Atlanta Hawks Blog

Sweet Jesus I Hate The Celtics

2008-12-18T11:35:00.002-05:00

I can't be bothered to actually write any posts, so I will instead link over to a lengthy comment I made in response to a post on Braves & Birds. Attending a game in person will certainly give you a different perspective.

I'm still following the team, but I don't have much to contribute to the conversation that isn't being done superbly on the other Hawks blogs. I find it interesting that the best analysis by far does not come from the AJC. It's not even close at this point.

Change I Can't Believe In

2008-10-29T10:20:00.004-05:00

So we've seen some big changes this offseason. The starting 5 is the same as it was at the end of last year, but the bench is radically different. Marvin "Sexual Healing" Williams is officially a deserving starter. Josh 2 has now become "Josh". What will happen to this team? Micah Hart from the Hawks asked me and others to participate in another blogger roundtable, asking "What will it take for the Hawks to make a repeat appearance in the postseason in 2008-09?"

My response:

For the Hawks to make it to the postseason again, a few things will need to fall into place. Assuming we can count on Al Horford and Joe Johnson putting on the hard hats again, the rest of the team still has lingering question marks. Most importantly, Mike Bibby needs to become a leader on offense. We saw flashes of it last year, but his ability to knock down open threes and put the ball in the hands of Marvin and Josh when they are cutting to the basket make the entire offense better. Woodson seemed to trust Bibby to handle it, and hopefully that continues. Here's hoping that Bibby's struggles stem from injury and not from age.
Speaking of the two young forwards, Marvin and Josh need to become big time leaders this year. If they both have an off night, it is really tough for this Hawks team to win. We all know that Marvin and Josh have the ability to take over a game on offense, and we've even seen Josh do it a few times. For the Hawks to return to the playoffs, both of these guys need to have great years. Both.
Finally, the bench needs to be strong. I have confidence in Acie Law, but he needs to see minutes and then do something with those minutes. Flip Murray needs to put up some good +/- numbers for me to feel better about losing one of the most productive 6th men in the league. The rest of the bench is mostly unproven, and inevitable injuries to< the starting 5 will push some of them to the front. If Joe Johnson misses 2 weeks and the team goes 1-7, that obviously makes the playoffs an even more difficult goal. This team is still very thin, so everyone staying healthy could make the bench seem that much better.

A few other notes on my mind:

As a pathetic excuse for an NBA fan, I have to desperately figure out who the hell Ronald Murray is and why I should be afraid for the Hawks.

"The Consensus" seems to be that Mike Bibby is too old and is on the decline. I'm not convinced he wasn't just really hampered by injury. I could be wrong.

I think Acie Law is for real. I'm not convinced Mike Woodson will let him play. I am worried for Acie Law.

How good is Al Horford? Can he actually improve? Is this guy ready to be an all-star?

What if everyone on the team bought in to Woodson's defensive plan, and it really did create an offense based on quick transitions?

Is this bench awful, like everyone says? Or is it awesome, like Sekou and Hawks officials say?

Josh 1 Is Gone

2008-07-23T10:11:00.002-05:00

Ridiculous. The sweet passing, the off-the-ball runs, the beautiful 'fro... gone forever. Josh Childress is going to play professional basketball in Greece for Olympiakos.

Sekou has the coverage.

Hoopinion weighs in.

I can only hope that Josh Childress shares his opinions on the Atlanta Hawks in a brutally honest fashion. We can't possibly expect good answers from the people involved with the franchise.

This is one of the most damning actions of a franchise in the history of the NBA. If you think this isn't an indictment of the coach, GM and ownership then you are fooling yourself. It is clear that the only way out of this mess is for someone to come in and buy the team from the Atlanta Spirit, for they are fools. They will say that they offered Childress a better deal than he could have hoped for in the NBA, but can you blame the guy for not wanting to play for a coach that can barely construct sentences, much less a real NBA offense?

Josh Childress, you will be missed.

I invite everyone to join me in buying a Josh Childress Olympiakos jersey and wearing it on opening night.

Knight is Gone, What Next?

2008-05-12T08:45:00.003-05:00

[You might have noticed the disgusting green background on the site for the last week. Say what you will about this blog, but I don't welch on bets. -Matt]

Billy Knight has resigned, effective July 1. Amazingly he leaves on a high note, having put together a pretty good 2007 about which I have no complaints. He had a great draft (picking the guys I wanted), made a smart trade for Bibby, and tried to fire Mike Woodson several times. All around, pretty good. With all the weirdness surrounding the ownership, I can't really blame Knight for not signing Josh Smith before the season started.

The most horrible of rumors has appeared in several places- Hollinger mentioned it online and Sekou talked about it in the AJC: Billy King might be the front runner for the GM position and Woodson might not be losing his job. Needless to say, that is probably the worst thing that could happen to this franchise. Wasn't Billy King FIRED for being a REALLY BAD GM? Didn't the Hawks only win 37 games with a roster that was able to take Boston the distance? I have no choice. I am going to have to track down Michael Gearon, Jr. and talk some sense into him.

Stay tuned, dear readers...

The most one-sided 7 game series ever

2008-05-05T05:47:00.002-05:00

Is it possible for an underdog 8 seed to take a world class team to 7 games and be embarrassed? Yes we can! On the plus side, it's much easier to fire Woodson when the team took a dump like that in the final game. Guess what- when your only offense is generated in transition because your team is very young and athletic, but you have no half court offense and you can't stop great teams with your defense (even though your coach is a "defensive specialist", then you are not a good coach. Perhaps the NBA is not for you. At the very least, the Atlanta Hawks are not for you.

I would like to take a few moments to celebrate this Hawks team, however. This series was unexpected, to say the least. They deserve all the credit in the world for making the playoffs in a *cough cough* stacked Eastern Conference, but then to deliver this kind of entertainment to their fans... I'm not going to name names, because every player on the team busted their butts to try and win. I have nothing but respect for the players. Coach Woodson cares and he really did do his best, so he deserves some respect for that, too. Steve Belkin only deserves a pie in the face (along with the 2008 first round draft pick from Atlanta).

There's nothing I can say about the Celtics that Jeff at CelticsBlog hasn't said already. When they put their minds to it, they are an amazing team. Kevin Garnett does not deserve the rap that he gets- the man is an unbelievable player and the Hawks could not stop him. He could have scored 100 points a game if Doc Rivers had been smart enough to let him. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are not the players they once were, but what they are is still freaking good. Good luck to them- they may not lose another game until the finals, since Cleveland, Detroit and Orlando don't gt to play in Atlanta.

Hawks fans can do something they haven't been able to do in a long time- hold their head up high. If anyone says something about putting up the worst shooting percentage in a game 7 in the shot clock era, just mumble something about the coach and then start talking about Joe Johnson's performance in game 4.

Decent Win

2008-04-29T08:38:00.002-05:00

The Celtics put up a good game, but the ending was what we all expected. Joe Johnson had a typical game, scoring 42 consecutive times in the 4th quarter on his way to 200 points. Josh Smith blocked a dozen 3 pointers, and decapitated Rajon Rondo at least twice by my count. The classic Hotlanta crowd was in attendance, cheering their butts off for the best team in the NBA.

You think Josh Smith cares that the Celtics are the best team in the NBA? Josh Smith doesn't give a rat's ass. He's at home right now eating ice cream and watching Judge Judy.

You think Al Horford cares about the Celtics? He's doing pushups right now, thinking about grabbing his own rebound and stuffing it in Paul Pierce's face.

You think Joe Johnson cares about the Celtics? He's hustling at a pool hall right now, sipping on bourbon while wearing a smoking jacket and talking to your mom on his cell phone.

You think Mike Woodson cares about the Celtics? He doesn't even know what team the Hawks are playing next. He can't believe the "let Joe Johnson dribble past everybody and score by himself" play worked 10 times in a row.

Above all else, last night was a really good game. I haven't had that much fun watching a Hawks game in years. The fact that they won was just bonus. I was a little embarrassed by the streamers coming down at the end of the game- I was hoping that the rules had changed, and that the underdog only needs to win 2 games in order to win the best-of-7 series, but apparently somebody still needs to win 2 more games. I'd like to see the Hawks hold their own again in game 6, but as always, we will see.

No matter what happens, the shine and swagger are gone from the Celtics. They may be the best team in the league, but they are going to have to earn the championship.

CelticsBlog.com Pays Up

2008-04-28T19:06:00.001-05:00

Read 300 words about the glory that is the Atlanta Hawks

I'm not holding my breath for another 300 words, but here's hoping. No draft picks this year, so there is literally nothing to lose.

300

2008-04-27T06:18:00.003-05:00

Jeff- to paraphrase Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon (caught it on TCM last night), if you don't got my 300 words, then get 'em.

Ridiculous game last night from Josh Smith and the Hawks. The team was fired up and could do no wrong, it seemed. The Celtics were terrible on offense and the Hawks finally made some shots- although I think every shot that didn't go in was either an air ball or clanged off the side of the rim. Seriously, shots were either fantastic or horrendous.

Does anybody else get a weird vibe from the Joe Johnson - Mike Bibby relationship? It looks like Joe didn't want to give it up to Bibby, and didn't want him taking the ball up the court, either. Consequently, Bibby ended up having to force some shots to try and stay in the rhythm- it was weird.

Let's be honest- Josh Smith isn't going to play like that every night. And every Hawks fan out there knows he's going to keep hoisting those shots, though.

I thought the biggest key to last night was the Hawks best 5 guys playing for a long stretch in the third quarter, and they finished with the most number of minutes- Joe Johnson, Al Horford, Josh Smith, Josh Childress and Mike Bibby (they were each over +13). Bring in Marvin (-9) to rest any player on that squad, with the occasional Pachulia or Law sighting, and you've got a decent team that can compete.

Hoopinion must have been happy to see Solomon Jones get on the court at the end of the 3rd quarter to give up an easy bucket at the buzzer. You can take the Woodson out of the something or other, but you can't take the something or other out of the Woodson.

BREAKING NEWS

2008-04-23T09:52:00.003-05:00

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2008/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=mavshorntetsgame2_080422

There is a rumor going around that the Celtics have a new strategy centered around containing Marvin Williams- on defense they will single-team him and let him shoot 22-foot fadeaway jumpers, and offense they will post up and dunk on him. Clever!

Game 1 Breakdown

2008-04-21T08:20:00.002-05:00

So, that kind of sucks. That's about the best the Hawks could play, I think. Their defense was the best it's been all year, but their shots weren't falling. Part of that could be jitters- it looks like Joe Johnson was pressing last night. Bibby was apparently dealing with a thigh injury, so he gets a pass. Josh Smith and Marvin Williams were their usual selves, shooting a combined 5-17. The Hawks held KG, Paul Pierce and Jesus to 18-43, so give credit where it's due.

Here is the post I expect to read on Hoopinion:
Josh Smith gets some credit for being yanked with 2 fouls in the first quarter and not returning until the second half. Does Mike Woodson ever learn? One of the best players on your team plays 24 minutes and finishes with 4 fouls? Inexcusable. He should be fired for sitting Smith for a quarter. Even if he was chucking up 22 footers. It was also great to see Mario West play the final 30 seconds of the first half, so that he could completely miss a wide open 12 footer at the buzzer. As we all know, the final 30 seconds don't actually count, though.

The Wager / 5 Questions

2008-04-18T06:29:00.006-05:00

I have a small wager going with Jeff Clark of CelticsBlog.com. If (when) the Celtics win the series, this site is going "green" for a week. If the Hawks win, Jeff will write a 500 word essay about each player on the Hawks, extolling their greatness. He has even thrown in an offer to write 300 words about the greatness of the team for every win they get. Here's hoping.

We also exchanged 5 questions and answered them for each other. Here are his answers to my questions:

Hotlanta Matt: During or after last season, did you ever, in your wildest dreams, imagine that the Celtics would be the favorites to win the NBA championship this year?

Jeff: Short answer: No. However, as longtime CelticsBlog readers can attest, I've been angling for a Kevin Garnett for a couple seasons before it happened. It was about the only scenario I could imagine anything like this happening. It is, quite litterally a dream come true for me and many fans.

Hotlanta Matt: Other than the Pistons, what team in the Eastern Conference do you think has the best chance of knocking off the Celtics?

Jeff: Right now I have to say the Wizards, only because they took 3 out of 4 games against us. For some reason, they seem to match up well against us and they've just played great against the C's this year. I still think that in a 7 game playoff series the Celtics would win, but the Wiz would be a tough out.

Hotlanta Matt: Despite what Vegas might say, do you think the Celtics should be favored to win a 7 game series against every team in the Western Conference playoffs?

Jeff: There's something to be said about the fact that all those teams have become battle tested against each other. On the other hand, come June whoever comes out of there is going to be battle weary as well. So you could make a case that whoever comes out of the East (hopefully the Celtics) will have an edge. Besides, I consider the Celtics the best team in the NBA, so they should be favored over anyone in any series. I hope I worded that in a way that is confident yet won't anger the jinx police.

Hotlanta Matt: Did you know the Hawks could have drafted Glen Davis instead of renting Anthony Johnson?

Jeff: Anthony who? A lot of teams passed on Big Baby, no shame there. In fact, the Celtics had two second rounders and waited till the second pick to select him. Gotta give him credit. He shed a lot of weight and kept enough beef to bang down low. He's a great energy guy, but I think Doc plans on using PJ Brown in the playoffs because of his experience. Regardless, Baby will be a fun guy to root for in the years to come.

Hotlanta Matt: Will the Celtics be this good next year, or is their one best shot at the title with KG, Allen, and Pierce?
Jeff: I don't see why they can't be as good if all three remain healthy. If they don't win the title, there's a chance they could come back even hungrier. You can't count on a team repeating 66 wins but they could win fewer games and win the title and nobody would complain around here. I've said all along that this team has 3 legit shots at a title with this nucleus. In fact, give Danny another offseason where he can pick up additional free agents and find a player in the draft and the team could be even deeper next year. Still, you never know what can happen tomorrow, so I'm focused on the here and now. We've got lightning in a bottle. We just need to follow through.

My answers to Jeff's questions:

Jeff: What effect has Mike Bibby had on the Hawks this year?
Hotlanta Matt: Mike Bibby created an offense where none previously existed. If

nothing else, we have 2 more plays besides "Joe Johnson tries to beat
his man off the dribble and make a fadeaway jumper". We now have
"Bibby fakes a dribble drive and throws an alleyoop to Josh Smith" and
"Joe Johnson fakes play #1 and kicks it to Bibby for the open 3". If
Bibby had been here from day 1 (although I realize he wasn't healthy
until right before the Hawks traded for him) this would be a solid
playoff team with maybe 45 wins to their credit.

Jeff: What's up with Josh Smith? Talented head case or just tired of losing?
Hotlanta Matt: This whole team is tired of losing, but Josh Smith is almost certainly

not a fan of the coach. Privately it is rumored that if Woodson isn't
out then Smith is gone. Not being a fan of the coach isn't a good
excuse for throwing up 20 foot jumpers when you are one of the more
athletic players on the floor at all times, however. I'm convinced
that Josh Smith can be a premier player in the right situation,
although I am sad that it probably won't be in Atlanta. It bears
mentioning that he's only 6 months older than Al Horford and Marvin
Williams, too.

Jeff: What is your opinion of Coach Mike Woodson?
Hotlanta Matt: Just an awful, terrible coach. This team has improved its record every

year, but at no point have they had any kind of identity. I think the
improvement can be directly attributed to the growth of Josh Smith,
Josh Childress and Marvin Williams, rather than coaching. Hoopinion
and Braves & Birds have both chronicled *why* he is terrible- his
minute management is ridiculous, the lack of defensive *and* offensive
strategy is baffling, and I've never heard him speak intelligently or
given me any insight into the team. It says something that Billy
Knight tried to fire him 3 times this year, which is another insane
story of its own.

Jeff: In three years, which player on this Hawks team will be the best of
the bunch?
Hotlanta Matt: Josh Smith. I think we are seeing the ceiling of Joe Johnson, who is a

fantastic shooter and great dribbler with solid defense, but without
the explosiveness that would put him in the same realm as the best of
the best. Josh Smith's ceiling is a more athletic Rasheed Wallace. I
can't believe I just wrote that, but it's true. He could average
26/12/8/4 in 3 years and I would not be at all surprised.

Jeff: Give us 3 good reasons why the Hawks should not be overlooked in
this series.
Hotlanta Matt:

1- The backcourt. If Joe Johnson and Bibby get hot and stay hot, get
ready for a steady diet of crowd silencers.
2- Josh Smith trying. If he wants it (big fat if) he can match up
against Garnett on both ends.
3- Mike Woodson with a shaved head. Do not underestimate how
terrifying and horrible he will look. He has disregarded my request
for a playoff beard, and in fact (probably in response) is going the
opposite direction.

WE GOIN' SIZZLER!

2008-04-15T07:27:00.002-05:00

Playoffs!!!!!

Prediction: Kevin Garnett pulls a labia during warmups of game 1, Ray Allen dies of old age in game 2, and Paul Pierce pulls an Artest and goes after a heckling blogger during halftime of game 3. The Hawks still lose in 6 games as Al Horford gets a DNP (Coach's Decision) and Mario West gets to take every shot.

And now your reward:

Playoffs?

2008-04-03T07:04:00.004-05:00

T. J. Ford got robbed last night- the clock clearly started early, but from what the NBA explained to Hollinger last night, they can't review that part of the shot. At least this one is on the official, not the bungling Atlanta scoring crew. Ford could have scored on a layup whenever he wanted last night, so I'm not sure how the Raptors lost. Give it up for Atlanta, Mike Bibby seems to be fitting in with the offense and they looked more cohesive than I've seen all season. Granted, if Josh Smith doesn't nail those 2 three pointers I would be talking about what a freaking idiot he is and how much this team stinks.

Update: Al Horford breaks TJ Ford again. Horford claims he tipped the inbounds pass (I believe him, it looked like it might have happened in the replays but we never got a definitive angle), which would mean any protest is moot and the officials started the clock LATE. Ruling the basket good would have been a tragedy of immeasurably proportions.

Playoffs? For those of you who don't know, the Indiana Pacers are about to go on a tear. Here are their remaining games: @Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Atlanta, @Philly, Charlotte, @Washington, NY. They could easily win every single one of those and it wouldn't even be impressive. If the Hawks don't make the playoffs, though, they will deserve the perfect storm of Hatin' that will descend upon them like a plague of locusts.

I love that first round playoff tickets are on sale, though. Get them now so that you don't have to wait behind the 2 other guys in line right before the playoff games start. The announced attendance last night was 14K, but that can't possibly be accurate unless they are also including hot dogs in that count. I would be interested to see a comparison of actual attendance vs. announced attendance. I would also be interested to see a comparison of Sky Hawk's foot on Mike Woodson's ass in a few weeks. Could the man be less excited about his present and future? He needs to stop shaving until the Hawks are officially eliminated from the playoffs- that is the only way I will consider saving him.

Mike Woodson Cannot Be Fired

2008-02-29T17:04:00.002-05:00

UNBELIEVABLE.

Sekou reports that Billy Knight has tried to get Mike Woodson fired THREE TIMES THIS SEASON, but was rebuffed by ownership. I'm... I'm just in shock, frankly.

A few quick thoughts:

The Hawks ownership situation is even worse than I thought. What kind of GM needs permission from ownership to fire the coach? How could the owners possibly want to keep Woodson? I mean, we all agreed that there was no reason for him to be coaching the team and that Billy Knight was a loon for not firing him, so doesn't the same logic need to apply to the owners? Why the hell would they not want to fire Woodson?
What if Billy Knight isn't a horrible GM? What if he wanted to draft Chris Paul and never liked Shelden Williams? Sure, every quote he's given supports that he wanted the guys he got, so maybe he is as bad as we think he is, but this story has to shake that foundation, doesn't it? I mean, if this was a trial and we were trying to prove that he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt... well, this is some pretty reasonable doubt. I don't think I can say with absolute certainty that Billy Knight sucks.
If Mike Woodson doesn't resign after this, there is no way this team keeps playing hard him. For the sake of argument, assume that the team is currently playing hard for him. He has to go, right? How could you stay when you know your boss tried to fire you? Several times!!!
Finally, even Billy Knight agrees with me: FIRE WOODSON!

The Dirty Blizzard... So Close

2008-02-26T08:44:00.002-05:00

Credit Josh Smith for coming 4 points and 1 assist short of The Dirty Blizzard (with nuts)- just like The Blizzard (with nuts), except that one of the 8+ statistics is TURNOVERS. He had some help from the rest of Atlanta's starting 5, who shot 27% from the field last night. And that includes Al Horford's 5 out of 11. This team has been very sloppy, but what can you expect with a new point guard, a new reserve (Jeremy Richardson, who has been awesome) and Coach Woodson.

Fire Woodson

2008-02-22T11:10:00.002-05:00

I'm OK with losing those 2 games, but we lost like punks. There is absolutely nothing to indicate that things are any different than they were Before Bibby (BB). I mean, even Mark Bradley is nailing it:

Whenever a coach says his team wasn’t prepared or didn’t compete, he’s indicting himself. The First Rule of Coaching — it’s in all the manuals — is: Get your team ready. After nearly four seasons on the job, Woodson can’t even manage that much.

This criticism is absolutely valid. Can we take him Woodson seriously, or he is admitting that he sucks as a coach? Can we, as fans, pass any of this to the team? Why aren't they getting themselves ready? Is it really that hard? I played a lot of soccer in high school and college, but I never had a team mail in a game like the Hawks have been doing. I don't understand how they can suck so hard for long portions of the game, then immediately after the game turn around and say "yeah we sucked for long portions of the game."

FACT: you can control your own focus and intensity. What is wrong with this team that they seem unable to do so? It seems like everyone is unwilling to throw anyone else under the bus. At this point, I want to know who the hell the problem is. I want Joe Johnson to step up and say, "the strategy for this game was terrible, our coach doesn't know what he's doing." I would be just as happy with Woodson saying, "I spend all practice telling Josh Smith not to shoot the ball from 20+ feet unless he is wide open, but he does it anyway and hurts this team." We've heard the "we just didn't come ready to play" speech from everyone: Joe Johnson, Josh Childress, Coach Woodson, Josh Smith- that is the worst excuse I've ever heard, and I'm going to start calling people out for it.

Get Excited

2008-02-19T11:16:00.002-05:00

Bibby sat courtside until getting the go-ahead to join his new teammates. The minute he got on the floor, the tenor of the session changed dramatically.
The Hawks' pick-and-roll sets got sharper instantly. The little inside passes in transition that rarely found their mark before were on the money now. Bibby waited all of 15 seconds to start leading, playfully chiding Josh Smith and Al Horford to "run with me, run with me" on a fast break during part of the full-court scrimmage portion of practice.

"We got to look every chance we get, even the little creases, he'll find you," Smith said. "He sees the opening even before it happens. I'm not used to that."

Bibby said his teammates better get used to it, because they're going to see heavy doses of it every night.

"I told them I'm going get it to them," Bibby said after practice. "One of my strong assets is being a strong shooter, so I have to shoot it to be a threat. I'm going to shoot it sometimes. But I'm not going to shoot it every time. I've got a lot of young horses out here, so I'm going to get it to them."

If you didn't just pee your pants a little, you are dead inside and unworthy of being a Hawks fan.

I Always Liked Billy Knight

2008-02-17T17:38:00.003-05:00

I'm sure you already heard, but Mr. Knight pulled off a pretty damn good trade. Atlanta sent Lue, Anthony Johnson, Lorenzen Wright and Shelden Williams, along with the 2009 2nd round pick, to Sacramento for Mike Bibby. I love this trade for several reasons:

Bibby has a pretty good contract: assuming he returns to the form he had prior to injury, he can handle the ball and shoot it from downtown. He will fit in really well with this offense and provides that veteran leadership /playoff experience that the team will lose with Tyronne Lue (not like lack of playoff experience is the problem, though). The contracts are roughly equal, so Atlanta isn't picking up a lot of salary here. If they want to re-sign Josh Smith and Josh Childress, they will almost certainly have to exceed the salary cap. It remains to be seen if the ownership has signed on to that, but this move gives the Hawks one of the best backcourts in the Eastern Conference, if not the best.
Addition by subtraction: Woodson can't play Lue and Johnson anymore if they aren't on the team! His hand has been forced and he will have to give serious minutes to Acie Law, who was arguably better for the team at point than either of the 2 guys being shipped off. With Lorenzen gone, Woodson might actually have to let Horford play in the 4th quarter when he's in foul trouble, or God forbid, foul out of a game. High five goes out to Hoopinion on that one.
Acie Law's upside: now he gets to play, and he gets to play behind a guy whose game he should be emulating. This makes Law better immediately, and I can't wait to see what he does with the opportunity.
Joe Johnson's back: he can let the offense off it, now. Bibby spreads the floor by adding another shooter, particularly one that can create his own shot. The Hawks may still stand around and wait for Joe to beat a double-team off the drouble, but at least Bibby will be ready for the kick out.
Shelden Williams / Billy Knight's apology: look, I don't think it's fair to say Knight should've drafted Brandon Roy instead of Shelden Williams, because it wasn't obvious he was going to be that good or that he would fit in with the offense. It was obvious, however, that Shelden Williams absolutely had no business going as the number 5 pick, and Knight still could resign over that (among other blunders). Sending him off and only giving up a 2nd rounder, as well as a "poo poo platter" as Simmons would say- well, sir, that's a pretty good deal. I'm surprised that a #1 wasn't included in this deal, or that the Hawks didn't have to take on at least one bad contract. Knight has been very good about not taking on bad contracts- he has made some poor choices, cough cough Speedy Claxton Lorenzen Wright, but he only pays what he thinks those players are truly worth. A big shout out goes out to Sacramento for letting this trade go through and not waiting for a team to actually contribute something of value. Sac-town gets some big cap relief, but the team isn't getting a whole lot of talent. I am... unconvinced of Shelden's long term NBA potential (barring some kind of attitude change).
The morale: every player on the floor just got a big ol' slap on the butt (the good kind). They have all the tools to not only make the playoffs, but actually win a few games and do some damage.

To quote the great ~~Bill Murray~~ Ernie Hudson: We've got the tools, and we've got the talent!

Fire Everyone

2008-02-14T10:31:00.004-05:00

Go read this AJC article from Sekou right now. He talks to a scout who should've been the Hawks' GM. The guy is spot on, but here are a few money quotes:

Josh, Horford and Joe Johnson are keepers. That’s your core. Everybody else … well, I can see you moving just about anybody else on that roster to get what you need to get better.

...

And yeah, the easy answer is the Hawks should have drafted Chris Paul instead of Marvin Williams, Brandon Roy instead of Shelden Williams and the top of the Eastern Conference would be Boston, Detroit, Atlanta and then everybody else. There’s no doubt about that.

Marvin Williams is making it really hard for me to not hate on him right now. 3 for 14 against Charlotte? 2 boards? Awful, just awful. I'm ready to move him now, too. I'm tired of damn project players. The Hawks need to move past that. Re-sign Josh Smith- I am convinced, like the Scout, that Smith would be one of the top players in the NBA if he was on another team. I'm not saying that from a PR / respect standpoint, I'm saying he would be putting up better numbers and improving even more if he was playing on a good team with good players.

It's painfully clear that Billy Knight needs to go and take Mike Woodson with him.

Update/PS: Congratulations from the Atlanta Hawks Blog to Carlos Boozer, who posted The Blizzard with a Triple-Double last night (Points: 22, Reb: 11, Ast: 10, Stl: 5)!

Trade Proposal

2008-02-11T11:43:00.001-05:00

I shared my thoughts with Micah Hart from AtlantaHawks.com about a possible trade I would like to see. I threw in all the riff-raff on the team for Mike Bibby, and the new ESPN.com Trade Machine likes it (click for full size):

Amazingly, this trade makes both teams worse! Fantastic!

As a side note, what's going on with Speedy Claxton's medical retirement or whatever? Anyone?

New Stat Achievement

2008-02-08T09:47:00.000-05:00

Josh Smith has suddenly decided to stop shooting so many jumpers and just go crazy around the glass. As a result, he has had back-to-back games with ridonculous statistics:

Sixers (2/4): 19/9/6/9/4
Lakers (2/6): 17/9/9/5/2

Neither one of these qualifies as a "Triple-Double" or even a "Double-Double", but they are so far out that they deserve some kind of nickname. After much thought, I have come up with the following name:

The Blizzard

To achieve The Blizzard, a player must reach double digits in 1 category, at least 8 from 2 other categories and 5 from a 4th category. If a player also gets at least 2 of a 5th category, that is "The Blizzard (with nuts)". A player can get The Blizzard as well as a Triple-Double, but you might recount it like so: "Josh Smith finally got a Triple-Double with blocks as one the 3 doubles last night- but the mofo also had The Blizzard because he had 6 assists!"

Enjoy.

BREAKING: Chris McCosky Sucks as a Writer

2008-02-04T08:09:00.000-05:00

The Hawks are 19-24, have lost 7 of their last 10, and are barely holding on to the #7 spot in the East. The Hawks have been called many things, but "well coached" has never been one of them.

Chris McCosky, a "writer" from Detroit, thinks that all criticism of Mike Woodson is unfair. I love that the title of his article refers to the Hawks coach as an "Ex-Piston assistant", as if that was the pinnacle of Woodson's career. We ran into the shoddy workmanship of Chris McCosky once before this season, but I am now calling for McCosky to resign. Need some evidence that McCosky stinks as a writer? He uses the following quote as proof that "Woodson still has the respect and ear of his players":

"Winning cures everything," Joe Johnson said. "We've just got to keep ourselves right there on that playoff race. That's the main thing.
"We know all that talk is out there. But we won with (Woodson) before and we can win now."

Wow, what a glowing vote of confidence from the team captain. NOT! Yeah, this team "can win" with Woodson as the coach, but if we want to do better than just making the playoffs with a somewhat talented, young, athletic team, Woodson needs to take his ball and go home. Maybe McCosky can come rub his shoulders and bake him some pie.

Unwanted Advice for Billy Knight, Atlanta Hawks Fans

2008-02-01T11:47:00.000-05:00

There has been a lot of rumbling from the team and the coach that they are in need of "a shakeup". Billy Knight, you have made mistakes in the past, but if you mortgage even a piece of this team's future in order to make a trade, I will curse your name in every post for the rest of this blog. For example: sacrificing anybody to bring in a veteran point guard would be horrifically stupid.

Atlanta Hawks fan: you think Jason Kidd (or anyone else out there) is going to get the Hawks a ring? After trading Josh Smith at least? Don't be a moron. If the Hawks give up any of the following for anybody that is over 28 or is overpaid, they are fools: Josh Smith, Josh Childress, Al Horford, Marvin Williams. I didn't include Joe Johnson because there is a 0% chance he will be traded. Yeah, we might lose a Josh next year to free agency, but we might not. I'm OK with trading those guys, but only if the trade will help this team for several years. We aren't winning the championship this year for sure, and probably not next year. If Joe Johnson is the only "elite" player on this team we will never do much better than we are now. Josh Smith and Marvin Williams have the chance at becoming elite players, but that's a big fat question mark right now.

The best way BK can shake up this team: FIRE MIKE WOODSON. If it is possible to motivate this team and get them focused, Woodson sure had his chance and FAILED COMPLETELY. For whatever reason, this team is awful at staying focused and getting up for games. The players have to bare some responsibility, but Woodson is flat out awful. Hoopinion has utterly convinced me that Woodson is an awful in-game coach and has no business being the man with this team. Are there any more Van Gundys out there?

And when you're done with that, RESIGN. You aren't the worst GM in the world, and in fact have done a pretty good job of not signing bad contracts (Speedy Claxton and Lorenzen Wright were bad, but not killers). The drafting has been adequate, but your stubborn refusal to draft for need is the reason we have Marvin Williams instead of MVP Chris Paul. Yes, that one decision should be enough to force you to resign. This team desperately needed a high quality point guard, and you passed over one of the all time greats (and another really good guy too) to get a swingman the team didn't need, who is only now beginning to contribute at a professional level.

Steve Belkin AND Atlanta Spirit: You suck and are killing this team. Please sell the team to a responsible owner who isn't a complete freaking moron, and take your original percentages of investment and walk away. At some point a judge is going to offer to slice Joe Johnson in half, but it looks both of you would be happy with that deal. This franchise doesn't need the crap that is continually raining on it from your squabble.

I'm absolutely convinced that the handful of Hawks bloggers could run this team if you give us a chance.

Raptors - Hawks Preview

2008-01-18T13:49:00.000-05:00

Head on over to RaptorsHQ.com to check out a little pre-game conversation I had with Adam. I answered a few questions for his site, but I couldn't get my act together enough to hit him back with questions of my own. I predicted a 94-86 win for the Hawks, who should feel embarrassed to have lost so poorly to the Bucks the other night (even though it was the 2nd night of a back-to-back). The Raptors have had the Hawks' number for quite some time, but I feel like the team is ready to bounce back with a big win.

Hawks Blogger Night

2008-01-16T07:15:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately I couldn't make Blogger Night at Philips Arena last night, so I was not present to the beatdown the Hawks gave to the Nuggets (on the second away game of a back-to-back). However, I had a very good reason (see above). I would have taken a picture with the game on TV in the background, except that IT WASN'T ON TV. Weak.