Peachtree Hoops: FanPosts

Jamal Crawford - The Difference

2010-03-11T20:08:26Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHaHo_hkvdk

Mix about Jamal Crawford, making the difference between the Hawks being a playoff team or an eastern conference heavyweight.

- Passing Reggie Millers All-Time high in 4 point plays
- Helping Atlanta to sweep the celtics in regular season
- multiple 4th quarter clutch performances
- NBA's scoring leader of all non starters
- Career highs in FG%, 3PT% (at least 100 attempts)
- Top prospect for "6th Man of the year" award

Just give me the W.

2010-03-01T21:07:59Z

For the love of God what is it about Woody that everybody does not like. Fine! He does not run 'sophisticated" plays. Fine! He runs a lot of Isolation. He even gets a lot of criticism when the Hawks WIN!!. The Hawks lose to Golden State and all hell breaks lose. They go and beat Utah and no one gives him credit . Heck he is even being criticized for winning against Milwaukee . Yes, the Bucks that had just won 6 straight ROAD GAMES!!!

For all the criticism, here are somethings you cannot deny

1. He plays to WIN THE GAME: If all the Hawks players play hard every night they will be in EVERY GAME !! What more can a coach do.

2. He has exceeded everyones expectations...At the beginning of the season, Hawksdawgs put out a post on the season predictions.( Please go back and look at your prediction) I guarantee you, the Hawks are on par to exceed everyone's expectations. For the 3rd consecutive year , the Hawks have exceeded every analyst prediction yet the coach GETS NO CREDIT...AMAZING!!.

3. The Hawks are 1 loss away from being the second best team in the East ! They are even 1 loss away from being the 3rd best team in the NBA!! Heck Woody must be doing something right .. I struggle to see another coach having a better record with the same squad. Dallas, Denver, Boston,San Antonio, Utah, Orlando . All these teams are obviously better than the Hawks in terms of talent and experience level yet the Hawks are within striking distance or better than all of them.

4. Stats dont lie. Look at every stat, and the hawks are very impressive. Wins, Off efficiency ( currently 5th), what ever stat you look at, the Hawks are a very good team.

Please Woody ...Just keep giving me the W. Iso Joe, Switch all , however you do it, I dont care .JUST GIVE ME THE W!!!

Criticize Woody for all you want , you cannot deny that what the Hawks are doing this season is amazing. Playing with obvious deficiencies in the team especially at arguably the 2 most important positions( PG and Center) for the Hawks to be within 1 loss of being the 3rd best team in the league is damn right amazing and however you put it, some credit has to go to the coach.

Can We Really Land Big Z

2010-02-26T18:25:02Z

I hope so. At first I was adverse to the move, but if the AJC is right then I may be okay with it. The AJC hinted that if we were to get Ilgauskus (sp?) then he would be our starting center, Josh would move to the 3 and Horford to the 4. Josh and Al moving positions would be the biggest impact of the move, especially if Josh continues to hit his jumpers. Even then, Z is a jump shooter, thus he can stretch the defense and allow Josh and Al to post up the smaller defenders. The key is, can Z guard the opposing teams big man which is our issue. At his size you would assume so. Overall, I would welcome him if this were the situation especially for the veteran minimum. Could we win a championship, not sure, but I think we could get to the conference finals (possibly).

Now after all this typing, do we have a real shot to get him? The only reason Z does not return to Cleveland is playing time. He won't get much in Cleveland if he returns. If the big man still thinks he can go, we have a legitimate shot at him, but so does Utah, Denver and Dallas. Stay tuned!!!

The Hawks Dilemma

2010-02-24T20:40:59Z

When I am talking to one of my co-workers about the Hawks, the question that always crosses my mind is, can this current group win a championship this year or in the near future? The problem is, I don't feel comfortable enough to answer yes for either. Why? What can the Hawks do to push themselves over the top and reach the pinnacle?

Most NBA analyst you listen to would say that they are one big man away. Here is the dilemma, if we get that big man, what happens to Josh and Al. Would one of them be comfortable enough going to the bench? If you have to trade one of them, which would it be? Is there a guy coming in the upcoming draft that can fill the void off the bench? I believe the Hawks are better when they play inside out, but we are undersized. I think most agree that we don't want to break up the core, but we may have to in order to get that missing big man. The only guys I think could help would be Marcus Camby or Amare Stoudemire, but what would the Hawks have to give up to get them and what would that mean to the core. Also, unlike the top teams, the Hawks don't have the money to throw around because our money is invested in our core players and Spirit Group do not have the money to spend anyway.

Also, I like Woody, but one of the other bloggers hit it on the head when he said that he has reached his ceiling as a coach. My hope is that this dilemma can be solved by a change in leadership that will get the most out of this talent. I believe the Hawks have one of the top starting lineups in the league and a pretty good bench. However, it appears that the starters are overplayed and the bench is underutilized.

Lastly is Joe Johnson. Is he really the superstar that can get the Hawks to a title? If you lose him in the offseason, who replaces him? From what I am hearing, if Joe walks, the Hawks would only have $10 million available for a free agent (please check me on this if you have better data). In that case, you are not going to get an upper tier start to replace him. Do you spend that $10 million to improve your bench and start Jamal? Can you bring back J-Chill? If Joe is gone, will Marvin step up?

Just some thoughts, but I ask everyone here, can this group win a title now or in the near future? If not what should we do to get there? Fifty win seasons are okay, but I am hoping we can win a championship.

Offseason possibilities if we lose Joe Johnson.

2010-02-17T16:19:24Z

Well i've been pondering what we will do in FA if we lose Joe Johnson. I'm still open for a trade maybe we could aquire Devin Harris if NJ get's LeBron and John Wall. Othr possibilities might be Jamison, or maybe Teague could step in. For FA I have no idea because we won't be getting one of the big boys for sure. Please can someone tell me some of the FA possibilities if we lose JJ, I really can't think of any. And any trade ideas would be grea to hear as well!

NBA TRADE

2010-02-16T19:39:44Z

Hey guys this is bballplayer123, how come the Hawks are not in the trade disscusions, we really do need a big man, I'm a little worried because the Hawks might not be able to beat the teams with new players, like cleveland trying to get Amare Stoudmire, so my question is, will the Hawks be able to play their game and keep on winning more games or will they lose more

I am a Hawks fan =)

Jamal’s shoulder injury!!!!!

2010-02-16T18:28:50Z

Well I understand Jamal is back to normal and will be playing against the clippers tomorrow night. That is great relief. But inquiring minds want to know what happened. I mean he is injured with zero notice (I was at the Heat game and had no idea where he was) and he is back without missing any other time after ASG. In the middle there is a long break. I hope he doesn’t have any more shoulder problems, because we can’t afford it (this season is weird, first the eyebrows gone, now this).

So here are some theories about this conspiracy, I welcome feedback

1. Sounds like when someone wants to take time off work and calls in sick on a Friday. Except, Jamal has so much goodwill that he could easily ask for a personal day(s) off, and be granted. Nevertheless, may be he just wanted time off from it all

2. Sund wanted to see how JJ performs without Jamal. So he can tell him 15M or hit the road. Bad timing old Sund, because JJ was coming back from a flu (so we hear) and didn’t JJ carry this team past few years before Jamal?

3. Sund wants to see Woody work without Jamal. So he can tell him hey you can’t coach minus Jamal. Well that supposes Hawks have a bench, do we? Old Sund you forgot to get Woody a good big man(long sighs with Camby and Haywood almost gone or gone), or a point guard who is fast and is not overweight – hint hint

4. Jamal wants a good contract in a year’s time, so he is trying to show how valuable he is to the team. Jamal we get the point, please no more shoulder injuries while you sleep.

5. Jamal really needs a better bed to sleep on. JJ should pay for that. This is my vote.

Thoughts?

Joe Johnson Would Love to Re-sign With The Hawks

2010-02-13T19:00:50Z

http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/64664/20100213/johnson_would_love_to_re_sign_with_hawks/

new article in realgm dated 2/13/2010^^

Excited to hear that he has a better chance of staying in ATL. Hopefully he is committed to staying, which might also put his team mates at ease. Any thoughts hawksfans? how do you feel about his claims? I would still love to be able to land D wade but I highly doubt it. Maybe we still need a new coach to fully utilize our roster.

Lost Child

2010-02-09T02:50:31Z

Hi, I'm stopping in from Fear The Sword (Cleveland Cavs blog) to see if the parents of one of your posters, atlantalove want to pick him up as he apparently got lost (maybe ran away?) and wondered over to our blog and posted ~~this~~ ~~(the post has been removed, thankfully~~)....~~(oh, wait here, apparently atlantalove has returned and posted this over at Fear The Sword).~~ And removed once again). Please see for his well being as he was quite angry in his posting.

Now since I'm here and now done with the unfortunate trolling. I wanted to ask what kind of response Atlanta fans would have if a spot opens up on the All Star roster (maybe Paul Pierce will be out) and Josh Smith wasn't added? He's been a 8.9 WARP player thus far...that's pretty damn good. Where as if another Cleveland player was added neither Mo Williams or Shaquille O'Neal (the most likely two players) have a WARP above 4. I think Smith should be in instead of Paul Pierce anyways, he's simply played better thus far.

One last question, the way things are shaping up the second seed is completely up for grabs (Orlando is down 15 pts at home vs. New Orleans as I write this), what I'm wondering is of the potential first round match ups, which team (if any) would Atlanta want to avoid, not necessarily that they would lose/be upset by this team, but that would be a bad match up and push the series longer than you'd like. Charlotte, Chicago, Miami, Milwaukee, Toronto, Boston (hey, its possible that they slip right!). I know for the Cavs it would be Charlotte due to the frustration they cause for our offense and their solid home record. Miami or Milwaukee would be preferable as they are both weak teams that look like they'd fold after going down two games in a series.

Game knows Game

2010-02-08T13:38:24Z

Saw this online and it is very interesting. A recent poll of NBA players show that Joe Johnson is the most under-rated player.

He may be a four-time All-Star, but according to Johnson's colleagues, he's vastly underappreciated. The Hawks' shooting guard, who leads his team in scoring and assists this season, garnered 8.9 percent in a recent SI poll of the most underrated players in the league (the survey of 190 players was conducted in late 2009).

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/1002/nba.underrated.players/content.1.html#ixzz0ex2l5Jh6
What do you think? Do you think even the ATL fans are underrating him?

Morpheus, neo, Matrix, Smoove, and Tyler Thomas

2010-02-07T15:09:26Z

Morpheus, neo, Matrix and Smoove and Tyler Thomas

Reading comments that Smoove made after the Chicago game, something stood out, “The game has slowed down for me now”. It reminds me of the movie Matrix and how Morpheus (Woody??) kept telling Neo(Smoove) you have to know who you are and believe in yourself. Until finally in the subway scene, Neo stops running, starts fighting the agent, and at the end solves the Matrix when things are obvious to him and slowed down.

To me Neo (Smoove??) has finally figured it out. He has become the ONE. The game is not about thunderous dunks (beautiful and exciting as they are) or glorious blocks (momentum changing). It is more about defense, rebounding, and being the brains (QB on a super bowl morning) of the Hawks. More than anything, the ball needs to go through Neo (Smoove) for Hawks to reach the destination of winning the east. Smoove is now getting close to King and Kobe land. Only a consistent 15-20 footer separating him from that.

It must be an eye opener, to us, to Neo, to Morpheus, to the entire basketball loving world, the changes in the young man that left high school to enter NBA. He is now believing in himself, and has solved the Matrix. Thoughts?

One last thing, thinking of Smoove, my heart goes to that young man of the south Tyler Thomas playing for that God awful coach and the Cows. I just read he is now suspended for conduct detrimental to the team. He so reminds me of Smoove, the flying, the shot blocking (yep the goal tending calls) of the young smoove. Except he is being not allowed to fly. Get him back to the south, get him back to the Hawks.

Love it Or Hate it Flaws and All

2010-02-04T18:00:51Z

Josh Smith's Jumpshot v.s. Joe Johnsons Isolation

Okay, I contradict myself so much on these two topics that it should be a crime. The main reason I hate and love these two moves is because I have been watching these players for a very long time and its hard not to criticize your favorite players. Its no secret Josh's game has grown, but we all know when we see him set his feet we all start to cringe at the possibility of that brick.

Although, there are occasional times where I want him to take that shot which is a reason unknown to me. He is getting better at this jumper and now I have to bite my tongue to the best of my ability because that jumper on a consistent basis could mean smoove will be unstoppable.

(Im still cringing looking at him)

Now jj is my screen saver and my first hawks jersey(after 'nique of course), but I cant shake the urge to want him to pass it. Although when he has games like against oklahoma and the clippers, who am I to criticize? Right? JJ has been in the league long enough to gain respect for everything he does although there are bitter sweet effects to his game. I have learned to live with them but cant help wonder if he did this or that..........

What the hawks need to improve on

2010-02-04T01:35:11Z

Fire Mike Woodson. Sure, he's brought the hawks from a 13 win team to a top contender in the east, but was it really him? Any coach given that amount of talent to work with can at least do something win it. What has he done? He's set up a primitive defense and a primitive offense. Our defense consists of switching... ON EVERYTHING..... I mean, switching is a great strength of ours because from our SG to C the players are generally the same height, but switching should be selective. Why do we switch Bibby and Hortford? Switches that cause mismatches like that should only be done towards the end of the shot clock. I've seen many plays where bibby has ended up guarding a PF or joe has ended up guarding a Center, and i would forgive them if it happened once or twice, but it happens so many times more that that... He's defensive minded but he doesn't have the mind to teach it. Why can't he switch it up every once in awhile and put a zone defense. That way the Bibby hole on defense would be less obvious On offense it's just a lot of plays to get someone open for a pass so that they can do an isolation play, or run the ball. Running the ball is really good for the hawks, but it can't be done every single time without a great PG, but what structure is there in our offense? none.

One thing that fires me up about mike woodson is that he never develops any rookies. You can make an argument for Hortford and smith, but what has he actually taught them? Smith still relies heavily on his athleticism and can't even use it correctly, and hortford was a very sound player who went to college for four years. Hortford's development has come naturally. Smith has not actually gotten better unless he was working with players such as hakeem olajuwon on footwork and such. With marvin, he has not gotten better at anything that deals with team skills, such as passing, positioning, rebounding, etc.... but he has developed one on one skills such as shooting, which he already had a great shooting for when he came into the league, but after saying all of this.. what has mike woodson done for them? A great coach, or even a good coach develops players at least somewhat.. Any spurs player improves greatly when playing under Greg Popovich. In fact, greg popovich makes use of any player he has to the greatest he possibly can. If oberto was on any other team, then no one would ever have heard of him. Manu and Parker were both 2nd round nobodies. What happened to Nazr Mohammed when he left the spurs? Everyone on the spurs knows how to defend and pass. Why can't Mike Woodson take the time to develop any young players... How many rookies have become successful under mike woodson... i can name 3. How many have disappeared into free agent oblivion? What happened to Salim? What happened to Roy al Ivey? What happened to Donta Smith? Where is Solomon Jones? Sheldon Williams????? Boris Diaw showed quite a gifted display of skill after he left the hawks. I feel really bad for Acie Law, who was a lottery pick. Josh Childress may have developed, but that was just from getting used to the NBA.. He honestly never really improved. Mike, play teague more, play bibby less, teach them how to play basketball!!!!!! with the talent josh smith has... he should be a definite allstar... he should be considered to be a part of the elite. may be a lot of it is his fault, but this doesn't take away the fault of Woodson. What happened to Marvin? if he was playing with another coach, his development would have been much better.

Now with individual players, there must be much more improvement. First starts with Josh Smith, the backbone of the team. He is the most important because when he is having a great game, everyone else is having a great game. He has the ability to change the momentum of the game and bring the hawks an enormous amount of energy. However, if this occurred more often the hawks would be the team to beat. First of all, Josh needs to improve his jumpshot. He needs to have a 15-17 footer that goes in consistently so that players cannot sag off of him. That way he can take advantage of the mismatches he poses every game. No PF can stay in front of Smith. If there is one, then they will not be strong enough, most likely. With that jumper, he needs improved ball handling skills in order to take advantage of his speed. That way he can drive past defenders even without a jumpshot. then josh needs to take it to the basket with full speed and power. He needs to go up STRONG and aggressively. No one can compete with his height and vertical. He needs to dunk more often because he obviously has the ability to, and not just on fast breaks but in half court situations. He needs to play like chris bosh and KG and Amare, but also a little hint of Lebron. With the jumpshot and ball handling, he needs to improve on his touch around the basket. He misses a lot of lay ups and he relies heavily on his left hand. He needs to be adept with both hands and must also develop a reliable little hook shot. Also he needs to learn a face up, high-post game, like boozer, but also learn a back-to-basket, low post game, like a time duncan. Josh already has good passing ability shown with his 3.7 assists a game which is leading the league in the PF spot, but his passing is more because of natural vision. the accuracy of his passes are pretty iffey, but once josh become good enough offensively to be double teamed, his passes would help open up teammates which will make him even more of a player that gets the team going.

Joe Johnson needs many improvements, but none of them are skill. Skill wise, he could just use a little improvement in passing and shooting and whatnot, but his main issues deal with his mentality. If he got 8 FT a game scoring would be so much easier for him he would average around 2 or 3 more points just from free throws. He should play more aggressively and draw some fouls. When he posts up, no one can effectively guard him except a few 2s and 3s. He never takes advantage of that and just waits for a double team to come, but if he just took advantage and used the post up to score instead of just drawing a double team then the double teams would come harder creating more open shots for other players, he just needs to stop isolating, and make quick aggressive moves to the basket. His floaters are great, but he rarely does it. He shoots his floater less often than he should. He also has a nice baby hook and a nice shooting touch. if he learns a fade away, then the double team would come earlier and passing it would be easier. If the pass is made early the ball movement should be quicker. Also i often see JJ miss some wide open threes. the majority of his points come from pull ups after a lot of over dribbling. he needs to establish an aggressive tempo to start off then just score off of easy buckets with cuts and fast breaks and some little post ups or an open jumper, then towards the final minutes of the game take over with isolations. When the tempo is established he should just be more of a facilitator, until the tempo is broken or his scoring domination is needed. Also, when he is double teamed, then he should pass it out quickly with will call for quicker ball movement and scrambling of the defense.

Marvin Williams is another key for the hawks. He has the ability, but doesn't use it. He needs to play like how he played last year. when he gets the ball, he should take it to the hole and get a foul call. he needs to use his athleticism in this point of his career and make a few cuts every now and then. Mike woodson should have a couple of plays a game to get marvin going offensively. That way it'll open up more for the other team members. Also, his threes have improved, but he should keep improving them. That way, he can be a defensive player that can shoot threes and slash to the basket, but also a scorer that can score on will when he is on fire. he should play like Paul Pierce. They have similar body structures. Marvin needs to get stronger and get ball handling so that he can use it to get past any defender. also he needs to be able to post up, just like paul pierce and absolutely bully defenders.

Al Hortford needs to keep shooting that mid range. He needs to get it to a point where you must absolutely defend that shot. Also, defensively, since he's a little undersized, he needs to play like a Ben Wallace, and just defend with that kind of intensity and energy. Hortford is a decent passer but he could use a little more work on that. Also, he needs to get more back to basket moves, as long as high post moves, and perform them with more fluidity. Another thing is he could use better ball handling skill because he loses control of the ball often which prevents him from beating his defender as well as he could. He just needs to learn the post game, and how to score without using brute strength. His fadeaways should go in more considering his shooting touch, but if he can make his fadeaway a deadly weapon then it'll become, well, a deadly weapon. He needs to execute his offensive moves with more fluidity. His moves seem a bit rigid as of now. He should be like a Zach Randolph, or Amare Stoudemire. Zach randolph does not have overpowering height or strength or athleticism. He is like a big man version of andre miller. Stoudemire can score with skill and athleticism. If hortford can use his athleticism(not as good as Stoudemires but solid athleticism) and also score with skill then he'd be a pretty deadly offensive force.

Jeff Teague needs to learn a lot in the next 2 years from Mike Bibby and Jamal Crawford. He also needs to learn how to become his own player. Take the positives and leave the negatives. If Teague can become a respectible defensive player and offensive player, then i can see the hawks becoming the team to beat within a couple of years. As Bibby steps down, i'd want a PG just like him offensively, but better defensively. However, teague is also pretty athletic, so he needs to learn the PG position: understanding tempo, momentum, ball distribution, how and when to pass, and decision making. then become a scorer second, which he already has shown talent of. His jumpshot is sort of low, and he sort of palms the shot so it doesn't get much rotation. As a result i don't see him becoming a great shooter, but he can become a good shooter. With all that he should be a PG that can drive the ball in like no other. He needs some ball handling moves that can get him pass any player. Learn how to run the pick and roll. He needs a reliable floater. He should get stronger without losing his speed.

ZAZA needs to further develop his 15 foot jumper. Recently he's been showing signs of a nice shooting touch. Also, when he gets the ball he needs to make an aggressive move to the basket, and learn some post moves. I love the way ZAZA shows and plays with so much intensity. If he shows more offensive production, he can fire up the team, as well as contribute more to the offense.

All the other players are already developed or have no problems that can really be fixed. Mike Bibby is too old and he's a veteran that won't really improve, unless he suddenly pulls a steve nash. Crawford just needs to keep doing what he's doing. He's not the perfect player, and he doesn't always take the smartest shots, but most teams need a player like him, who can absolutely explode on offense. Mo Evans has shown great shooting touch, and pretty sruprising athleticism, but he does not have the ball handling skills to use those skills to the fullest. He could also learn a little post game since he's pretty strong, but Mo evans is pretty old also and probably will not improve. Mario West can improve though. With watching him, he seems to have an extremely similar body style to dwayne wade, and he is really strong and very athletic. If he could develop ball handling, shooting, offensive awareness, and coordination, then he could become a potent offensive force. His defense also needs some work. Sure he is considered a good defensive player, but he only has to play in like 1-2 minute stretches and he tends to foul a lot. He shows great anticipation in rebounding. He seems to be really quick, and explosive, but he's already 25, and it's highly unlikely that he will develop those skills.

Trade Idea( I came up with it out of the blue)

2010-02-04T01:20:02Z

Well i just thought of a trade idea out of nowhere and it doesn't sound rediculous

Here go's...

We all know that New Jersey sucks and that they want the #1 pick and LeBron. Also John Wall is a PG/SG like Harris. Plus We know that JJ is a FA next year and will cost big $ to bring him back( although i think we very well could)

So the trade go like

We give NJ Teague or Morris and 1st round picks in 2010 and 2011in return we get Devin Harris( 8.4 million this year, but his salary will sky rocket soon)

It makes sense from both sides we get an all-star SG/PG and NJ gets a good yong player and picks, and they dump Harris' cash so they can pay John Wall( who they will draft if they win lottery) and they hav surplus money to get LeBron in FA

Whatcha think of this proposal?

Time for a line-up change...or something!

2010-02-03T19:54:19Z

I didn't watch a lot of the Hawks game last night, cause Lost was on and I was looking forward to the season premiere. When I did flip to the game, I saw that the hawks were in a tie game in the first quarter, half, and somehow tied it in the fourth. I was for sure they would have a climatic ending but when I turned back, OKC was up 7 and on the free throw line. The end was at hand.

Hawk starters 1 steal, Thunder starters 8 steals.
Westbrook had more rebounds than anyone on our team and more offensive rebounds(that kills me).
The refs apparently have selective vision.

Looking at the recap provided by hawksdawg, it appeared that "Durantula" struck again. And I thought why didn't they get it out of his hands to begin with? Then I thought, when have the hawks ever did that to a star player? It also appears rebounding and slashing point guards still gives us trouble, which for the life of me I cannot undestand that. We have a defensive minded coach that PREACHES defense every single game. Yet the hawks lack aggressiveness in that aspect. I would think a great defensive mind would know, that the kind of offense currently run is just what defenses thrive on. A great defensive mind would also know how to counter its weaknesses from being exploited ever single game.

But let's think as if the coach is more competent than what we think. Maybe he is telling the team exactly what they need to do to win. Maybe he tells them exactly what we talk about every day here. So what's missing? What kind of leadership do we need on the floor?

With possible injuries to a couple of reserves in the lineup at the ASG, who will their replacements be?

2010-02-03T13:32:11Z

If Chris Paul and Paul Pierce are really hurt, who is going to take their spot on the roster? Who gets to decide? If I'm not mistaken, I think it's the Commissioner. Who should get those spots? PP has a forward position and CP3 has a PG position. I would love to JC and Smoove, but there is no way in hell they'll allow that many Hawks to represent the ASG. Jeff Van Gundy said he thought JC should have gotten a spot on the roster and I tend to agree, but for motivation and reassurance, Smoove needs this more than JC. Who do you think they'll pick?

How to win against Orlando

2010-02-02T04:21:28Z

There is one word to say this: RUN. When we have a good number of fast break points, we win. Take it to Dwight Howard, may be he won't get into foul trouble, but at least make him conscious of fouls. Tire out dwight howard, and make him move his feet on defense and make him work for everything on offense. I do not particularly want to double team dwight because Orlando has too many shooters to worry about, but i'd rather have hortford play him straight up and play some one on one defense. I honestly trust hortford that much. also a lot of the reason was because of jameer nelson running the pick and roll pretty effectively. i think they need to learn how to stop that particular pick and roll. Also, don't foul him..... I mean it's a great strategy to foul him, but the hawks fouled him too many times in the last game. he took 18 free throws, which is absolutely absurd. also, do your work early. front him and make him get the ball further than he is comfortable with. many players just give up. don't get me wrong, he's going to get the ball but when you make every little thing hard for him, those things build up. one block isn't going to change the game, but 20 poke aways will. it's really about the little things. i think the reason why the hawks lose is because dwight has such a huge presence in the lane, unlike any other defender. so make it hard for him and just take it to him. just straight up attack him and if he doesn't foul out tired him out. give it to hortford in the post and let him just bang with him down there. we have the depth now so just let our bigs bang him up. then on offense play our regular game, but may be a little more aggressive. i think the hawks lack the ability to draw fouls. also since dwight howard is a shot blocker, it's good to pump fake a lot. it either gets him in the air or it will freeze him up, over pump faking is not good though. we also need a lot of ball movement to get the defense moving. may be set up a lot of pick and rolls to get dwight howard moving a lot more than he would like to.

THE MAGIC PROBLEM IS PSYCHOLOGICAL

2010-02-01T13:11:20Z

I have a feeling that the problem the Hawks are having with the magic is not tactical but psychology. Dwight Howard dominates 90% of the centers in the league but the Magic does not blowout 90% of the teams in the league on a consistent basis.

The Magic have lost to Detroit, Miami( multiple times),Phoenix,Utah and Oklahoma. All these teams have "small" centers that Dwight can dominate easily so Dwight dominating Horford is not the problem.

The problem is :

1. After multiple blowouts, the Hawks play tight against the magic.

2. When magic makes 3's, you can feel the Hawks players getting deflated.

3. When Dwight blocks a shot, the player do not take it to the basket but settle or adjust their shot to avoid being blocked. The best way to play a shot blocker is to take it to him .

4. The 2 games in Orlando were back to backs after emotional wins over the Celtics.

The Hawks have the same problem with Boston over the last 2 years( the Hawks were swept by the Celtics over the last 2 years in the regular season). The Hawks beat the Magic last year in Orlando so we can do it again. We just need to be more focused and loose.Despite the blowouts, I would prefer to see the Magic in the second round of the playoffs instead of the Cavaliers.

My Dream Player

2010-02-01T12:49:26Z

Time for me to dream. If there was one player i think that would put the Hawks over the top and even make them contest against Cleveland for the best record in the league, it would be Billups. I know right now Denver would not deal him but just imagine if we had gotten him when he was being shopped by the Pistons for expiring contracts?

He would be Woody's dream point guard. On offense , he can do all the things that Bibby does and more i.e pass, score,run the offense and also be effective without dominating the ball. Joe needs to dominate the ball to be effective so a point guard like Chris Paul that needs the ball to be effective might not be a good pair with Joe.Heck he can even score by backing down his defender ( which Bibby cannot do due to his size).

Oh and he is a 6ft 4 point guard !! Woody can "Switch ALL "on D with minimal mismatches.!I Hawks would have no clear weakness on offense or defense. With a 6ft4 and 6ft8 guard, our backcourt would be a mismatch for 90% of the teams in the league.

When you have his intangibles like leadership and clutch play, this would be a match made in heaven..

Oh ..time for me to wake up!!! What do y'all think?

Poll

Who is your dream player ?

BILLUPS! -

6 votes

NOBODY- WE ARE GOOD AS WE ARE

3 votes

A 7FT PLAYER ... ANY 7FT PLAYER !!!

6 votes

SOMEONE ELSE

2 votes

17 votes | Poll has closed

What makes the Atlanta Hawks fun to watch?

2010-01-31T23:44:09Z

Every time the Hawks play, I like to visit the blog sites of the opposing teams. More and more I see comments about how people like to watch this team play. I think this is evident by more nationally televised games. I even saw this on the Celtic's blog after our last game. So what do you guys thinks? Is it the highlight dunks of Smoove? Is it Jamal's killer crossover? Is it Joe's silky fall away jumper? All of a sudden the national media is paying attention to the Atlanta Hawks and I'm curious as to why that is.