aali34

No superstar to build.

You only get high level players two ways, draft or free agency and so far no such luck.

tried to replace a 6'8 small forward with a shooting guard

Trade away anything that has actual or potential worth for a bag of peanuts - Lucas Noguiera,Lou Williams.Adriean Payne,Kelly Oubre

Put more work into second round picks instead of first round picks

Spurs comparisons - Before I liked it, now i don't. The hawks couldn't be more different - 

Hawks- (EDIT: OP post continues with next post. ~lw3)

Pacers lose, but cleveland win

Cleveland and Indiana are currently losing their games, things looking up

If all goes well, the hawks could be back at the number 2 spot in a week or two.

Throughout the week while the hawks were resting, wev'e seen loses to miami, toromto, and cleveland.

In the next few days there will be a few feastern conference teams ( minus the hawks) playing each other or getting what might be garuntee loses.

Chicago - Boston

Miami - Charlotte

Toronto - San Antonio

Indiana - Golden State

If we beat the mavericks and thunder after this week of practice we might move to the 4th/5th seed by the end of the week.

Fingers crossed.

But if the hawks lose, disregard everything i wrote.

Aside from 3 point shooting, he is an upgrade over Demarre in almost every way

this is something the spurs do all the time, most recently with Kyle Anderson and Bud has done the same thing with Schröder

Unless injuries happen, I don't expect Tavares to play anytime unless we blow out by 20.

Undersized - 

This year we were supposed to be a lot bigger, although splitter is definitly an upgrade over Antić, he hasn't wowed much people. Our rebounding numbers are bad, the problem is Horford and splitter not getting enough. Bazemore is undersized at the smallforward postion and struggles against big tough wings.

Horford takes ill timed 3's- 

I got no prblem with him taking any since he shoots 36.5 from deep (better than teague and Millsap) but I would rather he took more rythm 3's than from the head of the key.

Point gaurd range - 

Teague and Schröder  cant shoot for nothing and its a problem when teams go under screens.

Midrange - 

None of our wings can pull up consistently

Post - 

No post up bigman or wings

Bench - 

Schröder needs help with the bench unit.

Possible solutions -

Undersized - The hawks are definitely not using Splitter as good the way he was used in San Antonio, probably because theres no spectatcular point gaurd passing going on or somethng. If he starts getting points in the pick and roll than that could change the entire outlook of a game, but pick and roll depends on point gaurd play and as i've said before it gets hard when defenders keep going under screens.

Horford 3's - Get set up better ( IDK how to solve this problem thats why im not a coach) get more rythm shots?

Rebounding - Not really a problem since Horford has been rebounding below his career average  (7 - 9), I expect it to go up.

Point Gaurd range - Play Shelvin Mack more?? could add in some healthy competetion and push Schröder to play better

MIdrange - I feel that this problem will go away when Hardaway starts playing ( if he plays well) since he seems to have somewhat of a complete offensive game.

Post - 

This problem might only leave if we get a free agent

Bench - 

Moving bazemore to the bench and sefolosha to the starting lineup may cost us some three point shooting but it brings in better defense and adds some big scoring to the 2nd unit. Not to mention bazemore would look good as the secondary ball handler with the bench in a manu ginobili type role.

I just remembered something, the hawks have no wing or any player besides shelvin mack that can shoot well off the dribble, I think bazemore's been working on it but i need to see more. To make teams struggle we need a wing player that can drive and pull up consistently 

Plus, Al Horford is'nt an ISO type of big, he needs others to create for him and when they can't his offense suffers so basically when teagu plays bad, it makes it hard for him to get open shots.

unless its a top 8 pick, tanking seems useless to me,

our big problem is that our players have holes in thier games (Undersized bigs and small forward, point gaurds cant shoot), an unproven rookie is'nt going to do much in thier first season.

IMO we need to get a free agent that can put more pressure on the opposing defenses 

The thing that seperates the Hawks from everyother team in the league that have ball movement as the main part of thier offense is that they have players that force you to keep an eye on them where ever they are. The hawks dont need a superstar, just a good wing scorer that draws attention and can make iso type plays.

Warriors - 

Steph Curry - the second he goes around a screen  the entire team has a heart attack

Spurs - 

Tim Duncan - Post

Lamarcus Aldridge - Post/ Midrange

Kawhi Leonard - Post/Midrange/Iso

For the hawks to  able to win games thier ball movement needs to be really good

The problem is we initiate everything withour point gaurds and now they are'nt playing well, and since we have no ohter option to get people open the offense staggers. This is the reason why I think they brought in TJ Hardaway ( personal nickname) he has the potential to be the type of player that can drive and kick, shoot the midrange and longball, and play an isolation type of basketball. If he starts playing and plays well, I see the hawks winning more games.

our offense relies on them getting to the rim and collapsing the defense, if they get dared to shoot,they should shoot it (midrange)

I know Dennis isn't afraid to let it fly, but he takes stupid shots sometimes.

Teague needs to shoot midrange jumpers more.

My bad if I sound pissed, I just got so annoyed during the cavs game when Delavadova kept going under screens.

Although Jeff Teague and Dennis Schröder are probably near the top of the list of point guards that attack the paint, its not been looking too well so far.

Every time they go around a screen, their defender goes under and dares them to shoot. I'm not asking them to pull up threes like Stephen Curry but to me it would be better if the followed a Tony Parker model. When you watch the spurs they use the pick and roll and tony parker in different ways than the hawks with their point guards.  Tony Parker came into the nba with no jumper and now he is like one of the best mid range shooters in the NBA for point guards. You see him doing much more than holding the ball, like

Off ball Offense -

spot up 3's

Running around screens (without the ball) for a mid range jumper

Cutting to the basket

Plus he's got way more moves than Schröder, one thing you gotta love about teague is that he at least got some go to moves if he gets stuck in a certain situation,  ex - pump fakes, floaters.

Schröder just  goes straight for the rim and it gets annoying at times when he tries to do a contested layup or something and he is basically useless without the ball in his hands.

I don't think I have ever seen Schröder attempt a floater in my life.

Even though they may take some open assisted threes, its not the same as keeping the defense honest when they go under a screen

I don't care about pull up 3's just some mid range shots would be nice.

I dont know what u guys are seeing, but i see something different.

It looks to me that Horford is foucsing on boxing out on the elite rebounders so everyone else can get easy boards. ex- Kent Bazemore.

Plus, does it really matter what our rebounding percentages are, everytime the hawks win or lose a rebounding battle, its not by alot, just 3 or 4 boards.

Plus, teams seem to get lower than thier season averages for rebounding when they play the hawks, maybe instead of getting more boards, thier reducing the other teams chance of getting them?

i might be wrong so dont jump out on me.

maybe thabo could convince him

I wouldn't get too excited, the only way he leaves OKC is probably with a first round exit like Aldridge (no one thought he would leave Portland in the start of last season)

The problem is Memphis is very high on him and actually made the trade to get him. Memphis will be very good this year and he will be a big part of it. They now have Gasol under contract so resigning Green will not be an issue.

they might be looking to trade him at the February deadline if he under achieves though, theres alot of rumors going around saying things like he didnt fit in the way they wanted him too and he was mediocre in the playoffs

jeff green is approaching the end of his contract with memphis, and seeing how hes underacieved so far, they might be willing to trade him. The guy is the closest to size to lebron in the leauge and he can score in a variety of ways that would only make the hawks better(post moves, athletecism, shot) as well as serving as a go to guy. These defensive highlights on lebron show that if he comes to atl, we will undoubtly be beast of the east and most deep team for a while.

just think about it. hawks trade shelvin, mike scott and either kent bazemore or holiday, and our line ups look like this:

teaugue, korver, green , milsap horford
Schröder, hardaway, sefolosha, muscala, splitter

            holiday/baze,lamar/petteway, tavares, and 2 spots to sign depep rotation players for the low

Here's  some more

This is healthy Tiago.

In my opinion, the things holding teague back are Off ball offense, and a mid range jumper.

Personally, my favorite is at 0:27

Yeah, but even if they were healthy, he still would have experimented with his players. Don't you notice that the spurs always seem to rack up wins after the all star break, regardless of health. Look it up. This is when they go on their Rodeo Road Trip

(away games after all star break) and solidify lineup changes. One reason you may not notice it much is  because for 4 or 5 years in a row they have had the same starting rotation. 2011,  2012, 2013,2014, and last year.

Parker

Green

Splitter

Leonard 

Duncan

but they make certain changes vs certain teams.

Like I said Splitters on ball defense is not needed much against OKC since the primary goal is to stop Westbrook and KD.

But they need Diaw's 3 point range to pull out Ibaka from the paint.

But against teams like the Mavs, where Dirk can light it up, they need him to gaurd Dirk so Tim can focus on offense.

This adds in another dimension to this team. Not that we had bad pick and roll players, but this will make everyone on the team better. If you watch closely, you can see that even though he has an open layup/dunk someone on the wing is sometimes open. Much better than people daring Pero to shoot.

This will help Kyle avoid having to run like 10 miles for an open look.

Another thing you notice is that he doesn't try to just dunk on every possession. He goes for reverses, pump fakes, up and unders, etc. This makes up for him not having a big vertical. 

I'm a guy who has watched a lot of Spurs basketball in the past few years and this year I'm wondering if Bud is going to do more of what Pop does in the regular season.

We all now know that aside from getting a top 3 seed and building chemistry, regular season wins are not really important going in to the playoffs. Ex- 60 wins and ECF sweep

One thing that Popovich often does before the all star break is experiment with different lineups against certain teams for a quarter or two. 

Ex- Starting Boris Diaw in some games and sitting Splitter or doing the same for Marco Bellineli and Danny Green, putting Cory Joseph on Westbrook and sitting Patty Mills or Tony Parker.

The reason is not for rest, but to see if he can find any advantages against certain team line ups.

Boris Diaw saved the spurs in 2014 against OKC when they needed spacing from Ibaka's shot blocking in game 6. When they started him,he had like 26 points, that was the first time in the playoffs. The same thing happened in the finals when they wanted a spaced floor for Tim Duncan to post up and Tony Parker to drive and dish. Since Tim Duncan is a good defender and the Heat only had Chris Bosh as their only big that could pose a threat, they sacrificed defense and rebounding for a better offense.

But that was the opposite in the first two rounds when Tiago's defense was the reason the spurs got past Dirk Nowitski in Dallas and Lamarcus Aldrige in Portland.

Last year, the bench depth wasn't as good and deep as it is now. I think Bud has more lineup flexibility this year. I can see times when Bud may start Splitter over Milsap in some situations, start Korver and Hardaway together to put a more three point attack with Splitter and Horford protecting the rim, dual point gaurd lineups, or some times with Millsap at the 3.

Even though it can cost some regular season games it might be worth it down the road.

If it does happen, don't feel bad if we lose to tough teams in the East sometimes. Finding out advantages will definitely help.

I'd rather lose some games in the regular season if it means adding in playoff wins.

Sefolosha has the size of a 3, and he guarded a lot of 3's in his career. Offensively the 3 and the 2 are kind of interchangeable so that wont be a problem.

Yeah, but Atl would make sense if he left SAS last year.

I know this is just a fantasy, but there is probably no other small forward who fits the atlanta hawks better than he does. Unfortunately he fits the spurs even better.

- dominant post player for a wing( mj fadeaway)

- elite rebounder 7.2 per game

- amazing midrange jumper

-three point range

-another ball handler with teague in the starting lineup

- DPOTY

- commands double teams

- star power

if only......................

who agrees with me

Sefolosha can't stay healthy long-term. Even when he was in OKC, he couldn't stay healthy. It's great Bazemore got some playoff experience guarding LeBron, Pierce, etc. I don't think SF will be as big of an issue since they'll have more healthy bodies and the fact they got Splitter.

I don't think that is a fair comparison. In OKC he and KD had no solid backups and he was the only defensive option they had at the wing, which means he obviously played more minutes. I think even without Demmare him and Bazemore could shore up the wing defense pretty well. I'm thinking Coach Bud might go with the Tim Duncan approach of giving him a certain amount of minutes. He has way better backups in Bazemore and hopefully Hardaway