Hoops Analyst - - Page 106

Transactions 5/17-7/9

July 10, 2008 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

Atlanta Hawks 5/28 Name Rick Sund general manager 6/17 Sign coach Mike Woodson to contract extension Atlanta has been a weird a dysfunctional organization for a while now. How does Mike Woodson survive but GM Billy Knight get the axe? One would think that Knight and Woodson, having been together for so long, were tied to the same train. Actually, Knight apparently made several appeals to ownership to can Woodson during the season. Knight was ignored and Woodson led the Hawks … [Read more...] about Transactions 5/17-7/9

Quick Thoughts

July 4, 2008 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

1. Champs and D: We've taken a step back from the season thanks to Ed Weiland's excellent draft coverage but now it's time to take a quick look back at the Celtics' run. In the end, the Celtics excellent defense coupled with the inability of the Lakers to match up with Paul Pierce gave Boston another banner. Indeed, the Celts' were the best defensive this year (number one in points allowed per minute), but this serves as a nice jumping off point to test the old adage that "defense wins … [Read more...] about Quick Thoughts

NBA Draft 2008: Grades

June 28, 2008 by Ed Weiland Leave a Comment

The 2008 draft is a tough one to grade. I had 3 players, Rose, Beasley and Love, head and shoulders above the rest. I felt after the top 3, there were 15-20 players who could have been shaken up and drawn in any order and it wouldn’t have surprised me much. Because the pool of talent from 4-25 was so deep and evenly matched, there were many varied opinions on this draft. I’m guessing there will be more busts than normal and more round 2 and free agent surprises than normal. … [Read more...] about NBA Draft 2008: Grades

NBA Draft 2008: Power Forwards

June 26, 2008 by Ed Weiland Leave a Comment

This is a very strong group. The strongest in the draft and it might rival the SFs of ’03 and ’07 as strongest group in any draft class I’ve seen. Beasley and Love are at the top. I really can’t decide who should go on top either. Love does have better numbers and improved during the season. Beasley had to carry an otherwise weak team. Both are terrific offensively and raise doubts defensively. If I were a GM, I’d be happy with either one, but if forced to choose I’d give Beasley the slightest … [Read more...] about NBA Draft 2008: Power Forwards

NBA Draft 2008: Centers

June 26, 2008 by Ed Weiland Leave a Comment

I like this year's crop of centers. There isn’t the star power we had last year with Oden, but there are enough good prospects that watching this bunch develop over the next few years should be interesting. This year one of the questions will be whether to go for potential or immediate help. Roy Hibbert is available and offers any team a useful defensive presence on the inside immediately. I don’t think there’s a team in the NBA that couldn’t use that. But there are also some young players out … [Read more...] about NBA Draft 2008: Centers

NBA Draft 2008: Combo Forwards

June 24, 2008 by Ed Weiland Leave a Comment

This is the other half of the small forwards, or more accurately a 3rd group of forwards. The problem I had ranking these players with the other was I felt they were different types of players. A good example is last year with Al Thornton and Corey Brewer. Both were listed as SFs, but were very different players who offered different skills to prospective teams. Comparing such players to each other seemed a little pointless. So I decided to break off players who fit somewhere between SFs and PFs … [Read more...] about NBA Draft 2008: Combo Forwards