Making the case for A.I.

It's pretty obvious that the Hawks are pretty bad when both Joe Johnson and Josh Childress aren't playing. We just don't have that much talent. We don't even have that much potential talent (sorry Josh 2 and Sexual Healing).

I've waffled on wanting Allen Iverson or not- just last week I said "absolutely not" when asked the question. I felt this team was going somewhere and they didn't need any distractions or disruptions. Iverson is probably not a long term solution, and any pieces we give up would have to be long term solution guys (Josh 1 or Sexual Healing). Unless Philly is willing to take on Salim and Lue? Billy King? Billy?

If Lue is going to be putting up 16 shots a night, then AI is not going to bring anything negative to this team. He would be a nice compliment to Joe "Kid Dy-no-mite" Johnson- I'd see a lot of 25/5/5 nights for both of them. I don't know if AI would be the distributor / field general you would want from a typical point guard, but I'm not sure that's necessary with this team. We have quality passers at every position, so I'm not sure how helpful a good guard would be. For example, Chris Paul. AHHHHHH! Chris Paul! Why the crap didn't we draft him! I hate Knight.

Not to keep harping on this or anything, but yet another undersized guard *killed* us last night. I know at Braves & Birds Michael made the point that Lue's defensive shortcomings might be nullified somewhat this season by the defensive help from Shelden Williams and Josh 2, but I'm not convinced.

Anywhoo, all the Hotlanta Hawks Blog wants for Christmas is a healthy Joe Johnson and Josh Childress.

Update: As Bill Simmons points out, Joe Johnson would instantly rank as the best player Iverson has ever played with. I think this Hawks team is magnitudes better than the Sixers right now.