Fill me in on your fans thoughts of the team

[DanoMac]

So I'm currently an intern over at Rotowire.com, and was just appointed the beat writing position for your Hawks.

Being a huge Bucks fan, I know how frustrating wishy washy **** in the media regarding the team can be, and appreciate stuff directed more towards the fans and their insight.

So my question to you guys is, what's your guys' current stance on the team, and where do you guys see yourselves going forward realistically? What's your hope going forward?

Who are the players on the team that you, the fans, feel are expendable and the players you feel are building blocks. What's the long term core?

I was able to pick between the Hawks, Bobcats, and Magic and chose you guys, so don't let me down here! Haha.

Thanks guys, all your replies are much appreciated.

[ATL Boy]

We feel that Horford and Teague are the building blocks of the team, everyone but Teague, Horford, Jenkins, and Lou Williams is expendable (Jenkins could be but I think the most untouchable player on that list is Lou as he took less money to play with us). Every player on our team other than those 4 are expiring contracts; our main goal is to use Josh Smith to lure Dwight Howard to Atlanta (That prolly won't happen, it's just a pipe dream) but this past offseason we cleared major cap space by trading Joe Johnson and Marvin Williams for expirings, we'll have a ton of cap space this coming offseason and hope to put that cap space to good use. Josh Smith wants the max, what Ferry will do with Josh is beyond me but my guess is that if don't land Howard we'll S&T Smith. We really like what Kyle Korver has done for us this season and we'll prolly wanna resign him (again IDK what Ferry is thinking, I'm just stating my opinion). Hope I helped

[Jamaaliver]

Welcome to the fold, Dano.

A few thoughts:

Undersized - For the past few years we've had one of the smallest frontcourts in the NBA with, essentially a PF at Center (Horford) and a SF at PF (Jsoh Smith). This is exemplified by the fact we've been in the bottom third in the league in team rebounding for years now. It's even worse this year with our only legitmate Center (Pachulia) in and out of the lineup with injuries recently. We're currently 20th in blocks also, that high ranking is due largely to Josh. We've gotten by in past years due to athleticism. We currently start two PGs in our backcourt most games and a SG at SF which just further exacerbates the size issue.

Walking Wounded- We have rarely had access to our full roster. Deshawn Stevenson has bad knees and doesn't play back-to-back games. Zaza is out, Morrow's been out, Horford's missed time and is still recovering from his torn pec last season. LOU Williams is out for 6-9 months with a torn ACL. We've had 16 different starting lineups so far this season. Most of the variation is due to injuries.

Not so familiar faces: Only 4 players from last season are still on the active roster. The rest of the acquired players are playing on short term contracts for the most part. The players have bonded well considering, but still haven't completely gelled on the court. The injury situation hasn't helped. Most of the players will not be back next season.

Of the Core 4:
Horford is the most consistent, but is limited offensively.
Josh is the most talented, but maddeningly inconsistent. He's butted heads with the coach (as recently as last night) and is the single most polarizing Hawks player in recent history.
Zaza is a banger with size, attitude and limited skillset.
Teague is still finding himself. He's blooming into a solid starter at PG, but is inconsistent and streaky.

Coach Larry Drew is capable, but overmatched in a losing situation. (Lame duck, best player who constantly undermines him, new GM who will be looking to make a change this summer.) Good Xs and Os guy, not much of a motivator or disciplinarian. His rotations are maddeningly random.

We overachieved early in the season, and now things are catching up to us with a tougher schedule and numerous injuries.