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I'm sick of hearing how the Hawks need a big, defensive, shot-blocking center so that Horford can move to the 4. Guess what? That guy plays for Orlando. There is all of this jabber about how the Hawks need a 5 but I never hear any names being mentioned. Who could the Hawks possible land that plays the 5 that would be an improvement over Horford? (crickets in the background).

This also annoys the crap out of me. Could people actually NAME the players they want to start at the 5 when they want to move Al to PF?

The Hawks starting backcourt was also significantly worse than their starting front court in the playoffs.

Well, you aren't talking to me. I suggest the Hawks need a big man, but I've been clear it isn't a starter in the short term (several years). Furthermore, I've named names of reasonable projects and advocated better coaching solutions to develop the big. In my eyes it isn't about moving Horford to the 4 right away because while there are some C's that do a better job defending Dwight (like Haywood), but none are the equal of Dwight. I advocate improving the big man rotation because I don't see Josh as a successful 3 unless he develops so different skill strengths.

Our personnel and schemes don't match up well with Orlando. This is evident by the game that we were able to get Dwight into some foul trouble we hung in longer but eventually got blown out.

I share your frustration when people say we should get any specific position. I too need who and how.

We should sign Haywood who is a legit 7 footer that can rebound and block shots and also has been known to be the only center in the NBA to give Dwight problems defensively. Unless we make a trade for Kaman or someone like that Haywood would be the guy i target in FA this offseason. Plus we could get him for a reasonable price.

A real PG is the real issue and in the series slasher taking the ball to D. Howards chest but a Serviceble big man is needed so let me take a stab at it. Gentlemen, it’s not that we need a big man on par with D. Howard we just need a guy that can body up guys like him and keep him out of the pant. I love Al, but did you see how deep D. Howard was getting the ball! Even Kwame Brown could put a body on him. You can’t expect Al to man up against these big and still be effective on the offensive side of the ball. After Al we have nothing but soft big man. ZaZa (hacker) Joe Smith (old). Just add any of these guys in the mix and I would be happy

Joel Przybilla
Brendan Haywood
Jamaal Magloire
Dan Gadzuric
Kwame Brown
Samuel Dalembert
Eddy Curry
Also Saer Sene ( worth taken a look at. I think our GM drafted him)

ATLballer wrote:We should sign Haywood who is a legit 7 footer that can rebound and block shots and also has been known to be the only center in the NBA to give Dwight problems defensively. Unless we make a trade for Kaman or someone like that Haywood would be the guy i target in FA this offseason. Plus we could get him for a reasonable price.

That's funny, I was thinking the same thing and I heard that one of the possible landing spots for Joe Johnson is Dallas. Sounds like a good Win Win!

Can Joe and Dirk play together? Ehhh, idk.

lol no center can compete with Dwight. Hmm I'm not sure if the two of em can play together. Do you guys REALLY like JJ that much? You should explore S&T's. I'm not a big fan of JJ's game. But I will admit he comes and plays hard some days..Can't say the same about the playoffs.

Haywood would be a nice addition. But I don't think our front court being a bit undersized is our problem.

spade57 wrote:lol no center can compete with Dwight. Hmm I'm not sure if the two of em can play together. Do you guys REALLY like JJ that much? You should explore S&T's. I'm not a big fan of JJ's game. But I will admit he comes and plays hard some days..Can't say the same about the playoffs.

JJ's unrestricted. We have nothing to compel a S&T unless he wants to go to a team without cap room or a team that wants to pay him extra or a team wants to use a sign and trade to stretch their cap room. Even then we can't dictate that it is to a team that gives us a C back. It is still a matter of making the most of it as long as it doesn't financially bind us.

HoopsGuru25 wrote:This also annoys the crap out of me. Could people actually NAME the players they want to start at the 5 when they want to move Al to PF?

On my side, it makes now 3 years that I think of every C we could get, but like Evildallas, I never thought of a starting C.
I always talked about a six-man kind of player, playing 32min at C, which would allow Al to play 16min at C and 16min at PF, with Josh using the 32min left.

It avoid having Josh at SF, and gives a mainly 3 guys rotation, instead of a standard view of starting C and his backup, and starting PF and his backup, and even if the player is coming from the bench, he can have a big salaries because he doesn't have to be viewed as a bench player only but a real rotation player.
Lots of people did not agree with view, saying that you can't have a C backup at 9 or 10M, but nobody said anything about Crawford at 10M coming from the bench.

The C I was hoping at first was Camby, and we hear a rumor about DEN wanting the Acie pick for Camby at draft time. The following season, I remember we talked about WAS and something build on Zaza+Speedy for Haywood+Daniels.
Then last season, I thought it would be interesting to make Marvin+Zaza+Speedy for Miller+Salmons.

All these trades makes the Crawford trade impossible, but since I am pretty sure that we would have been nearly on the same level with Murray instead of Crawford, I would have had no problem with Miller, Salmons and Murray, compared to Zaza, Marvin and Crawford.

Miller could be a good addition this summer (I would have preferred him a few years back). He's tough and he stretches the defense with his shooting ability. If he'd take the MLE it would be possible or maybe part of a larger S&T between the clubs.

I still think ultimately we should draft and train some big men because I see our real title window to be after the lockout. Right now we are too weak at key positions (PG, coach, SF) to make a real run.

go after gortat