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Atlanta Hawks

Atlanta Hawks: Season’s over

12:50 am May 13, 2011, by Michael Cunningham

  • The Hawks ran up against the Bulls’ defense at its best and they had no response. “That’s the best defense I’ve seen,” Jamal said.
  • The Bulls are a relentless, disciplined, and physical defensive team. “They don’t care about their man being open,” Josh said. “They help each other. They understand the ball needs to be stopped first.”
  • It’s not easy to score on the Bulls consistently over a seven-game series but the Hawks were relentless and disciplined on offense only occasionally during the series. Which, of course, also is the way it went for most of the season.
  • “I think we just got away from the things that are successful for us,” Al said. “We got some looks and they just didn’t fall and after that it was kind of a snowball effect on offense.”
  • “We made things tough on them with our defense,” D-Rose said. “We had to because they have a lot of great one-one-one players.”
  • Josh was the only aggressive and active guy early on. Al finished off a poor postseason with a miserable performance. J.J. and Jamal couldn’t do anything against Chicago’s pressure.
  • Teague was limited to 22 minutes because of a wrist injury. The Hawks missed his offensive punch. “He’s a tough kid,” Al said. “He wasn’t the same when he came back.”
  • Joe and Jamal weren’t the same since Game 1. Especially Jamal, who wasn’t as accustomed to being double teamed and never really seemed to figure out how to handle it.
  • “We burned them in Game 1 and they pretty much said, ‘We are taking you two out the rest of the series and make someone else beat us,’” Jamal said.
  • That’s a pretty good bet against the Hawks, especially since the Bulls could bring in waves of reserves and not see their defense drop off much, if at all.
  • Because Jamal and Marvin offered little, the benches ended up being Asik, Brewer, Korver, Watson and Gibson vs. Zaza.
  • “They contest everything but what goes under the radar is the depth of their team,” Al said. “They just kept coming. Their depth just wore us down eventually.”
  • In the first five games the Bulls had been able to count on D-Rose and one other guy, usually Deng, on offense. Deng got his tonight and Boozer also got in on the act by eating up Twin early rolling to 23 easy points.
  • The Hawks took Chicago to six games after getting swept in the second round of the last two seasons. “The last game could have been 3-2 us easily,” Jamal said. “It could have gone either way. We battled with the best team in the East. No one really gave us a chance.”
  • But it was another sour ending with a beatdown in an elimination game. “I think we were fighting,” Al said. “I would have been disappointed if we gave up and quit but you’ve for to give them credit.”
  • The key questions for the Hawks in the offseason include ASG’s search for buyers or investors, Rick Sund’s status and Jamal’s pending free agency.
  • The Hawks have to decide if this “core” group has gone as far as it can. “You have to bring Rick Sund down here for that,” Josh said. “I’m just a player. All I can do is play.”
  • As things stand now they don’t have a lot of financial flexibility but there’s a lot of uncertainty with the expiring CBA and the ownership situation.
  • “We have a good core but I think we need more, as you can tell,” Al said. “It was their depth that got us.”
  • “We’ve still got a lot of work to do,” Joe said. “Hopefully we keep adding pieces and keep making moves and keep getting better. We keep taking steps. It’s not been easy. Looking back at my first two years it was miserable.”
  • At least the Hawks know Teague can play. “I told him to come back from this summer with the same attitude and the same intensity he had this series,” J.J. said.
  • Sorry you couldn’t have a better ending, blog people. I’ll check in tomorrow after the exit interviews.

Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat

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241 comments Add your comment

Grandad

May 14th, 2011
3:02 am

Buddy Grizzard

I agree on all counts;
exception:
Josh Smith.

Larry Drew will not hold him accountable.

LD cojoles rather than imposing his will on the players.

I understand there are more ways to skin a cat.
—But—
Josh is a knucklehead.
[although a good kid]

Josh requires strong leadership.

I agree with your list.

Joe can be traded despite what most think.
Trade Marv for a bad contract just to say good-bye.
Josh could bring a terrific player in return. *[BIG]

* draft – check out Justin Harper, Richmond.
6-10, combo forward, best shooter in the draft.
*** tremendous talent ***
*soft, which is why he will be on the board late.
We should trade into late 1st to insure getting him = steal of the draft !
Justin Harper !

Grandad

May 14th, 2011
3:05 am

Hatter

Thanks for the *holler.
That’s country for *shout.

Najeh Davenpoop

May 14th, 2011
4:25 am

Memphis was down by 10 at halftime and won by 12 in an elimination game.

Hawks were down by 10 at halftime and lost by 20 in an elimination game.

Buddy Grizzard

May 14th, 2011
4:51 am

“I’d like to see what Teague could do under a coach who rewards playing time based upon production.” – Brandon

Co-sign.

“Let’s try to chill on the overreactions, people.” – Najeh

I’ve written this season that the Hawks need to trade either Al or Smoove because they have duplicate roles… they are both jump shooting power forwards. After these playoffs, I now believe that Smoove is our obviously best player and that the team should be built around him. There is nothing we could get for Al or Smoove that would be equal value, and I belive they shot so many jump shots this year because LD’s system required it.

As of now I’m advocating trading JJ as soon as circumstances allow and hiring a coach who will, if JJ can’t be moved, put him in the complementary role that his talents deserve. Superstar contact or no, JJ needs to stop thinking he is the centerpiece of this team and move into a complementary role.

“Joe has been around too long as the centerpiece of this team, and the rest of the players on the team are too comfortable with deferring to him and letting him “create” — which, for all his talents, he has shown in two straight years in the second round that he is incapable of doing against good defenses who focus their attention on him.” – Najeh

Co-sign.

“Jamal shot .333 from the field and .173 from 3 point land in this series. Still, he averaged 30 minutes per game.” – Vava

Somebody PLEASE save Las Vegas Larry from himself.

“Possible keepers: Damien” – Najeh

Definite keeper in my book if he will sign a veteran’s minimum contract. I loved the D he put on LeBron. I would also keep Hilton Armstrong because he had some good moments D-ing Dwight. Co-sign that Josh Powell should be gone so Las Vegas Larry is not tempted to make the worst player in the NBA his first big off the bench.

“Pau Gasol for Joe Johnson” – northcyde

Co-sign. Let’s do it. The way Kobe and Phil attacked Pau, he may never want to play for the Lakers again. They may have to take what they can get for him. If we got Pau, he’d get a fresh start, All-NBA Al could play his desired position and we’d have the best front court in the Eastern Conference.

“Joe Johnson and Zaza Pachulia for Kevin Garnett”

Don’t see Boston doing this, but would take it in a heartbeat for the cap relief.

“Joe Johnson and Jeff Teague for Monta Ellis and Andres Biedrins.”

Northcyde you want us to give up our point guard of the future for an undersized two?

“I don’t think it is necessary to take sides between Smoove and Al. I think both players are versatile enough that they can coexist on the same team successfully.” – Najeh

Co-sign. I thought earlier in the year that one of them needed to be traded because of their duplicate roles. Now I realize that their duplicate roles came about because of Las Vegas Larry’s bad coaching. You’re right, they are versatile enough to assume complementary roles if there is a coach intelligent enough to create such roles for them.

“Northcyde: You really never make valid points. Go away, you are one of the few idiots that maintain that Hinrich move was a good trade.” – superior

I’m one of the other idiots. Glad we got rid of ADAM MORRISON, I mean JC2.

“Josh just needs true quality coaching: authority, accountability and quality x’s and o’s. He showed up in game 4, made a good effort in game 5, brought us back yesterday a couple of times with his hustle on D.” – Vava

He will never get it as long as we have Las Vegas Larry here to swing on JJ’s nuts with his double standard and selective accountability. The single most important factor for the future of this franchise is making Smoove the focal point of this team moving forward, getting him on the All-Star team and convincing him to re-sign in two years when his contract expires. His “Decision” when he becomes a free agent will be the biggest one since LeBron.

Booo!

May 14th, 2011
4:55 am

I would TRY to package Smoove with Marvin and Kirk to try and get back somthing really nice.

Igoudala or Rudy Gay would be my top choices. Or a Center. Either way, Tayshaun Prince is a UFA and should be our backup SF next season. He can be had for the MLE, hopefully less. It’s clear that we either need a SF or a Center in return for Josh. We have a PF and marvin sucks(so we have a void at SF) and needs to go. If we could get NJ to give up Deron Williams for the Kirk,smoove,marvin combo I would do that. It would hurt Teague but It could be worth it.

I THINK Courtney Lee is available this offseason. We might want him instead of jamal. He’s a great defender at either guard spot and he can knock down the three.

I don’t think we can get rid of marvin without packaging him with a better player. Either that or we just give him away Smh…

Buddy Grizzard

May 14th, 2011
7:28 am

“Look at how effective was CHI’s second team? Where those guys so much better than ours? Better than our starters? No, it was coaching, pure and simple.” – Vava

Preach. Hollinger, Bradley and Big Ray-endorsed Las Vegas Larry is here to stay though… the talking heads have spoken!

“Resolve the status of Sund. His contract is over. My guess is the ASG keeps it simple and ‘rewards’ him with another 2 year deal.” – KevinM

Ok, as the founder and president of the Rick Sund Glue Factory Committee, I am now prepared to make a statement in response to your remarks. I am prepared to recommend to the ASG that they GIVE THAT OLD HORSE A ONE YEAR CONTRACT.

Make Sund’s contract expire at the same time as Hollinger, Bradley and Big Ray-endorsed Las Vegas Larry. If you’re wondering why there’s no real move to fire LD, it’s because A. ASG doesn’t want to eat the second year of his contract B. There’s not alot of legit NBA coaches that even want to be employed by the ASG and C. There’s not a GM under contract right now to fire Vegas.

I honestly believe Vegas was imposed on Sund by the ASG. Without the coach he wanted, he was forced to react to Vegas’ disastrous player utilization by dumping Bibby’s contract and picking up an actual, capable NBA point guard for the white people.

Yes, JJ’s contract is an albatross, but what alot of us fail to realize is that JJ is HIGHLY tradeable. Without JJ we certainy aren’t one of the top 8 teams in the league. And letting JJ go for nothing and starting a rebuilding/retooling process is not the best idea when you’re trying to sell a franchise and get top dollar for it.

So yes, while many of Sund’s moves have been questionable, let’s face it blog people… this is the GM that drafted Jeff Teague.

“With Jamal 10mill of the book next here is a list of center. TYSON CHANDLER, KWAME BROWN, YAO MING, SAMUEL DALEMBERT.” – darrell starks

Darrell, keep in mind even though JC1’s $10m is coming off the books, All-NBA Al is coming off his rookie-scale contract and will start making $10m/per. So we still don’t have alot of cap room. Thus, Dalembert too expensive. Yao Ming? Oh lawd. Tyson Chandler? Yes! In a sign-and-trade for JJ. Kwame Brown? I been asking for him since last offseason. He played so well for Charlotte this year he is no longer considered a veteran’s minimum player. He’s still cheap though… we might be able to squeeze him in.

“That’s a bad spades hand…1 and a possible.” – Jay Dubu

Yes but with Teague running point all season next year, we’re going to run a Boston on some b1tches.

“But, at the end of the day, this franchise won’t do ish. They definitely won’t move the guy that they signed to a max deal less than a year ago still.” – Wabe

Disagree. They will move him if they find a good trade, and they will have offers.

“I think if he goes into next season’s training camp as the starter (as he should) and is given a role that corresponds to his abilities, 16 and 7 is a pretty realistic expectation for him.” – Najeh

Gotta disagree here. You’re expecting him to average his best game in these playoffs. If Teague averages 12 and 5 next year I will be ecstatic.

BILLY KNIGHT

May 14th, 2011
7:59 am

I want to congratulate my home boy for doing and excellent job this year, he is still part of the family tree and will coach the hawks next year, so all of your comment about my home boy is no distraction and yes Drew deserve one more year.

BILLY KNIGHT

May 14th, 2011
8:09 am

Yes i drafted marvin, but everybody in there right mind said he was the second best player in the draft, so why people keep talking about that is ludercris, and also marvin will get his college degree this year so let’s stop hating and congratulate the young man for service well done.

BILLY KNIGHT

May 14th, 2011
8:25 am

Dynasty the historian tradition will continue when coach Woodson become headcoach of the Rockets.
NBA FINALS 2012
Woodson VS. Drew
What a family tree.

JeJe

May 14th, 2011
8:27 am

Chicago and Miami transformed their rosters in one summer to become elite in the Eastern Conference. It’s taken us 320 years with this same core to win 1+ games in the 2nd round

SMGDH

Buddy Grizzard

May 14th, 2011
8:28 am

“Drew has just been a monumental disappointment and I feel like he has often put his own team in position to lose by having them play to their weaknesses.” – Brandon

Major co-signage.

“For those of you who care about the Eastern Conference Finals, who will you be rooting for?” – Brandon

Bulls all the way. I’d prefer that the team that eliminated my team win the NBA championship. That would mean the Hawks aren’t that far away. Plus I think drose is a true superstar and has personal humility to go along with it… much rather see him get a ring than say… LeBron (or Kobe if he was still in it).

“Orlando is going to have to settle for the best deal they can get or be left with nothing.” – Jeff

I actually believe Orlando will make no move to trade Dwight until he exercises his early termination clause after next season. At that point, if he tells them he’s leaving, they will execute a sign-and-trade with his preferred destination to get some compensation in return. But they’ve promised their fans they’re not going to shop him the way Utah did Deron and I believe it.

I think it’s possible he may want to come back to Atlanta and team with his buddy Smoove. If that’s the case, Orlando should be glad to get All-NBA Al from the Hawks as compensation. However, I agree with the poster who said that the last thing Orlando wants to do is trade Dwight within their own division.

Buddy Grizzard

May 14th, 2011
8:44 am

I lol’d at the last BILLY KNIGHT post.

Samuel

May 14th, 2011
8:50 am

Good finish to the season. We took two games in the second round even though the 1st one was definitely because DRose was hurt. Teague saves LD. I don’t see Chicago getting past Miami and i’m really liking the Memphis/OKC series. That Memphis bunch plays hard.

Lp

May 14th, 2011
9:40 am

I still dont see the deal with everyone wanting to trade Joe he us the only one on the team who consistently faces double and triple teams. Defenses focus on him every possession. If Larry drew was smart he would build an offense around that. If we had shooters it would not be a problem and you would not be able to double as much. Watch the tape although it helped having Collins start, in both series when Joe got the ball on the wing a double team came and the center moved over to joes side if the court totally ignoring Collins. When he got it there were no cuts no back screen just standing around. Basically what the bulls said was we will let the rest of the team beat us. They played the same defense on Joe and jamal and how many points did Jamal average, how about the points scored over the last two games. Compare that to Joe. Even on occasion they did it to Al and he didn’t know what hit him. And everyone wants to put all their marbles on an energy guy (Josh Smith) whose energy would drop if he had his same responsibility plus shooting and being the focal point of a defense. Also put it in Teague who I think can help with the current roster who outside shot is suspect which can create more problems.

Lp

May 14th, 2011
9:51 am

I also saw why nubby started for balance and his outside shot. Bobby kept defenses honest. If u doubled Joe you could work the ball around to Bobby for a 3 pt shot which he shot a good percentage. With our playoff line-up we had no shooters that’s why we could be double teamed so easily and it disrupted our offense. And do we really want pau gasol, how many games did he win as a centerpiece in the playoffs 0. He looked better because of the offense and complimentary pieces. And a trade to Dallas for who, I’m sure they would give anyone but Kidd, dirk and Terry, who do y’all want beaubois and caron butler both who have achieved nothing. Fans i tell ya appreciate what u have. U couldnt make Reggie miller MJ so why try to make Joe wade Kobe or lebron.

Sautee

May 14th, 2011
10:04 am

Buddy,

about this: “Hollinger, Bradley and Big Ray-endorsed Las Vegas Larry is here to stay though… the talking heads have spoken!”

I don’t think Big Ray “endorsed” LD as much as he acknowledged he was likely to return. When I read your post, I went back to Ray’s blog to check. It didn’t seem like an endorsement to me. I thought at MOST Ray was ambivalent regarding Drew, and raised several questions that we on the blogs have asked ourselves..

Was there a specific thing that made you think it was an endorsement?

And BTW, Ray is hardly a “talking head”. He’s a fan like you and me, has a day job and does the blog for fun. Does a damn good job, too, even if I don’t always agree with him.

jhan

May 14th, 2011
10:30 am

I don’t believe we lost this series because of the coach. It’s the same old story – we don’t have enough solid players to compete at the top level.

Who really believes that playing ZaZa, Damien, Collins, Etan and the likes more minutes would have made any kind of difference? If you do you are kidding yourself. Those bench players need to be upgraded.

How about our two best players not being able to score in this series? JJ performed his normal disappearing act when the pressure is on & Jamal was absolutely horrible after game 1. Maybe a steady dose of Damien & Pape would have produced more! Can’t blame LD for playing his best 2 players major minutes.

Ultimately the drafting of Childress, Marvin & Sheldon is what’s wrong with this team. I hate to drag up old news but it is the truth. You can’t miss on 3 consecutive lottery picks & hope to succeed.

brigadierjerry

May 14th, 2011
10:33 am

The Game Has Changed

May 13th, 2011
8:55 pm

I dont know what some of you were expecting this year. I know making it to the second round is not the ultimate goal but it is better than not even making the playoffs. Back in 98 we had a good team that lost in the second round to the Knicks. Instead of building on to what we had they decided to rebuild and it took us 10 yrs to get back to the playoffs. Thats not the route I want us to take again. Leave Joe alone, He has the money so let the hating go. We need a center. Not get rid of the team.

I agree that the Hawks are right now in the same boat as they were in the late 90’s where they lost to good teams and it took ten years for them to rebuild. I actually can see the Lakers trying to make a move for Gasol and I would have Atlanta get in the mix.

I would let Jamal walk. I really would. I have seen enough of Jamal’s game going back to when he was on Chicago. I never liked his game. plays turnstile defense. I would much prefer Kirk coming off the bench with the second unit. I know one has stated that Marvin’s shot distribution has gone down since JC1 came here and i think it is valid. He doesnt have any value on the trade market so let’s see how he does with the second unit with Kirk running the point. If not then trade him near the trade deadline.

Watching Memphis last night come back from the same deficit at halftime hawks had led me more to believe that the Hawks could’ve won this series with better coaching. I am not sold on ld. x’s and o’s are ok but in game adjustments are not. Unfortunately ld will be here next year.

Joe Johnson I really dont want on this team. A change has to be made. I think JJ likes how the offense runs through him. I want to see Teague bring up the ball not JJ and i dont think JJ will ever trust Teague in the offense. I would be apt to make a blockbuster move involved with moving him. moving him to LA might work. I really want to see some drastic changes made since the Hawks do not have cap room and dont have a first round pick

Also i think some credit has to be given to Nick Van Excel for helping out Teague and his play

The Game Has Changed

May 14th, 2011
10:52 am

@Brigadierjerry-I think Joe and Teague can co-exist. I wouldnt just get rid of Jamal because he had a bad series. Remember he was the only one balling last year against Orlando. As far as Marvin Im done thinking he will turn the corner. He may not have the opportunities he use to have but he has to shine when his number is called. I just feel that we need to let Armstrong, E. Thomas, J. Collins,and Powell go and replace them with one true center.

KevinM

May 14th, 2011
10:56 am

It’s time fellas! Time to quit pretending that this team is a contender. If you’re not a contender, what are you competing for?
If you think swapping one or 2 starters will fix this within a cap strapped group, you’re drinking the Kool-Aid. As much as I love basketball, I couldn’t justify supporting the moves of management.
“I like our team”. “Bibby is in his prime” “Coach Drew is very familiar with our guys, which gave him the inside track”.

All these types of comments tell me this organization has no idea how to make a bold move. Here are some hypotheticals:

Hindrich and/or Marvin will make up for the bench scoring of Jamal……hardly. Neither can create.
For those who justify Marvin’s lack of production……uh, Marvin is a spot up shooter. He has no go-to move. Opponents and teammates ignore him standing on the 3 pt line. If this is part of the flow of the offense, fire LD. How many times can you watch Deng and Boozer move without the ball to realize our offense is spotty at best?

Hypo #2 – trade Marvin and Josh in a package deal for a Nene or another big name. If you think Sund is disrespected by us, wait til he presents that offer.

Point is we need to blow this thing up and build with better draft picks. Keep Teague and Josh and move anyone deemed necessary. After watching Chicago and Miami get a 1 year makeover, and the success of OKC, what really are we losing here?

The future should be now, not in a 3 or 4 more limited cap window.

Look at the big names going not college this year and get in line tomtake a shot. If the ASG is already whining about losing money, perhaps we dump 2 of the 3 captains and remake ourselves.

DinasaurFenton

May 14th, 2011
11:17 am

The Hawks season ended prematurely because they didnt believe they could go any further. THE HAWKS HAVE CONSIDERABLY MORE TALENT THAN THE BULLS. THE HAWKS DONT THINK THEY CAN BEAT THE BULLS AND THEREFORE THEY LOST. THE HAWKS BELIEVED THEY COULD BEAT THE ORLANDO MAGIC AND THUS ADVANCED PAST ORLANDO (with an incredible assist from Marvin Williams). Marvin Williams saved their season and I think he deserves a raise for continuing to play winning basketball. Ok, all joking aside, the Hawks need to execute 3 things in order for them to make it to the winners circle as NBA chamions of the world next June. #1:Declar to the world that Jeff Teague is their starting point guard. Derrick Rose couldnt guard him or contain him and if the MVP cant guard you, that proves you must be good. Teague average 17 points per game and was the leading scorer for the Hawks in the Chicago series. THATS A SAD STATEMENT TO MAKE BUT BECAUSE JOE JOHNSON AND JAMAL CRAWFORD DIDNT SHOW UP FOR THE CHICAGO SERIES, THE BULLS ADVANCED INSTEAD OF THE HAWKS AND NOW ITS THE HAWKS THAT MUST GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD.#2:Trade Kirk Hinrich and Marvin Williams for premier 3-point shooter Rashad Lewis.#3:Fire Larry Drew and replace him with Jerry Sloan. I promise you, if the Hawks make these three moves during the off-season, they will be good enough to win the NBA title next June. Stay tuned.

Darron

May 14th, 2011
11:36 am

Joe Johnson What a JOKE,126 millions dollars for a bipolar player, Atlanta got exactly what it deserved it a losing player,team and organization.

Sautee

May 14th, 2011
11:38 am

“Ultimately the drafting of Childress, Marvin & Sheldon is what’s wrong with this team. I hate to drag up old news but it is the truth. You can’t miss on 3 consecutive lottery picks & hope to succeed.”

Co-sign, Jhan. Good to see you on the blog. Hope all is well with you and your family.

lp

May 14th, 2011
11:38 am

” Teague average 17 points per game and was the leading scorer for the Hawks in the Chicago series. ” actually joe led the team in scoring while receiving the most attention, do yall not watch the hawks. Dont confuse Joe and Jamal.

Rusty

May 14th, 2011
11:42 am

If lame duck returns next season will also be horrible. Everybody regressed under ld. I really can’t see handing him any credit for anything. He doesn’t even show common sense

Rusty

May 14th, 2011
11:42 am

This team will never have an NBA functioning offense as long as JJ is here.

Sautee

May 14th, 2011
12:00 pm

Hatter,

You can rant about Horford all you want. He’s earned it this year. However, there’s this:

“I mean we are talking never cracking the top 25 DEFENSIVE players in his nba career. at either the forward or center position Al, right?”

Actually Hatter, that’s wrong. He and Josh were tied at 19th in the All-Defensive team voting this year (named by the Head Coaches of the league).

Al got the same number of votes (7) as Josh

Here’s the link: http://www.nba.com/2011/news/05/09/2010-11-all-defensive-teams/index.html

Look at the other players receiving votes toward the bottom of the article. It’s there in black and white. Sorry, man, but it is what it is. You may think he’s awful (and so do I at times) but the coaches saw something in his defense.

Al not only got the same number of votes as Josh, but he got more first place votes (3 while Josh only got 1).

So rant away, but don’t misrepresent the truth.

JewelNelson

May 14th, 2011
12:01 pm

Most fans are still in SHOCK and are STUNG by the Hawks early exit from the playoffs. In fact, most die-hard Hawks fans will consider the Orlando Magic a better overall team than the Bulls. When the Hawks beat Orlando, they indeed did something great. Maybe the Hawks spent so much energy to beat the Magic that they ran out of gas. I dont believe that becuase I saw with my very eyes that Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford were not tired and spent. THEY JUST DIDNT CARE ENOUGH TO BRING THEIR A+ GAMES AND PLAY WITH ENOUGH ENERGY, EFFORT AND ENTHUSIAM TO BEAT AN INFERIOR OPPONENT LIKE THE BULLS. The Hawks felt when they went down in the series 3-2, that since game 6 was at Phillips they would automatically win the game and all they would have to do was show up and the game would be theirs. THE HAWKS BROUGHT NO LIFE AND NO ENERGY INTO THAT GAME 6, AND THUS WERE EMBARRASSED ON NATIONAL TV. IT DIDNT MATTER THAT EVERYONE WAS PICKING THE BULLS, THE HAWKS COULD HAVE OVERCOME THAT WITH SIMPLY A SOLID EFFORT. WHEN I WAS LISTING TO MARV ALBERT AND STEVE KERR BROADCASTING GAME 5 ON TV, KERR SAID IT HIMSELF THAT THE HAWKS HAVE MORE WEAPONS THAN THE BULLS. HE SAID IT BECAUSE IT IS TRUE. THE SAD THING IS THAT THE HAWKS DONT REALIZE THAT, THEY DONT BELIEVE THAT, AND THEY CERTAINLY DIDNT PLAY LIKE THEY HAD MORE WEAPONS THAN THE BULLS. JAMAL CRAWFORD FOR ALL HIS GREATNESS COULD MUSTER ONLY 2 POINTS IN GAME 5. WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT FROM THE “SO-CALLED” SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR. WHERE DID HIS SCORING GO? JAMAL NEVER GOT GOING AND BECAUSE OF THAT THE HAWKS ARE GOING HOME FOR THE SUMMER. LOOK IF HORFORD HAD GOTTEN 15, SMOOVE 15, JAMAL AND JOE 25 EACH, TEAGUE 17, MARVIN 10, I’M NOT A MATHEMETICIAN BUT THAT IS 107 POINTS. THAT WOULD HAVE BEATEN CHICAGO BECAUSE THE HAWKS DEFENSE HELD THEM TO ONLY 93 POINTS. WE WOULD HAVE WON THE GAME HAD WE TAKEN THE GAME SERIOUS. THE HAWKS WON GAME 1 AT THE UNITED CENTER AND SCORED OVER 100 POINTS TO DO IT. ALL THE HAWKS HAD TO DO WAS REPEAT THAT SAME EFFORT IN GAMES 5 AND 6 AND THE HAWKS WOULD NOW BE PLAYING THE MIAMI HEAT ON SUNDAY IN THE ECF. TRUTH BE TOLD IF THE HAWKS ARE FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS THERE IS NO TEAM OUT THERE WHO CAN STOP THEM. THE HAWKS MUST BELIEVE THAT IN ORDER TO PROGRESSIVELY GET BETTER. THE HAWKS BLEW THEIR CHANCE TO WIN THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP AND I DONT THINK THEY WILL GET ANOTHER CHANCE ANY TIME SOON. THIS IS BECAUSE NEXT YEAR THE CELTICS AND LAKERS WILL BE STANDING IN THEIR WAY AND THE PATH WONT BE CLEAR FOR THE HAWKS TO DO ANYTHING BUT GET ELIMINATED IN THE FIRST ROUND OF THE PLAYOFFS. HOPEFULLY THE HAWKS WILL LOOK AT THE TAPES OF THE SERIES WITH THE BULLS, DO SOME SOUL SEARCHING, LOOK THEMSELVES IN THE MIRROR, AND WORK HARD IN THE SUMMER AND THEN COME BACK NEXT YEAR WITH A VENGENCE TO DO SOMETHING GREAT. GOOD LUCK HAWKS YOU ARE GOING TO NEED IT.

Nate ArchiBALL

May 14th, 2011
12:43 pm

@Buddy Grizzard – I remember a few years ago, Charles Barkley, saying the Hawks had a decision to make on whether this will be Josh’s or Joe’s team……..Do you build around Josh or stay with Joe as the focal point of the offense. Well, we chose Joe and now we spread the floor to give Joe and Jamal iso space and post Josh on the 3 point line whenever we deviate from LD’s motion offense..
During the season many suggested that the Hawks needed to run the offense through All-Star Al because of his shooting percentage (55.7%)…….more touches would equal more points. To quote Amare Stoudemire. “Al ain’t that type of player”..Logically that should have worked, except for the fact that with the success of his mid-range jumper, ASA abandoned his inside game — evidenced by the 40+ games in which he had zero free throw attempts (add another 7 or 8 games if you count games where he attempted 3 or less FT’s). To quote Amare Stoudemire. “Al ain’t that type of player”.
So I ask the question – Who should be the focal point of the offense?

KevinM

May 14th, 2011
12:49 pm

“Ultimately the drafting of Childress, Marvin & Sheldon is what’s wrong with this team. I hate to drag up old news but it is the truth. You can’t miss on 3 consecutive lottery picks & hope to succeed.”

Let me give you Chicago’s recent history of lottery picks:

2001 – Pick 4 – Eddy Curry Atlanta – Pick 27 Jamal Tinsley
2002 – Pick 2 – Jay Williams Atlanta – No pick
2003 – Pick 7 – Kirk Hindrich Atlanta – Pick 21 – Boris Diaw – PG (ha!)
2004 – Pick 3 – Ben Gordon Atlanta Pick 6 – Josh Childress
Pick 7 – Luol Deng Pick 17 – Josh Smith
2005 – No draft pick (sound familiar) Atlanta – Pick 2 – Marvin Williams
2006 – Pick 2 – LaMarcus Aldridge Atlanta – Pick
Pick 4 – Tyrus Thomas Atlanta – Shelden Williams
2007 – Pick 9 – Joakim Noah Atlanta – Pick 11 – Acie Law IV
2008 – Derrick Rose Atlanta – no pick
2009 – Pick 16 – James Johnson Atlanta – Pick 19 – Jeff Teague
Pick 26 – Taj Gibson
2010 – No Pick Atlanta – Damion James

I agree, it has not been a good run for the Hawks, but it is obvious where Chicago got their best players. If you pick bad that many times, like Chicago did, and the run of bad teams they had, they truly deserve the success they had.

Saying that, you would have thought that Vinnie Del Negro would have lasted more than one year. But the Bulls weren’t satisfied with him, and dumped him right after the playoffs and drastically improved.

Its not the same scenario here, and our young talent is Josh and Teague.
It’s time to determine whether Sund can bring in more talented players, and move the vets we have while they have value. Joe, Al, and Jamal off this roster frees up 30M off next year’s cap.

The time to make these moves are now if such activity is allowed prior to June 30. Will there be a team out there like the Knicks who would add salary like Joe and re-invent ourselves to grow through the draft.

You have 13-15 roster slots and have to spread 70M across that roster.
We can have Zaza, Smoove, and JT (definite keeper), and move Hindrich to a contender. Marvin and Kirk have to move on to make things happen; those 2 just cost too much in current numbers. Neither does much for you where journeyman guards should be able to fill.

KevinM

May 14th, 2011
12:56 pm

To add to the draft picks above, notice how Chicago remade themselves twice since we have put together a playoff roster.

I know its not realistic that we will have 3-4 new starters next year, but if money continues to be the limitation, then the ASG has to keep staying young until they find the right blend of talent.

GrowlerWilkinson

May 14th, 2011
1:03 pm

I was reading a blog that charles barkley said that a decision had to be made whether this is joes or josh’s team. It looks to me from what Ive seen from the hawks the last two years, that this is JAMAL’S TEAM. jamal crawford was the leading scorer in the Orlando series that the Hawks won. Without Jamal leading the Hawks with his 24 point average, the Hawks would have lost to Orlando. I KNOW NO ONE HAS SAID IT, BUT THIS HAWKS TEAM LOOKS MORE LIKE JAMALS TEAM THAN IT DOES JOSHS OR JOES. JAMAL IS THE HIGH SCORER FOR THE HAWKS AND IS THE MORE ACCOMPLISHED PLAYER AT CRUNCH TIME. JOE HAS MORE MOVES IN HIS BAG OF TRICKS THAN JAMAL AND IS MORE CREATIVE THAN JAMAL ON OFFENSE, BUT JAMAL DOES SOMETHING SPECIAL MORE THAN JOE AND THAT IS SCORE THE BASKETBALL. JAMAL IS A SCORER AND PLAYS LITTLE OR NO DEFENSE. ITS HARD TO LEAD A TEAM WHEN YOU HAVE NO WORK ETHIC ON DEFENSE. REALLY NOW WITH THE EMERGENCE OF TEAGUE, THIS TEAM BELONGS REALLY TO FIVE PLAYERS:TEAGUE, JAMAL, JOE, AL AND JOSH. ALL OF THOSE 5 PLAYERS SHOULD BE MADE TEAM CAPTAINS. THEY ALL SHOULD HAVE A SAY IN WHOSE TEAM IT IS. THEY HAVE ALL PROVEN THEY CAN SCORE THE MAJORITY OF THE POINTS. MAYBE IF JOE DECIDES TO SHARE THE TEAM WITH THOSE 4 OTHER PLAYERS, MAYBE COLLECTIVELY AS A GROUP THEY WILL ALL PLAY HARDER, LOOK FOR EACH OTHER MORE, AND SHARE THE BASKETBALL WITH ONE ANOTHER. ITS JUST A THOUGHT. IN CLOSING, THIS TEAM IS CERTAINLY IN NO WAY MARVINS TEAM. MARVIN IS JUST HANGING ON BY A THREAD AND THAT THREAD WILL BE CUT SOON SO THAT MARVIN CAN BE FREE TO WASTE HIS TALENTS SOMEPLACE ELSE.

Rick D.

May 14th, 2011
1:17 pm

Firstly, this team had asubpar regular season but exceeded realistic expectations in the post season. The ill’s are not those of the players. It is that of the Management including the coach.
1. Teague should have been cut loose on the floor this season but Drew kept him in the doghouse until the very end.
2. Jordan Crawford showed that he was the next Jamal Crawford scoring machine but was kept even further on the bench and thus traded unnessesarily for Henrich? Now the kid is filling it up for geeze… the Wizards!!! Draft picks mean nothing to the Hawks as in reality it is a wasteland for these highly gifted kids with a promising future. The current Hawks won’t play them.
3. Joe Johnson could have been retained for far less than the 125 Mil. It was this ownerships bad decision to refuse close a deal until free agency when his value rose even more. Terrible business decision.. don’t blame Joe.
4. Lets talk coach… Drew showed he can coach. But what he lacks is accountability and the heat a coach must put on his players when they are not performing at expected standards. He dogs the rooks but does nothing to the Vets. I.E… J-Smooth jacking useless jumpers instead of attacking the goal & paint. He’s got to get tougher on the vets and the management has to back him or any coach or no Hawks team will improve. By the way.. there were better coaches out there but the spirit went with the “cheap” and that’s a fact despite what they say.
4. In terms of where do we go. The core is… Joe, Jeff, All, ZaaZaa, and maybe Smooth & Hinrich? All others have to be dispatched somewhere else (I hate to say this because I like this kid) Starting with Marvin. We’ve got to have a real starting center pushing Al & Smooth to they’re real positions of power & small forwards. Smooth has to be managed with serious accountability if you are going to keep him and he will then be an Allstar player or out of the league… his choice? The kids got mad skills and just needs internal n external discipline.
5. Say what you want about offense the defense was the Hawks biggest problems. They were too inconsistant, unpredictable and lacked the toughness needed when the offence wasn’t flowing. All of the best teams success rest on their ability to turn up the D. The Hawks were better defensively with Woodson ans Woodson dogged the Vets more. Drew has to do the same and accept nothing less. It’s why the Bull’s are advancing… they are relentless on the D.
6. Change will be hard. The current contracts n bad decisions of the past combined with a new CBA will leave little wiggle room for meaningful change but if the ownership and Sund think n act boldly then the 2012 Hawks will be positioned for a run at the Eastern Conference Championship.

JanisButler

May 14th, 2011
1:25 pm

If we had kept Jordan Crawford, we could have packaged him with Marvin Williams and gotten either Chris Paul or Dwight Howard. Or if we wanted to part with Josh Smith we could have traded Josh Smith for J.R. Smith, or Marvin Williams for Rudy Gay. Had we kept Jordan Crawford we could have packaged the Crawford brothers (Jamal and Jordan) for Dwight Howard. There were a myriad of trade scenarious that were available and now we dont have much that anybody wants. Hinrich and Marvin Williams wont get much in return. I say if we can trade those two and get either NeNe of Denver, Rashad Lewis or Brandon Roy then we can still strengthen our team by the time next season rolls around.

Rabbi

May 14th, 2011
3:50 pm

U would think that being at home in a game 6 situation would have brought out the best n the hawks but instead it looked like they figured they had the game n the bag b4 the ball went up. Very disheartening to say the least…….If you cant get D. Howard, how about Bogut r some other big man (theres got to be someone out there, spend the money)…..No bona fide big man translates into no chance to get to the finals and WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP. To much deadweight on that roster. LD did a decent job with what he had to work with but we shoulda been looking at a game 7. No excuse for not playn D

JackCannon

May 14th, 2011
4:35 pm

Its a shame the Hawks players didnt learn anything from the Orlando series. Orlando gave up on us because we have a very good game plan to beat them. What also helped was that Orlando wasnt making their shots. HAD MARVIN WILLIAMS NOT HAD A MONSTER GAME IN THAT CLOSEOUT GAME AGAINST ORLANDO, THE MAGIC WOULD HAVE BEAT US. Taking that into account, you think that since the Hawks escaped with a series win against Orlando, they would take the Bulls seriously. The Hawks started well enough winning game 1 and going up 1-0, temporarily taking the home court away from the Bulls. The Hawks had a chance to win game 2 as well, and I think if they had, the Hawks would have eventually gone up 3-1 in the series. I believe that would have given them the impetus to close out the Bulls in 6. THAT IS REALLY HOW THAT SERIES SHOULD HAVE PLAYED OUT. THE HAWKS WERE HAPPY TO GET A SPLIT AFTER TWO IN CHICAGO BUT THEY SHOULD HAVE COME OUT OF THE UNITED CENTER LEADING THE SERIES 2-0. THEN WHEN THE HAWKS TIED UP THE SERIES AT 2-2, IN GAME 5 WE PLAYED BRILLIANTLY FOR 3 QUARTERS AND WERE AHEAD EARLY IN THE FOURTH QUARTER 70-69. WE SHOULD HAVE SUSTAINED THE MOMENTUM THERE AND BLEW OUT THE BULLS IN GAME 5, GOING UP 3-2. WE PROBABLY WOULD HAVE PLAYED BETTER AT HOME IN GAME 6 HAD WE GONE UP 3-2 IN GAME 5. CLEARLY THE HAWKS OUTPLAYED THE BULLS IN STRETCHES IN THE SERIES AND WERE UNDAUNTED BY THE BULLS INCESSANT DESIRE TO STAMPEDE DOWN THE LANE, CRASH THROUGH THE PAINT AND DRIVE FOR LAYUPS. ROSE DID THIS REPEATEDLY THROUGHOUT THE SERIES. ONE THING CHICAGO IS PROUD OF IS THAT THEY PLAY UGLY BASKETBALL. I DONT REALLY CARE AS LONG AS LABRON, D-WADE AND CHRIS BOSH ELIMINATE CHICAGO AND SEND THEM HYBERNATING FOR THE SUMMER. I HATE THE WAY THE BULLS PLAY BASKETBALL AND I HOPE SOMEONE BEATS THEM DOWN THE LINE. IF ITS NOT MIAMI, THEN CERTAINLY DALLAS, OKC THUNDER OR GRIZZLIES IN THE FINALS. I DONT WANT TO SEE CHICAGO HOISTING ANY CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY BECAUSE I DONT WANT THE SAME FEELING I HAD WHEN THE FALCONS LOST TO GREEN BAY TO THE EVENTUAL CHAMPIONS. JUST DONT TELL ME THAT THE BULLS WILL BE THIS YEARS EVENTUAL NBA CHAMPIONS. THAT WILL BE ENOUGH FOR ME TO THROW UP.

DudleyDoright

May 14th, 2011
4:57 pm

I STILL CANT GET OVER JAMAL CRAWFORD’S REACTION IN GAME 6 TO THE BULLS BEATING THE HAWKS. JAMAL HAS THESE WORDS OF WISDOM AFTER THE GAME, “THATS THE BEST DEFENSE IVE SEEN!”. OK now that Jamal has gotten that off his chest, he is excused for his game 5 performance of scoring a WHOPPING 2 points in 48 minutes of basketball. This pathetic performance has gotta be explained better than Gosh, the Bulls defense is the best Ive seen. That is a load of crap. No one can tell me that Dwight Howard in the Orlando series doesnt play defense better than what Jamal was experiencing from Dang and Noah. Dang and Noah are no match for the 4-time DEFENSEIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR-DWIGHT HOWARD. DWIGHT HOWARD SWATS SHOTS LIKE A PEDESTRIAN SWATS FLIES. C’MON. JAMAL YOU HAVE TO OWN UP TO THE FACT THAT YOU STUNK AND THAT YOU WILL PLAY BETTER SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE. YOU MEAN THE DEFENSE WAS SO GOOD IN CHICAGO THAT YOU GAVE UP AND SAID IT MAKES NO SENSE TO TRY TONIGHT BECAUSE I WONT BE ABLE TO GET MY SHOT OFF OF ANYONE. THATS A LOAD OF CRAP AND IM NOT BUYING IT. YOUR PROBLEM JAMAL, AND I WATCHED YOU ALL OF GAME 5, WAS THAT YOU GAVE ABOUT 2% EFFORT AND THE EFFORT REQUIRED TO WIN SHOULD HAVE BEEN 110%. THATS WHAT THE PROBLEM WAS WHY YOU AND YOUR HAWKS LOST GAME 5. PURE AND SIMPLE, YOU STUNK UP THE JOINT.

KevinM

May 14th, 2011
8:57 pm

I thought Joe had a bad contract…man, Brandon Roy…68M for the next 4 years…limited practices, can’t go back to back and probably continues to add to his limitations…any guess where he will retire during his contract? Deep pockets in Portland fo sho! Looking at that roster, Portland really is at a crossroads…if Oden can’t come back, and the age of Miller and Camby, they have no choice but to continue to try to compete for the playoffs.
It looks a bit like our dilemna…they will need help inside to go with Aldridge, they have Wallace, Aldridge and Matthews as their best pieces long term.
Other than that, I wouldn’t touch anyone on that team. This team has had a lot of good draft day luck, only for it to not show in the results.

Gotta ask a couple of questions: with this CBA in question this offseason, do you expect to see any significant deals made prior to 6/30? I would think it would be very limited in the changes.

2nd question: with so many teams ‘allegedly’ losing money, wasn’t Stern talking up contraction and shrinking the league? I haven’t seen any discussion on that lately.

Talk about an interesting offseason, especially if Miami doesn’t complete the mission.

Dan Roundfield

May 16th, 2011
11:20 am

Thing the Hawks need to do to improve next year:

1. Do not bring LD back to coach.
2. Hire a defensive minded coach.
3. Send Horford to weight room and to Akeem Olajuwon’s big man camp
4. Let Josh become a slasher
5. Sign Jason Maxiell, Gerald Wallace, Antonio McDyess, Rodney Stuckey and Tracy McGrady

JeJe

May 16th, 2011
9:31 pm

Joakim is frustrating the whole Miami roster.

Horford would just take jumpshots and hide in the corner

JeJe

May 16th, 2011
9:34 pm

I posted an Awards list earlier for the team but the post got eaten up…

Summary:

Worst player on roster: Marvin
Softest players on roster: Marvin + Horford
Only non-soft player on roster: ZaZa
MVP: MVTeague

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