Does BK think we need more to compete for the playoff run?

[td00]

The trade deadline is 14 days away.

[HMFFL]

I'm starting to think Billy's hands are tied to a certain extent. I'm pretty sure the ASG wants to keep the foundation of Joe, Josh Smith, Marvin Williams and Al Horford together. It's going to be rather difficult to trade for someone like Andre Miller or any other big name. We also don't have the first round picks to move at the moment and a team won't be able to receive our first round pick next year.

While the fans want a trade, I'm sure if Billy goes after a roll player, and not Andre Miller he's going to be criticized. At this point I would love for us to acquire some size for the bench.

[High 5]

I just called Bill and he said "No, we have Shelden Williams."

[evildallas]

Sadly, I think the answer is no.

I feel we need
a) a 3 pt shooter at SF or backup SG/SF to compliment JJ and Marvin
b) another PG
c) another big

I suspect Billy Knight feels
a) JJ and Marvin provide enough shooting and Childress is playing great in the role when we run.
b) that AJ and Lue can maintain the position well enough to get into the playoffs this year and any good PGs would require a multiple year salary commitment.
c) that Zaza will regain form to provide enough relief for Al and Josh as the backup big. Trading Shelden will reflect poorly on himself and his value is at low point and we can't give him minutes to showcase him for a trade. If they keep him on the bench maybe he performs if forced into action.

We could match any deal for Josh Smith and take on some contracts to improve the team for a playoff run if we don't plan on resigning Josh Childress. If we don't plan on resigning Josh Childress then we could shop him for an skill set addition or better PG. However if we plan on resigning both we are very tight on cap space.

There is no trade that BK could pull off to compete with the big splashes that have happened recently, but there are trades that can improve the team.

I'll be honest I think the East is so weak that we should be able to make the playoffs as is. It'll be a fight and probably a brief visit if we make it, but it should be doable. I don't there is a trade available that allows us to go deep in the playoffs. Our players and coach haven't been there before and you normally don't go far the first taste you get. As such it is hard to justify the risk of taking on salary and making changes mid-season if the end result isn't likely different. All I can say to challenge that is that if they don't make the playoffs this year the team loses an entire year of progress because next post season they'll be newbies. I'm not sure BK shares that sentiment.

[D21]

I agree with all your post, but BK has also to think that this summer, this team enters the "over the cap area", and it's means less possibilities to improve the team. We could add some decent talent with our expiring, but I think it won't happen.

The needs:

a) a 3 pt shooter at SF or backup SG/SF to compliment JJ and Marvin
b) another PG
c) another big

I don't want a "Joe's backup only" shooter. We need to be able to play the two at the same time, having two 3pts threats on the floor. That's why I always thought the PG we would try to get should be one with 3pts abilities and not Miller.

It could be:
a) a 3pt PG
b) another big

But I agree to the fact that if it costs more than both a PG and a SF shooter...

It also depends on the plan with Childress. If we can get a 3pt PG, we can keep him. If we get a SF/SG shooter, Childress can be traded...but we still will have to find a PG.

[lunarblues]

it depends on what you mean by playoff run. if you want us to just make the playoffs, then the answer is no. we can hold onto the 7th seed and probably get the 6th seed with the team we currently have. if you want us to make it to the conference finals however, then we would need to add some pieces. i don't think that billy thinks this team is ready to do that however, and that is why we aren't looking at hard at the deadline. we aren't one of the top 5 teams in the east by a longshot and i don't think an andre miller trade would change that fact. really we need to make sure that we resign our players and add (not subtract) core players to the roster. our time to win isn't now. no need to act like it is.

[D21]

Now, there's a rumor about Mike Miller to the Heat: Link

...Another speculative trade involves Miller for Miami's Ricky Davis and his expiring $6.8 million contract...

Just a little rumor, but if the Heat can do it with mainly Davis contract, and after seeing Gasol being traded for expiring... and seeing our s10M of expiring contracts...

[conleyorbust]

D21, I agree with you that at some point ownership is going to have to agree to go over the cap, at this point it might not be the best business decision unless they think that there is a chance we fall out of a playoff spot or a chance that it could get us past the first round.

I think that evildallas makes some good points too. Most of us think that Chil is probably done in the ATL after this season because he is just more limited than the rest of our core, but he has been great lately and BK doesn't want to risk moving him and having our team end up worse for it. Personally, I don't know if I'm comfortable giving his minutes to Rio/Sal at this point. Point guard is a huge need and Miller would be the best option because of his talent and the length of his contract, but if he's not available BK gets put in a situation where he has to take on a guy who is probably backup material. I like Watson a lot but he has a Claxton contract, and while he might actually be worth it from a basketball/financial perspective, BK might not want to admit that he was totally wrong.

Zaza is tough because he might round back into form and its hard to trade the guy you picked 5th overall for a shooter off the bench.

I'm not saying that I think we shouldn't make a move, I'm not saying BK will be right if he doesn't make a move for these reasons, I'm just saying Billy has reasons to not make a move even if ownership doesn't mind him spending some dough. He's always been against admitting errors, and at this point for good reason because his work is probably under closer scrutiny than ever.

[tontoz]

Obviously we already have enough pieces to make the playoffs since we are the 7th seed currently. But as far as being a complete, balanced team we are a long way off.

I doubt BK does anything before the deadline.

[conleyorbust]

Obviously we already have enough pieces to make the playoffs since we are the 7th seed currently. But as far as being a complete, balanced team we are a long way off.

I doubt BK does anything before the deadline.

truth

Do you guys think that if we got a point like Miller and pulled into the 6th seed, we'd be able to upset Orlando? Out of anyone in our range, we have the best chance of doing it, we always seem to play them well.

[lunarblues]

we can upset orlando without miller. we match up very well with them and could easily get them in 6 or even 5. after that though we're toast. that has more to do with the fact that josh and marvin and horford aren't ready to deal with boston or detroit for one game much less 4-7 in a row. i'd just make sure we keep the roster together.

[evildallas]

I don't want a "Joe's backup" shooter. We need to be able to play the two at the same time, having two 3pts threats on the floor. That's why I always thought the PG we could trade for should be one with 3pts abilities and not Miller.

With the flexibility of the lineup a 3 pt shooter could be placed in the role currently held by Childress and play with Joe even though they would also be Joe's primary backup. That's what I was envisioning. Preferably I want someone at a starters level (like Artest, Maggette, or Mike Miller), but I would consider a backup if paired with a starting PG upgrade that requires Childress to acquire. Sadly most of the players that fit the bill are held by Toronto and Golden State.

Again, I don't expect it to happen. The other reason is if BK makes a move and it backfires, it is on him. If he stands pat and the team doesn't hold on to a playoff spot then he can deflect the blame.

Just cause we're in 7th now doesn't mean that we'll still make the playoffs. We finish up February with a vicious road trip that I think makes the last one (1-4) seem easy by comparison.

[D21]

...He's always been against admitting errors, and at this point for good reason because his work is probably under closer scrutiny than ever.

That's a big part of the problem: if we all knows his errors, so the guy looking at BK job know these errors too. He can't hide it.
And don't trying a change, even a little one, is hard to understand. You can't stand here and wait for years to erase these errors like that.

Meanwhile, I know it's easy for me to say "trade our expiring for some more talent" while it's another story in the reality, because if it doesn't work, if the team doesn't improve, BK would put the team over the cap for nothing.

...I don't want a "Joe's backup only" shooter. We need to be able to play the two at the same time, having two 3pts threats on the floor. That's why I always thought the PG we would try to get should be one with 3pts abilities and not Miller...

With the flexibility of the lineup a 3 pt shooter could be placed in the role currently held by Childress and play with Joe even though they would also be Joe's primary backup. That's what I was envisioning. Preferably I want someone at a starters level (like Artest, Maggette, or Mike Miller), but I would consider a backup if paired with a starting PG upgrade that requires Childress to acquire. Sadly most of the players that fit the bill are held by Toronto and Golden State...

I forgot to add the word "only" ... actually I wanted to talk about a guy who would be used like Salim is or was supposed to.
So I agree with you on a guy like Mike Miller or Maggette, a guy who could share the SG & SF positions with Marvin and Joe.
But the hard thing is that it would certainly mean Childress would have to go, because he would be to good for being a fourth guy on these two position... the negative thing is it would improve the 3pt shooting on the SG/SF positions at the cost of losing Childress energy, while this problem is due to Marvin not shooting at 3pt
I don't blame him but it's a little bit frustating to see his touch but not shooting 3s... if one of Marvin and Childress could have a 3pt touch, it would not be a problem like that.

This view makes me continue to think we should try to get a PG who can hit 3s. My disapointment: I was hoping that Law would be this kind of PG. I was not hoping for 10ast but 4-5 and a 3pt threat

[td00]

Is there a realistic look as to which PGs are available?

I would think that Jason Williams is available. Can he help us? After all, he did combine with Payton and got a ring. Williams' contract is over at the end of this season.

Which point guard could you get for a Zaza/Childress combination? That is about $8 million in salaries to offset. In my mind, only Andre Miller fits that slot for me.

Jamal Tinsley has too many years left on his contract. Watson and Ridnour aren't helping move Seattle forward.
There are very few choices that make sense, and few can hit the 3 like Derek Fisher who aren't going into the playoffs.
If Luther Head could handle the point, he might be able to help, but I think he has a PG body in a SG state of mind.

The Hawks are at +$54M this year, and so far are committed under current player salaries for +$40M. I would think there is room to improve and potentially stay out of the cap concerns.

Since BK put us in the Speedy mess, and since there will be no return on that investment and right now no return on the Shelden selection, then he take the heat for his decisions at the end of the year whether we compete for a playoff spot, or we win a playoff game at all.

I am waiting for another Gearon statement that says we will do whatever it takes to make this team a winner and then stand pat one more time in the offseason and tell the fans to be patient for yet another year.
If you aren't going to shoot for the championship every year you are in the business, then why are you in the business? There are a lot of people that this management team has fooled for the last 4 years stating our goal is to make the playoffs.

One last BK dig..........from an ESPN article today that should keep BK from ever being considered GM of the year:

When asked about whether Marion will be traded again.........

Q: Are the Heat considering trading Marion before the Feb. 21 deadline?

A: As of now, no. The Heat could move him to a contender and take back expiring contracts in return, which would make them a major player on the free agent market this summer, but the plan for now is to upgrade the point guard position and bring in a mid-level free agent over the summer. The last team to acquire an All-Star caliber player and then re-trade him just a few days later was the Atlanta Hawks, who acquired Rasheed Wallace from Portland in 2004 and traded him to Detroit 10 days later. We've all seen how well that's worked out for the Hawks, haven't we?

Ouch!! That did set this franchise back for years and it has been proven.

[D21]

Is there a realistic look as to which PGs are available?

I would think that Jason Williams is available. Can he help us? After all, he did combine with Payton and got a ring. Williams' contract is over at the end of this season.
...

We don't talk about Jason Williams because is often injured, but I would go for him any days if he was healthy. Furthemore, I think the Riley style has killed a part of his game, I am pretty sure he's at a better level than what we see, but would it be better with Woody ?..
But if there was not these injuries, I would go for Jason Williams more than Andre Miller.

[td00]

You have to be sure that Childress would not be able to be resigned as a reasonable number for a bench player.
Also, JWill is playing for a new contract, and if healthy, might give us stability for the rest of the year.
This of course means that AJ or TLue would be expendable and no longer needed for this roster. They or Acie might have to be included but they did just acquire Marcus Banks and they are currently stuck with Smush. Giving them a point guard is probably not a good fit.
Another comment I found interesting and is related to Jason Kidd....Thorn, their GM was asked about trading Kidd and who would take on the role should this happen:

Thorn added that with the development of second-year guard Marcus Williams as Kidd's backup, the Nets would "probably not" require a point guard to be part of a deal for Kidd.

"We feel Marcus Williams has a future here and in the league," he said.

Sounds like Kidd would be moved before we could consider asking about the young lefty from UConn.

[tbhawksfan]

Rasheed was never going to stay. Even if he had, we still would've been a long way from being a winning team. Instead we got a #17 that turned into maybe our best pick ever and the present team that has nowhere to go but up.

Some of you guys must be really bored to lay some of this $hit on the Hawks and BK.

Go out and play some, then come in and watch the best Bball team we've had in a long time.

Our time to make moves is this summer.