jhay610

I agree Carter was vintage tonight he was hitting some ridiculous shots. He could not be stopped, and it is frustrating because we are better than them. Still though, we were not rotating on defense. Too often it was a blow by of one defender and then a half-ass or a no-contest of a dunk. And Carter was hot throughout the game, I mean red-hot from the jump, and we still had a 10-point lead at half. It was frustrating becuz you see the Hawks offensively in the first half and u think they are about to turn that corner, that they have gelled, and then...the second half happens. WTF Woody sitting JJ the whole 3rd with only 3 fouls. I remember looking at the lineup at one point and thinking, 'ok who is gonna score right now'. Nobody, as it were.

http://raptorsnation.tk/

after a nice game defensively against the Wiz, Chillz is back to his old tricks. Making bums look like all stars. Natchbar has gotten free on the baseline for 3 dunks

Back to old habits defensively. Horf didnt show hard enough on a pick, Chillz doesnt rotate over, Carter layup. Carter blows by Joe, no rotation from Chillz. Smoove loses handle on break, recovers, throws horrible pass, backpedals back on D as Jefferson streaks by him for a feed from Carter for two. Offensively, keep at it. What a shot by Joe! Nets need to miss some freakin' shots from outside though, which they will. We're ok

good look. give hawksfan an assist

Yes please this is bad..

Quote: To say that a 21 year old player with Marvin's IQ can't improve his ability to finish in traffic is ridiculous. I don't think it's ridiculous. A lot of players have spent their entire careers as basically the same player they were when they got in the league. Not everybody develops. Quote: OF COURSE he can (and will) get stronger. Maybe he will get stronger, but guys defending the rim will be at least as strong as him. Besides, as I mentioned before, strength is not the only metric for finishing ability. Otherwise Jahidi White would be one of the league's greatest centers and Ben Wallace would average 25 a game. Quote: OF COURSE he can improve his ability to maintain his balance when finishing in the lane. maybe that will improve negligibly if he gets stronger in his core and does a ton of plyometrics, but this is a skill you are born with. Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant contort their bodies the way they do because of natural talent, not because they hit the weight room that much harder than everyone else. Quote: Once he gets stronger, he will realize that he doesn't need to lower his head and initiate the contact, he just needs to focus on getting the ball in the hole. That will improve his balance immediately. why does he have to get stronger to realize this? Why can't he just develop a pull-up jumper like JJ? That would be more realistic than assuming that he can get stronger than the rest of the league over the course of a couple of off-seasons. Let's keep in mind that MW's work ethic has been questioned more than a couple times in the past. He tends to enjoy his down time. And how will his realization that he should avoid contact improve his balance? Quote: He will also learn how to EFFECTIVELY use his body to create space rather than just running through guys. that's a pretty big assumption. He should have learned that by now after 3 years in the league, college ball, hs, middle school, etc... Quote: OF COURSE he can learn to protect the ball and learn to use angles more effectively. again, major assumptions. Quote: He has already shown signs of being able to do this, he just needs to do it more consistently. He has shown more consistently an inability to finish over/around any contest of his shot going at the rim. He has heavy feet and no explosion at all. A pull-up J would be great for him. Quote: I think one think that will help him is to work on consistently using his left hand when he drives left. Sometimes, he gets by guys and then he takes the shot right-handed which allows them to contest the shot. If he takes the shot with his left they won't be able to get to him without fouling. I agree. Quote: Even Chillz can and likely will get a lot stronger as he matures. That's funny have you ever seen that guy in person?

Quote: This year i have noticed him pulling up for short jumpers or floaters on occassion which he never used to do. He hasn't quite mastered those shots yet but with his length and quickness getting by people i think he could be effective using these shots just like JJ does. JJ uses them because he can't jump that well. Marvin should be using them because he is just too clumsy to take contact and have any hope of finishing. Ur right. If marvin could incorporate these into his rep he could be a bonafide scoring option. He has shown that he can get by people running at him, which a recovering defender has to do because he has proven he can hit the jumper. If he could get a little stop/pop like JJ he would be very effective. He has a nice touch around the rim when he's not barreling at the basket so I don't know why this hasn't been pointed out to him before. Oh wait, that would be what a coach is paid to do....

Quote: in time. His first step is actually very quick and it allows him to gain an advantage on the defender. He was doing a great job of drawing fouls with his quick first step early in the season. The problem is that he doesn't always know what to do once he gains that advantage. He needs to develop his strength so that he can finish with contact more consistently and he needs to develop a go to move on the drive that he can make with regularity. The ability to finish on the drive will make his jab step/jumper that much more effective. Finishing is not just about strength. It is one part strength (absorbing contact), one part athletic ability (maintaining balance)and one part feel (i.e. knowing how to play angles, knowing how to hide the ball if you cant jump over, through someone) No matter how strong MW gets he will never have the other two skills it takes. I havent noticed MArv's body develop much since college anyway, no reason to think it will start this offseason.

i liked the bug gsuteke

Quote: Chicago. what happened to the hornet notlanta? U comin back on board after the last 3 games?

Quote: Jhay I wish you could see more games live - excellent review. I saw most of the game on tv, but your insights make me think I must have been drunk. lol thanks. I would have to get paid to go in depth on every game like that though. Since I am in DC I was just amped about seeing them live, and I was lucky enough to see one of their better efforts in recent years. Most game summaries before these last 3 would look something like this: Man we suck.

Quote: when they got guys from the stands to jump on the trampoline and try to dunk? I knew someone would screw up. The first guy tried to jump off the trampoline on one leg then just barely got the rim with his fingers. He overshot the padding and landed flat on his ass on the floor at the baseline. that had to hurt. Man when they brought that pad out I was sitting there thinking 'what the hell is going on? They better have signed a waiver for this'...sure enough the first guy took a nasty spill. That is a lot more difficult to do than it looks, especially if u've never done it before. Handling that momentum and maintaining body control is an acquired skill, I know I would want to practice somewhere a few times b4 I came out in front of a crowd. I think the last guy was a ringer, though, that just looked too polished. Oh, and how dead was that crowd? Nice road win and all, but we'll definitely hit some tougher venues down the stretch and in the playoffs (if we get there). Verizon makes Phillips look like MSGarden of the 90's.

Quote: ...and Horford is quickly developing an offensive game... he's deadly from 15 ft & exposes smaller guys down low with his quickness & touch. Yeah that is one thing I left out about Horf's game. His little 15 ft and in jumper is really nice and soft, and allows him to create matchup problems with guys bigger than him. Smaller guys guarding his position he can out-muscle, and he has such quick feet that he still isn't giving up an advantage there. If he continues to develop at this pace I see no reason why he can't average 15-20 and 10 for a lot of years to come.

Quote: Funny that you didn't mention Bibby. he hit some big shots but i continue to be disappointed with his passing. He threw some horrible passes. I didnt mention Bibby because the jury is still out on him. He hit some big shots, which he seems to do in some games when he gets on a roll, but then he'll have two games after that where he can't hit anything. He still looks like he's favoring the foot a little bit, but he did a decent job on D last night. As you said, some of his passes make you think you have J Kidd out there, but then he'll come down and throw two WTF?? passes that usually go the other way for fast break points. Obviously we will be much more successful when he is hitting shots like last night, we needed everything he gave us. But, as that SAC fan posted weeks ago that everyone on HS has co-signed already, he isn't there every night...at least not thus far. He's either really good or really bad.

I agree Souljaboy is garbage...Can't knock the hustle though. UUUUUUUUUUUUL

Quote: If we go 11-4 these last 15 games, than we'd be at an even .500 How do you figure? 29-38 +11-4 ________ 40-42

Ok this turned into a book but stay with it I think there are some good points in here... 1) When the Hawks are moving the ball and moving without the ball, they can be a damn good offensive team. I saw a lot of activity out there tonight. Guys picking for each other, making cuts w/o the ball. We did more on most of our possessions tonight than I have seen in a long time. 'Give it to Joe' was our last option, not our first. I EVEN SAW A COUPLE OF SET PLAYS! Block to block screens, screen and slips and some backpicks all got us some easy looks. 25 assists v 10 tovers? That is winning basketball. 2) Woodson actually managed the game. WTF DID I JUST TYPE?!!? I have been on Woodson as much as anybody but he did a great job with the rotations tonight. When Smoove picked up his 4th foul it was with 11:00 min left in the 3rd. Rather than forget him on the bench, he got him back in there in time to impact the game, with a little more than 7:00 left on the 4th. I would have gotten him in a little earlier, but the unit on the floor was playing well and I can live with the 7 min mark . Smoove did pick up a 5th foul a little later so it seemed to be a prudent move to get him in when Woody did. Horf got a nice blow at 2:00 left in the 3rd, the quarter break, and 1st min of the 4th, so he was ready for the stretch run (big Z even managed to look not horrible for the most part). Finally, after AC got basically punked in the open court, having the ball taken from him big boy style and a bucket scored in transition on the other end, Woodson called a timeout and snatched him outta there. I liked that move because it was a lackadaisical error, not an aggressive one. Woody also departed from his norm by actually using his timeouts to slow momentum, a critical skill on the road. The Hawks had a 91-81 lead coming out of a timeout w 8:31 left. The wizards went on a 7-2 run over the next minute. When Deshawn Stevenson hit a 3 out of the corner, the crowd was getting involved and the lead was cut to 5. Rather than let the run continue, Woody actually called time out, which shocked me at the time. He got Bibby and Smith back in the game, and Bibb came out and hit a big 3 on the next trip down. Crisis averted. 3) This team can defend when it wants to. Even Chillz was out there giving maximum effort on D, what a great game on both ends from him. Everyone was getting out on shooters, rotating and just trying (not always succeeding, but trying) to play good D. Big ups to Joe for stoning Caron on a spectacular sequence in the 4th. Caron had it on the wing, and it was mano y mano, the crowd could feel it coming. Joe didnt budge. Got his hand in there, knocked it away, Caron recovered, regrouped, still couldnt create space and took a fadeaway J with Joe draped all over him. Superb. 4) We need a BIG. Brendan Haywood, an average center in this league, was absolutely exploiting our lack of size in the first half. We just have nobody that can match up with a big body like that. He disappeared in the 2nd half because he's Brendan Haywood, but that is a glaring flaw with this roster that will certainly rear its head until it is addressed. 5) A. Law needs to figure out how to finish/dish/ make the proper decision. I'm sure his decision making will get better with reps, but he really needs to work on developing a floater (exhibit a, Baron Davis over Smoove again and again in the Warriors home game; exhibit B, Tony Parker) or some type of deception in his shot because he gets his layups swatted by everybody. It's a shame, too, because that guy can get anywhere on the floor anytime he wants to. What a weapon that is and he is the only guy on the roster who can be that type of player for us. He was 3 steps quicker than anyone on the floor tonight. He just needs to figure out what to do with the ball when he gets where he's going. 6) Can we get off Mario West's jock now? He's like the Squawk mascot and everyone loves his defense but he is a major liability on O. I know he was cold cuz he hadnt played all game and I know everyone makes mistakes, but jeez we're trying to win a road game here. At the end of the 3rd, with the game very much still in the balance, he blew a wide open dunk because he couldnt decide whether he wanted to lay it in or dunk it while in the air, then pretty much got hung and did neither. Fortunately the ref bailed him out with a call but it was obvious that their was no contact on the play, the shot was barely contested at all. That is a gaffe that an NBA player should not make; lay the ball in the basket. 7) Did i mention Chillz was impressive? Exodus if u r reading this I know u went to the game too and u gotta give it up he was doing it out there. He hit two big corner threes off feeds from Joe, got his usual little chippies around the basket and a runout off a Wiz TO. He also was breaking people down off the dribble. I would like to see him do more of that as he has shown flashes recently (the crossover/dunkon against the Clips comes to mind. And as I said earlier, he actually defended quite well tonight. The only negative I can think of tonight was his missing a nice feed from Bibby off a penetration in which he got open in the short corner. Other than that, pretty flawless game. 8) HORF IS A BEAST. We all knew that. He was eating the glass out there and getting us extra opportunities on O. He got six offensive rebounds and I can remember 3 that directly resulted in open jump shots for Joe, and another that we got a dunk off of. Those are big difference makers. If we can put together more games like tonight we'll have a bright future. We controlled that game from start to finish and it was done by playing hard and smart basketball. Nice.

I am headed into enemy territory tonight. I am up here in DC 'til Sept. and I want everybody to know I got 'em. I'll be out there in full hawks gear p*ssing off these white collar political types. Does playing the knicks last night disqualify tonight's game as the back end of a back-to-back?

Quote: Dumbest post i have read in a long time. Welcome to my filter. HAHA I agree. First grade grammar teachers and basketball coaches everywhere just cringed...

I commend Felton for having the stones to dismiss two of the top players from his program for what he felt was 'conduct detrimental to the team,' especially in a year where he knew coming in he would be under scrutiny for the performance of the team. I doubt there are too many coaches in D-1 basketball that would take that strong of a stance on player misconduct when their job was on the line. What a breath of fresh air after Harrick. Keep in mind also that this was not a normal rebuild, he inherited this program in absolute shambles. He had no reputation to recruit behind and he had scholarship reductions to deal with. I thought going in to this tourney that he should have at least gotten another year. Judging from interviews, I don't think Evans wanted to fire the guy at all, but was being pressured to. I am sure he is as happy as anyone at the turn of events this past weekend. Really nice story, I would have loved to be in that locker room postgame...

Quote: A big reason for that is the lack of outside shooting to space the floor. Yes, but a bigger reason is the fact that Woody has made the tactical decision to not run any type of offense to get guys moving without the ball. Ever. So we end up standing around watching Joe. While outside shooting helps spread the D, it isn't hard to guard a spot up shooter that is standing in place. Quote: Childress' total lack of a perimeter game hurts the spacing. I would rather see Smith in there looking for rebounds rather than Childress. True, but J. Smoove can't play the whole game. I like to see Marvin play with Chillz because he can make teams pay for collapsing on Joe and when he misses, we have weakside rebounding there in Childress. Quote: However he (Smith) hangs around the perimeter at least in part I believe because Childress and Horford are inside already. it is too crowded in there. I agree. See above. Chillz, Smoove, and Horford all operate effectively in the same areas. If they are all in the game at the same time, it is too crowded. That's when we get Smith pulling the contested 20 ft jumpers and Hawksquawkers blowing up the message boards.

i dont mind sacrificing a little equity in court balance if we can get some free chippies around the basket. Chillz is a good offensive rebounder, so I'm happy to have him down there to try to clean up and get some easy buckets at the cost of him getting back late on long rebounds, esp since our offense is basically standing around and seeing if Joe can create a shot for himself or somebody. If Joe is not hitting shots, we are not scoring points, so any easy buckets around the rim are big for us. The problem is when there is a TO or long rebound he doesn't sprint back on defense. He kind of jogs to about half court to see if there is a quick miss or TO by the transitioning team, hoping for a quick outlet back to him for an open dunk (Snowbirding). That allows the other team to press their advantage longer, and eventually the open shooter is found or penetration more quickly breaks down the defense for a layup. He is also the most horrific defender in the half court on this team outside of Mike Bibby. He is horrible at playing screens and shows a basic disinterest/dislike for anything on that end of the floor. Marvin has terrible footwork but he is an adequate defender because he hustles and he uses his length to deter shots. He doesnt block many shots but he definitely alters them and makes an easy shot tougher. Offensively he can't create his own shot (which Chillz can in the post), can't finish at the rim (which chillz can) and is basically a midrange shooter. They bring very different elements to the floor but both contribute (and detract) in certain areas. Marvin gets the spotlight because he was a number 2 and because of who was taken behind him but it really isnt his fault that management cant evaluate talent. Chillz was also a high draft pick and there were considerably more talented players available in his slot as well, but for some reason he gets a pass while Marv gets raked through the coals...

Quote: I'm glad you got out and safe from the rain, "Hail" and tornado. You must not be from Atlanta huh? Lucky St. been there forever. Moral of the story, never leave a Hawks game early. Well if we are doing the spell check thing, I believe the street is actually spelled "luckie"...

Quote: We need to get a sports psychiatrist in here to talk to Pachulia so he can find his game. John Wooden couldn't get anything out of Z. You can't coach (in)ability. Quote: This team IS better than what we've seen the past few games. Appreciate the enthusiasm but not sure I am with you on that one. I, like many HSers, am starting to realize the huge flaws present on this roster.