Kevin Martin is a STUD

Atlanta's defense is good enough to get them in playoffs, but not far in playoffs. Both offense and defense will do the trick, but in general better defense will get you deeper in playoffs. Denver has already gone home and Suns is playing their best defense in years now if you actually watch games.

About JJ and Martin, it doesn't take a Josh Smith type defense to maker JJ better than MArtin, just like it doesn't Battier type defense for Martin to be an all star. But right now, the difference on defense for those two is much bigger than the difference on offense. That's why JJ is better.

 

I'd argue the reason for the Rocket's worsening defense was frankly due to Chuck.
Teams by the end of December started to realize that while posting up Chuck was pointless, the opposing center could just shoot over him all day, and so they made that adjustment. I'd argue the complete lack of an interior D hurt far more than our perimeter D.

 

I completely agree. Although, I think I remember reading or hearing in an interview with him during the season that he wanted to do bulk up as well. I think what he said was something like, he's not been able to lift weights at all this season because of his broken wrist and that he was looking forward to the off season where he would be able to lift again as it would be a good amount of time from the time that he got injured for his bone to be stronger.

I tried finding the article, but I couldnt so if anyone else recalls the interview please post a link.

 

Joe Johnson is a n00b. He is overrated and chokes when it matters.

 

Yep. Johnson helped turn a sorry franchise like the hawks into a good team when people thought he was a product of the suns system. Martin is a better scorer or more effecient, but when he's not soring, he's a zero and he's soft. Johnson will at least do other things to help the team win if his scoring isn't there.Just like you said, end of the game, johnson can have the ball and make a play for himself or someone else vs martin .

 

lets get one thing straight...atlanta is in the playoffs because they are in the eastern conference

 

JJ came to the Hawks in 2005. Yeah, JJ help turn that team around. They sucked real bad and won 26 and 30 wins. The Hawks were so bad, they got top 5 lottery picks in both years. With the 5th pick, they get Shelden Williams. The 2nd year, with their horrendous record, the Hawks were able to draft Horford with the 3rd pick. Now that they had a great big man, they were able to get to the playoffs.

If JJ had actually helped win more games, they would have never been able to land the 3rd draft pick to get Horford. The Hawks would still be lottery team, if they drafted a few spots lower.

 

I don't remember where I read this article about the Rockets, Hardwood Paroxysm maybe?

Basically each Rocket has his own limited "role" and they are good at serving their respective roles. Morey and Adelman are the architects that piece these roles together into a team. So each Rocket knows what they're good at and what their shortfalls are. e.g. Chuckwagon's good at D but not tall enough; AB's a deadeye shooter but again, too short; Scola's not athletic enough; Ariza clanks most his shots, etc etc.

And the Rockets do realize their own limitations. Without the team and the pieces that mesh, I highly doubt they'll be able to duplicate the same success with a new team.


With resources limited, i.e. money, the less the good players get paid the more talent we can garner with a given sum of money, simple as that.

 

Andrew Bogut was a big part of that 2nd in defensive efficiency and he did not play at all in the series vs Hawks.

Inconclusive.

 

They just beat the Bucks without their best player...in a series that had to go to 7 games. Stop seeing things in black and white. "ughhhhhh offense beats defense because Hawks beat the Bucks!!, durrr!"