Big Hawks Questions from a non-Hawk fan

stretch · Post #1 » by **stretch** » Mon Apr 7, 2008 1:04 am

I don't follow the Hawks closely enough but would like to know a few things. Consider realgm as not only a forum to discuss with fellow fans of your team, but as a means to pass on your better (or insider) understanding of the Hawks to non-Hawk fans. The Hawks are one of those teams whose roster is just so intriguing.

roughly

1. How has Shelden Williams been?

2. How good is Marvin Williams, and how would you fans project him? He looks like a good young piece.

3. Josh Smith and Iguodala look like the biggest prizes in this year's free agent market. Certainly Josh Smith will resign big with the Hawks. But do you see any possibility that he takes less money to play elsewhere? in other words, how has Josh Smith been attitude wise towards Atlanta in the long term?

4. How has Joe Johnson been this year?

5. How do you think the Hawks could compete in a potential playoff series with the Celtics or Pistons? What are the matchup problems that you feel Atlanta could pose to those teams?

thank you

Post #2 » by **dms269** » Mon Apr 7, 2008 1:18 am

1. We don't have Shelden anymore. He was traded to Sacramento in the Bibby deal.
2. People's opinions differ on him.
3. Josh is a restricted free agent, so we can match any offer he gets. If a team does offer him less money to play someone else, we will just match him.
4. JJ has beens streaky. There are games where he looks like the all-star he is, then there are times when you forget he is on the court.

conleyorbust · Post #3 » by **conleyorbust** » Mon Apr 7, 2008 1:21 pm

1. How has Shelden Williams been?

He is with Sacto now but he had been ridiculously bad this season. Last season he showed the potential to be an average backup big man but he just lost his confidence in the off season. He recently strung together a few decent games coming off the bench for the Kings so we'll see what eventually becomes of him.

2. How good is Marvin Williams, and how would you fans project him? He looks like a good young piece.

He's good-ish. Right now he's best described as a starting caliber small forward; nothing more, nothing less. That would be fine but its hard not to compare him to Chris Paul or Deron Williams, not to mention some other guys that were taken later in that draft. His development hasn't progressed as quickly as most would have liked. One thing is that he isn't as athletic as he was billed, he's not a bad athlete by any means but he isn't an off-the-charts athlete either. He hasn't shown an ability to take over games and he isn't particulalry consistent on either end. Its hard to tell whether a new coach will be able to coax more out of him or whether he will just end up being an above average defender who can get you 17-6 on decent efficiency with his midrange jumper.

3. Josh Smith and Iguodala look like the biggest prizes in this year's free agent market. Certainly Josh Smith will resign big with the Hawks. But do you see any possibility that he takes less money to play elsewhere? in other words, how has Josh Smith been attitude wise towards Atlanta in the long term?

No, he wouldn't take less money to play elsewhere. He's from here, he likes it here, he's probably the fan base' favorite player. He hasn't always gotten along with our head coach although a) he certainly isn't the only one who has had that problem b) that seems to have been less of a problem this season and c) hopefully Woody will be gone soon. The only way I see him leaving is through a S&T for a really big name, I hope he stays in ATL.

4. How has Joe Johnson been this year?

He was pretty bad for most of the season: shot a low percentage, couldn't keep up on D, seemed to sulk a little. Then towards the end of February he turned it on and had a HUGE March where it looked like he really wanted to make the playoffs. I can't say for certain what the deal is/was but he looks a lot happier now.

5. How do you think the Hawks could compete in a potential playoff series with the Celtics or Pistons? What are the matchup problems that you feel Atlanta could pose to those teams?

I think they'd wipe the floor with us... I don't see us having any discernable advantage against Boston. Maybe Joe could motivate himself to play against Pierce and Allen after the disrespected him pretty bad before and during the ASG. Against Detroit, we have a much more athletic frontcourt than them and last time we played them they couldn't contain Smith for a second and Al went nuts on the glass, we coulda won that one if Joe was playing like he is now. I'd much rather play Detroit because I think we match up with them a little more and I can't see them playing as hard as Boston in the first round. Either team would eat us alive though.

addicted2noise · Post #4 » by **addicted2noise** » Mon Apr 7, 2008 11:12 pm

conleyorbust wrote: Maybe Joe could motivate himself to play against Pierce and Allen after the disrespected him pretty bad before and during the ASG.

What happened at the All-Star game?

HoopsGuru25 · Post #5 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Mon Apr 7, 2008 11:22 pm

What happened at the All-Star game?

Pierce said Joe shouldn't have made it before Ray Allen. There were also people who thought that they didn't pass him the ball intentionally during the all-star game. Joe touched the ball a total of about 4 times during the AS game while Pierce and Allen both took over ten shots a piece while Joe was on the court.

The_Floydian · Post #6 » by **The_Floydian** » Mon Apr 7, 2008 11:28 pm

Allen is a glorified Steve Kerr at this point in his career, and Pierce has made a career out of being the best player on an awful team in a weak conference. Funny that they would be running their mouths like that.

FunkyMonks2 · Post #7 » by **FunkyMonks2** » Tue Apr 8, 2008 12:19 am

The_Floydian wrote:Allen is a glorified Steve Kerr at this point in his career, and Pierce has made a career out of being the best player on an awful team in a weak conference. Funny that they would be running their mouths like that.

Calling Allen a glorified Steve Kerr is ridiculous. He is a great 3 Pt. shooter but slashes to the hoop as well, a lot more than I thought he would in Boston. Plus he created his own offense a lot in Seattle, something Kerr never did. Pierce, yeah he was a good player on a bad team but it doesn't take away the fact that he is a hell of a player, and honestly you would expect him to protect his teammate when it comes to All-Star balloting. I did notice that JJ got freezed out a lot in the All-Star game which pissed me off, he got a lot more touches last year.

The_Floydian · Post #8 » by **The_Floydian** » Tue Apr 8, 2008 12:28 am

FunkyMonks2 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Calling Allen a glorified Steve Kerr is ridiculous. He is a great 3 Pt. shooter but slashes to the hoop as well, a lot more than I thought he would in Boston. Plus he created his own offense a lot in Seattle, something Kerr never did. Pierce, yeah he was a good player on a bad team but it doesn't take away the fact that he is a hell of a player, and honestly you would expect him to protect his teammate when it comes to All-Star balloting. I did notice that JJ got freezed out a lot in the All-Star game which pissed me off, he got a lot more touches last year.

I said "at this point in his career." He hasn't done anything but shoot jumper sin the Boston games I've seen this year. It was probably too harsh, but I don't believe he's an all-star caliber talent anymore, and I also think it's weak to publicly criticize someone else on their all-star selection. Especially when you're not obviously a better player.

conleyorbust · Post #9 » by **conleyorbust** » Tue Apr 8, 2008 1:44 pm

FunkyMonks2 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Calling Allen a glorified Steve Kerr is ridiculous. He is a great 3 Pt. shooter but slashes to the hoop as well, a lot more than I thought he would in Boston. Plus he created his own offense a lot in Seattle, something Kerr never did. Pierce, yeah he was a good player on a bad team but it doesn't take away the fact that he is a hell of a player, and honestly you would expect him to protect his teammate when it comes to All-Star balloting. I did notice that JJ got freezed out a lot in the All-Star game which pissed me off, he got a lot more touches last year.

They are both still great players and Ray Ray had just as much, if not more, reason to be at the ASG as Joe. I have been very impressed by Pierce and Allen's ability to play within the team concept and exert way more than average effort on D (KG doing this was basically a given).

Still, its one thing to lobby for your teamate when he deserves it - its another thing altogether to call out another guy and say he is undeserving for very dubious reasons (pot calling the kettle black sort of thing). If I were Joe, I'd go MJ on his ass and use it as motivation to go off in the playoffs.

On another note, I met a girl this past weekend who is a bartender in Boston. She said that she has had KG, Leon Powe, Kendrick Perkins, and Paul Pierce come into the bar a few times. She says that Powe and KG are really nice dudes, Perkins is a prick, and Paul Pierce used to come into the bar and sit by himself and complain all night about how unfair his life was and then leave a crappy tip. The girl was sort of a moron so I don't know how much stock you put into that but hey...