ESPN POWER RANKINGS

Post #1 » by **HMFFL** » Fri Sep 28, 2012 10:15 pm

18th: Atlanta Hawks

It won't show up in the standings right away, but the Hawks were one of the unquestioned offseason winners on this scorecard when Danny Ferry jettisoned Joe Johnson (and more). I'd rather start over, as Atlanta will now do, than pointlessly keep banging my head on a second-round ceiling.

http://espn.go.com/nba/powerrankings/_/ ... 13/week/-1

parson · Post #2 » by **parson** » Sat Sep 29, 2012 4:49 am

"start over" when Horford and Smith are 26 and Teague's 24. That makes no sense. I cannot believe Ferry intends to do that.

Rip2137 · Post #3 » by **Rip2137** » Tue Oct 2, 2012 6:53 pm

I love how Joe Johnson is going to magically make the Nets 20+ wins better.

(yes i realize they are getting Lopez back as well, but the Williams/Lopez connection didn't exactly stack up the wins either)

Ruhiel · Post #4 » by **Ruhiel** » Tue Oct 2, 2012 6:58 pm

Rip2137 wrote:I love how Joe Johnson is going to magically make the Nets 20+ wins better.

(yes i realize they are getting Lopez back as well, but the Williams/Lopez connection didn't exactly stack up the wins either)

They didn't put a number on the wins. They called them 12th best in the league.

They basically looked at the Knicks and said the Nets could be better.

All I want to know is which Hawk can guard Joe Johnson if he's playing the 2. Its not like last year when he had to move to the 3 to accomodate Kirk Hinrich and bench Marvin Williams.

azuresou1 · Post #5 » by **azuresou1** » Tue Oct 2, 2012 7:30 pm

I'd put Deshawn on Joe if Joe is heating up. For regular play, I think a Harris or Morrow should both be able to play Joe since he'll primarily be off-ball now.

I think we'll likely end up as a team similar to the Rockets these past few years - good, playoff caliber teams that have enough young talent to keep fans hopeful of internal development, but we'll never be bad enough to get a true superstar unless we luck out.

parson · Post #6 » by **parson** » Tue Oct 2, 2012 8:23 pm

^Agreed. Our chance for a superstar rides on Smith/Horford (and maybe Teague) growing to such a status .... and signing a max FA.

Rip2137 · Post #7 » by **Rip2137** » Wed Oct 3, 2012 4:56 pm

Joe won't be on the ball as much in Brooklyn. As i have said with the lakers(Any play you run for Dwight Howard is a failure in rational thought), running plays for Joe with a post up player and Deron Williams on the court would be a failure. Deron is a better iso player, Brook is a better post player. He should be a 20 million per year spot up shooter. You should be fine guarding him with Morrow or Harris.

Post #8 » by **Jamaaliver** » Thu Oct 4, 2012 12:01 pm

Rip2137 wrote:I love how Joe Johnson is going to magically make the Nets 20+ wins better.

I think it mainly is because teams can no longer focus their entire defensive gameplan on Deron Williams every night. JJ is still a top 5 (top 10?) SG in this league and has consistently avg over 18 ppg for the last 7 years.

I'd say they arguably have the best backcourt in the NBA. And they both can get after it on defense with their size advantage.

Hell, he showed up to a last place Hawks team and made us 13 wins better with an inferior coach and an unproven, inexperienced roster.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how they do this year. I do indeed believe they can contend for the Eastern Conference Finals if they stay healthy.

Post #9 » by **Jamaaliver** » Thu Oct 4, 2012 12:04 pm

parson wrote:"start over" when Horford and Smith are 26 and Teague's 24. That makes no sense. I cannot believe Ferry intends to do that.

Ferry has shown he is more than willing to dangle Horford and Teague in trade talks. And as much as I like Teague, are we really ready to consider him an irreplaceable building block for this team? Especially when one of our presumed targets in Free Agency next summer is Chris Paul...