Hawks and Josh Smith may have had enough of each other

First.

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lol horford sure didnt show up in the playoffs. hawks better pray that they get a shot blocker when Josh is traded because horford cant block shots at all(point guards will drive on the hawks all day) also I do think josh needs some fresh air. His whole life growing up has been nothing but atlanta,

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exactly@chem horford has no post up game

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Right on Jeff !!!!!!!!!

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Man, I really, really wish that Belkin had won the lawsuit.

The Spirit have proved beyond a shadow of doubt that they are too poor to own a professional franchise (much less two) and too stupid to do anything right.

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Maybe they will go to Winnipeg, too.

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Horford is a 2-time all-star and was selected 3rd team All-NBA this year — the only Hawk that received votes.

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I’m torn. Change for the sake of change is never the solution; and trading away one of the few recognizable faces from the Hawks is not really a good choice either. But Jeff you’re correct in that Josh Smith is a lightning rod much like Mike Vick was in this town. Long on potential and excitement, but that little something was missing. And as a fan it’s sometimes frustrating to watch, because you want to believe in them so much.

After the playoffs for the Hawks ended, the emotional me would have agreed with you. But the rational me says we need a Josh Smith, maybe more than any other player on the team. He is talented, exciting and still raw. Face it, for few those fans that actually buy Hawks tickets to see the Hawks, it’s because of a Josh Smith, not a Joe Johnson.

What this team needs is a new voice; a new focus. A leader that can get the best out of this crazy athletically talented group. Larry Drew appears to be a very nice guy, but he can’t take this team to the next level. Get a basketball mind “Hubie Brown” type in here (again) and let him pull out the potential in our home grown Josh and we need not worry about him blossoming somewhere else.

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@Chem, Horford plays center pretty good but he’s not tall enough to go at the most dominant centers in the NBA. @J.J.M, that’s not Horfords game, how can he show up and do what his skills allow if he’s getting outplayed by much bigger centers. Point exactly, if you know basketball, if the Hawks get another decent center Al will then blossom and get to play guys more of his size and demonate. I’m not an expert but just an opinion to the whats reality for this Hawks team.

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If Horford was a top-five NBA center… why would a playoff team start Jason Collins against Dwight Howard?

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@ Cousin Vicker, I totally agree with your points! Spoken from someone you really knows basketball.

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Better yet, trade him for a sick horse then shoot the horse!

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Right on target Jeff….. We need to explode this lineup and get some guys in here who want to go out every night and play hard. Let’s start by getting rid of Josh Smith and Marvin Williams. We will have to give Marvin away but what can we expect in return for Josh? Sadly these clowns of a ownership group has crippled us with Joe Johnson.

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Jeff, Joe did not cripple the payroll. ASG and Sund did. Joe should have taken the money. I am a JJ fan but I would not have offered him a max deal. He’s just not that kind of player. Should have done a sign and trade with Chicago since they reportedly coveted him. If we trade Josh and Hinrich for a legitimate center, then the center needs to be able to score, defend, and rebound because losing Josh certainly makes us worse in those categories. What center’s are out there that teams are willing to part with? Greg Oden? Can’t give up Josh for him. Who’s out there?

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Josh Smith is uncoachable. That’s part of the problem. If he wasn’t hard-headed, he’d be a perennial all-star and household name around the NBA. Instead, he’s a “raw” talent (seriously, after 7 years in the NBA no one should still be a “raw” talent) who has great physical ability but awful judgment on the court. And it never seems to get any better.

And if he doesn’t like it when fans call him out, well sorry Josh, you get payed a lot of money to play a game for a living. Try playing your style of basketball in New York city, or Boston, or LA. You’ll be catching the first bus back to Atlanta after a week of those fans and their scrutiny. You get off fairly easy with us here, because we’ve had seven years of your shenanigans. I keep wanting to give you the benefit of the doubt, but honestly, I care less about you than I do getting a legitimate center for this team. It’s not personal; just business. You can take your “angryface” and go screw up someone elses offensive rhythm.

If it’s any consolation, I wish I could send Joe Johnson with you.

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Josh Smith & Kirk Hinrich to the Lakers for Pau Gasol.

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Trade JJ to the mavs for tyson chandler

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I don’t believe Josh Smith is un-coachable, I believe he’s never been coached up in the first place. That’s what happens when ownership goes on the cheap to hire a coach. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. For God’s sake spend some money and hire a coach like Jeff Van Gundy and I guarantee you’ll see what Josh is capable of every night.

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“Paid”

And LEA, I don’t really care what you think.

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KSU alum…… you are right on target and I am so glad you are not afraid to speak the truth!!

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Josh was the only one to show up for the chicago series, him and Teague. But you want to throw him under the bus (SMH). Wake up its the coach not him, the owners are just experimenting they are not serious about puttting together a championship team. And like someone stated earlier hell I go to the game to see J Smoove put on a show, yeah he pout but he come to play!

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If Josh is traded he will become a top ten NBA player and the Hawks will regret the move for years.Trade him for who? A draft choice? There is nothing in the draft that comes close to Josh.And before we trade him for another player just look south to Orlando to see what happens when trades are made just for the sake of trading.During the Chicago series Tom Thibodeau said that Marvin Williams is the most underrated player in the NBA and I totally disagree and think he should be playing in Greece or some other distant country.Why cant the Hawks package him and Hinrich for a center which seems to be the major need? The bottom line is that the Hawks should not have invested so much into Joe Johnson who they cant trade because of his salary which is not Josh Smith’s fault

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Why is Horford untradable? He’s shown that he can be shutdown by a defensive PF or Center. Why not package him and Marvin and get a Howard or Bynum in here. Trading Josh for a boring post player will kill any fan support.

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trade marvin williams

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Horford gets votes because he’s a good guy and a coach’s dream type of player as far as personality goes.

Joe Johnson is a fraud. Not Peerless Price bad but close. He wanted to be the man, a #1 type in Phoenix. He wanted #1 money in Atlanta. He got both of his wishes and to his credit he played like a #1 for a crappy team when the Hawks were crappy, but then he wanted the #1 max contract that a #1 on a playoff team earns. We gave him that and where is the return on investment? If Joe Johnson consistently played big in big games we wouldn’t be commenting on this blog right now.

Joe is unmoveable with that contract and so Josh will ultimately take the fall at no fault of his own. Josh isn’t a #1 player and doesn’t deserve the bulk of our frustration. If Josh is moved I hope he and Dwight Howard are reunited soon somewhere. A three-way trade involving the Lakers and some other franchase to get Josh in LA pending Dwight’s jump out West would be great for the NBA.

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“Smith is not the biggest problem on the Hawks’ roster, he’s merely the greatest lightning rod for criticism. He’s not the player who has crippled the payroll and just followed the richest contract in NBA history — $123,658,089 — with his least-productive season. That would be Joe Johnson.”

“Here’s the problem: Smith clearly is getting fed up as the Hawks’ player who’s constantly being duct-taped to a post in the middle of the town square.”

So, to summarize: Smoove is not the Hawks’ biggest problem, but the fans and media sometimes treat him like he is, and because of this he should be traded. The Hawks should trade him not because he’s the problem but because he’s painted by the media (of which this columnist is a part) as the problem. Yeah, that makes tons of sense.

“The risk of trading Smith is that he finally turns into that consistent game-changer we’ve envisioned since his rookie season. The downside to not trading him now is if he doesn’t become that soon, his value on the trade market will plummet”

This is true of every other young player on the team too. If Al Horford never becomes a go-to post player or Jeff Teague’s stellar performance in the playoffs turns out to be a mirage their trade value will also plummet. Why not trade them as well while we’re at it?

“Dealing Smith gives the Hawks a chance to acquire a legitimate starting center. Teague’s ascent opens the possibility of including Kirk Hinrich and his expiring $8.1 million contract in the trade.”

Combining Smoove and Kirk’s salaries gets you close to $20 million. Your statement implies that a team somewhere has a “legitimate starting center” available along with other quality players whose salaries add up to somewhere around that amount. Where exactly is this the case? What NBA team has a legit starting center that they want to trade for Smoove? Unless you know something about Dwight Howard’s future plans that the rest of us don’t, I call BS.

“But after seven years, Smith’s exit would be beneficial for both parties.”

Only beneficial to the Hawks if they get equal value in return for him in a trade and that equal value involves someone who will take over his role as the team’s overall best defensive player and the guy responsible for protecting the rim. Again, I don’t see what team has a quality shot-blocking center who is also a valid offensive option available for trade. Those don’t just grow on trees.

“Johnson can’t be traded because of his contract. ”

That’s what they said about Gilbert Arenas, Rashard Lewis, and Baron Davis too.

Parting with a talented, fairly compensated player in large part because you overpaid another player that you would be better off moving is what a poorly run team would do. The Hawks have a 43-year history of making one mistake to solve another; now would be a good time to stop that trend. If the Hawks want to change the culture and shake up the core, they need to look no further than the fact that the one overriding obstacle to the team executing Larry Drew’s offense is the team’s default setting on offense, ingrained for six years by Mike Woodson, of standing around watching Joe Johnson try to go one-on-five. This is more Woody’s fault than Joe’s, and the ideal move would be to replace LD with a coach who has the swag to get the players to fall in line with his system and who will transfer the responsibility to create on offense from Joe to Teague. If they feel a member of the core needs to go, though, they should start with Joe. He, not Smoove, is the biggest reason for the Hawks’ “culture” being what it is. And no, his contract does not make this impossible.

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jeff schultz is an idiot. they tried to shop josh at trade deadline last year no takers. al horford is the only hawk with trade value. when the utah jazz was shopping deron williams last year, they ask the hawks for al horford not josh smith. you can trade joe johnson there are a number of teams who would take the contract. new jersey golden state houston utah sacramento etc. joe marvin and kurt has to go. you dont trade effort players. they become you base. josh smith is critical to the hawks core

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man the clippers would love joe johnson. since the hawks have a history with the clippers dominique, doc rivers. they better call them up.

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Josh and Marvin to Suns for Pietrus and Gortat….

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Josh Smith for Pau Gasol would be a win for the Hawks in terms of talent. Gasol is a clearly better player. The only problem is, if they play teams like the Magic again, now you’d have two front court players who can’t/don’t want to play center, and this time if you decide to start Collins you can’t shift one of them to small forward.

Some of you are so caught up in what you think Smoove could be that you start overlooking what he already does. Smoove is not JaMarcus Russell. He wasn’t drafted like a superstar (he and Teague are the two non-lottery picks in the Hawks’ rotation) nor is he paid like one. Just because he can jump really high doesn’t mean he ever had the talent to become one. What he is is a solid, versatile player who consistently changes the game on defense for this team. Those contributions are valuable enough that trading him just for the sake of trading him is going to hurt this team in more ways than one unless the Hawks get similar caliber players in return.

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Hawks managment have not shown they are savy enough to make even a semi decent trade. Atlanta would probably wind up with a handful of magic beans for Smith

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I think a Smith for Gasol trade might be possible, but I’d rather go back in time and just prevent the Hawks from trading away Gasol for Shareef in the first place.

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Can we trade Joe Johnson to the Lakers for something, anything? What combo of Laker players and draft picks would make moneys work? I’m serious.

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Carl Landry is a great and underrated forward. A hustler who will kill the boards, go after loose balls, has a really consistently GOOD jumpshot and a good free throw shooter. A great guy and for Smith you may be able to throw in another player or two for equal compensation for the Hawks. Stay faithful Hawks fans. We are close with the right moves

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Trade with Minnesota: Offer Josh, Joe, Kirk, Marvin, Jamal, Jeff.. Minnesota takes four. Atlanta receives Kevin Love and #1 draft choice.

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Can we get the Yankees to agree to buy out Joe’s contract just for lulz? They’d make history as the first baseball team to pick up the contract of a basketball player for no good reason other than to say they did it.

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You aren’t getting Gasol or Bynum for him. Sorry. Your best deal, or most natural fit, would be a deal to the Clippers, getting back Chris Kaman, who is a legit quality 7 foot NBA center, an all-star a year ago. The Clippers are ready to make Jordan a starter and need to pay him. You might be able to get Amimu from the Clippers, too. But you need to be realistic. The Nuggets are not giving you Nene and JR Smith. The Lakers are not giving you either of those guys. Let’s be honest, you guys have been killing Josh for years and that constant criticism has diminished his trade value somewhat.

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lol @ criticism killing a player’s trade value.

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Jeff…. thanks for the insight. Don’t guess I could get you to expand on what these guys are like in the locker room? You say it is closer to what they really are. Better or worse than what we see? Because all I see is a bunch of spoiled brats that think they are entitled to everything just because they can dribble a basketball or throw a baseball. I am a teacher and most of the kids look me square in the eye and say they don’t need to study because one day they will be a star in the NBA or a Rapper. They really don’t think they need to better themselves because they have their future figured out.
They are in for a rude awakening!!!

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This article:
Sometimes people say things-in this case, write things just to get people talking even when the truth of the matter asserted is deeply flawed i.e your premise on JS. Based on your article and previous assertions about Josh, why aren’t we looking to trade every other player who have also continuously not lived up to their expectations? Al is not that great of a leader and I proffer our low standards in Atlanta as to why he rolls under the radar of criticism; his talent is significantly in need of shaping and the playoffs are all you need to believe this. The same can be said of JJ-he has underperformed, and who is to say we cannot trade him if we got multiple teams involved. No need to discuss Marvin here….. But, to assert that Josh is the inevitable trading pawn is ridiculous-he was picked no 17 in the draft and in reality his abilities and success/failure could be traced to his place in that draft. Financially- his contract is not bad at all, and unless we can get something dynamically great, why push to get rid of him and not AL or JJ first.
For most fans, the issue with our talent is more about coaching/development than anything. Since LD was hired and the despair faded, you have been as guilty as anyone for settling for a sub par coach and expecting the talent on the court to leap mountains. There is a reason some coaches get paid 3-4 million a year, and many will tell you that is where this organization needs to start. In fact , I dare utter that I would rather keep the same core for another year if we had a good coach on the bench at the start of training camp.

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as long as smith continues to play the type of game his daddy and agent tell him to play instead of listening to the coaches, he will continue to never be an all star and will always be a lightening rod for comments – wherever he gets traded to.

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the nba is the worst

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It doesn’t matter. With or without Josh Smith, the Hawks won’t be winning a championship. With Joe’s contract, the Hawks are stuck.

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So, if I read this correctly Josh has a problem with Larry Drew?
Granted it might not be a huge problem… but still a problem.

That would make Josh 2-2 with problems with last two head coaches.
Sometimes it’s not the head coach when the player has the same problems with more than one.
I wish Josh would mature on and off the court as it pertains to basketball.
Unfortunately, i don’t think it’s going to happen here on this team… if at all.

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Al Horford gets a free pass as usual. And it is based purely on personalities rather than game. He STUNK big time in the playoffs again; he’s either scared or unwilling to challenge decent bigs (begged to not face them in fact). If he’s so great, he should bring back good things in a trade . . .

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It is sad that mismanagement has backed the Hawks into a corner so that their only hope of improvement is to trade their most talented player for someone who isn’t likely to make much of a difference anyway. Josh was raw with incredible potential when he entered the league and he’s still virtually the same player. Maybe it’s because Josh is uncoachable, but I think it’s more likely that he just hasn’t had a good coach. Being part of a leaderless team all these years hasn’t helped either. The truth is that the Hawks are as good as they’re going to get until JJ’s contract expires.

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Since Josh Smith have had enough as a hawk and since Tony Parker think the Spurs is getting too old, we should trade Josh to San Antonio for Manu Ginobili. We can move JJ too sf and move Al too pf.

1 JT
2 Manu Ginobili
3 JJ
4 AH
5 Tyson Chandler(The only decent big available)

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And 100 percent agree with the few intelligent fans around here that are wondering why noone ever holds Horford accountable. Is it because he’s got a big pretty smile? Is it because you think he’s a nice guy? Is it because there’s a massive UF base in ATL? It’s certainly not because he’s a tough playing, tough minded big man. He’s a soft as warm butter, yet it seems the AJC and most of these supposed fans can’t see it through their ignorant Josh bashing.

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You know it’s sad that the only player that seem to give a crap after the first game in the Chicago series is now taking heat for something that isn’t his fault.

I say if you trade anyone or cut anyone trade the following Al Horford, Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, and Jamal Crawford.

Why Al because after that New York game during the season when Horford tried to talk big about Amare guess what happened Amare ate his lunch and then some and since then Horford went extremely soft.

Why Joe look what happened to him not much needs to be said about that and yes his contract can be moved you’d be surprised.

Why Jamal dude disappeared last off-season when they said no about a contract extension.

Marvin he’s just Marvin get him out of here at least before it’s like well he doesn’t affect the game much now it’s just you’re not even there anymore.

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It would be more beneficial for Smith then the Hawks.

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Enasty357 horford didnt take advantage when boozer guarded him he passed away all his open shots not just noah

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No don’t get rid of Josh. Do what Dallas and OKC did,get a bench. We’ve found a PG who can push the ball score and defend. We are not going to get Josh equal, go into free agency get players like Prince (Detroit),Jamison (Cleveland) or J. Childress. I wanted to keep J Childress over M Williams because of his ability to defend and play at three positions PG,PF, and SF. Our team will change next year with Kirk and Jeff working PG and we must play our bench. G Wilkins,Za Za,Pape Sy,got to play more. Pape is going to help us a lot.

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Unless you plan on filling the void Smith fills inside defensively, this isn’t logical. I understand folks frustrations, and I’m of those who often gets very frustrated with J.Smith.

But, J.Smith literally played defense for two when he and Horford were at the 4 and 5 in the playoffs.

Offensively, Horford has no post game. J.Smith actually does. I know he gets frustrating to watch offensively, but he’s the lone guy on this roster that has the ability to bang inside and actually get easy buckets for the Hawks if his mind is to it.

I know most here are tired of seeing whether Smith’s mind is to it. But, this is all the reason why it would be wise for the Hawks to look for coaches would command Smith’s respect and/or who would hold Smith accountable for his antics rather than settling for the minimum wage coaches they tend to settle for. Although Drew had a pretty good showing in his first go-around in the playoffs from an X’s and O’s standpoint, he still doesn’t get these guys up from a mental aspect.

Attitude reflects leadership? Well, all too often the Hawks plain don’t show up. Sure, most of this is on the players, but get a coach in here who wouldn’t settle for that bullstuff, and you’re not seeing the Hawks schizophrenic ways as often.

But, with Smith, get another defensive prescence in here who could also buy the Hawks some easy buckets inside, and this would make sense. If you’re relying on Horford to pick up the slack for Smith, don’t hold your breath. Dude came off mighty soft in these playoffs.

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Nobody will trade for Joe, Marvin will be a 20 ppg scorer. Nobody. We’re stuck with a decent player, on the decline, who is way more overpaid than anybody else in the league.

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There’s no team out there will take josh for a legitimate center. Unless its the Lakers and they are not trading Gasol or Bynum for Josh. Marvin and Jamal if possible are the only people we could trade. The team is not bad we need to come out of that isolation offense, Joe Johnson and J Crawford shouldn’t be bringing the ball up court they need to get in a shooting position asap.If they can’t get a easy shot pass the ball Teague or Kirk and the rest of their teammates make good decisions.One game in the playoff against the Bulls there were 10.4 sec left before half we were down by 10 JJ walked the ball up the court and turned it over. Teague should be pushing the ball towards the basket in a situation like that, Teague And Kirk are ready let them run the offense.

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The next time Josh hustles on defense……..will be his first time…

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@ Cousins Vicker — Are you suggesting that Collins is a better C than Horford because he was chosen to hack Howard in the playoffs? That’s just ridiculous. Collins on Howard freed up Horford on the offensive end of the floor.

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Everybody clamoring for a trade to get Pau Gasol wants the wrong Gasol. Marc, a center, is the perfect fit and a free agent. I’d say his presence made Randolph a better power forward.

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Trade Smith or Hordford along with Williams and try to get Howard or Bynum. What about trading Smith and Hinrich to Phoenix for Gortat and Petritus, Dallas for Hayward and Caron Butler or to Denver for J.R. Smith and Nene. Do a sign and trade deal to get either Granger, Gay, Gasol or Beasley for Crawford. Take a chance on signing Oden would be a gamble but it would be worth it if you sign him for a 1 yr deal.

I really think we can get Hayward and Butler from Dallas, espically if Dallas win it all.We need a 7 footer and scrapy on ball defender that can cover the 3 & 2 position in order to compete with the elite teams in the east.

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The Hawks are screwed they aren’t gonna be a championship contender for awhile they need to find a team that will take Joe Johnson contract.

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Josh gets the heat – and some of it deservingly so. But Al is the 1 who disappeared in the 2nd round and became just a jump shooter.
What this team most needs is a strong coach, not 1 who only makes suggestions.

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“So who should we scream louder about?”
Horford, Williams, the missed opportunity of Teague…

Jeff Schultz, Johnson does not cripple you yet, he’s two years away from being a cap burden. The pain comes from Marvin, Jamal, and Zaza. Add that with Bibby, now Hinrich and do the math… They had a trade exception and did nothing with it at all… It is going to go away the day of the draft…

“I can’t remember the last time this team developed anyone.” Jason Terry…
That team and Terry Stotts was so clueless that he never would look good until he got his confidence back…

OK, more scripts to read… What a week!

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Agree completely with you Jeff. To those of you who say we need to keep Josh because he’s so exciting and, at times, he shows such great potential. You’re missing the point. This team is screwed up due to Billy knight’s picking of forward after forward. Al is not a center. Al and Josh play the same position. Josh is not a small forward. You can’t bring one off the bench for 12 million a yr, DUH ! Al is starting a new 5 yr contract next yr while Josh only has 2 more yrs on his contract. Trade Josh for a true center. It’s so simple, maybe, even the Hawks, can’t screw it up. MAYBE.

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“BTW you’ll be able to hear Bibby’s laughter from Miami should the Heat win it all.”

I’d be laughing too, if I got to shoot 20% and be a turnstile on defense and still got to keep my starting job in the playoffs.

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Here’s the trade that makes sense to all parties involved. Trade Josh Smith and swap 2nd rd picks to Washington for Javale Mcgee and there 1st (not the one from Atl). Washington has stated that they want to get younger (J Smooth age 26). He gives them instant post season experience and fills a need, Batche can man the 5 spot. We get a young atheletic, shot blocking, rebounding center to man the middle. Best of all we can address the SF position w/ the 1st rd draft pick. FULL PROOF PLAN!!!!

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Isn’t Nene’ and J.R. Smith free agents and Tyson Chandler???? They don’t have to be traded for???

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I would be all for that Wink but I don’t see anyone giving up that much for Josh. I’ll be happy to get a quality 5 that offers defensive presence in the middle, rebounds and knows his roll. If we then slide JJ to SF (he’s 6′8″ and plenty big enough) then put KH at SG (which is what he truly is), at least for next season, and develop PS to possibly take over that role in 2012/13 we would have players in positions that are suited to their talent and role. We, thanks to the idiot Billy Knight, have had too many players that are adequate at several positions but don’t excel at anything. Al at C/PF, Josh at PF/SF, Marvin as starter and scorer/ no Marvin as post op/defender, no Marvin coming off the bench, no Marvin playing dead. KH as PG no wait he’s really a SG, no he’s a combo guard. Ditto for Jamal. Collins starts- next game he’s in street clothes. Billy K, Rick S, Woody, and LD- all schizophrenics. When J Noah comes to the venue for a game do you think he’s wondering whether he’s going to play center or PF or be in street clothes or in a coffin cuz he’s immitating Marvin playing dead. NO !

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Man trade Joe Johnson to cleveland for the number 4 pick.Dan Gilbert is really desperate after loosing Lebron

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Nothing but a team of thugs! Pro basketball is the worst sport in town!

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Hey Schultz from your comments I am gathering that Joe Johnson can’t be traded. Is that because it is written into his contract or something? Last time I checked Joe Johnson can be traded and should be traded. He is actually the first person and the last person we should look at trading because of his contract. He could net us draft picks, expiring contracts and good bench players.

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@Jeff

Why wouldnt a team take on Joe’s contract. Its not like hes Rashard Lewis. Or do you concede that Joes is anywhere near worth what his contract would suggest??

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People are finally realizing that Josh Smith is everything that’s wrong with the NBA game they call basketball. He can’t shoot, can’t dribble, can’t and won’t pass, selectively plays defense and then only from the help side, he’s lazy, and he’s got a bad attitude.

Should have dumped him long ago.

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I’m in disbelief that anyone would believe another team would take on Joe Johnson and his contract. There isn’t a single team that would trade for him at this point.

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I DO NOT AGREE that Josh is the problem. If we trade him our paint D will ne non existent unless we get a shot blocking center. They will also have to scrap the highlight factory campain. I always thought it would be a bad idea for Josh to play SF because I figured he would shoot even more outside shots. Instead he seems to have more confidence taking it inside VS SFs as opposed to bigger stronger PFs. I keep reading we should trade him for a C. What elite C is available we could get for em? Now if a.scenario came up where LA traded Gasol & Odom for Howard then I would offer the Lakers a choice of Hortford or Smith along with Hinrich for Andrew Bynum. The best free agent centers Chandler & M Gasol both play for playoff contenders who can outbid us since we don’t have cap space. Id rather see us make a.smaller move like Hinrich & M Williams + future draft considerations for Chris Kayman who is now the Clippers backup. We should also resign Jamal Crawford. After that our best hope is to run more and run motion in the half court. Teauge & Smith have to take their games to the next level.(Marvin too if he doesn’t get traded) If they were gonna blow this team they shouldn’t have gave Joe all that money. Might as well stay the course with some minor tweeks unless an unbelievable offer comes up or an opportunity to clear Johnson’s salary off the books presents itself.

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lol……how can anyone talk crap about Al?..A 6ft8 pf who has been asked to play center…you Atl fans are funny!.

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@ Marvin will be 20ppg

I’m not even from ATL, but I know dude was soft in the playoffs at 6′10 the same guy always whining about playing Center, but yet goes soft as a babies bottom when he moves to the PF position.

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Ray what two are you talking about that
we already have? Horford and Zaza? Zaza is what he is he wont be getting any better. but I like zaza he just can’t score like we would need him to. if he could we would be good. Horford could get better, but he is just to small to stop legit 7 footers. and he can’t score on them either.

and if Pau or Bynum got traded to atlanta they wouldn’t have a choice in the matter if theywanted to be here are not. besides I bet they would want to come here we are a playoff team that is just a solid center away from being contenders. you don’t think the guys in the league don’t know that.

they are the ones that plays against the Hawks…. you don’t think they know what the Hawks are missing?

they do trust me.

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Everyone keeps saying we have to choose between Smith & Hortford, but I disagree. I think we do need a center. But the choice is between Smith, Hortford ,& Williams. Id prefer to trade Williams 1st. Hordford 2nd, Smith last. As for the Laker bigs I’m not sure I want Pau Gasol. As skilled as he is he wants no.part of being a full time C and is much more effective @ PF. He also strikes me as the type of guy who might sulk if traded from the Lakers. On the other hand I belive Bynum would relish the change to come here and prove he can be a primary go to option on a playoff team. Like I said before I don’t see the Lakers trading Bynum to downsize. As Hawks fans we should hope for a Gasol & Odom for Howard based deal. That’s our only chance @ Bynum. If not a Hinrich & Williams deal for Kayman would be a good consolation prize.

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skyhawk I feel ya but its said Hortford has more trade value around the league so why trade Smith if you’re not gonna get full value? If nothing else Josh is a force at defending the rim. Im hoping with a full season of Teague starting @ PG we can get in transition more which is Josh’s game. And If we could trade Williams & Hinrich for Kayman or even better Hortford and Hinrich for Buynum that would leave Josh as a complimentary player rather than a primary option.

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@Ray
The hawks only need a CENTER and we would be a threat.We have the smallest frontcourt in the NBA..We are 6ft8,6ft7, and 6ft7 on the front line…in the NBA..
Josh Smith is only 6ft7

Predraft Measurements
Height w/o Shoes Height w/shoes Weight Wingspan Standing Reach Body Fat No Step Vert Max Vert Bench Press Lane Agility 3/4 Court Sprint Class Rank
6′ 7″ 6′ 8.25″ 221 7′ 0″ 8′ 10.5″ NA 32.5 39.5 12 11.43 3.24 19

From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Josh-Smith-4421/#ixzz1N3L6HLZM
http://www.draftexpress.com

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I guess the point of this article is to highlight the Hawks may be at a point were they have to make a choice between Smith and Horford as their starting PF. I think the Hawks are going go with Horford because of the reputation Smith has (partly his fault) and because his contract maybe easier to move. Smith is by far the better PF than Horford if we are just comparing talent. The question with Smith as always been his will and desire to play up to his potential. This might be the ultimate factor in moving Josh. The irony and possible tragedy I think, is the Hawks would settle for not getting a fair value for Josh simply because the consensus on him is negative and it might result in a possible a reduction in their payroll.

But before he GIVE Josh away (the Hawks will give him away if they trade him), let me first make a case for trading away our other PF, Horford. I know it sounds crazy, but if the Hawks were really serious about improving the team, they would at least consider trading Horford. Just hear me out.

#1 This is the most important point. We as fans need to realize that this is JJ’s teams. He is going nowhere. Therefore, it makes the most sense to build a team around JJ that brings out the best in him. Therefore, we as fans need to stop believing a center is going to solve our problems. Unless this center can give us 20 points a night or Horford becomes a 20/10 guy, we still have an incomplete roster. What playoff teams have longed figured out is that the Hawks can not put 2 consistent scorers on the floor at the same time. Look where JJ came from. What made him effective in Phoenix is he wasn’t even the 2 option on the Suns. They had Nash, Shawn Marion, and Stoudermire. If JJ wasn’t left open in the 3 point corner, he was at best getting single coverage by the opposing team’s 2nd or 3rd best defender. What the Hakws need is another consistent shooter to play alongside Joe Johnson. Trading away Horford gives you the best chance at getting the best 2nd scoring option on the team.

2) Centers and PGs are premiums in the NBA, so I don’t think any team is going to trade us a starting center unless they are trying to move a contract or get something for a departing free agent. This means the Hawks would take on more money, which we all believe is probably not going to be the case. If we did get a center for Josh Smith, it wouldn’t be any better than who we already have and whoever you get with the combination of Horford, still wouldn’t make up for what you lost in Smith. Additionally, You still would need to find a SF. Playing Teague, Hinrich, and JJ together, seems ok, but you’re always one tweaked ankle away from disaster on your roster. And this puts more pressure on you to sign Crawford. If you got a shooter with Smith, you still lost your team leader in steals and blocks and your best end to end athlete. This leads me to my next point….

3) You can replace Horford’s production with Smith, but you can’t do it the other way around. Think about this. As bad as a shooter we all make Smith to be, he has averaged more points this season than Horford while playing farther away from the basket than Horford. He also averaged about a half a rebound less than Horford….again playing further away from the basket. Smith also is hands down the better shot blocker and for the past two season has been the team leader in steals. When you compare the two in this past playoffs, its not even close. Smith was the better player. Again, what you get from Josh is so much harder to replace than what you’ll lose in trading Horford. If you trade Horford for a another starter scorer (SG or SF), you’ll get the points back and as temp fix, you can thrust ZaZa as your starting C to help with the boards. Smiths points and reb should also increase just by playing close to the basket and not on the 3 point line.

4) Probably just as important as my first point, Josh shows up in the playoff, Horford doesn’t. Josh may take bad shots, but he has the stats to prove he shows up in the playoffs, Horford’s stats declines in the playoffs. Look it up. This along with the fact that Horford has a hard time scoring with his back towards the basket……that’s right Horford our PF has a hard time scoring with his back towards the basket makes me a little uneasy about unloading Josh with Horford to be the teams savior at the PF position.

I might be a little crazy and probably more of a Josh Smith fan than most. But I hope the Hawks don’t make a bad business move because of their frustration with Josh Smith. Honestly, I think it might be better for the team to keep both Horford and Josh for at least one more season and let’s see what Drew can figure out. We might be disappointed now with Josh, but I think we would be a lot more disappointed with his replacement and Horford left alone to defend the paint with out Josh’s weakside help.

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Mark, as Ronald Reagan once said, “NOW THERE YOU GO AGAIN”

“Dealing Smith gives the Hawks a chance to acquire a legitimate starting center”

Unless you name the center, your comment is nothing more than Hot Air. This idea you are offering us makes an inept GM Rick Sund look like a genius.

Exactly there are effective FA centers such as Dalembert or even Kwame Brown that could be an upgrade over Jason Collins. But if we must trade, a better idea would be to trade Marvin Williams for an injury prone Greg Oden straight up. Since I doubt Portland will extend him an offer, this could be beneficial to both parties. Marvin is a native son of that area so they value him highly. He even gave back by building a youth community center so he still has ties.

Mark, why are you so negative?

“Najeh — After way Marvin Williams played this year, I’d be STUNNED if he’s back on team next season. Just give him away”

That’s an asinine statement or is it sarcasm? Even if this was true, why do you talk down his value even farther? You would be doing lousy PR work for the Hawks front-office seeking to trade him. You sound like an amateur sports writer making that remark.

The bottom-line, there is no need to trade Josh Smith, there are better options.

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I read that Portland will extend a qualifying offer to Oden. I like the Williams for Oden idea don’t know if Portland will do it since they have alot of swingmen on their roster. If andre miller signed elsewhere then I bet Hinrich would interest them. Again if we let Jamal walk then that takes the valuable expiring contract of Hinrich off the table. We would then be forced with the decision of paying Hinrich or losing him for nothing next offseason. Does anyone else think Marvin & Hinrich for Kayman is a plausible idea?

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WE all know from when we use to try and play that a good 6′9″ center is good untill he plays a good 7′ center. Yes, inches do matter in basketball if all else is equal. I do think it’s time to see what we could get for Smith. It is time for change.

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Jeff. I dont agree with you on this one.

Smith is still very young. He wont be 26 until next December. His stats have consistently ranged between 15 and 17 points a game throughout his career. While those arent Kobe Bryant type stats, I dont see how trading him is going to make this team a better basketball team.

Last year, it seemed than writers and fans agreed that while the Hawks overpaid for Joe Johnson, it had to be done. Looking back, its unfortunate.. because now Johnson may be on the downside, and we are now saddled with his contract.

Johnson is at the age when he might be coming into his prime. Guaranteed, if we trade him now.. he might suddenly blossom into that 20 to 25 point a night player that he can be, somewhere else.

The bottom line is that maybe this team just cant expect more than to get to the conference semis. The Hawks are what they are. The Dominique/Doc Rivers era never got past the semis, and neither did the mid to late 1990s Hawks teams that were good. We are a good team, but are not an elite team. It might be that Smith gets traded, and we still get bounced in the second round next year again, just like the previous three years. Is that improvement?

I would keep Smith. Maybe I’m wrong.. but.. unless you can get a package that will really improve the team, I just wouldnt do it.

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Al Horford, Marvin Williams and Jeff Teague to San Antonio for Tony Parker, Richard Jefferson and Dejuan Blair or Matt Bonner. Parker says the Spurs window has closed; Blair can share the PF spot with Smith or let Drew work with the center by committee: ZaZa, Armstrong and Collins.

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The best professional sports team in Atlanta (Hawks) and you want to trade the best player because he has the most value?

So maybe the Braves should trade McCann because he has the most value also?

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Teague is the answer to Josh Smith. Drew is forced to get out of the slow poke offensive set where the number 2 guard lumbers up the court like he is hiding something from the crowd. He then, and it doesn’t matter if it is Johnson or Crawford, they are automatically doubled team. The clock is running out, a lot from the lumbering up the court, no one is breaking to the basket yet someone should be free since there is a double team going on, usually it is Smith who is not breaking. Teague throws all that out the window, he is up the court before some of the defense gets set, he breaks down who ever is guarding him and if they close in on him under the basket he dishs it off to whomever is under there with him. Smith does not get to smell the ball if he is sitting in the cheap seats waiting for a pass, the action is under the basket, so guess who shows up for the party. Like the dog at the backdoor looking to be feed. Drew, who to me, showed a bite handicapped in his mental processes handling his son at North Carolina, makes me think he can’t handle these pro players either. Teague gets put on the bench because he doesn’t buy into the offense not because of his talent. He is about the only person on this team Drew feels capable of bullying. Teague will need a strong second string point guard, doing all the work will wear him down. The NBA as we watch the playoffs is a point guard league now , just like college has been for a while. Guys like Smith look good but they are a dime a dozen and our encouraging his childish play adds to the problem. The real players now days are you points and they need to be fast not like Kirk Hinrich, who is another player that thinks to much.

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Get rid of JJ first !

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JS did show up for the series, and had a few good games. His two coaches could have learned something from Tom Thibodeaux, in that he would pull his errant player and have him sit next to him, to “get his head straight.” Strong leadership can get the best out of Josh, whether that comes from a coach or from a teammate. There are plenty of scoring opportunities, even if you don’t have any plays run for you. Garbage duty can yield a guy 10 to 12 points alone. What about the basic pick-and-roll? Nothing fancy in any of that.

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All I got to say is josh needs to start playing like he was when he was a rookie.They had a bad record but you knew josh was going to win the tip and run and get the alley pass after winning it.That was 1 of the nicest plays Woodson had.He actually ran plays for josh to get Alleys.And since hes the energy why don’t Drew go look at tape of Josh’s first 3 years and say lets do it and go back to that.Josh used to have about 4-6 Dunks a game and 2-4 blocks a game his first 3 years.Josh please come back

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4IJN7Nj1Dk[/youtube]

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Get Kevin Loughery in here and let him school Josh and the others about team basketball.

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Never went to college, never matured as a player, or person. What did you expect? Get Crawford as fifth started and dump this kid, let him shoot too many three’s and cry on the floor like a baby for another team

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Again you trade away Josh Smith we turn into the NY Knicks before Amare got there and other players got there.

Our 44-38 record will be more like a 27-45 praying that we even make the playoffs. I admit I may be going a bit overboard on the trade Al Horford, but only because I want people to understand that everyone person on this team should take blame for what happened, and not just put it all on J-smoove.

Our first priority is to cut some guys loose such as Etan Thomas and Armstrong plus add a Marvin Williams and Jamal Crawford into that group. We need garbage players that don’t mind banging down low, and also if we do get a Center he has to be a legit 7′0 that we know will perform or you go get a project C have someone that was 7′0 to work with that guy.

I still say go get Thabeet yeah he was a bust as a #2 pick, but if you work with him he doesn’t need to score just play some defense is all.

If we can find a way to get back into the draft I say we go after Trey Thompkins cause it seems like if we go out and find a center without Smith being traded he’s going to be at the SF.

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I just book marked your blog on Digg and StumbleUpon.I enjoy reading your commentaries.

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No one on this team should be safe and we should be looking at ALL POSSIBILITIES. The only ones who think we shouldnt are the same fools who were pushing this core concept to begin with.

Ray if we trade Josh for Zach Randolph we would be worse than the knicks before Amare ? seriously ? that makes absolutely no sense no one said cut Josh they said trade Josh meaning we would get something back.

ATL is in this exact situation and the fans are doing exactly what they always do blame the fringe players while trying to cling to this core that has proven time and time again that it has ran its course.

We actually have people who want to bring in bangers to bang for Josh and AL instead of realizing that fi they dont want to bang we should get rid of them because thats one of the core requirements of non offensive bigmen on a title team .

I dont know who we should trade them for I just know that its time for us to get serious about winning and not accepting any old thing thats tossed at us .

This team in its current form is DONE and I dont need a season of not making the playoffs to see that .

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We probably could have had Thompkins if we had not done the Hinrich trade while we had a great PG on the bench.

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I don’t think JSmith will be traded, unless some team blows the Hawks away with an offer that can’t refuse. Otherwise, I see Josh and Drew remaining together for the final yr of Drew’s contract. I believe they want to see if Drew can get Josh to play for an entire season the way he got him to play the final 2 gms of the Bull series.

Let’s face it, Josh will be just as tradeable next yr, if not more so, as he is now. LDrew needs to modify his OFF to allow Josh to play more of the center role on OFF, as far as being positioned primarily near the basket, and Horford positioned primarily in the PF role, on the wing/perimeter.

That would draw the opposing center away from the basket and allow Horford to function as a PF against what is usually a bigger, taller, slower and less athletic defender. It would also put Josh closer to the rim, in the centers normal position, against defenders he should be able to score on consistently.

This team doesn’t need to make trades that would involve drastic changes. It needs to explore making ADJUSTMENTS with what it already has. Making Teague and Hinrich our starting backcourt and moving JJ to SF are ADJUSTMENTS that would give us a starting lineup that is far superior to any starting lineup we’ve had in over a decade. It also gives us more versatility, flexibility and OFF firepower.

Making MWilliams a primary scoring option off the bench, and designing plays that takes advantage of his strengths, would give us the scorer off the bench that we’ll lose with the release of Jamal Crawford. IT’S ALL ABOUT ADJUSTMENTS, ADJUSTMENTS. And if it doesn’t pan out, and I believe it will, we can make all of the trades and changesa we want after the season, and that includes a HC change.

We do need to upgrade our bench by adding a shooter and a more athletic BIG to go along with Pape Sy, MWilliams, DWilkins, JCollins and ZPachulia. JUST FOOD FOR THOUGHT!

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Jeff-

What do you think the odds are that the Magic would be willing to deal Dwight and Arenas for Horford and Johnson. The magic would be swapping the top center for the third best, plus Horf played for the gators so that would neglect some of the bad pr. I’m sure stan van gundy would love to unload arenas and otis might be willing to take Joe in return. The Hawks could either resign Jamal to start at the two and have arenas be the 2nd Guard off the bench or Have hinrich start at the 2 and let arenas be the first guard off the bench. Either way the Hawks are better offensively and defensively and the magic get a good return for Dwight.

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Before thinking about trading any players, how about thinking about trading management and coach to get a new system for these guys…I agree somebody needs to be traded, because I think the players are tired of each other after 5 years of the same BS…If Smith is traded, the Hawks might as well blow up the whole team because they will not get equal value for him knowing the “ASG/Sund” resume’….My point is that one player was not the problem with this team, it was a collective effort of “non-effort” from all players besides Teague and Zaza…Get some real office ppl and coach in Philips Arena, then see what direction you need to go…This is what I see with this Hawks team “core”, JJ needs a sidekick, Horford needs to play PF, Smith needs a “real” coach, Marvin needs a new life, and Crawford needs to start…Wayyyyyy toooooo much going on with this team, a bunch of players with no cohesiveness…Peace…

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As much as Josh Smith frustrated me hoisting shots (and that is the term: hoist…because he is not a shooter), what frustrated me more is seeing the coaches and teammates enable Smith’s poor decisions.

Before you sell out Josh Smith…how about seeing if therre’s a coach who actually can motivate Josh to play to his strengths, and motivate the whole team to play hard and tough.

I am sold on the “Josh is uncoachable” tag…because it seemed clar to me that the players as a whole did not respond well to Woody or LD…and neither of whom had any NBA head coaching experience when they were hired for the job by the Hawks….and neither of whom are very good at developing young players.

I would love to see an established coach come in and turn the energy and chemistry of the team around. Josh Smith is key to this team’s energy—and like others have said, Josh is still young and his best years are ahead of him.

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Please, please, please move him now, while he still has some value. And we don’t need this kind of player, inconsistent, stubborn to change, volatile, on this team. Please move him now.

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trading josh would be plain stupid…. we lose almost our whole defense… we need to trade marvin williams and horford for andrew bogut …then sign thad..young(formet gt player) for the small forward posititon..and sign a few hard nosed defenders and shooter to come off the bench…

imagaine.. teague,johnson, young, smith,bogut
bench – kirk,sign player,wilkins,sign player,zaza

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Josh is the backbone of this team. If the Hawks want to make this team better then they should start by trading Horford to L.A. for Bynum. Smith is a much better player than “Hor”ford as we saw in the playoff. Horford has reached his potential. Don’t expect an improvement at PF. Keep Josh and design plays on the low block and near the goal. He’s unstoppable.

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Joey- I think Hortford & Williams is too steep of a price to pay for the often injured Bogut. Id do like Bogut because he is solid in all phases of the game. He isn’t dominant enough to trade Williams & Hortford. Williams & Hinrich + a future 1st is the most id give for Bogut or Kayman.

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Damien Wilkens is much to valuable to let go. He is the player the hawks have that can play superb defense and can generate instance offense (without shooting each time he comes down court) if given the chance.

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Move the Hawks to Knoxville!!!!!!!!!!

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[...] reason (among others) is why Atlanta Journal-Constitution blogger Jeff Schultz says the two sides could part ways in a trade. The Hawks might finally be willing to trade Smith. But [...]

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Even if they traded Josh and Hinrich, would that leave them enough money under the cap to go get a legit Center? Thats the problem with giving JJ the Max contract. There is no flexibility under the cap. Its why Lebron went to the Heat. Had he signed with Cleveland, they would be way over the cap with players that have no trade value. It would be years before Cleveland could get any new players any good in there.

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Yeah, look, the Hawks were screwed from the moment they re-signed Joe Johnson. If they had let him walk or done a sign and trade, they could have kept the Crawfords at the 2-guard long-term. Jordan Crawford’s numbers after the trade to Washington? 16.3 pts, 3 reb, 3.9 ast, 1.4 steals, and he’s only going to get better. Johnson? 18.2 pts, 4 reb, 4.7 ast, 0.7 steals, and he’s only going to get worse. For. the. next. six. years. Forget trading Josh Smith, or any other scenario, Johnson’s re-signing has ruined this team. I wish we could give them to Winnipeg instead of the Thrashers.

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The problem with The Hawks is that it’s a team without a leader and an alpha-dog player on that team. People say trade Josh Smith, but you don’t trade a guy that affects both sides of the court. We talk about Horford being an All-Star, but lets be honest, he’s an All-Star because how thin the center position is in the east. You basically have Howard, Noah, and Bogut in the east, with Noah and Bogut having a hard time staying healthy every season, so Horford is an All-Star by default. Here’s my proposal, trade Johnson, Hinrich, and Horford to New Orleans for Paul, Ariza, and Okafor and resign Jamal Crawford. Your interior defense becomes incredible with Ariza, Smith, and Okafor. Your scoring comes from Paul, Smith, Ariza and Crawford. Paul gives you the leader you don’t have and will have the affect you’re looking for on Josh Smith. Your bench will be deep and strong with this move. New Orleans would take the trade because they already figured they will be losing Paul, and in this trade they get back 2 All-Stars in Johnson and Horford and Hinrich would be their PG. Your team would look like the following:

STARTERS:
PG Chris Paul
SG Jamal Crawford
SF Treva Ariza
PF Josh Smith
C Emeka Okafor
KEY RESERVES
G Jeff Teague
F Marvin Williams
C Zaza

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Smith has shown he will never grow up as a player.

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Trade Joe Johnson and al horford to Orlando for dwight Howard and j.j reddick…. starting five could be
Jeff teague
Marvin Williams
Josh smith
H. Armstrong
Dwight Howard

Bench
Kirk hinrich
Jamal Crawford / j.j reddick
Marvin Williams
Josh Powell
Zaza/Collins

Looks weird and new… I know.. exactly what the hawks need.. if you wanna trade somebody.. thats what you need to trade for… don’t trade josh smith , he is your backbone , he saves you a few baskets a game… at least 5 because people are afraid to attack him.. oh, and by the way… dwight Howard would be right their , so if another team wanna score , they better shoot threes, but then.you got Jeff teague and Marvin Williams playin great perimeter defense.. and everybody I just named would be perfect for l drew offense !!! Yep.

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I think we could get Andrew Bynum for Smith pretty easily and give the Lakers that big man they need in transition. We would have the body we need. Al could move to power forward. He has improved EVERY year and I think that is the main difference between he and Smoove. He had a bad playoffs b/c he wasn’t accustomed to shooting with that kind of closing speed. He will make that adjustment after seeing what Boozer did to us at the end of the series…

Bynum, Horford, Joe (yes, Joe at the 3), Jamal/Hinrich, and Teague would be one of the best looking lineups in the league.

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Right Jeff i also believe this cores been together to long its been a nice run but its time for a new start they should try to move Marvin Williams if they can too instead of letting him live in the shadows of Chris Paul and Deron Williams which are way too big for him, but on another note if we trade josh smith here a some pretty good 7 footers.
Dalembert
Andries Biedrins
Chris Kaman
Barnaini
Bogut
Robin or Brook Lopez

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Atl sports Fan, there’s not a center on your list who is worthy of a trade straight up for Josh! People, like him or not, he’s rare bird and I mean special. Sorry, AL is clearly the odd man. Package him and Marvin for the best available center; moreover, Marvin needs to go for he and the Hawks sake, period!

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Send the Hawks to Canada!!!

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Anyone who watched the Hawks in the playoffs knows Josh Smith should not be traded. Al Horford should be traded. Horford disappeared in the playoffs. If Dwight Howard becomes available then Sund needs to make a call to the Magic. We may not have the the players other teams could offer, but what if we told the Magic we would take Arenas off their hands? Howard would then get to play with his best friend Josh Smith.

Howard, Arenas, Redick
Horford, Williams, Pachulia, Hinrich and 2012 1st round pick

This would give the Magic cap space in 2012 with Hinrich’s contract expiring and getting rid of Arenas.

Realistically I know this would never happen, but as a Hawks fan I can dream.

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I would rather see rick sund and larry drew go before josh. He has never had a coach Mike Woodson,Larry Drew are not good coaches.

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Yes, by all means let’s keep our top shot blocker and let our top rebounder go. Because as we all know, blocking shots is way more important in the playoffs than getting rebounds.

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Josh Smith, Al Horford, Marvin Williams is not the problem. Josh is the best all around player we have on this team. JD,still have to get JJ to keep the ball moving. Instead of taking 25-30 shots a game.Joe forces to many shots, when he is off that kills the momentum. He need to share the ball more for this to become an elite team. Trading Josh would be the worst move this team could make.
RICK SUND has already made a PETE BABCOCK move by trading J Crawford and our #1. While
Jeff Teague sat on the pine. The Hawks need better garbage men coming off the bench. DO NOT trade your best player. Everbody on the team need to take better shots.

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It’s not going to matter – the Hawks are dead for a long time because of the Joe Johnson contract. He will be an albatross around our necks for a long, long time.

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If you are worried about Joe Johnson’s contract making it impossible to add a center, why don’t you just wait and see what the new CBA says. It might include an amnesty clause that would allow you to just cut him and you wouldn’t have to pay him. Of course, it would allow every other team to just cut a player, too, so you might face some competition for centers. I wouldn’t count on dealing for Bynum….The Lakers wouldn’t have a center then. Gasol clearly prefers to play power forward. It’s a possibility that you could deal for Gasol. But he doesn’t like playing center.

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I agree with ‘Juan from Chi.’

I said the same thing earlier.

Joe’s contract prevents the Hawks from making any significant moves. No matter what moves we make, we can never be a contender.

I am not sure what the Hawks should do. Develop Teague, plan for the future, something like that. Maybe something similar to what New Jersey, New York, Chicago, Miami, etc. did to get their team ready financially for one of the big free agents.

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Oops, meant to say I agree with ‘Joshua Barlowe.’

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SMITH is the Hawks MOST DYNAMIC PLAYER. Josh is also the ONLY DEFENSIVE THREAT on the entire team. On any given night Smith can produce a double double or a triple double. Smoove can also score 20 or 30 points a night. And the Hawks should give all that up for what? Because most of you JEALOUS couch potatoes say so?? GTFOH !!!! He should be a focal point of the Off.
JOSH ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS WORK ON YOUR HANDLE A LITTLE and develop that GERVIN FINGER ROLL and perfect a slashing runner in the lane and you will become a BEAST. He was less than 2 rebs. away from averaging 10 boards a game. Smith was also 2nd on the team in rebounds and led the team in blocked shots and double doubles and steals. What more could you Douche bags want from 1 man? You need to look further down the bench for trade remedies and try finding a real GM and Coach that knows how to build a championship caliber team. It would have been nice to have JASON TERRY ON THIS TEAM INSTEAD OF WATCHING HIM HELP THE MAVS WIN. Another BRILLIANT MOVE for the HAWKS. And you wonder why they can’t win??????

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getting 9 rebounds is such an unimpressive stat. I means some one else played the defense and free loading Al pick up the garbage. Gee why am I not impressed. Id be more impressed if he block 2 or 3 shots a game and knocked a couple guys on their butts. I dont care that he got the rebound when Josh played the defense. How able big 6′101/2″ Al play some defense for a change. So josh isnt liked by the press or Schultz. Well his dictatorship is what is ruining the city. Hes ran Woodson and Vick out of town and now hes after Josh.

It would be nice if we could trade Schultz.

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*How about big 6′101/2″ Al play some defense for a change.

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sign greg oden
trade josh smith for micheal beasley

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1st of all keep in mind that this is not the 80’s or 90’s where you had an abundance of great big men.
Where is the legit big man that everyone keeps speaking of? Howard is the best low post player in the NBA. Other than him, no other Center named can contibute a double double and play effective defense. The Centers that have been named are all injury prone, soft, overated and definitely overpaid. I’d rather go with the core of what they have now and focus on becoming a running team. The bench could use some scoring help but that is about it. They should emphasize the uptempo game and create mismatches that benefit this team and hope that the coaching improves.

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find some kind of way to get ne ne in here.

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UNBELIEVABLE! A person can’t even give his or her opinion without getting bashed by a few mean spirited fans. Most of these opinions are quite amusing. Besides, Billy Knight is responsible for drafting too many forwards and he is responsible for not surrounding them with proper leaders(Jason Kid, Steve Nash, Ginobili Mana, Chauncey Billups or Baron Davis) to mentor them……so why bash the fans? Rather you like it or not, changes probably will to be made this offseason. All we can do is hope for the best.

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Orlando will not just sit back and watch Dwight Howard leave them high and dry like Shaq did, I predict they will trade Dwight Howard to the Lakers in return for Bynum or Gasol. The trade will most likely take place during next season before the trade deadline, or they will do a sign and trade after next season.

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Joe Johnson hugh contract is a bit of a problem, but I think there are a couple of teams that would trade for him. The Nets is the team I hope that he’s traded to (so the New York Media can roast his sorry azz). The Clippers, Timberwolves (They ain’t gonna trade Kevin Love) and the Jazz are the other teams that I think would be interested in JJ. A realistic option this off season for the hawks is Greg Oden, I think he will be available for a real good price.

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that said center will have to be able to score 10 points and grab 7 to 10 rebounds a night

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Jeff, you mention everything but a new coach which is what is needed most. The Atlanta Spirit Group or hopefully the new owner should spend the money and bring it a good strong coach. I have criticized Josh for his 3’s but most of the blame should go to the coach. Do you think Phil Jackson or Pat Riley would allow these shots? And I am sure they could get Josh’s attention and make him the player he is capable of being. Larry Drew is probably going to get an extension because the Hawks made the second round. But its obvious this team won’t live up to potential under Drew because he doesn’t command the respect of the players and quite possibly because he doesn’t have the coaching ability to do it.

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Anybody that says let’s trade Josh Smith, I invite you to a no holds barred bare knuckle brawl to the end. Anytime, anyplace, so I can beat some since into you.

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Jeff, you missed some important things about Josh in the article.

1) Smith is completely uncoachable. Lets not forget that Smith had Woodson fired after a pushing match. Woodson made the mistake of trying to COACH Josh, and it led to a fight, and then tantrum (which led to Smith being benched to 2 days)

2) He refuses to listen. Drew has been on Josh all season to lay off the bad shots, and to play to his strengths. Smith’s reply was that he had a good long game, and when LD benched him, no surprise – this uncoachable prima dona told LD to go “*&^$ his mother, himself”. Smith quickly apologized, but anyone who’s been to a game this season has witnessed him shouting, throwing his water bottle, and towel when LD speaks directly to him….see item #1 above.

3) Smith as a self-disciple problem when it comes to work outs and practice. This has been said of Smith for years and years. It is very clear he has gained some weight. At his age now, he needs to start increasing his workouts, and watching his diet. Two things Smith has a well documented problem doing. Lazy in the NBA isn’t good.

4) Smith has spread his cancer to the other players. Reports of Smith being a disruption in the locker room surfaced throughout the season. Hard to have a winning team, when your “superstar” is complaining, arguing, fighting with his teammates.

This is not a quality person were’re dealing with here. Sure, in the paint he a good player (yes, not an all-star).

Trade him now, while he’s still worth something.

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You know I say we just bite the bullet go after a project center like Hasheem Thabeet 7′3 and 263 pounds he’d just pack on a few pounds more to be 275, and you get someone in here, or maybe have Jason Collins teach him since he’s getting up in age.

I think given the right mentors Thabeet could be a beas, butt in today’s NBA if you aren’t a beast coming out of college it seems you’re never given a chance. Look what happened with Teague he rotted on the bench for 2 years basically and you see what happens.

Why would we want injury prone Greg Oden that would be a mistake at least with Thabeet we don’t have to pay him so much.

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I agree with above poster. Jamal coming in has really taken Marvin out of the offense mroe than anything else. You can only have so many guys averaging around 15 a game, which Jamal does and Marvin did. I have said it before, nothing against Jamal but he does not need to be resigned.

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First, J Smoove needs more of a change in attitude not location. Those comments he made about the media wanting to T.O. him just makes me ill. Take the high road and leave that garbage alone. You did have a nice game that night and now you want to brag after the boneheaded game the one before? Just plain silly. Saying stuff like that makes you the lightning rod you are, you make yourself a target. No one WANTS to target you more for taking bad shots, its just your bad shots are WORSE than all the other bad shots combined and thus you are criticize justly so stop shooting them. I’ve never EVER seen a crowd of people gasp when a player got ready to shoot a jumper. That should tell you something Josh. I know you could hear that and yet you kept shooting anyway.

That definitely tells US something about you.

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What a blessing it would be to be rid of the whiny, lazy Josh Smith…he clearly hurts more than he helps…let’s go get someone who wants to play hard and play smart…for that matter, if they’ll just consistently play hard, I don’t care if they stink…

Just dump this guy so we can move on….

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Yeah but if you trade Josh Smith you’re trading the most interesting/exciting player on the whole team.

No one pays for a ticket in this city to watch the big fundamental. Yes, Josh is frustrating as hell, but who else on the team is even worth buying a full priced ticket to see?

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Bout time!!!!

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We need to find a patsy who’ll take JJ. Fools around the league have included the Knicks, Clippers, and the T-Wolves. Let’s focus on those teams, see if we can get them to take JJ and his massive contract off our hands.

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My fav smith quote of the year was when he told the league he shouldn’t have been fined for “pretending to masturbate” during a game because “dey didant send me no memo bout that”

Yes, the league should have informed you that men don’t act this this when children are watching…what most would find common sense escaped the grasp of this “good man”.

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If we are going to make a strong move which is very well needed, FIRST, we need to sit Joe Johnson down and lets re-structure his contract if he really wants to win a Championship and bring in a REAL CENTER and his name is DWIGHT HOWARD!!!! Secondly, I believe we really have a chance at winning the next couple years if we really have to give up a trade for Josh Smith(Even though J Smoove will be missed!!), we will get over it fast with this move!! Along with Kirk Hinrich, Armstrong(HOW DID NOTHING FOR US BUT WARM THE BENCH), and this years draft pick for the MOST DOMINANT CENTER IN THE LEAGUE for the next five years!!! I THINK ITS A GREAT IDEA MR. SUND AND HAWKS ORGANIZATION!!! Just making it to the 2nd Round of the Playoffs is getting OLD REAL FAST!!!!

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With this move we can move Horford to the PF position( And Horford needs to get a strength coach and HIT THE WEIGHTS HARD on the offseason), M. Williams can play the SF( for now until we are able to TRADE HIM OUTTA HERE), NOW JJ Can shoot all day long at the SG, and award J. Teague the starting PG position which is well deserved!! D. Howard is from ATL, he will be in his city around family, it won’t be a big move from Orlando to ATL and he would have a WAAAAAAYY better supporting cast than what he has in Orlando(WE PROVED THAT THIS YEAR IN THE PLAYOFFS)!!

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Agree on atl spirit group. Smith is a problem because they are weak owners. When smith said he wouldn’t play for woodson, THEY SHOULD HAVE FIRED SMITH. Instead, they let a 22 year old dummie tell them what to do. Now Smith is unhappy with Drew, and the owners aren’t strong enough to know you don’t let a kid who can barely read or write RUN the team, and tell you when to fire a coach.

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So if you ask Atlanta fans right now in a poll, the only one safe in Atlanta right now is Jeff Teague. That doesn’t mean Drew will agree with you because he isn’t the best one to advise here. He has a grudge against him and it will come up again if we have a season this year.
We can easily trade any of the 3 captains, and some portion of the fan base will not be in agreement. I say trade Al because he is ‘all-NBA’, all-star, and the respected one of the 3 in the league. But, as we have seen, Al isn’t taking you anywhere further than Round 2. Neither is Joe and Joe must be feeling the pressure of that Brinks truck sitting on his estate….http://www.celebritydetective.com/Celebrity_Homes_Joe-Johnson-house-Atlanta-GA.html

Truthfully, Jeff, can you really expect changes from a team that has the GM and the coach on the last year of their deal, and the blownership group trying to get out of town? I see nothing, I repeat nothing of significance to happen until all current management is gone.
It’s one thing to have a team winning 50 games, but when you keep making excuses about tweaking what we have, the tweaks you have made have done nothing to further this franchise.
We are the Utah of the East; we are going to continue to let teams pass up each year, teams remake themselves and pass us, and we will continue to go with the ‘less-risk, more reward’ model. So in 4 years, we have been knocked out of the playoffs by BOS/CLE/ORL/CHI…I guess its Miami’s turn or Philly next year. Reminds me of the Braves and the numerous teams who knocked us out for years on our field.
Going forward,I’m not trading Josh nor Teague…the rest, they can all be relocated.
Amazing that Josh shot a better 3FG percentage than Joe last year. If someone would have told you that, you would have thought Joe was shooting left handed.

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It would make sense for him. He’s spread so much anger and hostility, he poisoned the well in Atlanta.

But another city isn’t going to change the kind of person he is.

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If the team hates Josh, so what? Did any of his teammates show any consistency in the playoffs other than Teague?
Move the malcontents, and the coaches…give us a coach who has had some success.
Let’s continue to do it the Detroit and San Antoine way and keep making excuses. Our management and coaches have little to be desired…few of them would still be in the NBA if it weren’t for this city.
I don’t care if we’re one of the last 6 standing….you know what that means? That means the Hawks aren’t winning nothing with that mentality.
If you aren’t going for the title, then move on.

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yeah, so what if your team hates you, and thinks your a punk. Not a big deal, but may explain why they haven’t been able to get past the 2nd round. Usually winning teams at very least respect each other. Very little respect for Josh from his team mates.

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Trade Joe Johnson and Al Horford to Orlando for Dwight Howard (Orlando is gonna lose him anyways) Start Marvin at SF, Teague at Point, Crawford at SG, Josh at PF.

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Let me clarify my trade. To make it work, Orlando would have to send Turkoglu and I’m sure they’d love to dump him. Any thoughts????

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big dawg, orlando would never agree with that trade, the numbers match up but the personell doesnt.

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KevinM,
Much Love Yo.These guys are crazy trying to trade Josh yo

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YOU PEOPLE IS CRAZY.

Fightin w/coach, his team, reporters, jerkin it infront of childrens! HE MAKE THE GAME EXCITING & fills seats!

This aint no boys choir, it’s a MANS SPORT TIME TO MAN UP ATL!

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They’ve let him get away with too much. When you tell a kid he is the “future”, it goes to his head, and lets him run the place.

If traded, he would have to show up to practice on time, run hard, stay late, you know, all the things one does to impress their new bosses.

He’s too comfortable and in control of the coach and owners.

He’s also possibly one of the dumbest guys in the NBA, trade might help “expand” his mind a little.

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Have to agree on Josh not being very smart.

Didn’t he hire a “Life Coach” to help him “envision” himself sinking the 3? He just had to close his eyes, and see himself making the shot for 20 minutes every day.

Josh wasn’t bright enough to hire a “common sense” coach, who would have instructed him to spend an extra hour after practice working on the 3 instead.

He’s got value now, lets get something good for him while he still has the value.

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Have to agree with a lot of the statements about Smith, his lack of work ethic, and his seemingly low IQ.

Didn’t he hire a “life coach” to help him envision himself hitting the 3? Okay Josh, next time hire a “common sense coach”, because it only takes extra work on the court to make this goal happen.

He really isn’t the brightest bulb in the bunch.

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He isn’t the smartest guy in the world.

Didn’t he hire a life coach to help him envision himself sinking the 3? Here’s a new flash for Josh, hire a common sense coach, and just spend some more time on the court after practice.

The problem with dumb people is that they make bad decisions, and are inconsistent. Sound like anyone we know?

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fix the Joe Johnson and Marvin Williams bad moves now! The Kirk Hinrich bad move (giving up too much) you can’t do anything about that now, can’t recover your goods. Another looming bad move to come is the ‘letting Jamal Crawford walk’ bad move…don’t make the ‘giving up Josh Smith’ bad move..

Joe Johnson and Marvin Williams are the biggest mistakes here, so as long as those mistakes exist on the team, the team will get nowhere…

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Joe Johnson’s contract is bad but at least he can defend his position and become a role player off of Teague’s/Josh’s double teams.

An objective source I think it was called “rotoworld said this of Marvin is a liability on both ends.
“Hawks coach Larry Drew is considering a “big” lineup for Game 4, moving Jason Collins or Zaza Pachulia to center and Marvin Williams to the bench.
Atlanta had success with such lineups earlier in the season, and it doesn’t seem as though they have much to lose by trying. Al Horford has been ineffective on offense, Josh Smith has been erratic at best, and Marvin Williams has been a liability on both ends.”

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That’s the problem. They are a good team, unable to shift into high gear. That’s the Hawks, that’s smith.

Trade j-dummie

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Wow, I am so tired of this infatuation will Boget. Can he really help the Hawks more than Josh or Horford? Also, Orlando is NOT trading Howard – ESPECIALLY IN THEIR DIVISION. Can we really move on? Why do we want Milwaukee players anyway? Salmon was a FA last year and we did not attempt to sign him. WTF said it best; there is an Elephant in the room that nobody wants to see. With Teague running we will be better and he can give us 15 ppg just by running the floor. Josh is not the problem, Horford at center is not the problem, Joe not being a leader is not the biggest problem. It is our starting SF who averaged 4 points during the ECF. Lastly, if he would have played better, he would have started EVERY game, not just two!

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Also, there has been an article on Marvin Williams.

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I would not complain about Al Horfords game. Al has made TREMENDOUS STRIDES since coming in as a rookie. Al is much tougher than he used to be. In fact Al was much softer when he first came into the league but now Al is very tough and plays hard and well. Al needs mentorship for someone to help him with his FOOTWORK IN THE PAINT; his explosiveness to the basket and his decisionmaking as to what to do when he is at point blank range; do you give up the rock or do you drill the jumpshot. AL NEEDS TO LEARN TO RELAX AND LET HIS BRUTE FORCE TAKE OVER. AL IS SUCH A MILD-MANORED GUY THAT HE DOESNT UNDERSTAND YOU HAVE TO BE SUPER-AGGRESIVE TO BE GREAT. ALL THE GREAT ONES ARE–D-WASTE, LABRON, DWIGHT HOWARD, KOBE, DIRK, ETC. ALL OF THESE GREAT STARS FORCE THEIR SHOTS WHEN THEY ARE READY TO PUT THEM UP. THEY DONT CARE WHO IS GUARDING THEM THEY EITHER DRILL THE SHOTS, FADE AWAY, OR DRIVE THE BASKETBALL THROUGH THE TEETH OF THE DEFENSE. AL HORFORD NEEDS TO LEARN TO BE AS TOUGH AS HE CAN, AND MOVE SWIFTLY THOUGH THE PAINT GETTING HIS SHOT UP OVER THE DEFENDERS. ONE THING THATS GREAT ABOUT AL IS THAT HE IS OPEN TO CRITICISM AND HE IS DETERMINED TO LEARN WHAT HE NEEDS TO, IN ORDER TO BE GREAT. AL HAS A GREAT WORK ETHIC AND A GREAT ATTITUDE. WE NEED MORE AL HORFORDS ON THE ATLANTA HAWKS. If the Hawks could trade Josh Smith and Marvin Williams for Andrew Bogut and Brandon Jennings, I think our club would be much improved and we would start to win championships right away.

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^Hawks had better make their mind up about Williams/Horford. Writings on the wall. and no Horford has not made tremendous strides. his PER proves he has been consistent against elite PF and centers. Their length is too much for him he is best at center and we need length and depth.

Winner’s Perspective:
Crawford as it stands is leaving.

Marvin Williams+Hinrich+Horford for starters (2nd round pick)+Bogut+Sanders and backup firepower Salmons and Gooden

+Teague starts and is ready come playoffs
+package 2nd round pick(s) for legit underrated big men: Semih Erden or Hasheem Thabeet

+sign Al Thornton for wing firepower bench
+sign legit veteran guards ie Mike Taylor, Ronnie Price to become CJ Watson

Now we have the best defensive lineups in the league. and replaced Al Horford’s pedestrian 9 rebounds and 14 points.
Smith is young and a top PER player as a 6′8 PF.
he will be available for a top 10 SF if needed (Gerald Wallace?Iguodala who?).
How hard was that.
Emotional Perspective:

Horford is so nice and wears those handsome white collar suits on Jim Rome. Josh is a meany who doesn’t want to post up and dunk on everybody. He can jump so HIGH! dunk it every time. Don’t care if they are bigger and stronger and sag off of you so u can’t dunk it, dunk it. It’s your fault your 7′0 tall Josh!
U put up near triple double and are the closest thing to Lebron but u have No IQ. U don’t need a jumpshot Ben Wallace was skinny and 6′8 like you!!!

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could he be headed to PHX? aong with jamal crawford your going to have ot let one if not both of them go

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edit:
Al Horford is not even as good as David Lee to me. Better man on man defense but too robotic and slow to beat power forwards off the dribble. Too slow and not strong/tall enough to beat common PFs

He is not going to dominate anybody anytime soon. Complementary piece at best. Single coverage with Taj Gibson/Chris Bosh/Joel Anthony let him try to beat you. Silly Hawks

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Good playa, but I’d trade anyone who openly and repeatedly cursed out the coach.

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Just read a few comments from la fans. In a nutshell, they’re calling him a lazy punk with no desire to improve his skills.

We might be stuck with him.

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Oh and as far as trades or cutting letting players walk and 2012 free agency.

We can make up a million trade scenarios for what we think the team needs, but honestly we’ll never know not matter how we try to think we know. Still though everyone is entitled to and opinion.

All I can say is we need some vets that actually have played and shows some heart I say we keep Wilkins here and bring in another veteran PF or C.

As far as trades and cutting we need to lose Etan Thomas and Josh Powell. Trade Jamal Crawford and Marvin Williams I don’t know for who, but it’s obvious Marvin needs a clean slate no matter what and Jamal needs to be on a vet team like the Celtics or Spurs for all I care.

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Sorry ray but

If you trade either of those core players you get something in return . I have yet to see anyone say we are cutting them ,

You dont think there is a better scorer in the nba than JJ

You dont think there is a better rebounder in the nba than AL

You dont think there is a better defensive bigman than Josh

I dont think anyone advocates giving them away but as a group they are done .

Individually they are still very good players but as a group theyve gone as far as they can go . Thinking that somehow the right ROLE PLAYER will change that is how you you get caught and screwed over .

All three have basically hid behind this franchise and its low expectations long enough .

I find it amazing how every year the fans complain all season long and then come the offseason are afraid to make any changes that matter .

They dont get better because there is nothing at stake for them . They wont get benched and the fans and organization are too frozen with fear of the core to do anything.

Those players know for a fact that nothing will happen to them that in the end the blame will always go to the Marvins or the Crawfords or the Zazas or the Bibbys .They have no accountability and they know it .

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I keep reading we should get Bogut but he is injured every season. I hear Milwaukee is still high on em anyway. I agree we should trade Hortford before we trade Smith but y’all know with this GM that’s not.gonna happen. I’m hoping we keep them both and trade Williams instead. There are only 2 decent big men I can think of that are surely on the trade market Chris Kaman and Al Jefferson.

A trade of Marvin, Hinrich & a future 1st for C. Kaman & R. Gomes works
Or
Marvin, Hinrich & a future 1st for A Jefferson and Raja Bell

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Now if management & Josh have both decided to part ways then we would surely send him West. I don’t think Kaman alone is worth Smith but there is on overvalue on Centers. Kaman was injured most of last season and averaged 12.4 points 7 rebounds 1.5 blocks in 32 games. We would be banking on him returning to 09-10 for When he averaged 18.5 points 9.2 rebounds & 1.2 blocks in 76 games. A good player but too injury prone to trade Josh for IMO.

I think our best bet is Al Jefferson. He is a true go to option in the low post. He averaged 18.6 points 9.7 reb 1.9 blocks. It would be nice if we could find a way to get the 12th pick from Utah in the deal as well. Utah would be willing to move em because they are loaded with bigs having Okur Milsap & Favors. They would play Josh @ Sf.

Forget about Andrew Bynum. The only remote possibility is if Orlando traded Howard to LA for Gasol & Odom but more than likely The Magic would trade for Bynum & Odom if they traded Howard there.

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Al horford came into the league averaging a college best 12 pts agame. After 4 years Al’s career average is still 12 pts agame This is after both mike woodson and larry drew increased the offense to horford. At best horford is an average player who may be a press and coach favorite but you cant fool the fans. As a reserve 3 team all star Al score 2 pts in the last all star game and is notorious for lack of defense and inviting dunks over him. In fact Al hates defense so much he is begging to be moved from center. Any time we play a real center and insist on play forward.

You will never reach the higher levels with this attitude and performance from Al. Josh is superior by far to Al Horford. In fact why dont you have them play 1 on 1 and the loser leaves town? LOL its Good bye Al

ROFLMAO!!

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TRADE KAVEMAN 4 JOSHSMITH STRAIGHT UP
ATL STARTING 5
PG?
SG?
SF?
PF?
C KAVEMAN

CLIPPERS STARTERS
PG/ MO WILLAMS ERIC BLEDSOE
SG/ ERIC GORDON RAND FOYE
SF/ JOSH SMITH AL AMINUE
PF/ BLAKE GRIFFIN
C/ DEANDRE JORDAN

C;IPPERS 2012 CHAMPS

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Yeah, it not like we cant get much for Al horford on the market. Most teams see him as a very weak defender so they dont want to give up key players to take a step backwards in defense. Defense wins championship. Because of that I can see why the consensus in the NBA is you will never win an NBA championship with Al Hoford as your center or power forward.

That being said. If the hawks are going to improve Al has to go. His mild 14pts 9 rebounds is easily duplicated. over 35 players average 7.5 or more rebounds. Al doesnt bring much to the table and would not be miss talent wise as much as Josh, who is still the heart and soul of this team. Josh is a 5 tool player and shows up big time in big games as was evident in the play offs. Al gets punked by Amare and did not exist in the playoffs. He never shows up in the big games or against big front lines. It is easier to improve by trading Al than by trading Josh, again, its time for Al to go. Al is Just an average player at best who is favored by the press and some coach showed him charity by adding him as a reserve all star to which Al contributed 2 points. Get real people Al’s not a keeper. If he was all that then why are teams lining up to make a trade for him since everybody knows the hawks need a center?

Thats because most teams want to improve defensively in the post, not valet dunks to the rim.

Al has got to go!

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Al attitude sucks. He thinks the team revolves around him and refuses to gain weight or get stronger to help the team by being an impact in the post. In fact hed rather force a multi talented Josh Smith, and a better power forward than Al to the perimeter to shoot bombs and disrupt the flow of the offense just so he can get out of playing center.

AL HORFORD IS SELFISH AND NO TEAM PLAYER!!

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Look forward if we stand pat, again……….

We have no Jamal, we depend on Marvin, we keep our same GM, coach and the ASG….we are at a place with the cap where we have to fill 5 slots with around 6M. Are we still looking formidable to anyone here? Let Damien, Pape, Collins, Zaza & a 2nd rounder fill out our minimum roster. Yes, I see we have enough talent now….I just wasn’t seeing it clear.

Who actually believes this is a contending team? Yes, this is more likely to happen than not, but there is no way this team goes further than where we went this year, the year before or the year before? How long does it take for the same group of guys to break through and actually be a threat to all teams? Fact is, we knew at 2-2 in the Chicago series, we were going home.

So, if our wish or goal or dream is to improve this team, and provide more flexibility, even if it isn’t for next year, is to lower the salary numbers going out to 7 players. So, Josh or Al, along with Marvin are the main players in all discussions to free up cap.

I see no problem in offering Al or Josh to other teams. We are loaded at PF and need to balance across the floor more. Al doesn’t want to bang with the big boys, and Josh wants to play perimeter basketball.

And to validate any move, I personally don’t think any of our current captains are contending for HOF credentials. That is the type of player we need to try to find.

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Everyone has seen in the ECF that Chicago is a vastly inferior team to the Miami Heat. The Bulls were ALSO VASTLY INFERIOR TO THE HAWKS AS WELL, unfortunately the Hawks could not exploit the Bulls weaknesses and they couldnt stop Derreck Rose from plowing through the paint like a bulldozer to score easy buckets. THE HAWKS WERE A BETTER TEAM THAN THE BULLS, UNFORTUNATELY THE HAWKS COULDNT PROVE IT ON THE COURT. THAT IS WHY THE BULLS ADVANCED INSTEAD OF THE HAWKS. THE HAWKS STILL WOULD HAVE GOTTEN CLOBBERED BY THE HEAT, BUT THE HAWKS SHOULD HAVE PLAYED THE MIAMI HEAT IN THE ECF. WELL, IF WE RE-SIGN JAMAL CRAWFORD WE SHOULD MAKE IT TO THE ECF NEXT YEAR.

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Smith is a disaster on, and off the court. Ignorant, selfish, and so profoundly stupid.

The problem is, he moron and horrid human that he is, is not secret to other teams.

I think we’re stuck with the scumbag

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Not Trading Smith would be plain stupid….

…we need to lose a guy who starts fights in the locker room with other players, pushes his coach, repeatedly tells his coach to fuc_-off, and can’t listen to simple instructions.

He’s a cancer, a disease. Hawks have never won the big one with him, and never will, because a loser is a loser.

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Forget trading Smith and get a new coaching staff.

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The problem with Atlanta fans are that you all are content to wait on potential. The problem with Josh is that he is a small forward but he doesn’t have SF skills. He is just athletic as hell. Most of todays SF have to be able to handle the ball like a guard, like Lebron. They need to be able to shoot at least a 15-17 ft jumper, defend, and take you off the dribble to create there own shot. Josn biggest issue is he can’t create his own shot and beat players off the dribble in the half court, so he settles for 3 point shots that he knows he can’t make. Josh came straight out of high school thinking he didn’t need to work on anymore skills and you see the product of that. Dwayne Wade had no jay but look what he developed. Lebron as well. Josh is his own worst enemy because he doesn’t think he has anything that needs work.

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Everybody says to trade Josh Smith. I’m not so sure about that. Remember folks, in game 4 of the Chicago series when the Hawks tied the series 2-2, Smith was a monster particularly in the fourth quarter where Smoove DOMINATED THE FOURTH QUARTER. I dont ever remember Smith dominating a fourth quarter except for that game. Smith took only 1 bad shot in that entire game and his stat line was 23 pts, 16 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocked shots. THAT WAS THE MOST COMPLETE DOMINATION BY A HAWKS PLAYER AND IT JUST HAPPENED TO BE JOSH SMITH. Folks, if Smith could play like that game every night, they would have to rename Smith either LaBron James or Dwayne Wade. FOLKS, PLEASE HAVE PATIENCE WITH JOSH SMITH. Dont you see, if Smith could just clean up a few things, he would evolve and transform into the association’s third best player behind King James and D-Wade. WHAT FOLKS DONT UNDERSTAND IS THAT: JOSH SMITH HAS UNLIMITED POTENTIAL TO BE THE THIRD BEST PLAYER IN THE NBA. Is it worth the gamble keeping him or seeing him become one of the top 3 players for another team. Josh needs to work on three aspects of his game. #1:STOP DRIBBLING THE BALL LIKE A GUARD AND GIVE THE BALL TO A GUARD TO DRIBBLE THE BALL DOWN THE COURT; #2:STOP TAKING UNWARRANTED JUMPSHOTS AND LIMIT YOUR JUMPSHOTS TO 15′ AND IN. IF YOU MUST SHOOT JUMPSHOTS THEN WORK OUT IN THE SUMMER SHOOTING 1500 JUMPSHOTS PER DAY AND JUSTIFY YOURSELF SHOOTING OUT ON THE PERIMETER. YOU WILL THEN BE GOOD ENOUGH TO STAND OUTSIDE THE THREE-POINT LINE AND SHOOT ALL DAY OUT THERE IF YOU WANT TO. IN FACT YOU COULD SHOOT FROM HALF-COURT IF YOU LIKE, PROVIDED YOU PRACTICED SHOOTING 1500 JUMPSHOTS PER DAY. #3:USE THE POWER GAME EXCLUSIVELY AND DRIVE TO THE BASKET, EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO DIVE INTO THE THIRD OR FOURTH ROW OF THE STANDS AFTER YOU DRIVE DOWN THE LANE. JOSH SMITHS POTENTIAL IS UNLIMITED. I THINK SMITH WILL BECOME A GREAT NBA PLAYER. WILL IT BE FOR THE HAWKS OR FOR SOMEONE ELSE.

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@throwdown40. I know he is not LBJ, not by a long shot. My point is he has done NOTHING to improve his game since he came into the league. Another example I can use is Amare Stoudamire. he was all athleticism when he came and excelled with Steve Nash. Once he got hurt he knew he must ev olve his game and now you must honor his jump shot. Josh would excell in an open court offense like Denver or Phoenix but in the East where half court execution takes precedence he is a fish out of water. That’s why ATL will NEVER win a championship because they are content with mediocrity.

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Ill take josh over Al. Keep Jsmoove grooving in the ATl.

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I was at a home game, great seats, behind the bench, and I think I know why Smoove has such a hard time focusing on coach…three words:

BABY MOMMA DRAMA!

I saw three different women with min. of 2 kids each trying to get down and talk to him, stand over my shoulder. One of them told him she had to go because she was out of diapers.

Having lots of kids with multiple (unmarried) women can be a big distraction when they all live in the same city and know each other.

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and Al dont

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J-Stupid, aint yo daddy never tell you, you gots to wrap it, before you tap it!

Good Luck in LA!

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Al horeford is not a gay as richard simmons so you dont have to go there. So Al likes it up the rectum…Whats your point? He has slept with Mike Cunningham. Your point?

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Al, I left my condon up your butt, reach up there and see if you can find it. Mine says Amare Stodemire. I dont know who those other ones belong to.

Hoops Addict » Are The Atlanta Hawks Soft?
Mar 21, 2011 … It’s usually not a good idea to call a grown man soft, but Atlanta Hawks … as some nights 6-foot-10, 246 pound Al Horford

Hawksquawk: Al Horford is soft – Forum Index
May 11, 2011 … He may have had some hollow #’s last night but he made a ton of mistakes on offense and defense. He seemed afraid to mix it up down low.
http://www.hawksquawk.net/community/index…/359316-al-horford-is-soft/

YouTube – Blake Griffin flagrant foul on Al Horford
Feb 5, 2011 … This is a nice play call actually, everybody expecting Joe to shoot. brusselaer 3 months ago. ew so soft al horford. b34ny 3 months ago …

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Dealing Al gives the hawks a good center for 1 who refuses to play center.

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Why in the hell would anybody want to keep Al Hoford? Dude is not only charmin soft but never shows up in the big games. backs down from challenges(amare, playing center) has a poor attitude, will force the team out of its best line up to accommodate his demands and has only average talent at best. He is the odd man out and if he is all that you say he is why are no other teams interested in him? Could it be his lack of defensive effort? He is the most inconsistent hawk. See if you can find any body other than the press who is interested in a trade for this guy. He sucks.

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[...] other day I wrote that it might be time for the Hawks to part ways with Josh Smith– not just because he’s the most likely trade candidate in their core, but because [...]

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