REHawksFan

So do we just ignore that without Trae they are avg 108 ppg which would also be near last in the NBA?

Will Trae play again? If he comes back for a couple of games at the end of season and gets into a rhythm, he can certainly lead us to win 2 play in games. Not sure if that's ultimately the goal which is why I wonder if they just shut him down for the year?

Not gonna lie....that was my first impression comparison on page 1 or so of this thread. After watching him more and reading more about him, I think he'll be significantly better than Edy.

We got 20 pages on this dude and it's only mid-March. One thing is for certain, following his NBA journey is going to be fascinating. I'll just say, after reading all the analysis, all the back and forth, and watching a bunch of videos on him, I'm hoping the Hawks draft him just to see how he'd play with Trae. Give me Dalton Kenecht and Edey.

So you are saying the Hawks aren't good at defending the 3pt shot? LOL

I gave up being a diehard Falcons fan a few years ago due to the flawed ownership (Uncle Arthur is a terrible owner imo that meddles in too many team affairs). So in that regard, we are alike in our rooting interest. Here's what I'll say about the Cousins deal. 1. He's lightyears ahead of what they had in Ridder; 2. They have a decent offense full of young, talented pieces other than QB, so in theory, a competent QB is really all they need; and 3. the deal is really just a 2-year deal for $45M per year with $10M of dead money if they cut him after year 2. Yes, that's a lot. But the alternatives were worse and likely required a more long term commitment. Trading for Fields was going to cost you something to get him and there's no guarantee Fields is any better than Cousins. Plus you'd have to commit to him long term. Trading up in the draft would require a lot of draft capital and would also not be any guarantee of success or that you'd even get the guy you wanted. Kick the rock down the road and see what happens with Cousins over the next two years. You try to draft his replacement with one of your picks either this year or next. If it completely doesn't work due to his age or injuries or him just sucking, then you get a high pick next year to use on a QB. If it does work, you're likely winning the bad NFC South and seeing what happens in the playoffs. Then you figure out the QB next year. I just don't see the downside here given the options they had (or didn't have).

IYO, would an oversized center make the Trae / DJ pairing more palatable? Would drafting an oversized 5 and wing with 2 picks this year allow the Hawks to keep DJ and Trae together? Or has this ship sailed and they need to trade DJ for as much return as possible? Does a guy like Edey make the Trae / DJ pairing work better? Or not really?

36% and over Garrison - 43.1% / FREQUENCY: 90.2% Hunter - 42.6 / F: 44.1% Bogi - 37.0% / F: 59.5% Trae - 37.1% / F: 46.2% DJ - 36.0% / F: 35.7% 30%-35.9% JJ - 34.6% / F: 27.7% OO - 33.8% / F: 18.6% Bey - 31.4% / F: 51.2% 29.9% and under Kobe - 29.4% *9 Games / F: 45.9% Trent - 28.6% *25 Games / F: 12.3% AJ - 27.3% *18 Games / F: 73.3% Wes - 27.0% / F: 77.6%

This came across my feed today. Not sure why. It's a little old so I apologize if it's already been posted somewhere, but I hadn't seen it. Good stuff, hypothetically. LOL It's 15 minutes but well worth the watch.

7 of 9 Pels shooting 50% or higher from field. Team at 56% Yikes

When he's not hurt

Damn

Is Trae even at the game? Didn't see him on the bench shot but could have missed it. Also, 65 pts on 69 shots through 3qtrs is putrid. Also still allowing nearly 54% for the Pels

He's not a PG from a facilitator standpoint. He's a slasher / scorer with handles so we call him pg but I mean, he's a career 5.1 ast and only 1 season avg over 7.0.

His shot looks so flat to me. Seems really susceptible to sporadic shooting as we've seen.

It's on Peachtree TV

Playing a good team without injuries kinda sheds some light on the defense and offense. Pels shooting 52.5% for those that care about such. Still, was encouraging to see them cut the lead nearly in half.

And the offense is near worst in the league without Trae. There's just no argument that the Hawks are better without Trae.

No one is saying that. Just saying holding bad teams or teams that are missing their best players to 100 points or poor shooting isn't all that instructive, IF the discussion is on whether the team is better without certain players. Unless, of course, we can arrange to play the g league and scrub nba teams all season. Defensively, we are better when Trae isn't on the court. But we've always known that. Don't need trumped up data to prove it. Playing Trae and DJ is a double whammy because DJ is a poor defender at the 2. And Trae is poor at the 1. So playing both is horrible D. A more interesting question is whether we could be better with Trae and not DJ? Better than playing both I mean. Because we've generally seen the Off is near nba worst without Trae. And the D without Trae is better, but not elite. So which combination gives us the best blend of O and D?

58 pts on 62 shots for Hawks not named DJM. Futility

That's fine. But you gotta admit playing teams like Memphis with a bunch of g-leaguers or playing NY without Brunson and Randle makes it easier to defend, no? I mean, it's not like they are holding Boston or Denver to 100 points just because Trae is out.

The only team the Hawks have played with generally the same roster before and after the "random" date you chose is Brooklyn. BKN (2 games before) 46.8% BKN (2 games after) 48.9% Every other team we've played has had a shell of their normal roster. I just don't see how you can tell one way or the other. Obviously the numbers look good. I get that. Just not sure how you draw conclusions about it. I guess I'll believe they are actually playing better defense when they play a full NBA roster and play well defensively.

Are we? How can you tell?

Facts are facts. No disputing that. But facts without context are, well, kinda hard to glean much from.

It's not just 29 pts he scores. He also avgs 27.2 ast points per game. That's 56 points per game that Trae is involved in.