Atlanta Hawks: Season Review: Jason Collins
Season reviews presented in alphabetical order . . .
One of the Hawks’ odd organizational quarks is the insistence that Jason Collins is more than a specialist best suited for a narrowly defined role. Perhaps even weirder is how often that line of thinking has worked out for them . . . until it doesn’t.
Consider the 2012 playoffs. Larry Drew’s decision to start Collins against the Celtics in Game 1 seemed foolhardy but Collins had probably his best performance of the season in Game 1. He not only played good defense against Kevin Garnett but added six points and five rebounds in 32 minutes.
Collins’ production dropped off in Game 2 but his on-court, off-court was positive even as it became apparent Boston would focus more on attacking him with screen-rolls. Collins was OK in Game 3 but Drew’s faith in him had diminishing returns as Garnett abandoned his strange insistence on posting up Collins.
That Drew stuck with Collins as long as he did is an example of his tendency to give a long leash to veterans who have done anything positive for him in the past regardless of the negative things they are doing at the present (or, for that matter, the limitations suggested by their long-term history). That’s not to say the Hawks had any great options in the front court, especially after Ivan Johnson’s shaky outing in Game 2, but best to try something different when what you are using isn’t working.
I offer these critiques while acknowledging I thought it was a bad idea for the Hawks to bring back Collins in 2010-11. It seemed absurd that part of the reason the Hawks parted ways with Mike Woodson was because he didn’t play Collins enough minutes against the Magic in the 2010 playoffs. But it turned out Collins was a key part of the Dwight Defense in 2011. I also thought playing Collins significant minutes against the Celtics was a mistake but his play in Games 1 and (most of) 2 showed that he could help in small doses.
But if I’ve undervalued Collins at times, the Hawks continue to overvalue him. He’s still a solid post defender in certain matchups, though there’s evidence he’s slipping in that area: According to Synergy Sports Technology, this season Collins allowed .84 points per possession in 32 chances (141st in the league). His defensive on-court, off-court magic subsided even as his opponent PER was respectable.
Those defensive numbers (which, mind you, were accumulated in circumstances most favorable to Collins) would have to be much better to compensate for Collins’ career-long lack of offensive production and poor efficiency for a big man. There’s also the matter of Collins missing six weeks with an elbow injury, though that development had the effect of freeing up frontcourt minutes for Johnson.
Word is the Hawks will extend a tender to Johnson (as soon as they get around to putting a permanent GM in place) which probably would be enough to keep him. Perhaps that also would mean the end of the occasionally-fruitful-most-times-perplexing Collins era for the Hawks.
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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344 comments Add your comment
O'Brien
June 7th, 2012
10:05 am
Steve W,
A backcourt of JJ and Teague would be nice to compliment that frontcourt – but you would have no toughness inside. None. And playoff BB is about toughness..
Our backup bigs would be Zaza and Ivan, so we could mix and match at times. And regardless of who we draft, we could sign a guy like Pietrus for defense and toughness.
Buddy,
It is alleged that Rick Sund wanted to hire Dwayne Casey, but the ASG wanted Uncle Larry
O'Brien
June 7th, 2012
10:08 am
Ra’mon,
From nba.com;
Kendall Marshall‘s strange comeback from the broken wrist he knew about (and the fractured elbow he did not) moves to an important stage today as the ex-North Carolina point guard participates in all basketball activities as part of the NBA’s annual pre-Draft camp. Marshall, though, concedes he still has pain and is hesitant to rely on the right arm.
I plan on doing everything,” Marshall said. “It still hurts to kind of dribble and pass, but I’m way farther along than I was, which is a positive. If I keep doing my rehab, hopefully that pain will get to at least a complete no pain.”.
Since the NBA season doesn’t start until much later in the year, does his injury bother you?
PMC
June 7th, 2012
10:10 am
Nice little run for OKC, shows just how inept every member of this organization has been, especially Billy Knight.
SteveW
June 7th, 2012
10:12 am
Buddy G – Interesting speculation on Sund/Drew/ASG – Could be…
I say dump Collins, Stack, and Vlad Rad for sure.
I’d put Damp in the maybe camp – He’s not a bad last Big off the bench if he agrees to stay in shape.
McGrady I’d keep if his health is ok, especially if you can keep him for the vet min.
I’m ok with Pargo being the 3rd PG off the bench.
Green showed some good stuff – I still wish we had a better backup behind JJ – I’m not against keeping Green, maybe in a lesser role or something. Good vet presence.
Hinrich showed some energy off the bench, and some good toughness at times. I’m not against keeping him either, just not as a starter.
Hazell and Gladyr may come in and show us enough that they fill in at SG #2 or #3.
KevinM
June 7th, 2012
10:14 am
Is one of our all-stars worth a high draft pick? I say yes, because we are strapped with the current 3 we have who aren’t going to take us any further. These 3 have been here, what 5 years, taken us to 5 playoff seasons and we’ve won 2 games in Round 2. So if MC presents these numbers to Sund, how can he spin it to a positive other than injuries?
With LD, all your going to get is veterans filling the roles. I don’t see us getting a draft pick and Sund’s spewing tells us we aren’t looking higher than 23 anyway.
So as we sit today, we are at 60M for 6 guys. There is zero rooom for any other contracts over the minimum. That leaves us bringing in 1 draft pick and 6 min vets. And those last 6 slots will take all summer to fill because we take on league rejects that wouldn’t be playing if it weren’t for Sund.
We can compare ourselves to the Knicks, who will pass us this year but also spend more than we will. Their big 3 need to be tweaked as well, but they want Woody and a full training camp.
I see us behind Indy, Philly, Miami, NYK, and Boston, at best…..so a 6 seed is what I expect with what we have in place.
SteveW
June 7th, 2012
10:15 am
Just Joe – I also agree that Ivan and ZaZa give you a good start for a bench. A healthy McGrady does also, and to a lesser extent maybe Hinrich.
northcyde
June 7th, 2012
10:15 am
So in other words Najeh, this is your plan:
- sell off everybody after we fail to get Dwight Howard
- suck horribly for 3 years
- hope to get a top 4 pick in each of those 3 drafts
- hope that a hall of fame player . . check that . . a top 10 ALL TIME player . . is in one of those drafts, and people are too stupid to draft him before we do
- hope that the other 2 picks turn into all-star caliber players within 4 years
- and hope that a guy who has never been a head coach before, can turn into a championship level coach in 4 years, outcoaching a future Hall of Fame coach
***************
Well there you have it Hawk fans. Let’s go for Dwight ( like I suggested we should’ve done last summer ). And after we fail to get him, just sell off our big contracts and become a doormat for 3 years. And 5 years later, we can finally reach the NBA Finals
Atlanta Hawks . . . 2020 NBA Eastern Conference Champs
KevinM
June 7th, 2012
10:18 am
“Since the NBA season doesn’t start until much later in the year, does his injury bother you?”
OB, I don’t think he will be there at 23, and LD wouldn’t take him anyway, but I would be concerned. Phoenix at 13 could likely be his destination if they can’t get a good read on Nash. And we know about their training staff.
I see Boston making a major attempt to climb the ladder with 2 #1s.
SteveW
June 7th, 2012
10:19 am
OB – My point is, if you bring ZaZa/Ivan off the bench, you have to sit either Gasol or Horford – so your at mediocrity at that point on the court. Example:
ZaZa and Al are on the court – good, and I like that combo – but Gasol is not affecting the game at that point.
Bring Ivan in for Al – Good – Gasol and Ivan may play decently well together – but you’ve got Al contributing nothing at that point.
It’s best if your starters can have some moxy or rim protecting ability or something like that – they’re the ones playing 40+ minutes per nite in the playoffs.
SteveW
June 7th, 2012
10:26 am
Northcyde – And there are still gurantees at that:
#2 – Marvin
#5 – Shelden
#6 – Childress
#11 – Acie
I only go after Dwight if he agreed to stay long term.
Astro Joe
June 7th, 2012
10:27 am
Congrats to the Thunder, certainly surprised me (I thought they were another season from thislevel of success).
Melvin is right, the Hawks never had a shot at a player like Durant. He is head and shoulders better than CP3. You can tell by the team dynamics that he sets the tone OFF THE COURT for that squad. Yes, he makes all of the shots but he still manages to make his teammates better. That is very, very rare… a guy who can lead the NBA in scoring 3 years in a row and actually makes his teammates better. The kid is special.
Buzzy, JC2 may not be a starter for a playoff team, but he could easily become a perennial SMOY candidate for a playoff team and have a Jason Terry like career. I’m not sure that Teague will be much different than the other half-dozen or so PGs drafted in the ‘09 class. He’s good but I don’t see that passion that makes someone dare to be great. That’s what this team would miss when Josh leaves (and yes, I think his departure is at best 82 regular season games away)… someone who dares to be great.
Back to Durant, he appears to dare his teammates to become a great TEAM. He’s not out there trying to do everything by himself, he seems to appreciate what everyone does around him (including Thabo, Serge & Collison). Remember a few seasons ago, I think SI wanted to put him on the cover of their basketball preview magazine and he would only do it if they included some of the role players from the Thunder? Yeah, that kid is special.
KevinM
June 7th, 2012
10:27 am
Anyone watching the NBA draft combine this am? They just had little Teague on there doing shooting drills and talk about him probably being the best PG in the draft.
It would be a mistake for us to bypass his potential at 23 if we can’t get the shooter we need.
KevinM
June 7th, 2012
10:30 am
And in case you didn’t know it, OKC went to Lexington this past summer during the strike and went head-2-head against the young guns of Calipari. I think all 6 guys from UK in the draft will be very competitive and help an NBA roster immediately.
SteveW
June 7th, 2012
10:32 am
I don’t say we’re behind Indy just yet – They excelled in the compressed season, because they were deep and had a Coach who rotated them greatly in regular season.
But Barbosa is a FA, so you don’t know if you keep him.
Their cap space is about to take a big hit with the re-signing of Hibbert.
Hill is a RFA.
And West is getting old, what 31, or 32, and coming off big knee surgery a year and a half ago.
And Granger is about maxed out as a player.
Yes, George will probably get better.
But I think Indy was artificially high this season because their Coach did a magnificent job with the compressed schedule and rotations.
They’re good, but not that good. Maybe 46-48 win good next season.
SteveW
June 7th, 2012
10:36 am
Well I had the Thunder winning it all since last season. I then started rooting for the Spurs – what a Coach Pops is – he had maybe 2/3’s the talent of OKC and still played them tough.
But my head always said OKc – especially when they got DFish. With he and Perkins – you’ve got some guys that can speak from Championship experience. And I’m sure those young guys respect DFish – just got to, so they’ll listen to him. It’s not his first prom
northcyde
June 7th, 2012
10:37 am
And let’s settle this Pau Gasol issue once and for all. Some of you simply have pre-conceived notions about the dude. You talk like this dude cannot play basketball at a high level at times. All of these clips were from last season. Just watch the clips from a pure basketball perspective.
Pau Gasol vs Hawks . . . specifically vs Josh Smith
Pau Gasol vs Knicks . . specifically vs Tyson Chandler . . no Bynum in this game, because he’s serving a 5 game suspension for the JJ Barea hit during the 2011 playoffs
Buddy Grizzard
June 7th, 2012
10:40 am
Jennifer Floyd Engel
@engeljen
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Overheard: Pierce on his way back to huddle after draining monster 3 “I got your five, six, seven right here bitches”.
SteveW
June 7th, 2012
10:41 am
I’m not sold on Philly being world beaters either – they rebelled against Coach Collins the last 60% of the season – then came together to make a playoff run.
But Lou can opt out
Hawes is unrestricted
Thad Young totally disappeared in the playoffs.
Brand is still eating up a chunk of cap space – and he’s a year older.
Just who is Evan Turner? James Harden or Marvin Williams, or somewhere in between (probably).
New York has the potential to really move up as well – but they’ve got alot of question marks also.
And I’m not sure we’re behind Boston next season either.
Just trying to be real.
northcyde
June 7th, 2012
10:45 am
vs Tyson and Amare, that should’ve said
Najeh Davenpoop
June 7th, 2012
10:45 am
“the Sonics/Thunder reverted to a lottery team before they blew it up. The Hawks don’t seem to be in danger of that happening just yet.”
Is the situation the Hawks are in actually better? Is it better to have the 8th highest payroll in the league and be guaranteed to make it no farther than the 1st round, ending up with a pick in the low 20s every year, or is it better to be in the lottery where you might get a shot at adding a true impact player?
The Hawks are in no-man’s land. To me that is the worst place to be.
Rod from College Park
June 7th, 2012
10:47 am
“So then you overpay Josh, whose career may be shortened by his ongoing knee issues. I’ve been arguing for a long time on this blog that re-signing Josh was the key to this team’s future. I no longer think that because of the fragility of Josh’s health. Horford is a much better risk at this point.”
Do you watch the Hawks? Josh’s ongoing knee issues. The guy has missed maybe 10 games in his whole career, and he has fragile health? If this is your reason for not wanting to keep Josh, you totally discredit yourself.
SteveW
June 7th, 2012
10:47 am
AJ – Teague has quiet passion – he really wants to excell both in the off season and on the court when challenged.
What will keep Teague from being great is:
1) He’s not a leader. Not vocally. Not by aura. He’s just not hard wired that way. Just a quiet guy.
2) Lack of court vision. Sorry, he wasn’t born with it, and you either have it or you don’t.
That’s why I’ve said around a 15,16 point per game and 7 assist cap for him, unless he played on a really bad team who needed him to score alot.
And he’ll also have above average D – he has elite quickness. I hope I’m wrong – but I’ve gotta a pretty good eye for these things and I’m afraid I’m right.
But he does have the drive to be great – he’s just quiet about it. He just doesn’t have some inborn intrangibles to make it happen. And Larry, Nick Van Exel or anybody else cannot make it so.
Put Rondo’s head on Teague’s skill set, and you have the monster PG for the ages. Massive elite.
SteveW
June 7th, 2012
10:51 am
If Boston wins tonite – a few folks may be really wealthy.
After the Spurs and Heat went up 2-0, Vegas put the odds of a Celts – Thunder Finals at 95-1.
So a $10,000.00 bet would be worth $950,000.00 if the Celts make the Finals.
SteveW
June 7th, 2012
10:53 am
If you had 20 grand on that action, and few probably did, and it happens – that 20 grand becomes 1.8 mill.
Then you stop gambling at that point.
BIG DOG
June 7th, 2012
10:56 am
Josh for Pau Gasol is a bad trade for the Hawks.
Pau has no heart at all also he will be 32 years old before season starte, Gasol career is done.
BIG DOG IN THE HOUSE
SteveW
June 7th, 2012
10:57 am
It does concern me that JT’s training buddy Jarret Jack got stopped for DUI, and that Teague kinda taped a girl maybe getting violated by a buddy or whatever that deal was (maybe there was nothing too it – I will not bear false witness, so maybe you guys can help me on that one) – I hope JT doesn’t have some off court issues that will hurt him.
If I’m JT, I figure out how Josh is training in the off season, hang out with my Wake buddy Chris Paul a bunch, get married, stay out of trouble, keep my nose clean – and make a lot of money in this League. The sky is the limit for Jeff Teague.
Najeh Davenpoop
June 7th, 2012
10:57 am
“T-Mac has never won a playoff series as his team’s best player either. But in his prime, he was averaging 25, 6 and 6 in the playoffs. Are you saying you would not a T-Mac (in his prime) on your team, despite his playoff averages?”
a) T-Mac was a much better individual player than Gasol
b) Gasol is not in his prime. He is declining.
In 2008, maybe I would have seen Gasol as potentially being a guy who can make it deeper in the playoffs as a team’s best player. But even if you leave aside his Memphis record, he was the 3rd best player on a team this year that lost in the 2nd round. If a team can’t get past the 2nd round with him as their 3rd best player, why is a team going to get past the 2nd round with him as their best player?
“In all 3 trips to the playoffs in Memphis, Pau Gasol’s team was swept in the first round all 3 times. But the 3 teams he lost to were the Spurs, Phoenix, and Dallas.”
But how much does that really matter? The Falcons have lost in the playoffs to the eventual NFC champion every year. The Hawks lost to the probable Eastern Conference champs this year. Does that make their losses any more palatable? Does it really make them any closer to being contenders?
Maybe if Gasol’s Grizzlies took those teams to seven games, it would make a difference, but they got swept. That is akin to losing 24-2 in the first round of the NFL playoffs.
“Pau Gasol’s playoff average in Memphis? 20 pts, 7 rebs, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 50% from the field. Not great, but except for the rebounding, not bad (imo).”
I don’t deny that he is a talented player who is good enough to get his numbers. The reason I oppose a Josh for Gasol trade is that I am almost certain that he is not good enough to get this team past the second round.
With the Hawks’ salary constraints, they are not going to spend over $70 million (the luxury tax level) in salary. Joe and Gasol alone make a combined $39 million next season. Joe, Gasol, Horford, Teague, and Zaza combined next year will make $58 million (the cap level).
So in other words, they will have $12 million to spend on the remaining 10 roster spots without going over the luxury tax. Even if Gasol is that good, are we really confident that Sund can find 11 veteran’s minimum players to fill out a roster that has the depth to get to the Eastern Conference Finals? Are we sure that the few quality veterans who are willing to take the minimum will come here over, say, Miami or New York?
Miami right now has two top-5 players in the league, another All Star, a couple of quality veterans who would probably command the mid-level, and a bunch of players who are probably worth the minimum, and they are about to get bounced by a Boston team winning in large part because of superior depth. If that team can only make it as far as the ECF, why is a Hawks team with zero top-5 players in the league going to make it that far?
Najeh Davenpoop
June 7th, 2012
10:58 am
“I’ve been arguing for a long time on this blog that re-signing Josh was the key to this team’s future. I no longer think that because of the fragility of Josh’s health. Horford is a much better risk at this point. ”
I am pretty sure Josh isn’t the one who missed the majority of this season rehabbing an injury.
Najeh Davenpoop
June 7th, 2012
11:00 am
“Well there you have it Hawk fans. Let’s go for Dwight ( like I suggested we should’ve done last summer ). And after we fail to get him, just sell off our big contracts and become a doormat for 3 years. And 5 years later, we can finally reach the NBA Finals
Atlanta Hawks . . . 2020 NBA Eastern Conference Champs”
Damn right. Better than “Atlanta Hawks… never NBA Eastern Conference Champs”, which is the guaranteed outcome if the plan is just to keep trading for more over the hill overpaid veterans like Gasol. Think Thunder fans (well, the hypothetical Thunder fans who were also Sonics fans) are regretting their dismal stretch from 2005-2009 right now?
BIG DOG
June 7th, 2012
11:01 am
Josh for Lopez is the perfect trade, also remember this D William wan’t to stay in New York, so i could see this trade happen Lopez is young and Josh in his prime.
Next Summer D12 will be on his way to New York is the rumor that’s going on now.
Hawks should make that deal.
BIG DOG IN THE HOUSE
northcyde
June 7th, 2012
11:04 am
And just for the record, these aren’t simply highlight clips. These are game clips that show the good and some of the bad about his game. And they show offense and defense
Pau Gasol vs Heat . . specifically vs Chris Bosh
Pau Gasol vs Clippers . . specifically vs Blake Griffin . . a good battle between the two of them
Astro Joe
June 7th, 2012
11:04 am
Steve, i don’t doubt Teague’s physical abilities. In fact, i think it is his tremendous physical abilities that tend to cloud the judgement of some. They think about what a PG with his physical abilities can do for the Hawks, without thinking specifically about the young man and his specific personality/demeanor. If you focus exclusively on physical abilities, Marvin would be one of the more impactful SFs in basketball. But that isn’t quite the case.
BIG DOG
June 7th, 2012
11:04 am
Teague, Joe, Terrance Jones or Jefferey Taylor, Horford, Lopez.
BIG DOG IN THE HOUSE
SteveW
June 7th, 2012
11:07 am
Out of 30 teams and 60 Starting Guards in the NBA, and Top Sub Guards:
Teague was 29th in efficiency rating. (Joe Johnson was 19th btw)
Teague was 1 of only 5 guys in the Top 30 who played all 66 games
He finished with a higher efficiency rating than:
Ray Allen
Afflalo
Jrue Holiday
Goran Dragic
Kevin Martin
Rodney Stuckey
Luke Ridnour
Andre Miller
Jameer Nelson
Jason Terry
Lou Williams
Isaiah Thomas
Jason Kidd
Raymond Felton
Darren Collison
DeRozan
Augustin
Evan Turner
Kemba Walker
Tony Allen
Just to name a few – all in his first year starting. Not bad.
SteveW
June 7th, 2012
11:08 am
Jordan Crawford was 73rd in eff. rating by the way.
Astro Joe
June 7th, 2012
11:09 am
northcyde, in previous seasons, when the Lakers were among the best teams, folk didn’t like the idea of trading for Bynum because of his issues with injuries. And during those seasons when Bynum missed 30+ games, Gasol was the low post option for the Lakers. Now, after a single season of health for Bynum, Gasol has suddenly become an after-thought?
Some say that it is debatable if Gasol is better than any Hawk. While I disagree, I’ll gladly trade for someone who is “debatable” as the Hawks best player. It is far better than focusing on trading for Trevor Ariza, Jason Thompson or some other player who may upgrade the talent level in slots 4-8 but won’t impact 1-3.
Najeh Davenpoop
June 7th, 2012
11:11 am
“hope that a hall of fame player . . check that . . a top 10 ALL TIME player . . is in one of those drafts, and people are too stupid to draft him before we do”
Doesn’t have to be a top 10 all time player. First of all, Durant is great (my favorite non-Hawk) but he is nowhere near top 10 all time yet. Secondly, if the Hawks had played their cards right and drafted CP3 — who, as many astutely point out, is no Durant — they would still be in prime position to seriously contend year after year.
There may not be a future Hall of Famer in every draft but there are certainly franchise-caliber players in nearly every draft. 2000 is the only exception I can recall off the top of my head. Even last year’s weak draft produced Kyrie Irving who may very well turn out to be a CP3-caliber player.
“- hope that the other 2 picks turn into all-star caliber players within 4 years”
Top 5 picks are supposed to turn into All Star caliber players. That is why those players go in the top 5. If you are picking in the top 5 and don’t get an All Star, you are screwing up.
“and hope that a guy who has never been a head coach before, can turn into a championship level coach in 4 years, outcoaching a future Hall of Fame coach”
There have been a lot of legitimate criticisms of Brooks this year, and it’s not like that team runs a revolutionary, disciplined scheme. We still don’t know if he is actually good enough to win a championship, seeing as how he has not won one. But who really cares? This is a player’s league. Spoelstra is good enough to get to the Finals. Get elite players and the coaching will by and large sort itself out. Worst case, you end up with someone like Spoelstra, realize he’s not good enough to actually win a championship, and fire him for an established voice who will put the team over the top.
SteveW
June 7th, 2012
11:13 am
Jamal was 67th in efficiency
Interesting about Jamal – he has averaged 17+ ppg 5 times in his career, and 4+ assists per game 6 times in his career – including 2 seasons with 5.0 or more assists per game.
Najeh Davenpoop
June 7th, 2012
11:14 am
“Their cap space is about to take a big hit with the re-signing of Hibbert.”
They have Bird rights on Hibbert. My understanding is that they can use their $14 million of cap space on a free agent (Eric Gordon? Steve Nash?) and then still be able to extend Hibbert, Hill, etc. They still need a legit superstar but they are in a much better position to continue improving without taking a step back than the Hawks are.
northcyde
June 7th, 2012
11:18 am
The dude simply plays where we need a PF or C to play on the court
Pau Gasol vs Celtics
Pau Gasol vs Thunder . . regular season.
Najeh Davenpoop
June 7th, 2012
11:18 am
Also, regarding bottoming out in the draft, the Hawks if I am not mistaken have never had the #1 overall pick. They are due.
Najeh Davenpoop
June 7th, 2012
11:18 am
northcyde, you need to put http:// in front of those links for them to work.
julius
June 7th, 2012
11:27 am
collins is garbage out of shape can’t rebound or block shots. Fire this dumb ass coach too
PMC
June 7th, 2012
11:34 am
Najeh, you should have your own blog man. I like reading your stuff.
Melvin
June 7th, 2012
11:34 am
Buddy,
Just look at the type of players the Lakers trade for. Guys that are in their prime or young and developing. Not guys on the tail end of their careers. They know how to bamboozle the other teams. When was the last time the Lakers/Celtics made a trade with each other? Please don’t say that’s not an option b/c they are rivals.
Rod from College Park
June 7th, 2012
11:36 am
“If you focus exclusively on physical abilities, Marvin would be one of the more impactful SFs in basketball. But that isn’t quite the case.”
Hate to tell you this, but Marvin physical abilities are not anything to write home about considering his height and length. He is weak, uncoordinated, goofy, and has terrible footwork,
Just Joe
June 7th, 2012
11:37 am
Only way I would want McGrady back is if he can play most every night. No more sitting out the second game of back to backs.
Buddy Grizzard
June 7th, 2012
11:38 am
“1. The Hawks get Emeka Okafor and the [2012] 10th pick.
2. The Hornets get Marvin Williams and Zaza Pachulia.”
Now who is smoking weed?
“If I was going to take this dysfunctional organization’s limitations into account every time I proposed a move they could make, I would be limited to trying to pinpoint what minimum salary players to add to this team.” – Najeh
You should also take into account that Lang Green chat NekiEcko linked. Lang is very much plugged in to the Hawks organization and he says several times that the Hawks are not going to trade a core piece this offseason, including Josh Smith. They want to give this team one shot with a healthy roster and no major moves are going to be made until at least the trade deadline next season. Book it people. Stop with the trade scenarios until you see this team perform in the first half of next season.
“Don’t forget to add your boy, Brad Davis, to “the list.””
Who is Brad Davis? What list?
“Josh for Rudy Gay.”
In a heartbeat. Gives us a legit small forward, removes the Josh/Horford redundancy and Josh gets to go to the team he signed an offer sheet with. Would need to move Marvin to clear cap space.
“It is alleged that Rick Sund wanted to hire Dwayne Casey, but the ASG wanted Uncle Larry”
Dwane Casey, architect of the Mav’s championship defense. Larry Drew, architect of consecutive blown opportunities to reach the ECF.
Rod from College Park
June 7th, 2012
11:38 am
Pau Gasol. SMH. Are we trying to win the softest, leaderless team in the league. Joe Johnson and Pau Gasol. LOL
northcyde
June 7th, 2012
11:39 am
Astro Joe
June 7th, 2012
11:09 am
northcyde, in previous seasons, when the Lakers were among the best teams, folk didn’t like the idea of trading for Bynum because of his issues with injuries. And during those seasons when Bynum missed 30+ games, Gasol was the low post option for the Lakers. Now, after a single season of health for Bynum, Gasol has suddenly become an after-thought?
Some say that it is debatable if Gasol is better than any Hawk. While I disagree, I’ll gladly trade for someone who is “debatable” as the Hawks best player. It is far better than focusing on trading for Trevor Ariza, Jason Thompson or some other player who may upgrade the talent level in slots 4-8 but won’t impact 1-3.
********************
Totally agree.
And Gasol doesn’t have to be the best Hawk on the team for it to progress. He simply has to play where we need him to play. Add Gasol to this team, and the basketball IQ, especially in the half court, goes WAY UP for the Hawks.
Right now, the Hawks are too easy to defend, because we settle for too many jumpshots of 16+ feet. As good as people think that Josh and Al compliment each other, a duo of Gasol and Al would be dynamite in the half court offense.
And I still say the big beneficiary would be Jeff Teague, because he’d finally be able to play to his strengths.
I personally don’t have a problem with Najeh’s plan . . but I do have a problem with it right now. Simply trade out the guy who is always the biggest wild card for the Hawks, for a player who is usually consistent across the board, and see how it affects the team.
If Josh is dead set on leaving ATL, you trade him out right now and go with Gasol for one, maybe 2 years. That gives us 3 All-Star caliber players at SG, PF, and C that we can throw at teams. And a young scoring PG that attacks the rim. We actually have that now.
But instead of being known as an athletic team, we’d be known as a half court executing team.
Teague – JJ – vet or young SF – Horford – Gasol
is simply a more balanced team across the board. And it keeps us in a position to win NOW, instead of 8 years down the line.