Good is just good, but not GREAT…and great players know when to turn it on and take over

@AB, For the love of God I have no idea why you keep saying the Atlanta Hawks have fans. They play like 60 away games every year. For a team that has consistently made the playoffs, their “home” crowd is non-existent. It even got to the point that Joe Johnson called out his own “fans” for not showing support.

Last night when Lebron and Wade came out in street clothes, that literally sucked the air out of the building. I know people in the south have been laid back ever since losing the civil war but their arena is nicknamed “The Highlight Factory.” With Al Horford’s putback in the first half I’d be willing to bet 70% of the crowd was watching to see if Lebron still bites his nails.

As for the Hawks blowing up their team, completely may be harsh but major moves need to be made. The Franchise has held on to too many pieces that aren’t getting any better.

Starting with Joe Johnson, he averages 20-4-4 because his usage rate is d*** near 92%[not to be taken as a factual statement]. He is Lebron-lite in that department, constantly dribbling the air out of the ball. Next we have Josh Smith. Can you trade the local product? Probably not, his HS probably has a row in the upper level just for them. Can he somehow find a way to get better? Probably not, as gifted as he is his longest stretch of good games tops out at 4. WTF is he? Is he a 3, is he a 4, can he shoot, can he post up, can he hit free throws, can he not cry after every call? He has the pieces to put up all around numbers and he has shown glimpses of that but come the f*** on, he should be in the top 15 OF THE LEAGUE but he can barely be considered the in the top 15 of either forward spot. Al Horford, not his fault he is the biggest starting caliber Center on his team so I’ll give him a pass. Exhibit D – Marvin Williams. How many f*****g passes will this dude get. Similar to Josh, WTF is he? By the time you answer that question, he will probably run out of “potential”.

Anywhere from 1-3 of those guys needs to be moved. But the Hawks have reasoned with themselves to keep all of them at all costs. Joe can’t be traded since he is the workhorse, statistically. Josh Smith can’t be traded due to hometown loyalty. Horford can’t be traded because you need a legit big. [Smith for Cousins straight up if Cousins is still available]. Marvin Williams can’t be traded because he was the lottery pick taken ahead of that one guy and that other guy, you know… the ones that keep making All-Star games and are considered franchise changing point men. The Hawks have created a log jam at the 4 position for no real reason and because of that that will neither rise nor fall. But everyone seems content with that. They beat the teams they are supposed to beat, and they play the contenders tough. But that is like being a solid B student your entire academic career. You know you need to study a little bit harder to get to that A or give up some habit to get better grades but you knowingly choose not to strive to be better. You could have gone to Princeton but you opt to go to Strayer.

Let’s revisit this string on First round playoff victories.
2007 Celtics – Moral victory
2008 Heat – Each convincing win was followed by an equally convincing loss.
2009 Bogut-less Bucks – Ref: 2008 Heat
2010 Orlando Magic – Bottom line, they won.

All in all, this team has grown together but they WON’T get any better. They have too many people hiding behind the “potential” label.

Have a nice weekend.

I like watching old games to pick up on things I missed when I was a kid, or maybe just happened to miss last week. I remember Michael Jordan dropped 55 on the Knicks, but I don’t mind seeing HOW he got the 55 from an older, different perspective. Or maybe I missed the Spurs/Mavs game last night and I wanna see just how bad Dallas was. I don’t mind watching it even though it’s old news.

@First & Foremost — I agree that the Hawks shouldn’t be complacent and should keep looking to make moves. I just don’t think they need to get rid of their foundation because they’ve “only” made it to the 2nd round year after year. If they can trade Marvin for something better, absolutely do that. Teague? Sure. I’m not a huge fan of Josh Smith, so if there’s a good deal on the table I’d maybe trade him too. But I would definitely keep Johnson and Horford, and wouldn’t even be too quick to unload Smith just because it’s something to do.

It will take a significant leap forward by at least two of their Big Three in order for Atlanta to really become a true championship contender. Horford is young enough to maybe pull it off, but I think Josh and Joe kind of are what they are at this point. MAYBE Josh could develop a better jumper as he relies less on his athleticism. The main thing I’m saying is that what Joe and Josh are, though, should be good enough for a lot of people.

I need a Sporty Spice translator, but anytime you want to come to the Valley of the Sun see how those “gays” ball. Got a nice Harry Potter scar from a shot to the head and bruised my elbow on a dude’s melon. So it was a good day.

Isn’t it crazy to watch old games, how the ball flowed and how many points they scored and always breaking. Damn, you think that would translate today with not being able to touch an offensive player.

@Chicagorilla — THANK YOU. I’m thinking NBA TV should have access to all kinds of gems, but they only wanna show Lakers, Celtics and Jordan games.

I wanna see Alex English facing Dominique Wilkins, or Isiah Thomas vs John Stockton, or even some 90s Shawn Kemp vs Karl Malone games. Maybe I’m in the minority too, but it doesn’t always HAVE to be Magic, Bird or Jordan for me.

Austin I stand corrected but…of all the playoff teams that have been in it in the past few years when the Hawks have, the Hawks are either the last team you pick or the second to last team you pick to win it all. Seriously, last night was the worst game I have watched in my short memory…a depleted Heat team battling a full Hawks team, yet 3OTs. Thats pathetic. I found myself wishing Wade and James were healthy just to see how badly the Hawks would have been stomped. Stats dont mean shit either, so what JJ averaged that, thats like the old thing where said player averaged 20, 7, 7, or said player averaged 25, 5, 5. They always come up with some kind of stats to make that player look like they are doing something. JJ is at best your third option on a good team and at worst, your first option on a mediocre team…like he is currently.

Chicagorilla and F&F – An Ali fight is a different animal. I could watch those a hundred times. As far as Chi, it sounds like you study the game more than just watch it. And I would totally tell you the score just to be a dick.

A couple of years ago when the Lakers were in the Finals against the Celtics, we had a softball game during game 7. We had a couple guys just say “fuck it, I’m out”. I was in the middle of my 19th NBA boycott because the officiating was SO BAD, so I showed up to the game and didn’t even care about the score of the Lakers game. We had something like 8 guys who were recording it and they were all going to go watch the game after softball. One of the dudes on the other team brought his 13 year old son to the game and he kept yelling out the score. Somewhere in the 3rd quarter/5th inning the guys on my team flipped out. Grown ass men telling a 13 year old that he was going to get the shit kicked out of him. I tell the kid that he is good, but he has to not yell out the score. The kid’s dad came up like he was going to hit me. Very calmly, I said “Ask your kid what I told him, and then think long and hard about what you want to do next.” He started to say something and I interrupted him with the old “I don’t like to fight, but if you want to, just ask. It can be arranged, but I will wear you the fuck out. In front of your kid, he’ll cry, and in front of your friends, none of whom will help you once I start.” So he calms down, the kid shuts up, and we actually won the softball game. As everyone is leaving, mind you, I live in LA, we all do, and cars are driving around honking and crap so you KNOW the Lakers won, I check my phone and say “Holy shit! The Lakers won!!!”, and SPRINT to my truck. Fastest I have run in years, and I haven’t run as fast since.

Long story short, almost fought a guy for his kid blurting the score, then steal his glory and blurt it out myself. Fuck yeah.

Anyone who watched the Chi-Lando game…tell me why is Joan-Kim getting the ball on offense at ALL? Other than offensive rebounds, which is he actually decent at, he is completely useless. That ugly mother fucker got passed the ball over 30 times, which ended up being a wasted pass most of the time, because he would just pass it to the closest person to him and set a moving screen, then he jumps around like an idiot waving his hands like he’s open. The few times he actually made a move with the ball, he threw up some horrible looking lay up, or just looked like an asshole. He is horrible at defense as well, Dwight isn’t an offensive master by any means, but he was completely bullying that ugly bastard. Boozer, who is a HORRIBLE defender was defending Howard 10x better, same with Taj Gibson.

Glenn Davis is actually more useless than Noah, other than being a fat pylon, I don’t see how or why this guy is in the nba. The guy can make funny faces, smell like butter, look fat, and set a fat pick on guys (who are probably drizzled in grease after running into that chunk of blubber).

I hate ny, but I’m glad that asshole who was guarding Melo on the Wiz ended up losing. Sure he took a small bow to the face, but he held his face like someone just curb stomped him, and thrashed around trying to get an offensive foul instead of guarding Melo. If the guy wants to be a dick, and cry to refs instead of playing defense, he can go fuck himself.

33 shots for Melo wow. And they barely won against the stinking cadavers of the Wizards.

People hate on Joe and his fat contract cause when he was rewarded that contract, people expected more from him. People expected him to improve. At least people were hoping that 06-07 wasn’t a fluke. Fans were expecting him to reach his prime since he was approaching his peak years. Nobody was expecting he would roll off the curve pretty fast. It doesn’t help that he shoots in the low 40s%. You may see it as management’s fault, but shouldn’t the player reward management that trust by doing more to help his team win?

But hey, that’s guaranteed contracts for you.

In the real world, if someone offers me 3x my current salary, then hell yes I would accept it. But of course I have to work 3x as hard and produce results 3x as much to justify that salary. Otherwise, I would get fired.