Of Hawks and Jazz and a big game in Turkey

Whither the Hawks?

Good question, Doug.

And one with no easy answer.

After one of the great capitulations of all time – the Orlando series was the most one-sided four-game sweep in the history of NBA basketball – you’d have to think major change is in order.

Obviously, the Hawks are a good regular season team, they win a lot of games on their athleticism and individual skills.

But equally obviously, that does not translate into playoff success, where teamwork and defence trumps all.

I think that group has reached its potential and I would expect significant change in Atlanta, change that may or may not bring success of an equal amount next season.

I feel nearly certain that Joe Johnson will be gone and I feel equally certain that ownership will look at Mike Woodson and think, ‘well, he’s done as good a job as he can, maybe it’s time for someone else to give it a shot.’

The Hawks do have one big chip and that’s Josh Childress, who has an out from his European contract and remains a restricted free agent. If they do lose Johnson, maybe that gives them enough money to bring him back as some sort of replacement and maybe they can revise their style to one that doesn’t rely so heavily on one-on-one play.

I will say without equivocation that the Hawks team that starts next season won’t look remotely like the one that gave up against the Magic and I guess if you’re a Raptors fan, you can hope that it takes a while for whatever change occurs to take hold and it puts another team in the middle of the Eastern Conference regular season pack rather that near the top.

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Hey, those two results mean on thing: We’ve got Wednesday and Friday nights free.

No games either night, no in-game blog thingy, time for some rest and relaxation.

Oh, and I guess the Habs game on Wednesday, right?

Anyway, we will be here tonight and Thursday for Games 5 and 6 in the only series still going. Hope they’re good ones.

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If Joe Johnson’s played his last game for his team, do you think the same can be said for Carlos Boozer out in Salt Lake City?

He’s one of the kind-of-forgotten free agents who’ll be on the market this summer, a good player who’s in a system that lets him shine and takes full advantage of his abilities.

I wonder, though, how he does anywhere else. I’m not saying he’s not highly-skilled; what I’m saying is that with the almost constant inside motion that goes with the Jazz offence, Boozer rarely finds himself isolated where bigger, or even second, defenders can come and disrupt him.

Put in something of a more traditional set, I wonder if he’s as effective.

The Jazz has a tough decision to make with him, and I can’t fathom a guess on which way they go.

They’ve got Paul Mlllsap – and kind of undersized power player – under contract for three more years at a pretty good number (about $20 million in total) and while Boozer’s a better player in my estimation, I’m not sure there’s room for both of them on the same team long-term.

Utah’s an intriguing situation, thought. Great point guard, a couple energetic and cheap youngsters on the wings, an intriguing big in Mehmet Okur (when he comes back from the Achilles injury and that might not be until after the regular season ends) and if they can parlay Boozer into, perhaps, a seasoned slashing wing, I can see them remaining among the elite in the Western Conference.

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Trip down memory lane, anyone?

Did you know that it was nine years ago to the day – May 11, 2001 – that Vinsanity might have been at its zenith.

That was the day he dropped 50 on the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 3 of that epic second-round playoff series, one of his iconic moments. He had nine three-pointers, a crowd of more than 20,000 was in full throat the entire day and you could make the case it was one of the greatest home moments in franchise history.

And I’m kind of conflicted about it. Part of me can’t believe it was nine years ago; part of me remembers it like it was yesterday.

Odd how an aging mind works.

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Hey, big game in Turkey today.

No, Hedo’s not in some off-season charity show or anything, but it’s a Game 3 of the best-of-five Turkish women’s league final.

Why should you care? And why should I know?

Well, local hero Tammy Sutton-Brown – who remains one of the city’s under-appreciated athletic gems – and her Fenerbahce team has a 2-0 lead over Galatasaray in the series and can wrap things up with a win tonight.

And while you’d love to think that celebrating a championship and coming down from the emotional high would be a good thing to do, it’s not the case in Real Women’s Professional Basketball.

As soon as that season ends, it’s back to the WNBA’s Indiana Fever for Tammy.

She’s not alone, of course, all the top women in the WNBA go and augment their salaries by playing a winter-spring season somewhere in Europe. It kind of sucks but it’s the way it is.

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Pau Gasol is a stud.

That 33-point gem against the Jazz to finish things off was a pretty impressive performance. Finishing with either hand at the rim, some short jumpers and baseline moves and 14 rebounds was total domination down low.

It’s the kind of thing to give a guy cause to think perhaps the Lakers are the top favourites to win a championship.

But, luckily, a guy’s got a few days to try and figure it out because the Western Conference final won’t commence until next Monday.

Of course, that’s far too long a time to wait but scheduling at this time of year is primarily TV driven and TNT, which will do the West final while ESPN does the East, has suggested a Monday start.

And those kinds of suggestions are often accepted by the league.

There’s no real reason in the world that the Suns and Lakers couldn’t start Friday, or even Saturday. Sucks that they won’t.

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Comments

[Matty-Pix]

Of the changes on the horizon in Atlanta, do you expect Josh Smith and Al Horford to be the starting 4-5 on opening night 2010/11?

Blogger's note: Yeah, probably

[MC_Brad]

What do you put the chances that the Hawks are willing to work on a sign and trade with the Raps. Joe johnson for calderon, and turk or something along that line? Is there anything in it for ATL>?

[chris]

Horses for courses, right? And styles make fights? Atlanta's a good team - they just ran into the absolutely wrong matchup in Orlando. Put them against Boston or maybe even Cleveland and they fare much better.

[Dave Fritz, Kingston]

Hi, Doug,
Of course the Lakers are the favourite. Since the start of the regular season the Lakers have been the overwhelming favourite and until someone proves that they can beat the Lakers 4 times, it stays that way. I wish it wasn't so, and have and will root for each of their opponents. How sweet for Nash and the Suns to knock them off, but until they actually do ...

Cheers,
Dave

[Andrew Gregg]

Hi Doug:

It seems to me that if there is any chance for Coangelo to hold on to Bosh, he'll need to make a significant free-agent signing and crash through the luxury tax ceiling. Any chance he makes a run at either Boozer (for rebounding and swagger) or Joe Johnson? I also wonder if he's got his eye on Rudy Gay...

Thanks Doug,

AG, Toronto

[Peter]

Hi Doug,

I'm wondering about matchups and how they affect a playoff series. It seems like Atlanta had no answer for Dwight Howard, or the perimeter shooting of the Magic, but would they have fared better against the more iso-oriented offence that Cleveland runs? Who knows.

Similarly, San Antonio had no real answer for someone like Channing Frye hitting a bunch of threes, and they couldn't contain Steve Nash, among other problems (shooting woes for Manu for one).

I think that Orlando will win the East, not necessairly because they're the better team, but I think whoever wins the Cleveland and Boston series will be so banged up and tired from a long series that Orlando will have the edge.

For the West however, I think the Suns don't match up well against the Lakers. Bynum and Gasol are going to tear it up against Stoudemire and whoever else they throw in there. Nash is gonna run absolute circles around Derek Fisher, but is that enough? Maybe for one game, maybe two.

I hope I'm wrong, though. I'd love an Orlando/Suns final!

Guess there wasn't really a question there after all!

Thanks Doug, keep up the great blog.

[Kbrand]

Atlanta was terrible and it wasnt strictly a matchup problem. They didnt play hard and quit when they were down. It comes down to the fact that they dont have any real gamers on that team. Bibby used to provide that spark, but it's clear he's at the end of his career.

[John Bastedo]

"If they do lose Johnson, maybe that gives them enough money to bring him (Childress) back as some sort of replacement and maybe they can revise their style to one that doesn’t rely so heavily on one-on-one play."

Doug, what's your take on Johnson? I'm a fan, but are you suggesting that by having him it forces a team to play a style that would not be successful in the playoffs? Not trying to put words in your mouth, just clarifying what you meant by that.

[GDS]

At the beginning of this season Colangelo said he was going to acquire tough players. He took Reggie Evans saying he was going to make them tough (even if one single limited career role player was obviously never going to set any steady influence) and then took Turkoglu who is a great player in my view but certainly not a "bad boy". Next year, do they try to acquire more "hard nosed" players or do they go for finesse? I just hope they take a consistent direction and establish an identity (whichever) once and for all. Has Colangelo given any clues? Thanks

[Jemmco]

Hi Doug, Just wanted to give you props for Goods on the Game. Although I seldom have the opportunity to log in live, I always, always read it the next day and it is fabulous that you take the time to do this, especially post season. Keep up the good work, and know that even if the live audience numbers are down, there are many of us who read it post game
ciao

[doug]

last couple days we have first the Spurs and now the Hawks that have to make some changes, also in there you have the Raps, Bulls, Mavs,Sixers to name a few that also have to make some changes...then you have not only the quality of this free agent class but also the quantity....and then finally on top of that you have coaching changes, with at least 5 maybe far more needibng replacing....so all in all it truly will be a unbelievable off-season, and from July 1st on, and culminating on July 7th forward a few days, we will see one of the most unprecedented summers in the NBA,,,we'll all need team guides next season to famliarize ourselves with all the changes...let's hope the raps are in the thick of the action...

[Sean]

Epic fail on the part of the NBA and TNT for waiting until Monday to start the West Finals. TV networks just hate weekend games and it shows.

[Richard]

Hey Doug,

I think Atlanta would be making a big mistake if they blew up their team. They have several good pieces with lots of talent that still need some maturing. It just so happens they ran into a Magic team firing on all cylinders that has an excellent shot at winning a title this season.

If Joe Johnson leaves I can see Atlanta doing some re-tooling, but if they manage to re-sign him I don't see where a team with a reasonably young, athletic nucleus that has won their first round match-up in the playoffs two consecutive seasons, and steadily improved over the last 4 or 5 years decides to blow everything up and start over. That would represent exactly what is wrong with ownership and management of pro sports franchises.

Some tweaking, absolutely. But knee jerk over-reactions don't make for stable long-lasting winning traditions in pro sports too often. And we need only look in our very own backyard to find Exhibit A - our beloved (be-deviled?) Raptors.

[GM]

Boozer was pretty good in Cleveland, too. But if he does change teams again, I don't get why a new coach wouldn't institute an offense to suit his strengths. Why sign a good player and immediately make him less good by putting him in a situation where he can't thrive? There are precious few players who can excel in any system.

And is it true that Okur may be out all of next season? Or did you mean he could be out until after the regular season *starts*, as opposed to ends?

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Nine years ago already?! I'm with you on the 'conflicted' thing, Doug. You can't believe that much time has passed, yet still 'remember it like it was yesterday'. I guess the deal is, by the time you get to our age, all of a freaking sudden, a decade just ain't what it used to be...
Sure can't recall a greater 'home moment in in franchise history' than that one, or an 'away moment' either, for that matter. Thanks for the reminder. Yes, even the Raptors have had some pretty fine moments over the years. And there'll be more to come.
There will be more to come, right?
Cheers.

[Marc]

Check it, The great Charles Oakley, now on Twitter: @CharlesOakley34

[Adrian]

The Bargnani experiment has been a disaster... but could it possibly be getting worse? Dump him before you have to lose Chris Bosh instead. And if he can't be 'dumped' because his contract proves cost-prohibitive for other teams, don't lie to us by saying is affordable. This team cannot 'afford' to lose Chris Bosh for pennies on the dollar- especially now, when they're capped out and don't have the same flexibility to make moves that other teams do.

[Mike kovacs]

Just a reminder/fyi to everyone suggesting that BC sign JJ or whatever 'max' - type free agnet to 'go into the luxury tax' : he can't do that by the rules. He only has the MLE to use. The only way he could get one of those 'max' guys is a sign and trade using equal value contracts - and, no, I don't think anyone will take Marcus Banks and Hedo for JJ, DW or LBJ!

[Michel G]

Adrian states: "The Bargnani experiment has been a disaster." How's it a disaster? Sure he was drafted first overall, but it wasn't a great draft. He averages 17 points a game and is a good on the ball defender. It's offset by his marginal rebounding and help defense. But still, how is it a disaster? He made 6.5 million this year and will make 8.5 next year? Again, how is that a disaster? I'm getting tired of this Bargnani bashing from fans who clearly don't know what the hell they're talking about.

[BB]

Bosh for Boozer, anyone?

[joe]

If no one offers Joe Johnson a max. free agent deal. Say, instead, that he's offered a 3 or 4 or 5 year deal that's not a max. salary deal, would a sign and trade still be the only way of acquiring him or can any team sign him outright if it's not a max. deal in terms of dollars and length?

Blogger's note: No, any team under the cap can offer any amount

[samuel]

Bargnani has been a disaster. Replace him with a strong defence oriented centre who could grab a few rebounds, and you have this same Raptors team winning atleast 10 more games last year.

Bargnani and Calderon hurt this team in a lot more ways than the stats can ever show.

[sam]

Wow the season's over and the great unwashed are still ragging on Bargs and Jose. I'd be willing to bet that next season we will see the continued growth in Andrea's game and Jose with the same solid ball handling and play making skills.

[Michel G]

samuel also states: "Bargnani has been a disaster. Replace him with a strong defence oriented centre who could grab a few rebounds, and you have this same Raptors team winning at least 10 more games last year." So what you're saying is all we needed to do is replace Bargs with Brendan Haywood and we would have been a 50 win team. Brilliant. Hire that man as the new GM. Like I said before, I'm getting tired of this Bargnani bashing from fans who clearly don't know what the hell they're talking about.

[J]

samuel:
"Replace him with a strong defence oriented centre who could grab a few rebounds, and you have this same Raptors team winning atleast 10 more games last year."
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Laughable, but as long as you acknowledge that this is just your opinion and not a statement of fact. Also nice are all the "easy answers" that never even dare to pose names, so they can never be verified. But yes, theoretically there is some "strong defense oriented [center]" that could have helped the team win 10+ more games last season. Just not any center we'd be able to pick up.
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"Bargnani and Calderon hurt this team in a lot more ways than the stats can ever show."
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Good on you for immediately following up on your previous statement with this handy declaration. What I say is true even though I can't back it up, is what you're basically saying.