Maybe we could have Dejuan Blair or Sam Young or Zaza starts.

If we had a good driving-to-the-hole PG, we wouldn’t always be so stressed about iso-Joe since Woodson would know to give the ball to CP.

With CP3, Josh Smith would improve dramatically and Joe Johnson would lose production.

I think it raises the question of whether Joe would have been necessary to sign more than anything. Use that money on a more athletic two guard or legit center. and CP3 would make those FA signing easier with people wanted to play with him.

still, i am fine with how the Hawks ended up. sensational PG have not shown the ability to lead teams to championships in the last 15 years.

with how the Hawks turned out, if we can maximize everyone’s strengths, namely, Al Horford. My hope is that maybe they can sneak a championship ring out of it like Detroit. I mean maybe they’d be better today with Melo had they chosen him over Darko, but either way they got a ring so it’s whatever.

And it would depend on how the roster got constructed following that. There’s a whole lot of “If, then” to do, when we’re going over the major personnel moves in the past 4 years. Here’s how I see it.

1) I’m assuming Al Harrington was on his way out anyway, though many people say that he was traded as a result of drafting Marvin Williams. He was too expensive to keep on a non-contending team alongside Joe Johnson.

2) I’ll assume we still make the stupid Shelden Williams pick, since Chris Paul wouldn’t have solved our big man issues. Chris Paul as a rookie probably doesn’t help the Hawks enough that we’re out of the top ten, and Shelden would have fallen to us regardless.

3) In 2007, there’s no way we’re drafting 3rd in the lottery with Chris Paul. Therefore, we forfeit that pick to Phoenix. But we’ll still have the 11th in the 2007 draft, as a result of the Harrington S&T. At this point, we’re still running with Zaza at center, but he probably looks a bit better on a Chris Paul-led team. We’re probably looking at Thaddeus Young, Al Thornton, or Julian Wright, perhaps Sean Williams. BK really liked small forwards, so I’m going to pretend we took Al Thornton, to make up for not having taken Marvin previously-Thaddeus Young is ideal, but I’m keeping this semi-realistic.

4) During the 07-08 season, we don’t trade Shelden Williams, Lorenzen Wright, Anthony Johnson, and Tyronn Lue for Mike Bibby. I can’t help but think BK would have tried to trade for a big man, but it’s tough for me to retroactively determine exactly what kind of deal we’d have worked out. I’ll just assume that the Hawks wouldn’t have been able to get a decent big for their junk pieces-just like I didn’t think they’d be able to get a decent point guard out of that junk.

5) We win 40ish games in 2007-08, so I’ll just pretend we end up with the 18th pick, still in need of a big man. We take JaVale McGee in a no-brainer for BK.

6) BK becomes the man who DID draft Chris Paul, and therefore, he’s retained during the ’08 offseason. And we have plenty of money to spend in ’08 as a result of not trading for Mike Bibby, hanging on to some expiring contracts. AS a result of these two events, we retain both Childress and Josh Smith.

7) Here’s where it gets really tough for me. How good would have been in 2008-09 without Al Horford? We’re probably still using Zaza as our starting center at this point. But then, he had a very good last year for us in reality. Probably 50+ wins good. Probably still the fourth seed. There’s no way to say really. Here’s how that team would have looked:

Paul/Johnson/Thornton/Smith/Pachulia Bench:Childress, McGee, Solo (maybe Flip).

I’ll say 57 wins. I’ll also predict that we lost in the second round to Cleveland game series.

8) This gives us basically the 26th pick in the 2009 draft. I say that BK makes neither the best nor worst possible decision, which basically means Taj Gibson.

In the offseason, we sign CP3 to rather hefty contract. Zaza is a bit more questionable-he’d be a free agent coming of a season as a starter for a 57 win team. His price tag goes up. Solo walks during the offseason, so all we really have as a big man in this fictional scenario is Javale McGee (I’ll assume that BK continued to misuse his second round picks, so we have no one else useful). We sign Zaza for somewhat more than he’s making now (maybe $6.5 million per). Then we split the MLE to get some depth-maybe a Dahntay Jones and Brandon Bass. Some other minimum contract player is signed as CP3’s backup.

Here’s your 2009-10 alternate universe Atlanta Hawks:

Chris Paul/(minimum contract-maybe Jason Williams)
Joe Johnson/Dahntay Jones
Al Thornton/Josh Childress
Josh Smith/Brandon Bass
Zaza Pachulia/Javale McGee

Assume Chris Paul is perfectly healthy. I’ve got Josh Childress on the bench behind an inferior player because, well, Woodson liked him on the bench. It’s a better team than we’ve got presently, but it’s not lightyears better. We’re struggling to stop big men defensively, but Chris Paul and Josh Smith can drive and create some foul trouble. Josh is still great with the help defense, so we’re not terrible at defending the post. Joe Johnson is posting awesome efficiency numbers because, between him and Paul, teams can’t collapse on either player. Joe probably doesn’t get run into the ground as much, and Chris Paul creates a lot of open looks for him. This team has a very good chance at making the conference semi-finals, and given the right match-up, could reach the finals.

You can debate some of those moves, but I tried not to make things overly ideal or worst-case scenario. BK wouldn’t have made perfect picks repeatedly, Woody wouldn’t become an offensive genius just because he had Chris Paul.

Here’s the downside: The team I just created would be in its last year of truly contending. It’s over the luxury tax, Al Thornton is in his last year on a rookie contract (and might walk), and there’s no way they’d be able to extend JJ. As you can see this year, the fanbase wouldn’t necessarily jump on board even with a really good team, so ownership can’t afford to go way over the luxury tax. So this team would be in danger of losing two starters, one all-star, following this season.

Now I’m going to finish reading your post. brb

because we’ve seen his disdain towards rookie point guards, so who’s to say Chris Paul turns into the Chris Paul he is today if he were coached by Woody?

underestimating Woody’s love for veterans vs rookies. He’s always been more likely to go with the vet unless he absolutely couldn’t. I’m not sure he would have played Paul over Lue.

But, would Woody let Paul push the ball up the floor and make the decisions? Do you think he would change his “offense” and let Paul just run the show?

included a poll. Maybe next time. The vibe I get is that we’re okay with what we have.

If the team before the Hawks in that draft or the team after the Hornets had taken him, would that team be better today? Would Paul had an opportunity to succeed as he has?

The landscape of the draft would of changed dramatically had this happened. Along with roster movement of different teams, the Hawks would probably be unrecognizable today, had they drafted Chris Paul. Who knows where players may have ended up as the talent we know of, wound up on another team.

You see, Fate is somthing that happens After it occurs. You can’t plan it. You can’t make it. It’s the train wrecks we have in life, and the unbelievable luck of buying the right lottery ticket at the right time. So the old saying applies: “Be careful of what you Thought you wished for.”