tremor

No one heard about Collison until Paul got injured and he produced as a starter. And he's been very inconsistent in Indiana so far, check his statline in last game vs Hawks against our famous defenders at PG. I won't judge Teague until he plays several 30+ mins games and I believe he's shown flashes to warrant more PT then he gets.

+40 mins for "core" and Bibbs. When JC is off our bench sucks. Having 3 scrub centers at least you'd expect to get some hard fouls from them inside.

A part of slow starts were Joe's missed jumpers. With his current shooting Hawks will hopefully start hot like in Utah game.

There was too much iso Joe in recent weeks but apparently it was needed for JJ to get back to form. Joe and Jamal averaging over 50 pts in last three games? That's deadly.

Teague must be really deep in LD's dog house - he played less than 3 minutes in a blow out.

Robin Lopez sucks. He's like his brother but without shooting, shotblocking, rebounding and with lower BBIQ.

I do realize that he needs to work out the elbow but I just don't think that playing at the same time is the best idea, but as you wrote - medical staff probably knows better.

It took me 3 months of extensive workouts to be able to fully extend my hand after elbow injury. We're talking here about guy who's on first year of $124 M contract. Anything that's possible should be done to fully restore his health even if it means 1-2 month break.

I like that trade. A lot. We get two veteran players with high BBIQ that can give us a couple of years of solid play and young prospect C + expiring Butler.

On the other hand all these guys are aggressive and go to the FTs line much more often than Joe.

First, excellent post, Wretch. Very well said. Many excuses that appeared lately on HS were made in (explicit or implicit) context of comparison to last season, so they're not aimed to justify Hawks recent performance per se. The team is flawed, I don't think anyone would deny that. But talking about it day after day makes me tired. I try to take good with the bad and find some positives in current situation and maybe what can go well in the future.

Joe's shooting is off, that's a fact. I don't know if he has problems with his hand (some shots looked really horrible) but he needs to limit his outside shooting because he's hurting his team. His misses were a big part of Hawks bad start which found themselves quickly to be behind in double digits and trying to dig out of that hole. Al forced things a little bit too much on offense. Drew needs to set up some better plays for him, because good defensive teams won't leave him wide open just like that. Those picks should be run closer to the basket at times. Horf wasn't hustling for defensive rebounds that allowed Thunder to score some second chance points. It would've been really nice game from Josh if not those turnovers. One of the best games from Jamal this season, he really picked up his defensive game. I wish he could create also for others. Teague's episode - turnover, wide missed floater and a foul (nice block though). Hawks played decent D, but you can't stop KD when he's hitting those threes. Damien showing once again that he's really good on man defender. Mo is not, why can't coaching staff get it?

JJ is guarding the best guard on opposing team and Smith spends more time at perimeter. You might beat them off the dribble, but it's hard to shoot over them. Mike and Jamal try to stay close to their men. Marvin on the other hand roams around the court like he is valuable help defender. He left Wright open time after time. He was guarding those Spurs players who killed us in the 4th. Hawks defense looks pretty solid this season. It's offense in crunch time that they need to work on in the first place to beat elite teams.

Sy article on Flash home page It says that Pape is expected to play on Jan 1st and games can be watched at nba.com/futurecast.

Those lobs were gross. Teague was lost on every screen set for Curry and headed the bench quickly. Crawford shot 2-10 from the field and scored 5.

Josh lead the league in blocks + steals + drawn charges last season. That's just horrible.

Yes, there is - stopping Howard, Bogut and couple of other big guys that are 2+ inches taller than Al and have an inside game.

Love is a smarter/tougher. Josh is so much more athletic and so much better defender. Love is league's best rebounder and solid scorer on one of the worst teams in a league that gives up over 109 pts/game. Josh is solid all-around player and border line all-star, able to play both forward positions, part of the core of play offs bounded Hawks. Love doesn't answer any of Hawks problems (rebounding is not one of them) like having two top talented players playing their best at the same position (PF) and brings new ones - lack of interior D and no transition game.

While Bibbs' A/TO ratio is very good (almost 3), Teague's is not so much worse (2.4) and if you take steals into account (0.7 per 36mins for Mike and 1.7 for Jeff) things doesn't look bad at all. JT has the ability to lead fast brake and beat opponent guards off the dribble. He had more good games this season than he gets credit for. 30 minutes is too much ATM, but consistent 20 mins would do miracles to his confidence, which BTW is up as of late (as is Marvin's).

Next day after trade Hawks would hang a banner over their backboard saying: "Open for 48 minutes per game".

Josh needs to realize that when he's cold he should put the ball on the floor and work for his points hard way. Drew continues to sit him when Smoove shoots to much jumpshots, but the message still didn't make it to Smoove's head. It's kinda disappointing.

Teague showed some swagger in last game. Not only he blocked Brockman's shot after commiting that turnover but after that he lead the transition and dished the ball to open Horford for an easy score inside. Another time, after he let Boykins to get a lay up, he used Collin's screen to get a little room and hit straight 3-pointer. I think he's been solid so far this season, works hard for his minutes, and DNP against Hornets was one of LD's bigger mistakes as of late.

Marvin's confidence went up in last several games and it's not because of getting off the bench in last one. But it might be that it will keep him encouraged so I'm for continuing this experiment.

I like how Hawks often go for pick'n'pop. With Al hitting his shots it's been our best offensive weapon. JSmoove, other than shooting (one of blocked shots should have been goaltend) played really well, esp. at defensive end. I think that having Joe on the court makes him play within himself. Teague's defense looks really well, he deserves consistent minutes. That floater he developed usually goes in, and he passes to Horf or Powell after screen well.

I liked how JJ went inside against JRich after missing some jumpshots early in the game and guard him well at the other end (had one open three and he made it). Joe also made open three in the 4th, he'll be fine.