Lurker

This is basically your short summary of the game, and it sounds familiar, except with a guy that had played well getting off to a terrible start: The starters got off to a fairly good start despite the guards not shooting well, but Bud, keeping to his "normal" rotations subbed in Dunleavy at the 6 minute mark (for a young guy, mind you) and Muscala later. During this entire period, the Nets went on a long, long run, and it worsened with all of the starters out. When Dennis returned to the game, with Calderon alongside him, the Hawks responded to that run but the damage had effectively been done, for an offense that has been very poor. So your sad, sad truth is in all honesty, guys like Muscala and Dunleavy are not more talented than Nets players. Nets players. Players off of the worst team in the league. The bench just lost, straight up.

I didn't watch all of the game, but he played fine after a poor start, just don't think he was the player of the game even in a bad loss like this, Prince probably was. This says it all: "Taurean Prince gets off to a good, active start. Oh, let's use normal rotations and sub in an old Dunleavy after 6 mins!" *Nets go on a long, long run* That run got stopped when Dennis came in, but neither he, nor an active and motivated Dwight were able to will a win against a very bad team. Wait, the Nets have more wins against the Hawks in March. The Nets.

Let me say it again, I don't think the actual plan was for it to be all three of the bigs, but for Millsap to be traded for assets, but in the process of trying to do this, Horford's feelings got hurt. I don't think it really mattered if he was offered a full max after Howard was signed first, he was gone, gone, and gone. Reading in between the tea leaves, I don't see Millsap coming back for a while longer and I bet Sefolosha is done for a while too. It might not be too hurtful that Sefolosha is done, because I might throw things if I see a 75% done Dunleavy get more minutes than Prince.

The only reason the 2015 team was good was because of the us against the world mentality after the conspiracy, for most of last year the team was fat and happy.

I'm in the camp of this needs a scorched earth rebuild. Not just a little, trade everyone on the team, everyone.

-6 net rating without Millsap says it does matter if Millsap is gone and unless you get a star caliber player, it's going to tank the team.

Yeah I don't buy that they wanted all three of the bigs. I think they wanted to trade Millsap for assets.

Maybe watch the games, this team isn't even in the ballpark of being close to decent with Millsap off the floor. It's not a case in which just getting two, three quality players is going to fix it, as much as you think it will.

As we've seen recently, a lineup like this would lead to a tanking season. I'll repost what I've basically been saying. A philosophy change is needed in the draft (its kind of sad I can predict who are the likely Hawks draft picks), better assistants are needed, and an actual GM is needed. I think guys like Prince and Bembry will turn out to be fine but they have a ceiling. Motley, Hart, and Swanigan have ceilings. Take a swing for a HR, not a single.

I have to side with BuddyGrizzard on twitter on the situation this year, what we're finding out is it wasn't really Bud's coaching because he needs passing bigs for his offense to work.

I am not Supes. I am not a fan of Horford or Howard. But this is a season in which you see the answer with sound play vs more rebounding. Last year's team was mostly a .500 team outside of the final stretch and was simply more mentally tough and had more leadership. They weren't a very good team, this is a worse team that got lucky for a while and it's balancing out now. We've found out that the secret with Bud's coaching actually isn't Bud, but a stretch bigs' passing ability. I don't think it really matters what player you have, they need to be a passing big or at the minimum be a willing consistent dive man on PNR.

Dwight Howard has played well again lately. He just doesn't fit. Sometimes fit is needed more than talent. Rebounding was an issue, but offense was an even bigger issue last year. This team needed more shooting and athleticism on the perimeter and needed to address rebounding in a different way.

I'm not a betting person but you can't count out Atlanta sports teams at all on collapses. When they collapse, they collapse BAD. I've seen this story before and I know how it ends. The 2014 Braves were mediocre. They just didn't die until September. This team has died at the same point. There is no resurrecting this team.

When they've played the ***feed Dwight*** game, it throws off everyone else on offense. This team has had a setback to being an even WORSE team than they were in late November, where they also fed Dwight a lot. When they didn't feed Dwight a lot and played 1-4 PNR was when they were good.

This mediocre team died with Paul Millsap's injury. It's a low percentage, but you can't count out Atlanta teams. When they collapse they REEEALLLLY collapse. I bet they miss the postseason.

If Millsap doesn't come back, your final Hawks record will be 37-45 with a 17 game losing streak to wrap the year up. They are THAT bad without him and while Howard has mainly been a good citizen, he has not fit with the team at ALL on offense.

Being able to be fed rhythm shots vs not being fed is a huge difference. Bazemore is taking too many above the break threes, same with Sefolosha and they aren't getting fed the ball off cuts as often.

Point differential of -6 without Millsap. They've been the worst team in the league without Millsap all year.

All you need to do is look at this half to see example A of how this is a legitimate possibility.

This team legit won't make the playoffs if Millsap doesn't get right. It's the 2014 Braves all over again.

Against Charlotte they looked like they were under instructions to stay unselfish. Kinda the same with Washington. It was finally vs Milwaukee were Bud was like f*** I can't do that.

It took a while but we finally fully saw what we needed to see vs Milwaukee, especially in the 2nd half. I'm not sure what took so long. Once Millsap was out you needed to turn the offense over to the guards period. You really have no other choice.

I'm officially suspicious about Millsap's injury. There's more to it if Bud isn't trying to pull a fast one.

Everyone was in the minus on the bench except for Prince, terrible. Specifically, Muscala was -12 in 7 minutes. Guess who was guarding Giannis near the end of the first quarter? If Ersan/Muscala don't guard Giannis a lot I think this is a win. Bud's decisions this year, very questionable.

This is kind of what I thought we'd see even in a best case scenario. The young guards really played spirited basketball and it was one of Dwight's good games. But all that equaled a loss. The bench looked hopeless and the game plan to put Ersan on Giannis was not a good one.