Atlanta Hawks: Hawks 110, Jazz 87
Smoove and the Hawks eventually forced Jazz fans to throw in the towel. (Steve Griffin / The Salt Lake Tribune)
Salt Lake City–Wow.
- The Hawks finished their West trip in style by waylaying the Jazz. It was surreal to see the fans in one of the league’s toughest building start leaving midway through the fourth quarter.
- “As I told the guys before the game started, ‘Let’s turn a good road trip into a great road trip,’” L.D. said. “That was kind of our theme going into this game, and they did it. Just a great, great win.”
- The Hawks have won five of six games. Joe and Jamal are getting healthier. Their defense looks better. They play four of their next five at home. They’ve survived a grueling schedule despite injuries to sit a half game behind Orlando for fourth fifth place in the East.
- Could the Hawks finally be ready to get on an extended roll? “Why not?” Jamal said. “Other teams have had their chances to get on a run. I think it’s our time now. It’s a game tonight that a lot of people wouldn’t have bet on us. It was a gut check. It was a pretty convincing win against a great team.”
- There’s no question about that. The Hawks were sharper, faster, tougher and better than the Jazz from start to finish.
- “From start to finish I thought it was one of the most complete games where we controlled it from start to finish on both ends of the floor,” Drew said. “Defensively, I thought we did a great job. And then we actually got our and ran, made the extra pass.”
- The Jazz could do nothing to stop the Hawks on the perimeter. If they appeared slow to react, it might have been because Atlanta passed the ball so crisply. And when they did manage to close out, the Hawks frequently made plays off the bounce.
- “They pass the ball well,” Jerry Sloan said. “They got it to who was supposed to have the ball almost every possession. We didn’t seem to be able to do anything with it.”
- It was shocking to see the Jazz unable to run their normally-silky offensive sets because the Hawks beat them to the punch. Deron Williams, among the league’s best point guards, was made to look ordinary by J.J. and Atlanta’s swarming help defense.
- “I think we did a number on Deron,” Smoove said. “We did a good job with team defense.”
- “We tried to take away a lot of the easy touches,” L.D. said. “The system that they run, they are so good at it. They put you in a position of switching and if you are not careful you can get back cut. I thought we did a good job of defending that. I think we forced them into more one-on-one situations than what they are accustomed to and then we defended it.”
- J.J. was great at both ends. This was the first game in a while I can remember him so smoothly meshing his deliberate, one-on-one game into the rhythm of the offense. He picked his spots, let his teammates set him up and is starting to make more open jump shots.
- “You can see he’s starting to find rhythm in his game and what we do,” Drew said. “He is incorporating his game in the movement that we’ve put in.”
- The same can be said of Jamal, who scored at least 20 points for four straight games for the first time since he joined the Hawks. All of those efforts were efficient.
- When Joe and Jamal are going like this while getting other involved, the Hawks are very difficult to defend.
- “I think we are definitely getting healthier as a team,” Joe said. “We are starting to figure things out about how L.D. wants things to be run offensively and defensively. Most importantly, we are going out there and having fun.”
- “I think it just took time,” Jamal said. “We just had to figure out how we were going about things. I think now we are doing a good job picking our spots. But we still have such an interior presence with Josh, Al and Zaza and all those guys in there.”
- Al was making the shots that Jamal, Joe and Bibby (eight assists) created.
- That’s where the Jazz could have used Paul Milsap, who was out with a hip injury. Al Jefferson was flummoxed all night by Atlanta’s bigs.
- “We wanted to match their physicality,” Smoove said. “I think we did a good job at really pressuring them and stopping them from swinging the basketball easily. We got in the passing lanes and did a nice job of limiting them to one shot and rebounding and getting the ball out.”
- The Hawks made 14 of 25 3-point attempts. That’s a lot of long balls to put up but they were quality looks: all but two of them were assisted, and one of those was Jamal’s 47-foot bank shot at the buzzer.
- “We had great ball movement and we had some great looks,” L.D. said. “In most cases we won’t be taking that many threes. Joe got into a rhythm. Jamal got into a bit of a rhythm. They were within the flow of what we were doing.”
- The Jazz tried to make a game of it in the third quarter but couldn’t get stops. The Hawks had 10 assists on 11 field goals and made 6 of 8 3-point attempts in the period.
- The Jazz were a step behind trying to defend the three, probably because the Hawks gave them so many other things to worry about, too.
- “A lot of that had to do with the way we tried to guard them in the post,” Sloan said. “They threw the ball out of the post a number of times for guys to be able to take shots. That’s one thing; the other is whenever they were looking for three-point shots we had trouble getting to them.”
- Smoove was the early catalyst for the Hawks. He was all over the court as they raced out to a 20-6 lead. During that stretch he assisted on two of J.J.’s 3-pointers, plays that suggested they are rediscovering their chemistry. Josh also got an and-1 on the break, a steal and two rebounds during that opening burst.
- The starters handed the reserves a big lead in the second quarter. It wasn’t always pretty, but they pretty much maintained. Mo made open shots, helped with the team defense and even looked pretty good on the break.
- The Hawks returned to Atlanta to face the Pacers on Saturday. “Three big wins and coming off a great win like [against] the Jazz, it can definitely fuel you to a domino effect for us to string some wins here together,” J.J. said. “The East is tough, man, so we have got to get on a roll.”
MC
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199 comments Add your comment
Melvin
January 7th, 2011
12:21 am
Nice article on the upcoming CBA…
http://blogs.hoopshype.com/blogs/tolnick/2011/01/06/a-harder-soft-cap-exploring-the-possibilities/
O'Brien
January 7th, 2011
8:10 am
The new CBA negotiations will be interesting.
I’m looking forward to the new CBA, and I hope it allows for more parity in the league.
Lakers Payroll – $91 mil, Orlando payroll – $90 mil, Dallas – $88 mil. I know they pay dollar for dollar luxury tax, but still.
Plus player salaries need to be cut back.
There is no reason why guys like Rashard Lewis, Michael Redd, even JJ should be making the money they make (imo).
It was not a bad pick
January 7th, 2011
8:50 am
SteveW
“And P.S. Joe Johnson is only a 2nd tier Max player, not a 1st tier Max money player like Kobe. JJ got the Max he could get in years of service, but not the Max the NBA allows to 10+ year vets, like Kobe. So when we say JJ and Kobe are max players, they are different kind of max players. Rudy Gay is a max player, but only a 1st tier Max, not 2nd like JJ, or 3rd and highest tier like Kobe. Just wanted to clarify.”
Joe Max has a max contract..No way around it…The game he had in Utah should be a normal thing..not 1 great game every 4 games due to his contract..He cannot be just solid, if the Hawks plan to move past the second round..Marvin has been soild, and he is the 5th option..We need big scoring games out of Joe Max..I hope he steps up and realize that this is his team..
JeJe
January 7th, 2011
9:04 am
LOL @ northcyde a few weeks ago acting like the lineup with J.Collins as start would be a problem for us.
3-1 on a West Road Trip
Fundamentals
January 7th, 2011
9:08 am
SteveW,
I’ve always said give Marvin till Feb to see if he can mesh with LD’s system. He obviously has shown he can. If he falls back off the wagon we most likely can attribute it to too many “shotmakers” and not enough balls.
JJ and Jamal are balling, with Smoove and Al seeming content to win and play their role. Can Marvin come back and get 15-20 per night along with them? Can he get boards, steals and play awesome D when he’s not? That’s the question. Can they all play their role?
I hope so, I really do.
drmaryb (*_*)
January 7th, 2011
9:23 am
Free Markets and Capitalism!
“There is no reason why guys like Rashard Lewis, Michael Redd, even JJ should be making the money they make (imo)”
_____________________________
I strongly and vehemently disagree with this convenient statement!
We live in The Free World where the underlying premise is
Survival of The Fittest!
In a player owner relationship, the player is the product sold and the franchise collects all revenues, from ticket sales, TV, food and beverage vendors, to merchandise sales, and everything in between. The sharing of revenues is a financial obligation due primarily the players and building employees and coaches and staff members.
I posted a comment from The Lakers owner last week verbatum, where he said this, while chuckling, “Kobe is directly responsible for 80M per year in revenue collected by The Lakers.” From that statement, I surmise that Kobe’s 25M/Year salary may make him under-paid relative to what is collected from his contributions to the ownership pie. This makes me wonder how many years especially back in the 80’s and 90’s were these players robbed blind and raped at the pay window!
I won’t even address the collegiate fiasco, were college players can’t receive a $100 hand shake or a slice of pizza from the billions they generate.
The Sports Business is Racketeering at the highest level and form!
So, damn anyone who claims a player should not make fair market value in a sports equation. Just take a peek and look at the Revenue Books before making such an asinine statement. Sorry for the strong language, but that statement really irks me to no end.
Should a Real Estate Agent walk off with 20K from a closing, because she showed someone your house? No! But they did, and that greed was the beginning of the end in The Real Estate Market crash of 2008, that ended up on Wall Street.
_________________________________
Greed at the highest level. I say to the players, “Hire an Agent and Shake the owners like a salt shaker or a polaroid picture!”. Whichever, you prefer!
___________________________
Why? Because: Four Score and Seven Years Ago – some sh!t happened and we
were promised an indelible right to The Pursuit of Happyness!
drmaryb (*_*)
January 7th, 2011
9:47 am
LeBron James Undermines Labor Union Talks
by Adrian Wajornowski
Dec. 24, 3:17 PM
__________________________
An excerpt:
“ere’s the case James could make, and he’d be right: The biggest stars in the sport – LeBron, Kobe, Dwyane Wade – are far underpaid with maximum contracts. And the rest of the league’s players? They’re mostly overpaid. Privately, Lakers owner Jerry Buss tells people that Bryant has been worth as much as $80 million a year to his franchise. Most of the players in the sport are interchangeable and never affect television ratings, ticket sales or merchandising. Yet, Kobe and LeBron – and before them Michael, Magic and Larry – are responsible for the sport’s immense popularity and profitability”
_________________________________
In this article is a caption under Kobe’s photo …
“I am 100% committed to the players and I am not about to give back what the players before us has fought for and given us.”
_________________________________
From the Jerry Buss statement, my point is this:
“If this is OK and fair, why is he only saying it “PRIVATELY” that Kobe is worth 80M? In defense of OBRIEN, I know that Joe is not Kobe and does not generate anywhere near that amount in Ticket Sales, Merchandise, etc. But he and Rudy Gay have certainly benefited from The Spirit of This Rule. It’s not so much that Joe and Rudy are overpaid, as it is that Kobe is UNDER-PAID!
And that, OBRIEN is on the OWNERS!
Ken Strickland
January 7th, 2011
10:22 am
STEVEW-your response made me do a little digging and check out the Hawks cap situation, and you were right, which is usually the case with you. Thanks.
We have 5 more gms before meeting the Heat. Is there anyone besides me who thinks the Hawks can enter that gm on an 8gm winning streak? So far, this yrs version of last yrs Hawks have done pretty darn good, for a team that lost it’s 4 time AllStar(JJohnson)and 6the MOY(JaCrawford), who were out at the same time for extended time, as well as MWilliams, as starter. Here’s what I see as improvements over last yrs team.
1-Far more ball and player movement, and far less dependence on ISO’s.
2-Better team and individual DEF.
3-LDrew’s Ability/willingness to make adjustments and/or changes.
4-His ability/willingness to create favorable matchups, and eliminate unfavorable matchups.
5-His ability to get better performances, and win more on the road.
6-His ability/willingness to utilize his bench more by consistently utilizing a 9-10 man rotation.
7-His ability to make in gm adjustments.
8-His ability to deal with his players in a manner that’s avoided any friction with or among the players.
9-The team has shown a much better ability to close our gms in the 4th quarter.
JUST MY HONEST OPINION, AND FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
Big Ump
January 7th, 2011
10:54 am
drmaryb
What’s up my lady? I still see you kicking it hard and truthful. I hope you had a good holiday. I will have the group touring schedule together sometime next week. You will be one of our VIP.
Ken S.
I may not totally agree with your last post, but I think it’s a great post. By the way how everything with you? Ken when were you across the water? Myself 69 to 70. I ETS out of Fort Lewis. I understand you were a Marine. I wasn he Army myself. I guess we have a lot to talk about.
ILL-Logical
January 7th, 2011
11:19 am
The primary challenge for the Hawks going forward ,as I see it,is establishing/maintaining consistancy. Not only will consistant play result in more wins but it will begin to challenge the national media’s perception of the team. and that is important in terms of revenue genration from TV appearances and ,frankly, repect from the refs.
drmaryb (*_*)
January 7th, 2011
11:37 am
* consistent
drmaryb (*_*)
January 7th, 2011
11:41 am
Big Ump
Hello my man. I would love to catch one of your shows. Just send me a link and let me know when and where. The Holidays were fine and Happy New Year!
KenS
HNY to you too! My prayer is that you continue to win your battle with the health issues. Great to see you are still keeping the blog positive and hopeful in regards to our favorite team: The Hawks!
O'Brien
January 7th, 2011
12:44 pm
it was not a bad pick,
Most fans are disappointed in the play of JJ this year, and we would like to see more consistency (and bigger games) out of him. Most fans are disappointed in his play in the playoffs last year too.
But whether he is worth a max contract or not, Hawks had no choice but to pay him to keep him. It’s the way the NBA works, so hopefully he will step his game up.
Marvin has been solid, especially of late. But its easy to be solid when you are the fifth option.
Make Marvin the first option, and teams will double team him, teams will put their best defender on him, and teams will game plan for him.
If that happened, I think you would see just how (not) solid Marvin would be. Unless you know something that Roy Williams at UNC (who brought Marvin off the bench), Woody, and LD dont know…
drmaryb (*_*)
January 7th, 2011
1:37 pm
Joe needed elbow surgey, perhaps the injury affected his game and learning a new offense? Do we have amnesia or just plain ignoring the real facts.
What are the fans disappointed about? A player injury? Then say that! Don’t just ignore the truth. If I were a player, I wouldn’t listen to these fans either, they’re crazy.
ant banks
January 7th, 2011
2:37 pm
hawks are on the cusp of reachin’ “elite” status, as defined by sund. he said that he considers teams who win 20 games on the road as “elite.” hawks are 12-9 on the road, surely they will win 8 more road games.
i think that “elite” status should be reserved for teams who MAKE IT OUTTA THE 2ND ROUND.
ILL-Logical
January 7th, 2011
3:01 pm
Sorry about the spelling.
Ken Strickland
January 7th, 2011
3:20 pm
BIG UMP-What’s up, and thanks. I spent 19mos on Okinawa in 68-70. I was all excited about being there, for about 6mos. Then I realized I had seen just about everything there. I started getting depressed after realizing I had another 12mos on that rock. I wanted to avoid Viet Nam, and I definitely wasn’t going to jail or Canada. So, I joined the Air Force and took an immediate 18mo overseas tour.
I had a chance to spend my entire 4yrs stationed at Lackland AFB playing basketball and assigned to the gym. I missed out on a 3yr tour of duty in Sicily, but a broken finger caused those orders to be cancelled, so I ended up in Okinawa. The experiences I had over there, and in the military in general, caused me to finally grow up and take charge of my life.
As far as the cancer is concerned, I signed up with VA to get treatment. I don’t know when it will start, or where they’ll send me to get it done, but it will get done my friend. Considering I was only a few months from turning 64 when it was detected, I have to keep in mind how lucky I was that it was only in its early stages.
Back to basketball. I’m certain eveyone noticed the drastic improvement in JJ’s shooting against Utah. But did anyone notice the protective bandage on his elbow had been removed? If we continue to play OFF and DEF, especially DEF, the way we played against Utah, Teague and Powell should get some mins.
If the collective bargaining agreement causes the luxury tax limit to be reduced, the Hawks will have to trade at least on of our 9 guaranteed contracts. Since Bibby’s would have the only remaining expiring contract, he’d be the likely one traded. I have a question for everyone. If we make a trade and use the $3.3M trade exemption to acquire more salary than we take back, does it in any way affect our salary or luxury tax cap?
Boooo!
January 7th, 2011
3:53 pm
Steve Nash to ATL?
http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=18398
Tehy’re not getting a crawford. I’d do it for Marvin, Mo, and Bibby in a heartbeat though + Picks
Boooo!
January 7th, 2011
4:09 pm
Honestly though if we could just get Kirk Heinrich and Andre Igoudala while only giving up Marvin, Mo, Mike, & Etan, I would be extremely pleased.
Maybe in a three team trade?
Boooo!
January 7th, 2011
4:11 pm
I know sombody will take them….
O'Brien
January 7th, 2011
4:15 pm
Phoenix already have grant hill and Josh childress, so I doubt if they would want Marvin.
Trading Crawford for Nash is an interesting idea. We would lose bench scoring, but our starting team would be better with Nash starting. And then bibby would become our PGoff the bench, with Mo Evans more PT at backup SG.
I doubt if the ASG and Rick would consider the move though. 1) Nash is not expiring, so his contract and horford’s extension would increase our payroll next year and 2)Crawford has been playing really well of late, and the Hawks are winning.
drmaryb
January 7th, 2011
4:17 pm
Bad Pick?
Here’s some truth for you and your drum banging re: Marvin should demand a trade?
an excerpt from: http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=18398
“On the surface, the Hawks can’t offer much in talent in return for Nash. The Hawks have shopped Williams but have found no takers, plus the Suns already possess a plethora of wing players.”
____________________________________
Good luck with that Marvin Williams trade demand. Nobody out there wants him, yeah I know ..I know…6 years as a starter wasn’t enough time to grow some stones….blah….blah…blah!
Josh and Joe wouldn’t pass the poor guy the ball, nor put it in the basket for him … eek …eek (rubbing my eyes with tears).
Well, folks looks like it”s gonna be another White X-mas … This time around, I hope Marvin gets well soon and return to his team and play whatever role Coach asks of him. If Marvin picks up where he left off, this team really does need his contribution. I’m all in, I promised SteveW last night that I would get behind Marvin and show him some love and respect. That he does deserve, he is a fine young man, very classy and intelligent and does have a nice game when he comes ready to play.
Melvin
January 7th, 2011
4:45 pm
Joe Johnson is on ESPN Jim Rome is burning show right now..
SteveW
January 7th, 2011
4:46 pm
Ramon, so the Hawks have basically the same winning % whether Josh scores 20+ or not. I assume that is the point?
9-5 Win Josh scores 20+ for a .643 winning percentage
15-9 When he doesn’t score 20+ for a .625 winning percentage
Very close to the same %.. About about 1/2 game difference. Negligible. And if the Hawks win let’s say the next 2, with Josh scoring 19 in each game, you could make a better case statistically that the Hawks a better with Josh not scoring +20. In other words, at this point, it makes no difference whether Josh scores 20+ a game or not. No indicator whether the Hawks will win or lose.
SteveW
January 7th, 2011
4:48 pm
“a” should be preceded by “are” in the last paragraph before the word “better”. Sorry, in a hurry typing, and didn’t check the spelling.
It was not a bad pick
January 7th, 2011
4:51 pm
O’Brien
Marvin only came off the bench for NC because they had a veteran team..In the championship game he made the key basket to help them win the NC..I think he would be a more willing passer than Joe..Joe should easily average 8 apg..
drmaryb
i dont believe the Hawks are shopping Marvin…we are not dumb enough to draft a guy #2, never really run plays for him, then watch him become a star some where else…If we traded Marvin to the Suns for Nash, I would be highly pissed…Nash is old and Nash cannot stay with any pgs in the NBA..I thought every one hated Bibby for that?….I would trade Jamal for Nash, because i doubt we sign him back after this year..
SteveW
January 7th, 2011
5:02 pm
It was not.. – Lie if you want, but JJ is not a player making the maximum the NBA allows, he is only making the maximum a 2nd tiered of the 4 tiers available.
1st tier – 10 year + vet
2nd tier – > than 10, but I can’t remember the other number and don’t want to look it up now.
3rd tier – A Rudy Gay max player, available right after your Rookie scale contract
4th tier – Rookie scale contracts
And of course you vet minimums, and all kind of salaries in between.
And remember, Joe took a risk. He turned down a 4 year 60 mill. contract offer by Sund, to play his final season on his last contract. What if he would have blown out a knee severely? He took a gamble, and it paid off in the free market. More power to him.
And with the current CBA, we only had the mid-level exception to re-sign a player if JJ left (5.7 mil per year), because we were over the cap. JJ Reddick signed for 7.25 mill per. Salmone got 8mil per. Miller with the Heat got 6 mill. per. And all those players are nowhere near the player JJ is.
We were looking at Flip Murray and Jarvis Hayes taking JJ’s place, and a trip to major mediocrity. I’m glad we re-signed him. And we’ll renegotiate in 3 years, keep him longer, but pay him less per year.
SteveW
January 7th, 2011
5:05 pm
And it was not… – I shouldn’t have used the term “lie”. My bad. But the truth is the last post, and you can’t twist it to fit your narrative of Joe Max. He is a max player, but not like people think. He never comes close to the 30+ mill Kobe will be making in a couple of years.
SteveW
January 7th, 2011
5:07 pm
We don’t call Rudy Gay, Rudy Gay Max, even though he’s making the max he can as a 3rd tier FA. But he still makes about 40 mill. less than JJ, who is making less than Kobe.
Boooo!
January 7th, 2011
5:15 pm
IDK what’s so hard for PPL to understand. KB24 makes like 24mill a year and JJ has been making between 17-14 mill for the last five years. stop looking at the total contract value. Joe is NOT making MAX money.
MJ was making like 30 mill a season. So baisically JJ is like half the player MJ was from a contract/value standpoint.
AND STOP CALLING HIM JOE MAX! It sounds like some perverted Tampon campaign.
Boooo!
January 7th, 2011
5:18 pm
Jermaine O’neal Made 21mill last season. Talk about theivery.
Rod from College Park
January 7th, 2011
6:08 pm
“The Hawks have shopped Williams but have found no takers”
Wow. I wonder why? No other NBA want’s Marvin Williams but the Hawks. Maybe they could trade him to the NBDL? No team will give away a good player for Marvin at this point of Marvin’s contract.
O'Brien
January 7th, 2011
6:11 pm
When Orlando signed Rashard Lewis (from Seattle), didn’t they offer him the max too?
drmaryb (*_*)
January 7th, 2011
6:18 pm
It was not a bad pick, said this:
“i dont believe the Hawks are shopping Marvin…we are not dumb enough to draft a guy #2, never really run plays for him, then watch him become a star some where else…”
_____________________________
You were the one on the last blog that has been cryingn “Marvin should demand a trade!”. I never said Marvin is currently being shopped (maybe he is?), however, Marvin Williams was placed on the trading block after last season and was the ONLY Hawks player on the trading block all Summer long during the biggest FA period in NBA history, with LeBron and Bosh leading the way.
The Hawks had no offers and no team(s) were interested in his services, or the offers made for him were laughable to the Hawks! Either way, he is still here and he is appreciated by the Coaches, team mates and owners. Marvin, will not be traded if it doesn’t improve the teams chances of winning.
But, he owes it to the org to bring his “A” Game and all out effort every game.
So far, he has done that. Coach Drew deserves equal credit for this as well.
Nobody on this blog wants to see Marvin fail, we need him top play well and fill his role. Defend, rebound and hit his open shots better than 50% would be very nice. Get to that FT line would be gravy.
Let’s Go Marvin! Get Well Soon!
superiorblogman
January 7th, 2011
6:23 pm
Danny Granger may be available or come available. I got that info from hoops hype com
First of, I do not care that we are trying a new lineup or don’t want to hear of messing up chemistry. Josh can either go to the bench or Granger can come off of the bench. Can you imagine Jamal and Josh or Jamal and Granger coming off the bench? Seriously no lead that another team could get on us would ever be safe and we would be a upgrade of Collins as starting C away from no style another team could play against us being unmatchable with our talent.
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=2d4bwwf
Marvin and Zaza a 1st rounder and a 2nd rounder for Granger. This is a case in which they would need a SF back and they would get another big which they have been desperately looking for plus 2 picks. I would even make that 2 1st round picks if push came to shove.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 7th, 2011
6:24 pm
Most of the Jim Rome interview with Joe was just cliches and nonsense (Rome ended the interview by asking Joe about Boo-Ray and Joe seemed genuinely confused that he was being asked that question) but Joe did say in that interview that his elbow is still not 100%.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 7th, 2011
6:30 pm
“Steve Nash to ATL?
http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=18398
Tehy’re not getting a crawford. I’d do it for Marvin, Mo, and Bibby in a heartbeat though + Picks”
I’d do it without thinking twice. I like Jamal, but we are talking about the possibility of acquiring a future Hall of Famer here. Are you f-cking kidding me? This is a no-brainer. Can you imagine what wonders Nash would work for Smoove and Al’s games? Each one of them would be throwing down 3 or 4 alley oop dunks per game. Joe would get wide open 3 point looks all game long. Combine Nash’s point guard savvy with the Hawks’ athletic ability and you would get one of the most unguardable teams in the league.
Jamal’s scoring off the bench wouldn’t be missed nearly as much with Nash’s dead eye shooting in the starting lineup, Bibby’s dead eye 3 point shooting off the bench, and Nash’s presence improving the overall offensive efficiency of the team.
Sh-t, I’d throw Teague or Jordan in the deal to make that work if Phoenix insisted. First-round pick? Done. Two first-round picks? I might struggle with that, but I’d even do that if it had to be done. I wouldn’t give up Joe, Smoove, or Al (and that’s only because of age) but I’d gladly give up anyone else on this roster to get Nash in a Hawks jersey.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 7th, 2011
6:31 pm
And if the Hawks can get Nash without giving up Teague, I would think playing behind Nash would do wonders for Teague’s development.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 7th, 2011
6:33 pm
Or, even better, how about Jamal and Marvin for Nash and Josh Childress, who is wasting away on the Phoenix bench but who would fit in perfectly in LD’s offense. Maybe as a token of appreciation for taking Childress’ contract off their hands, Phoenix won’t ask for as much in young players and picks.
hbcuclassics
January 7th, 2011
6:36 pm
HBCU Classics All-Americans 2010
Defense
LB Keith Pough, Howard
LB Dejuan Fulghum, Tx Southern
LB Cliff Exama, Grambling
DL Kenrick Ellis, Hampton
DL Brandon Peguese, Hampton
DL Derrin Nettles, Morehouse
DL Christian Anthony, Grambling*
DL Malcolm Jenkins, Elizabeth C.
DB Moses Ellis, Prairie View
DB Prathon Wilkerson, Albany St
DB Kejuan Riley, Alabama State
DB D’Vonte Graham, NC A&T
*injured player
http://www.hbcuclassics.com
Najeh Davenpoop
January 7th, 2011
6:39 pm
“Phoenix already have grant hill and Josh childress, so I doubt if they would want Marvin.”
Grant Hill is old and expiring, and I think the Suns would take Marvin and the one less year owed on his contract if the Hawks took back Childress. I think it would be worth it to the Hawks, since Childress’ contract is worth less annually and he does a lot of the dirty work Marvin doesn’t do.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 7th, 2011
6:41 pm
Another advantage of trading for Nash, of course, would be the corresponding increase in attendance. Even acquiring Bibby in ‘08 resulted in a modest revival of fan interest; getting a two-time MVP and future Hall of Famer would likely have a much bigger impact on the team’s attendance.
I really don’t see a downside to making this deal. If for some weird reason it doesn’t work out, Nash’s contract expires next year.
Rev in Tampa
January 7th, 2011
6:55 pm
I happened to be in Radio Shack when I saw in Jim Rome so I turned up the volume to listen. Sales clerk didn’t like that I did it but I told her it was Joe Johnson so she let me hear the rest of the interview. I’m certain she did not know who Joe is.
I thought Jim Rome was being condescending in asking about the Mayo/Allen incident. Even when it was clear, as Najeh noted, that JJ was unsure what Rome was referring to, Rome continued to suggest that it would be easy for that sort of thing to happen on the Hawks team. JJ said he couldn’t imagine it since the team chemistry is so good. But Rome wouldn’t let it go. Rome came off as being unusually jerky.
Major de`Coverly
January 7th, 2011
7:00 pm
Marvin should be trade bait because we play better with a big team-
marvin and jordan crawford and jeff teague and evans is a good trade for nash and somebody they don’t wont.
superiorblogman
January 7th, 2011
8:11 pm
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=2b6a5dg
Zaza and Bibby for Jameer Nelson and Ryan Anderson since they Magic really want another big if they are in bad need here they go.
Ken Strickland
January 7th, 2011
8:18 pm
When Marvin returns, the Hawks will become a bigger, taller, deeper, more versatile, and better offensively and defensively. You can whine, cry, and complain about him all you want, but we need him. As much as I feel we need to replace MBibby as our starting PG, I’m not stupid enough to believe we don’t need what he does best.
Some of you need to get past your personal issues with certain players and put team needs 1st. While you might not like Marvin, for whatever reason, the fact still remains that we are a better team with him.
Rev in Tampa
January 7th, 2011
8:20 pm
New blog is up…
Ken Strickland
January 7th, 2011
8:44 pm
With what JJ and Jamal are saying about the team finally getting what LDrew expects, and with their, and the teams, performance against Utah, I’m really excited about the remainder of our schedule.
If Drew decides to settle on starting the big lineup, look for JCollins’ rebounding, scoring and help DEF to improve as he becomes better conditioned, and more comfortable with, and confident in, his fellow starting teammates.
Blast
January 7th, 2011
9:10 pm
Najeh,
Great series of posts. Couldn’t agree more. Folks say Hawks need a point and center. With Collins holding it down at the five now, we need a point more. Nash is as best as you are gonna get. And he puts Hawks over the top. Like the trade with Chills too.
Where the new blog at? MC out and Ken subbing. This is the latest blog.