Atlanta Hawks: Shaq said to choose Celtics over Hawks (UPDATE: Celtics announce Shaq signing)

Well guess he wants to ride the coat tails of another team instead of being the difference.

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On a personal note, my highest ever lol (2nd).

The Hawks basically have the same team with the same problems as last season, guessing 47-53 wins for a couple of seasons pleases the ASG, already can see Horford walking in 2yrs because management just don’t want to take a risk and at least try to contend for a championship. I don’t live in Atlanta so I was getting the NBA League Pass for the last 4yrs but now I have to think about subscribing to it this year.

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From the previous blog.

Ken Strick,

Are you at least puzzled why a team that played in the previous Finals would be interested in signing Shaq?

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All else being equal, why not go to the better team with the better fans in the better basketball city and the more storied franchise? We’re the Hawks, we can’t play hard-to-get. Give Shaq a little bit better of a pitch than minimum salary and bench role – that’s like calling him the poor man’s Joe Smith.

@Luke – of course Shaq wants to ride coattails – he’s been doing it since 2006.

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Jason Collins has never been a good basketball player – college or pro – not when he was 23yr. old starting center for the Finals bound New Jersey Nets – not ever. And he’s only gotten worse. What a joke

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More and more the Hawks need David McDavid!!! Losing Shaq sucks.

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Ok, so now we’ve got to deal with Boozer in CHI, Shaq and Perkins in BOS, Stoudamire in NY and Big Z in MIA in addition to Dwight in ORL, M. Gasol in MEM, B. Lopez in NJ and R. Hibbert in IND with a 6-10 power forward playing out of position?

If I were Horford, I would punch Rick Sund in the face.

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A lot of the analyst don’t even mention the Hawks as a top team in the East most have the Heat (of course), Magic, Celtics, and Bulls as the top teams. It’s just frustrating when the Hawks act like they don’t want to make anymore moves. Not surprised Shaq chose Boston over Atlanta I don’t think the Hawks showed/convinced him enough that they are top team. It’s just sad after improving every year but, people still don’t take us serious.

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Trying to blame everything on ASG is just scapegoating. The NBA is run by players and the top players have made it clear they only want to play for teams where they can get lots of endorsement opportunities, like Boston and LA, or teams where they get tax breaks, the teams in Texas and Florida.

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ASG ARE RETARTED.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!

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Congratulation MC; you’ve earned the “The Truth” award today. This is exactly the way “the Shaq to the Hawks” story evolved, albeit the notion that Shaq is choosing the Celtics over the Hawks is not really new neither is it a big surprise. Now the real story is Sund’s reaction to this revelation. What will he tell the loyal fans about Al and Josh’s request for frontline help? How will he spin this story? It is not acceptable for the fans to be lied to or be insulted with gimmicks about how we almost had Shaq but just missed. This will not work this time as in the past for some. If the fans were to demonstrate their inactions, please don’t be shock or surprise.

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Halsey

You can’t blame ASG for making smart business decisions (not over
spending), and watching the bottom line.

You blame them for poor management of resources. The Hawks were horrible for 10 year. The 1 year you have the oppurtunity to draft a superstar to go with JJ and Josh, we drafted Marvin Williams. That move set the Hawks back 4 to 6 years. It finally starting to show.

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Wow! Just Wow! I’ll still support the local team but, I don’t think they really want to go further. The Hawks, how can you blame JJ for what he said during the playoffs last year? Management is not only mean to the fans for not going the distant to keep this team entertaining and exciting by adding big names to the roster but the want the players to play uphill every season and over achieve. I think just about every player on this team is under rated and under valued and will be more successful with a team that tries to compete every year by providing their player and the fans the best opportunities to do so…

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I still plan to support the home team though, it wouldn’t be fir to the players. It would make us look even more as a joke of a city. I love basketball…

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ASG
Every year the hawks fans owner ship and gm have been screaming for a bigman for years, now that 4weeks away from starte of football season not 1bigman have been sign how retarted are ASG.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!

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[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) [...]

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Does the ASG realize that to get these guys, they have to overpay.

If you’re Shaq, would you:

A) take $1.4 mil from a team that won a title 3 years ago, played in the finals last year, have a very good coach and good ownership

or B) take $1.4 mil from a team that got swept in the second round two years in a row, have a first time HC, and a 8 member ownership group that takes forever to make a decision?

I understand not wanting to give Shaq $8 mil. But I would have offered him the MLE for 2 years (team option for year 2).

Is it a big risk? Yes. But the reward could be huge on and off the court.

If Boston, Miami and Orlando are healthy, what are the Hawks chances of beating them in a 7 game series?

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MC, is it fair to say that the ASG have placed each and every one of their eggs into the “Larry Drew” basket? Drew will fix the offense, Drew will optimize the players (eliminating the need for a talent upgrade), Drew will fix team chemsitry, Drew will install a defensive scheme that will make our current bigs more effective against the elite bigs in the league (thereby addressing the requests of Horford & Smith) and Drew will provide accountability and leadership. All this in a minimum wage coach with no previous head coaching experience. Is that the game plan entering the new season or have I missed something? (If so, dude needs a raise before he coaches his first practice with the real team).

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The big Shaqrock was coming here under the same terms that Dampier/Curry were coming here when they were free agents.

Overpay and they will say…I love ATL.

Would have been good for marketing, not overall.

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Aww come on guys we can’t start trashing shaq because he chose boston over the low flying hawks.Lets look at the real problem and thats ASG AND JOE JOHNSON hogging up all the $$$ not taking a little less to get a quality player signed.ASG just don’t have a clue,there cheap confused being a flock of BIG DUMMIES when it comes to basketball.

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Thanks Boston. If he had anything left, LJ would’ve lobbied for Miamio to sign him, and not Illgauskas. After all, that’s where he really wanted to go.

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Good. Shaq is old and can’t take us to the next level. He couldn’t make an impact on a team with Lebron James. The Hawks did not have to waste that money on an old pony.

Who is Josh Childress? He couldn’t start on a bad Hawks team, and sucked in Greece! Good Bye.

The Hawks don’t need gimmicks, they need Jeff Teague to pan out, Josh Smith to stop shooting jumpers and Joe Johnson to win games.

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Gee Mack, we addressed inside defense and rebounding as soon as Woody was fired, and took that switching defense with him. When your bigs are on the perimeter guarding freakin pg’s, … Ah, forget it. I’ve been over that one too many times already..

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I cant believe you guys have your underwear, or panties for some, all up in your crack cause we missed out on Mr. OLD neal. Shaq couldn’t keep up with this team. Look what he did to Phoenix. And for the last time, we dont need his azz to stop Dwight, we just need our perimeter guys to stop Jammer.

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Do we really need a guy who calls his backyard pool, SHAQapulco?

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Great post Hawkman.

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Hawks are done. If I was Al Horford I would be ask for a trade.

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MC…I know it garners attention BUT is your story headline really even journalistically fair? Did the Hawks actually truly go down the path with Shaq to an offer? The teaser headline on the homepage says “Shaq picks Celtics over Hawks”. Pretty misleading if we never went to an offer as it appears he had two to decide and we were turned down? Preliminary discussions don’t qualify as a “turn down” when one party chooses not to proceed to offer.

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The lot of ASG are lying jackholes.

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Disappointed again, if you stopped wathing in 94, why are you on the blog? Whatever man.

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Damn . . I forgot about the Josh Childress trade

Offseason moves and grades . . .from my perspective using the 4.0 scale:

A = 4
B = 3
C = 2
D = 1
F = 0

- not hiring Avery Johnson: C
- hiring Larry Drew: C. . ( grade should probably be I = incomplete )
- trading the #24 to move down to #27 and acquire the #31 pick: A
- drafting Jordan Crawford: B
- selling that pick for 3 million: F
- re-signing JJ for 6 yrs – 124 million: B
- trading Josh Childress for a 3+ million TPE: D
- signing Josh Powell: D
- signing Jason Collins: F
- failing to secure Shaq when everybody else dropped out of the running: D

Total points: 17 . . . divided by 10 actions

Grade: 1.70 = C-

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Come on guys – Of course Shaq wasn’t the best option for Atlanta. We all know that. However, he was the best option at this point. I mean would you prefer to have Shaq or Kwame? We needed a defensive presence and Shaq could give you just that. He will help out the Celtics. Period. Perhaps we could somehow work a deal for Kendrick Perkins? It’s not like the Celtics will need Shaq, Jermaine O’Neal, Big Baby and Perkins.

I also don’t care what anyone says – Chicago, Orlando, Miami, and Boston will all be better than the Hawks next year. At least Woody had this team increase their wins each year he was here. I think towards the end of next year the fans will be so fed up that Phillips Arena will all but become a ghost town. Wait, watch, and see. justSHOOTme

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My impression is that the Celts took Shaq to keep us from picking him up(defense by offense) with the bigs they already have in place there was no need, so I look for 1 or more of those guys becoming available by the end of camp. We were 4-0 against them last year, they got older hopefully we bacame more mature (J Smooth), gained some leadership skills(JJ)& upgraded our coaching. So I don’t mind the underdog role and the Heat’s 3 don’t create any fear either, they can’t all score 44pts/night. The Hawks will soar, bring it on Eastern Conference.

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Offseason moves and grades . . .from my perspective using the 4.0 scale:

A = 4
B = 3
C = 2
D = 1
F = 0

- not hiring Avery Johnson: C+
- hiring Larry Drew: D. . ( However time will tell)
- trading the #24 to move down to #27 and acquire the #31 pick: A
- drafting Jordan Crawford: B-
- selling that pick for 3 million: F
- re-signing JJ for 6 yrs – 124 million: F
- signing Josh Powell: D-
- signing Jason Collins: F
- failing to secure Shaq when everybody else dropped out of the running: D-

That’s my grade, Northcyde.

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Not a basketball fan and attend or watch NO games..but there appears to be a problem within the Hawks team..As for Shaq not coming..my feelings is the same as the choice Lebron made..WHO GIVES a RATZ ASS! All of them are overpaid any way..Look at poor lorenzen wright..made all that money..left his kids POOR..got killed probably over oweing some money. These B Ball and F Ball players are a disgrace and highly OVER PAID.

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After listening to you MC, Chris Broussard, David Aldridge, and all you bloggers here, I have come to the conclusion that:
#1: The hawks do not want to win anything, PERIOD!!
#2: The hawks ownership are cheap and scared to make a dang deal!!
#3: The hawks ownership are dumb!! and Rick Sund should be running a special ed bus not a NBA team.
The only way this team will win is if Josh, JT and AL carry this team. Oh yeah, I could care less for Joe after his crybaby comments.I’ve told everyone on this blog several times that Josh Smith is the best player on this team. This is a stupid ownership group. I mean c’mon hawks, what are you doing???????!!!!!!! what are you thinking?????!!!!!!!!

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Shaq played well last season . It would have been nice . That being said it really isn’t a major set back . If we really want to be uptempo he wouldn’t have got many minutes anyway .

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Good job Hawks. You finally got one right. Shaq has no skills and has killed the last 2 teams he was on. Thanks for not throwing good money away chasing an over the hill athletic. Why pay Shaq millions of $$ for 8 to 10 minutes a night.

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Losing out on Shaq isn’t what bothers me. What bothers me most is the lack of activity this team had during this offseason after being swept by the largest points margin in NBA history. Choosing to keep the status quo AND hiring a coach that was a part of the regime that led the team during their playoffs debacle is equally depressing. I really don’t see us being any hire than a 6th seed in this new improved East.

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Are we talking about Basketball!? Didn’t that die when Jordan left the game? This is not basketball. It’s full-contact overpaid hoodrat roundup

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Andrew, we do have a big name here in the A T L. Hell, we have the highest paid player in the NBA. Joe Johnson sells tickets, right? LOL

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Rooting for the Hawks is like Sleeping With The Enemy, because you have to fight Ownership and Management along the way. This time the Hawks may have gone too far, as they continue to Suck Every Ounce Of Enjoyment Of Basketball Out Of Their Fans. Everybody needs Hope and when you make False Promises and then don’t deliver, you completely leave the Fans in a Hopeless State Of Mind. I said before, that the Hawks needed Personality more than any Other Team and they had a Major Opportunity to give the Hawks more publicity and a better chance to Win with the addition of Shaq. I would have told Shaq that not only could he Start, but as long as he was playing well he could play the Full 48 Minutes–there was no real risk here, if he wasn’t performing well then he just comes out of the Game. The Entertainment Value here would have been huge. I hate to think that Mo Evans picking up his Player Option preventing us from signing Shaq because of concerns about the Luxury Tax. Also, the Luxury Tax is based on Your Total Roster Salary at the End of the Season–so we would have had ample opportunity to Move Salaries around before the Season ended. Now we are really in a bind as the Better Teams are getting Much Better and we are stuck with the Same Rotten To The Core Group that was badly exposed in the Playoffs. Everybody knows we were Lucky to avoid Major Injuries Last Season and you have to know we would have probably lost to Milwaukee if Bogut wasn’t out. It seems like our Only Recourse now is to sign Kwame Brown or Anthony Tolliver (watching the Games that I previously recorded, Tolliver really does have Offensive Talent and the Potential to get better). I’m really not high on the Other Guys mentioned like Josh Boone and Josh Powell & Jason Collins are really just Fringe Bench Players. Maybe Brown would even surprise us and show Improvement, but at the very least he should help us on Defense & Rebounding. Still based on what I’ve seen from Tolliver, it would be hard for me to pass on him even though he is really a Forward/Center. I would like to see the Hawks at least carry 14 Players this time around, so perhaps we could manipulate Our Roster a bit and Sign both Brown & Tolliver.
I guess the only good thing about Shaq signing with Boston now is that Brown & Tolliver are still available–you know we would have continued to Drag Our Feet until Shaq was signed. Nobody really knows for sure just how good Jeff Teague will be and nobody knows if Larry Drew will make a major difference, so we at least have to add some Players who may really help us and be there if Injuries happen. Just to be sure we don’t entertain Signing Hawk Legend Mario West again, I propose that we Retire His Number in a 10 Second Ceremony. Since no other NBA Team would sign Super Mario, it would open up the gate for him to go on NBA TV for a 2 Hour Special called the REVISION to match the 1 Hour DECISION Special of LeBron James on ESPN–at that time in breathtaking fashion Mario could announce what D-League Team he has chosen to sign with (I could really see this happening). The Hawks are always signing Players from the Atlanta Area or with some Georgia Connection–just think if the Team had moved to the Planet of the Apes instead of Atlanta and we were Signing Players from that Area we would at least have OUR CENTER by now (just Wishful Thinking). In closing, I really did meet Michael Gearon, Jr. when he was a Little Kid–who knew!!!
MC–Good to have you back. You know I have never taken a Vacation from the Hawks since their First Game as the St. Louis Hawks and it only cost me Two Marriages and My Sanity. So if you’re going to be the Beat Writer, you really have to March to the Beat.

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The worst part about the Shaq non-signing is that it isn’t even as big of a risk as everyone seems to think. Suppose the Hawks had signed him for a two year mid level deal and he was a bad locker room presence and the Hawks decided they are better off without him. You really think there wouldn’t be a trade market for him? You think teams like Denver and San Antonio, or other contenders who ended up suffering big man injuries over the course of the season wouldn’t be interested in trading for him? Until he becomes so out of shape that he can’t run anymore, there will ALWAYS be a team or handful of teams who think Shaq can put them over the top. The Hawks would have had no problem dumping him on another team if he didn’t work out, and by doing so they would have the ability to steer him to a team in the other conference.

This is in stark contrast to the three-headed albatross of Marvin/Bibby/Zaza the Hawks are currently carrying around, which has next to no trade value and makes close to a combined $20 million a year. This is by far the most infuriating part about this offseason; I’d be OK with the Hawks refusing to spend more money if they had spent their existing money wisely. All of northcyde’s grades are on point (I’d give them an F—- for Josh Powell though) but really the Marvin/Bibby/Zaza contracts are responsible for the ripple effect that created this offseason. People like to bitch about the Joe Johnson deal, but at least he is a top-25 player in the league. Marvin/Bibby/Zaza are no better than the 9th best guy on a title contender. and they are sucking up nearly a third of this team’s payroll.

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Man this off season has been one big bore.
The Hawks have managed to fold nicely right back into the 90’s, decent mid level playoff team with 1st/2cd round exit.
With all the free agent movement the NBA as a whole is going to be totally boring. The regular season will be even more meaningless than it normally is, and issues of cap space/luxury tax/player exemptions are more the goal than actually creating a winning team. (This is true for every team). Stern needs to fix this thing in a hurry. The MLS is now currently drawing more fans on average to regular season games than the NBA. We have “stars” that more loyal to NIKE than their team and no hope for the vast majority of NBA teams.
Where will be the pride/glory/etc of watching the Heat or Lakers win a title?

We are all suckers.

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Hawks probably will make the playoffs as a 5th or 6th seed. Get thier arse handed to them by Miami, Orlando, or Boston in the first round. Al Horford will be itching to ge out of here, and I will not be able to blame him. I do not think I can blame Sund fully for this summer’s debacle ( passing on Whitehead almost made me sick to my stomach ). ASG cheap pockets pulling Sund’s strings and limited his moves. Where is David Mcdavid when you need him. ASG sell the team please !!

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Joe – Smoe!

Well, at least Joe got his! Know who’s the big Dummy?

All you Joe got paid haters … Ha Ha Ha!

Joe got the Life, the Wife, the Baby on the way, the mansion in South Beach, and the Money top pay for it all!
And, you call him dumb?

I wish I was dumb?

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The Hawks don’t have any more money for other players. Hell, they gave it all to Joe Johnson. And for what?

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David McDavid

I heard David McDavid filed for bankruptcy this year. Something about selling cars is not doing so well In this economy. I wonder if he would have been ok financially, had he purchased the Hawks?

But, he did win that, what? 28 Million law suit from the soured TBS deal.
(Correct me on the amount won), but of course an immediate appeal was filed.
Too bad for us, he got hood-winked on the Hawks purchase 6 years ago.

I wish ASG would just pack their things and leave us all alone!
Why did Ted Turner sell the Hawks and thrashers as a package deal,
and better yet, why would anyone buy them as a unit?
I think it hurts both teams, the Hawks moreso.

Oh well, anybody ready for some Football?

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Hey look, Shaq signed for $1.4 million. We offered him $995,000. We tried, okay?

Like we said before (oops, I mean like we told Rick to say it), we preferred veterans on the roster to draft picks. We did not say a single thing about GOOD veterans who can make a difference. See? You have to pay attention. Right now we are exploring a sign and trade that will involve us signing David Pendergraft to a GM contract and trading him to the Phoenix Suns for Grant Hill’s shoes that he used to wear back before he was injured the first time. We will use them for marketing purposes, and we will also get a $5,000 trade exception which will allow us to re-sign Mario West, who we believe has massive potential, but was not used well by Mike Woodson.

Jason Collins will be a fine center for us, did you not see him stop Shaq two plays in a row in that game we had against Cleveland last year? Just relax, everything will be fine, and we will regain the 4th seed in the playoffs again next year. We might even win a game in the second round as long as we aren’t facing the Magic, Heat, Celtics, or any other team with 50 wins or more. We are guaranteed to win the first round in no less than 7 games, provided we don’t face a healthy Milwaukee, Chicago, or Charlotte team.

Please stop calling us cheap. We just handed Joe Johnson 124 million reasons to ignore..er…patch things up with the fans and not fly the coup and join a group of SuperFriends. For his next act, he is going to average anywhere from 12 to 17 points per game in the playoffs next year. You hafta love this guy!

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As far as the ASG goes, with them, it is what is. What you see is what you get. I’m not going to waste any time, emotions or heartache on them anymore. Hawks still my team, forever rooting, but we all can see ASG is not thinking championship. They would spend money if they were. So why should I moan, gripe and constipate myself about how another man spends his money?

I know next season will be super interesting. With all the crazy off season moves and Hawks apathy, I believe we all are in for some big suprises.

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Stop the presses! Shaq may not be satisfied with the veteran’s minimum. The Boston Herald reports: “Contrary to recent reports, negotiations between the Celtics and Shaquille O’Neal are still far from resolution. According to a league source, the NBA legend still appears to be balking at what the Celtics are willing to give – a one-year deal worth the veteran’s minimum of $1.39 million. O’Neal, frustrated by a dwindling field of suiters that may only include the Celtics and possibly the Hawks at this point, is still attempting to get more money out of the Cs.”

-REEgularly Roe!!!

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Ok- for several weeks we have beat this issue to death. Here is my solution for us fans to show ownership fans do have a say. What we say on this blog isn’t going any where, and in some cases seems to cause more frustations.
MC- Question… Why hasn’t any one from the media (AJC) asked for a interview with a member(s) from the so called ownership group.
Who owns the biggest percentage of the Hawks?

Solution?
1. Quit buying tickets. This speaks l;ouder than words.
2. Quit watching them on TV. This to will speak louder than words.

We can type, speculate, wonder, etc. etc. all we want. But the bottom line is we have a word in this as fans and all we have to do is not show our support for a short time, and they will either sell the team or get someone in the building to help sell tickets.

Believe it or not. It is that simple.

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Hawks have ~$2.7 mil left before they reach the luxury tax. I would offer that to Shaq now. I would also make it a 2 year offer (mutual option for the second year).

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Why doesn’t Al Horford become our “impact center,” instead of complaining that we need one? What a jerk.

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Welcome back TS, where are you posting from?

I think that “defending at the rim” was a bit too obvious for your “comeback”…

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I have a problem with the Hawks seemingly best player not being willing to take less money so the team can sign a quality big man. Joe seems to be content getting all he can for himself to the detriment of the team. When he got the big contract, he promised he would do what he could to get other free agents in here. In reality, he has done nothing at all. Also, in the case of Shag, I think the management cannot handle a big personality like Shaq and are afraid he might be a problem for their cheap rookie coach to handle.

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I’m still puzzled to why everyone talks about adressing ouir interior defense, without mentioning one single word about Bibby and his horrendous perimeter defense. Trying to cover him up is what caused the lack of interior defense. But whatever. It’s all Al’s fault. lol!

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niremetal

August 3rd, 2010
10:54 pm:

“Doc,

Huh. I guess it was a dream when our starting center made the All-Star team last year. Weird. Oh wait, what? It wasn’t a dream? Our starting center was deemed better than every other center in the East except Dwight Howard? Oh, nevermind.

The same reports that say Shaq is willing to sign for peanuts to sit on the bench in Boston also said that he was demanding $8M and a starting spot from the Hawks. I’ll just quote CrawfultoCrawsome from Hawksquawk:

Right, its the ASG’s fault that Shaq wants nearly 10 mil to play in Atlanta but is just fine and dandy taking less than 2 mil to play in Boston. Yea I think I’m standing with my original comment about him. It’s the ASG’s fault that they weren’t willingly gutting their roster and investing their funds at Shaq’s behest in a guy who didn’t want to be here beyond collecting a paycheck. That’s the type of person you want to rest your hopes in and make plenty of concessions for at the expense of our other players just to say you got him.

For Atlanta his camp said:

More than the MLE
Starting spot
Ample playing time.

For Boston:

Vet Min
Bench role
whatever you see fit.

Till this moment we can still offer a mil to 2 mil more, do you think he’d be interested? You think we sign JaCo without exhausting that the POS rather play elsewhere for less than we are offering or are you so deadset in your ignorance that you think Collins was numero uno on our offseason acquisition list? If anything the JaCo signing makes even more sense now seeing as we’d need him to check Shaq after the ASG was already well aware that he spurned us.

But go ahead and rewrite history. How were we going to meet Shaq’s demands? By moving to Josh to SF or the bench? By replacing Horford with a guy who HORFORD JUST BEAT OUT FOR THE ALL-STAR TEAM? How do we get Shaq the $8M that he was seeking? The MLE is way below that, so we couldn’t just sign him outright. Should we sign-and-trade Marvin without getting someone who has shown some capacity to play SF? If not Marvin, then who would we trade that the Cavs would be interested in? Tell me, doc, what did you want them to do?

Oh, and nevermind that signing Shaq would have brought ASG more in ticket sales, merchandising, and sponsorships than his salary would cost, so anyone with half a brain who thought about it for half a second would realize that the team probably wasn’t worried about how much Shaq would cost in a monetary sense.

You and AJ will undoubtedly keep being intellectually lazy and spewing the same “ASG sucks” bullsh!t that you have been for years. The “intellectually lazy” comes from ignoring everything that happens that’s inconvenient to your arguments, which is what both of you do. But whenever you see a quote that provides a modicum of support for your intellectually lazy position, well you sure remember those. The fact that the Hawks have already increased their payroll in a year where most teams have significantly cut payroll? Who cares! The trades in the past 2 years for Bibby and Crawford? Pfshaw! Giving out a max contract to a player who is more on the level of Rashard Lewis than LeBron James? Irrelevant, I say!

Let me know when you’ve stopped living in 2006.”

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I particularly like the following passage:

“It’s just that all these raw stats tell you that the Cavs were so, so much better with O’Neal on the pine. That when things weren’t Shaq-centric, Cleveland tended to dominate. The easy answer to that? Don’t pass Shaq the ball. Don’t make him Shaq-centric. To these eyes, Cleveland didn’t. And yet, the team’s offense stunk with him out there. Tom Haberstroh nailed the best part of it last week:

LeBron with Shaq last year: Cavs +3.4 pts per possession. LeBron without Shaq? +15.7. That experiment was fun wasn’t it?

That’s per 100 possessions, and with the average game working around 93 or 94 possessions, nearly 16 points is a pretty big deal. That’s not an insignificant number.”

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Jeff Teague did not even play PG for the majority of his time in college. So, if he pans out at all it will be midseason or later before he really gets it. People counting on Teague are acting like he is John Wall or someone. The guy can give you 12 pts 5 ast 3 reb and 2 stls on his best day. People this team is taking a step back depending on Teague too much. We need a real move.

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You guys aren’t bloggers, you are speculators. You don’t really know why Shaq picked the Celtics over the Hawks, because he hadn’t talked about it yet. Instead of us waiting until he speaks ( and he will speak) we began calling ASG cheap, sorrow and other names that they may or may not deserve. Patient my friend you will know soon enough.

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” it’s the first time he will go to a group with guys who have as many credentials as him and they also have more clout with the organization”

No. Shaq has 4 rings. None of them do.

And Buck Belue sucked earlier on air. Kincade actually made a good argument that we needed Shaq but Boston has a much better chance of winning a ring than us. Then Belue gets all immature and does these idiotic imitations of Shaq and says how Shaq only wants money. The guy is taking the veteran’s minimuum.
WOw.

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I guess if the Hawks want to sell tickets they could sign Allen Iverson but i this ownership is to stupid to do it.

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Shaq has officially signed with the Celtics to a one year deal, not sure how they did this since they would go over the salary, but it’s done.

http://boston.sbnation.com/2010/8/3/1603402/shaquille-oneal-free-agent-celtics-contract-nba#shaq-agrees-to-one-year-deal-with

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MELVIN-I answered your question on the last blog. The very serious knee injury to KPerkins, in last yrs NBA finals, along with them getting word he won’t return to full strength anytime soon, is what triggered their desire to sign Shaq. What would you be willing to bet if KPerkins was healthy, Shaq would still be like the Boll Weevil, looking for a home.

They either don’t want, or figured they couldn’t get, RWallace to return for another yr. All of you GLASS HALF EMPTY Hawk fans can entertain yourselves by continuing to whine, cry and complain about the ASG, LDrew, JJ’s contract, not signing Shaq, and/or what you feel we need or don’t have. The Hawks will make liars out of all you doubters, just like they’ve done the last 3yrs.

The Hawks certainly managed to be successful in the 09 season under the following conditions despite:

1-The same ASG making the same so called mistakes, and not signing an impact center.
2-bringing back the same 10 core players from the previous yr,
3-over coming the same chronic whining & complaining from some of the same whiners & complainers who did the same whining and complaining when the ASG traded for and signed JJ to his previous contract?
4-have a HC that didn’t have the ability, knowledge and/or self confidence to prepare the Hawks to be competitive under playoff conditions.

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That’s okay Cunningham we all make mistakes

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The Hawks have now moved from 4th in the East to 5th, behind Miami, Boston, Orlando, and Chicago. Way to go ASG, you guys really know what you’re doing.

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MELVIN-Aren’t you concerned at all that Cleveland, Shaq’s most recent employer, has been unable to find a single reason to even consider the possibility of resigning Shaq, even though they also lost Ilgouskas? When you look at the reaction to Shaq by teams like the Spurs and Nuggets, both of whom need inside help, it should tell you he’s not worth the effort. Only a team that’s desperate for what he can provide, like the Celtics, were willing to take a chance on signing him.

Sometimes, the best moves are the ones a team doesn’t make, and that’s certainly true in this case.

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If ASG was thinking about the money they would have signed him, because it would have led to more ticket sale revenue. I bet if you asked the average person in Atlanta, a good number would not be able to name a Hawks player. With Shaq, they would. Not saying it makes us better, but every move this summer has been about being skimp.

Unless we make a blockbuster trade for a center with that trade exception mid season, we are crazy. We don’t want any of the decent project centers because we want a vet. The best center in 10 years is available for freakin 2 million and we don’t do it?

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I guess we will sell tickets on Chick-Fila night. lol. We are going to camp with 12 players. Our Penny pinching ownership can’t sign a 13th impact player. Heck they can’t sign a 6th or 7th. If you want to make a impact and have your voice heard sit at home and don’t buy the tickets. This ownership group is only here for “1″ and I mean “1″ reason and that is a tax write off.

I am glad to keep reading all of the optimistic blogs. It seems no matter what some people are going to be real fans. If that is the case why even blog about the moves/ non-moves?
Meanwhile I will wait for Chick-fila night…. NOT

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Hawk- Wait a minute didn’t we resign collins?? LOL

ASG is laughing to the bank. With the tax savings (showing a loss) and the 3 Million in the trade, and the other 2.7 Million they didn’t pay. I don’t know for sure but the interest on that might be pretty good.

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I was just hearing from Chris Brussard Atlanta had no chance to get Shaq he maid up his mind a long time ago he wants to play for Doc Rivers and have the best chance win a championship. I think he the Hawks to get more team involved .

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seriously, the hawks are one injury (starters) away from being a lottery team.

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Ken,

Why would Shaq want to resign with the Cavs? He want out of there just like Lebron and Big Z. That team is not championship caliber so you know he’s not going to play there.

As for the non offseason moves, the two teams that played in the finals sign marquee FAs this offseason. If the best and elite teams are not complacent then why should/would I expect the Hawks to be?

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“@JeJe: “No. Shaq has 4 rings. None of them do.”

they don’t?”

Sorry – maybe I’ve been in a cave for 15 years, but I don’t believe anyone on the Celtics besides Shaq has 4 rings.

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“i think he’s just fine for his role and his salary. he’s pretty good on pick and rolls and draws a lot of fouls. he improved at the end of last season. i think he’s like No. 20 among centers in win shares. but maybe i should say “adequate” instead of effective.”

Fair enough… I guess I’d just rather see “adequate” cost the Hawks $3 million per year for one or two years rather than $4.75 million per year for three years.

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“Do you see the Hawks possibly improving themselves at the c position by trading Marvin Williams
and Zaza Pachuila for Emeka Okafor?”

If they won’t even go over the luxury tax to sign Shaq, there’s no way in hell they take on Okafor’s contract, which is one of the worst in the league.

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The ASG idiots are the worst P.O.S owners we have had in Atlanta since the Smith’s ran the Falcons. They fed us all with the line of “willing to exceed the luxury cap” only to sit back and do absolutely nothing to improve this teams chances in the post season. I am done with this b.s, and can’t wait to watch a real franchise….the Falcons. Thank God football is right around the corner.

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“The very serious knee injury to KPerkins, in last yrs NBA finals, along with them getting word he won’t return to full strength anytime soon, is what triggered their desire to sign Shaq. What would you be willing to bet if KPerkins was healthy, Shaq would still be like the Boll Weevil, looking for a home. ”

Yes, Shaq likely wouldn’t have signed with Boston if Perkins had been healthy. But that right there is exactly what separates the Hawks, a mediocre organization, from the Celtics, a championship organization. The Celtics have the confidence to take the risk of signing Shaq, with his baggage, knowing that they have to address that need in order to remain competitive for a title. The Hawks put a couple million dollars of luxury tax money ahead of the desire to put a title-contending team on the floor and let the chance to bring Shaq in pass them by. You can say what you want about Shaq and his attitude and what not, but the fact is Dwight Howard and Big Z are both in the Hawks’ division and it is overwhelmingly likely that the Hawks will have to go through one of them to advance beyond the second round. Championship teams address their needs head-on. Mediocre organizations re-sign fat centers who shoot 35% to the veterans’ minimum and try to delude their fan base into thinking they are contenders.

By the way, Shaq and Jason Collins are getting paid the same amount of money this upcoming season.

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DrMaryB,

I think you missed the point. nire reposted a blog entry from hawksquawk and then made a few remarks which I agree to.

Doc,

There were several solid reports stating that Shaq would only consider signing for the Hawks if he got more than the midlevel, a multiyear deal and got starter minutes.

These reports go as far back as a month ago when Shaq had more possible suitors, including the Spurs for whom I think he expressed publicly the willingness to play for little money and be a backup. MC could probably corroborate this.

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Najeh,

Get a grip man. Shaq would not have signed with us unless we overpaid him.

The Celtics are in a privileged position: they are the winningest franchise, they are loaded with cash and they are still riding a good momentum.

We are not in the same league and in its not simply a matter of committing more money. The ASG is not financially healthy enough to just jump in a sign Shaq for 8 million and go into luxury tax for 3 or 4 million with that move or to trade Marvin as some people suggested.

Shaq is no longer valuable enough to warrant that.

Yes, it would have been an interesting exercise – in my opinion bound to fail dramatically – but you cannot honestly think that we should have pursued Shaq at all cost.

You should also note that Shaq would land in ATL and immediately take over the whole organization by a storm and do whatever he felt like whilst in the Celtics he is within a context where there is a much higher degree of probability that he will have to behave and play ball.

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Va Va 74

Oh! My bad. Sorry, I was so confused when I read that post. Next time I will mind my own business.

-smiles-

VaVa74

Man! We just can’t even BUY a player! With money or without money!

We are really Lucky that Joe loves playing here! At least he is up to the challenge of being an Alpha Dog and he is NOT afraid to take the money and run!

Like it or NOT? Joe is our Franchise Player and he is OUR Super-Star!
Like that Jack Nicholson Movie with Co-Star, Cuba Gooding Jr. – “As Good As It Gets”

Speaking of, where is Cuba Gooding these days? No work in Hollywood?

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Chit! Shaq thinking…….should I play for a team that I know “WON’T” be in the championship…..or should I play for a team that “MIGHT” be in the championship…………..

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Who’s next…………..Josh Boone or Kwame Brown…………lets see, do I want a guy that’s too lite or a guy that’s too stupid………

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thanks for clarifying there MC.

it doesnt sound like shaq was hard balling all the way to the celts. yes, it would have cost us a premium but isnt that the way it goes, see jj’s contract, until we get it right. i just doubt shaq was screaming for 10 mil the whole time as the market got more realistic to him. “solid reports” are ok when it pertains to players, just not management, i guess, got it.

look, i am for getting a big as much as i am about getting shaq, who was one of the better back ups in this class. this has been a wasted opportunity thus far.

nice comments najeh, ditto.

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TS,

Shall we all say: welcome back, we missed you?

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I hear you, Macaroni. What’s happened to Marvin these days? It’s like he’s totally lost his swagger. With the physical gifts that this guy has, he could really be something special.

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If he can do this all season then the Hawks will be ok

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWbZj4F8tds&feature=related

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I’d give $20 towards the cause Najeh.

Dylan, I feel like he really had it going when Joe went down and then the back injury. Since then he’s been timid which leaves him out of the rotation and the 5th option. I don’t see him ever being a focus as long as he’s out there with Al, Josh, Joe, ect. He needs to be a featured scorer with Jamal off the bench. Problem is we can’t use Mo at starting SF. I’ve repeatedly said I think Mo has game at SG, but not SF. He’ll never beat out Joe, Jamal and now Jamal 2 for minutes. We need a strong defensive, rebounding SF who can spot up for jumpers on occassion. We also need a C. That SF could push Marvin into a big role with the 2nd unit.

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Whatever happen to the phrase “in order to make money u have to spend money.” Why do the Hawks org do not realize that Shaq would put people in the seats.

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So what exactly did Truth-Serum do wrong? Was he just posting under people’s names and saying Horford wasn’t a center?

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I can’t believe ASG doesn’t think we need another wing. Damien Wilkins would cost NOTHING to add (veteran minimum)…Oh wait, veteran minimum is a lot for the ASG to handle. Those idiots want Mo Evans, who I doubt is even really 6″5, to back up at SF? He’s not even good. He has one good game every 3 weeks and doesn’t make 3’s anymore.

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Well, I guess when we are facing the Celtics, now they are even slower and older with Shaq on board… However, when we are facing the Magic again…still no answer for Dwight. But if the Hawks actually picked up their perimeter D like they did the first half of game 2, they could actually provide a challenge to Orlando. Sure, Dwight will have 25 and 15, but the Hawks may have a chance to win.

They’d have to earn it though…

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Main somebody is trippin, but I don’t blaim them because the Hawks are trippin this offseason

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The only drama left in this offseason, is to see what our schedule looks like. I’m saying we’ll get 6 TNT/ESPN games total ( not counting NBATV games . . which I don’t consider national TV games . . everybody’s cable company doesn’t carry NBATV ).

These teams will get more national TV time than us

Heat
Celtics
Magic
Bulls
Knicks

Lakers
Nuggets
Suns
Thunder
Mavericks
Spurs
Jazz
Blazers

????? Hornets and Rockets

That’s 12 teams for sure that will be on more than us, with maybe New Orleans and Houston securing just as many.

The obvious team that shouldn’t belong up there, are the Knicks. But they do have a “household name” on the team now. And with NYC being one of the top 3 media markets, they may now try to market the Knicks nationally again, with Amare being the focal point.

I hope I’m wrong, but I think they’re going to give us the shaft with these national TV games. And this time, we can’t blame anybody but the ASG for not getting the right pieces here to sell the team on a national scale.

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No Shaq. Bring on Kwame Brown…With Arms Open….

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we need more production from this guy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz8TblzbYEA

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Mac Tony . . . we’ll see man. All I’m saying is that those teams are going to be more attractive TV draws than we will be. I still believe that we’re a 48 – 52 win team. But will that be enough to draw more national TV games?

I’m saying 6 nat TV games. We deserve at least 10.

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Lack –
Luster =\
Display of summertime wheeling and dealing.

sund scared to play his hand of cards cost us a viable bigman in the draft. But it could be worse Atlantans – yall don’t have to worry about the Gulf Coast turning to a tar pit and hurricanes stirring it up and ruining the ecosystem and local economy.

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You know why I’m supprised. This is basically the same team from last year. WAKE UP RICK SUND!!!!!! WE HAVE NO CENTER!!!!!! AL HORFORD IS A POWERFORWARD. RICK SUND HAS ALWAYS BEEN WAY TO PASSIVE ON TRYING PURSUE TOP PLAYERS!!! GOOD LUCK ON MAKING THE PLAYOFFS AND KEEPING A JOB WITH THIS ORGANIZATION, RICK SUND CLEARLY DOES NOT CARE ABOUT MAKING THIS TEAM BETTER. HE IS A STRAIGHT UP LOSER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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HEY HOLD UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOBODY TOLD ME JOE JOHNSON WAS DATING A STRIPPER!!!!

NOBOBY TOLD ME JOE JOHNSON GOT THE STRIPPER PREGNANT!!!!!!

THE FEARLESS LEADER OF THE HAWKS IS CAPT. SAVE A HO

http://www.terezowens.com/joe-johnsons-stripper-girlfriend-pregnant/

I HOPE THIS IS JUST A RUMOR

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Add Luis Amunson to the smallish Center possibilities – good ball player from the Suns

Add Etan Thomas to the Big Center possibilities – Only Center I know in the NBA with bigger biceps than Dwight – it might scare Dwight a half a second or something.

Tolliver most likely re-signing with GSW

Boone – Kwame – Mbenga – Thomas

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Well now we know the real reason Joe took the money and stayed in the ATL — when “Wynter” decides she’s had enough of Joe and takes half his stuff, he’s gonna need every penny left.

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the spirit group appears to be spiritless

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MC: What are the Hawks focused on now? We really have not heard anything about what they are trying to do. Wing? Big Man? What are their efforts now?

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Gee- “its one thing to lose, but to quit and lose in embarrassing fashion is unthinkable..”

You are soooo right. That performance makes it difficult to continue to believe in the “organic growth” of the core, etc. How does a team of quitters change their stripes? Hire a coach that sat on the bench during the quitting, who either is partially responsible or so ineffectual that he had nothing to do with it?

Pathetic.

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Ken- I appreciate your post, but my problem is more concerned with the “quitting” that we saw from our team in the playoffs. If this team had the same record and still lost in the second round, but went down fighting and scrapping, but just came up short, then I would join the glass half full team (of which I typically am a member). But, all this team has done in the off season from the hiring of Drew to the extension of Joe and nothing else, is to endorse losing. Yes, a 53 win season is overshadowed by the playoffs, not that they didn’t win the title, but because they lost in HISTORIC fashion.

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Celtics are going to win it next year book it!

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ken, 53 wins were built without any significant injury to any player. that alone may make up some of that differential. bucks lost two starters before the season was over, the bulls lost several man hours due to injury as well, heat are totally revamped.

you are hoping and wishing. you tell a good story of what might be but that doesnt work when the lights come on and we begin to play games. the glass is a fantasy. do you really expect us to sweep the celts again? easily the celts, bucks and heat could move past us in the standings. one or two significant injuries and we are looking at maybe making the playoffs.

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Better Lucky Than Good

Definition of Lucky

Being bad enough and lucky enough in a year with an obvious great player and have that player live upto expectations

The draft is a “crap shot” OKC was LUCKY to not get the #1 pick or they would be the NETS. It is amazing how being lucky can change the perception of an organization….ASK THE CAVS. If you are LUCKY enough to draft a transcendent player(Lebron, Durant, Howard or Duncan) you are given credit for being SMART, SAVVY and A GOOD ORGANIZATION. We quickly forget how TERRIBLE an organization they were before they hit the LOTTERY. The Cavs, Supersonics and Hornets were vilified for years as being badly run team… before they got LUCKY. Read what they said about Mitch Kupchek before Jerry West gave them GASOL(The Hawks offered AL or The #3 pick for Gasol and the took “FISH HEADS” instead) or Ainge and Rivers before Santa delivered KG.

None of these teams are better run than the Hawks, they have simply benefited from circumstances beyond the Hawks control.

I will give you Woodson as a Bad decision…THAT IS IT!

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Hmmmm (poster/writer) – Fesenko is a RFA – the Jazz would like match anything we were able to offer.

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Ken Strickland – I don’t think many people are arguing that the Hawks will be worss. I think they are saying that the East will be a whole lot better than last year. You can’t add Boozer/Korver/Brewer/Thomas etc. on the Bulls, and not say they’re better – Rose another year under his belt as well.

Bogut is back with the Bucks – and they add Corey Maggette – I think everyone would agree the team that took us to 7 games in the playoffs is better.

The Heat are obviously better.

The 2 O’Neals are better than the 1 Kendrick Perkins in Boston – and Kendrick will be back by playoff time.

And you can’t look at Boston’s regular season – they took the regular season off to have a playoff run, which they did to perfection – and would probably be World Champs if Perkins doesn’t go down in game 6 of the finals.

The Magic are already better than us

So we may be slightly improved – but Bibby is a year older, while most agree that Teague is over a year away.

We have an All Star Center saying we need an impact Center to be any type of contender in the East (his words)

So we’ll see – Just don’t blame Drew if we are 46-36 – blame ASG

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“Worss” should be “worse” in the above post

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ryan

Stop It! Avery Johnson does NOT equal Shaq! If so, why didn’t Shaq goto NJ?
Just Stop it!

Boston has the best chance to Win a Ring – because, they play defense and they play smart – TOGETHER. 5 + Bench = WIN!

It’s NOT that complicated to figure that out!
Problem is, easier said than done.

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Nobody wants to play for the hawks unless they get really overpaid.

The hawks might have more wins than teams like the Clippers, but FA’s stay away from them just the same.

Everyone knows the Hawks are losers. Even the players on the team knows it. The city knows it too and that’s why they don’t go to games.

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jojo the race then is with the bulls for five. not sure we can win it and again as with all teams injuries are going to tell a part of the story. we inflated ours last year that way. lucky is good, just dont expect it to happen again.

ray, thanks for saying what you did there. we had our chances with the two spot and again with the five spot and fell short. of our top seven how many came by the draft, when we held lottery for what six years, only three? not too good when our bloggers could have picked better.

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Shaq picking Boston over Atlanta doesn’t surprise me, if O’Neal would have went to Atlanta he would have had to do more. With Boston Shaq can give them quality minutes and strengthen their bench…..

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GeeMack

It’s one thing to lose, but quit and lose in embarassing fashion is unthinkable for professional athlete.

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

That definitely doesn’t help. But had we done something in the offseason to change the makeup of the team, we would be a more attractive TV draw. And it’s not like our games last year on ESPN weren’t exciting . . win or lose. The Phoenix, Dallas, Golden St, and San Antonio games were all exciting games.

We deserve 10 national TV games . . but I’m sticking with 6. It could’ve been over 10, if you know who would’ve been added to the Hawks.

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

@ drmaryb . . . lol @ the Luniz reference. One of my favorite hip-hop songs.

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Big Ray’s 10:50 post is one of the best posts of the year. Nothing but pure truth in that post.

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And let’s clear up something right now about the JJ situation. I believe that his girlfriend is a WAITRESS at Magic City . . . not a dancer.

People can work at a strip club, but not be a stripper.

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As long as JJ’s woman isn’t doing something illegal, why does it matter, who she is or what she does?

It’s not basketball; it’s not our business. Just because you make a lot of money, should that make everyone you know/date available for public attack?

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In the Heat of the Night!
Aye … Crybabies! Joe’s comments were made in the “Throws of a Battle”
and immediately after a severe butt – whuppin.

Not only were his comments taken WAY out of context, they were
vacillated by an overzealous reporter. (and we wonder why no one wants to talk to a sleuth?). Joe answered a specific question, and is actually the victim in that interview.

For those of you who seek the truth of the matter, the gist of what Mr. Johnson said was, …… It doesn’t matter if the fans come or not, the team has to play well.

It has been saiod in many sports for many years by athletes that when they are in the zone? They don’t hear the crowd. It’s surreal!

You don’t need a High School Diploma to understand that statement.
Unless, you take remedial English and Reading Comprehension classes.

So, get over it and move on.

Clyde

What’s wrong with marrying a stripper? IF you men didn’t like it, they wouldn’t be there. Many ladies need money to pay for College and unpaid Child Support.
If more men would step up and provide for their families – Some women wouldn’t have to work outside the home at all. Some women prefer work over WIC!
(i.e. Food Stamps)

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Rufus1

You are correct it does take a little luck, & relationships to build a champion. The Hawks have had their chances.

The year after you draft J-Chills and J-Smmove, you get JJ and are in position to get the PG you’ve needed the last 10 year and a franchise player.

Instead (this is were savvy comes in) we pick the same type player we had in the previous draft.

5 years later you are still stuck without a proven PG. You still don’t have a leader on the floor, and the best player on the team disappears in the playoffs.

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geemack…you’re correct, but is there a big difference in these starting 5’s?

Paul, Johnson, Childress, Smith, ???
(how would the Horford draft have been different? pick probably goes to Phoenix and we pick the next year instead?)

???, Johnson, Williams, Smith, Horford
(plus future 2nd rd pick as a result of trading Childress)

Allstar PG with injury issues or allstar PF/C???

Like someone said before, the real screw ups were the landlord & ac law picks in the top 11 of their drafts…both guys are now league miminum players. I can look past Marvin over Paul.

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Ken . . let’s be a little honest though. Brand was a DOMINANT PF in this league . . until he ruptured his Achille’s Tendon. Philly gambled that he could come back and return to form. Unfortunately for them, he never did. That injury directly coincided with Brand’s decline.

Carlos Boozer, on the other hand, came back from his injury, and had one of his best years of his career. The Boozer – Noah frontline combo could very well lead the league in rebounding. The only question for Boozer, is if Deron made him a much better player than what he really is . . and can Derrick Rose get him the ball in the right spots.

Chicago may or may not overtake us, but they’re going to be damn good next year. Boozer represents a legit inside go-to guy to pair with their talented PG in Rose.

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

When it comes to Milwaukee, I don’t think they’ll be better than us either . . but they might be. Because it’s just not Andrew Bogut’s return that we have to worry about.

- they added Corey Maggette ( a guy who is a legit scorer and a person who perennially gets to the FT line in bunches. He averaged almost 20 ppg last year )

- they added Jon Brockman . . ( a guy who if anything, gives them another rebounder at the center position . . . and Brockman is better than Collins )

- and they get back Michael Redd . . ( the true wild card for the Bucks. We’ll see early on if this guy is done or not. But at the very least, he can serve as a spot up shooter off the bench. )

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

The question for me isn’t the teams in our rearview mirror. The question for me is what did we do to catch the teams in front of us? The answer . . we simply changed coaches, and now we have a rookie head coach running the team.

All of your money is banking on that Drew can take this team to the next level, without making a single personnel change other than giving Teague more playing time. That’s pretty much the extent of your plan for next year.

Meanwhile, everybody around us is upgrading their teams like crazy, other than Orlando.

In year’s past, the Hawks have upgraded their personnel each year:

- 2005 . . traded for Joe Johnson ( who has been more than adequate in ATL )
- 2006 . . signed Speedy Claxton ( who would’ve helped us had he stayed healthy )
- 2007 . . drafted Al Horford ( only because we were lucky enough to get into the top 3 )
- 2008 . . traded for Mike Bibby ( who stabilized the PG position for a while )
- 2009 . . traded for Jamal Crawford ( which paid off big time in 2009 – 10 )
- 2010 . . unless Jordan Crawford turns into a gem . . nothing.

So don’t act like that we haven’t made upgrades to the Hawks in the past. We have. And those upgrades have paid off, to cover up for our plethora of drafting mistakes. Teams should ALWAYS strive to improve themselves. Adding Josh Powell and Jason Collins does not achieve that goal.

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NORTHCYDE,

i still wouldn’t automatically put put the hawks 6th in the east. sure, they are not better on paper than boston, orlando, miami, milwaukee, but until i see larry drew’s PRINCETON MOTION OFFENSE, i will reserve my opinion. the hawks lost several games last yr due to woody’s NON-MOTION offense.

personally, i think that we will have a better record than boston, milwaukee, and miami.

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ken, the celts have big baby, shaq and l oneal to cover while perkins gets better and joins them mid season. dude all we got is three post players period and those are their centers. i played the old routine last year and said before the season we would get them on age. cant say it this year because two oneals trumps one sheed in my book and that is just a start. dont they have a little spark plug to back up their point that can beat us single handedly? nate heh heh he did and i was there. dude it aint the same team as last year. that ole geezer line wont quite work because they have gone out an gotten deeper too.

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Ant . . on the contrary . . I still think we are 4th in the East. I don’t think Chicago nor Milwaukee are going to overtake us, because they have to deal with the same teams that we do. But they might be very close to us, especially Chicago. To me, that’s the main team that we have to worry about.

Every bench guy that they added this offseason ( Kyle Korver, CJ, Watson, Kurt Thomas and Ronnie Brewer ) could be key rotational guys off of our bench. That’s how weak our bench is.

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I told yall MC was gonna’ delete all that ISH on here. And, he came through for us! Yeah! MC Yeah!

Life is Good – Not Hood!

Now, if we can just get him to fix the Hawks roster as quickly.
Wouldn’t that be grand?

Ant Banks

@Clyde: Get Em’. Co-Sign your rebuttal post. I could care less who Joe marries.
I think it’s great that he is in Love and will be a Father soon. He’s Lucky to have found a nice girl that makes him happy! She looks beautiful in that photo.

I like the fact that he chose any everyday girl and apparently she is NOT a gold-digger, If so, she would have been buying tickets behind the Hawks bench and
tossing her panties on the court! He could have been arrogant and said,
“I don’t talk to waitresses!)

Even though Tiger Woods made a lot of bad choices? He did marry Elin Nordegren, who was a former – Nanny. A live in Baby-Sitter.
Would you rather Joe date Kim Kardashian? Uuuggghh!

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I like our team, as is… As a true fan who watches all the televised games, I think alot of critics/doubters dont understand our point-distribution… our biggest problem of the past was our Head Coach and his game plan…our d-scheme was weak and offense-scheme lacked ball-movement, inside scoring…too many jump shots…

We didnt need Shaq but we could have used a Carlos Boozer or another 6′10+ guy to play Center so Al Horford and play his natural position…

I think we are good offensively…just need to pick up 1 athletic guy who’s 6′10+ and can start from day 1(Powell doesnt count)

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Recycle and Go Green!

Ant Banks

Man, I saw that article re: the ASG staffers. Man, I never saw that coming
the Suns and Trailblazers picking from the ASG garden?

All we fans see is weeds and thickets.

But, like they say, “One man’s garbage is another man’s treasure.”
I guess in this business, you form alliances and relationships over the years.
These families go on family vactations and celebrate holidays together.
And at the end of the day, you can’t blame the employees for what the owners and operation managers do or Not do. You hire people based on their merits, character and talents. It’s only fair. I think it’s great for these guys to get looked at.

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Our line-up is solid…we deserve better than Shaq… remember when everyone wanted the Braves to sign Griffey, Jr last year, and Griffey went to another team and retired half way thru the season… I can invision Shaq doing that this year… we dont need that on this roster… If horford and josh can hold it down in the post, we’re good… use the other scrubs for fouls on D.Howard

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Big Ump, JeJe, JoJo, Joe Mamma, Daniel + 17 more monikers are ALL the same person – Truth Serum!

He blogs with the 17 people who run around in his head and they all have TWO sign-ons each. So, who cares what they say back & forth to each other.

Blaah .. Blaaah … And regurgitated some more with themselves!

We know by content of the comments who the ICONIC bloggers are!

Hey, it’s all about the Hawks all the time anyways!

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Ant Banks

Clyde makes pretty T-Shirts. So, based on his comments re: Joe’s wife being a former waitress at a strip club, then we shouldn’t blog with him either.

I know some MD’s, CEO’s, Ex-Mayors and lawyers who are in prison.
It doesn’t matter what your craft is – it’s your character that counts.

Speaking of: Mayor Julliani – (sp) of New York City, his daughter was
arrested yesterday in Upper Manhattan for shop-lifting cosmetics for less that $500 in value.

Hey Ant, maybe Joe should marry her, after all, her Dad is the Mayor of NYC.

I’m just sayin’

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Add Bogut, Redd and Maggette to the Bucks team in the playoffs, and we win 2 games instead of 4. We basically beat them because we dominated in the paint, and they could not score. Those 3 guys solve those problems. Add the fact that they have a coach who proved that he knows how to coach, and get the best out of the players on the floor, they will more than likely overtake us in the standings if everything remains the same. Even if they don’t overtaake us in the standings, I would have no faith in us winning a seven game series, with the addition of those guys.

Skiles > Drew

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DR. MARY B,

a great man once said, “judge me not by the color of my skin (or occupation) but by the content of my character.” i hate kim HOEdashian. but i guess clyde would marry her, since she is a tv “star” and not a waitress. lol.

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Joe has problems guarding Salmons, nobody on our team can stay in front of or slow down Jennings. Marvin can’t guard Maggette, and does not provide any threat offensively. Josh would probably really be our only mismatch. Bogut is just as good if not better than Horford. If Redd comes back close to 100%, he is just as good a scorer as Jamal Crawford. Plus a bench which consist of guys like Delfino, Illyasova, Keyon Dooling, Chris Douglas Roberts, Drew Gooden and Tiny Gallon(R), and Maybe Stackhouse. Skiles is a better and more proven coach than Drew. I don’t see how the Hawks would be better than the Bucks, if all things stay the same.

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Don’t forget about the Bucks 1st rnd draft pick Larry Sanders. Dude was a beast in summer league. He could compliment Bogut well with his defense, rebounding and shot blocking ability. They also have MammaDo MammaDo (kid from UCLA)…

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I think we’re looking at 46-36, not because we’re any worse, we actually will probably be a little better – but because the East is much better, our record will probably be worse.

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SteveW,

I agree the East may have gotten better so hopefully the West has gotten weaker and the Hawks could steal more wins out West than they have in the previous years. But that may be true for out East teams as well… Oh well, here’s to staying healthy again this season…

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Shocking- this just in, the world is round, not flat. ZZZZZZZ.

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drmaryb:

Bloggers like you have in your mind that you know evertyhings. If you neeed to know anything about me than asked Don’t just sit there and pretend that I’m someone that you think I am I’m a 62 balck Male from the ATl. Been here all my life. I’m my own man and will always be. Been in sports all my life with Little League, High School, College and a 3 year stint in the MLB. I’m also a Viet Nam Veteran, married with 6 kids. Been with the same wife for 22 years. Back up key board for Sly and the Family Stones in the Seventies. Please just don’t sit on you “ss and talk about who you think I am. I couldn’t care less who you are, so do the same here. If you need more ask and don’t accuse unless you know what you talking about. Have a good day.

Big Ump

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Last year, the Hawks were one of the few teams that faced no adversity at all, as we were the healthiest team in the NBA. I just hope the injury bug leaves us alone again this year.

I think the Bulls and Bucks will be better this year, but head to head against the Hawks, I’ll take the Hawks.

As for the playoffs, I think the Hawks will have the 4th best record in the East. The 3 best records will be Miami, Orlando and Boston (IMO).

Which means the Hawks would play the #1 seed in the second round, which is where I think we will lose again (but we will be more competitive).

Rod,

I think Teague can do a decent job of keeping up with Jennings (if Teague learns not to commit a silly foul on the reach-in).

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Sautee,

I remeber Al had pretty good games against Bogut, that’s why I said just as good as or better than. I would rate them about equal. Jennings and Redd actually compliment each other well, as Jennings loves to break down the defense, and Redd loves to spot up and shoot. Redd is alot like Joe in that he does not like to drive at all. I would have cringed all series last year if Jennings broke us down, we switched and Redd was wide open for 3. He might have averaged 30ppg against us.

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O’Brien,

“I think Teague can do a decent job of keeping up with Jennings (if Teague learns not to commit a silly foul on the reach-in).”

Did Teague get quicker or faster this summer, because I remember Woody putting him in to guard Jennings in the playoffs, and Jennings ran by him like he was Bibby. The key is whether Teague will make Jennings work on the defensive end.

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terrell,

Now rod, how can you say Skiles > Drew. when Drew hasn’t coached a game yet? Isn’t that a bit premature?

No. I’m not one who believes that Drew is the next coming of Phil Jackson. I personally don’t think that this motion (princeton) offense crap will be succesful, and we really don’t have any great ball handlers to run that type of offense. Our best ballhandlers are Joe and Jamal. Josh’s handles are suspect, Horford is robotic, Bibby barely dribbles after half court, Marvin can’t dribble more than three times, and Teague is a question mark. If his offense really is very similar to a Princeton offense, then I am really concerned because it won’t work in the NBA, and we have only Joe and Jamal who are knock down jum shooters. I have seen this new innovative offense crap in Atlanta before, and it did not end well. Falcon Fans remember the run and shoot with Glanville and June Jones. Skiles is proven and Drew is not, that makes him better until Drew proves himself.

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Big Ump

My bad then, I guess you haven’t posted in a while and probably are not aware of what Truth-Serum has been up to. But he jacked my I’d along with Grand-Dad and Sautee. The stuff he posþed under our names is so deplorable – I can’t even bear to repeat it. He did this for almost four weeks, but …
Sir, it got so bad? The blog administrator had to shut down the blog for almost
a week.

Big Ump, it sounded like a triple XXX porn-site. Very demoralizing stuff!
Maybe you missed out on all that, and I am glad you did.
Many of us stopped posting all together on here.

When, MC returned, he blocked Truth-Serum’s multiple IP addresses, because he blogs from public libraries, college campuses and who knows where else.
But as usual, he finds another IP address to stalk and harass from.

Maybe you see all the stuff he put oin here last night using
Mike Woodson’s name and typed: this blog is closed for repairs,
for almost two pages and 10,000 lines of it in caps.

MC deleted it around 1PM today. If you missed all that? Then good for you.

Anyway, I thought he was using your I’d because, I haven’t you post in a while on here, and I know he likes to jack I’d’s.

Nothing personal towards you and I’m sorry.

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Big Ump!

I just re-read your accomplishments! Pretty awesome stuff!
There is a lot of talent in that young body of yours!

MLB, Keyboards for SLY and Vietnam War Vet too? WOW!
I have a SLY album from the 70’s. Haven’t heard that group’s name in forever.
The Wife of 22 years and 6 kids, when do you sleep?

I have an Uncle who returned from Viet-Nam with schizophrenia and
murdered my Dad on Father’s Day in 1986. That was one crazy war.
Thanks for your service – Sir.

I truly meant no disrespect, Sir. Where the heck have you been for the past
few months? You missed all the FA action with the Hawks!
Hey, we re-signed Joe! LOL! I’m glad we at least did that.

Anyway, again, please accept my apology?
-smiles-

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Sautee,

Or what if they decide to play, Shaq, J.O. and Garnett together. I don’t think Garnett will have a problem guarding Marvin (LOL). Will Al still hold his own in the post?

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Rod,

I’ll go back and check the mpg. But in the Miami series Horford was injured (in Game 3, I think and his numbers reflected trying to play injured). So you can throw out those numbers. I also threw out one game where JON only played 11 min. before re-injuring his knee.

Why do you say there’s no need to compare Shaq and Horford? Your statement was that we would be “killed on the glass” against him. Does that not invite rebounding comparisons?

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Rod,

Well, as you can tell, I’m one or more posts behind you. Thanks for the clarification. As far as fouls go, Al was only in anything like foul trouble once in those four games (admittedly a small sample), but overall, playing all year against bigger centers, he only fouled out of one regular season game and one playoff game. I just don’t see fouls being a big concern with him. Also, we can hope that LD will let the players play in the second quarter with two fouls, unlike Woody.

Now here are the MPG:

VS MIA: JON: 33:15
AH 37:30

VS CLE:

SHAQ: 23:15
AH: 32:30

A valid point, more about Shaq than JON.

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Everyone seems overly critical of Sund and the ASG for bringing back the same players. What none of you seem to realize is although we’ll basically have the same players, collectively we won’t be the same TEAM.

Having a new HC, 2 new assistants, or DEF specialists if you will, a structured half court OFF, a different approach to DEF, a commitment to running, and accountability with no favoritism, are the new ingredients that will make this yrs Hawks new and improved.

I’m done trying to explain to most of you GLASS HALF EMPTY fans why the Hawks won’t fall apart or below the 3rd seed. You act like our Hawks are the only team that can or will be affected by potential injuries, or certain teams potentially getting better, or having a new HC, or OFF/DEF systems, or an inexperienced PG. Everyone raved about the Hornets and Bucks rookie PG’s. Basically, the only difference between them and what they were able to accomplish, compared to JTeague, is they played for HC’s who weren’t cowards with stupid hangups against rookie PG’s.

Therefore, they got a chance to show what they could do, while Teague was never given that chance. We could just as easily see the same dynamic product from him this yr under HC LDrew. Whenever Teague was given consistent mins and allowed to play without having to look over his shoulder, like during preseason gms, the last gm of the season against Cleveland, and summer league, he’s excelled.

All of you can continue with your doubts and fears about the Hawks. I believe we made our biggest improvement as a team by way of subtraction and addition. -MWoodson, -ISO, -Switching DEF, -Rookie PG bias, -limited bench use, + LDrew + LConnor + Gattison, +structured motion OFF, +tradition DEF, + player accountability, + commitment to running + extensive bench use ETC.

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