Breaking News

I haven't posted in some time for various reasons. Many of them being frustration with my favorite football team(s).

But breaking news is that Coach Mark Richt finally "saw the light" and let go Willie Martinez, Jon Jancek, and D. Ends coach Fabris. Best of luck to those gentleman in finding work (seriously).

Overall great news for UGA. Let's hope we get someone of quality to replace Willie and think about using one of those vacant spots to hire a special teams coach. Tubberville comes to mind for D Coordinator.

Go Dawgs!

A few games out...a familiar story

The Braves are *only* 4 games out of the wild card trailing only the San Francisco pitching staff and the Colorado Luckies. The question is: can the Braves overtake both teams? and if so, how?

As to the first, the answer is most certainly yes.
As for the second, there lies our discussion.

A few things have to go right for the Braves to surge into the wild card. Namely:
The Rockies and Giants have to split their remaining 6 games. With only 38 games remaining, the best chance the Braves have is to have the Rockies and Giants effectively ensure that neither team surges ahead allowing the Braves to make a come back. Either team winning a majority of those games would mean a tougher climb for the Braves.

Relatedly, the Braves have to keep doing what was successful in the 90's: Winning Series. While an 8 game winning streak would certainly be great; a much more reasonable approach is to just keep winning 2 out of 3 and hope to sweep a series or two along the way. If the Rockies and Giants continue at their current winning % (average of 55.2%), they can be expected to win 21 more games this season. That means to tie them, the Braves would need to win 25 more games (or 66%, which is 2/3 of their games). Looking at the schedule, all three teams have similar schedules remaining with their opponents all having a winning % around 50%.

In order to win each series the Braves need a few things to happen:
(1) Lowe needs to start earning his money. He has been arguably the weakest starting pitcher for the Braves over the past month. If he can pitch reasonably well the Braves have a chance.
Do I think will happen? Actually, yes I do. Lowe has shown signs of fatigue since mid-season due to pitching in Atlanta heat. With cooler weather coming up in September along with the possibility of extra rest due to Tim Hudson's return (see item 2), Lowe could be in good shape for the stretch run.

(2) The Braves need to find a way to use Tim Hudson. Most pundits are mentioning the possibility of a 6 man rotation when Hudson returns and the rosters expand. This seems, to me, like the best way to utilize him. It would allow all our starters to pitch on extra rest including:
Kawakami: who is used to a 6 man rotation from his time in Japan.
Lowe: who, as mentioned above, looks fatigued and could use extra rest.
Hanson: who is surpassing his workload from previous years
Jurjjens: who is still young and whose arm we don't want to wear out.
The only person this might affect negatively is Vazquez who has been a stud all year. But he is a veteran and I think a little breather could help him as well.

(3) The Braves need to get healthy.
We need McClouth's bat and legs.
We need Chipper's timely hitting.
We need Prado's grit.
(I never thought I'd say this) We need Garrett's clutch hitting.

(4) Bobby needs to trust his pen. Relately, some key guys should be coming back.
Moylan, Soriano, and Gonzalez can't keep the bullpen together by themselves. Bobby is going to have to put Acosta and Medlen (who has looked dynamite lately) in more situations. Along with that Jojo, Buddy, and Parr (and perhaps even Hudson) could come back and help stimulate the bullpen.

(5) The rest of the hitters need to keep on chugging. McCann, LaRoche, Infante, Diaz have all been swinging hot sticks lately. They need to keep the team afloat til the re-inforcements arrive.


I know this seems like a big list, but my homerdom thinks it's achieveable. Go Braves!

Upcoming Braves Schedule

I've always looked ahead at the upcoming pitching match-ups for the Braves. Sometimes if fills me with joy... sometimes with dread. This year has mostly been depression because I would love the pitching match-up for the Braves, but it would always come with the caveat that was the Braves' offense.

Now I look at the upcoming match-ups and smile. I feel like we have close to automatic wins against any pitcher that isn't an ace. Jurrjens vs. Ricky Nolasco? Feels like an off day. Vazquez vs. VandenHurk? Not a problem. Even when it's a tough match-up, I feel as though we have a chance. I mean if we can get runs off of Lincecum, why should I be worried about Kawakami vs. Josh Johnson or Jurrjens vs. Chad Billingsley?

Sure, the offense is not going to keep this many hot hitters at the same time, but at least I now have hope. Besides, Rob Neyer believes in the Braves' hitters. Of course he is a Royals fan... so one has to question his judgment somewhat...

Organizational Development?

Namely, what is going on with the Braves' development of position players. In recent history it appears that our minor league system prepares hitters to appear good right out of the bat and then fade off.
Jeff Francoeur
Kelly Johnson
Marcus Giles
Adam LaRoche
and many more to a lesser extent (Brandon Jones, Brayan Pena, Scott Thorman)
even prospects we've traded away:
Andy Marte
Jarrod Saltalamacchia

The only hitting prospects that have 'panned out' to be conistently good players recently are McCann and Escobar. You could argue that Escobar developed more in the professional leagues in Cuba (and I would tend to believe that, as it appears in his attitude that he doesn't necessarily listen well to coaching here). So really, we're left with only McCann being a hitter that realized his potential.

With uber-prospects Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman tearing it up at AA, the time is approaching when they will be called up. It seems that the Braves have a trend of bringing up people before they are truly seasoned, at the moment they either look ready or look like they have nothing "left to prove" in the minors. My wonder is if we'd be better off allowing them a full season of AAA in order to develop not just physically but mentally. Knowing they had a full season to work on various aspects of their game might prepare them more for the rigors of the MLB and help them understand the necessity of making adjustments.

All too often the Braves use success in the minors, however brief, as a crutch to determine a players' readiness. Perhaps more prudence should be involved in helping the players mature and understand that the big leagues take constant tinkering and openness to change. Maybe forcing them to be patient and work on learning the game will lead us to more McCanns and less Francoeurs. And that is certainly a good thing!

Too Many Starters?

As everyone knows, starting pitching has been the Braves biggest (and arguably only) strength this year. And if Hudson's rehab goes well, that strength could get even better. The problem is that the Braves will have 6 good starters for a 5-man rotation. So the question for this post is, how do the Braves deal with this wonderful problem?

The first option that has been bantered around is to trade one of the starters. With Lowe and Kawakami's longer contracts and the youth of Jurrjens and Hanson, the only trade option is Vazquez. Vazquez, however, has been pitching lights out for Atlanta and apparently loves Bobby and the Braves. Additionally he would have to be moved before the trade deadline, and Hudson won't be available until mid to late August. So that would mean the Braves would have to insert a questionable fifth starter for about 4 starts. Plus I don't think we could get equal value for him. I'm not too thrilled about this option.

The second option is to move someone to the bullpen. Lowe has the worst ERA of the bunch, but I think everyone would agree it would be silly to move him to the pen. Jurrjens and Vazquez have been too good. So it comes down to either Kawakami, Hanson, or Hudson. I think if Hudson is ready to go the Braves will stick him in the rotation and not the bullpen. I would have agreed with Kawakami a month ago, but he seems to be gettting a feel for pitching in the majors and I wouldn't want to mess that up by shifting him to a new role. Hanson seems like the best prospect because he can come in and throw hard out of the pen, it will limit his innings this year, and he will still get some more major league seasoning. The only worry is that moving him back and forth from the pen will mess up his head. But come playoff time we're not going to have a 5-man rotation and Hanson would probably go to the pen then anyway, so why not give him some time to adjust before any possible playoff exposure. He could be our David Price. That is assuming that we make the playoffs though...

The third option, which I like the most, is to simply go to a 6-man rotation. It would save some innings from Hanson's and Jurrjen's arms, help ease Hudson into starting, and probably help Kawakami who is used to a 6-man rotation from Japan. It would only really affect Lowe and Vazquez, who are used to the 5-man rotation. I worried about this option further taxing the bullpen, since it would give them one less arm. But by the time Hudson comes back it will be time to extend the roster to 40 players, which would give Bobby several more arms in the pen so he doesn't abuse the few we would have left.

I'm in favor of the 6-man rotation. What do you think?

Braves Infield Utility Players and Why the Hell is Norton Hitting?!

What is up with our utility players? They have been tearing it up... more so than anyone else in the lineup.

If you take a look at the Braves batting statistics, the top three hitters in terms of average are Infante (get well soon!), Brooks Conrad, and Prado. Granted Conrad and Infante have done it in very limited stints and Prado is now our starting second baseman, but still! Combine them all and you have a very good starter.

And then you factor in David Ross who has 11 xbh in only 104 plate appearances and you start to wonder: WHY THE HELL IS BOBBY STILL TROTTING OUT GREG NORTON TO PINCH-HIT?! I can't say anymore or I'll break my rule about only talking about hitters with an OBP higher than .350, but I'll just link to his playercard. It's scary...

On that note, I should mention that I'll probably be posting more about the Braves since we have more members of the .350 club. Since my last post Ryan Church, Martin Prado, Brooks Conrad, Yunel Escobar, and Casey Kotchman have joined Brandon Jones, Brian McCann, Chipper Jones, David Ross, Omar Infante, and Matt Diaz. If you put Church in center (where he was last night) and Brandon Jones in left (where he was earlier this year) that's an entire starting lineup.

I think my blog is inspiring the Braves, so I will continue to post.

Quote from Chipper

From the 7/20 Jeff Schultz article:

[Chipper] Jones said he’s encouraged. “The lineup is better. We don’t have [easy] outs any more,” he said.

I wonder who he is referring to...

Big Men for the Hawks

Last year the Hawks only had three big men they played on a regular basis: Josh, Al, and Zaza. Our lack of frontcourt depth, however, was even more glaring when there was an injury because Solo and Morris were simply not viable options. Even when all three were healthy, at some point in the game we had to sit two of them at once and go small. While going small can be a good thing when you have a dominant rebounder (see Howard, Dwight), going small when you are already playing undersized bigs leads to a huge rebounding disparity.

The Hawks have to invest in at least one big man over the summer since Zaza and Solo are free agents. Personally, I would prefer if the Hawks signed two big men. So let's take a look at the list:

The Too Expensive List: Odom, Millsap (Restricted), David Lee (R), and Rasheed Wallace. Villanueva, who surprisingly was not tendered by the Bucks, probably belongs on this list as well since he'll be looking for a big payday. We won't get any of these guys.

The Old Guy List: McDyess, Joe Smith, Malik Rose, Mikki Moore, Nesterovic, Jamaal Magloire, Theo Ratliff, Jason Collins, Calvin Booth, and Lorenzen Wright. Out of this list I wouldn't mind having McDyess, Smith, or Nesterovic for the right price. Unfortunately Smith and McDyess will probably be holding out for a championship and know that the Hawks aren't quite there yet. But Nesterovic might be an option.

The Young and Unproven List: Johan Petro, Melvin Ely, Robert Swift, Saer Sene, DJ Mbenga, Ike Diogu (R), Channing Frye (R), Shelden Williams, Steve Novak (R), and Shavlik Randolph. I wouldn't mind taking a shot on some of these guys as the 4th big in our rotation. I would be wary of the projects, however, since I don't want another big man sitting at the end of the bench doing nothing with Morris. So I would limit it to Diogu, Frye, and Novak. All of those are restricted however. The rest of the guys I wouldn't be against signing for cheap to fill out the roster, but I don't know if I want them seeing significant court time.

The Just Right List: Zaza Pachulia, Brandon Bass, Glenn "Big Baby" Davis (R), Chris Wilcox, Stromile Swift, Hakim Warrick (R), Leon Powe (R), Marcin Gortat (R), Chris Anderson, and Chris Mihm. These guys are probably not going to command more than the mid-level exception and have proven that they can be productive. The obvious favorite of the bunch is Zaza, especially since the preference is to go after the unrestricted free agents first.

The Hawks have to sign one of the Just Rights or Nesterovic just to survive the season and make the playoffs. To thrive, in the regular season and the playoffs, I think they need to sign two effective big men. We've seen how Woody uses his big men (he doesn't), so ideally we need an energetic guy who doesn't need to ball in his hands to be effective on the offensive end and who can at least hold down the fort on the defensive end.

Hopefully the Hawks can invest 8-10 million on the two big men and try to secure two of the Just Rights. If not, then they will have to sign one and then maybe take another cheap gamble on a young, unproven big man. At the very least we can get Morris a friend who might make him smile.

What to Make of the Braves

They drive me crazy. They're just good enough that I have to keep following them, especially with their starters. But they're just bad enough that I want to throw something every time I get too involved, especially on offense.

Starters: It's a crime that Jurrjens and Vazquez have losing records, and I think they should get to hit a Braves batter of their choice during their next warm-ups. I can't wait until Hanson is able to show a bit more command of his pitches. It'll be a joy to watch. Glad we didn't trade him for Peavy.

Bullpen: Soriano is dominant. Gonzalez makes it interesting, but gets the job done. I love how Bobby is using the two of them in tandem. Jeff Bennett's WHIP is 1.85, he's given up a walk-off bases loaded walk, and a walk-off HR to Nick Green. Therefore, he should never pitch again. I know we don't do it due to options, but I wish we would just cycle through relievers more. Some of the guys down at Gwinnett have to be able to do better than Bennett or Carlyle.

Offense: This is where it gets uglier than Escobar's hair. There isn't a single player with double-digit HRs in a Braves uniform (note: McLouth hit 9 of his 12 as a Pirate), while there are 84 in the majors. That's almost three per team.
Our team leader in RBIs is Escobar with 39. There's only 64 people ahead of him.
We trotted out Greg Norton for 50 at-bats. He got 4 hits.
We can't give Francoeur away.
I still don't understand how Brandon Jones would be any worse than Garrett Anderson. In fact, with the improved defense, he'd probably be better.
In fact, given how little life the Braves offense has had, I refuse to write another word about an offensive player unless they have an OBP higher than .350. Congratulations Brandon Jones, Brian McCann, Chipper Jones, David Ross, Omar Infante, and Matt Diaz. Too bad Brandon is in the minors and Infante is hurt.

So next time it's all about pitching and four offensive players. And you wonder why I post more about the Hawks...

Hawks Free Agency

NBA free agent signing period starts on July 1, 2009, and the Hawks have plenty of holes to fill. Let's start with what the Hawks have:

G: Teague, Crawford, and Joe Johnson (No PG in sight)
SF: Mo Evans
PF: Josh Smith
C: Horford and Randolph Morris

They have those 7 players signed for a grand total of $42.8 million. (Great website for salaries) The salary cap last year was $58.680 million with the tax threshold at $71.150 million. Last year the Hawks salary was at about $69 million. So with the downturn in the economy let's say the Hawks are looking to spend $65 million. So that gives Sund about $22 million to sign about 6-7 players. Out of that 6-7, the Hawks need to sign at least 3 guys that Woody will actually play. Right now we have 5 players we know he will use, one we know he will not (Morris), and one we have no clue about (Teague). So we need at least 3 more guys: a guard (preferably a vet PG), a larger wing player, and a big man.

Hopefully the role of larger wing player will be filled by Marvin, who we'll say will command a salary of about 7-8 million. He'll get less than Josh, so we'll go with 5 years, 40 million to be generous. That will put the Hawks salary at $50.8 million.

The role of vet PG once again will hopefully be filled by Bibby, but there is the concern that he will command too high of a salary, especially if he demands a salary anywhere near the $15 million he made last year. So in the interest of due diligence, let's take a look at the rest of the vet PGs. Andre Miller, Anthony Carter, Tyronn Lue, Brevin Knight, and Juan Dixon. Those are the PGs that aren't too terribly old, and are decent enough to warrant playing time. I will rule out Miller since the Hawks are not an up-tempo team and Miller can't hit a 3 (28% last year). Neither can Knight (I don't think he averaged 1 attempt a game), so he gets eliminated.

So that leaves Carter, who was resurgent last year, but is 34 and not great at the 3; Lue, who is still a fan favorite; and Juan Dixon, who is a gritty guard who is ok at the 3, but is more of a slasher. Based on Woody's offensive system, I would pretty much limit this to the more expensive, more effective Bibby or the cheaper, less effective Lue. I think it's more likely to be Lue at this point.

So should we sign Bibby and leave only 5-7 million to sign at least 4 players including a quality big man, or should we sign Lue and leave 12-13 million for those 4 players? Or are my numbers, especially how much the Hawks are willing to spend, completely off?

Will take a look at the big men in free agency before Wednesday...

The Hawks do NOT have a Point Guard

I don't know how to feel about it. I grew up idolizing the great point guards: Stockton, Thomas, Tim Hardaway when he was on Golden State. And now the Hawks don't have a single player you could point to and say, "I absolutely want him running my offense." I mean it was borderline last year with shoot-first Bibby who ran everything through Webber or Brad Miller in Sacto and the undeveloped Law. But now there is no doubt. Let's take a look at the candidates:

Jamal Crawford - I think the consensus is that if we rely on him to play the point, we are screwed. Crawford is a proverbial black hole with the ball. You throw it to him, and you're not going to see it back. He's basically a rich man's Flip.
Jeff Teague - Sure, he played PG in college and will continue to do so in the NBA, but it's not because of his passing skills. He's a shooting guard who is too short. This year at Wake he averaged only 3.5 assists/game, while also averaging 3.4 turnovers/game. This combines for an unimpressive 1.06 a/t ratio.

That's it. That's our PG options for now. Take this all with a grain of salt though, because Woody doesn't exactly like traditional PGs anyway. His offense more closely resembles the Mavericks from a couple of years ago. The PG is just there to dribble it up the court and pass it to Joe (most of the time) or one of the other players so they can isolate against their defender. So the Hawks actually are a better team when they are playing with basically two shooting guards. Bibby was ideal because he had enough of a passing game that he could get the ball where it needed to go without any problems, but he also had a good enough shot that teams could not play off of him thereby creating more space for the isolated player. I think that's one of the main reasons why Woody never played Law. His game was more of the drive-and-kick variety where he could finish in the lane and hit the mid-range jumper.

With Woody's offensive philosophy in mind (and trust me, I hate the idea of catering our roster to Woody), the options of Crawford and Teague at the "PG" position makes a little more sense. Woody is looking more for a PG like the ones Phil Jackson is always looking for. Just get the ball up the court, give it to your best player, and be able to hit an open 3. Too bad we don't have Phil as our coach...

So I Saw Smoltz Last Night...

He pitched in Augusta for his first rehab start. He only went three innings, but it invoked mixed emotions.

On the one hand Smoltz was an Atlanta Brave for as long as I can remember. I can distinctly recall his magical second half of the 1991 season which culminated in him winning the game that clinched the pennant, winning Game 7 of the NLCS, and dueling Jack Morris in Game 7 of the World Series.

On the other hand this is the man who was insulted by the lack of loyalty by the Braves when they would only offer $2-2.5 million guaranteed to a 42-year-old pitcher who was coming off yet another major surgery on his throwing arm and would only pitch half a season... if he was lucky.

I wanted to give him a standing ovation.

I wanted to heckle him mercilessly about his greed and imply he was still paying off his divorce.

In the end I did nothing. As he walked off in the third inning and everyone rose around me to applaud, I sat there motionless and stared.

Cleveland, COME ON DOWN!!!

I know, I know. Everyone is thinking the same thing: Atlanta has no chance against Cleveland. Well I'm here to tell you that you are wrong.

And I know what else you are thinking. There is no way that these two amateurs keep up the pace and preview every game. Well I'm here to tell you that you are absolutely right.

With that in mind, this blog is all about the good news and the bad news.

Good News
Atlanta has a chance against Cleveland. When you get down to it, they are very similar teams. Both run their offense the majority of the time through a wing player who is 6'8". Both have big men who are not the most skilled/utilized on offense, but can play some mean defense. Both have guards that do not create too much offense, but can knock down a shot. Mo Williams is basically a younger Bibby.

On defense, Atlanta has three wing defenders (Joe, Mo, and Marv) to throw at LeBron. If Marvin is healthy, he and Mo will get the majority of the looks. You know, however, that Cleveland will try to employ the same strategy as the Heat and use the Hawks "switch on everything" philosophy to get LeBron more favorable match-ups. The only frontcourt player that can score for the Cavs is Big Z, and all he has is the 15 foot shot, so Josh and Al should be able to help out against LeBron. On the wings, Atlanta has to close out quickly on the 3 ball since the Cavs have tons of shooters with Williams, West, Gibson, Pavlovic, and Szczerbiak. If Atlanta can keep LeBron out of the paint like they did with Wade and close out on the Cleveland shooters, the Hawks can keep the score tight.

On offense there are mismatches to be had. Varejao matches up well with Horford and Zaza, but the Cavs do not have a player, outside of LeBron, who can match up with Josh. And the Cavs won't waste LeBron on Josh. So if he is focused and attacking the rim, Josh can give the Cavs a headache. Additionally, if Marvin is healthy, LeBron will have to choose between guarding him and Joe. This will leave the other guarded by West. While West is a feisty defender, he is all of 6'3", so either Joe or Marvin will have a huge height mismatch they should be able to exploit. So we're not getting shut out...

Bad News
This is your only scheduled preview. And even worse, the Hawks are probably going to lose this series. There is no way the Hawks take two games in Cleveland as they will be lucky to steal one. Additionally it is going to very difficult to win all three at home with the way LeBron can put the Cavs on his back.

Best-case scenario: The Hawks steal Game One from a rusty Cavs team, win one of the two home games, win Game 6, and force the Cavs to beat us in Game 7. Or they could go the same route as the team that no one believed in last year and get destroyed on the road and win all the game at home. Either way, the Hawks aren't stealing two games in Cleveland, and there is no way they are winning Game 7 on the road.

Cavs in 7.

My Live Twittering Project

I forgot to predict Sundays game. I would have predicted a victory and Joe's resurgence (honestly).

I did, however, twitter the whole thing. here it is unedited. I stopped tweeting (or chirping or whatever the hell drew calls it) with about 8 mins to go in the 4th when the game was over basically.



To hell with fraking. Joe fucking johnson showed up3:12 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Its all over but the crying3:09 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

There's no "d" in beasley3:06 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Up by 20. Beautiful3:00 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Hell yeah smoove2:59 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Freakinnnnnnn joe johnson2:54 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Dwade: is that sweat or tears?2:52 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

8 second violation. I love it2:51 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Mmm. Ball movement creates contact2:48 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Freakin "freakin"2:42 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

"Ball movement" makes me giggle every time I hear it2:39 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Halftime points: keep up energy. Attack the rim on both ends. Hit your 3s2:23 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Damn. Missed oop from smoove2:08 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

The announcers just called a wade airball a pass2:08 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Joe freaking johnson is showing up. Somewhere hawksdawgs is smiling1:58 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Great pass by flip1:55 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Great outlet pass after the steal. Playing with heart1:53 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Bibby for threeeeeeeeeeeee1:53 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

@officiating: sigh1:51 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

That's a holy shit 31:48 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Dirty z all over the place1:47 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Huuuuuuuuuuuuge 3 by joe1:43 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Hustle and flow1:42 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

"Dirty" z1:36 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

I can live seeing heat shoot contested jumpers1:36 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Dear abc: does dwade penis taste good?1:34 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

End of one up by 2. Wade looks exhausted already. We look energized1:32 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Mario in to club someone. And I'm happy1:30 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Just realized I didn't write a preview. Here it is. Hawks win on strength of joe josh and bibby. Mo evans hits a big 3 at the end1:29 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Airball. Airball. Airball1:28 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Yeah josh. Forcing beasley to go to his right is the best move1:27 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

The nba. Where taking down zaza isn't a foul1:26 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

We have to box out if we want to win1:25 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

James jones looks like curious george1:25 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

How many seconds can anthony stand in the lane1:17 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Horford needs to go faster1:17 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Nice dish by smoove. Consistent josh today?1:12 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Nice up and under1:11 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Hoop and the harm. Someone needs to step up with bibby1:10 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

I love how demoralizing shot clock violations are.1:09 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Stop the sloppiness plz1:08 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Getting josh going to the rim early is a good thing1:07 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Not sure how I feel about booing wade. You don't want to anger great players like that1:07 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Difference between al and zaza. Al can jump1:06 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

As will josh dribbling1:05 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Poor rotation will kill us1:05 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

JO or no jo we need to attack the paint1:03 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Big al dressed. Hoping to see "the boss"1:02 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Curious to see who the refs are1:01 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Live tweeting the hawks game1:01 PM May 3rd from TwitterBerry

Game 6 in Miami

It's getting chippy in the Southeast. The Heat are mad at Josh Smith for his dunk attempt. They are mad at Mario West for his celebration for stopping Wade. They are mad at how physical the Hawks have been, especially Zaza.

But you know what this all reeks of? Desperation. It's a playoff series. The Heat are one loss away from being eliminated. Do they really need to get mad at the Hawks in order to summon the motivation to put up a fight in this series? Wade and Erik Spoelstra realize that half of their team is ready to pack it in and go on vacation, and they have to conjure up some false beef with the Hawks in order to keep the rest of the Heat motivated. And it might work for this game...

The Heat are going to try and come out tonight like a bat out of hell. This is especially true since the Hawks will be missing both Al Horford and Marvin Williams, and Solomon Jones (god help us) will be starting.

But this game comes down to two factors. First, and most importantly, is how Wade's back feels. If he is still tentative and refuses to drive the lane, like he has been the last two games, then the Heat do not stand a chance. If he can loosen up his back and is hitting the lane like he was in the first two games, then the second factor will come into play. Second, is whether the rest of the Heat show up for Game 6. The Heat won Games 2 and 3 not only because Wade was clicking, but because his teammates were hitting shots.

Due to the evidence from the second half of Game 5, I'm going to say that Wade does get loosened up for Game 6 and goes off at home. Similarly, the rest of the Heat find inspiration from the home crowd, grows a collective backbone, and actually helps out Wade. But the Hawks will scratch and claw the whole way and make this the first game decided by single digits.

Hawks 86, Heat 94.

Incoming Heat Excuses

Game 5 will be played tonight @ The Highlight Factory. So far the only trend I have noticed in the series is that we win the games I watch live (1 and 4) and lose those I DVR (2 and 3). I'm hoping for a streak breaker tonight because I will not be watching the game live (free tickets to see the Braves take on the Cards will do that to you).

So far this has been a series of extremes with no team losing by closer than 10 points. At some point a close game is going to have to happen and I think that it is tonight.

While Wade is likely not as injured as he is pretending to be, I don't doubt that his back (and other assorted parts) are still dinged up. This will result in less playing time and hopefully a few spurts on defense by the Hawks where they really slow the Heat offense down. The Hawks need to (and I think will) push Wade around a little and make it too painful to come into the paint. ZaZa, I'm looking at you.

The officials are likely not going to be as "aware" as they were during game 4. There's ticky-tack and then there is just plain whistle happy. Slowing down the game with 50+ fouls called will always benefit the Heat--they are accustomed to this pace. The Hawks, however, need to keep the ball and clock moving to be most effective. I just can't imagine a scenario where there are that many fouls called again @ home. (game 6 may be another story)

Josh Smith will be the energizer bunny again. He turns it on when the crowd is into it and the crowd is going to be into it. My guess is another 22 pts 13 reb 3 ast 4 block type of night.

Joe will pull it together and have a scoring streak. I'm not the type to look up stats but I watched probably 85% of the games this year and can't remember such a dry spell for Joe over 5 straight games. He will connect from deep a couple of times early and open up some space in the lane. The Heat have been letting him have the 3 so far and really crowding the paint, that will come back to bite them with 3s early and floaters late.

Our bench scoring will actually score. Similar to Joe, our bench was the model of consistency this season. While "Hot Flip" hasn't appeared so far this series he also hasn't exactly been needed. We'll need him in a close game and I say he shows up. Hot Flip!

JO will not keep playing at this level. I don't think he slows down tonight, but mark it down for a game 6 or 7 collapse.

Overall I think our shooters will start hitting shots from the perimeter and that'll open up the lane for more floaters, drives, and kicks. The Heat are going to come with everything they have but those few extra minutes Wade has to miss because his back hurts from carrying the team will be the difference. We'll get ahead by 5-10 and hold them off.

Final Score: Hawks 86 Heat 81

Dear Woody

How young can you be and still sound senile:

"We’re right where we need to be. We just have to figure out [Monday] night’s game."

This was a direct quote from Woodson after the players called a players-only meeting on Sunday. I'm glad it was a players-only meeting. Apparently, getting blown out in back to back games both at home and on the road is the proper positioning for playoff success.

I can only assume that by "right where we need to be" he meant solely in a geographic sense. As in, we are in Miami near the arena and the game is in Miami at the arena. So we are "right where we need to be."

And as far as "figur(ing) out [Monday] night's game" he must mean discerning the tipoff time.

I don't want to lose this playoff series but I fear if we win we're stuck with him forever. Can't I have the win and a new coach next year?

Game 4 Predictions

I should really name this post "How you can talk yourself into not giving up on the Hawks", or "Despite the draft, it's not time for football yet."

So Saturday's game was horrific to the point that I had to turn away. I kept coming back only change channels when the score came up. After the tough loss in Game 2 and the slaughter in Game 3, it would be easy to shovel the dirt on the Hawks. But here's the optimistic points to keep telling yourself tonight.

The Heat cannot keep shooting this well. Before Game 2 I said that they could not keep shooting that poorly, and man was I ever right. Now I'm going to tell you that they cannot continue to keep shooting this well. For the season they shot 35.7% for 3-point range. In the last two games they have shot 57.7% and 52.2% respectively, despite most of the shots being contested. If they average 20 3-pointers a game, then they are hitting an extra 4 3s a game. I've heard of players turning it on for the playoffs, but teams? Not likely. Wade will get his, we just have to keep the defensive rotations crisp on all the role players and the percentages will come down... I just hope it is tonight.

The Heat will not get 12 blocks again. Good Lord did they come out like gangbusters on defense. Wade will ensure they come out with intensity and hustle tonight as well, but if we can respond to some of their punches early (instead of missing 17 of our first 19 shots), then that should take some of the wind out of their sails.

I would say that the Hawks will use less of the one-on-one offense, but they've done it all year, so why would Woody stop now?

So my prediction is that the Hawks will actually be in Game 4. They had a players only team meeting on Sunday (I take heart in this because I don't think Woody can do a lick of good), and they have the history of coming back from an 0-2 deficit last year against a better team than the Heat.

Unfortunately I think they will lose. They have not won a road playoff game in over a decade, and considering the effort they put forth in Game 3, I don't see that changing. They simply do not have the leadership to drag the team through a road playoff game. This is evidenced by a 16-25 road record during the regular season. To pull out a road playoff game you need a performance like Wade gave the Heat in Game 2. A "screw this, we are not losing" performance. And I just don't see anyone on the Hawks roster who can deliver that. Joe has only ever done it at home.

Hawks 90, Heat 98

Game 3 Prediction

I know it's too late and the ass whooping has already been doled out. But it was my job to put up the game 3 prediction and I got overwhelmed with other things.

Here are things I could not have predicted:

Joe Johnson shooting like Don Johnson
Woody ordering more subs than Jared Fogel.
Jermaine O'Neal re-resurging.
Bibby and Joe having more TOs than Assists.
No player hitting more than 5 field goals for the Hawks.

Overall it was a terrible beating. The only good part is that I had prior plans that precluded me from watching it live and forcing me to promptly delete it from my DVR upon arrival home.

I didn't really think we had a chance of winning the first game in Miami. Friday and Saturday nights lend themselves to the best crowds and combining that with the Miami locale and I figured it would be bonkers at the AAA. I was right in that regard. However, I figured we could feed (like a pro-wrestler) on the noise a little and hang with them. I was wrong in that regard.

I also figured we'd slow down their 3 point shooting a little bit. We did not do that either, to the tune of 52%. You have to keep a team under 35% (in my opinion) to be successful. 52% is just ridiculous. Combine that with 19-19 on FTs and their true shooting % has to be astronomical. I'm too lazy to calculate it, but any time a team hits 47% from the field 52% from 3pt and 100% at the line you can be pretty confident they are going to win.

There isn't much to take away from this game other than that we need to defend the 3 ball, hit more shots, and man up in the post. They seem like simple enough things. We shall see, I guess.

Game Two Prediction

But first, some quick notes about Game 1:
- I thought I was going to kill Josh at the beginning of the game. He came out firing two jump shots and just looking confused on defensive rotations, once giving up a wide open 3. Luckily he got his head on straight and attacked the rim. I think he was inspired by Wade...
- Did Wade give up on the game in the second half ala Kobe a couple of years ago? I mean it looked like Wade was purposefully not shooting in the third quarter to try and show a national audience just how bad his supporting cast was.
- Wade knows that Zaza has no chance at blocking his shot. Anytime Zaza was the help defender, Wade looked to dunk all over him.

Now onto Game 2. Here are some predictions I am quite confident of.
- Josh will not get 9 buckets in the paint. The Miami big men just gave up. If they do that again, I can't see them and/or the coach staying on the team for long. I think the Heat will go to a smaller, more athletic lineup for Game 2. Josh and Al do not have very developed post games, so having O'Neal in the game is not an advantage.
- The Heat will not go 4 for 23 from 3. The Hawks played good interior D because we could slack off the 3-point shooters. It will be tougher to pack all the defenders into the paint when the 3s are falling. However, the Hawks must continue to make it difficult for the Heat guards to penetrate, otherwise they will get killed. There is no way the Heat can beat us for more than one game relying solely on jumpers. So keep packing it in.
- Someone other than Wade will score more than 10 points for the Heat. They have to, don't they?

While the Heat will perform better in Game 2 than the embarrassing Game 1 loss, I think their deficiencies and inexperience are too much for the raucous Phillips Arena environment (feels good to type that).

Hawks 95, Heat 84

How to Predict A Victory With A Blown Mind

Blah blah blah, a host of excuses go out to our 11 readers (Hi Mom!) as to why there haven’t been many posts lately. But, my friends, here is the good news:
Daniel and I are making a commitment to blog about the Hawks playoff run. We won’t be predicting “Hawks in 6” or anything. Rather we will just preview each game as it comes and predict a winner for that game. Honestly, game by game will be a better way to preview and anyone who knows us, knows that we tend towards optimism when it comes to our feathered friends.

I get to talk about Game Win, I mean One happening Sunday. As 'Nique would say “I already shot my wad” with the previous sentence. I’m reasonably confident in the Hawks ability to win Game 1. My rationale in list format:

--We play better when we play confident. After winning at home in the playoffs and taking the 4th seed, we are brimming with confidence.

--We play great at home. Everyone knows this and it plays into the point above. Atlanta fans have been better lately at showing up for big games and certainly this is one.

--It’s going to take more than 1 game for the Hawks to get frustrated by the “Wade calls” and I bet there are fewer “Wade calls” by the refs in order to be able to claim impartiality. I’m dubious that it will last, but for game 1 I think we’re okay.

--While it will take a lot of energy to slow down Wade, we have two people capable of doing so: Joe and Mo will be rested and ready to slow Wade down. Conversely, there isn’t a defender on the Heat that worries me immensely against Joe, especially a rested Joe.

--Bibby looked tired as the season wore on but a week off will have done him good. He’ll drain at least 3 3s. Defensively, Chalmers doesn’t have the ability to break Bibby down the way the other quick point guards have all season.

--Bibby is also savvy enough to get Chalmers into foul trouble, which will put Chris Quinn on the floor. This is a good thing for the Hawks.

--Jermaine O’Neal and Jamaal Maglore are old. JO has aged in dog years over the last 3 season and looks to be about 57. Combine the energy of the home crowd with that of Smoove and “The Boss” Horford and O’Neal/Jamaal will be gassed early.

--Beasley will be shaky and commit some stupid turnovers and/or fouls. He will get frustrated. He may even get T’d up. He reminds me a LOT of Josh Smith and when things don’t go his way he tends to give up. He’ll give up early.

It is likely the Hawks will do their normal routine of getting down in the first quarter, bringing it closer in the second, playing even or worse in the third and pulling away in the 4th. Wade won’t let them get down by a ton but with about 8 mins to go in the 4th the Hawks will have the game in control and will work out the victory (something they have been improving at towards the end of the season).

Final score: Atlanta 101 Miami 93
Joe puts up a line around 22 pts 5 rebs 7 ast and limits Wade to about the same (which is a good thing since the rest of the Hawks’ roster is demonstrably better than the Heats’)

Philly or Miami?

The 76ers just passed the Heat in the standings for the 5th seed, which means the Hawks would play them in the first round. In my mind, this is a wonderful thing. While the 76ers have more depth and seem to play us really well, I really, really, really, really, don't want to play Wade (and the refs) in a playoff series.

Really don't.

You Have To Watch When...

So I was getting ready for bed last night and flipped on the TV to catch Sportscenter. Instead the UConn vs Syracuse men's basketball game was still going. At this point, it was the second over time game.

I am tired this morning.


You see, I felt this obligation to watch the end of the game. At the 2OT point, anything can really happen. So I stayed up later than intended to watch the finish of the game (which, compared to the previous 7 periods, was fairly anticlimatic).

This all got me thinking this morning: There should be rules to determine what situations mandate watching the rest of a game if you stumble across it inadvertently. Please feel free to add to this as it is a work in progress (in no particular order. perhaps we could rank them after a solid list is formed).

--Any college basketball game involving a top 25 team that is in the 2nd OT or later --MLT
--Any NFL game where the trailing team has the ball and less than 3 minutes to score --MLT
--Any MLB game that goes 11 or more innings --MLT
--Any CFB game where a huge underdog is leading after halftime -- MLT
--Any game where a significant record may be broken --MLT
--Any NBA game where a major star has over 30 points in the first half (LeBron, Kobe, Wade and perhaps Durant and Roy in the future)--MLT
--Any major college rivalry that is either close at the end (1 score in football or 2 possessions in basketball with under 2 minutes to go). --Daniel

Hawks and Drinking

Right now the two go hand-and-hand. Watching the Hawks play makes me need a drink more than a day of clients screaming at me. And this tidbit from the AJC certainly does not help, "Hawks coach Mike Woodson benched starting power forward Josh Smith after halftime, the result of a heated disagreement between the two in the locker room during the break."

Scotch? Yes please.

Campaigning for Acie Law

So MLT, understandably, turned off the Hawks game against the Knicks before the brief 3-minute stint by Acie Law in the last 3 minutes of the game. Woody called a timeout with 3 minutes left to play with the Hawks down by 15. I decided to stay with the Hawks game for two reasons. One, you never know if you can come back against the Knicks. Two, Woody might actually put in Law, who had not played the whole game.

Teams score the easiest against the Knicks when you can penetrate from the perimeter. They're not so great on the help defense. Bibby, while a great outside shooter, cannot beat his guy off the dribble. Law, on the other hand, was all about the dribble penetration in college (I refer to college because Woody hasn't let him play enough in the NBA to reference any of his deeds in the pros).

So what happens when Law finally enters in the game against the Knicks? He goes buck wild. More than likely Woody thought the game was out of reach, so he didn't bother trying to call "plays" (these "plays" usually include people running around aimlessly with no one getting open for 3-4 seconds and then isolating for Joe. Why we need a timeout to set this up is beyond me). With this freedom Law drove past his man on pretty much every offensive possession and either gave to Al for an easy bucket or kicked to an open shooter on the perimeter. He even hit an open 3 of his own. He got 4 assists in that brief 3-minute stint. Then he made a great defensive play on Duhon on the sideline that caused a turnover with 8 seconds to play with the Hawks down by only 4. Law almost single-handedly caused an 11-point swing.

At this point I am praying that they just inbound the ball to Law and let him continue to do his thing. Instead Woody calls a timeout and tries to call one of his patented "plays." The result? Joe throws up an airball from 3. Sad when I feel like the Hawks have a better chance to score when the coach has nothing to do with the play.

Who to fault?

So after miserable performances like last night's loss against the Knicks, where does the blame ultimately lie?

Perhaps it lies at the feet of Josh Smith, who was outrebounded by every other member of the Hawks, including Mike Bibby.

Perhaps it lies at the feet of the collective 6-25 shooting effort behind the arc.

Perhaps it lies at the feet of Mike Bibby for being horrible on defense and -8 for the game.

Really though, it lies at the feet of Head Coach Mike Woodson and the media (especially including our own announcers).

So, by now the Woodson fault is probably obvious. Failure to develop Acie Law (even though he was terrific in his 3 minutes last night +10), failure to develop an offense, failure to adjust to other teams, failure to continue pounding the ball deep when we have an advantage inside, failure to appropriately manage minutes thus wearing the major players out, and so on.

But why the media and local announcers? Because they have failed to hold Woodson accountable. A collective amnesia has overcome the media ever since the Hawks took the Celtics to 7. Somehow, losing in the first round became more than just a great sign of an emerging team. It became a level of infallibility for a coach who has still lost almost twice as many games as he has won. Instead of understanding that the wins over Boston were a result of more effort and grit than coaching acumen, the coach is getting credit for "motivating them" than is actually due.

So I can't really blame Woodson too readily for his failures this season. For example: say you are a sales representative for a company. After months of not selling anything, you decide that the effort you were putting forth wasn't worth it. So you begin to sleep on the job, show up late, not wear a tie. You are seemingly on the brink of being fired. One day a desperate customer happens upon you and you make a huge sale that breathes a little life into the company. You are then hailed as the savior to the company and given free reign to work as you please. So you go back to your old habits, showing up late, sleeping at work, etc. Only you happen to make a sale or two to the previous desperate customer and a couple of his friends. But your boss is okay with this because your "work" is better than before (not really, though) and you are bringing in more business.

That's where we are with the Hawks. Only no one (other than bloggers whose word means nothing) is willing to acknowledge it. Sure, we could make more sales and huge profits for the company if we got a salesman who knew what he was doing and could put his team in the right position. But the increase in sales we have experienced is sufficient for management despite there being no change in philosophy. So, Woody gets credit for the Hawks winning despite horrible mismanagement of the roster and the national and local media give him a pass for effectively sleeping on the job and showing up late to work.

And I can't blame Woody for that, totally. He has been basically told that he is doing fine.

During last night's game, the Hawks were 1-16 on 3 pointers at one point but had scored 42 points in the paint in the first quarter. And yet we are still hoisting 3's in the fourth quarter rather than going back to what was successful early on. Sure, it was Woodson's fault by not forcing the ball in to the post. But it was also Wilkins' (who has a terrible conflict of interest) and Rathburn's job to criticize the Hawk's (i.e. Woodson's) lack of strategy and adjustment. Only they didn't. Maybe they are only allowed to be homers, but I wish they would be a bit more like the old Braves announcers. Calling it like it is may not be nice, but it draws attention to the weaknesses and forces management to fix them. And surely that is not a bad thing.

Why are the Hawks so Maddening?

The short answer: the Hawks are the opposite of the Falcons.

After starting out the year 6-0, I, along with many people, had high hopes for the Hawks season. All of a sudden the deflating off-season where the Hawks lost Childress and played chicken with J-Smoove turned into thoughts of a 50-win season and challenging the Magic for the Southeast division title. These expectations, while fun to roll around in at the time, inflated my hopes too high for this team. To see them play hard, team defense. To see them swing the ball around the perimeter to find the open shooter. To see Joe take over in the 4th in a close game. These wonderful things proved fleeting as the long-haul of the season wore on.

Sometimes the good Hawks will come to play an entire game (I remember somewhere in the drunken haze of my bachelor party that the Hawks played well when we beat the Cavs in Atlanta in December). Sometimes the good Hawks will play only a quarter (usually either the 1st or the 4th). Sometimes the good Hawks won't play for a couple of games.

And that is what is so maddening. The utter inconsistency. The Falcons played way above their heads to get to their 11-5 record, but you knew it. That's what made it so fun. Despite the fact that the Hawks have a winning record this late in the season for the first time 1999, there are times I want to go crazy watching them. And it is because they keep giving you glimpses of how good they could be, and then they'll lapse into the same losing patterns of the last 4 or so years.

I'd be so much happier with the 32-25 record if I didn't think they could already have 40 wins.

Would the Hawks Be Better Without Josh Smith?

Last night's game against the Nuggets kept making me think: would the Hawks be better without Josh Smith? Seeing Horford play PF and use his size and quickness advantage time and time again to the tune of a double double really enforced what everyone has been saying: that he is playing out of position. Now, I knew this was true for a while but my homerism may have blinded me to just how big a difference there is when he is at PF versus at C.

Al was able to use his inside and outside game in a balanced effort which made the defense play him honest. This, in turn, set him up for either open shots, easy rebounds, or quick put-backs time and time again.

So are the Hawks doing the team a disservice by playing him at the Center position with Josh at the 4. Now I know Josh *can* be a game changing PF but the question that keeps coming up to me is: could we get a reliable true Center or upgrade at PG for him. With Bibby and ZaZa coming off the books at the end of the year, we will have two holes to fill in a market that isn't exactly flourish with talent. While both have said they would like to stay, you never know how free agency will change their mindset.

Perhaps trading Josh for a true Center (maybe for Kaman and the Clippers draft pick) in the offseason would balance the roster a bit more and make the team more consistent. If we are going to play a slower paced game, we ought to get the talent on the floor to match that and Josh simply doesn't fit.

Don't get me wrong, I've been a huge Josh Smith fan since he came out and have forgave repeatedly the mental lapses. However, at a certain point the team has to look at putting the entire team in the best position possible and I wonder if we can do that while trying to start both Al and Josh. Additionally, with the emergence of Marvin, having a true PF (which Josh really isn't) and a true C (which Al really isn't) would free up more space for Bibby, Joe, and Marvin to work on the wings.

p.s. Flip should never guard Billups. Ever. Like not even while playing NBA 2k9. He got torched last night and the 37 FTs Billups took made me sad.

Junior, the Sr. Version

Rumors have noisened over the past couple of days about the possible addition of Ken Griffey, Jr. to the Atlanta Braves. These rumors have made me quite nostalgic. You see, back around 2000, Daniel and I used to play the 'what if' game about Junior. Mainly, 'what if' we could somehow get Junior and pair him in the outfield with Andruw. Eventually we came up with the idea that you could just play those two in the outfield and have a 'short fielder' much like in sotfball. Someone who plays on the OF grass just behind second base. This would basically stop anyone from stealing, cut down on the number of infield hits as well as the number of grounders making it through entirely. It was our brilliant idea and our eternal hope.

Now here we are, Andruw-less (thankfully) but with the prospect of getting Junior to call The Ted home. I am here to say: let's do it!

Sure he is aging. He isn't the defensive player he used to be nor is he the hitter he once was. However, he is perfect for the Braves.

Here's why:

-Bobby loves platoons. Diaz and 'The kid' are both amenable to playing in one.
-Griffey hit over .300 against the NL East last year.
-Warmer weather could lessen the injury risk for Griffey.
-Griffey could provide veteran leadership for a young team
-He could help our young left-handers develop at the plate (McCann, Kotchman, Johnson)
-He could play LF or RF (in case Francouer didn't just suck due to being a fatty last year)
-He WANTS to play in Atlanta

Sure there is an injury risk and no, he isn't going to give us a .300 average and 30+ homers. But he would be a steadying influence and a minimal risk for the club. At best, he boosts our offense and plays servicable defense while helping lead the club. At worst, he fills a gap while our young players get more seasoning (Schafer, Gorkys) in the minors.

I say get this done Wren!

Hawks Wheelin' and Dealin'

So, inspired by the ESPN Trade Machine, the latest Simmons article, and the impending trade deadline, here are some trades that would improve the Hawks that I think both teams would make:

Simmons suggestion: Butler, Juan Dixon and Darius Songaila's crappy contract to Atlanta for Marvin Williams, Speedy Claxton's not-quite-as-crappy contract, Acie Law and a future No. 1. This trade would give Atlanta an upgrade at the SF position from the developing Marvin to the developed Butler, an upgrade at the back-up PG position, and little more depth in the frontcourt with Songaila. Meanwhile Washington would get two young players with potential, the insurance money from Speedy, and a future no. 1. The draft pick wouldn't hurt the Hawks that much since we'll be picking pretty low in the first round if we picked up Butler.

The Hawks obviously need to try and get either some more depth or improve in the frontcourt, so here are some trades that could bring that:
Speedy, Zaza and a No. 1 to the Clippers for Marcus Camby. This would give the Hawks a HUGE upgrade as Camby would be the starting center and Horford would become one of the best bench frontcourt players in the game. The Clippers would get an expiring contract, insurance money from Speedy and a No. 1. But sources say Camby is untouchable. So...
Speedy and Zaza for Kaman. The Clippers get out from under Kaman's remaining 4 years since they now have both Zach Randolph and Camby, and the Hawks get an upgrade at center. Might demand a pick though...

Speedy, Zaza, and a No. 1 for Brad Miller. Same logic as with the Camby trade, except that Miller isn't as good. Maybe we could just give them a No. 2...

Here's one of my favorite though...
Bibby, Zaza and Speedy for Hinrich, Larry Hughes and Noah. The Bulls get out from under the Hughes and Hinrich contracts. They also get back two expiring contracts with a veteran PG who can continue to tutor Derrick Rose. The Hawks meanwhile get back a decent PG, an overpaid bench player, and the chance to reunite Noah and Horford. I'd do it since we have no guarantee of re-signing Bibby, especially for a reasonable contract considering his age and defensive ability.

Any suggestions?

Inside Woodson's Mind

The last week has been a very difficult time for the coach of the Hawks, Mike Woodson. He had to coach three games without his heart, his soul, his Joe. How did Woodson cope with this loss? Well he did like any of us would, and went into complete and utter denial... at least I imagine he did. Let's take a peak into what it was like:

(In the locker room before the Minnesota game)

Woody: Alright guys just remember to not mess up on anything, even things I haven't bothered to coach you on, or I will glare at you slack-jawed. And remember what I've been preaching recently, you've got to start slowly in these games. The first half is really just about warming up and making sure no one pulls anything. And always remember the number 1 rule on offense: Pass it to Joe and get out of the way.

Marvin: But coach, isn't Joe sick in Atlanta?

Woody: If there are no questions, let's get out there.

(later in the game Woody talks to Marvin on the bench)

Woody: Joe, you've gotten your 2 minutes of rest in, I need you to get back out there and carry the team on your shoulders. Lord knows Marvin can't even stop crapping his shorts.

Marvin: Uhh... coach?

Woody: Get back in there Joe, we've got to get you on the all-star team!

AND SCENE.

Horrible? Yeah, I thought so. But not as horrible as the quote highlighted over on Peachtree Hoops. Nice picture choice Drew.

Joe is Not a Dominant #1

First off I want to clarify that this post is not an attack on Joe Johnson. I love the guy. He chose to come to a brutally bad franchise, put the team on his back, and carried them back to the playoffs last year and a winning record this year. By no means a simple feat since the Hawks do not have another consistent scoring option. And no, Flip Murray jacking up shot after shot does not count.

However, I can tell you now that Joe will never carry a team to the finals and especially not to a championship carrying the majority of the load. Once again, this is not an insult. By my count there are only 6 guys in the NBA that can carry a team to a championship: LeBron, Wade, Kobe, Paul, Howard (in a couple of years if not now), and Duncan. That's it. If you don't have one of those 6 guys, then you need to surround yourself with some good other talent. I think Joe could have been one of the league's all-time best #2 options in the right environment. I'm talking Pippin good. But we don't have a Jordan on our team, so the question remains where do the Hawks go from here?

The main thing the Hawks need to do if find a consistent #2 scoring option. Right now we don't have it. Bibby is a glorified jump shooter, he can't get open on his own when it counts. Josh's offensive game consists of putting his head down and recklessly charging the basket. Marvin has the potential, but he is too timid and not developed enough in the paint. Horford has the chance as well, but his post game needs to be refined. Right now he has one post move, the baby hook from the left block.

So the question remains, how do we get a #2 scoring option? Do we continue to hope our young guys develop into that option by accident and summer training (they sure as hell aren't getting it from Woody), or do we take a chance, deal some of our assets, and acquire a #2 scoring option like Cleveland did to get Mo Williams (who is like a younger Bibby)? We need to acquire that option if our young players can't develop within the next couple of years since Joe is just getting older, and next year is his last year. Do we try to trade Bibby's expiring contract this year? Do we wait until his salary comes off the books and try to sign a free agent? Do we try to pry Monta Ellis from the Warriors since they are allegedly upset with him?

More than likely there will be no moves this year as our GM lets the team and the fans taste a winning record before shaking things up. So these questions and more will have to wait until the offseason.