and all the players and coaches on the same page……50 wins is all good and dandy, but it sounds more like a consolation prize

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MC,
Ask Woody why he continues to play two starter who combined don’t produce!(Bibby and Marvin of course)

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Hire Billy Knight back? NO

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[BEST BLOG OF THE YEAR]. There should be two changes in the Hawks starting lineup. Bibby and Marvin should be demoted to the bench; Crawford should get promoted to the starting lineup; and the rookie Teague should start in place of Mike Bibby because Bibby doesnt deserve to be starting at this juncture. With the revisions to the starting lineup that I just mentioned, THE HAWKS CAN WIN A TITLE THIS YEAR. DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE HAWKs RECORD SHOWS THAT THEY ARE AN ELITE TEAM, THEY ARE NOT CURRENTLY PLAYING LIKE ONE AND ARE HAVING INTENSITY ISSUES THROUGHOUT THE COURSE OF THE GAMES. If you add Teague and Crawford to the starting lineup, there will no longer be intensity issues. Crawford is going to bring it for 48 minutes, and the rookie Teague, with his speed will electrify the starting lineup (SIMILARLY TO THE WAY SPUD WEBB USED TO DURING THE HUBIE BROWN AND MIKE FRATELLO YEARS) and give it the lightning bolt that it needs to inject energy into the starting lineup. You can then bring a fresh Marvin Williams off the bench and Starvin Marvin will come in fresh, bursting with energy off the bench. You can then bring in a fresh, experienced and playoff tested and battle tested Mike Bibby to re-engineer and orchestrate the offense (like a conducter in an orchestra) when the offense becomes stagnant. I think that will change the dynamics of the team and the net effect of that will absolutely ENERGIZE THE HAWKS. This also means that the Hawks will come out of the gate fast and strong and ready to blow the opponent away.

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Can we recycle some post from last years blog at around this same time? some old story….start strong…….fade slowly…..many excuses…..no changes…..yawn

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Coach Woody, you said you are trying to figure out whats wrong with our defense and why we cannot play consistent defense? If you can make us do this, then why are you are coach?

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THIS IS THE ONLY TEAM IN THE NBA THAT HAS STARTERS DOING HORRENDOUSLY AND WILL NOT MAKE CHANGES TO THE STARTING LINEUP.

OK: Teague is not great. His jumpshot is ugly as hell (should be closer to his head), and he is a bit timid like Acie. HOWEVER, he is one of the fastest players I’ve ever seen play on the Hawks, can get in the lane, and besides fouling jumpshooters, really DOES NOT hurt this team. He is NOT as good as the other stud rookie PGs, but he is serviceable. If he works all summer on his jumpshot and gets a bit bigger (his arms are already a little bigger), he will be a solid PG.

So bench this fat lard Mike Bibby, who is 5 years past his prime, who plays OFFENSE when he is on DEFENSE because his defensive IQ is ATROCIOUS, and he doubles players who don’t need to be doubled, leading to wide open 3’s for the other team.

In addition, get a motivational speaker in to MOTIVATE Marvin to play hard EVERY game. I hate seeing this garbage about how he needs to step up and that will make us unbeatable. The reason he never gets the ball is because he is an awkward stiff who does not want the ball.

Thank you

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Has anyone notice the Atlanta Hawks are just not great but a good team. It’s not the team fault the NBA will not allow the Hawks to be of Championship caliber like the LA, BOS, and SAN. The league doesn’t want a team that has had a bad regular season and payoff history to become Champs with out paying due. First this team needs to improve its marketing and personal operation. I don’t understand how TNT and NBA TV can broadcast out of Atlanta but doesn’t support the local team. I can watch ESPN Sport center for 50 minutes and there will not be one highlight of the Hawks game. Why? Do the Hawks have a video team? Now as far as to what player or coaching changes are needed. The Hawks have 3 starters currently playing out of position. Marvin Williams, Josh Smith, and Al Hartford. Why? We need a big here with M.William on the bench or out. Most of the top teams made a player change in the past 2-3 weeks. The Hawks had none. Why? This organization need to wake up and stop sleeping walking.

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Mike Woodson = Anti-Christ

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lol@half of Woodson’s latest comments have involved a bunch of crap about “not being sure”…”confused”…”mind boggled”

atleast he’s being honest….give him the boot. How can you expect the blind to lead? Simple as that.

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Can’t blame BK…

this unraveling is all under Rick Sund’s watch.

The infamous re-signing of Mike Bibby 3yrs/$18M will haunt this franchise for two more years. Despite being outplayed by Flip Murray and trading for PG Jamal Crawford the Hawks GM stupidly overpaid for Bibby ’s services. It was apparent to everyone with half a basketball brain that Bibby was washed up last season.

What did they think? A new set of legs would rise from the grave like Lazarus?

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TROTTINGHOME: WHAT coaching ability?

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Bibby has broken 10 points twice in the last 6 games. Those two times were against Golden State and Philly.

it’s obvious the players are tired of Woodson. Bibby and Marvin aren’t tired of him — they just suck. Bibby did nothing to get better past summer. You look at Nash who is around 37 and he could probably run 3 miles faster than Bibby could run 1. Marvin just sucks. I hope he goes back and finishes his African American studies degree this summer and works out with Sean May because that’s about all he has going for him in his pathetic NBA Career

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How could anybody justify Bibby over Teague at this point. I’m not saying Teague is gonna be some boy wonder but wth does Bibby do? Bibby doesn’t deserve to start on a D-League team.

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“So what to make of these Hawks?”

Humble pie would be appropriate. De-feathered, of course, and without all the other yucky stuff.

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Memphis is beating the Celtics so bad that the Boston crowd is booing them in the 1st half… Rudy Gay is killing them…

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The hawks had a chance to make a productive move last summer instead they resigned Bibby Marvin Williams and ZaZa Joe Johnson made a comment about Ramon Session during the off season they let the guy slip Mark Bradley made a comment about a trade Caron Butler for Marvin Williams so many trades were done that the hawks had an opportunity to capitalize on the bottom line is you have to change up your lineup to match other teams if not each year everyone knows and become well known with you starting five.

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Last year Orlando lost 23 games during the regular season. So far this year they have lost 20 games with 17 games remaining. Last year the Celtics lost 20 games during the regular season. So far this year they have already lost 22 with 20 regular seasons to go. Last year the Cavaliers lost 16 games during the regular season. So far this year they have lost 15 games with regular season games to go. Last year the Hawks lost 35 games during the regular season. This year they have lost 23 games with 19 games remaining. Using these figures as a criterion the Hawks have improved more than either of the top three teams from last year. These are facts not opinions which in the common basis for condemning this team on this blog. The obvious fact is that there has been a decline in so-called “elite” Eastern teams. Despite all of the gloom and doom on this blog the Hawks have improved. Their improvement is obvious if you choose to look at the issue from an objective standpoint.

However, it is also obvious that for the second year in a row the team has not performed as well in the second half of the season as they did in the first half of the season. I have neither the time nor the inclination to do the kind of research necessary to see if this same kind of decline has occurred with the other top teams in the East. I suspect that it would prove true. One of the statistics that I do pay attention to is the point differential. I remember early in the year the Hawks had over an eight point plus per game differential but other top teams in the East had even better margins. Right now the top margin is the Cavaliers +7.2. So I think it is highly likely that there is a decline in the winning percentage of all of the top teams.

I think fans should back off a little and see how the season plays out. Certainly two years ago going into the playoffs no one expected the Hawks to play the kind of inspired basketball that would take the eventual NBA champion Celtics to a seven game series. At this point in the season I failed to see why a discussion of the role of the players and coach is the main focus of this blog.

I can understand a discussion of weakness of players is a appropriate. I understand criticism of coaching decisions is appropriate. But save this other stuff for the summertime.

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Rod, I am with you and Melvin.

Rudy Gay is a star in this league. He can do anything Joe can, is probably a bit taller than Marvin, and just needs talent around him. Memph has a nice core of players, but he’d do great here. MAYBE WE CAN GET BACK SOMEONE WE PASSED ON IN THE 2005 OR 2006 DRAFTS. Start Craw + Gay = buckets all over

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BOSTON ISN’T EVEN PLAYING WELL RIGHT NOW. OF COURSE IT IS MANDATORY FOR US TO NOT GO ON WINNING STREAKS OR BEAT BAD TEAMS ANYMORE

SEASON IS OVER WITH MARVIN, BIBBY, AND WOODROW ON THIS TEAM

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Rod,

Even if Joe stays I still want Rudy Gay (that kind of rhyme)… I’m not sure if Memphis is willing to pay him (see Brewer) and it would be in their best interest to receive value in return for him (S&T, hello Marvin) instead of letting him walk as FA (to NY, Miami or Nets)…

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Scott Skiles does something Woody does not do, bench players who are not producing. Skiles will not hesitate to pull his starting 5 if they are out there stinking it up. Ol Woodrow for the life of him just wont try something different regardless if what he’s doing is not working. At this point Teague cant be any worse than Bibby. Seriously what is Bibby doing out there that justifies him still starting? Please let me know because im just not seeing it. I’m pretty sure the rookie can score 10 points and dish out a few assist with better defense. Woodrow feels as if we win more games then we improved. Winning 50 games means nothing if it looks like you wont even get out the first round.

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This clearly is not the most talented team in the NBA. Only 1 legitimate alstar and a Gimmick rated as the #24blocking center who is also known as a conspiracy by other coaches to cause a salary issue.

Other than Joe, who is really championship quality on this team…. OK maybe teague, but other than teague who is really a champion on this team…. ok maybe moe evans and Zaza, but other than Morris and evans and zaza this team is with out champions. Woodson why cant you win a championship with this, maybe the most talented team ever?

Its all your fault!

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Wow! Memphis putting the beatdown on Boston, at home too! Complain all you want, Hawks fans, but Boston sliding faster than Hawks. Celts lose tonight, and they’d be tied with Hawks for 3 spot.

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they cant be tied because boston will win there division so even if atlanta has a better record they will still be fourth.

The sound of fools sprewing ignorance

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*spewing

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THIS WAS AND IS A FORTH PLACE TEAM. PERIOD, FOOLS. JUST LIKE THE EXPERTS SAID.

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Good points, Hawks are doing better than predicted!

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Experts don’t know sh!t! They’ve been getting it wrong about the Hawks for years! Look it up.

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It doesn’t matter anyway. If Hawks had won the games they should have won, they would have been pushing Orlando for the division lead. If they’d come up tops in their division, then it wouldn’t have mattered where Boston finished up. Unless Boston tank it up coming down, Hawks gonna end up 4th in the East.

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Probably better to finish 4th in the East, even though Boston sucks now. We have no shot vs. Orlando or Cleveland. LeBron will get every whistle he wants, no matter how well/how close we play them. Jamison, Mo Williams, and DELONTE (who SCORED AS MANY POINTS AS JOE DID IN LAST YEAR’S SERIES, LOLOLOL) will be enough of a handful. Also shouldn’t forget Ilgaskas, who does not miss jumpshots, and Shaq who will be healthy.

basically, Boobie and Delonte are scary enough with their shooting and penetration, then you add the rest of that star-studded roster and Varejao and it’s going to be an easy sweep.

Orlando, on the other hand, has 3 pt shooters (just like Cleveland) and will own us too. We are not built to make a run.

My only hope for the rest of the year is that we beat the Lakers at home. I do not want Kobe to hit a game-winner in our arena.

Other than that, there’s not much else to hope for.

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This squad is not a championship team, youd have to be drugged to think this team is going anywhere but out in the second round. It not any players or coach’s fault. This team is playing about as good as it can with this roster and the lack of a center.

Get real.

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Teague is an error in the making. Dude cant play.

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Oh- and they can dance. Forgot that.

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And rape white girls. Sorry-missed that one!

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“as for Woody never calling out Marvin and Bibby, see my blog post from Saturday in which Woody said he told Marvin, Bibby and Zaza in meeings: “Pick it up, and quit succumbing and going through the motions like you don’t want to be out there.”

Woody earns cool points with me for that but he needs to be more stern. Some games I’ll take Tea over Bib, Mo over Aflac, and Rando over Za(they both suck). Send a message with Teague starting a game.

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fire teague!

Looks like the Hawks are 100% to make the play offs but only 4 percent change to win the division and 4% to win the conference and 4% to win the championship.

Got a center anyone?

fire teague!

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U look at ORL and Cle and see 4-5 deadly 3 pt shooters, not including their superstars.

U look at the Hawks and u see Jamal and Joe as our only real shooters LOL

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ORL AND CLE will dominate the hawks in the paint!

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one thing I did notice from the Knicks game was Josh Smith’s length really altered a lot of shots and caused misses. He needs to stop gambling for passes and just play his man straight up and contest shots. That’s when he’s at his best, besides his transition D

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How can such a great team keep losing to the Knicks and Bobcats….can it be they have much better coaches? How many players can you name on the Bobcats?! We need a coach or we will lose this team. J-Chill wouldnt come back as a Hawk and J.J. will leave next year unless we make major changes

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What I see are the starters are a little worn out and can’t play consistent defense or rebound for 48 minutes. You can see it with the poor transition defense and defensive rebounding. Marvin has been picking up his defensive rebounding but it hasn’t made up for the overall slow transition defensive or poor rotations in the half court defensive. Woody has to find a better rotation for the 3rd and 4th quarters of games so the starters can be fresh and perform better. He hasn’t built enough confidence in his bench, so I don’t think their ready to play longer minutes. What I saw in the 4th quarter of the Dallas game was guys with tired legs, hoping they could win. Opposed to guys with fresh legs, attacking Dallas’s defensive looking to win the game. I’m not putting this all on Woody, but I believe minutes are the one area that a coach has some real control of the game. I believe that the bench guys need about 5-8 more minutes a game in the 2nd half for the starters to be fresher for the 4th. I don’t think that is a lot of time, but could have a significant effect on the game.

Overall though, I don’t think winning a lot of games in the regular season is going to matter because we’re going to have to play either Cleveland or Orlando in the second round, Boston isn’t going to get the 2nd seed. We have to get better as a team and really move to that elite level. I see significant improvement from Al and Smoove down in the paint, but right now I think we really need more production for Zaza, Mo, and Joe Smith off the bench. I think if our starters are fresh for most of a game, we can hang with Cleveland or Orlando.

GO HAWKS!!!

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All the anti-Teague sentiment baffles me. Understand one thing, he’s a rookie. I get that he’ll make his share of mistakes. But, at this point, Bibby is literally giving us next to nothing if he’s not making his jumpshot (which is way too often). What will we possibly lose letting JT0 get PT with the starters? We lack a true PG, and as of now, JT0 offers us much more on both ends of the floor over Bibby IF BIBBY’S NOT MAKING HIS JUMPSHOT. Bibby’s had some good games this season, but it’s become increasingly noticeable that as the season’s gone on, Bibby’s bad games outweight his good one’s. I think that at this point, you have absolutley nothing to lose. It’s likely we’ll end up with a #4 seed, and if we get past the 1st round, we’ll play Cleveland in the 2nd. I don’t know how confident you are in what the Hawks are doing at the moment, but it appears pretty obvious that they need some sort of spark. If that means experiment with the rotation, then there’s no need not to pursue this. Let’s see what our bench guys can do, specifically the rookie. There are plenty of rookie gaurds that have showcased what they can do this season, why is JT0 so different? There’s no need to play a 6-man rotation at this point in the season, because for one, it’s not working. Two, it’s just wearing out our starters legs. We need these guys in top-shape come playoff time.

Let’s get the bench guys some more minutes. I’m tired of seeing Joe Smith and JT0 come in for 5 minute spurts and then not re-enter the game. Joe Smith had a good 6 or 7 minutes against Miami in the 1st half, and hasn’t seen the floor since. This makes no sense, especially considering J.Smith clocked 43 minutes in the last game at NY. Utliize the bench now, it’s obvious Woody won’t use them come playoff time. We get tight way too early, and it’s rooted directly to Woody. You can’t let the starters play out the entire 4th quarter, and the majority of the 2nd half. We’ve had way to many collapses to not come up with a different approach. Get it together.

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By the way, I know my rant is meaningless, because it’s unlikely Woody changes a thing.

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we can nit-pick Marvin, Bibby and Woody for sure, but the thing that is consistent about the Hawks is they don’t play smart. They continue to throw up 20 foot jump shots when then have a clear advantage inside. They don’t shorten the game by using clock when they have a big lead in the 4th quarter. No matter how big the lead gets, or how bad the opponent is, they will let a team back in the game.
Is that all coaching, the team is mostly young but those guys are veterans now.

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don’t dog me for the typo guys.

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LOL @ JustChill . . it’s been madness around here since Monday night. They’ll be OK though. I think.

Disappointed a little in Mike Cunningham though. He wrote a great article about the lack of defensive focus, but he’s taking notes from the Bradley/Schultz School of Blogging, with that “Hawks are 23 – 19 since Dec. 26th” stat.

While that stat is true, I just don’t understand why people want to view this team in the most negative light all of a sudden? At the start of that 23 – 19 record, we had lost 4 straight games and had lost 6 of 8 at that point ( the worst stretch of the season )

Since then, we’re 23 – 15 . . haven’t lost more than 2 games in a row . . and is 6 – 3 in our last 9 games.

(( shrugging shoulders ))

It is what it is I guess. Can’t write about the Hawks having problems I guess, unless you frame the season in its most negative light.

Just a mere 6 days ago, MC was gushing about Marvin and Zaza:

Marvin says he has his “mojo” back. I knew something was up when he bucked up on Kirk Hinrich . . . . Zaza was in a bit of a funk for a minute. Now he’s back to being energetic and efficient.

2 losses later, it’s . . .

What to make of these Hawks, who lately have faltered while losing games within their grasps and not always in the same fashion?

LOL @ MC . . don’t fall into the trap man. Keep giving us the good stuff, but don’t fall into the negativity trap until this team gives you a REAL REASON to believe that something is terribly wrong.

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KevinA . . think about the games we could’ve lost?

The Houston game ( Smoove’s tip in at the buzzer )
The Phoenix game ( Crawford’s 3 at the buzzer )
The game @ Dallas in which we played horrible offensively, but pulled out
Shoot . . the Milwaukee game

It all usually balances out.

But you’re exactly right. Would I have taken 40 – 23 at the beginning of the season? No doubt.

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hi hawks fans, greetings to all of you from a hawks fan from serbia, who watches almost all hawks games… i guess we all agree here on one thing, this team has some limitations, but the biggest one being its coach… when it comes to defense, well this switching thing looks so bad… when it comes to offense you just don’t see any coaching there… and then the utilization of players, especially bench… i agree with JeJe, team core should be refreshed and improved each year… but on the other hand i think you can blame woody also for bibby’s and marvin’s play… bibby can still hit the open shot, but then there are games when he shoots just one or two shots… marvin is a young guy, he could thrive with joe and jamal, spotting from outside or sneaking behind people’s backs in the paint… kind of a game that paul millsap has, moving well without the ball and hurting opponents when they are focused on joe, smoove and jamal… jamal could play better also… guy has an unlimited potential… he struggles sometimes with his shot, but has a great court vision… good coach would find a way to use that as well… and what about the rest of the bench? it’s been 60 and something games, and besides jamal woody hasn’t managed to get anything from any other player… look at joe smith… i personally like that guy very much… he is a no-nonsense player, he has a very good mid-range jumper, he looks skinny, but rebounds pretty well… still he plays limited minutes, and when he does, as far as i could notice, he always plays with the rest of the bench… don’t remember joe playing with the starters too much… jamal is the only one who plays minutes with the starters… woody should ease bench guys into the game by having them playing with starters… actually he should ease them into the season finally… playoffs are coming, and yet hawks have only 6 players to count on… and 2 of those 6 have been up and down… mo evans used to play much better… teague is a rookie, but i guess if he could have played extended minutes with starters, it would benefit both him and the team… great team needs to have more bench weapons to rescue them when needed… not every night, but on the nights when starters are struggling… look at the lakers bench… farmar, brown, lamar… these guys come into the game confident, hungry and with a purpose… playing few minutes per game, like mo, joe smith and teague lately do, doesn’t make you too confident… to summarize, i love these hawks very much, but this direction is good enough for the second round of the playoffs only… to go further they need little more talent, and lot more coaching… greetings to everyone from belgrade, serbia.

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get rid of woody and the problems will be solved the hawks need a real play calling coach this two man game with joe on the wing is old and predictable with all this talent the hawks should be leaps and bounds ahead of where they are at but as long as woody win 5 or 7 games more than last year we will be stuck with him for another years and 2nd round playoff ouster
sucks!!!!

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Mom: Next 72 hours critical for girl attacked by dogs

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LMAO at the Celtics getting blown out at home by Maemphis!

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The norm for these Hawks will be getting knocked out of the 2nd rd of the playoff, i recommend get either LARRY BROWN or BILL LAIMBEER on the cheap to coach this team it needs another voice& Woody has NO offense period in his coaching Manuals, give the PG keys to Teague trade Marvin and or Bibby for a future pick in the draft.

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gmoney- long time no hear bro. How you been? I hate your last post (8:12). Because you are right on the money and I just don’t want to believe that about my team. But, good lord how many times do we have to hear “we lose focus”? This team has improved from last season and we are not getting blown out like last year, but it is getting old.

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Been reading the Celtics blog on the Globe. They’re fans are giving them the business. lol!!

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Calling Pierce “The awful Truth”. Haha!

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Woody’s idiotic refusal of resting Al and Josh in the second half of games is killing the Hawks. They won’t even make the second round because of this practice.

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[...] one point, I was bragging about our fellow Hawks… now people at work are making fun of [...]

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Can ASG SIGN JOE 4YEAR 68MILL
AND WADE 5YEAR 100MILL ?
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!

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darrell,

What is your motivation to CONSTANTLY post impossible trade suggestions and signings?

Due to the existing cap rules, if the Hawks do not re-sign JJ, they will not be able to offer more than the mid-level exception (5,5 million per) to a free agent.

There is NO WAY we will be able to offer an appealing offer to any of the top free agents unless we arrange a major sign and trade deal involving JJ.

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2010 ATLANTA HAWKS
STARTERS TEAGUE, WADE, JOE, JOSH, HORFORD.
BENCH JAMAL, MOE, CHILL, CHRIS MORRIS, ZAZA.
HEAD COACH AVERY JOHNSON
ALL GAMES SOLD OUT NOT ONE TICKET IN TOWN.
ASG BECOME RICH AND THE HAWKS WIN TITLE.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!

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Why when it come 2 the hawks we have all these crazy rule.
if thats the case the laker have broke every nba rule there is.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!

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HAWKS PAYROLL WILL BE AT 80MILL
GO HAWKS!!!!

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BUT IF THEY SIGN BOSH AND LEBRON THATS AT LEAST 45MILL IT WOULD TAKE THEM OVER THE CAP.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!

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is the game on tv tonight or just league pass?

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Chill will not comeback 2 the hawks and play for woody, but avery johnson is another story.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!

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What im saying vava74 i no all this crazy stuff your talking about and if we sign wade and joe we will be over the cap, but if owner ship wants 2 win there going have 2 pay more money period.
vava74 did you no the hawks will be the only team in the nba 2 make the playoffs under the cap, owner ship must step up 2 the plate and spend more money and stop being cheap and pay the dam luxury tax if they want a title.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!

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darrell starks

I never said they “can’t” trade them anything is possible, but if you were a GM with a very good player. Why would you trade that player to the Hawks for an aging PG & a back up center with 3 year contract?

Also remember Al Horford is due a contract extension this summer as well. If I’m not mistaken he will be a restricted free agent.

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wah wah wah, Hawks lose 3 and everyone goes crazy … typical Atlanta “fans”

Westurd, i agree … 50 wins is great and all but really, that shouldn’t be the main focus. This team will be in the playoffs, be ready to support our guys when they are there.

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The Cavs got Jamison for a “Bag of Peanuts”. & Got to keep the trade bait? Why can’t we do that?

Ask Sund.

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darrell- just so you know, we can’t sign Wade even if we were willing to go over the cap. We will not have a max contract available to use. The team may go over the cap with Joe’s and Al’s contract (probably won’t have to though).
The Lakers got Gasol via trade and the Grizz got some very good young talent in the deal. They were able to get Artest because he took LESS money to play with them.
In the NBA, you can pay your own guys more, but there are restrictions on signing other teams free agents, etc. This is why you have been seeing all these salary dumping moves by teams like the Knicks, they literally traded for McGrady for his contract. So this off season, when they let him go they will have a max contract available, get it?

But, here is my question for you. Why at this point in the season with the Hawks in serious contention, the trade deadline has passed, the playoffs are coming up, and the off season and free agency is three months away, are you concerned with roster moves and trades? You do realize that the team is actually playing real, meaningful games now with the players we have?

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darrell starks

1st rd draft pick, Marvin’s 5 year contract, Bibby’s 3 year contract, & Zaza’s 4 year contract to the Lakers for Andrew Bynum 3 yr contract.

Bynum is a better player and the lakers are paying less on shorter terms.

Now how would that trade make sense?

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Nola- they will be the 3rd seed. The top 6 teams are reseeded in the conference. Fairly, new rule.

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So are you guys telling me the hawks cant make trades and cut payroll in order 2 get wade and sign joe?
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!

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BOSTON PAYROLL IS 90MILL
LAKER PAYROLL IS 90MILL
HAWKS PAYROLL IS 58MILL
HOW IS THAT DANIEL?
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!

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First thing you do in the offseason is resign Joe. Everything falls apart from there. Then you get Horford under contract. At that point, you have some options to look at. We have to see what Childress wants to do, even he doesn’t play here we could sign and trade him. We will have a full MLE so a player like a Brandon Bass (who is unhappy in Orlando) would make a nice addition. I think his contract is too difficult but a player along that calibre. Would I trade Marvin? Sure I would, problem is with the length of his contract I am not sure we can get much value back. A team may be able to get McGrady for a MLE next year, which might be worth the gamble.

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darrell, what was Orlando’s payroll last year? How’s that 90milion working out in Boston right now? Kobe gets 24 milion and is worth every cent, he more than generaes that revenue for the team.

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darrell, you’re retarded … you just compared the Boston/Lakers payroll to the Hawks … hello, both of those cities are BIG NBA cities and have championships. The teams sell out on a nightly basis, hence, they HAVE the money to pay for talent (same as the Knicks/Bulls). When the Hawks start selling out more games & win a championship or two, maybe then you can make that argument. Otherwise, your post makes no sense and you obviously don’t understand the ownership situation either. Do you read the news? And whats this about signing Joe and D-Wade? pipedream and isn’t going to happen, so why mention it

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J where you from wake your azz!!!!!! up all this bs on this board is crazy, look first of all your not sell out no game in the atl with no superstar you should no this by now o i forgot you from canada.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!

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By the way . . . that 25 – 7 home record . . is 5th in the league. Only the Cavs, Lakers, Nuggets, and Magic have better home records.

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OK – I’m reading this blog and I had to go back and check the Hawks overall record – just as I thought – 40-23. 3 games behind Orlando in the loss column – tied with Boston.

You would think the Hawks were 23-40 reading some of these comments.

I can’t wait for the Hawks to get rid of Woody – then you’ll finally see that a new coach won’t do much better with our current roster.

All I heard at the beginning of the season was how the Eastern Conference has improved and the Hawks would have trouble finishing ahead of Chicago, Washington, Charlotte, Miami, Toronto. Who’s record would you rather have at this point?

Stop the fire Woody nonsense – what would be accomplished by firing a coach during the season that has his team in good position going into the playoffs?

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LOL @ Tiger Woo. That’s a great post. But what I did know, is that the bar would be raised as the season progressed. When it became obvious that those teams wouldn’t overtake us in the standings, the fans started crying about how and why we weren’t elite. “Elite” was nowhere near in the vocabulary at the beginning of the season. But now, let people tell it, this team is UNDERACHIEVING.

The Hawks are simply undergoing the natural developmental process of becoming an elite team. The same developmental process that the Jazz, Nuggets, and Blazers are going through.

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NORTHCYDE-allow me to show you how utterly stupid your comment to OSAMA was. You said, “OSAMA….WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN THE BENCH GUYS ARE PLAYING SORRY, AND WE’RE DOWN 6-8 POINTS GOING INTO THE 4TH QUARTER? DO YOU STILL TRUST THEM? It’s obvious you expect him to say you shouldn’t use the bench players.

HOWEVER, WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOUR STARTING PG DOESN’T PENETRATE OR CREATE EASY SCORING OPPORTUNITIES FOR OTHERS, IS CONSISTENTLY TARGETED BY OPPOSING TEAMS BECAUSE HE PLAYS EXTREMELY POOR DEF, AND HAS PLAYED SO POORLY FOR MOST OF THE SEASON THAT HIS OVERALL SCORING, ASSISTS AND SHOOTING PERCENTAGES HAVE BEEN FALLING WITH EACH PASSING GM? DO YOU CONTINUE TRUSTING HIM AND STARTING HIM?

Against Miami, JoSmith grabbed 2REB’s and scored 8Pt’s(3-3FG’s, 2-2FT’s)in 6:44 1st quarter mins without missing a shot. ARE YOU SAYING THAT PERFORMANCE WAS JUSTIFICATION FOR WOODSON REFUSIONG TO USE HIM FOR THE NEXT 7 QUARTERS? ARE YOU STUPIDLY CLAIMING HE PLAYED SORRY OFF THE BENCH? JTeague was allowed to play 5:47 1st quarter mins against the Knicks. He scored 2pts, played solid DEF and had no turnovers, yet he wasn’t allowed to play another second for the remainder of the gm. ARE YOU CLAIMING WOODSON’S REFUSAl TO PLAY AGAIN WAS BECAUSE HIS 1ST QUARTER PLAY WAS SORRY?

With Woodson’s stubborn insistence of starting and giving major mins to the NBA’s slowest, least athletic and generally worst starting PG, both offensively and defensively, how can we get better or more consistent? AND YOU WONDER WHY YOUR BELOVED MORON OF A HC IS STILL SCRATCHING HIS BALD HEAD AND CRYING TO THE MEDIA ABOUT HOW HE CAN’T UNDERSTAND WHAT’S CAUSING THIS TEAMS OFF AND DEF INCONSISTENCIES AND SHORTCOMINGS.

STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES, AND THAT GOES FOR WOODSON AND HIS SUPPORTERS.

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DERRELL SHUT YO DUCK AZZZ UP CUZ, YOU ARE THE WORST POSTER ON HERE, PLUS U A NEW NIG6A SO RELAX SMH

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Ken . . you’re not going to get me to say that Woody shouldn’t have put Joe Smith back in the Miami game. He probably should’ve gotten a shot to play in the 2nd half.

But we’re talking about a regular rotation of guys, that people feel should play in the 2nd half on a nightly basis, regardless of what the situation is in the game.

Right now, the guys who are playing in the 2nd half are Crawford, Evans, and Zaza. Crawford will play regardless. So will Zaza, seeing that he’s our only true big man on the team. Evans is starting to get a little more burn as well. That right now is the core of our bench.

The facts are these. When the bench comes into a game, and doesn’t positively affect the game, a coach isn’t going to stick with those guys too long, and let them blow the game.

Mr. Strickland, all of your comments are geared toward Teague getting more playing time. I’m actually not against that. But it’s not like he’s affecting the game positively on a nightly basis either. He makes good plays and bad plays. If Woody wanted to give Teague more time . . that’s fine. But Teague also needs to start sparking runs, or really earning his time out there with real good play. That’s usually how bench players get playing time.

As I keep saying, we have one of the worst benches in the league. They’re poor offensively and possibly even worse defensively. Until that changes, Woody is going to live and die with his starters.

The fact that we have a 6th man that can play both the 1 and the 2, keeps Teague off the floor. It’s pretty obvious why Teague doesn’t get more time. You guys simply want to see more of him, regardless of how he’ll affect this team and regardless of the game situation.

Woody will not let the rookie lose games for him. Period.

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I believe the reason why us fans dont come out to support the Hawks on a nightly basis is because we dont know what we are going to get from Woodson & Marvin on a nightly basis. If Woodson coached the way he needs to coach, sub accordingly, rest his starters, play his bench..If Marvin hustled every single game, made a strong effort to get at least 10 boards in stead of hiding around on the floor..and if the team just hustled like Josh Smith every single game and if the team played smart every single game, win or lose, I truely believe more fans would come out to support because we would be truely entertained!! All we need is consistency!!

I’m sorry MsDee, but that’s a cop out. The facts are that the Hawks are a whopping 25 – 7 at home. Regardless of what this team does on the road, the facts are that this is one of the 5 best home teams in the league. If people can’t come out and watch a top 5 home team, then that’s not on the team. That’s on the fans. No basketball team is going to play perfect. They will lose games that they should’ve won. But the Hawks have won 25 of their 32 games at home. That’s 78%. . . which means that for every 5 home games the fans watch, we’re going to win 4 of them.

I know we are 40-23, 3 games back from Orl & tied w/ Boston, but what’s so aggravating to us fans is that we should be better than both of them easily. I say this because for our team to have not made any ‘major’ moves with our line up and to only be down 3 from Orl who has made ‘major’ moves, why aren’t we ahead of them?? For us (Hawks) to havent had ANY major injuries to our core players..well, any players for that matter and Boston has gone thru HELL this season so far with injuries, plus they are much much older than the Hawks, why I ask are we tied with them?? This is the reason us fans dont come out and support as much as we could.

MsDee . . . honestly answer this question. If I would’ve told you before the season started, that we’d be 40 – 23 after 63 games . . tied for the #3 seed in the East . . and still in the hunt to win the Southeast Division . . would you be happy?

See . . while fans keep saying that we should be better, we’ve also won games that we could’ve easily lost this year. The Hawks are simply playing like 50 win teams have played all throughout the history of the NBA. A 50 to 55 win team is going to lose 27 – 32 games in a season. They’re going to win games vs very good teams and they’re going to lose games vs teams they have no business losing to ( especially on the road ).

That’s just the nature of the NBA.

I know people are frustrated by this team showing flashes of being “elite”, but not quite reaching that level. But that’s simply how the NBA, and sports in general go.

As for the fans . . . the fans in ATL need to UNCONDITIONALLY support this team. A bad loss to the Knicks or Warriors should not take away your enthusiasm from supporting the Hawks. Not when we win almost 80% of our home games.

The ATL fans simply have to fully commit to this team, if they expect management to fully commit to the Hawks.

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Northcyde,
I absolutely agree. This team has exceeded my expectations already and I have hope for the playoffs. If we fire on all cyclinders, there’s not team that can stop us. I honestly believe that.
I wish others would stop drinking the haterade and start coming out for games. They have some great ticket specials for some of the lesser games. Doc Rivers said that if we win, the crowds will show up. I hope he’s right.

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northcyde,

I never said the Hawks or any team for that matter, will win every game, but they can play hard and smart every single game. Those guys are getting megga paid so they should work hard and play as if they want to win every single game. To support the Hawks, we have to pay anywhere between $50-90 for decent seats or if u are big shot, $100+ to see 1 game, not several games for that price but 1 game to see them give half effort on the court? After each game, fans should leave the game not upset that we lost but we should feel excited & entertain with the performance and effort the Hawks gave. And if we dont get that on a nightly basis, why should we pay to see half effort if we could see that for free on TV?? You wouldnt pay to see a live play downtown to see bad acting would u?

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Northcyde,

“The adjustment Woody needs to make, is to give Marvin more playing time. Instead of playing Bibby extended minutes at PG when he’s not productive, simply slide Crawford to PG and play Marvin 30+ minutes a game.”

You can’t be serious. What team have you been watching. In your scenario, we still would not be able to score, and no one would check Marvin, which would make us play 5 against 4. Let me tell you something that you might not know. Marvin is not productive either. Bibby is still an offensive threat. Marvin is not.

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A rookie/young player cannot grow if he is not allowed to make mistakes & learn from them(especially @ PG). He doesn’t have to play the critical clutch minutes (last 4-6min) of the 4th qtr, but that doesn’t mean no playing altogether in the 2nd half. How can a player (not just a rookie) grow from doing that?

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NORTHCYDE-Why would you expect more consistency and/or production from the bench than you expect from the starters, who get consisent and extended mins on a regular basis? Why are you expecting Teague, who’s a rookie, to provide this team with contributions that MBibby has definitely been unable to provide for most, if not all of the season?

You keep interating that my agenda is to get more playing time for Teague. Hell, the almost total regression of Woody’s beloved PG MBibby is proving that every gm we play. you said in your last post THAT PEOPLE HAVE TO START ANSWERING QUESTIONS, but I noticed you did a good job of avoiding my questions concerning Woody’s insistence on hurting the team by stubbornly insistenting on playing his beloved Bibby extended mins while all but ignoring Teague. HOW IN THE HELL CAN YOU BE DILUSIONAL ENOUGH TO EXPECT TEAGUE TO SPARK THE TEAM WHEN YOUR DUMBASS HERO OF A HC WON’T PLAY HIM MORE THAN A FEW MINS A GM, AND VIRTUALLY NONE PAST THE 1ST QUARTER?

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Why is it that this team and some of the fans seem to settle for “alright” when it’s obvious this team is capable of so much more. Granted, this team has been irrelevant for much of the last decade, but when you have talent like they do, there is no reason to accept less than your potential. I would be more than satisfied is the Hawks were 41-23 and played hard and smart every most nights. If Woodson consistently made the obvious coaching moves to put this team in the best position to win and they just get outplayed, that’s something any real fan can live with. But how can you call yourself a fan and still justify watching this team beat itself on a consistent basis. This team has talent, youth, athleticism and experience in abundance and yet they continue to find ways to consistently play down to the level of teams that don’t have half of what they do. And anyone that would defend Mike Woodson at this point just really doesn’t watch the games. Until this year, I was a “wait and see” Woodson supporter, but when I watch this team make the same mistakes over and over again and continue to have the same shortcomings they had when they were losing, it’s obvious that his coaching just isn’t going to make the most of the talent this team has to offer. You can’t blame the bench for not producing when they rarely get a real opportunity to produce. You can’t blame a talented rookie PG for not having an impact on the game when he rarely gets the chance to experience the NBA game. Regardless of how bad they were in the past, when a team is as talented as the Hawks and still can’t separate itself from the rest of the pack and truly join the elite teams, the glass isn’t half full, it’s half empty.

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The Hawks need to get rid of their coach (Bozo the Clown (Woodsen)) and hire a good replacement. The Hawks could even trying hiring someone who understands the game thoroughly but has no coaching experience; someone like former nba star and espn nba analyst Marques Johnson. Marques thoroughly understands the game and might do much better than Woodsen ever could. Another good choice would be (former player coach and espn studio analysist AVERY JOHNSON). Either of those two guys would be an incredible upgrade over Woodsen. In fact, ANBODY would be an upgrade over Woodsen.

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Hawks – started out strong – 2 players were all stars (should of had 2 more with Crawford and Smith) – now they lack the killer instinct and try “skating by” each game.

They have the talent to go far in the playoffs but lack the desire to do it every night. They all need “Mario West” like intensity – without it they are done in the first round – it won’t matter who they play.

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