I’m with you 100%. And I’m really jealous that I didn’t write this.

I’m jealous I didn’t write this, too. Great piece.

Disclaimer: I detest Wages of Wins.

The criticisms of the organization, I think, are mostly fair. They’re not contenders now and they might not be contenders in the foreseeable future, with this group.

The way its done on that site, though, is ridiculous. Adding up “wins produced” by each player does not work, as it completely misses out on how individual players interact with one another (and, of course, how the team is coached).

I think it’s clear what the Hawks’ plan is: hope the young core improves, add some undervalued complementary pieces along the way, and hope for a little bit of luck. You can criticize that plan (and I would – the Bibby and Crawford signings did nothing for me and I’m no Mike Woodson fan either), but you can’t say they don’t have one.

a little surprised there is not more push back. but i will take agreement any day.

I don’t think the Hawks need a plan other than resign Joe and get the bench squared away. JS, MW, and ZP are sighned long term. I really believe the Hawks are gonna make a crazy move for like Camby or Stephen Jackson in the next couple of weeks, knowing they only need to get by until they can find a big man for Jamal Crawford. Love Crawford here under almost any circumstances (I don’t care what anyone says about his game, I know he can play and produce), but behind Joe is not the place for Crawford. Personally, I think a couple months down the road, Utah could be a very good suitor for the Hawks. Utah’s lineup doesn’t mesh, and Crawford would be a great help in that regard. He could be a great example for Kirilenko of playing basketball on the floor rather than trying to do so from a hospital,also. They need a real tempo adjustment, and Crawford would give the Jazz a little of that Hornacek flair. Boozer is going to end up back in Utah irregardless of what kind of year he has, but how much he’s getting paid will be afffected somewhat by his performance this year. Since the cap is going down, I am guessing he’ll sign in the $10-$12 million range, maybe 4 years. That leaves Okur. I say keep your hopes up Hawks and hang in there, because I sense a big change coming. I believe we might be into Okur and Joe for 4 or 5 years…and JS and MW. : )

We forget that just because players reach their physical prime between 22-25 doesn’t mean that they can’t stop improving, particularly from the standpoint of efficiency. For most starting caliber NBA players the drop-off doesn’t occur until after 30, though it is precipitous once it occurs.

As much as the Hawks are notorious for blowing draft picks, their acquisition of Crawford and wise decision to let Josh Smith and Marvin Williams dangle in RFA (likely saving them a bunch of money/cap over outright extensions) have made them a favorite front office of mine.

Also remember that Teague doesn’t need to become your starting point guard in a championship cycle of, say, 3 years. This draft was weak, even on guards, and you still netted a player like Teague. For the next two years you’ll be picking at a similar position, so there will be more chances. And look at what’s happening with guys like Sessions and Miller now; there are so many good point guards in the NBA today (compared to years past) that if you want a point guard, you can get one with ease. The Kings missed this memo with Beno, and look where it got them.

I don’t necessarily agree with making a move because you think you have to to “win now”, but I also don’t agree with standing pat and not addressing current issues. If you have a team with a bunch of long range shooters, but no inside help, does it not make sense to go find some inside help to make your team a better team overall? I don’t think it makes sense to go get more shooters or to just bring everyone back and think that someone will decide to rebound all of a sudden.

The only time I say you take the risk to sign a big-time player is when you know you are close and what that player provides is something that you don’t have a lot of and will most definitely put you as close as possible to getting the chance at a ring. But you can only do that if everything is in place before hand, and right now, going after a big time low post player would probably do nothing much for us since we have no low post game whatsoever and will never have one so long as Woody keeps running that ISO-Joe. Instead, we could have at least found some moderate help down low to cure our rebounding woes and to help cover our weak defense from the perimeter.

Thinking that your current players will improve is fine, so long as you understand that they are most likely to only improve in the things that they already do well. Players rarely get better at things they aren’t good at to a degree that it makes a drastic change. Bibby hasn’t defended anyone since he was at Arizona, Josh isn’t going to magically start draining all those long distance jumpers, and West isn’t going to become JJ lite. They might get better at draining some additional threes, help defense and dunking, and man defense, repsectfully.

Personally, I see your point Drew on that in three years what we have currently might be just enough to pass everyone else above us in the East, with the exception of Orlando, but I don’t agree that it’s a solid plan. If the plan is to simply make the playoffs each year, then sure, this team can probably do that for the next few years. But if the plan is to win a championship, this team as currently constituted, in this system, is not going to get it done without some help. So, I don’t think it’s “no plan at all” and I don’t think it’s a good plan.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/pgStory?contentId=9966898#sport=NBA&photo=9962978