HawkItus
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QuotePoints Created Per 36 Minutes Leaders
Player Points Scored AST Points Screen AST Points Total Points Created Giannis Antetokounmpo 35.2 16.9 6.3 58.4 Luka Doncic 31.9 24.2 0.2 56.3 LeBron James 26.0 25.8 1.4 53.2 James Harden 35.5 16.6 0.6 52.8 Trae Young 29.9 20.2 0.2 50.4 Nikola Jokic 22.1 16.0 10.7 48.9 Karl-Anthony Towns 28.6 10.1 8.8 47.5 Domantas Sabonis 18.9 10.5 16.8 46.2 Derrick Rose 25.4 19.6 0.5 45.5 Kawhi Leonard 30.3 13.4 1.5 45.3 Four players have emerged this season as clear MVP candidates, even on off nights, and those same four players lead this leaderboard, too. No surprise there. In fifth place is Trae Young, posting historic offensive numbers for a moribund Hawks team that can’t seem to create anything at all without him. (Without Young on the court, Atlanta scores a ghastly 91.5 points per 100 possessions—a dozen points worse than the league-worst Warriors offense.) Then comes a mix of different kinds of players, solid proof that this metric doesn’t simply favor guards, wings, or bigs but rather anyone who can help create points in a medley of ways.
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RIP. Legend.
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2 minutes ago, hawkman said:
Valiant effort but trying to reason with this level of hate/stupidity is futile. I could understand if this was the first All Star from a losing team ever, but it's not. None of this hate is based on facts so there's no logic or reason that can convince them otherwise. So, I prefer to respond with snark and trolling. It takes less effort and is so much more fun.
Me too minus the snark. I'm just trolling
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The hate is so good. If NBA fans don't irrationally discredit you then you aren't a star.
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43 minutes ago, AHF said:
Does that reflect the actual votes (i.e., here are the starters and now let me tell you how I would choose the reserves) or just how these guys would fill the entire roster if they were the ones doing it (i.e., these are the 5 guys I think should be a starter and these are the ones who I would pick as a reserve)?
It is complete (ignore the fan vote, I'm smarter) bull. Why I didn't link to it.
QuoteEastern Conference
Starters
G Kemba Walker
G Kyle Lowry
FC Giannis Antetokounmpo
FC Jimmy Butler
FC Joel EmbiidQuote• The toughest dilemma is the second guard next to Walker, enjoying maybe the best shooting season of his career and driving with a head-down, north-south decisiveness that has him commanding Boston's offense without monopolizing it. He is still a showman -- a crouched blur of in-and-out dribbles and crossovers -- without any wasted motion.
By the numbers, that second guard is either Ben Simmons or Trae Young -- two strange, polarizing players with diametrically opposed holes in their games.
Young's statistics are overwhelming: 29 points per game and almost nine assists; nice shooting marks considering his volume of 3s; and advanced numbers that lap the field. But you can't be the worst defensive player in the league on the team with the second-worst record and start the All-Star Game. Can we see Young hold a defensive stance for more than two consecutive seconds first?
• Young is a great offensive player and a sinkhole on the other end. Simmons is a very good offensive player and a multipositional destroyer on defense. Entire Philadelphia lineups exist and survive only because Simmons can cover any opposing player. He should be a Defensive Player of the Year candidate.
QuoteLast two in
Trae Young
Jaylen Brown• It's fair to ask why Young gets in over Beal and Zach LaVine -- other offense-first scorers on awful teams. I thought about disqualifying all three and picking a second player on a good team. I just couldn't find a persuasive case.
Tatum has the best dossier, but he is shooting a career-worst 47% on 2s and is the fourth-best passer among Boston's heavy-rotation guys.
Tatum is ahead of Brown as a distributor, and underrated on defense -- Brown's equal. Brad Stevens has leaned most on Tatum to prop up Boston's offense when Walker rests. I'd bet on Tatum being better than Brown over his career -- and probably over the rest of this season.
But Tatum and Brown are still mostly finishers, and Brown -- 39% from deep, 55% on 2s -- has finished more accurately over the relevant sample. Tatum's case isn't so strong that Boston should get a third All-Star.
• Brogdon was the other really tough omission. He carried Indiana early, and has formed a delightful wink-wink chemistry with Sabonis. Brogdon's numbers -- including games missed -- are roughly equal to Lowry's. But Brogdon averages seven fewer minutes per game, gets to the line less, and is shooting a tick worse from deep on way fewer attempts. He isn't quite as dynamic -- and not a five-time All-Star coming off a championship.
• Spencer Dinwiddie, Fred VanVleet, and Devonte' Graham faded.
• Tobias Harris is so valuable to Philly as a shape-shifter. He is up to 36% from deep, and he has improved defending wings -- a must for this weirdo roster. But he is a paint-by-numbers playmaker, and his case isn't compelling enough to grant Philly a third All-Star.
• Other sneaky good candidates on decent-and-better teams who just miss: Eric Bledsoe, T.J. Warren, Nikola Vucevic and Evan Fournier. I selected Bledsoe ahead of Middleton last season, and by some measures, Bledsoe has been even better this time around. He is an All-Defensive candidate again.
But Middleton has surpassed him on the Bucks' hierarchy. Fifteen points and five dimes per game just doesn't get it done in this field.
• Derrick Rose has been great, but he was until recently a bench player operating under a minutes restriction. Andre Drummond is not it.
• And now, the loudest debate in the league: Trae Young.
I couldn't exclude Young just because Atlanta is slightly more terrible than the also terrible Wizards and Bulls. With John Collins suspended 25 games, the Hawks didn't have an NBA-level roster. With Young on the floor now, they are a normal bad team; they at least have a chance. Without him, the Hawks are roadkill: minus-13 points per 100 possessions, which is more or less grounds for relegation.
Beal's numbers -- 27.5 points and six dimes per game -- are a tick behind Young's. Beal also is shooting an ugly (for him) 31% from deep; Young is at 37% on much higher volume. Beal hasn't been the same since leg issues flared up.
Beal is the superior defender almost by default, but it has been a rough season and a half for him on that end. His advanced metrics -- overall and some measuring just defense -- are below Young's. The Wizards have been staggeringly worse with Beal on the floor. There is a ton of noise in those numbers, but they are so dramatic, you can't totally ignore them.
I voted Beal All-NBA last season. I just can't find the case to choose him over Young now.
• I can't quite get there with LaVine, despite his recent scoring surge. He tries harder than Young on defense, but LaVine is still harmful. The biggest difference is in their playmaking: Young averages 8.6 dimes per game with a nearly 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio; LaVine has 177 assists -- about four per game -- and 147 turnovers.
Some of that is built into the constructions of their teams. Young is everything for the Hawks; LaVine splits ballhandling duties with several players. Young also has coughed the ball up more than everyone but Harden.
But just watch them and you know: Young is a visionary playmaker. LaVine's passing is more prosaic. If he wants to win, Young has to reorient his game 30 degrees or so in the team-first direction. He can get a little hoggy over-dribbling, and perhaps assist-hunting. He needs to move and screen when he doesn't have the ball instead of standing around, waiting to get it back.
But Young profiles as the No. 1 shot-creator of a functional NBA offense -- the most valuable player type in the league; he's in, by a slim margin.
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Zach Lowe has him in...as a reserve.
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What a game! JC gets the game ball. Tough on both ends of the floor.
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12 hours ago, kg01 said:
Oh, trust me, that's not why you're an a... wait, is this thing on?
That's what I was kinda getting at. Like, you and I could hire them dudes. What's in this for Parsons? I mean, other than getting substandard legal representation?
Morgan and Morgan is a big time firm. Not like your typical TV lawyers.
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1 hour ago, benhillboy said:I hate to be a Debbie but it should be illustrated how easily traditional PGs (run the team’s offense at the expense of their personal numbers, defend ALL THE TIME) absolutely dominate Trae. He has played 19 games versus:
Fred Van Fleet (undrafted)
Kyle Lowry (24th pick)
Kendrick Nunn (undrafted)
Malcolm Brogdon (36th pick)
George Hill (26th pick)
DJ Augustine (9th pick)
Marcus Smart (6th pick)
Patrick Beverly (42nd pick)
SGA (11th pick)
and CP3 (moonwalk into the Hall)
His combined +/- in those contests is -162. Their combined +/-? +173.
I’m sorry. Trae is not a player to build around. Not when players with huge chips on their shoulders and high team IQs salivate at the sight of him. It’s only gonna get worse after he makes the AS Team. His nonexistent off ball play, assist-hunting, and 0 defensive value is fatal to any team he plays on to the point where his high usage and ball dominance only neuters his teammates and exacerbates their flaws. His phenomenal raw production should translate to wins, no if, ands, and buts about it. I get tired of hearing about his fellow starters’ weaknesses (Bruno instead of Len) when they all have viable strengths.
I’m off my soapbox, seems like I’m back to the days of trashing Joe all the time. Please discuss, call me an idiot, it’s all welcome.
I'd like to see the +/- of all our starters against those teams before calling you an idiot.
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QuoteThe Great Draft Swindle of '75
How the ABA's Denver Nuggets wound up with the NBA's #1 and #3 overall draft picks in the summer of 1975
Curtis M. Harris5 hr Several days ago I was watching a Nuggets-Hawks game that was fairly entertaining. Ultimately, the Nuggets pulled out an eight-point win behind Nikola Jokic’s 47 points. As the Nuggets drove the final stake into the Hawks, I acerbically noted this was the biggest defeat for Atlanta at the hands of Denver since 1975.
Jokes aside, man did the Nuggets really screw over the Hawks in 1975! Denver’s triumph and Atlanta’s misery couldn’t have happened without New Orleans’s incompetence.
The Jazz were eager – some might say desperate – to acquire bayou legend Pete Maravich from the Hawks. Getting “Pistol Pete” was bound to make the expansion Jazz winners on the court and garner sellout crowds.
At least that was the theory.
So in May 1974, Atlanta traded Maravich to New Orleans for two players and FIVE draft picks including a 1975 first rounder. Yep, NOLA was DESPERATE.
They also stunk.
The Jazz started the 1974-75 NBA season 0-11. By the All-Star break they were a ghastly 4-34. The team went on a “hot streak” to finish the season 23-59, easily the worst record in the NBA. For all their on-court troubles, the Jazz got themselves the #1 pick in the draft.
Oh wait, that’s right. They traded their 1975 first round pick to the Hawks. WHOOPS!
(By the end of the decade, the Jazz were packing their bags for Utah).
As for Atlanta, they looked pretty bright for having shipped off Maravich for the draft pick bounty. With Maravich in the 1973-74 season, the Hawks had a 35-47 record. Without him in 1974-75 they rummaged a 31-51 mark despite perennial All-Star Lou Hudson missing almost the entire season. The big story for the Hawks in ’75 was rookie forward John Drew averaging nearly 19 points and 11 rebounds per game.
Hudson had just entered his 30s, so was on the downside of his prime years, but was still a very effective player. Drew was a scoring machine and a terror on the offensive glass. Now Atlanta could add the #1 overall draft pick courtesy of the Jazz in addition to their own draft pick slotted at #3.
With the #1 pick Atlanta took college superstar David Thompson. With the #3 pick they snagged promising center Marvin Webster.
Thompson and Webster with Hudson and Drew? Not too shabby.
Of course it never happened, beaming optimism be damned…
That’s a mighty fine hat
MEANWHILE IN THE ABA…
The Denver Nuggets were a powerhouse. Under the coaching of Larry Brown – yes, that Larry Brown – and with a talented seven-man rotation including Ralph Simpson, Mack Calvin and Bobby Jones, the Nuggets finished the 1974-75 season with a 65-19 record. Best regular season record in the ABA and NBA for that season.
Although they were upset in seven games in the Western Division Finals by the Indiana Pacers, the Nuggets were clearly going to be a force for years to come.
But instead of resting on their laurels, the Nuggets decided to hustle the NBA’s Hawks.
Immediately following the NBA’s draft in late May, George Cunningham of the Atlanta Constitution wondered, “Can the Hawks sign Thompson and Webster, the two first-round picks who are expected to ask for a total of four million dollars and eventually wind up getting about three million?”
Nearly a month later (June 17), the situation wasn’t resolved and signs were growing worse for the Hawks.
The Virginia Squires technically held Thompson’s ABA rights, but the Associated Press was sure that “he will be traded to Denver if the Nuggets can sign him.” Basically, the Virginia Squires - in true Squires fashion if you know their history of offloading young, expensive talent - were keeping the car running outside, ready to speed away as Denver was sticking up the Hawks.
Thompson’s agent, Larry Fleisher had practically gassed up the getaway car.
He was giving strong hints that Atlanta was a longshot choice by mid-June. After having just one meeting with the Hawks since the NBA draft, Fleisher assessed the situation: “I indicated [to Atlanta] what it would take to sign him, and I am still waiting for a response.”
A major hitch in Atlanta’s plans to nab Thompson and Webster was a $400,000 fine the NBA slapped on the franchise “over the Julius Erving-signing violation of three years ago.” As the AP dryly noted, “There now is doubt whether the Hawks can bid for both Webster and Thompson.”
(That fine $400k fine was no joke. That was the annual salary of the NBA and ABA’s top-flight players at the time.Imagine a team being slapped with a $35 million fine today? That might make it hard to sign a player.)
Indeed, on June 20 it was reported that Webster had inked a $1.5 million dollar contract with the Nuggets. Webster reportedly “didn’t like the way the NBA Atlanta Hawks handled their negotiations.”
The bungling was complete by July 9, when the AP reported that Thompson had signed a $3 million, 6-year deal with the Nuggets. The $500,000 annual salary made him the richest rookie in the history of pro sports.
(FWIW, Denver’s hot streak of talent acquisition continued in October 1975 when the financially-distressed Baltimore Claws sent them Dan Issel for relative peanuts. No disrespect to Dave Robisch, but you trade him for Issel 100 times out of 100.)
Denver paid off Virginia for its complicity by sending Mack Calvin their way for Thompson’s ABA rights and officially signed the guard in mid-July.
Obviously loaded, the Nuggets again tore through the ABA with a league-best 60 wins. Again, though, they were upset in the playoffs as the New York Nets bested them in the ABA Finals in six ridiculously hard-fought games.
Denver had the better team, but the Nets had Dr. J at the peak of his powers.
AS FOR ATLANTA…
"We’re extremely disappointed, but life goes on.”
- Atlanta Hawks President and General Manager, Bud Seretean.
For the Hawks, losing Webster was a sting. After all that was a #3 pick down the drain. And Webster certainly had his moments during a 10-year ABA/NBA career, most notably bringing Seattle to within one game of the 1978 NBA title. But he was more of a loss in opportunity. Albeit a big one. The two players picked right after Webster were centers Alvan Adams and Darryl Dawkins.
Atlanta definitely could have used either center in their lineup.
Losing Thompson was the real kick in the pants. After having lucked their way into the #1 overall pick through the ineptitude of the New Orleans Jazz, Atlanta lost a generational talent for absolutely nothing. Even considering Thompson’s battles with drug addiction in the late 70s and early 80s, he was a bona fide superstar and was ultimately inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Luckily for Atlanta, they did recover from the ’75 fiasco by drafting slow Tree Rollins and fast Eddie Johnson in 1977; trading for defensive stalwart Dan Roundfield in 1978; and watching John Drew grow into a certified bucket-getter. So the franchise wasn’t totally left for dead.
But 45 years later, the team still hasn’t had another #1 overall pick and losing out on David Thompson was a bitter pill to swallow.
This jam’s for you, New Orleans Jazz…
Image credits:
“Hawks Vow to Sign Thompson, Webster,” Atlanta Constitution, May 30, 1975
"David Thompson inks with Denver Nuggets,” Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer, July 15, 1975Other sources:
“Nuggets or the Hawks? Webster hasn’t decided,” Louisville Courier-Journal, June 17, 1975
The Record (Hackensack, NJ), June 20, 1975
“Atlanta loses battle for David Thompson,” July 9, 1975Unsolved ProHoopsMysteries…
How else did that $400,000 fine impact the Hawks?
What was brouhaha around Atlanta signing Julius Erving?
How did the Jazz fail despite having Pistol Pete?
The Baltimore Claws?! That’s the whole question.
What other talented young players did the Squires give away over the years?
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W.L.O.C. 2020
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3 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:You gotta work on your thread titles Soud. Haven't you learned anything from the 'Great One' @lethalweapon3.
Here's one: Teague Time is Back!
In-T-r-EAUGUE-ing Development!
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If the Hawks were winning wouldn't Trae be in the MVP convo?
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What about EPI?
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Night I'm not there free Chic Fil a
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The haters on realgm must be eating their hats
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Who pissed Trae off lol
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Quote
Cam Reddish, Hawks
Top five comps: (1) DerMarr Johnson, (2) Nikoloz Tskitishvili, (3) Ben McLemore, (4) Quincy Lewis, (5) Stanley Johnson
What it means: Well, we knew Reddish’s comps wouldn’t be pretty after the early lottery wings chart, and here’s the final proof. In The Ringer’s NBA Draft Guide last spring, Kevin O’Connor wrote that Reddish “projects as a plus shooter” because “his mechanics look smooth,” but noted that he’d struggled to turn those aesthetics into actual in-game success. The same appears true in his NBA introduction: The Hawks rookie ranks in the second percentile of rookies this century in TS%; he’s shooting 38 percent on 2-pointers and 26 percent on 3s.
Sign up for theThe Ringer Newsletter
Email (required)By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Notice and European users agree to the data transfer policy.SUBSCRIBEHis comps are a dispiriting and scattered collection of failed prospects, hailing from different positions and decades but united in their NBA struggles. All five listed here were first-round picks (all but Lewis, who went 19th in 1999, were picked in the top eight), but none of them averaged double-digit points for their career. McLemore, now resurgent in Houston, might represent Reddish’s best-case offensive scenario, and even he took seven seasons to find himself as a role player in an extreme niche. (Incidentally, one of O’Connor’s projected comps for Reddish was “bigger Ben McLemore.” The stats and scouts agree!)
Trae’s +/- versus Floor Game-Centric PGs
in Homecourt
Posted
Thank you. @benhillboy