ZAZA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[LL Cool Scott]

Coach Woodson, a simple request:

MORE ZAZA. LESS MARVIN. This team is so much better when Zaza is involved and when he's playing like this. And I think we all so last year during the playoffs how much better our team was when Marvin was on the bench and Childress came in for him. I love my former tarheel, but the fact is that we simply play better when his large ba-donk-a-donk is on the pine.

And Zaza is my second favorite player on the team right (behind Josh Smith). Not only for what he brings to our team, but also for the unintentional comedy that is Zaza Pachulia.

[Skyhawk1]

lol... so your favorite players are Zaza and Josh Smith ? They are not on the top of my list buddy, no way. Anyway, Zaza has played much better. More under control, without flopping everytime he touches the ball. I think he's realizing that he's a role player and can be useful if he understands that. Marvin has been awful so far, so it's not like we can get much worse regarless of who we bring in for him. I'm still going to give him some games before I want him on the bench for Zaza.

[tontoz]

yeah every team needs a center that shoots 45%, doesn't block shots, sucks on D and on the defensive glass.

[Jamaaliver]

Dude. Marvin has played in 1 GAME!!!!!

For only 19 minutes. After an injury.

Let him get back into the rhythm of playing. It's just very early to be making lineup changes. Especially when we're undefeated and alone in 1st place n our division.

[parson]

yeah every team needs a center that shoots 45%, doesn't block shots, sucks on D and on the defensive glass.

Careful, last night it was "shoot 45%, struggle on defense and on the defensive glass." This morning you've added "doesn't block shots."

Tomorrow, will you have to add, "has bad breath" to your list?

Point is, you're hating on a pretty useful bench player. No, he's not starter quality FOR MOST GAMES. However, he can be of value to us against some teams and at some times.

Plus, I think strength is a pretty underrated defensive talent and Zaza's got plenty of it -- with bulk, no less. He could learn to be good at pushing the guys out from under the basket.

[LL Cool Scott]

#1. Zaza was awarded the GAME BALL by the team after saturday's victory.

#2. The unintentional comedy factor weighs heavily in my love of Zaza. HEAVILY. He looks (and is now playing) like a caveman out there.

#3. I'll always love him for head-butting Kevin Garnett and changing the complexion of that series last year.

[tontoz]

yeah every team needs a center that shoots 45%, doesn't block shots, sucks on D and on the defensive glass.

Careful, last night it was "shoot 45%, struggle on defense and on the defensive glass." This morning you've added "doesn't block shots."

Tomorrow, will you have to add, "has bad breath" to your list?

Point is, you're hating on a pretty useful bench player. No, he's not starter quality FOR MOST GAMES. However, he can be of value to us against some teams and at some times.

Plus, I think strength is a pretty underrated defensive talent and Zaza's got plenty of it -- with bulk, no less. He could learn to be good at pushing the guys out from under the basket.

I noticed you didn't even try to debate my points, probably because you realize they are all facts.

We don't have a Lebron or Kobe on our team. Therefore defense becomes all the more important. This team won't be a contender with a defensive liability like Zaza playing significant minutes at center.

Josh Smith is shooting 50% from 3 the first two games but that doesn't make him a 3 point shooter. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

[tontoz]

#1. Zaza was awarded the GAME BALL by the team after saturday's victory.

#2. The unintentional comedy factor weighs heavily in my love of Zaza. HEAVILY. He looks (and is now playing) like a caveman out there.

#3. I'll always love him for head-butting Kevin Garnett and changing the complexion of that series last year.

Zaza averaged 4/3 shooting 28% vs Boston. The fact that he headbutted a guy who couldn't punch his way out of a paper bag doesn't impress me.

[LL Cool Scott]

Some quotes from our players and coaches about Zaza:

Mike Woodson: "We gave him the game ball, and he deserved it. He changed the whole game.”

Josh Smith: “He’s just playing great. He has a newborn son, and that’s made a difference. And we’re loving it.”

Al Horford: “Zaza...Ah, man. He came out and changed the game.”

[tontoz]

Some quotes from our players and coaches about Zaza:

Mike Woodson: "We gave him the game ball, and he deserved it. He changed the whole game.”

Josh Smith: “He’s just playing great. He has a newborn son, and that’s made a difference. And we’re loving it.”

Al Horford: “Zaza...Ah, man. He came out and changed the game.”

'07-08 season >>>> 1 game.

Woody knows that he needs production from Zaza because our frontcourt is so thin. He also knows that Zaza played with a 'tude virtually all last season so it only makes sense to stroke his ego when he makes a positive impact.

Considering how many shots Orlando and Philly missed i would think Zaza could muster more than 3 defensive rebounds for the two games.

[parson]

I noticed you didn't even try to debate my points, probably because you realize they are all facts.

Facts can be fallacies when there's a small sample size or a misunderstanding of the environment in which those "facts" occurred. Last season, Zaza had fewer minutes than usual for him, plus he (and the team) had to adjust to Horford's role.

And I didn't respond to your points because I didn't think you'd made any; all I see are observations.

MY point is that Zaza has the size, bulk and strength to be useful to us down low.

Please help me understand what YOUR point is?

[LL Cool Scott]

Wow, lot of hating going on Tontoz...

ZAZA IS A GOLDEN GOD.

[killbuckner]

I don't think you guys are even debating the same point. Can't we all agree on this? 2 seasons ago Zaza was an OK starter but for a serious contender would have been better off coming off the bench. Last season he was absolutely worthless even as a backup.

I mean if you want to get back to the conversation of whether Zaza is going to get the full MLE from someone then lets go- I still can't believe anyone thinks that. If you want to debate whether Zaza should be the starter then OK. But no one is saying that Zaza should be playing less minutes than JOnes or Randolph so I don't really get what the argument on this thread is.

[tontoz]

I noticed you didn't even try to debate my points, probably because you realize they are all facts.

Facts can be fallacies when there's a small sample size or a misunderstanding of the environment in which those "facts" occurred. Last season, Zaza had fewer minutes than usual for him, plus he (and the team) had to adjust to Horford's role.

And I didn't respond to your points because I didn't think you'd made any; all I see are observations.

MY point is that Zaza has the size, bulk and strength to be useful to us down low.

Please help me understand what YOUR point is?

Zaza has been a 45% shooter (career average), poor defender, poor defensive rebounder and lame shotblocker (.5 blocks per game) during his entire time as a Hawk, not just last season. The stats don't lie. Zaza has always been well below average as a defensive rebounder for a center.

Last season he was an offensive liability in addition to being a defensive liability. He could hardly hold onto the ball and shot a pathetic 43.7%.

Zaza blows. He doesn't fit this team at all and i hope this is his last season here. We need a defensive center not a defensive liability at center.

[parson]

Zaza blows. He doesn't fit this team at all and i hope this is his last season here. We need a defensive center not a defensive liability at center.

I take it that's your point -- and that's fine; I just disagree.

On the occasions Zaza's played with fire, I thought he was pretty useful to us. And, if he used his strength more, I think he'd be even more useful to us.

I guess the biggest reason I disagree with you is that I don't see a large # of centers walking around who shoot a high %, with great defense, defensive rebounding and shotblocking. To get one of those, you either have to get lucky in the draft or gamble on a raw prospect. We haven't seen the kind of luck to get an Oden and we're already gambling on Solomon Jones.

[tontoz]

Zaza blows. He doesn't fit this team at all and i hope this is his last season here. We need a defensive center not a defensive liability at center.

I take it that's your point -- and that's fine; I just disagree.

On the occasions Zaza's played with fire, I thought he was pretty useful to us. And, if he used his strength more, I think he'd be even more useful to us.

I guess the biggest reason I disagree with you is that I don't see a large # of centers walking around who shoot a high %, with great defense, defensive rebounding and shotblocking. To get one of those, you either have to get lucky in the draft or gamble on a raw prospect. We haven't seen the kind of luck to get an Oden and we're already gambling on Solomon Jones.

Maybe you could point out where i said i wanted a center with great defense, great defensive rebounding and great shotblocking that shoots a high percentage. What i want is a center who (unlike Zaza) doesn't suck in all those areas.

[LL Cool Scott]

Tontoz is right. All of the players and coaches on the actual TEAM are wrong. Debate over.

[parson]

Maybe you could point out where i said i wanted a center with great defense, great defensive rebounding and great shotblocking that shoots a high percentage. What i want is a center who (unlike Zaza) doesn't suck in all those areas.

Fair enough. Change my quote to "GOOD defense, GOOD defensive rebounding and GOOD shotblocking that shoots an ABOVE-AVERAGE percentage" if you prefer. I still think that kind of center isn't easily found.

I'm not against playing someone else other than Zaza, but I'd still like to know WHO we'd get before we trashed Zaza.

[tontoz]

Tontoz is right. All of the players and coaches on the actual TEAM are wrong. Debate over.

I am happy for you that you were able to get a woody over one game. Congrats.

[tontoz]

Maybe you could point out where i said i wanted a center with great defense, great defensive rebounding and great shotblocking that shoots a high percentage. What i want is a center who (unlike Zaza) doesn't suck in all those areas.

Fair enough. Change my quote to "GOOD defense, GOOD defensive rebounding and GOOD shotblocking that shoots an ABOVE-AVERAGE percentage" if you prefer. I still think that kind of center isn't easily found.

I'm not against playing someone else other than Zaza, but I'd still like to know WHO we'd get before we trashed Zaza.

A lot depends on what we do with Bibby, marvin and the rights to Childress.

But bottom line is that we don't have a dominant scorer like Lebron or Kobe and we don't have a dominant big like Duncan or Shaq. Therefore the key to being a contender is defense which can be played well every day. Shooting comes and goes.

If one guy is a weak defender that forces others to cover for him and breaks down the whole defense. When that person is a center that makes it worse. The dominant players in our conference are Wade, lebron and Howard and they all like to score going to the basket. We need someone who can deter them and Zaza can't.