batfanjordanv

http://hoopshabit.com/2015/08/19/atlanta-hawks-grading-offseason/

I thought this was a pretty good assessment. I can understand knocking hardaway's defense but i'm not sure why he's getting so punished for shot selection and lack of passing on a horrible, horrible knicks team. He's not going to be a playmaker for us.

Jeff has said before that Coach Bud taught him the value of sharing the ball. Of course, Jeff wasn't ever a gunner like THJ is, but why can't we have faith that Coach Bud will teach him the value of that as well? After all, they believed they could do it enough to make the trade.

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Miami's experience? Really?

Wade, Deng and Haslem?

Yes. D-Wade is still the fourth best shooting guard in the league right now. Luol is a former All-Star. And Haslem is a three-time NBA champ.

He just signed with the Mad Ants.

I think Dennis wants to become more that a very good role/bench player and potential 6th-man-of-the-year. It seems he has accepted his actual role for now and that's exactly what he has to do for his development. But if he keeps developing that fast it will be hard for him (or anybody else in this situation) to accept this role long term. How many bench players got a big contract or an all-star selection? If you want to achieve something in this league you have to become a starter first...

 

The only reason to accept a bench role for a very good and ambitious player is ring hunting at the end of a career. Dennis is young and I hope he'll get his (1st) ring (Dirk hunted so long) this season...

See : Manu Ginobili. He's been a sixth man for the majority of his career, and he's a two-time All-Star, so you can achieve that as a bench player. Accepting that role has allowed him to win four NBA championships. He played in the Spurs system, too, so that should be encouraging for Dennis if he has those aspirations.

Seems like there have been hints that Dennis actually does have a big ego and was one of the reasons he didn't play much last year.   So far it seems like these guys like playing together though.

True, and I think we've seen a lot of maturity from him both on the court and off the court this year then.

Anybody remember when we signed Magnum in 2011 for the rest of the year, and he never suited up regular season or playoffs?

I really hope we can keep both Dennis and Jeff long term. We've seen other teams with two elite point guards lose one of them recently, and I think it has something to do with egos where they both want to be a starter. We saw Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas leave Phoenix, Eric Bledsoe leave Los Angeles, and Reggie Jackson leave OKC. It seems like our guys don't really have big egos though, so hopefully they will both stay no matter how CMB divies up the minutes any given night.

I would even argue that he could be a candidate for most improved, but his year-over-year stats improvement doesn't pop out at you because he's still coming off the bench. He could probably average 18-10 for a team like the Sixers.

 

It's unbelievable how much his jumpshot improved in just one off-season:

 

Jumpshots:

2013-2014: 26/96 (27%)

2014-2015: 82/219 (37.4%)

 

10% improvement and what will end up being about 2.5x the volume!

I'd give him my MIP vote if not for a certain All-Star named Jimmy Butler.

I am guessing the 7th and 8th seeds will be:

 

Either Pacers, Miami, or Charlotte.

 

Those are hard matchups for anybody.  Especially Charlotte.  Charlotte is streaking right now... I hope they streak right up to #7 and they take on the Cavs.  I don't know if Lebron and Company can beat these guys when they are healthy.

 

For us, I don't want a motivated Pacer team with Paul George back.  I'd rather face a boshless Miami.

I think Miami is the toughest matchup (for anyone) out of those teams. They have a losing record, and Chris is out, but their experience is scary. If D-Wade is healthy, he's still one of the league's best players. Erik Spoelstra is one of the best coaches in the league. They now finally have an elite point guard running the show. I'm not worried about the Hawks beating them, but for other teams, I could see them posing the biggest threat.

I'm being completely honest when I say I'm not worried about any EAST team. I think we have proven by this point that we can beat anyone in the East.

If that's what you think, you haven't been watching closely. What Pero does on defense won't show up in the box score as blocks and steals.

There's enough info in the Pero mega thread about his value as a defender so I won't rehash it here.

Okay, so he's slightly better defensively than Bargnani, but Bargnani's worlds better offensively.

what's his contract like? Maybe if he's on the cheap.......but like everyone else his D is a concern.  Don't see it happening.

I was talking about making a push for him in free agency. His contract's up after this year (he's making $11 million this season).

He can score ... he could always score ... he is a complete waste of space on defense ... probably the worst defender in the league.

 

He is totally lost out there.  It is 4 on 5 on d when he is playing.  You just can't give him significant PT  because he just hurts your team so much.

 

This epitomizes what he brings:

There is nothing I can say in defense of Bargnani's defense after seeing that GIF smh... Nevertheless, if he isn't the primary rim protector on the floor (we play him at PF), can he not provide enough shooting off the bench to make it worth it?

Uuuuum....oookay.

My point is that Bargnani wouldn't hurt our defense, since the player who's spot he's taking is just as poor a defender.

And he still sucks

Please elaborate.

I was saying this before the three-point competition. I didn't want him to compete. This is not even close to being the first time that a shooter has gone into a slump after participating in that competition. The way you shoot in the contest takes you away from a game-shooting rhythm. You aren't catching the ball the same way, and you aren't shooting the shot the same way. It can throw a shooter off. I have no doubt he'll get it together soon, though.

UPDATE: Bargnani had 25 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, and a steal last night.

No - Our Defense is what is winning us games, he plays none.

It's not like Pero's a good defender...

I know at this point he kind of has a bad rep around the league, but I honestly think that most of that is just from him not living up to his #1 draft pick status and being overpaid. His contract is up at the end of this season, and over his past 7 games, he has averaged 14 points per game. He is still very serviceable. I am in the out-with-Pero camp, and I think that Bargnani could be impactful as a stretch big off the bench, especially if we could sign him for cheap this summer.

To be honest, he's in the wrong, but he has a point that some of the fans are bandwagoners. If they weren't, then we would've been selling out Philips last season too.

Coach Bud must really not have much trust in John at all...

I don't want him to be our Andrew Bynum. As much as I criticize our bench big man rotation, at least they have chemistry.

Yeah lol I was torn on which team to root for last night! Happy Hawks are #1 now though!

He's the third best point guard in the East (behind John Wall and Kyle Lowry). If that's superstar qualification, then I guess he is...

Wife Report: Not available at the local ATL Kroger. Wah wah

Thanks for the report. I checked my Kroger too, and Adreian Peterson was on the box. Maybe (hopefully) there are new ones with Kyle that haven't come in yet?

On today's episode of Inside Stuff, Grant Hill and Kristen Ledlow showed a box of Wheatie's with Kyle Korver on it. I haven't been able to find any information on this online, but I know I'm going to be eating Wheatie's for breakfast this week. Was wondering if anyone had seen it in stores yet tho. Finally a Hawk getting some national respect!