Is John Hollinger a Hater?

notaneasywin · Post #1 » by **notaneasywin** » Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:25 am

Did he lose money betting on the Hawks when he was younger? Bench player refuse to give him an interview? What gives?

I can't remember one positive thing that has come out of his mouth regarding this team over the last 3 years. Is it just me?

HoopsGuru25 · Post #2 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:31 am

Hollinger is one of the only analyst who actually watches the majority of the teams around the league. The only time he's been overly negative was when he acted like the Hawks had lost one of the up and coming stars in the league when Chill went to Greece.

JoshB914 · Post #3 » by **JoshB914** » Thu Nov 11, 2010 4:50 am

Hollinger was one of the only analysts to pick the Hawks to make the playoffs in 2008, he has also been one of the most vociferous supporters of Josh Smith amongst all the BS about him. If you can't remember him saying anything positive about us in the last three years you clearly haven't read too much of his stuff.

He's one of the few "experts" out there whose opinion I value. Like HG said, he watches all the games and is one of the more knowledgeable guys around. I've noticed the majority of the hate he gets is from fans who are upset about him being down on their team. And usually Hollinger is right.

ATL DirtyBird · Post #4 » by **ATL DirtyBird** » Thu Nov 11, 2010 8:24 am

Hollinger knows his stuff. Some of his comments can come as douchy but hes knowledgeable about ATL basketball and basketball its self.

killbuckner · Post #5 » by **killbuckner** » Thu Nov 11, 2010 1:50 pm

I'm pretty sure he lives in Atlanta and goes to several Hawks games a year.

parson · Post #6 » by **parson** » Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:52 pm

Actually, I've always pegged Hollinger as a Hawks fan who gets frustrated with the team. That'd make him a bit like us, huh?

Anybody who's watched this team play has to admit that there are times when the Hawks are glorious and sometimes when they sleepwalk ... and often in the same game.

sutrick · Post #7 » by **sutrick** » Thu Nov 11, 2010 3:40 pm

Hollinger is definitely one of the better NBA analysts and I have not detected a negative bias on his part. However the Hawks do have a big problem in that they have a lot of salary tied up with the starters and their bench isn't that strong. I think there is also a frontcourt problem which will never allow the Hawks do get past the second round of the playoffs and may prevent them getting past the first round since they will not have homecourt advantage in the first round.

Problem is both Horford and Smith should be power forwards. So we have a below average PG, a very good SG, a below average SF and two very good PF's with one not big enough to be a center and the other not capable of defending 3's which also deters his shot blocking efforts. Bottom line is for the Hawks to have a future they must trade Horford or Smith for a real center and a SF. Fortunately, both are very good and should be highly desirable for teams in need of quality PF's.

#1 pick · Post #8 » by **#1 pick** » Thu Nov 11, 2010 7:31 pm

Marvin is average and Bibby is awful for what the Hawks need out of the PG position, don't get it twisted. Now maybe if Bibby was a Miami Heat or LAL, below average would be true for Bibby.

HoopsGuru25 · Post #9 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Thu Nov 11, 2010 7:43 pm

Hawks to have a future they must trade Horford or Smith for a real center and a SF.

I've been hearing this for the past 3 years and it still doesn't make sense. Good centers rarely get traded and the ones that do are over 30(Shaq/Camby/Haywood).

sutrick · Post #10 » by **sutrick** » Sat Nov 13, 2010 4:58 pm

HoopsGuru25 wrote:
Hawks to have a future they must trade Horford or Smith for a real center and a SF.

I've been hearing this for the past 3 years and it still doesn't make sense. Good centers rarely get traded and the ones that do are over 30(Shaq/Camby/Haywood).

Your right that centers are hard to come by. I kind of misspoke. What I meant was the Hawks can't expect to progress without a high quality SF and a quality PG. The only way to probably get that is to trade Horford or smith which would then create the need for a defensive, rebounding center. If the Hawks were better at the PG and SF positions, there would be no issue with Horford playing center as long as there were adequate bog back ups.

notaneasywin · Post #11 » by **notaneasywin** » Sat Nov 27, 2010 3:48 pm

parson wrote:Actually, I've always pegged Hollinger as a Hawks fan who gets frustrated with the team. That'd make him a bit like us, huh?

Anybody who's watched this team play has to admit that there are times when the Hawks are glorious and sometimes when they sleepwalk ... and often in the same game.

+1 Turns out Hollinger is an Atlanta resident, thus gaining membership in the tortured fan club.