Hawks

By Brandon

October 11, 2005 04:14 PM | Link to this

Its got to be Joe Johnson. I know we have an abundance of forwards but if he goes down we will have a replay of last year. You can only play so many forwards at a time.

By Sugar Ray

October 11, 2005 04:51 PM | Link to this

We can’t afford to lose JJ for many reasons. The major one is being that he must prove to be a PG. Losing him would set us back an entire season. Many of us Hawks’ fans do feel we can make a run at the playoffs next year.

I would also not put Smoove,Marvelous and Chill to far back as well. We are counting on their development and rapid development at that. To help stir this team in the right direction now rather than later. Alot of pressure on young kids. Add on to that any kind of set back. It wouldn’t look good.

Basically the key areas that we are basically set with Marvelous at SF,Smoove at PF,Chill at SG and JJ at PG. We can’t afford to lose any of them. They are the keys,franchise,corner stones,future,everything to the franchise right now and the future.

By Zach Blend

October 11, 2005 05:14 PM | Link to this

Royal Ivey, the team would die of thirst without him…

By Sekou K. Smith

October 11, 2005 05:19 PM | Link to this

Wow. It appears Stoudemire will be out for four months after surgery. FOUR MONTHS. Phoenix goes from contender to having to hustle to make the playoffs now. One player makes that much difference on a potentially great team, so I can imagine what losing a critical player on a team like the Hawks would do. And Zach, that’s cold to crack on young Royal Ivey. Real cold.

By Brandon Jones

October 11, 2005 05:47 PM | Link to this

This team is nothin without al harrington

By IGHR

October 11, 2005 08:02 PM | Link to this

Okay fellow Hawks fanatics, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves and forget that were coming off of a overachieving 13-win, 69-loss campaign of a year ago before we start talking which player’s loss would most derail the team’s hopes for making the playoffs about two or three seasons from now. The Hawks have a promising young team with a great amount of potential if things go well, but considering the recent history of the Hawks organization I’ll just say that I’m content to take a wait-and-see approach while watching this team. With that bit being said, I think that this team is entering a crucial stage of development of style of play and chemistry where coming off of a 13-69 season, it really can’t afford to lose Josh Smith, Josh Childress, Salim Stoudamire, Marvin Williams, Tyronn Lue, Jason Collier, Zaza Pachulia or Tony Delk, but I agree that the team really needs Al Harrington because of everything he does and I especially agree that the team absolutely, positively can’t afford to lose Joe Johnson because of his scoring contribution to a team’s uptempo style of play. Right now I think that JJ is the only player on the roster that can force the tempo of the game from the backcourt, he is very important to the team’s hopes and wishes to create more offense. If JJ comes out and plays like Magic then who knows, the Hawks could possibly be in the hunt for 30 wins, even with so many first and second-year players, but at this point, outside of Harrington every player on the roster looks to be in a kind of developmental stage, mainly because of youth. Even trying to predict how JJ will play at the point is tough because he was a shooting guard in a (very fun) run-and-gun offensive setup in Phoenix with a dominant and experienced power forward in Amare Stoudamire who was the focal point of the offense and the anchor of the defense. In Atlanta, JJ comes to a team that is loaded with first and second-year players, many of whom have little or no college experience. Lets just say that with this team setup the way that it is, the players and the coach may require a certain degree of patience from the front office and the fans. I think that the Hawks have the right players and the right coach, they just happen to have most of them at a very early stage of development in their playing and coaching careers, but they have the potential to be a very exciting and competitive team in the future if all can go well.

By Matt

October 11, 2005 08:50 PM | Link to this

We cannot let Billy Knight get his feelings hurt again. If he does, he might trade Marvin Williams for Antoine Walker.

By Aaron B.

October 11, 2005 10:01 PM | Link to this

Well I just listened to the pre-season game against Orlando and my impression of our veteran from last year… pathetic. If I was next to Coach Woodson I would tell him to bench Al Harrington for a few games. He was 1-9! Absolutely pathetic. The rest of the ball club did great. Zaza finished with 18, and so did JJ. J-Smoove did good till he sprained his ankle. Good news is I think he came back in late in the fourth. He finished with 13. He was 6-11 from the floor. That’s much better than the second highest paid player on the team. Some-one needs to tell Al to stop shooting, and start hustling. We were leading a good bit of the game till Big Al wouldn’t take no for an answer and stop shooting. The good news is I think we’ll be fine this season. The rookies didn’t do that bad, despite being 2-5(MW) and 2-7(SS) for the night. They both tallied 10 and 7 repectively. J-Chill did good too even though he didn’t get much playing time. John Edwards proved that he could foul with the best of them, that’s about it for him. Collier is as good as he was last year, a decent 3rd stringer on the worst team in the nba at best. Batista did not play, which is surprising considering John, and Jason’s lack of production. Delk did ok for the few appearances he made. Tyron Lue also did not play, another shocker.

But even with all of these much better playerson the roster, I still wonder if Coach Woodson has learned anything from last season. He isn’t a rookie this year and doesn’t have as much room for error. I say let’s wait and see how they do against the Bobcats Wed. Orlando looked pretty sharp, and Grant Hill hurt us quite a bit. But the true pain was caused by Dwight Howard. Some-one needs to teach Al to block out. Dwight grabbed so many offensive boards it was almost unfair. I liked Al Harrington last year, and still want him on the team. But he needs to step it up. He choked bad when his team needed his veteran leadership the most. JJ carried this team, along with J-smoove and Zaza. These three will have to take notice when Al is having trouble and try to get him open more, or stop passing to him. Al can’t seem to take anyone, one on one, anymore. Oh well… time to keep the faith that Coach Woodson is watching some video and pointing at Al alot.

By doc

October 11, 2005 11:05 PM | Link to this

i dont think we could stand to lose anyone but sadly to lose one player this year wont leave us with a worse record than last. realistically, it might force someone off the bench to grow up sooner, so it could be a blessing in disguise rather than a deleterious problem. we arent in the position to really worry about such things.

for those of you that still think we gave up too much for jj, how do you think the suns fans think about now? do you think they wish management hadnt played hardball with jj and gone ahead and given him ten mil more or do you think they expect diaw and the protected draft choices will make up the difference?

glad to hear about zaza, i still think he is going to be the value pickup of the season but the season is long and there will be many nights he has to learn from the other big boys. supposedly it takes the big guys about 3 to 5 years more to mature into big time players. even the diesel couldnt do it until he went to la.

By Nookah

October 12, 2005 10:29 AM | Link to this

I have to think JJ would be the man. It would be devastating to lose him now at this very delicate stage of our development. Additionally it would derail the experiment we are now trying with the long backcourt (JJ & JC).

I listened to the second half of last nights game. I am still concerned about our rebounding. If I am not mistaken we were out-rebounded 34-43. We got to eliminate those second chances. I was very disappointed in Al. I hope that was an abberation. Let’s hope he gets it together because we need him to be very good for more reasons than one. I was pleased with Zaza but I was also hoping to see Esteban display his rebounding prowess (so I’ve heard).

However, I think Coach Woodson was taking a good look at certain guys lsat night. After all that is what preseason is for. If we can sharpen our defense and reduce those turnovers, our achilles heel, (JJ had 6)we will be all right.

Have faith fans we’ll be all right!!!

Nuff respect!!!

By IGHR

October 12, 2005 11:24 AM | Link to this

Well, after last night’s game, I see that the Hawks biggest problem may be trying to keep players from going south mentally instead of losing them to injury (Al Harrington?). Though while dreams of the the postseason may be nothing more than a severe psychotic delusion of grandeur induced by a really bad reaction to psychiatric medication prescribed to the few Hawks supporters remaining who actually have put up with this NBA-brandnamed mess over the last who knows how many years since the relative glory days of Dominique Wilkins and company (because trying to follow this crap at times sometimes feels like that illness where people like to inflict pain on themselves), have no fear fellow Hawks enthusiasts, this team seems to be more than capable of reaching, dare I say, that elusive 14 and 1/2 win-plateau (the 1/2 win is for the night when the team has a 20-plus point lead in the first-half, goes to the locker room, listens to the coach’s awe-inspiring halftime speech, comes back out to the court and promply proceeds to be outplayed in every facet of the game and blown out by 20-plus points in the second half, losing by about 10-15 points). To you few rabid Hawks followers still standing proud (they can probably be counted on one hand or added up in simple math (5-3=2)), this 1/2 win is for you.

By John Reid

October 12, 2005 12:43 PM | Link to this

As one of “the few Hawks supporters remaining who actually have put up with this NBA-brandnamed mess over the last who knows how many years since the relative glory days of Dominique Wilkins and company” as IGHR put it, time for a reality check.

This is going to take some time for this team to jell, and IGHR makes a very good point: Al Harrington might be the odd man out if he decides to go south mentally. This young team cannot afford to have that happen as they are attempting to develop an identity. If he decides to let his contract status become an issue, trade him before it is too much of a distraction.

Making the playoffs in the suddenly deeper East is a stretch until the young players develop in all facets of the game. That being said, last night provided a glimpse of what’s to come. Zaza played solid and JJ is capable of 20-7-7. The rookies will grow with time and Smith/ Childress will be great wing players as they develop a consistent jumper.

Message to Billy Knight: this is the first team in the past 10 years we “morbid Hawks fans” can get behind and support, not because of what we see now, but we’re excited because what’s going to be the end product. Don’t change a thing!

25-30 wins is realistic with everyone healthy and if we can develop a player with a desire to do the “dirty work” (perhaps Esteban or trade Al for a scrapper down low) we can win 35-40 easy barring injuries.

By khao$

October 12, 2005 01:00 PM | Link to this

I honestly think that we should trade Harrington asap. I don’t see where he fits into the equation long term, he doesn’t play “dirty” down low (he didn’t last year), and he’s standing in Marvin Williams way in terms of long term progression. Initially, I said trade him mid season. However, if he isn’t into the games and doesn’t do much during the season, we’re not going to get much value for him. Therefore, I’d trade him before his stock lowers. No knock on him. I just don’t see where he fits into the equation here and we need someone who will rebound.

By AaronB

October 12, 2005 01:27 PM | Link to this

Well like I said earlier in my last post, I liked Al last year. And I still like him now, but I was saying that this brak down he had is Coach Woodsons fault. Why you may ask?, because Magic Mike Woodson would not take him out when he was making a fool out of our team. He should have taken him out and threatened to bench him longer if he didn’t step it up. You see I played college basketball(although it was small technical college, I still made the starting squad)and I know that everyone knows at that level, that if your offensive game is off a night, you step it up defensively to make up for it. You also step up your hustle too to make up for your short commings offensively. He didn’t do that. And that my friends is why i’m so disapointed in him. I stood up for him earlier in a previous blog. Well this may only be one game folks but it is crucial for our young players to not watch him do this kind of thing. They are supposed to learn from him, and if he can’t play smart basketball, then why do we have him. If I was in his shoes and went 1-9 for the night, you better believe I would have 20 rebounds to make up for it. Rebounding is 90% hustle and 10% positioning. Al had 4 rebounds that night, 4!!!!!!!!! Coach Woodson should have said there are no starters and all of his positions are up for grabs.

By ray

October 12, 2005 04:45 PM | Link to this

Well, it was just one game. Hopefully, a few things happen. Al, for his own sake, gets his head in the game and toughens up. I don’t care if he scores 40 a night, he still needs to improve his defense and rebounding. Woodson, for his and the team’s sake, recognizes if Al is playing team ball (and being a true leader) and kicks him to the bench if he isn’t. And if the latter is the case, hopefully Marving is working his butt off and replaces him. We’ll see. JJ appears to be creating some good vibes with his teammates and Woodson so far. This is good. Remember something said earlier by Woodson when Marvin was drafted “we think he brings something to the table that the other guys don’t.” We may be seeing what that is before long.

By reese

October 12, 2005 07:06 PM | Link to this

I listened to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th quarters last night and Al played like I expected him to play (lousy). He is a nice guy, but he just doesn’t fit what this team needs for the long term. Actually, if the hawks fail to trade Al, then, the team would benefit the most if he gets injured. This will allow our young guys to develop together. Really, I do not think that the hawks would suffer that much if any of their players got hurt. They are deep at point, 2 guard and small forward. They don’t have a power forward right now that is going to make an impact on this team. I was impressed with ZaZa’s offense, but I need to see more before I feel that we would be devastated if he was hurt. The other centers are not worth mentioning right now. I wish that the hawks had drafted the 6’10 Randolph Morris from Kentucky, he might have hung around if he had been drafted. He would have been a great compliment for ZaZa, he is young, he is familiar with playing alongside Josh Smith at small forward, and he would provide competition for Marvin Williams. Does anyone know if he was reinstated at Kentucky.