Blazemore

It's great to see Bazemore back in the groove of things after his rough start to this season...but also:

The player Dennis was tonight is the exact kind of player I hope he develops into. He played a controlled and confident game. At times it seems he was trying to accelerate the offense and he made some sloppy passes but I am amazed by his performance. Not enough can be said of Dwight's ability to get people in foul trouble, block shots, and most of all, REBOUND. After seeing how we played against this team tonight it really gives me a bit more confidence in our back office. I always believed our signings were 100% made with Cleveland in mind and it's great to see us getting results even in the pre-season.  I can't wait to play them again in the playoffs.

When we picked him I thought he was 2-3 years away from making any meaningful impact at all. I still think he's a year or two away but I wouldn't be shocked to see him get some minutes next year, depending on how his development is going. It's kind of a tragedy how late he started playing basketball. If he started learning the game as a kid he would I think he'd be a great player NOW, except due to his late start I don't think he'll ever truly learn the game until his late 20's or early 30's (if he can make it in the NBA that long). I still have a bit of hope in him developing into something special though.

This may have been my favorite win all season. Our three ball wasn't falling at all and we didn't stop taking them.  We were 5/32 from 3 and we STILL won. How? We wanted it more. I saw some amazing effort from every last player in this line up tonight, no one phoned it in. Everyone was going 100% from start to finish and I loved it. Great win. If we play like this come playoffs who knows how far we will make it (Since we're gonna shoot better than 5/32 99 times out of 100.

Isn't Muscala a pretty good rebounder? I haven't looked at the numbers, but he looks good at the eye test. He just is an awful defender.

I hope he's better at running a business than Zaza...

I understand where he is coming from. We have to remember the JJ legacy. He was truly an elite player (at getting paid). Without a doubt top 25 of all-time (at getting paid). Glad to know he's using Miami to segment his legacy.

2 minutes ago, Watchman said:

I'm not necessarily of the opinion Teague needs to be moved.  He certainly is at least a little better than Schröder presently, although Schröder is progressing rapidly.  I really like having both of them, but I don't know how common my sentiments are on the subject, and I think Schröder wants to be "the man."

I feel more or less the same way.  My problems with keeping both of them are:

A) They don't seem to play well together. This is by far my biggest problem. If we could have them both on the court and it have even have a TINY bit of success I'd want to keep both of them. I haven't looked at the numbers (if someone has them please share) but they seem to play very poorly together.

B) As you said, Schröder wants to start. If not this year, the next year. And honestly, as long as his progression doesn't come to a screeching halt I see very little reason not to allow him too.

And the reason I'd rather keep Schröder than Teague (although honestly...I like Teague more):

Schröder is our only young prospect whom I am confident belongs in the NBA. If we had more youth on our squad I'd rather keep Teague but as things are I really would rather hold on to our only proven draft pick since.....wow....Teague? Is it really Teague? Am I forgetting someone?

1 minute ago, Watchman said:

I think you are probably right.  Next year we'll have our $25 million per year, 4 rebound center, and Teague and Schröder will continue to try to one up each other, unless Teague asks to be traded, which i think is highly possible.

I think Teague likes it here. It just feels like the second the trade rumors about him started he began playing WAY better. Like he was going "Oh shit, don't want to leave".  Frankly I think our offense works perfectly for him and I think (hope) he understands that too.

47 minutes ago, benhillboy said:

I can't take Splitter, man.  Luckily Sap powers through on Henson as I'm typing and makes me happy again.

I feel you man, Dude's a 7-footer, just DUNK IT or at least go up with some power! I've never seen a player so in love will the reverse layup in my entire life. It's almost comical! At least he can defend and do his 'share' of rebounding. Not calling him a great rebounder, not by a long shot, but he does his part. Boxes out.

1 hour ago, cam1218 said:

I know this has been debated so many times..but the true fans of Atlanta sports teams (like us) are good fans.

The problem is we don't have enough people living in Atlanta that show any type of pride and fandom to the city. People move down here and root for their northern teams. Others just want to be trendy and root for a team like the Lakers (Kobe) when they haven't even been to LA. 

I just get tired of seeing it year after year. 

You got a point about this, and I agree but, I think when it comes to this game it's a normal occurrence and not  just an 'Atlanta' thing. Every game in the eastern conference (except maybe Lakers @ Celtics) will probably be a home game for the Lakers now. It'll be there last chance to see Kobe, and frankly...he has a ton of fans...still wish we had a stronger fanbase though.

Well that was a gut wrenching final quarter. But hey, we all know it won't be the last time this happens this season, and we'll get to do it to another club in due time. Shrug it off and keep going, I liked what I saw through most of the game, good ball movement, good shots, good defense...I'm officially worried about Schröder now...I hope he gets through whatever he is dealing with right now. I almost think he should take some time off, take a breather, reflect on some things, he just isn't right in the head right now. He doesn't believe in his own shot and is trying to shoot his way out of that.

As an aside....we're rebounding better.

I can't decipher that either. If Dennis is getting blocked 47% of the time down the court on attempts, and averaging 1 block a game, that would mean he's taking around 2 shots per game....which is certainly not true. Would love it if someone could decipher this stat.

I may be in the minority but I was hoping he wouldn't be suspended for this. I think he deserved to be kicked out of the game without a doubt but him being suspended NOW doesn't help our team in any way. The suspension is set to take place during tonight's game where the Kings play the Heat, our division rival.  Not only that, but the suspension's timing gives him a rest instead of having to play two tough games back to back.

His numbers are good but his lack of ability to shoot has caused defenses to crowd the paint more for that Bucks team which already is a bit lacking in outside shooting. There record thus far hasn't been much to speak of while, despite all of our complaints, our record has been little to actually complain about.

Don't get me wrong, Monroe is an excellent player and I'm sure the Bucks will find a groove and start getting better soon. But as of now these are just numbers and the Hawks aren't a team of individual numbers but rather a team that's more about the sum of the parts rather than any individual stat line.

-Bazemore is the man.

-Glad to see we can still close out home games.

-Great to see us win these 4 games in 5 days. We didn't have to play any championship contending teams (Some good teams though) but it's still great to win these 4.

-Humphries is shooting 3's. When did this happen? I didn't know he could do this. Can he do this?

-Pierce really served an important roll for the Wizards. They aren't as good of a 4th quarter team as they were in those playoffs.

-Al needs to stop taking these 3's from the top of the key. I'm fine with an open corner three from him but those are really the only 3's I want him taking.

-I love watching the Hawks shoot 100% from the line.

-Really impressed with the Hawks this year so far. Great wins, great effort, we are playing Hawk basketball again, and when we play like this we are very hard to beat.

Edy without a doubt. I thought this is where he'd be after a season in the D-league. He's still a project but he's a lot further along than I thought and seems to have more potential to boot. He also strikes me as a huge big with a good work ethic which is a bit of a rarity.

You know, I'm a huge Teauge fan and view Dennis as our best future prospect. I'm generally opposed to trading either at the present moment. Teague is too valuable to us and Dennis isn't ready to start. He'd be a below average starter at PG position, a position that if you want to compete as a team in the league you need to be at least average at. That said, if somehow we can trade Teague for Hayward.........yes please. There is no player quite like Hayward in the entire NBA and now that he has learned the basics of NBA level defense there are few players I would rather see in a Hawks uniform...so if Utah is up for that trade I'd say do it. I can't see it happening though...Utah loves Hayward and they are a team that needs offense more than defense right now and with Hayward being their #1 offensive option I can't see them giving him up.

Does anyone own an ipod anymore?  I am surprised he didn't ask 'What is in your CD collection?'

I own one too....I also have a CD collection...

My big problem with trading Sap at all is really from a moral standpoint. Y'all gotta remember, he signed for less years and slightly less money with us rather than taking more in with Orlando. I know I get that it's a business but I think trading him will send a bad message to our current players as well as any future players that would want to sign him...now if the trade was for KD or someone, I'd toss those morals out the window because, well...championship but I'm not 100% certain 'Melo can be that guy. It's still a tempting offer though.

College football is all that matters here

Same here for the most part. I've seen a bit more Hawks fans around recently though, probably due to our success. 

A little over a year ago though I took one of my good friends and I went to game 3 of the playoffs Hawks vs Pacers and he had a great time and is now one of the biggest Hawks fans I know...so there's that.

http://hoopshype.com/2015/09/03/preview-atlanta-hawks/

Hoops Hype has us at third third seed and winning our division. I think that's reasonable. Honestly I'm a little scared of that Miami team if they are able to get healthy and gel together. With Paul George coming back, the Bucks putting some pieces together, Toronto adding some pieces, and Wizards loosing there status quo I'd say it looks like the east is starting to get a little more competitive, so I'm actually rather pleased that any media not stationed in Atlanta is giving us such high expectations...they never really do.

Also ESPN is a joke. Just wanted to put that out there.