Chris Paul as a Hawk, Marvin as a Hornet

by Max D on Jan 7, 2010 8:41 PM EST

Ever since the 2005 NBA Draft, when the Atlanta Hawks picked Marvin Williams with the #2 overall draft , and Deron Williams and CP3 went 3rd and 4th respectively, everyone said the Hawks made a big mistake. At the time, however, every NBA analyst said that it was a good idea. However, CP3 and Deron became all-stars and Marvin became an average NBA small forward. However if this move was really analyzed Hawks fans would realize it is really paying off for the Hawks now.

Had the Hawks picked either Chris Paul or Deron Williams, the Hawks could be a contender right now, or they could be another average team scrapping and fighting for the 5th-8th seeds. Right now we could log on to NBA.COM and see Marvin Williams putting up 35 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists. On Opening night of 2005, the Hawks had only T-Lue, Salim Stoudamire, Royal Ivey, and JJ as actual, capable point guards. Neither of these jump out as traditional point guards. However, giving Mike Woodson's tendencies to not play rookies, could harm the development of a young CP3 or Deron Williams. During this time, Marvin Williams could be flourishing in Byron Scott's system

Had the Hawks taken Paul or Williams with that #2 pick, we could be contenders right now. The available cap space would be much less. Sure, we probably wouldn't have JJ or Jamal Crawford, and CP3 could just turn as an average point guard.

The bottom line is, no rookie can essentially become a "star" in Atlanta. The reason being is that we have a very stubborn head coach, who thinks playing rookie point guards is next to playing cards with Satan. So really, we got lucky with Marvin, and had we gotten CP3, he would probably be an average guard in the League, and Marvin would be dropping 50 every three games.

Poll

Would Chris Paul or Deron Williams be an AllStar today in Mike Woodson's system?

Yes, their skill would overcome Mike Woodson

40 votes

Probably not

12 votes

No, they would be victims of the Acie Law Effect

15 votes

Bring Speedy Claxton back

4 votes

71 votes | Poll has closed

A FanPost expresses the opinion of the community member who wrote it and not that of the blog management.

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Comments

Paul and Deron Williams are just much better players than Law and Teague. It’s possible Woody wouldn’t have played Paul or Williams much as rookies at first, but eventually their talent would have forced his hand.

I thought this post was going to be about trading Paul for Williams this year, a move I heartily endorse.

by redwards95 on Jan 8, 2010 11:20 AM EST reply actions

not a fair assessment

Please can you name 1 player that has left the Hawks under Woody and become a much better player? Is it Woody’s fault that we drafted players that were not good enough?What has happened to Acie, Salim etc after they left the Hawks? If they were that good, why did they not florish with the other teams?
The only player that did better when he left the Hawks was Diaw . We can attribute that to the Dantoni style and playing with Nash. As you can see Diaw is now just an average player with Charlotte. Where was Joe before he joined the Hawks ? ( The 4th best player on the Suns team). PS Nash, Stadamire and the matrix were considered better players than Joe. Zaza, Flip, Joe and all the rookies have all improved under Woody. Josh Smith and Al are now in consideration for All Stars. Did you see Josh play in his 1st year. He was considered a BUST right from draft night !.
I would love for you to support your statement above with some facts.

by dkrib on Jan 8, 2010 4:48 PM EST reply actions

Paul or Williams

Before you say the Hawks would have been a better team with Paul or Williams, look at the Hornets and the Jazz. Are they better than the Hawks? If we had gotten Paul, we would not have gotten Al. I would take Al and Marvuin over Paul any day………..

by dkrib on Jan 8, 2010 4:49 PM EST reply actions

Yea but if we get D-Will we might draft Rudy Gay over Sheldon and the next year we might Joakim Noah over Horford because our pick drops.. Now this is impossible to say where we would have picked but imagine D-Will, JJ, Gay, Josh Smith, Noah, Pachula instead of Bibby,JJ,Marvin, J Smith, Horford, Pachula.. If we have that first lineup we have by far the best back court in the NBA

You guys might not know this, but I consider myself a bit of a loner. I tend to think of myself as a one-man wolf pack. But when my sister brought Doug home, I knew he was one of my own. And my wolf pack... it grew by one. So there... there were two of us in the wolf pack... I was alone first in the pack, and then Doug joined in later. And six months ago, when Doug introduced me to you guys, I thought, "Wait a second, could it be?" And now I know for sure, I just added two more guys to my wolf pack. Four of us wolves, running around the desert together, in Las Vegas, looking for strippers and cocaine. So tonight, I make a toast! - The Hangover

by atlantalove on Jan 8, 2010 7:30 PM EST up reply actions