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Strip Bud of his presidential power, let Millsap walk, trade Dwight/Bazemore and take a step back for a year. It'd help more than just staying the course and you could even end up with a Blazers like surprise (last year). At the very least, Bud's presidential power needs to be stripped.

I don't care about Bazemore being out but this team is boned depth wise with both him and Millsap out. Bud is not going to like this, but his only way to not lose by at least 10 when Millsap isn't around is to do what some college coaches do, shorten the backup rotation to 2-3 players, and play your players that give your best chance almost all of the game. It's not like the offense is anything special with Dennis in, but it's nothing without him. If Paul is more than meets the eye, this is the 2014 Atlanta Braves part 2, and it's sad to see. :(

Bud. But honestly, the only two players that can feed Dwight how he should be on the team is hurt (don't mean Kent) and not trusted. Wait.

They tried to get the ball to Howard more btw, but trying it causes more turnovers. This team has regressed to how bad they were playing since that trip I took to the lakehouse in middle Georgia.

And here's a good example of this in this game: Set play OOT was called for Howard, I'm pretty sure, and due to it, both Tim and Dennis try to execute the play. Both hold the ball for a few seconds, nervous as they are not sure they can get the ball in without turning it over (as they aren't used to playing this way), then Ilyasova tries to get the ball to Howard and there's a turnover.

When Bud says he's going to feed Dwight, he doesn't mean doing it on the low block primarily. He mainly means drive and dishes and when he rolls hard to the rim. And he got touches this way and this team tried at least five more times to **get him the ball** and failed because honestly, neither Dennis nor Tim know how to feed the ball inside unless they are dribble driving, like the modern game.

A new coach wouldn't matter, because all teams today choose to play offense this way: 1. Run it through the high post 2. PNR THEN, they may post up on the low block, but as been shown through stats.nba.com, having Howard post up doesn't really help.

Read my above post, this was easily the hardest that Dwight Howard had played since the Celtics game, and no, I still don't think he played hard vs Portland at all. If Dwight Howard had played as hard as he did today for the whole stretch of games since the ASB, the sky wouldn't be falling, but he didn't so it is. 37-34 is staring this team in the face and another massive blowout. Seriously, some of you need to not just look at the box score, but watch the game. Howard did not provide an impact vs Portland.

Actually a very impactful game by Dwight Howard, but it shows how much his impact matters today. He was alive and showed he didn't want to lose for three quarters. Best game by him since the Boston game. Before the Paul Millsap injury, this was the mediocre team that just didn't die, being carried by him in ways not seen on the box score. I think the Millsap injury has killed the team. I wouldn't be surprised if this team collapses like the 2014 Braves.

The Wizards might win by 50 on Wednesday, this is the worst team in the league without Millsap.

A Boston like game (after the break) actually wouldn't surprise me. The team may play hard because they're sick of the whippings and desperate to win. On the other side, I wouldn't be shocked if the guards both had a good game, Prince had like a nice 15 and 2 block game, everyone else sprinkled in well...and it was a loss anyway, similar to Phoenix (but against a team that's better).

If you don't want to watch me talk about how much Dwight Howard sucks, then you should leave the chat when I arrive tonight. As that will be mostly what I talk about. On every single Zeller layup/dunk, I will say "Dwight Howard sucks".

Except the NFL is kinda like MLB, past the 4th round you're just looking for a lottery ticket in the draft that may or may not succeed. It's only the top 4 rounds that really are good. Kind of like UDFA in NBA, you're just looking for lottery ticket. It's just more structured in the NFL. And the Warriors aren't a team that really can get emulated at the NBA level. No other team is going to be able to ever successfully have two excellent volume three point shooters for at least another decade.

I assume that since the break this season has been extremely painful for you outside of the Boston game, as the president of the Dwight Howard fan club. Because that's the only game Dwight has given a sh** in. He's hardly trying at all since then, and no, he didn't try in this game, his good statline from this game should be trashed as it was Rudy Gay like, the way he played PNR defense gave up a lot of warm up mid range jumpers. Sorry folks, but the impactful Dwight Howard is long gone, is not returning, and would not be here if Jeff Teague were here.

No matter how you feel on Howard, if Millsap goes, that has to be a wrap on the Howard experiment too. It hasn't totally failed, but the success it's had is very limited and it's only succeeded in making the Howard fan club extremely happy in one game since the break (Boston), otherwise (I mean since the break)... If what I see is correct and Howard is pouting because he's not getting touches to start the game (and who cares if he actually does! when he does get touches it only leads to a total stalwart!), imagine if Millsap were gone! It'd be a full season pout fest from Howard.

Sorry but this is an old wives tale now, it wouldn't matter who was playing with Dwight, he'd still be ineffective, even if he gets shots he misses a lot of wide open hooks. the only thing that he should do offensively is roll hard and look to get stick backs. and if he's surrounded, why force it to him? That started the offense completely getting thrown out of whack and the 1-10 stretch.

Millsap and Howard don't fit together offensively and will never fit together offensively. Millsap's best skillset is being whimsical inside the arc and a guy that can't shoot or roll hard to the rim is blocking that ability from him, reason for his FG being bad. They worked together defensively...when Howard was bothering with moving his feet and now he's not.

Because he only gives a s*** about posting up and not RUNNING the high post offense. Because he can't create his own shot at all. Because he can't even set a good screen on Damian Lillard. Because he clogs up the paint and prevents Millsap from being able to be whimsical inside the arc and do his thing of dribble drive and pass/score. There is a lot that goes into it and honestly unless Howard just accepts he's not Orlando Howard it's not going to work. He needs to be a roll man in the PNR and roll HARD, be willing to pass if covered, or just sit down and be traded in the summer.

I'm sorry but its not like a team is going to be able to fight over screens 100% of the time. Unless your perimeter players can fight over 100% of the time, they will need to have a very mobile center today or the defense is going to suck. There is no ifs, ands, or buts to it.

Howard is a part of the reason that the Hawks can't score consistently and y'all aren't realizing it. Unless Howard is spoonfed, he can't create his own offense. The Hawks basically have THREE non threats in the starting lineup offensively. I mean if Howard was an offensive threat, why would Portland ignore him on offense?

I hate going over this again but there is a major difference if a bad offensive player actually gets hand fed their shots. Thabo and Baze were bad last year but acceptable. Can you notice the difference? They were hand fed rhythm jumpers and layups off of cuts in which they didn't have to do anything. This year the difference is they are NOT BEING HAND FED off of the high post in offense and have to take too many shots that AREN'T THEIR SHOTS. When they are HAND FED, they do not look bad AT ALL. But Howard chooses to not hand feed off the high post as he cares more about posting up than running the offense. And no, Taurean Prince has shown an intriguing sign but him starting ain't the answer to solving the issue of more players being able to create their own shot without it being a hand fed shot either. With him playing with better players, he's not trying to create because he knows that is not who he is. And I think he should start up in Charlotte and play at least 30 minutes in a close game, but it's because of a different issue that I talked about above.

Seems like you're starting to get where I'm coming from. The scoring could be fine, but a lineup of: Schröder/Hardaway Jr/Sefolosha/Ilyasova/Howard Is asking for trouble. Sefolosha can't play defense for four players, and he isn't even fully right at the moment. It's very bold, but I actually would not start Ilyasova for starters of what I'd do different. Prince's defensive versatility is needed...at the 4. It's possible he can pull off what Millsap does on defense. Remove Ilyasova from the starting lineup, move Prince and Hardaway Jr in it, adjust your rotations. The major problem with this though is the Hawks are boned with their depth. I wouldn't play Prince exclusively at the 4, but if the Hawks want to stay afloat they badly, badly need to play him at least 15 MPG at that position when Millsap isn't available. Starting him would get the team off on a good track before you play different players.

So Bazemore's also going to be out for a while, potentially longer than Millsap. This may be a GOOD thing. Considering that Millsap means the difference between a mediocre/average team and a putrid team (not based on his talent) it's time to try a seriously different lineup. Either way, serious changes need to happen over the summer. If both Bazemore and Howard are back, I'm checking out. Bazemore more than Howard. If its Bazemore that stays, that's my breaking point for a while.

I hate to call the 60 win season "a fluke", but there was two major things that said that it wasn't something that could be sustained over the long haul, even if a few things weren't scouted out after that big win streak in late December-January. 1. The core of the team was older. Outside of Jeff Teague, all of the starters were 30+. 2. The whole system revolved around the attention that Kyle Korver got because of his sharp shooting. It's not really a cut and dry similar situation between the Hawks and Falcons with their big *year 2s*. 1. The Falcons took their big year 2 jump with a lot of young and growing players. No, this doesn't mean there aren't veterans, but there was a lot of young talent that helped the run. 2. The WCO, a "system" helped the Falcons offense be unstoppable, but it was unstoppable and had talent all over the field that could win their matchups in general. Hate to say it, but if we're going to have an NBA comp, it's closer to being Warriors/Jazz like than the Hawks. It wasn't just the team caught the league by surprise, that was legitimately a very good team that grew up after the pick 2 to lose vs the Chiefs. Even if the Falcons have a down year after that disaster in the SB, they're set up well because they have a lot of young talent. Outside of four players, the Hawks have a quickly aging roster again.

New coach teams often have a big second year jump, although honestly the Falcons one will likely turn out to be a ton more sustainable than the Hawks (I'll explain in about an hour after I get back from studying). (which is why I honestly think UGA may be returning to the SECCG this coming season because it's another year 2'er). Still, what needs to happen is PROVE IT in the third year.