tremor

More precisely: right now he leads the NBA in 3FG%.

True. There are teams willing to pay any money for top talent, even if it's second tier. As soon as Hawks announce that JJ is for sale teams like NY, NJ, Dallas, maybe Orlando (they consider bringing Arenas) stand in the line to get him.

Of course I was joking. To suggest benching Joe is ridiculous.

Line ups with Collins has been surprisingly effective. That being said I'm still for per game adjustments, that is, starting him against teams with "big bigs". Smith will have problems with explosive SFs but he's also a mismatch for most of them.

Drew has had reasonable view on Josh's jumpshooting from the beginning: he doesn't mind it as long as these are rhythm shots not taken early in the clock.

I agree. Bench JJ. Also put Crawford on the court before him.

I wouldn't mind Al taking a couple of shots more but bashing Hawks (read: LD) for underutilizing is overstatement. Outside of Miami game Al gets lots of touches in decisive moments of 4th quarter and usually delivers ands that's how you use your top scoring options. Drews' philosophy, in contrast to Woodson's, is to make team unpredictable, because we have 7-8 players that can get hot in any particular game. This is preparation for play off time when we'll face Boston and/or Orlando and we'll be challange with very good inside defense which means, considering our lack of post scoring, we need to be very good jumpshooting team, which in turn requires an ability to find and feed the hot hand. This is still work in progress but we've already seen some good stretches of nice offensive execution.

Mike wasn't happy with his performance last season and worked hard in the summer to come out ready in this one. The outcome is better than anyone expected.

He also shoots 85% from FT which is improvement over last season very good 79%. And 55% on jumpers? That's riDirkless.

I have a feeling that Josh doesn't have so many easy baskets from fast breaks this year which would at least partially explain less shots inside and thus lower efg%.

The funny thing is that lineup with Collins (Bibby-Johnson-Smith-Horford-Collins) is the most successful one for the Hawks.

Not very efficient, but shooting close to 50% and over 40% for three is OK in my book although I understand your sentiment - it could be better with better shot selection. But here's something I don't understand - Jamal shoots with much poorer percentage, doesn't do anything much else and yet I see squawkers criticizing and willing to trade Smoove mostly because of his mental issues manifested in his shot selection.

Exactly. Josh, while having some issues, is not that bad, he just happens to have the worst attitude on this team.

LD likes hard nosed players, the team is changing, guys play harder. Drew is also solid at making subs and setting up different line ups and doesn't fear the change. He's been coaching well so far. Still I'd like to see our youngsters a little bit more.

I'll repeat: Marvin disappears against quality teams. And weak teams we usually beat which makes Diesel's point valid to some degree.

I wouldn't call it doghouse. Drew does the right thing showing what he expects and what he won't tolerate. It is yet to be seen if this message finds its way, but Josh is not a bad guy, just very emotional, and has problem with seeing his skills in the proper light. Sure, he won't change drastically, but maybe with time the balance between good and bad attitude shifts further towards the good.

Smoove is rebounding more than 9 boards per game and blocks over 2 shots. Are there really bigs that can beat that, available? And he also steals the ball, draws the charges and is able to score 15 per game quite efficiently. We won't get for him anyone even remotely close to his production, not a chance.

Gortat notoriously overhelps on defense. It can be easily used against Orlando in two ways: attack inside and as soon as Marcin leaves his guy (and he will) pass the ball to open Horford. Or - play pick and roll, Horford needs to roll early and should get the ball immediately.

The problem with Marvin is that he usually doesn't step up against good teams. He tried to attack the basket twice - once was blocked, once stripped and he reverted back to old good standing in the corner himself. Like Mo, he can't finish in traffic.

It's because of lack of offensive execution Hawks came out short last night, at that's their problem against the best teams in the league: poor offense and in effect lack of energy and giving up easy points in transition or on the free throw line. Smoove and Marvin disappeared in the second half and Mike had no open shot late in the game which is shame because he usually doesn't miss in the clutch plus Al take only one shot in the fourth on the day he couldn't miss. This (and Josh' attitude) has to be address to make the next step. And once again teams starts without energy for which starting Jordan could be the answer.

I hope he won't be Mario II and will be able to help the team on both sides of the court.

Horf played until he had Anthony against him and had no open jumpers anymore. Drew rested him maybe little to much in the 4th but Heat made decisive run with Al back on the court anyway. I agree that overall he could be played 2-3 minutes more per game and sticking so strictly to "2 fouls - bench" rule is not the best idea. On the other hand Drew tries to activate bench players, with some success, and it means starters won't play 35+ mins.

I think Mo plays decent D but in the game like this when team struggles offensively I'd really like to see Jordan C.

I'm more angry on Smoove for not outboxing Bosh than anything else. CB scored 3 or 4 easy baskets thanks to that. Drew was looking for optimal line up and when he found one in the third he sticked to it until Horford had to sit to get some rest. Good coaching. You have to play better offense to beat the Heat, that was kind of game where Joe would have made the difference.

Smith needs to get back on track. After triple double against Toronto he had two bad games, maybe two worst games of the season. He needs to play within himself, take the ball inside on offense and we'll be OK.