John Hollinger's Forecast
by Hoopinion on Sep 30, 2008 4:25 PM EDT
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if i did not see Hollinger in the CNN food court on a regular basis last year, i would call him out for mailing in a team preview. Yet hollinger knows the hawks as well as any national media. He comes to a lot of games at Phillips. I can see where that would make you angry but this review is down right hateful. Where is the Steve Smith positivity?
I find this review surprising, not that it is bullish on the Hawks reclaiming the eighth spot (a very reasonable view) but because he is almost cruelly negative in its overall spectrum of possibilities.
Acie Law already ruled out as even a role player after one year?
No mention of Bibby being injured throughout his time with the Hawks?
No admission that the Hawks could improve slightly with another year under their belt, a year with playoffs?
I am a homer.
But that is a review that decided where the hawks would end up in the eastern conference and then wrote a review to fit that ranking.
And to add that Atlanta is screwed for years to come because their only young talent is starting….
Damn john stop watching the stock market you negative nancy
Hollinger's negative opinion about
acie law is not based only on last year’s performance. He was down on law right after the draft – i’m too lazy to look up the link but he basically described law as a guy whose college numbers did not project to a solid nba rotation guy. Then when pg rodney stuckey, drafted 4-5 spots later, blew up for the pistons, hollinger (and many others) drew the obvious conclusion…billy did it again.
"...in baseball you wear a cap." -- george carlin
the worst thing for me
was that hollinger’s evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the team match up with my own yet it never occurred to me that the hawks would only be better than the nets (who are trying to be bad) and the knicks (who have been run by isiah thomas for four years).
i’m not used to being the guy who is too positive.
It doesn’t seem to me Hollinger sees any room for improvement among the starting five. It’s almost as if he thinks those five guys (maybe Horford excluded?) have hit their peaks and won’t be improving much in any significant manner. I have to disagree…JSmoove, Marvin and Horford have significant room for improvement, which should (ideally) improve the the starting five even beyond his expectations.
Can’t say I disagree with him too much re: the bench (insert scathing commentary about everything I hate about our ownership), but hopefully either Claxton/Law can step up and spell Bibby and be a nice change of pace guard. EIther way, point defense is going to be a liability.
All that said, this guy just picked the Bobcats to finish 8th in the East and 2nd in the Southeast. I’ll reserve judgement on getting too worked up over his predictions.
runaroundsues.blogspot.com
it is not so much that the bones
of hollinger’s argument are wrong.
the starters are the strength.
the bench is the weakness.
the coach is the worst.
but that he has taken this gross outline to the extreme. It seems Hollinger has always over valued Chill while under valuing Joe and Josh.
And the fact that he does not highlight Horford as an emerging star is all the more puzzling.
Just to defend Al’s honor, I am going to yell at Hollinger in the Wendy’s line next time i see him before the game.
The Hawk’s fortunes this season are completely dependent on the development of their younger players. If there is progress and significant progress at that, then the team is in good shape. If the progress is limited or non-existent then the team is in trouble and will be hard pressed to hold onto their playoff spot.
Hollinger has decided to be pessimistic about the youth’s development.
We’ll have to wait and see. First 10-15 games of the season are going to tell a great deal about the Hawks upcoming season.
To be honest with you, as long as Woodson is still the HC, I’m frankly pessimistic on the youth’s development.
This is very similar to the same things we all said about Lenny Wilkens, but wouldn’t you trade Woodson for Wilkens in a heartbeat?
Let’s be honest, Acie is not going to improve getting the minutes that he gets, and Marvin won’t get any better until he’s used appropriately.
I hate to say this about an analyst who actually attends Hawks games, but John seemed misinformed on a few things.
1) He seemed to think that Billy Knight was fired-“Knight was sent packing while Woodson got a two-year extension.” Not only did Knight resign of his own accord, the ownership apparently tried to bring him back.
2) The Mike Bibby trade didn’t really improve the team-the Hawks were 15-17 with Bibby. That projects out to about 38 wins. They were on pace for 36 before the trade. And Bibby caught the easiest stretch of the schedule-the Hawks were 11-17 with Bibby against teams OTHER than the New York Knicks.
3) The reports of Zaza Pachulia’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. He played hurt last, missed some time, but aside from really poor shot selection and a horror show at the FT line, he’s the same guy he was two and three years ago.
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