MarylandHawk

This game was super fun to watch. We may have found something with this rotation.

This is a bad brother.

It is definitely a worse situation. He is not pushing Evan or RJ out of the starting line up anytime soon. Also, Thibs is notorious for short rotations even in the regular season, so I think he plays less minutes iff of the bench too. If he was thinking about trying to earn a max extension this year, it ain't happening.

I really wanted to see Cam with starting unit with Dre and Capella in it to see how good we could be defensively but I guess we will never know.

What was telling about the situation is that the whole team knew he requested a trade including Nate. It must have put the team off since he was playing so many minutes and everyone knew he wanted off the team.

Bob Rathbun with the “Oh Ish”. Lol on the Ish smith blowing the bunny layup.

Leads Luka in Allstar votes and is 8th in Jersey sales. Not to mention his shooting percentages are up across the board. Let’s get these W’s.

Say it.

I loved the defensive effort tonight. It was consistent the whole game. It translated into great ball movement on offense. Dare i say it, I even saw some fast breaks tonight off of great defense!

Waiting too long? Nobody came up to receive the ball. On the previous play, Kevin came quickly when he recognize Trae was being trapped and Trae quickly made the pass and Heurter quickly found Dre in the corner. It takes two to tango.

OO17

Where’s Embiid? Lol. He’s git three babies.

It’s pure speculation based on the information he is hearing. He is putting it in the context that everyone understands and responds to. If Trae wanted to play off the ball it would have happened in a heart beat. I think his dad and the coaches realize that is the best path to winning and Trae’s dad knows he can do that very well too. Trae needs to feel like the team can be successful doing it that way and he needs time to adjust his mentality. Its hard when he knows there is nobody that can stop him when he has the ball in his hands. This is where someone like Simmons could really make a difference. Simmons would initiate the fast break much better than Trae. Also, in the half court, they could run the triangle offense through Ben that gets him closer to the basket but still allows him to pass out of the triangle. Trae would be confident the Ben will find him when he is off the ball. Of course 4th quarters wont be a problem because Trae could just take over.

Your clip breakdown is great. However, the focus on Trae here is misplaced. The only reason we are in this situation is because of Bogi’s idiot dead ball foul that resulted in a technical free throw and his horrible effort at guarding Herro immediately after the free throw in which he made a three pointer. 4 points in 5 seconds to erase our lead late in that game. Nobody here is satisfied with any of our players making mistakes including Trae but to go out of your way and blame the whole loss on him seems incredibly biased against him. Trae is a hero and sometimes he has to play hero ball. He has put this franchise on his back against all the haters and detractors and made us relevant and fun to watch. He also gives us a chance to win. I am riding with him to the wheels fall of. You can go back to your Horford days with no heroes.

Good post. I think we have to take two things into consideration though. 1. We have been getting blown out before we even get into the fourth on a lot of these games and everyone including Trae is playing desperation ball. 2. You hear Nique, Bob, and Vince say it all the time that Trae needs to set his teammates up in the first 3 quarters and then take over in the 4th. I can imagine Nate telling him the same thing. But that formula isn’t quite working because the tram is inefficient especially defensively. The only real issue with this team is it’s overall effort level on offense and defense. Most teams we play are in playoff form because of the new play in format. We were caught with our pants down coming in to the season thinking we were better than everyone else. Then we had all the disruption with covid. Trae can and will adjust his game to win. He already has his money and fame all he wants to do is win. He is not going to bottle up his talent when everyone else is playing below theirs.

Tyler Herro tip the ball. Miami’s scrappy defense should be credited for this not Trae’s handles.

Troll. Trolling. See right through it.

There is nothing frustrating about the second leading vote getter in the east allstar race. Sometimes I think people get so blinded by the thought of winning a championship, they forget about how hard it is to even win in this league. We have NEVER had a player like Trae in twenty years and you guys are ready to trade him for speedy Claxton or mike Bibby type guys. Oh how soon we forget where we come from.

Troll

And the trolling is back.

I actually enjoyed watching this game. It’s amazing how when you play with effort and hustle on D how much better you are as a team. Its a shame Cam had to be the sacrificial lamb in order for them to get it. Bogi is the blame for this loss with his stupid technical foul that erased a 5 point lead and his inability to make a wide open 3.

I noticed on this torrid home losing streak that a lot of teams were playing small ball and their stretch 4’s (or just small forwards playing the 4 spot) were killing us. John wasn’t effective when they were shooting three’s and cutting to the basket. Clint and OO weren't effective on switch’s when their man dragged them to the 3 point line. Dre would have been nice in those situations.

The point is the things that are wrong with this team are things others can improve without him changing anything. Like play defense. They did it last year. They can do it again.

Those are not facts. That is selective amnesia. He makes others better. Period. He cannot play defense for everyone else. That effort is their responsibility. He already proved you can win with his style if play when everyone else is giving the right effort. Blame is misplaced. Everybody knew there was a potential for this years team to have chemistry problems because there so many mouths to feed including Dre and Cam that we didn’t before. Throw on top of that the covid protocols and injuries, that chemistry is not there. That has nothing to do with Trae’s style of play. Coaches and other players get paid too. They need to make adjustments. Trae is not beyond this notion of team basketball. He is doing whatever he can. He already stated that passing is his favorite thing to do. I think he would do it even more if his team moves better without the ball. He will probably go down as one of the best assist men in the history of the NBA. Trae does not pound the ball late into the clock and then make a move like Luka. You are on point about fast breaks being slowed down by Trae asking for the ball after a defensive rebound. But remember, Nate wants to play with a slower pace so even that isnt entirely on Trae. Yes, Trae is playing a role in how poorly we are performing but he is not the root nor a large part. We can build a champion around him and I will be here to watch it.

I was with you with that first post but I have to part here. Trae’s success and winning is one in the same thing. Winning a championship brings the most money. Trae wants to win. Hawks want to win. Period. Everyone here is saying you can’t win a championship with Trae being a dominant offensive player but they don’t know that. The fact of the matter is every time a championship is won it is done in a fashion no one predicted it would. I could go on on about player types who won championships where the previous season people said it was impossible. Trae is a once in a generational player who gives maximum effort to achieve winning with the tools he has. It is weird to ask him to step back and change before anyone else steps up their effort first. I posted before that Trae could be averaging 15 assists if teammates would hit open shots and hustle to get open more EVERY TIME down court. He WILL find them. His effort is were it needs to be. Johns effort level is where it needs to be. Everyone else is out there lolly gagging. The coaches are ambivalent. I agree that there should be a default set of offensive plays where all your main players are a first option and they need to know and understand that if their number is not called that they can create their own touches by moving without the basketball and giving multiple efforts on each possession. Does everyone have amnesia? Did we not just watch him lead us to the ECF? If he doesn’t twist his ankle everyone believed he would lead us past the Bucks. Now all of a sudden we need to demand the ball away from Trae because everyone else sucks but him and they are not even going to try to play defense until they get touches? That is nonsense. Trae has elevated his game and the rest of the team needs to as well.