Atlanta Hawks: Getaway day
There will be a blog hiatus for a couple weeks while I get away for some me time. There’s a chance I might drop in with a post if anything interesting happens with the Hawks but don’t count on that (either something interesting happening or me dropping in). Meanwhile the beat will be in the capable hands of Ken S., who will chronicle the Hawks’ attempts to pluck a center from the bargain bin.
I suspect not much will have changed with my blog people when I return. Truth-Serum will still be using his multiple identities to agree with himself that Al is a terrible defensive center. JeJe will continue to rip ASG for not letting J.J. walk and using all that cap space to SIGN FREAKIN’ LEBRON. And all of you will wonder how in the heck this squad is supposed to make a move in the East with basically the same guys suiting up.
Be easy until I get back, blog people. Remember, it’s all love and and it’s just basketball . . .
MC
(Note: Commenting is closed until Michael returns Aug. 2)
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1,155 comments Add your comment
O'Brien
July 18th, 2010
2:36 pm
I remember Hubie Brown said that for a team to be successful in the playoffs, the team has to be able to run plays to get guys high percentage shots in the right spot on the floor.
And that spot, says Hubie, should be based on that player’s success during the year. What spot did he have the most statistical success. With Woody, all we had was ISOs.
Houston’s GM is a statistical analyst. Billy Beane in baseball uses a lot of statistics. But you wonder if the Hawks have a statistical analyst on staff.
So I hope Sund and Drew will look at statistics more (for both bench players and starters).
northcyde
July 18th, 2010
2:51 pm
Let’s do one more . . . the world champion LA Lakers
TEAM RANKINGS
OVERALL: #3
BACKCOURT: #5
FRONTCOURT: #3
STARTERS: #4
BENCH: #9
IN THE PAINT: #3
OUT THE PAINT: #5
PG OVERALL: #26
SG OVERALL: #2
SF OVERALL: #12
PF OVERALL: #6
C OVERALL: #4
*******************
INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS BY POSITION
PG: Fisher – #52 . . Farmar – #58 . . . ( which explains why they went out and got Steve Blake – #40 )
G: Bryant – #2 ( D-Wade #1 ) . . Brown – #48 . . Vujacic – #72
SF: Artest – #21 . . Walton – #65 . . Morrison – #68
PF: P. Gasol – #2 . . Odom – #15 . . Powell – #80
C: Bynum – #10 . . Mbenga – #83
*****************
While Laker fans may hate Odom and how he underachieves, it’s his versatility to play both SF and PF that is the icing on the cake for this team. Then you have Gasol, who can also play Center on a top 10 level, as well as PF. And of course, Kobe is the ultimate closer.
Otherwise, their team is just as weak as ours. But their star players are better than ours. Without the team upgrade, I guess this is the team we have to emulate, as far as where production comes from.
northcyde
July 18th, 2010
3:11 pm
O’Brien . . . you’d think that they have to have one. If not, ish, hire me for the damn job.
And to elaborate on what Hubie said. He said that it should be based on that player’s success vs the TOP 6 teams. The way Hubie broke that down, was excellent. He basically wanted to throw out what guys did against bad teams, and concentrate on what they did against the elite teams.
One more for the road . . . a partial look at the HEAT WORLD ORDER
PG: Chalmers – #53 . . Hasbrouk ( R ) – ??
SG: Wade – #1 . . Miller #11 ( he shot 48% from 3 last year )
SF: James – #1 . . Q. Richardson – #28 . . J. Jones – #64
PF: Bosh – #1 . . Haslem – #30
C: Big Z – #44 – Pittman ( R ) -???
That could be your top 11 right there for the Heat . . with them still possibly adding rookies Jarvis Varnado and the injured De’Sean Butler.
Their superstar players can play multiple positions, keeping at least one of them on the floor at all times.
If they have any weakness, it’s in the middle. I hope Shaq has too much of an ego to join them. Because if he joins that group, it’s a wrap.
northcyde
July 18th, 2010
3:13 pm
My bad . . I got carried away with the #1’s . . . Bosh was #3 at PF
Ramon
July 18th, 2010
3:13 pm
O’Brien, I know. I was just bored lol.
northcyde
July 18th, 2010
3:14 pm
LOL . . nevermind . . he WAS #1
O'Brien
July 18th, 2010
3:24 pm
northcyde,
I dont think Shaq will go to Miami. I think they can only pay him the minimum, plus they have already resigned Joel Anthony, signed Big Z, and are rumored to be re-signing Jamal Magloire. Also, as MC said, I think his bridges are burned with Pat Riley. Not mention Shaq’s ego.
Looking at your list though, Miami is going to be a beast with those players. Plus they have done a decent job of filling their bench.
Ramon,
I threw the idea out there of starting Mo Evans at SG, and JJ at SF. Evans played ok when given extra minutes, and he is more of a SG than he is SF. But the concern was having JJ spend all that time at SF.
Maybe thats where JJ will play (SF) in year 4 or 5 of his new contract, but for right now, he is a top 5 SG, and with Drew’s new offense, thats where he’ll be best suited.
northcyde
July 18th, 2010
3:35 pm
That’s who I forgot . . . Joel Anthony. He was their shot blocker anyway last year. He ranked #65.
I wonder if Varnado is even going to make that Miami team? They’ve made commitments to Pittman and Hasbrouck this week, but not yet to Varnado. If they let him go, I wouldn’t mind bringing him into training camp, to see if he can fill the backup PF spot.
O'Brien
July 18th, 2010
3:48 pm
northcyde,
The interesting thing to me, is it seems like some NBA teams can find an undrafted guy from overseas or from the D-League, or a second round pick, and they turn into decent contributors. Guys like Will Bynum, Anthony Tolliver, Joel Anthony, Anthony Morrow, some of the foreign guys that Spurs or Jazz or Phoenix might find.
But that does not seem to happen with the Hawks. Is it because we’ve been injury free, is it because Woody never gave our bench any confidence, is it because our bench players just havent been good.
northcyde
July 18th, 2010
3:55 pm
As for Teague . . I liked the way he’s responded since receiving the criticism after Game 2 when he made those comments. He’s played HIS game, which is to stay on the attack. He was a scoring PG in college, so that’s probably what he needs to look to do on the NBA level. Yes, he’ll have to defer to the vets, but he also needs to know when he has the advantage to go on the attack.
northcyde
July 18th, 2010
4:00 pm
O’Brien . . it’s probably a combination of all of that. But our scouting department is definitely suspect. I think sometimes they concentrate too hard on trying to fill a need, instead of just going out and getting someone who can ball.
New Day
July 18th, 2010
4:09 pm
Same rankings coming from hoops
Check that my mom just took a sampling of the nba hawks and compare them to the rest of the league.
I, like northcyde am search hard for somebody to make the hawks look good. Last year nobody ranked them in the top 8 nba teams and were ranked 5-9 in conference.
Keep in mind the lakers were #15 in offense last year and Woodson had his Hawks virtually tied with them @ 15, thats the bright spot. Woodsons Offense worked. The bad spot is the centerless hawks ranked 15 levels below he lakers for defense. The experts were right.
Here we go,
1 pg Bibby 17th/ teague 61th
2 sg JJ 4th/ J crawfod 10th
3 sf mw 23rd/ moe evans 46th
4 pf josh smith. 4th/ Joe smith 68th
5 c a ho / 17th/zaza/59th
Bottom line When the season begans the hawks will again be picked 5-9 seed and again they will be forecasted to be 1 and done. Reason? They did not address the teams to major weaknesses, Horford’s inability to stop any one defensively and Bibby aging/teague’s lack of NBA calibre mind or game, plus his extraordinary ability to turn the ball over. This team wont sell phillips out.
New Day
July 18th, 2010
4:12 pm
Joel Anthony. He was their shot blocker anyway last year. He ranked #65.
What did Horford Rank? T.S. says 28th is that true?
New Day
July 18th, 2010
4:18 pm
because Woody never gave our bench any confidence,
Is that true? Are grown men, veterans and seasoned pros in need of confidence for there ability? if Shaq were here would he need the coach to give him confidence so he could play better? LOL
Does any man have the power to give another man confidence? Isnt that something you have to have inside?
It just sounds to me like we are baby sitting grown men. You get paid millions to wait on the coach to give you confidence? Sounds like a copout and it sound like these arent championship material players.
More like the PTA little leagues.
dap01
July 18th, 2010
4:22 pm
Same Damn Thing: What did you contribute? What value added thought can you give to the NBA during the offseason when you team is doing nothing, while other teams are signing all of the players.
You call people out about using different names and you are obvious someone using the Same Damn Thing name. I bet you hear that alot from your boy friend.
cp
July 18th, 2010
4:41 pm
Big Ray I truly never understood getting rid of Othello.. He is playing well once again this summer while I doubt Mario is offered a contract from anybody….I hope Othello makes the Nuggets roster. Dude clearly put in the work last summer and improved his game, outplayed Mario the whole summer, made the team, then got waived to bring in Mario who has shown no improvement in his game..
O’Brien I think we might finally have a player from the second round in Sy. He is a lot better than I thought he would be. Another year overseas and we might have a nice contributor next season. Gladyr needs a lot of work. Plays hard but he really has to add some strength.
The game is at 6:30. I want to see how hard the bigs play because the way its looking they might have a legitimate chance to make the team.
O'Brien
July 18th, 2010
4:51 pm
cp,
Another thing I like about Sy is he payed the way for his own Hawks workout. That lets me know that he wants to be in the NBA. It will be interesting to see how he looks after one more year overseas.
That being said, does he have the potential to crack the rotation 6-10? (I havent watched a full summer game yet).
Hopefully somebody will post a link for the 6:30 game.
Samuel
July 18th, 2010
5:09 pm
Hubbie Brown NBA playoff record=.364
Rondo
July 18th, 2010
5:31 pm
Josh Boone anyone?
Melvin
July 18th, 2010
5:32 pm
OB/Northcylde,
If the Hawks are looking sign a young inexpensive vet for the league min the I agree with Cylde. Bring in Sean Williams… Yep, I cant believe I’m saying it but I’m watching him play now and he would be a better prospect than any player on the Hawks SL team…
Rondo
July 18th, 2010
5:34 pm
Alexander Johnson anyone?
Rondo
July 18th, 2010
5:37 pm
Alexander Johnson would be cheaper and better than Sean Williams.Alexander dominated in the nbdl last season.
bigdave
July 18th, 2010
5:41 pm
http://www.channelsurfing.net/
6:30 game time
O'Brien
July 18th, 2010
5:54 pm
Rondo,
Some of us on here have mentioned Josh Boone before as a decent fit. He could play spot minutes at both PF and Center, so we could kill two birds with one stone. But he might be out of the Hawks price range.
Samuel,
Just because Hubie’s win percentage is low, does not mean he does not know how to analyze the game.
O'Brien
July 18th, 2010
5:56 pm
Another guy we can take a cheap flyer on is Earl Barron. He is 7′, 245 lbs, and played 7 games for the Knicks last year, during which he averaged 12 points, and 11 rebounds.
Brett
July 18th, 2010
6:00 pm
here is a cool article on Jamal Crawford and his early career growing up in Seattle. http://seattleballers.com/jamal-crawford-seattles-old-money-baller/
terrell
July 18th, 2010
6:06 pm
With role players like Korver and Reddick getting 6 and 7 mill a year, Marvin making 8 isnt looking so bad after all. If he improves, it’ll look even better.
Melvin
July 18th, 2010
6:08 pm
OB,
I thought I read that Earl Barron was going to re-sign with the Knicks?
O'Brien
July 18th, 2010
6:24 pm
terrell,
Although role players are getting paid, the thing is they do something well. In this case, Korver and Redick are very good shooters. But Marvin does not do anything well.
His defense is okay, but he is not a defensive stopper. He has good form on his stroke, but he misses a lot of open shots, and did not take many 3s. His rebounding os okay, but not great. Based on the stats northcyde posted, Marvin was ranked #22 for his position.
However, if he does improve (which is possible under Drew’s offense), then his value will be much better.
Melvin,
You might be right. But I still think if the Hawks are going to be cheap, take a flyer on a DLeague guy, or an undrafted guy, and give him a chance. Don’t sign a vet who is on his way out of the league, but just hanging on for a paycheck.
cp
July 18th, 2010
6:24 pm
Yea O’Brien yourself and I have been talking about Josh Boone since the trade deadline. He only made 2 million I believe last year. I think he is actually in our price range but I don’t know if he is on the radar but as you said he can play the pf and c position thus taking care of 2 problems. It makes too much sense for the Hawks to sign him though. They will probably bring back RandyMo.
Sean Williams would actually be another good fit and in our price range. You just have to hope he finally has his head on right and if he does its a low risk high reward type move.
Allofus
July 18th, 2010
6:27 pm
Hawks should go for Luke Schenscher of Trail Blaizers . With good coaching, he will be more than Pau Gasol
bigdave
July 18th, 2010
6:34 pm
Teague has found his floater and pull up game.. that will open up passing lanes..
cp
July 18th, 2010
6:38 pm
Teague and Crawford looking good early..
bigdave
July 18th, 2010
6:41 pm
yea MERIO!
bigdave
July 18th, 2010
6:47 pm
Mereo > Randmo.
cp
July 18th, 2010
6:48 pm
smh randymo just will not rebound
bigdave
July 18th, 2010
6:49 pm
Randolph doesnt box out.. man comes and knocks away the board from Davidson.. then fails to pick up penetrating guard. just lazy.
bigdave
July 18th, 2010
6:50 pm
look @ Mereo.. active on the offensive glass.. 2
bigdave
July 18th, 2010
6:53 pm
shot looks good Randolph..
O'Brien
July 18th, 2010
6:57 pm
Any love for patrick O’Bryant?
cp
July 18th, 2010
7:02 pm
Its sad when Patrick O’Bryant of all people is out muscling you for boards
bigdave
July 18th, 2010
7:03 pm
O brien..
7 footer who does not rebound..
O'Brien
July 18th, 2010
7:07 pm
Maybe Aminu is worth an invite to traning camp…
Big Ray
July 18th, 2010
7:08 pm
New Day ….and same ol’ BS.
I respect what Northcyde has to say. It actually makes sense and involves the whole picture, not some tainted version of what never was reality to begin with….
Big Ray
July 18th, 2010
7:14 pm
Tied at the half…
cp
July 18th, 2010
7:14 pm
Aminu should get a invite to camp
O'Brien
July 18th, 2010
7:22 pm
Rick Fox said defense, rebounding, and controlling the paint wins championships. So why havent the Hawks addressed those issues more than they have?
4 or 5 players in the top 10 at their positions is not enough given the statistics we have seen. Especially when other teams have 4 players in the top 10 as well.
Maybe we can find a diamond in the rough from one of the summer league guys
Big Ray
July 18th, 2010
7:26 pm
Heh….
Dept. of Unintended Irony
July 18th, 2010
7:32 pm
“Bottom line When the season begans the hawks will again be picked 5-9 seed and again they will be forecasted to be 1 and done.”
9th seed? There’s a new one.
If they are 9th seed, who will they face in the first round?
O'Brien
July 18th, 2010
7:32 pm
Good Move from JC2.