Comments on: Bradley’s Buzz: John Hollinger picks (on) the Hawks again

By: Live from the Hawks, and even John Hollinger is impressed! | Mark Bradley

Live from the Hawks, and even John Hollinger is impressed! | Mark Bradley — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:05:50 +0000

[...] We’ve had some fun with our Facebook friend John Hollinger of ESPN.com. We’ve noted more than once that he picked the Hawks to win 31 games in 2008-2009 — they won 47 — and declared their bench “a FEMA disaster zone.” (It was actually pretty good.) More recently we’ve noted he predicted the Hawks will slide from those 47 victories to 44. [...]

By: braveshater

braveshater — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 22:09:16 +0000

IF THIS MORON KNEW HOOPS MARK BRADLEY THEN HE SHOULDVE BEEN ABLE TO SEE THE HAWKS WERE A VASTLY BETTER TEAM THAN THE 31-52 RECORD HE SUGGESTED. hE DOESNT KNOW SHYT ABOUT HOOPS, HE’S AN IDIOT. PERIOD.

By: Maxx

Maxx — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 21:51:21 +0000

It seems that the Hawks are a “Love ‘em or hate ‘em” team, and I think we know what side Hollinger is on. He is joined by Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith and many other Hawks haters. The reason people hate the Hawks is because of our half-court offense (or lack thereof), the fact that they believe that Joejohnson is overrated and overpaid, and they think that Josh Smith is overrated and can’t shoot (not to mention how many haters he gained with his missed between-the-legs dunk attempt against Miami during a blowout in the playoffs), and they think that ZaZa Pachulia is a dirty player. I, for one, am an Atlanta native and an avid Hawks fan. I think that Josh Smith needs become smarter in his shot selection, meaning stop shooting three pointers. I also believe that Josh Smith is one of the elite shotblockers in NBA history and he needs to focus on that as he seemed to lose his defensive focus last year. I also love his low post game. He can’t dribble worth a damn and needs to stop trying to face people up. If he focuses on his strenghts the sky is the limit. Joe Johnson has the ability to take over a game offensively, but seemed to lose confidence in his deep ball during the season. He can be unstoppable, but when he was double-teamed constantly last year he had no second option offensively. Enter Jamal Crawford, one of the best offensive players in the league, and Jeff Teague, the explosive rookie. When J.J. and Crawford are on the same floor this year, we will see how Woody’s iso take-your-turn (now more like pick-your-poison) offense will be successful. People can say what they want about ZaZa, but we will stand behind him and fight for him to the death. Atlantans love his hustle and toughness and offensive rebounding ability. ZaZa Pachulia is a throwback to the old school and is an invaluable piece of our team coming off the bench. Jeff Teague will be an exciting addition to our squad, and Joe Smith was a huge pickup for us. His veteran defensive presence and mid-range shooting ability will add an important dynamic to our team. As we say every year, Marvin Williams needs to show out. He is a very good shooter and a good-enough defender, plus he does a great job of getting to the free throw line. Everyone loves Al Horford and his energy, hustle and smarts. He can shoot and defend very well, and is a tough and respected player who has success desppite playing out of position. If Garret Siler could be the future answer at the 5 and Al could move over to the 4, he could really become an elite player in this league. We have improved our size and depth greatly down low this offseason, which is what we have sorely lacked in years past. I believe that our additions have been vastly underappreciated by the sports media, and I believe that we are ready to make a run and challenge the likes of Boston, Cleveland and Orlando in the East, no matter what the haters say. Go Hawks!!!

By: Snowman

Snowman — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 05:14:08 +0000

Enter your comments

Here we go, look I like Mr. Bradley and Mr. Smith allot however riddle me this and this is a very, very serious question…HOW DOES JEFF SCHULTZ get to keep his job at the paper, seriously?…Bradley and Smith are great writers, fair and balanced…can some one please tell me why Jeff is still a writer for the AJC? With all the great writers losing jobs left and right, how does Schultz still have an opportunity to write for Hawks, seriously??? We should run a survey and find out how many people think Jeff should be fired? What percentage of folks think the AJC can hire a better writer tomorrow than Schultz? I DEFINATELY DO!!! By the way, if you like him, that’s fine but keep him away from our Hawks!!! He is a poison, just read his stuff. I want to be the president of “LET’S FIRE JEFF SCHULTZ” fan club. He is a terrible freakin writer (ok, ok sorry for getting you two involved in my ditrust and dislike for Jeff Schultz)…

Finally, I think the Hawks will win 52-55 games if they stay healthy. I also think they will win two games in the 2nd round of the NBA playoffs. That’s it, I ‘m officialy on the record. GO HAWKS and COACH WOODSON (smile)!!!!!!.

By: Big Ray

Big Ray — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 04:40:15 +0000

RA ,

By the way, I really liked your post, too!

cj ,

I don’t do this for a living like Hollinger does. And I don’t have nearly the sports-related knowledge that he has. And I am definitely a Hawks homer (though I sling plenty of criticism their way on my own). But I disagree with Hollinger, as you saw. Hey, let’s hear it for opinions!

By: Big Ray

Big Ray — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 04:37:01 +0000

RA ,

Sorry about that. I get the grey block because I’m logged into WordPress, which is the program that anybody writing anything for the AJC is logged into. Even us fan forum scrubs (I do the Hawks fan forum with HB Ando), who aren’t real writers/journalists like Mark Bradley. Sometimes I’ll be working on a blog, then get finished and decide to peruse my usual hangout spots. And I forget I’m still logged in. Like probably now (oops)….

By the way, the name of “Hawks Hacks” was changed to “Hawks Fan Nest.” Now, you know where the fan forum is, instead of looking for a name that implies the obvious: we’re not real writers/journalists.

By: bman

bman — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 03:08:08 +0000

Oh , and Bradley, it’s been about a month since you hated on Duke or Duke players in an article. you’re overdue…

By: bman

bman — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 03:05:56 +0000

i wrote to this a-hole last year when he predicted the hawks would finish FIFTH IN THEIR DIVISION one year after taking Boston to 7 and told him he was an idiot. Then i made sure to remind him of his inane prediction several times during the season. Oddly, i received no response…looks like he’s up to the same tricks… if he says this every year, eventually he’ll be right…moron!

By: cj

cj — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 02:08:17 +0000

Big Ray, thank you for clearing up some “myths” by Mr. Hollinger. It’s nice to see someone who also knows a few things about their basketball and does a little research to back it up. Good post.

By: Zach

Zach — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 23:48:18 +0000

Mo Evans i mean, see I can’t even remember his name…