Hawks

By John

October 10, 2007 8:58 PM | Link to this

What is up with Josh Smith? Only 3 minutes in the first half, and came out very early Is he hurt?

By John

October 10, 2007 8:58 PM | Link to this

What is up with Josh Smith? Only 3 minutes in the first half, and came out very early Is he hurt?

By A Thinking Fan

October 10, 2007 9:10 PM | Link to this

Al Horford= “Solid Player!”

By Juice

October 10, 2007 9:51 PM | Link to this

Thanks for the update. It seems like the running game actually is working somewhere in Atl.

By Steve T

October 10, 2007 10:11 PM | Link to this

Don’t worry about aize right now because how may Shaq and Howard will the hawks have to face? It is better to have skill player rather than having a big bulky player who can not play. Can anyone name one player in the NBA that can defend Shaq?

If this team makes the play-offs or make a good run at the play-off, they can sign a FA center. If you win, you have a chance to sign a top FA.

By curious

October 10, 2007 10:12 PM | Link to this

Why is Woodson playing JS, Marv and Chill so many minutes on a back to back night? I know Solomon has to be sick of this?

By kwooden1

October 10, 2007 10:17 PM | Link to this

Tough scoring game for Smith, but Law and Horford sound like good players. (Listening to the game on the internet) Looks like running Horford at the 5 is OK. With that said Overtime in the preseason should be illegal!

By curious

October 10, 2007 10:25 PM | Link to this

Why is JS, Marvin and Chill still in the game? They have a back to back game. I know Shelden and Solomon are would love to play.

By Greg

October 10, 2007 10:45 PM | Link to this

The key is putting the right piecies on the floor. Sekou I’ve said this time and time again JSmoove is not a 4. Our problem is we try to force player into postions they are not fit for. Zaza and Al are the 4 & 5. JSmoove and JJ on the wings. Come off the bench with LW, SW, & Solo. Al and Zaza are our biggest guys they have to man the paint. We can’t run on everybody so we must adjust when we don’t run. Zaza is rugged and Al is rugged.

By terrell

October 10, 2007 10:56 PM | Link to this

There’s not a big on the planet that can guard those two. We have to run against Miami and Orlando or we dont stand a chance.

By itwi

October 10, 2007 11:26 PM | Link to this

If the Hawks go looking for some one to guard Shaq & other 3-5 legit offensive centers in the NBA, they’re going to be looking for a long time.

You have to draft those guys if they’re available, because teams don’t trade them.

By doc

October 10, 2007 11:30 PM | Link to this

hawks come through again. marvin with another good effort in the box score.

for those who are yi of little faith. he yi that is led the bucks to a second win against utah. 14 minutes, 12 points and 4 bounds. extrapolate that to a full game and he looks like a 36 and 12 guy after his only second game in the u.s. under nba rules. yeah, it is pretty stupid to go that line and just as stupid to sound off after his first game. are you hatin on a guy? why not lets see them all do well. anyway, it is still pre-season, geeesh doing the blue vein thing of ando and ray.

By Cedric

October 11, 2007 12:30 AM | Link to this

I agree with you SS but not for any of our young players. We could always find a serviceable guy somewhere w/out giving up much. You just want someone who can bang and hold his own. I think that S. Williams can do this if he had some help from Al Horford in there with him. We should hope for a great turn out to support both teams in Philips Arena now that all of our football teams in the state are having sub par seasons to say the least. ATL should come out and support both teams this fall and I hope they will rise up and show some heart and passion to succeed and bring this city back to the years of 95-98 when the Braves, Falcons and Hawks were at least getting some national publicity w/out jokes from all over the world like now. And back to the Hawks, no matter who starts for Woodson it only matters who is out there when the game is on the line. Holla at ya boy on the Club Level @ Philips Arena on Thursday.

By Harry Hawk

October 11, 2007 1:21 AM | Link to this

You can get away with not having anyone to handle big guys like Shaq and Dwight Howard. Shaq is basically a 50-60 game a year guy right now. Howard is a beast, but the Hawks have enough guys who can run to make up for it. Let Shaq have his points. Let Howard have his. Focus on the other four guys. That’s smart defense. If the Hawks want to make the playoffs, they’ll have to commit to running the other team out of the gym. I truly believe they can make the playoffs if they will run all year.

By tb

October 11, 2007 4:28 AM | Link to this

The problem is that unless we make a trade, we are not going to find a player good enough to take minutes in our rotation.

It’s clear we could use a real BIG. Zaza is already a soft playing, under-sized big.

Without a trade of one our main pieces, we won’t find a quality BIG.

Nice win Hawks

By tb

October 11, 2007 4:38 AM | Link to this

L. Wright didn’t play either.

I think you’re blog topic is unrealistic. We are not going to find “the beef”. You are either lucky enough to have a skilled BIG, or not.

The Hawks are going to have to play to their strengths. They should have enough to off-set the lack of a Shaq or Howard. At least, let’s hope so.

By tb

October 11, 2007 5:09 AM | Link to this

Why arn’t posts going through?

By ray

October 11, 2007 6:35 AM | Link to this

“Where’s the beef?” You could’ve asked Billy that question. He’s the only one with an answer.

By LL Cool Scott

October 11, 2007 7:22 AM | Link to this

Most of our personnel dictates that we play a run and gun, west coast style of ball if we want to win. Problem is, we still don’t have the elite point guard necessary to win consistently with that type of strategy. Acie may develop in a couple of years, who knows. We have great talent at the wing positions, but we still lack the point guard to win by running and we lack the big man to win by grinding. That’s the main reason we probably will be sitting home again come playoff time. LL has spoken.

By destin

October 11, 2007 7:52 AM | Link to this

Sekou — could you give us a list of centers that you think we could possibly trade for that could stand up to Shaq, Howard, etc. Thank you

By Willie Coyote

October 11, 2007 8:05 AM | Link to this

But who is out there that has had success playing Shaq or will have success playing Dwight? The Pistons may be the only team with enough big bodies to throw at those guys.

By ray

October 11, 2007 8:15 AM | Link to this

Ask Billy that question. Only he knows.

By vdunkndunk

October 11, 2007 8:33 AM | Link to this

I agree with your last comment, Sekou. I like Josh Smith and Al Horford as our PF/C combo, but the only way it will work is if we run like crazy. If we let guys like Shaq post up in half-court all the time, and if we don’t beat those types of guys down the floor for easy buckets, then we’ll have problems. But I think if we can push the pace we should be okay a lot of nights.

By Willy

October 11, 2007 8:37 AM | Link to this

What’s the difference between needed and a necessity?

By J. Shuttlesworth

October 11, 2007 8:58 AM | Link to this

Like who?? Michael Doleac? Cadillac Anderson? We can sit here all day and say the team needs a big veteran, but there’s not that many of those guys around. Thats how The Big LoW ended up in the ATL, remember.

In the meantime, take your lumps from Shaq and Howard, and go to battle with everyone else. No one can guard those guys, anyway. But once you get past those two, the rest of the league is manageable.

Anyone remember when Amare was out and Phoenix went through the league with Boris Diaw at Center?

By Billy Jo

October 11, 2007 8:59 AM | Link to this

I’d love some beef, but the deal is pretty clear. You aren’t going to stop Shaq with whatever stiff you try to guard him with (correct me if I am wrong, but no one has ever shut down the Diesel one-on-one consistently over the past 10 years, right?). So, you’re only option is playing good team defense. If you start with the question, “How do we stop Shaq?”, then you are on your way to loserville because the answer is “You can’t.” The real question is “How do we win, knowing Shaq is going to be kicking our butts down low?” Ahhhh…good team defense is one way. Shaq can’t score 90.

By Sekou K. Smith

October 11, 2007 9:24 AM | Link to this

Hawks pulled it out in OT last night, 106-100. Josh Childress was wicked, finishing with 25 points off the bench on 7-for-11 shooting.

Marvin Williams was solid with 17 and Joe Johnson dropped 21, five boards and three assists in just over 25 minutes (sitting out most of the second half). Josh Smith had an off shooting night (0-for-5) and battled foul trouble but found a way to grab 15 rebounds, dish out seven assists (box score had him with four but that was wrong) and three blocks.

But my player of the night was my new favorite player in the NBA (I don’t care if it is preseason), Mario West. I’ve been trying to come up with my own nickname for him, and it has to be something that captures his high-octane style. But he came off the bench and played a furious nine minutes, scoring three points, grabbing two rebounds and recording a steal and a block (that the stat crew, my new whipping boys in every arena, didn’t record) and totally changing the tempo of the game with his relentless hustle. He was all over the place and the Heat had no idea what to do with him.

The Bobcats come calling tonight at Philips Arena (nothing like back-to-backs in the preseason, huh?) for all you folks who want to check this team out for yourself.

By travis

October 11, 2007 9:54 AM | Link to this

The Hawks are looking good, baby!!! I think that this will be the year. I like the up tempo style. We should have been doing this with the horses that we have. Think, last year when we ran, we put up good numbers, against good teams. We beat Phoenix at their place, we beat GS, Detroit!! I’m excited about tonight’s preseason game. Sect 217 r A

By Big G Money

October 11, 2007 11:42 AM | Link to this

Like anyone else I agree that another big would be a great addition. The reality though Sekou is that after Dwight Howard and Shaq there are very few who go in the “etc.” column. The 76ers have Dalembert. The Mavs have Dampier. Wizards - Etan Thomas, Magic - Adonal Foyle, Raptors - Bargnani, Bobcats - Primoz Brezec, Nets - Krstic and the Jazz - Mehmet Okur. I believe that our team has the inside presence to match up with these teams at least. No we don’t have Eddy Curry, Ben Wallace (6-9 by the way), Ilgauskas, or the big fundamental. Neither does over half the league. Beyond that, why would we get someone who is sitting the pine for another team anyway? We had shots at Dalembert and Dampier and I’m happy we didn’t take them. From what I’ve seen, if Horford holds up, he’s going to be a terror just like Smoove has become. In the meantime, we’ll have to take our lumps and learn to play team defense. Maybe the ZaZa fans will get ZaZa to play defense when it’s time to play against other slow footed centers.

There have never been any effective defenses against Shaq when he gets it going. We will soon say the same for Dwight Howard. They are rare breeds and that’s why they were drafted first.

I’d like to have another big to replace Zen but to think that we’re going to get a top notch big without giving up someone special is pretty naive unless he’s a free agent.

By Justin

October 11, 2007 11:54 PM | Link to this

Lorenzen Wright is just about Zaza’s size. Do you not figure him into the equation?

By William

October 14, 2007 2:31 PM | Link to this

Join Clubhawks.com the forum!!

Start talking about your Atlanta Hawks 24/7 while getting daily news and rumors.