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What I mean is even if he wasn’t shooting 3’s, I don’t think he’d be banging around down low because he’s too afraid to get hurt. And that’s going to leave Atlanta with the same problem even if he’s not taking 3’s, only one big is willing to be reckless/aggressive on the glass while starting, because Horford will continue to just drift around the perimeter, just inside the arc.

Low expectations, but in the short way of putting it, if Atlanta can at least survive this stretch of games with 14 or 15 wins, they SHOULD be fine. There’s a 28 game stretch after that which is relatively light. I can’t remember exactly how many teams that are as good or maybe better but it’s not that high. But this stretch really needs to be taken advantage of this time, if it’s a repeat of the first stretch like that, they’re going to be dead in the water going forward.

Looking at the NBA itself, I hate to say it but it may very well be only three teams matter, and the other teams should just go play Xbox.

Only thing that will really change anything is to get that "TRUE" post big that you've been crying for constantly now.

My two cents and some change on Horford is I don't think him NOT shooting threes makes much of a difference. He's showing signs lately that he is playing to not get hurt more than to try to win (which this is a dangerous game to play in both life and sports, if you're just trying to not get hurt, odds are you're going to get hurt).

Besides, if he is playing well, he has no good post moves from what I have seen, his only game is really the pnr and pnp. And people have been crying lately for a big that operates only in the post, right?

Now I was for real when I looked at the schedule and said I was fine with 2-2 in this 4 game stretch and saw this as a schedule loss. Now I didn't know that it'd come with Teague going down for a few games and thanks to Schröder's regression, struggles against Utah and Brooklyn. And a very legit chance of it being 3-1 if the bench wasn't total garbage in Minnesota.

Said this was a big fat schedule loss to start with, but in the way it happened?

Which is it now, once again? The team against New York/Miami/2nd Boston/Memphis or 1st Minnesota/1st Boston/Cleveland/now tonight?

Can make a very legitimate argument that if Teague doesn’t get hurt or we even have an average Schröder vs Utah and Brooklyn, Atlanta is 13-5 right now. With some very concerning games in there though (Detroit, the first Boston game, and the first Minnesota game).

Hasn’t really been any rhyme or reason as to how they’ve played though so far. If you saw the Brooklyn and Cleveland games only, you’d be scratching your head at how Atlanta blew out a decent Boston team and weathered the storm vs Memphis and came back to dominate the 2nd half.

I don't think they win in San Antonio but if the starters continue playing well I think they can beat everyone in this tough stretch except for SA and a split vs OKC.

I'm going to repeat myself. If they don't want to start Sefolosha, they need to be looking for alternatives NOW. Bazemore at SF and Horford at C is a GARBAGE defensive lineup.

If Memphis scores well over 100 points, that should beat it into their heads that if Sefolosha doesn't start, the defense will be terrible.

14 minutes ago, DS17Fanboy said:

his lack of contribution also as a starter is part of what is loosing tight games

Bingo. Can make a very legit argument that Teague going down actually DID hurt pretty badly this season and it was because of Schröder regressing to his rookie self.

http://hoopshabit.com/2015/11/27/clutch-situations-reveal-dennis-Schröder-isnt-ready-start/

Pretty good read..

I hate to say it but Bazemore starting at the 3 is going to continue to be a complete disaster defensively. The defense will not be solved unless they COMMIT to Sefolosha starting, even if he only plays 25 MPG, or they go with the big lineup (and Splitter starting would not be the answer here).

It sounded like to me in the offseason that Ferry is gone because Dominique Wilkins forced him out.

44 minutes ago, JTB said:

Ok but how exactly do you know that? Lol...hell there were plenty of fans saying teague will never be an all star pg and you saw what happened last year...it's very possible that Teague can develop that mid range shot. Hell I rather him and horford try to workout together to develop that shot before we seriously consider trading him especially before we give Dennis control of buds offense at point.

 

damn I know it's been bad and we are all upset including me but it's not "tank time"...and suggesting we trade Teague and roll with Dennis means your suggesting we tank

 

 

You’re asking for him to solve a major problem, the only time he can do so is the offseason.

Look, this offense is going to struggle against good defenses as long as teams see Horford as a laughable offensive threat (stick their best defensive big man on Millsap) and teams force Teague and Schröder to shoot jumpers and they miss them. The best choice at this point is to take this season off and tank.

The only way to solve this problem is to trade for another PG or go all in on Schröder because Teague's mid range jumper just ain't going to get better at this point.

It's too late for Teague to become consistent with his jumper. He'll hit 40% at best on them.

People need to stop crowing about the idea that it was Mike Smith that was the problem.

I do have an interesting quick fix, but I don't think it's a full fix. Two trades:

Try to acquire Willie Cauley Stein through trade. (Al Horford traded)

See if you can pry TJ Warren from Phoenix. (Scott and one of the PGs traded).

5 minutes ago, Hawkmoor said:

I disagree. If you got somebody who can rebound, that makes EVERYBODY better. There is less pressure to make the first shot because you know you have someone who can go get it.  With the system the hawks have, you can live with the players they have if you can rebound the ball.

In your mind, offensive rebounds have to be emphasized then when it's not.

11 minutes ago, JTB said:

I disagree that Bazemore is not a starter...not just because I like him as a player but he has shown that he can start and be effective in the small amount of starts he's had.

Now Bazemore may not be starting SF but he's definitely a legit starting SG based on the starts he's had this season.

Bazemore’s due for regression, as I’m completely selling on the idea he’s a 40%+ 3 point shooter on high-ish volume and he has a lot of trouble with finishing in traffic. He’s a poor man’s Barnes with the Clippers at best. 9 PTS per game, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1.5 steal, .5 block.

So I have a question:

Without significantly changing the composure of the roster, how do you get a good young SG and SF and a C?

I'll wait.

1 hour ago, Hawkmoor said:

The team isn't flawed, they just need someone LEGIT on the boards. Somebody that's paid to do just THAT. Once that is done, everything else will fall into place.

It’s more than just “oh, put in a rim protector and fierce rebounder and it will solve everything!”

Korver’s days of being a help while playing big minutes are donezo and Bazemore is not a starter.

There’s basically three spots in the starting lineup that need to be changed along with the bench upgraded and the only way to do so is to completely blow the team up and tank.

Sadly it isn't a complete overreaction. Teams are going to continue to constantly crash the boards until it wakes them up and lets them know they need to either have a SF with PF size starting or give up the idea of a small frontcourt entirely.

Trade Teague, Horford, and Korver for young talent or picks. Trade Millsap at the deadline and until the deadline, bench him. Sell sell sell.

There's 5 issues:

1. No SF

2. No SG

3. Horford has gotten weaker and doesn't want to bang

4. No bench outside of Sefolosha and Schröder

5. A go to scorer is needed when the offense stagnates.

The only way to solve these issues is to sell sell sell.

Your idea of Brook Lopez wouldn't work, he would help with inside scoring but do nothing about boards.

The only thing that would fully fix the issues would be completely sell and tank hard for this and next season.

So I suppose it's time to trade Horford, Millsap, and Teague and tank because its the only way to win in the NBA, and otherwise you're treadmill unless you get extremely lucky.