Off-season tweaking

[evildallas]

I'm posting this for a long time Hawks fan who's having trouble getting onto RealGM, but still wanted to get his idea out there for consideration. It's not about blowing up the whole roster.

I see some of you people are over reacting. There is no need to blow the whole team up. The only players we need to keep are Bibby, Joe Johnson, ZaZa, Flip, and either Josh Smith or Al Hofford. Face it people we need a true low post defender to keep other teams out of the paint. You are going to have to loose something to get something. Josh and Hofford play (or should play) the same position. I say trade Al Hofford. Now before you all get too bent out of shape hear me out. What does Hofford actually bring to the table? Rebounding and tough interior defense when he is not out muscled or over powered. What does Josh bring to the table? I know he makes you curse at the T.V. when he stands at the three point line. But if he is the same Josh Smith that I have become to know over the years, he will use this off season to get better and work on what he needs to. You see what Josh has you can’t teach, and that is a desire to be better. He may frustrate us with some of his antics but we love him when he is on his game, doing what he does best. Blocking shots, driving to the hoop, and catching the alley hoop for that Highlight Factory Jam. Yea we love Josh Smith when he is doing all of that. I just want you all to ask yourself. Can Al Hofford be replaced? I think so. What about Josh Smith? I know he can’t and he is from Atlanta. We have to keep him. But we must give up something to get something. Al Hofford for a draft pick plus.

How about this Al Hofford and Ace Law for a top five draft pick this year and maybe Jack Jarret or someone like that. And with the top five pick you select Hasheem Thabeet. With a couple of more minor moves our line up could be Bibby, Johnson, Marvin Williams, Josh Smith, ZaZa. Then we would have Flip and Jack Jarret and Thabeet coming off the bench. What do you all think?

[HMFFL]

Have him email me if it's a Realgm problem and if he wants to join the site.

I don't view Mike Bibby or Flip Murray as automatic keepers, but due to the limited replacements we probably will need to resign both of them. Eddie House is the type of player I can see us replacing Flip Murray's production with, but he's going to be more pricey and will need to opt out of his player options (Which he should).

Picking between Josh Smith and Al Horford is what many believe needs to happen. Getting bigger inside is also what many believe needs to happen, but there are just as many positives if you keep Al Horford over Josh Smith.

By trading Al Horford and by including Acie Law tells me they screwed up the 2007 draft. Do you really think the Atlanta Spirit Group is prepared to admit that? Obviously they can create the story and feed to the media that the former GM Billy Knight is the only one to blame.

Jack Jarret knows Indiana wants him part of the teams future and for him to start. He has leverage over any team that pursues him...beat Indiana's offer.......guarantee me that I start the 1 or 2....don't waste my time if you can't offer me both of those.

[theatlfan]

My big ? here is why would Thabeet be considered an upgrade? His biggest asset is the ability to swat shots - something that we've got in both Smith and Horford. Yeah, he's tall and we don't have that, but how will that help us in guarding the bulldozer type big men that give us issues? Even an aging Shaq took us for 19/11 and if you saw the game, it was more embarrassing than that.

Honestly, I'm not against trading anyone as long as we get fair value. I've never liked how BK left our roster - it doesn't really match up. We've got 3 PFs, but no C. We've got elite athletes @ every position except PG, but not really anyone who's a dominant rebounder and can start the break. On D, we can guard any opponent's wing just fine, but we can't deal with the true C banger or the quick G - two assets that championship team generally have at least 1 of. If someone was willing to give equivalent talent / youth while helping us balance our roster (and prolly theirs), then anyone could be had if it were up to me...

[Skyhawk1]

I refuse to entertain any ideas about trading Horford at this point.

[ATL DirtyBird]

Another case of its fun to talk about but will never happen. I wish it would be it wont.

[raleigh]

Wow. I disagree with almost 90% of that quoted post.

[conleyorbust]

Hofford?

I think Smith is the better player which is backed up resoundingly by +/- stats for our team so if we HAD to trade one of them and they brought back equal value, I guess I'd trade Al. If Al would bring more value, I'd certainly trade him. If Josh brought more value, well I'd trade him.

On the other hand, I'm not of the opinion that we HAVE to trade one. I'll trade one if there is a better option there but until I hear we have a realistic offer on the table to get a better team (not just a bigger one), I wouldn't pull the trigger.

We hear too much talk from Hawks' fans about the need to get bigger but there are very few realistic trades out there... we could try trading for the perma-injured Kaman but he isn't as effective player as Josh when he is healthy and he isn't healthy as often as Al or Josh. We hear talk about trading for Bosh or Amare... but those guys aren't "bigger" than anyone. Especially defensively.

[LL Cool Scott]

If you judge players on the postseason - Josh Smith is the best player on this team.

If we can keep Josh and Joe and package some of our younger guys like Acie, Al, and/or Marvin for Bosh or Amare - we can legitimately compete with Cleveland and Orlando in the future. I'd hate to see us stand pat and just accept being the 3rd (or 4th - Chicago might surpass us soon) best team in the conference for the next 5 years.

[tbhawksfan]

The intangeables argument is impossible to ignore when speaking of a choice between Smoove and Horford. Smoove has better trade value and Horford is probably a much better team-mate. I would only do an advantageous, roster balancing trade though. Actually I'd try to totally fleece the other team.

Smoove/Speedy/#19

for

Paul/Chandler

for example.