Atlanta Hawks: Getaway day

Why would you give so much for bad knees CP3. I wouldn’t give up so much for an unhealthy player.

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KevinM

If Orlando gets CP3, then keep wishing for a top 4 slot in the East. We will be very fortunate to stay within the top 6.

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Another excellent post. Mr. Strickland is convinced that Teague is light years a better PG than Bibby. He keeps touting Teague’s defense, like he’s the 2nd coming of Rajon Rondo. But in college, Teague was not known for his defense. He was known as a scoring PG. Not a lockodwn one. He wasn’t even known as a big time playmaker.

In the brief time he got into the game vs Milwaukee, Brandon Jennings had absolutely no problem scoring on Teague. When our former coach looked to the bench for defense, he didn’t look at Teague, he looked at Mario West, of all people. So while Teague may be a defensive upgrade over Bibby, it doesn’t mean that Teague will be a good defensive PG. As you point out, until he goes up against some of the good PGs in the league, we won’t know if he can hold his own or not.

In essence, Mr. Strickland’s entire hope for next season, hinges on Teague being able to completely run the show right out the gate. He’s at the very least, expecting him to produce like T.J. Ford in his 2nd year ( 12 ppg – 7 assists – 42% FG ). If Teague can do that, Mr. Strickland will be proven right.

In reality though, Teague’s transition may be a little tougher than what people expect, and he’ll be forced to become part of a 3-headed monster at PG. ( Teague – Bibby – Crawford ( Jamal and/or Jordan). If he can give us 18 – 22 minutes, and average 6 – 7 ppg and give us 4 assists, while shooting 40% FG, that would be decent

If Teague is successful, he and Coach Drew will get all the credit, and the former coach will get blasted for not playing him last year. If Teague is unsuccessful, the former coach will be blamed for him not being able to get it done this year.

So in the grand scheme of things, it’s going to be the former coach’s fault regardless of what Teague does . . just like it was the former coach’s fault for the failures of Sheden Wiliams, Acie Law, Salim Stoudamire, Solomon Jones, Harry the Hawk when he scares a child, and Skyhawk when he misses a dunk.

Like Big Ray said . . this coaching staff, nor Teague, has proven anything yet. Hopefully though, the coaches and Teague will excel at what they do, and improve the Hawks by leaps and bounds. But if it doesn’t happen . . well . . you know whose fault it is.

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Sekou Smith at nba.com thinks the hawks are going to finish third in the east next season.Thats where I blogg at for now on.Its a shame that the AJC let this blogg die morally in MC’s absence.I’ll be back when mc returns.

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” So let’s wait for the trade deadline and address real needs rather than SPECULATED needs.”

The problem with waiting for the trade deadline is that it’s a lot harder to build chemistry with a midseason acquisition than with a guy who is there from day one of training camp. If they can make a big time trade now, they are better off doing so than waiting.

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As I’ve stated previously, I don’t buy into the idea that adding FA’s, especially if they start, automatically makes a team better, or that much better. How many times do we have to see that formula fail before we get it through our heads that it doesn’t automatically guarantee anything.

DOC-Do you remember how SAMUEL and certain others went overboard and was ready to declare the Magic NBA champions when they acquired VCarter? A lot of people believe Cleveland guaranteed themselves a championship when they acquire Shaq and their other FA’s. Do you also remember ANDO and how he was all up in the air about Philly had drastically improved by acquiring EBrand?

What about the immediate believe that San Antonio automatically became an instant championship contender when they acquired RJefferson and their other FA signees? Remember how everyone believed Denver immediately became the best in the West when they acquired C MCamby and PG AIverson? A lot of so called experts, and a lot of you same doubting Hawk fans, rated Chicago, Washington, Miami, Milwaukee and Boston ahead of the Hawks last yr based on trades and FA acquisitions. HOW DID ALL OF THAT TURN OUT?

BIG RAY-you say your reluctance to accept what LDrew, LConnor and their new OFF and DEF systems can do is because they haven’t proven anything yet? Well, what in the hell has Miami, Milwaukee, Chicago, New York, and all of their new players and/or new HC’s, proven so far? You’re reluctant to declare the Hawks improved enough to continue moving forward, but you have absolutely no reluctance in declaring other teams potentially better than the Hawks, including those with new HC’s with new OFF and DEF systems.

Some of you think the Hawks won’t improve, or won’t be as good, because they haven’t added some player that’s big in name recognition, but short on talent and ability. Well, the Celtics will return their starting lineup and most of their bench, just like the Hawks, yet none of you seem to have the slightest problem seeing them being much improved. WHERE’S THE LOGIC?

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Rondo, thanks for the post. Sekou Smith ought to know better. Just on principle alone I cannot see Boston out of the top three. They went to the finals and have kept the same team! Sure the are a year older, but it seems disrespectful to drop them to five.

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One thing we all know about vetern teams is that they rest more in the regular season.Boston being a five seed or lower wouldn’t mean a thing in the post season.I wish they could be a 8 seed next season for they can whoop up on some heat.The hawks will still be a top 4 or 5 team in the east and thats not so bad.

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“Sekou Rankings
1.Miami
2.Orlando
3.Chicago
4.Atlanta
5.Boston
6.Milwaukee
7.New York
8.Charlotte”

Apparently Sekou is smoking some of that good stuff, because this is impossible under NBA rules. Miami, Orlando, and Atlanta are all in the same division. Each division winner is guaranteed a top-4 seed. The top four teams in the conference are the three division winners and the highest wild card. Even if Miami, Orlando, and Atlanta have the three best records in the conference, only two of them can be in the top 4. One of those three teams is guaranteed to finish fifth or lower.

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Sekou stated how they will finish not there seedings.

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After reading the article, he says he’s looking at the “favorites to make the playoff field”. In that case, Boston should be #1, since they could probably go 41-41 and win their division. BOS, CHI, MIL, MIA, ORL, and ATL are the likely top-6 in some order or another, and whoever makes the 7th and 8th seeds is in for a pounding.

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New blog up.

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The addition of J. Oneal really makes the C’s front court softer.With Rasheed retiring(if doc went down-low to the guy in the 4 qtr. they would have been champs by the way)the C’s will not be the beast they were last season in the playoffs.If Sheed somehow decides to come back with the addition of J. Oneal than they would be a tough out in the playoffs.Possible Champs I might add.

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Keep telling us this team will finish 3rd in the East.

It won’t matter; if LD takes this roster to the playoffs, we are sadly in need of a new core. They haven’t stepped up yet, and now people here are making statements about this being a transition year. What if there is a lockout? So much for transition.

I am still trying to grasp the no-championship run this year. If you aren’t playing to win the championship, why the he!! are we even going to games?

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Rev . . I don’t think many people expect the Hawks to slip in the regular season. We’ll win 49 – 52 games probably. But you can’t deny that in the playoffs, we’ve ran into major problems the last 2 years. We’ve seen our 1st round series go 7 games both times, and we’ve been blown out of the gym in the 2nd round both times.

The Hawks have lacked both the physical and mental toughness it takes to grind through the playoffs. At this point, a tweak to the “so-called core”, or at the very least, bringing in another bonafide rotational player, is probably needed.

Some people think that we’ll make a move at the trade deadline, if we need to add a player or something. 2 problems with that.

1) . . if we’re looking to make a move at that point, something is probably going wrong with our “core”. If our ownership likes our core so much, why would we make a move at the trade deadline to bring someone else in?

2) Our ownership has basically said in no uncertain terms that they WILL NOT PAY the Luxury Tax, unless it’s for the right player ( i.e, – superstar ).

A team trading with us is probably going to be looking to unload a player with multiple years on his contract. And in exchange, they’ll take back an expiring contract(s) for cap relief. Say we have a situation with Jamal Crawford, struggling with his shot. And Houston just can’t get it together, because Yao never fully recovered from his foot injury. Kevin Martin is balling, but it doesn’t matter. They’re going to decide to blow it up and start over.

Houston calls Atlanta, asking if we would be interested in taking Martin for Jamal Crawford. Martin would replace the scoring prowess that Crawford isn’t bringing, and would also allow both Martin and JJ to start at the 2 and the 3.

Crawford is an expiring contract, making 10.1 million . . . Martin makes 11.1 million next year, and would have 2 more years left on his contract, totaling almost 25 million.

With Horford’s impending contract situation coming up in 2011, do you think that the ASG would trade Crawford for Martin ( and his extra 2 years @ 25 million ), just to see if the Hawks can add more punch in the lineup, and make a playoff run?

I don’t think they’ll do it.

If they did do it, they’ll have to basically give away some fringe players, just to stay under the Luxury Tax. So I don’t think they’ll do it.

They may make a minor move, by using the TPE. But what else are they going to do, besides bringing in an unsigned free agent?

I don’t think so. They have told us that they’re trying to build an “elite” team WITHOUT going into Luxury Tax land. If a move like that would put us into the Tax next year ( assuming that Horford is re-signed ), they they’re not going to do it. Or if they do it, they’ll let Horford walk.

Just because we may want to make a move at the deadline, doesn’t make us be able to make one. The type of player that we may want, may not even be available. T

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NBA 2010-2011 season predictions?
here is mine…..

MVP-Kevin Durant:35 ppg, 10 rpg, 4 apg
ROY-John Wall: 20 ppg, 7 apg, 3 rpg
D-Fenceive player of the year-Dwight Howard:22ppg, 14 rpg, 3 blocks
Most Improved-Daniel Gibson: 16 ppg, 6 apg, 1.5 rpg
Sixth man-Ben gordon: 20 ppg, 6 apg, 4 rpg
COACH of year-Eric Spoltspra(Heat)

EAST——-
1. Miami Heat(60-22)they are a new team so they must get used to eachother, so they wont get 70 games but LBJ, wade and cb4 together can settle the team to greatness.
2. Chicago Bulls(60-22)they tie the heat with best record but they get 2nd spot cause heat wins tiebreaker, heat is a little bit better than bulls cause of the MIAMI BIG 3 but bulls are gr8 too.
3. Boston Celtics(58-24)they are still gr8 cause they added Jermaine Oneal but they got older
4. Orlando Magic(52-30)Orlando was a bust last season in pl8offs, and they got worse cause vince is older. But they are still a great team and hungry
5. Cleveland Cavaliers(50-32)Dnt argue with me on this one, who says the cavs cant play without LBJ? Mo williams is easily capable of averaging 20ppg and so is antawan jamison. Dont be a cav hater, these guys get 5th seed.
6. Washington Wizards(48-34)HOLY CRAP, John wall, and gilbert arenas on the same team!!!!??
the wizards roster is easily the best team in the east(Yes, better than miami)but chemistry problems and old age will cause the wizards to be 6th.
7. Detroit Pistons(46-36)ben gordon is used to the pistons playbook now, so chemistry should be no problem, and stucky is getting better, these guys go for 7th seed.
8. Atlanta Hawks(45-37)lol, these guys got nowhere but WORSE. they will still make the playoffs, but they arnt good(remember getting owned by the magic?)

WEST————–
1. LA Lakers(63-19)Yup, they get best record, no chemistry probs, these guys are the team to beat.
2. Okc Thunder(60-22)they tie with the bulls and the heat. K. Durant will explode this year and prove he is the next thing to jordan himself
3. Dallas Mavericks(57-25)these guys are good in the regular season, but choke in the pl8offs, END OF STORY
4. Denver Nuggets(54-28)ehhhh, same as usual
5. Sacromento Kings(53-29)now dont be surprised by this one, remember the back court of tyreke evans and the other rookie guard? both those guys can average 15-20 points a game this season, watch the kings to make a comeback.
6. Portland T-Blazers(52-30)ehh, same as usual.. but watch the blazers beat the mavs, lol
7. San Antonio Spurs(50-32)these guys can still play, they are still a gr8 team
8. LA Clippers(48-34)the clippers are finally in the playoffs, but will LOSE TO LAKERS

Lakers vs. Heat in the finals

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Sautee, I wish you guys would take that else where. This is actually a blog for basketball. Really. Too much rift/raft from you and your buddies, drmaryb and grandad. Why dont you guys just move along. let people enjoy talking about hawks basketball.

Thank you.

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dragon you have some interesting predictions. Bulls and OKC at 60 wins. Boston 2 away from 60. Sac at 53 and on par with Denver and Portland. The Pistons leapfrog. Cleveland still a 50 win ball club.

Talk about going out on a limb.

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the Heat & Bulls will not win 60 games thats a joke.

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Gotta laugh at how some writers are portraying Chris Paul as “pulling a Lebron” in New Orleans.

Hardly.

Look at what Cleveland did to put guys around Lebron. Now compare that to what the Hornets did to put guys around Paul. Big, big difference.

Can’t blame CP3 for wanting out. He’s been wanting out…

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Josh Powell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uM8ba99_WU

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6. Milwaukee Bucks – What if Andrew Bogut hadn’t gotten injured just before the playoffs? Many have wondered if the Bucks would have been able to upset the Atlanta Hawks in the first round and put up a better fight against the Orlando Magic. But rather than dwelling on their bad luck, the Bucks have moved on a big way. Going into the offseason, Milwaukee wasn’t one of the teams that were expected to make many moves. But several weeks later, the team has handed out contracts to Corey Maggette, Drew Gooden, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Keyon Dooling, Jon Brockman, and Larry Sanders while retaining John Salmons. The team that won without spending money is now taking things to another level by opening up their wallet. Rather than waiting for their talent to develop as we’ve seen the Oklahoma City Thunder and Portland Trail Blazers do in recent years, the Bucks are being proactive by signing veterans and surrounding their youth with players that can help them experience success now. While Brandon Jennings and Andrew Bogut will still be the main options and most important players in Milwaukee, the new acquisitions give them some more weapons to work with and opposing teams will have to deal with a Bucks team that is looking to win now.

Read more NBA news and insight: http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=16915#ixzz0uh85Chaa

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The Hawks do have the option of using the TPE (~$3.7 mil) at the trade deadline, so that would allow them to keep their core intact, but still add another piece.

But why wait until you see how the team responds? Why not give LD as much depth as you can for the start of the season?

I’m not a basketball expert, but to me, I think the Hawks needs are obvious. But the ASG believes the only thing the Hawks needed was a new head coach.

I hope they’re right.

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MACORONI TONY-EXACTLY! It’s true that the Hawks have made very few player changes. However, they did make the most important change needed to make them a much better overall team and playoff contender. How can anyone be delusional enough to think the Bulls will be better than the Hawks just by adding KKorver and CBoozer to their starting lineup.

Neither player has achieved any credit or recognition whatsoever for his DEF ability. Korver is nothing more than a bigger, taller and more athletic version of MBibby, a one dimensional 3pt shooter. Last yr, the Utah Jazz(53-29)proved to be a much better team than the Chicago Bulls(41-41), and both Kyle Korver and Carlo Boozer played on that Utah team. And now that they’re with the Bulls, some of you think they’ve automatically become as much as 20gms better, as well as better than an Atlanta Hawk team that basically dominated both teams last yr, WOW!

Some of you are even rating Milwaukee higher than the Hawks. ABogat only missed the last 5gms of the regular season last yr, which means he played in 2 of the 3 gms played between the 2 teams, 2 of which were played in Milwaukee. We won the 1st meeting 102-106 in OT, and lost the 2nd 98-95, with both ABogat and JSalmons playing. We won the 3nd meeting 104-96 with Bogat out, but Salmons played.

They added SF CMaggette, which should improve their OFF, but what does it do for their DEF. Everyone has been whaling on and on about the Hawks needing to get bigger and stronger inside. Well, what have the Bucks done to get bigger and stronger inside, and why is it an issue for us and not them? Everyone with an IQ knows why we had trouble with Milwaukee in the playoffs. Woodson, as usual, was totally lost when it came to preparing his team and/or coaching under playoff conditions, and the players had all but quit on him.

OBRIEN-Everyone raise your hand if you believed the 07-08 Hawks would be able to take the eventual NBA champion Celts to 7gms in the 1st rd of the playoff? When it comes to the Celtics and Hawks, because of the tremendous match up problems we present for them, you simply can’t automatically ASSUME a positive Celtics outcome over the Hawks.

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Everyone raise your hand if you believed the 07-08 Hawks would be able to take the eventual NBA champion Celts to 7gms in the 1st rd of the playoff? When it comes to the Celtics and Hawks, because of the tremendous match up problems we present for them, you simply can’t automatically ASSUME a positive Celtics outcome over the Hawks.

Revisionist history, I’m afraid. We’ve been a pretty good home team for a while now, and it really started back then. We won the home games, but got annihilated on the road in that series, losing by an average of somewhere near 20 ppg. Yes, it was our best playoff showing in recent years, if you ask me…and it’s kinda scary.

Now raise YOUR hand if you saw us losing to Orlando by an NBA record number of points last postseason, a team that wasn’t good enough to hold a candle to an older and more depleted team (Boston) that we swept during the regular season? I know I sure didn’t.

And how you do against a team in the regular season doesn’t necessarily forecast how the playoffs are going to go. I know this: matchups are matchups, but it was the Celtics who, despite losing the 3rd seed to us, went to the NBA Finals. We proved we don’t even belong in the Conference Finals. And we’ve done nothing, save change head coaches (which at this point is STILL no guarantee of success) to get over that hump.

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You want Collins to put up 4 assists a game? LOL Bibby can’t even do that

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